I Had a Dream...

I've had some really odd dreams. I'm pretty sure all of my readers have heard about at least a few of them, but I'm going to attempt to compile some of my strangest ones. I can come up with some sort of explanation for the first three, but I have no idea if the others have any relation to reality whatsoever.

Last night, my dream involved derivatives, an academic team meet, and presidential candidates. I was at an academic team meet, and we had to compare the derivatives of the presidential candidates' stances on certain topics. When I was rudely awoken up by my alarm clock, I continued to try to solve the problem for a minute or two before I woke up enough to realize that I didn't really have to find the derivatives of their stances and that such a task was a category mistake.


In a rather recent dream, Kari Buchheim had had a nightmare in which dogs were wearing glasses (in real life, I had seen these glasses on a friend of mine I ran into this weekend for the first time in over a year). We arrived at school, and everyone was wearing the same glasses the dogs in her nightmare had worn. For the rest of the day, we ran around the school trying to hide from the people wearing glasses. Hannah Irvine kept on creeping up on us and scaring the crap out of Kari. At one point I gave up (on escaping? I'm not sure exactly what I was giving up on) and laid down on the ramp between the locker area and the English hallway. The Jeremy Bell came up to me and startled me. He wasn't wearing glasses.

This is the only dream out of this collection that counts as a nightmare, but I can think of few people other than my eleven-year-old self who would be frightened by it as I was at the time. I freaked out quite a bit in the weeks leading up to the commencement of middle school. One night, I had a dream that someone had put my schedule in my locker, but I couldn't find my locker without a schedule. I ran all over the huge building (I can't believe I used to think it was so large) searching for someone to help me, but they were all in class where they were supposed to be. I ended up running away from a teacher who I assumed was trying to give me a detention, but I kept getting lost.

Another time, I was sitting in a sunlit cottage in a clearing in a forest late one morning. There were three doors and a window. The window faced the east (thus letting in the morning sun), the door to the outside faced the west and had a small window, and the other doors led to rooms. I was in the main room. It was a light greyish color and had no source of light other than the sun. The only pieces of furniture were a table covered in a white tablecloth and I chair I was sitting in. On top of the table was a basket containing many different types of apples. I was trying to cook apple pies for my friends, but I couldn't remember which apples each one liked best.

I was standing alone in a sunlit, circular tower made of stone in a clearing in a forest. There was nothing inside the tower, and it wasn't paved. The floor was grass. There were narrow, un-paned windows arranged so that they spiraled up the tower (I'm not sure that was a clear description, but I can't think of how to describe it in words), and they let in lots of sun. I was the only person in the tower, but there were several robins and cardinals clinging to the walls and singing.

This dream came from seven or eight years ago, but I still remember it well. I know this one will sound familiar to at least one of you. I was in an expansive white room. I couldn't see any walls or windows, but it was naturally lit. Tall, white, regularly-spaced columns held up the lofty ceiling. The floor was a black and white checkered pattern. Near where I stood, there was an orange goldfish in a bowl on a pedestal and a black cat trying to catch the fish.

Sir Cephelebrum Man and His Mighty Brain

For psychology class, we had to write a children's story explaining the functions of various parts of the brain. For my project, I created a super-hero. I can't stand my character. He was kind of fun to create at times, but he's like something my little brother would invent and love. I can't just change the entire personality of a character if it wants to be the way it is. Without further ado, here's my brain book.

Sir Cephelebrum Man and His Mighty Brain

Greetings, friends! My name is Sir Cephelebrum Man. I have learned that any real super-hero needs to use every part of his brain, from the cerebral cortex to the medulla. Allow me to introduce the parts of my brain and explain how they help me in my super-heroism.

My cerebral cortex is the outside layer of my cerebrum, the largest part of my brain. It is split into two halves called hemispheres. The corpus callosum is a bundle of neuron (nerve cell) fibers that connects the two hemispheres and lets them share information.

My cerebral cortex is divided into sections called lobes. Each lobe is responsible for different kinds of activities. The four types of lobes are the temporal lobes, occipital lobes, parietal lobes, and frontal lobes. The lobes come in pairs, one for each hemisphere.

My temporal lobes are found at the bottom the cerebral cortex around my ears. These lobes help me process information from my ears. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to hear calls for help. If I don’t know when the citizens of my fair city need my help, how can I be a hero?

My occipital lobes are at the back of my head. They let me process information from my eyes. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to see sinister villains, damsels in distress, stranded kittens, raging forest fires, or any other matters in need of my heroic attention.

In front of my occipital lobes are my parietal lobes. These lobes allow me to feel. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to feel whether I was walking on firm ground or flying through the air. Plus, I wouldn’t know when my admiring fans were timidly tapping my shoulder to ask for autographs.

My frontal lobes are at the front of my cerebral cortex. They let me move and make decisions. Without them, I couldn’t rush to the aid of helpless civilians or decide which superhero suit to wear each day. What on earth would I do without my frontal lobes?

Without the help of my thalamus, my cerebral cortex would have no information to work with. My thalamus sends messages from my eyes, ears, hands, and other body parts to my cerebral cortex so that I can see, hear, and feel. It also sends messages to my cerebellum and medulla, who we will meet later on.

My cerebral cortex isn’t the only part of the brain that helps me out when I save the day. I also rely on my limbic system. My limbic system is responsible for important things like emotions, memory, and hunger. My hippocampus, hypothalamus, and amygdala make up my limbic system.

My hippocampus helps me process memories. If it were damaged, I wouldn’t be able to remember who my enemies and allies are. Just think of the chaos that could cause! I also wouldn’t be able to remember my countless heroic deeds or the directions to my favorite pizza parlor.

My hypothalamus tells me when I need to eat and drink, and it keeps my body temperature stable. If I forgot to eat or drink, I would be too tired to accomplish my daring deeds. If my body couldn’t keep a healthy temperature, I would have a hard time travelling to the ends of the earth to fulfill me heroic duties.

Without my amygdala, Mondays would be unbearable. It has a lot of influence over my emotions, especially anger. On Monday mornings, it’s hard to muster the enthusiasm to fight evildoers if I don’t feel any righteous anger. I turn my anger into something productive, and it helps me save the world.

Outside of my cerebral cortex and my limbic system, I have additional helpful brain parts. My reticular formation keeps me awake. Imagine what would happen if I fell asleep while I was flying to save a woman from a burning building! Surely we would both perish in the flames!

My cerebellum is responsible for my impeccable balance and coordination. It allows me to scamper across power lines in pursuit of ne’er-do-wells in addition to helping me fasten my cape to my shoulders while I rush to save the day.

My medulla and my brain stem work hand in hand. Both of them take care of my body’s vital functions so I don’t have to. My medulla controls my heart rate and breathing rate, and my brain stem takes care of digestion and other tasks. If I had to think about all these things, I would never have time to leave my lair and fight evil.

My pons helps out my reticular formation, my medulla, and my frontal lobes. It helps keep me awake, regulate my breathing, and control voluntary movement. When my other brain parts are overloaded by the stress of controlling a superhero, my pons is there to lend a hand.

All of these brain parts combine forces to allow me to become the super hero that I am. Guess what? Your brain has each of these parts too! You, too, could one day become a super hero or super heroine. I look forward to seeing you working for the good of awesome!