Wednesday, October 29, 2008

This and that

I had a terrible dream at the beginning of the night that wrought havok on all the other dreams. I smoked a whole entire cigarette in the first dream, and enjoyed every drag. Then the awful guilt of having thrown away the quit. Then the resolve to get right back on that horse. On and on through the night remorse and resolve and the knowledge that now that I've cheated, it will be that much easier to cheat and "just have one" in the future. When I woke up in the morning I was dancing with glee, yay, I didn't smoke, it didn't really happen, I'm still a non-smoker, HALLELUYA!

Speaking of horses to get back on, I've yet to stop into the market where the robbery occurred last week. On the weekend, I drove to the fancier market and even then I was eyeing the situation at the cash registers. Tomorrow I keep telling myself, I'll go back in again tomorrow.

I was all confused when I saw so many people on Facebook had the middle name "Hussein". Really, I had talked myself into the reality that lots of people must choose that as a middle name and I just didn't know it since we rarely share our middle names with others. (Mine's Jesse by the way.) Then I googled "middle name hussein" and got the answer. It's people protesting the whacko labeling of Obama as a terrorist and thereby proclaiming their support of him. Interesting. Still, I think I'll just keep my own middle name. It's truly sad (as opposed to just sort of sad) that people are passing judgment on a person because of a middle name. Now if we were in elementary school.......

18 comments:

CoffeeDog said...

Middle name Hussein...yes, the Repubs are masters at focusing on the trivial things.

Franciscus van Munster said...

Mine are Andries Pieter

Birdie said...

My middle name is Barrow.

You'll have to give yourself time to be calm again about that attack. I was only threatened with harm by a student years ago (broken glass jar held up to my face but no actual attack), and I didn't want to leave my classroom for weeks. I knew logically that nothing would happen to me out in the hallway, but the irrational fear took weeks to fade. I think it's a survival mechanism. Shop somewhere else for awhile.

My adventures said...

One of the car salesman last week told us he wouldn't vote for Obama because his middle name was Hussein and he was a practicing Muslim. My friend told him he was indeed the lowest common denominator and exactly the kind of person that sort of misrepresentation was targeted toward and we left. It was priceless coming from a life-long Republican.

And, mine is Bruce.

Anonymous said...

I've been arguing with my sister for weeks. She insists taht she isn't voting against Obama because he's black but because he's a Muslim. I said what if he was a Muslim don't we have freedom of religion? She replied that the Muslims are out to destroy the US of A. One of the Indiana U. S. Representatives is a Muslim but so far he hasn't blown anything up. My middle name is the French name for "the". Word verification: nessesse ed

Anonymous said...

I've had that same dream and when I woke up my lungs actually felt like I'd been smoking (even though it's about four years now since I have). Middle name Paul by the way :-)

GayProf said...

This election has shown that most Americans are actually unwilling to do the work to inform themselves of important issues. Instead, they will jump on what the "feel" to be true.

Rox said...

Middle name(s) Marie Rebecca. Catholic girl in a past life.
Smoking dreams are dreadful but it's good that it gave you guilt, you are less likely to ever fall prey to the deadly weed again!
Take your time with the grocery store. Or bring someone along with you for the security. Preferably someone who runs slower than you. :)

tankmontreal said...

My parents have called me by my middle name since Day 1. The name few people know is my first, which is Warren.

Patricia said...

It appears I'm going against the grain here, but I think a short visit to the store is in order sooner rather than later. Even if you aren't anxious about anything specific, your subconscious has all this time to be dreaming up big scary things that could happen. Getting it over with will take the wind out of the scary sails. Go with Serge, and buy something a little decadent as a reward. Oh, and then share a bite with Sara, who was the original reason for going last time :)

Anonymous said...

I find it terrifying that someone who quits smoking for as long as you have still has dreams like that. It's not physical anymore, and it shows how powerful that addiction is. Wow! But yeah, it must have felt really great when you realized that it was all a dream.

anabel said...

When I have painful dreams like that I often wake up knowing that by body must have been tense all night. It's like Yay! I'm awake! Now I can relax.

Anonymous said...

Lucky that you woke up and didn't find your pillow all charred. Any chance Serge had gotten up to have a smoke while you were snoozing!? Whew...glad I haven't had that dream...

I had been noticing all the Husseins, now that you mention it, but was equally out of the loop as to what it all meant. Isn't there some fear that peoples' votes will be contested by the Republicans because of their middle names?! ; )

Go to the market and get back on that horse!

Mel said...

The "Hussein" thing is kind of like a cyber version of "I am Spartacus". I'm trying to decide, though, if I should change my middle name back after the election (It's really Edward).

I had a dream probably 7 or 8 years ago that I started smoking. It was a really vivid dream and went on for a long time, because I was a fairly heavy smoker for several months in it. It was so vivid, in fact, that I wasn't entirely certain for a long time that it hadn't happened. Which is particularly odd given that cigarette smoke gives me headaches and nausea.

ME said...

It was hard for me to be honest and admit that I have had slip ups on my not smoking. But that's the way it is. I just gotta get back on the horse right?

It's strange and sad the tactics people have been reduced to over this election.

Doug said...

It's amazing the games our subconscious can play with us. Good for you for beating your nightmares.

I'm not surprised people are using his middle name as an excuse to hate him. We as a species go out of our way to find reasons to hate.

Snooze said...

That was one freaky dream. Those types of dreams are the worst. Congratulations for still being a non-smoker though!!!

Mark in DE said...

When I've had bad dreams (nightmares) I've been able to tell myself in the dream "This is a dream. Its not real. Just wake up." and I wake myself up. This prevents me from losing the entire night's sleep.

Mark Hussein :-)