Learning from my Subconscious: Mount Vesuvius

I would love to transfer some of my dreams to my blog. All of them? Not so much. However, the ones that most intrigue me, that paint the most vivid imagery, and that stick with me during my waking hours will find their way into my posts every so often. Readers, I give you the insane inner workings of my crazy, weird brain.

Background

Dream Brain really outdid itself this time. The storms from the last couple of nights have worked themselves into my subconscious. While driving home around midnight last night, Chance and I witnessed a fantastic light show over the Kennesaw Airport. Two or three firetrucks passed us on the way, so I assume the lightning was inflicting some serious damage, which, I can only assume, is why the storm made its way into my dream.

Photo Credit

The Dream: Mount Vesuvius

I was on a study abroad trip to Italy, and my classmates and I were touring some churches in Rome when we stopped for lunch on a terrace. Our table had a 360 degree view that actually looked more like a preserved battlefield, scattered with ruins and fallen statues, rather than the regal Roman pictures of classical architecture and ancient infrastructure you see on tour brochures. While we were enjoying lunch, the sky went black and the lightning started flashing. We were completely shocked at the suddenness of the storm. Right before we all went to seek shelter in the restaurant, the lightening became so rapid and intense that we all sat dumbfounded staring over the battlefield toward a huge shadow of a mountain in the background. The lightning began to strike time and time again in the same spot, right on top of the mountain. Without warning, a blinding flash of the combined bolts of lightening shattered the sky and struck the peak of, what we all suddenly and collectively realized, what turned out to be Mount Vesuvius.

***side note: Dream Brain apparently had the fact that Mount Vesuvius is one of the most dangerous active volcanoes around today, AND the fact that this volcano factually exists in Italy around Rome. After, my dream I looked up volcanoes in Italy and had a shocking realization that my subconscious facts were pretty straight.  

The flash started an eruption, and mass chaos among the students and diners ensued. As the teachers of the program ran around gathering all of the students, I was stupidly looking for my phone to take picture. Priorities. We were all herded into a conveniently located yet small airport with several small planes and pilots on hand (Deus Ex Machina, much?). The planes were so small that they only fit about seven people and were also completely exposed to the elements; we were all covering our eyes and mouths with clothing to protect ourselves from falling ash and fire. As the plane flew over the village outside of Rome, we passed a rental car parking lot where the employees were casually washing down the ash-covered cars, smiling and waving to the eight-or-so planes passing over their heads. Apparently, our small planes came equipped with tour guides because a woman seated up front used a microphone to shout over the eruption and storm to explain to the passengers what we were seeing around and below us. "These natives have coped with their fate and are waiting for the volcano's vengeance." Dream Brain is pessimistic...and absurd. Around the time I was trying to grab my phone and hurriedly snap some tragic and dramatic pictures, I woke up.

  

My Internship: No, I'm not an Office Slave

Since the degree that I put myself under mountains of debt and stress to earn no longer guarantees a job right out of school, I am excited to be participating in an internship for the summer. For my last semester at KSU, I am interning for the Georgia Writers Association, a non-profit organization that conducts monthly writing workshops in many genres. Through seminars, meetings, speakers, and a variety of other events, the GWA encourages the growth and proficiency in all aspects of writing. 

As an intern, I will help plan, organize, and provide any assistance for events, and I contribute by writing pieces for the website and organizing the web content. One of my main jobs that I am stoked for, though, will be developing and organizing a book club for the GWA membership.

This week I'm writing a feature piece about the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. The article will appear on the website and in the program for our event this month, the Georgia Author of the Year Awards. So far, I have conducted an interview and researched the author’s bio. I will be honest, I am incredibly nervous about writing and conveying the importance of the author and the award. I'm slightly intimidated. 

I also was fortunate enough to attend a reading and book signing at Foxtale Book Shoppe in Woodstock yesterday. This was a special treat because I was able to bring my mom to meet her favorite author and coincidentally the special guest of the event, Karen White. It was a great experience to listen to an author who expressed the progress she has made in gaining confidence in her writing, not to mention the bonus of seeing my mom meet her. 

For the internship, I am also helping the administrator create programs and prepare other presentations for GAYA. The next couple of weeks before this large event will most likely be a whirlwind of checklists and planning, so bring it on.

It feels great to throw the word "internship" around and equally wonderful to have the opportunity to improve and expand my writing skills as I dapple in the foreign style of article writing. Hopefully, this internship and the responsibilities will open up some doors, or at the very least some windows, in my quest to be employed after the dreaded graduation day.