Dreams Become Reality?

Have you ever had déjà vu? It's the weirdest feeling in the world. You're doing something and you realize haven't I been in this exact situation before? You could just be sitting around with a few friends and someone says something and then all of a sudden you feel like this happened before. It's almost as if you had a dream about something happening in real life. I've always wondered what caused déjà vu but I've never had the motivation to actually look. My friend Allison reminded me of it today when she said that she was having that feeling. It's funny how even the littlest things can remind you of something big.

By definition, déjà vu is "the experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously (an individual feels as though an event has already happened or has happened in the near past), although the exact circumstances of the previous encounter are uncertain" (Wikipedia.org). Although much research has been conducted around the idea of déjà vu, there is no certain cause of it. Scientists believe that it is an anomaly of memory due to the feeling of recollection, although the brain can't actually identify the event's occurence at a specific point in time.

The most common explanation for déjà vu however, is precognition or dreaming. Many people believe that the moments of déjà vu can be explained by having previously dreamed the occurence. Research, however, shows that it is most likely caused by the brain "malfunctioning". I thought it was interesting to find out that nobody actually knows the real cause for déjà vu. Think about it next time you have one of those moments. You'd be surprised by what you think you can remember and what actually happened.

Coming to an End

I know it's extremely stereotypical to write about the end of high school and the beginning of college but I'm going to do it anyway. Did you know we're graduating in thirty two days? THIRTY TWO. THIRTY TWO?! Where's the time gone? It feels like just yesterday that we were sitting in Dr. Immel's class, being assigned our senior projects. Just yesterday we were given the "This I Believe" project in Mr. Smith's class. Now here we are sitting in a classroom, screwing around without a care in the world. By now everyone's gotten their acceptance letters and turned in their prototypes for the senior project. So what's next? What comes after we're handed our diplomas and step off that stage?

For some of us, things won't be much different. Some of us will still live at home and go to the junior college for a little while. Plus there's always that security blanket back at Sonoma State where our friends and teachers dwell. Unfortunately, the rest of us will be going away. Maybe only an hour or two, but it still means leaving our friends and family and starting somewhere new, all alone. We're going to have to learn how to get to class on time without Mom banging on our door. We're going to have to budget our food instead of scrounging around in the fridge at one in the morning. We have to learn how to be adults. I guess that's what scares me most about going away. I've never actually had to be self sustaining for more than a few days. I've always had my mom or dad there to pay for my lunch or serve me dinner. I have no idea how to plan dinners for a week. I have absolutely no idea how to set up a budget so I can pay all my bills on time and still have enough money for savings. I know my parents will be there to help me get set up. I also know that the first couple weeks will be scary as hell but after that I'm going to have the time of my life.


Stepping back and looking at things in a different perspective, these next six months are going to be a big deal. Prom is in two weeks, graduation in thirty two school days, possibly moving to Walnut Creek for a few days during the week over summer. My main concern right now is having fun and enjoying the end of this part of my life. I'm so scared of losing the friends I've grown to love over the past four years. I know that we'll all keep in contact but I won't be able to go to class everyday and see my friends making inappropriate gestures with their hands or yelling about Burning Man to our economics teacher. I guess it's time to grow up into the mature adult I know I have potential to be. For now though... let's enjoy some craziness.

Life Coming At You At Seventy Miles An Hour

This morning I was driving along the 101 going northbound to school. After getting on to the freeway, I was trying to move to the left and pick up speed. As I looked back to check other lanes, a ladder came out of nowhere. I didn't have time to go all the way around it and ended up running over the ladder, doing a 360 and another 180. By the time I stopped, I was facing the wrong direction in the left most lane of the freeway. Shaking, I got out of the car, looked around and almost fainted. Luckily, a fire battalion chief happened to be driving by on his way to work, stopped and called in the accident. Four CHP officers total showed up to the scene, stopped all traffic, and moved my car to the side of the road. The only damage to my car consisted of a flat tire and possibly damage to the front suspension.

Wow, what a great way to start off the day. Although I wasn't injured and my car had minimal damage, I'm still shaking, four hours later. Whenever I'm driving, I always try my best to be a safe driver and be aware at all times but even the most prepared driver will run into (literally) little things at some point in their life. The moment I started losing control of my car, it was like time was moving ten times slower. Forget the stereotypical life flashing before your eyes moment. During those few seconds that my car was spinning uncontrollably, these thoughts went through my head:

1. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
2. I really hope I don't hit anything. I really, really hope I don't hit anyone or anything.
3. If there's damage, my mom's going to kill me.

The real question is why did these particular thoughts go through my mind at that moment in time? Thought #1 is obvious and expected when you feel like you're going to die. I don't even know how I had the time to think Thought #2. You'd think that there would really only be time for Thought #1. Thought #3 is based off of my past accident and the type of person my mom is. As soon as the car stopped, my mind went blank and I was in shock. I want to know why my life didn't flash before my eyes. Was it because I knew I was going to be okay? If that's the case, how did I know that? For all I know, another car could've hit me or I could've went flying into the freeway divider. I could've ended up seriously injured. With all these possibilities, I want to know, why was I not scared of being hurt? The weird thing about my little "360 trick" was that I don't remember what I saw. I can't recall what I was looking at or if I was still watching out the window. All I remember is those three thoughts going through my mind and then being jerked to a stop. If you had been me, what would've gone through your mind? Would you have similar thoughts? Or would you have actually had that "life flashing before your eyes" moment?

All I can say now is that I am so thankful that I'm okay. I have a new appreciation for firefighters and police officers. Everyone who helped me this morning was kind and understanding. I'm especially thankful to the fire chief who just happened to be driving by at the same time. Also, I now am deathly afraid of ladders...

Starting Fresh

And here we are again. This year's going by quick and we have another opportunity to blog about our thoughts, ideas, views, etc. The objective this time is to create a "digital footprint". Basically, we want to create a persona online that encompasses our creativity and originality. I've always tried to get into the whole blogging fad but have never actually taken the time to express my feelings through written word.

The goal for this particular blog is to make you, the reader think about the little things in life. Those little "what if" questions that have always popped up in the back of your mind. It's also just going to be a place where I can post random thoughts so that I can go back and expand on them later. Have you ever had one of those moments where you thought "gee, this would be a great thing to write down"? I have those moments all the time! Especially with song lyrics...

"Futile, the futile, it outweighs the beautiful"

So here we are with an objective and the freedom to do pretty much whatever we want with an endless supply of tools. Let's see where this takes us...