I first have to start off by saying that yesterday sucked swollen goat balls through a straw. Its suckitude actually started out with me failing to register that Monday was August 13, thus failing to set alarms for Tuesday morning, so that when I fell back asleep on Tuesday morning and drifted into the long, really strange and somehow disturbing Tombstone-based dream, I managed to miss an important hearing at Hillsborough County Probate Court at 0930 that now has to be rescheduled. (I called the probate court as soon as I woke up and realized the error, about 1030, to see whether we'd come up on the docket yet and whether there was time to throw everyone in the car and race down there, but it naturally figures we'd already come up. I was Not Happy.)
Today continued the theme of weird dreams, though. As far as I can tell, I was at some kind of school or academy of magic — but no, almost nothing at all like Hogwarts. The closest it comes to Hogwarts is, well, maybe if you imagine what a Hogwarts-like school, only more advanced, might perhaps be in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Except without the anime.
At a guess, I was one of perhaps a couple of hundred acolytes who were supposed to be meditating in a large outdoor area surrounded by about an eight-foot stone wall, sitting on the ground around a shallow, simple ornamental pool that might have had koi in it. I was wearing a garment that had aspects both of robe and of gi, in white, I had the feeling there were other people there I knew, but did not recognize any. I also had the feeling I had some considerable ability, among the more adept of the acolytes, but on that day, focus would not come. So I stood and began to try to practice blocks — inward, outward, upward — but it seemed as though every motion I made was physically resisted; my blocks were slow, clumsy and awkward, and took great effort.
After a short while, frustrated by my inability to perform my blocks, I went over toward a corner of the wall and tried throwing jumping kicks toward the wall. My kicks weren't very good either, but at least I could do something. It's at this point that paeyl showed up, wearing a black gi with a red belt. He looked at me without saying anything, then began throwing standing side-kicks toward the wall that were higher and more powerful than my jumping side-kicks.
I said to paeyl, "Your chi flows, Andan-san. Mine does not." He looked at me, nodded gravely, and agreed, "No, it does not."
About all that I recall from there on is a vague impression that he began trying to help me unblock my chi. But I don't remember anything specific.
Now I'm wondering whether this dream should be telling me something. And if so, what. (I'm assuming that any embedded message is something more substantial than "paeyl is a better martial artist than I am", because I know that already.)
Footnote: I've just become aware that paeyl has mysteriously dropped off my friends list. Now I'm wondering how and when this happened, and why I didn't notice at the time. It's not the first time people have vanished off my friends list without me having any idea, later, how or when it happened. Now I have to wonder: Was there a reason...?