Category Archives: Dreams
Volleyball dreams
My 2020 began with a strange dream.
I was at the Louisiana High School Athletic Association volleyball state tournament, watching St. Joseph’s Academy, the team once coached by my dear friend, Brenda LeBlanc. Brenda was coaching the Redstickers in a tournament match against Northshore, a familiar foe for SJA in the state tournament through the years.
Michele Ashmore (now LeBoeuf) was playing for the Redstickers, along with her younger sister, Kimberly. I saw their parents, Mickey and Donna, in the stands, but I don’t remember conversing with any other parents. I was busy trying to take pictures with three devices (iPad, iPhone and my Digital SLR).
I laid down my iPad and took pictures with my camera for awhile. Then I moved to another location inside the Pontchartrain Center, where the LHSAA has held the volleyball state tournament since 1995, except 2005, when the damage to the New Orleans area from Hurricane Katrina forced a relocation to Lafayette.
When I moved to the new location, I laid the camera down in a seat in the back row and used my Apple devices to take pictures. When I returned to the seat, my camera and bag were gone.
I immediately accused someone of stealing it, but security did not believe me. I kept arguing, but the security guards said shut up or we’ll have to eject you. I gave up and watched the rest of the match, which the Redstickers won.
After the match, I caught up with the Ashmore girls. Michele was telling me about receiving offers to play in college. I then told Michele about Ottawa University and that one of the most important people in my life was playing there.
This is officially weird.
Of course, Caitlyn was the dear friend playing at Ottawa. I told Michele I cared deeply about Caitlyn and it would do my heart good for them to be teammates.
Here’s the deal: Michele graduated from SJA in May 2005. Caitlyn was just winding up kindergarten in Norton. Your intrepid blogger was still in the Big Easy at that time.
I didn’t own a camera, a tablet or a smartphone in 2005. Talk about time warps.
I wanted to show Michele and Kimberly pictures of Caitlyn on my devices, but I couldn’t pull them up. Then they said they had to go to meet their parents and teammates, because they had to play again that night.
After leaving the Ashmores, I noticed someone had my camera, because I immediately recognized the bright green wrap on the handle. The person who had it wanted to make me pay to get it back. I said BS.
Then I woke up, thinking it was close to 1000. It was 0715.
When Michele played at SJA, the Redstickers won the state championship of Louisiana’s highest division every year. SJA compiled a 165-9 record over those four seasons, including a 43-0 campaign in 2002 when it lost one set in the last season of side-out only scoring. Michele was the Louisiana Player of the Year in 2004 and signed with Auburn. She played only one year at Auburn before giving up volleyball because she wanted to come home to be with her high school sweetheart, whom she later married.
Michele now coaches volleyball at Central High in Baton Rouge. I’m guessing she still plays quite a bit, because Mickey and Donna were still playing regularly in recreation games while Michele and Kimberly were at SJA.
The first day of 2020 while awake didn’t provide me much drama. There won’t be 365 more days like this, but I can DREAM.
Tigers and Bluejays…oh my!
Just before I woke up, I had a strange dream.
I discovered a secret passageway between Norton and Stockton high schools. I was trying to make my way from Stockton’s gym to Norton’s, but there was a crush of people. I somehow made it through.
In that same dream, Caitlyn and Peggy suddenly disappeared without telling me where they were going. The case to my cell phone broke. To top it all off, Norton’s wrestling team was competing in a tournament, but the high school I went to, Brother Martin in New Orleans, was in the same tournament. I was upset I was missing that.
Norton and Stockton connected? Sure, I know both are in the Mid-Continent League, but they’re pretty far apart. They’re nowhere near each other; Norton is at the junction of US 283 and US 36, and Stockton is where US 183 and US 24 meet. I could understand if there were a passage between Stockton and Plainville, since they’re in the same county and 15 miles apart, but with Norton? Hmm. But anything is possible in a dream.
Now that I’m awake, I have to get ready for my session with Crista in Hays, and later today, my trip to Norton to watch Caitlyn play volleyball vs. Goodland, Dundy County of Benkelman, Neb., and Stratton, Colo. I missed Caitlyn’s matches Tuesday in WaKeeney, but she and Peggy forgave me. The Bluejays won vs. Oakley and Trego to improve to 5-2 this year.
I had an appointment with Dr. Custer yesterday. I learned something new about her: she has two sons, both born in October, although neither on the 13th, my birthday. I’m glad. I’m certain she’s a super mom. My health is pretty good, although I need to be more vigilant about checking my blood sugar.
If the Royals weren’t finished before, they are now. Losing three consecutive games at home to the Athletics, mired in the basement of the AL West, is inexcusable. Maybe Oakland is extracting its pound of flesh for the loss in the 2014 AL Wild Card game. Then again, the Athletics have always had it in for Kansas City, given the franchise’s pitiful 13-season existence in KC.
Ned Yost is going to rue the day he ever brought Joakim Soria back to KC. Yes, he was an All-Star for Trey Hillman, but now, he’s shot. He would have done much better giving Kelvim Herrera the closer’s role when Wade Davis went down. Greg Holland wasn’t an option since he’s still recovering from Tommy John surgery. Royals fans should not be that sad. It wasn’t that long ago avoiding 90 losses was reason to celebrate.
I’m going to have to drive back to Russell after my appointment with Crista. Not ideal, but if I went straight to Norton, I’d be there before noon. The other option is to drive all the way to Colby, go up to Atwood and then over to Norton, but that would burn too much gas. Not a big deal.
Daffy dreams
I have had all sorts of trouble getting started today, but the good news is my work for the Russell County News is all done. Now I get a little less than 24 hours of down time before I have to drive to Smith Center.
I had two of the strangest dreams this morning.
The first found me in a library, and of all things, I was trying to play Buzztime trivia. Who ever heard of playing Buzztime in a library? But here I was, and I was being mercilessly harrassed by a large group who would not shut up and leave me alone. I screamed at them twice to shut up, and that got me in big trouble. The library staff was very angry, and while they thought of my punishment, they forced me to go for a ride with Jon Gruden, the former coach of the Raiders and Buccaneers who is now the color analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football.
Gruden was driving this sophisticated SUV with four-wheel drive and an instrument panel high above the windshield. We discussed Eagles quarterback Nick Foles and Michael Sam during the ride, and Gruden made a couple of illegal U-turns. When we got back to the library, I found out I was banned for 90 days and I would never be allowed to play Buzztime there again.
The second dream involved the one and only Elizabeth Psenski. I kept seeing her out and about town, not at Buffalo Wild Wings, and I kept wondering why she didn’t want to talk to me. I got so upset my mother was called in, and we went to see a psychiatrist and a doctor. I also recall winning several Care Bears dolls in a claw machine. I ran into Elizabeth again, and I told her I really wanted to go with her, but she said no.
I then found myself trying to escape a parking garage with Olivia Benson and Don Cragen from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Several of the entrances were locked,, but all of a sudden, a ladder appeared to get us fro top to bottom. No way I was doing that, me being afraid of heights.
When I woke up, I knew it was a bad dream. I know Elizabeth would never blow me off like that.
School dazed
God I just dozed off and had one of the most vivid dreams. I t was another dream involving school. Why is it I have these dreams about school? A lot of those dreams involve me missing large chunks of class in college and then realizing the final exam is coming.
This time, I was on a field trip with a class led by my sixth grade English teacher, Phyllis Marsolan. Somehow, one of those classes landed in the Minnesota Vikings’ new stadium the day after the Super Bowl, and on this field trip, the band from Osborne, Kansas, one of the towns I cover for my job, was playing a concert. I recall when it was all over asking Mrs. Marsolan for help because I had to walk across campus to my next class and didn’t have a lot of time. She agreed to help me.
I had a childhood crush on Mrs. Marsolan at Arabi Park Middle. She was a gorgeous redhead. A lot of the kids did not like her because they thought she was too tough, but I loved her class. It was my first class every morning during my sixth grade year, and it was a great reason to get up and go to school. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to say goodbye to Mrs. Marsolan before I left Arabi Park to go to Brother Martin, because she took a sabbatical during the second half of my seventh grade year. I don’t think it was to have another baby, because she already had two boys.
I got teased mercilessly about having a crush on Mrs. Marsolan. It was hard to handle then, but now I realize they were having fun with it. I’ll never forget one of the girls i had classes with, Tina Calabresi, teasing me about it when she saw me in a video arcade at a shopping mall.
As for my classmates at Arabi Park, the only one I’ve had any contact with recently is the most important one to me, Stacie Dauterieve Seube. We’ve kept in touch on Facebook, and that has been gratifying. The only one I’ve seen in person in the last 20 plus years was Toni LaRocca, which was in 2000 when I was working my internship with the New Orleans Zephyrs Triple-A baseball team and Toni was a waitress at Hooters in Metairie. Toni didn’t hit her growth spurt until later and she was gorgeous all grown up.
The next part of the dream somehow involved me crashing a bunch of 18-wheelers as I drove along country roads in Nebraska. I also recall being in a large travel center, like a Pilot or a Love’s, and needing to find a pop machine which accepted dollar bills. And yes, I skipped out on class.
Okay enough about these strange school dreams. Gotta get going to get that nail out of my tire if I ever hope to get out of here.
Foots Prints 