I was meandering though the state fair the other day and I walked into one of the big exhibition halls. It was just wall-to-wall full of random booths of people trying to sell odd knick knacks, tools, gadgets and stuff that you aren't going to find in any aisle of your local Target or Wal-mart. As I ventured closer to the back of the building, I saw this interesting looking swimming pool. It was like a gigantic springform pan that you use to make cheesecakes, only this one was being used as an above-ground pool. For some reason, I decided "ya know what, I'm going to go for a swim!" It was even more odd that the old guy that was selling these springform swimming pools thought nothing of it. He continued on with his business, talking with the other passers-by. I stripped down and hopped into the pool. The water felt absolutely incredible and I wasn't even the least bit fazed by the other fairgoers that kinda stared at me as they walked by, their mouths hanging open as they are about to drop their half-eaten corndogs on the floor of the exhibition hall. Every once and a while, a friend would walk by and say hello. I saw my friend Garrick, who asked "what in the world are you doing?!" I replied with "I'm swimming, duh." He shrugged dismissively and thought "well, whatever." He stood around and talked with me for a while as I noticed the shiny latch on the outside of the pool. Surely it wasn't like an actual springform pan, where if I pull that latch, this whole thing would open up. It HAS to be just decorative. As curiosity continued to get the better of me, I swam over and began poking at it and trying to figure out if it was real. It must've been real enough to get the old guy's attention, he began to warn me sternly against touching that. Even Garrick was telling me that wasn't such a good idea. I shrugged dismissively and thought "whatever" and continued doing what I was doing. As it appeared I was going to pull the actual latch, the random passers-by began to yell at me, waving their half-eaten corn dogs in the air and telling me to STOP!! I didn't listen. I pulled the latch and found it was just like a springform pan and water went E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E. The other booths did NOT appreciate me getting their random knick knacks, tools and gadgets drenched with pool water. I shrugged dismissively as I put my clothes back on and walked away from the pool. "I wonder which building the new cars are in, I can never remember" I thought to myself as I left my self-induced chaos behind me for others to clean up.
Of COURSE this was a dream. It happened to me last night. It was totally random, other than the fact that I had been wondering when the state fair was going to get started back up again. But it caused me to stop and think about the dream and (of course) I was able to pull out some sort of weird meaning or reflection out of it, because... that's what I do. :-) It makes me think of my past, where I would make mistake after mistake, even with people yelling at me from the sidelines telling me "stop!" or "don't do that" and I'd do it anyway. So, most of the time, when I would make these mistakes, screw up or whatever, it was rarely ever me that faced the consequences. Now don't get me wrong, I faced PLENTY of consequences and paid a hearty price for my indiscretions, but I guess it was never enough to convince me to stop. But I pulled others into the mess with me. Anytime I made these stupid, selfish decisions to have fun and just swim a little, it was OTHER people's stuff that would wind up getting wet.
