what's in a dream

since i can remember, i've had crazy, vivid dreams.  the subject matter has progressed as i've grown older, but overall they are no less chaotic.  i often dissect the dreams the morning after, trying to make sense of the images i've conjured up in my head.  usually, once i've started to reconstruct the big picture with bits and pieces from my memory, aspects of the dream come into view, and i am able to connect them to thoughts, worries, people i've run into, or minor details of my day.  sometimes the anatomy of the dreams are clear; other times they seem completely random.

last night's dream was weighted towards the latter.

i dreamt that i was in the jungle, preparing to be strapped to a zipline.  i could feel the heat, taste the sweat on my skin, hear my heart thumping in my chest, adrenaline running through my veins.  have i ever ziplined?  no.  have i thought about ziplining before?  sure.  but recently?  not that i know of.  and i'm not sure where the jungle part came in, except that i've probably seen ziplining and the jungle relating to each other.

then i began wondering what my subconscious was telling me.  the wheels were churning, my powers of deduction hard at work.  did i hear about someone's vacation recently?  yes, but no ziplining there.  did i see this image somewhere?  maybe.  in the newspaper?  doubt it.  magazine?  probably not.  on TV?  aha!  perhaps it was that royal caribbean commercial, with the kid ziplining (through the jungle?) while his parents watch, the narrator talking about milestones every parent should remember..

whatever it was, when i flicked on the TV tonight, the scene in front of me was of the MTV real world cast going ziplining.  my first thought: how weird?  a coincidence, of course, but still a bit freaky.

our minds work in mysterious ways.  i've managed to figure out that much.