Dream #368 (March 31, 2011)

The last dream of March. You may not know this from all the dreams I've been having, but I've been getting very little sleep as of late. It takes me hours to fall asleep these days. Yet my dreams remain.

I dreamt that I was in a park pavilion, which was about a quarter-mile from the ocean and not far from the city, with David Badertscher, Mike and Rachel Phipps, and my brother Mike Baughman (all co-workers at Prairie Camp). David was quizzing us over the Bible, flipping to random pages in the enormous book and asking us questions about the verses he read to himself, expecting us to know the answers. We were all having a rough time answering correctly.

Suddenly a larger-than-life bus pulled up next to us and dropped off a bunch of campers. There were hundred of kids, and many camp counselors were accompanying them (including Jacob Bartlette). We began to prepare for a picnic.

Suddenly, the weather turned bad. Unfortunately, the bus had already left, so we were stranded.

The wind began to punch us and the rain started soaking everything open to it. The pavilion was no use, for the wind pushed the rain right through it. The area began to flood. Soon enough, hail began to drop from the sky. The kids all huddled together. Mike was over on the other side of them with David, and they were all under an overhang, so they were partially sheltered.

Rachel and I were in the pavilion. I began to shield Rachel from the hail for I didn't mind the pain as much as her. However, she began to freak out and, though I tried to calm her down, she took off and began running out toward a fence that was between the park and the road.

I chased her, trying to get her to come to her senses, but she climbed the fence, hopped down, and began running to the ocean. I warned her that we were on the highest ground in the area, and that she risked drowning. Then Mike Phipps also leapt over the fence and joined his wife in a panic. Because of their example, all of the kids and counselors began to run. David, Mike, and I tried stopping them, for I wanted to keep them together on the high ground, but it was no use. Some kids ran with Rachel and Mike toward the ocean, and other kids ran with Jacob Bartlette toward the city (probably a better idea, but still a bit foolish).

Then a rush of water swept down the road causing the kids to disappear from our sight. There were large vehicles floating down the water, out of control, and I feared for the kids' lives. Suddenly, David pulled up in his old Jeep minivan and picked up Mike and I.

We were unable to drive toward the kids, so we were forced to head back to our camp, which was only about a mile away, to regroup.

By then, it was late in the night. I told David that I would take a quick nap so that I would have the energy to swim in search of the children. I went into my little room in a large cabin and fell asleep. Twenty minutes later, I awoke, and decided to go search for the kids. I met up with David, who was just coming back from looking for them. He told me that he would accompany me anyway. As we were putting on our large boots (I believe they're called floaters or something like that), I saw an angry-looking old man peering at us through a small window in the cabin door. I warned David of his presence.

When we got outside, the man startled us and told us to get in his van. We obeyed, for we didn't know what he was capable of. Once we got in, he lightened up and began chatting with us about how we could go about looking for the campers. He was actually a very pleasant guy, and very helpful. He joked around a lot, and he lightened the dark mood a bit, which gave us more energy.

We drove around looking for them until morning, with absolutely no sign of life.

The old man dropped us back off at the camp and told us he would keep his eyes open for any signs of them.

We were disheartened. Then I remembered that Mike was still asleep. I woke him up and told him that we couldn't find anyone.

Suddenly, I heard honking coming from outside the cabin. I ran outside to see its source: a big charter bus. Campers and counselors were walking out of it in a single file line, looking exhausted. I ran over to Jacob and asked him if everyone was there and if they were alright. He informed me that every camper and counselor were accounted for, and that they had found shelter in a nearby gas station, where a sympathetic owner allowed them to spend the night.

I was relieved. Then a thought came to my mind. Why didn't I just call Mike Phipps and ask him if he was alright? I have his number in my phone. It may not have worked, for his phone might have been ruined by the flood, but I didn't even try.

Then Carrie arrived and called a meeting with the core staff and the counselors. She asked us what we could have done differently to prevent this whole thing. I said that we should have all stuck together, and, though I sympathized with Rachel's fear, I suggest that the staff should have been more level-headed, for they set an example for the campers to follow. I also said that they should have stayed on the higher ground.

I was then immediately taken back to the point when the wind began to punch us back at the park. This time, all the counselors and campers followed me to a large white rock that we climbed up and rested on while the weather beat down upon us. The rocked protected us from the wind, hail, and rain, and we watched as the area about us flooded. I turned to the other staff and told them, "See, we should have stayed up on the higher ground."

Then I awoke.

Dream #367 (March 30, 2011)

This was violent.

I dreamt that I had two associates; one was a grizzly bear wearing a pinstripe suit, and the other was an oblong hula hoop with eyes floating above its head. We were teamed up against another man with two associates; the man was the evil drug guy from a 90s anti-drug video with a bunch of cartoon characters (viewable at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AYvYZB1rLI), and his sidekicks were just a couple of strongmen.

We started out in the playground of Oregon-Davis Elementary School where we were fist fighting. I punched one of the brute opponents in the face about fifty times in a row without him hitting me, but nothing seemed to phase him. I was getting tired of hitting him.

The fight continued into a bar. The hula hoop guy was 'biting' (he didn't have teeth) the drug guy, but was doing no good. The bear threw a chair at the two brutes, knocking them to the ground. I then switched places with the hula hoop and took on the drug guy.

We were immediately transported to an ancient stone structure amidst a bunch of tourists. The structure was in the middle of a grassy field, and it was sunny and beautiful outside. The tourists seemed to ignore the crazy throwing of fists that was happening before their eyes.

I hit the drug guy in the face over and over and, like earlier, delivered no damage.

I eventually awoke.

Dream #366 (March 28, 2011)

This was odd.

I first dreamt that I was wandering around the figure 8 shape of Oregon-Davis High School. I made the complete 8 many times, but after one of the later ones I saw a chalk board on the wall with my name at the top left. Then, under my name, three women wrote their names under it, symbolizing that they were interested in me (I apologize if this is ridiculous and a bit arrogant).

Then I walked through a door and found myself at an indoor beach. There was sand and an ocean there, but there were four walls and a ceiling as well. Seth Bartlette (a talented event coordinator and youth worker I've worked with in the past) was speaking to a bunch of teenagers, trying to get them to laugh. He wasn't doing well, for the audience looked like vegetables. He asked if I could help get their attention. He suggested we sing a parody of a Justin Bieber song.

I don't actually know any Bieber tunes, and I told Seth that, so he looked up one on the internet and had me listen to it as I read the lyrics (all while the teens just stared blankly at us). I told him it would be difficult for me to remember everything about it after one listen, but I gave it a shot.

I ended up kind of making up my own melody and my own words, but it seemed to crack a few smiles among the teens. Then I saw the three women who had written their names under mine earlier. I apologized to them, saying that I wasn't interested in dating any one of them because of where I was in life, not because of who they were.

Then I switched over to a different dream.

I was Homer Simpson, though I didn't look anything like him. I was married to Marge, and I had two children, Bart and Lisa. We were a typical family, and the only resemblance we had to the cartoon family was our names (though Marge's hair was still blue). This dream wasn't a comedy, for in it I had recently sacrificed my family for a promotion at the nuclear power plant. I was working for Darth Vader (which is funny in retrospect, but wasn't at the time), and he made all of his higher-up employees wear Native American headdresses. Each time they did something good, they would earn a feather.

I was in Vader's office when I began to realize his corruption. I then decided to battle him.

My dream turned into a 2-D video game. I was on top of a castle with a starry background, and Vader was flying around in some sort of hovercraft. He had my family tied up in the bottom right corner of the screen and was shooting things out of his hovercraft down at me. I soon figured out that I could jump off of these things and eventually jump high enough that I could land on Vader's head, taking down some of his life points. He told me that I was only 1 feather away from reaching the greatest status anyone could have reached at work, but I didn't care. Then I saw a feather that had fallen from Vader's ship. I jumped off a hunk of junk he shot down at me, and hit the feather with my fist. I was immediately transformed into a super hero, and I could fly and shoot things out of my hands. I flew up to Vader's head and shot him off of his hovercraft. Bart, Lisa, and Marge all cheered me on from down below.

Then I awoke.

Dream #365 (March 27, 2011)

This is short.

I was up until 4 a.m. working on a stop-motion animation with Daniel Jeter and Jon Andrew Castleberry. For many hours in the night I dreamt that they were still working on the long and difficult shot without me. I kept telling them that we had finished and that we didn't need any more shots that night, but they wouldn't listen.

I eventually awoke, not very rested.

Dream #364 (March 26, 2011)

I'm sorry for being late.

I dreamt that I was going to visit my brother Matt Baughman in Washington. I was living in a small apartment that resembled my brother's old bedroom in the basement. I had ordered plane tickets from Southwest Airlines, and was preparing for my flight.

Then I got a call from my dad, and he informed me that I had misread the itinerary, and that my flight was in an hour and a half. I didn't know what to do, for I was flying out of Chicago, which was over 2 hours away from my place. I called my younger brother Mike and asked him if he had made it there on time, and if he did, to go on without me. He didn't answer.

A couple minutes later, the doorbell rang, and I found Mike at the door. Apparently he had misread the flight information and was also too late. We decided to head to the airport anyway to see if we could find some sort of flight out there.

It didn't take long to get there for being over 2 hours away. The lobby area, where we were asked to wait until somebody could assist us, was enormous. The ceiling must have been seventy feet tall, and there were all kinds of high ropes (zip line, rock climbing, a huge net people were climbing on) and inflatable games inside. All of the people there were junior high and high school students that I recognized from substitute teaching at Oregon-Davis Jr./Sr. High School.

Mike and I waited on a bomb shelter that looked exactly like the one that was in my backyard when I was very young. Finally, an airport employee told us we had a flight.

We were immediately with my brother in Washington, though his house and yard was nearly identical to my parents' house. Mike, Matt, Brittany (Matt's wife), and I were eating dinner rolls when I heard a knock on the window. I went outside and saw a teenager with a bow drawn, aiming the arrow right at me. I dove out of the way just in time as the arrow flew over my back.

I sprinted into the woods for safety, for I figured the trees would be on my side. I found a good shelter from incoming arrows behind a big woodpile. The angry teen kept shouting at me, saying he was going to kill me. Then I decided I needed to strike back. I leapt over the woodpile after an arrow was fired and marched over to the guy. I must have scared him, for he fumbled around with his next arrow and dropped it on the ground. When I reached him (he was standing on a long wooden bench among many benches), I punch him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground. My brothers and Brittany then decided to come out and see what was going on. I continued to punch the guy.

Then I awoke.

Dream #363 (March 25, 2011)

This dream is a bit insane.

I began the dream walking in an old city. The buildings weren't all that tall, but they were close together. I made my way to a strange house that was elevated about twenty feet above the ground by several concrete beams. After walking up the metal steps to the front door, I was greeted by an elderly couple and a young girl. The old man offered me some tea, and I accepted (though I don't like tea). As the elderly woman was fixing it up for me, a masked man came into the house, armed with a handgun, and kidnapped the little girl.

When he left, the telephone rang. I answered it, and a man told me to meet at the public library that evening.

I immediately left the home and appeared in the library.

As I walked about, I noticed that everybody there was acting oddly. Suddenly, Vinnie Jones (actor, from "In Bruges" and "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels") walked in, carrying a gun. He announced on the loudspeaker that he was going to kill the man who kidnapped the little girl. Though I had nothing to do with the crime, I feared for my life.

Then I realized that everybody else was carrying handguns. I then began to stealthily creep about the library so as not to be seen. The only man that had spotted me was an employee of the library who had a cast on his left arm and a bandage on his stomach. As I snuck about, I heard several silenced gunshots and bodies falling to the ground. When I entered the study area, I saw a man point over to another man and shoot him in the chest. Then another man said, "This is ludicrous. Why is one guy making us kill each other?" He then was hit in the chest by several bullets.

Then I heard another voice on the loudspeaker, taunting Vinnie Jones. Just then, I ran into Vinnie. He handed me a gun and told me to watch my back. The voice continued talking on the loudspeaker. I began to crawl around again and I discovered that it was the library employee with the broken arm making all the commotion. He winked at me and signed for me to be quiet.

Then I decided to leave the library. I don't know why I stayed there so long. When I walked out of the front door, I entered an enormous metallic hallway that was fifty feet high and fifty feet wide. There was nobody else in the hallway. A bullet came from inside and hit me in the lower back. Though I was in great pain, I kept quiet so as not to attract attention from whomever had hit me. I began running down the metal hallway for several minutes, until I finally found a sign of life.

There was a treehouse with a rope ladder leading up to the front door. I climbed it up to the top, but found that it was locked. Then a woman walked up with some groceries, and when she noticed me with blood dripping from my back, she screamed. I told her that I meant no harm. She seemed a bit crazy, and she wore clothes that resembled those of a witch from a children's movie. After I told her that I just wanted to dress my wound, she finally told me where the secret key to the door was. I walked in and saw a cozy little bedroom with a kitchen to the left of it. It was a pretty neat place. I walked over to the sink and washed out my wound, then thanked the woman and left.

For some reason I went back to the library. I thought I should help find that little girl who had been kidnapped, I guess.

There I found Vinnie Jones and the library employee shooting at each other from across the library. The employee was holding the girl with his casted hand, and she looked quite frightened. Vinnie gave me a mean look, and he must have known that I had left him hanging all alone.

I then decided to sneak up on the employee from behind. Before I could help any, however, Vinnie had shot the criminal, and the girl was free. Then he vanished.

I made my way back to the tree house and used the secret key again. I startled the crazy woman there, and she told me that she regretted letting me in on her secret. Then I saw Jessica Smith there (Bethel friend). Apparently she was the crazy woman's roommate, and she explained the the woman that I could be trusted, which settled her down.

Then I switched to a different dream.

I was taking an advanced course on rocket launching in a giant space station.

Each student had their own supercomputer, which were about eight feet tall and six feet wide, with hundreds of crazy buttons, and each student had their own rocket launching pad.

Adam Pflugshaupt, Erin Rosander, Alik Hall (all former Oregon-Davis High School classmates), and Chris Curl (sound guy for Prairie Camp and formerly for Bethel College) were also students there. During lunch break, after I had finished reading a thick manual, I went over and talked to Adam about his rocket design. It was pretty awesome. We also at out of old school metal lunch boxes, which was neat.

When lunch was over, I went back and prepared to launch my first rocket.

Then I awoke.

Dream #362 (March 24, 2011)

Here's a dream.

I dreamt that I was at Prairie Camp late at night. I was hanging out in a long metal barn (that doesn't exist in real life) with my little brother Mike Baughman, Jeff Kreider, and Ben Smith. We were playing a card game called Bohnanza to pass the time as we waited for David Badertscher (who lives at camp) to return with a basketball so that we could play.

After several minutes, David returned, but he said all the basketballs were flat and there were no pumps. Jeff then tried to pump up a ball with a little pocket pump thing he had, but it didn't work. Then Ben said he had to go home, and he left. Jeff left soon afterwards.

David then invited Mike and I to accompany him to his house for a meal. We accepted his invitation. When we got there, the house was completely dark.

Then I jumped to another camp dream.

I was a counselor in charge of a bunch of kids at a water park. One of my campers was Aaron Cavinder (an adolescent fellow I know from Koontz Lake and from Prairie Camp). He was having a great time, except for the fact that his older brother (who, in real life, is Josh Cavinder, but in my dream was Nathan Rasbaugh) was also a counselor, which caused many problems. Nathan was constantly nagging Aaron and abusing him. When we were on top of a water slide, Nathan tripped Aaron as he went down, causing him to go head first. I then pulled Nathan aside and told him that he needed to set a better example for his campers, and that his attention shouldn't be focused on his brother anyway. He didn't seem to be listening to me wholeheartedly (Nathan is a good guy in real life, by the way, nothing like this).

After I went down the water slide, I accompanied my campers to a weird circular metal pavilion that resembled a cage in a way (for those who know Prairie Camp, it looked like that weird yellow tower in the playground). Night had fallen quickly, and we were setting up our sleeping bags to sleep on the concrete there. Then Nathan ran up to Aaron and kicked him, causing him to fall to the ground. He looked like he was in great pain, and he began to cry. Nathan said, "Stop faking," to which Aaron responded, "I'm not!"

I told Nathan to leave and I walked over to Aaron and saw a pool of blood underneath him.

Then I awoke.