Oreoles

Tonight at dinner my wit lead me to asking my wife who she thinks is in the lead in the AL East. She said JRoll. So then I opted to give her choices. Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, D. Rays, or Orioles. Ai chimed in that he likes the Orioles. Man was I proud. All these years as having the O's as my favorite team, and it had rubbed off on my 1st offspring. I haven't really even pushed them on him yet, I just let him watch and like what he wants. My wife and I looked at each other in amazement and then Ai continued on by saying, "yeah, I like their creamy middles. They are good cookies." Uh oh, someone tricked Daddy and was really talking about Oreos. Somehow, someway, he then said he also likes their (referring to the oreos) red socks. Hehe, interesting.

Hummingbirds

I stopped today with the boys to get some more mealworms for the bluebirds (sidenote: I am going to put them in the fridge this time so they go "dormant" rather than feed them them carrots). Yep, the 500 mealworms from batch #1 is already gone. While at the store, I brushed up on my hummingbird info. We plan to make our own solution this year. Basically here's what I found out and what you need to know about this process and the timing of things - in case you wanted to grab a feeder for yourself:

• mix 4 parts water with 1 part sugar and boil
• store this solution in the refridgerator
• on April 15 start putting the mixture in the hummingbird feeder
• if the temperature is ~ 70 degrees, replace the solution about once every 5 days
• if the temperature is ~ 90 or higher, replace the solution about once every other day

The hummingbirds are due back in the PA area on approximately April 26th.

Birds

This is the second of potentially many snapshots of my saved past writings. click the picture to see it larger.

Lucidness

I have books about lucid dreaming, which are easy reads that I can bring in for you if you like. They are roughly 70 pages in total. It is partially necessary to read up on this to teach your mind how to prepare for lucidity and to create the technique that suits you best. It teaches you how to think as you are going to sleep. It teaches you how to focus on the surroundings and the sounds you hear and ask yourself, or rather tell yourself, that these are real and I am not asleep yet. You just keep thinking, “Is that real? Am I asleep yet?” Then you get to the point where you are actually asking yourself that question as you fall asleep and then as you enter the actual dream state. At this time (with practice) you can realize that you are dreaming as you ask these questions and what you are seeing/thinking is not real etc. Once you realize this and get good at this technique, you can perform lucid dreams all the time.


It also teaches you to look for certain things - I forget what they are called right now, but let's call them hotspots. Like for me, if I dream about being back in my old neighborhood or even about Sam, I know it isn't real and thus I tell myself that I am in a dream.


The part I struggle with is when I realize I am in a dream and the dream has officially become “lucid”. I have to tell myself to remain calm and not to get too excited for this excitement wakes me right up and my lucidity only lasts as long as a few flying maneuvers (which is the first thing I do each time I lucid dream). Normally when I fly around a bit I tell myself to spin mid-flight, because I read once that spinning can cause a drastic background or other type of change in a dream while in the lucid state - this is when I normally wake up. Bummer.


There is also a technique where you put a dot on your hand for a few days/weeks in a row. You end up getting used to looking at the dot and each time you look you tell yourself that you are awake. Eventually you will look at your hand in your dream and likely see no dot, thus you can trigger your mind to realize you are asleep. See, it is all about training your brain. Some people are so good that they do it every night. That would be awesome. I have only done it approximately 35 times and to be honest don't think about it enough prior to bedtime or I end up falling asleep with the TV on or something so I am distracted mentally. I keep meaning to get this book off my book shelf and merely place it on my night stand so I see it just before heading to la-la land each night.


Lucidity is by far the most exhilarating event that I have experienced with the exception of the video of Aunt Janice not watching her large nephew on that amusement park ride.


P.S. You don't need to borrow the book now, I just taught you everything you need to know. That'll be $13 please.


P.P.S. I think everyone dreams but only a certain percentage of people can remember them, and only a certain percentage of those people can retain the dream in memory longer than the first few minutes after they have awaken. I used to have a journal of dreams. When I read old entries, I can picture the exact dream as if it was the night I originally dreamt it. They also recommend doing that (journal) to help you remember dreams and experience lucidity better.