Categories
Miscellaneous

Why Should You Read Kurt Vonnegut? – Mia Nacamulli

Why Should You Read Kurt Vonnegut? – Mia Nacamulli

What Is It?

Recently the YouTube channel TED-Ed had an interesting video called: Why Should You Read Kurt Vonnegut? – Mia Nacamulli:

Here is the description for this video:

Download a free audiobook version of “Slaughterhouse Five” and support TED-Ed’s nonprofit mission: https://adbl.co/2DPI5Ys

Check out our full book recommendation: https://shop.ed.ted.com/products/slaughterhouse-five

Kurt Vonnegut found the tidy, satisfying arcs of many stories at odds with reality, and he set out to explore the ambiguity between good and bad fortune in his own novels.

He tried to make sense of human behavior by studying the shapes of stories — ditching straightforward chronologies and clear-cut fortunes.

Mia Nacamulli dives into the sometimes dark, yet hopeful works of Vonnegut.

Lesson by Mia Nacamulli, directed by TED-Ed.

Thank you so much to our patrons for your support!

Without you, this video would not be possible!

Devin Harris, Tony Trapuzzano, Jason Weinstein, Kris Siverhus, Alexander Walls, Annamaria Szilagyi, Morgan Williams, Abhijit Kiran Valluri, Mandeep Singh, سلطان الخليفي, Marylise CHAUFFETON, Marvin Vizuett, Jayant Sahewal, Quinn Shen, Elizabeth Cruz, Elnathan Joshua Bangayan, Mullaiarasu Sundaramurthy, Jose Henrique Leopoldo e Silva, Dan Paterniti, Jerome Froelich, Tyler Yoshizumi, Martin Stephen, Justin Carpani, Khalifa Alhulail, Tejas Dc, Benjamin & Shannon Pinder, Srikote Naewchampa, Ex Foedus, Exal Enrique Cisneros Tuch, Ana Maria, Vignan Velivela, Ibel Wong, Ahmad Hyari, eden sher, Travis Wehrman, Louisa Lee, Hoang Viet, Nathan A. Wright, Аркадий Скайуокер, Ashley Maldonado, Clarence E. Harper Jr., Bojana Golubovic, Karthik Cherala, haventfiguredout, Violeta Cervantes, Elaine Fitzpatrick, Lyn-z Schulte, cnorahs, Henrique Sorín’ Cassús and Tim Robinson.

Categories
Dreams

Visiting Libraries And Making Suggestions

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Dream 1

This dream involved me visiting the various branches of The BP Library talking to coworkers, helping, encouraging them, and giving suggestions to help them improve at their jobs and to improve the libraries et cetera.

One of my coworkers that I know that I visited was my female coworker MH, she was at one of the smaller library branches, but that is all that I can remember of this dream.

Dream 2

This dream was basically a continuation of the previous dream with me visiting fictional versions of The BP Libraries talking to some of my real coworkers during the day.

Outside one of the fictional libraries that felt like it was where the BB Grocery Store on Southside should be, I arrived by automobile, some of my coworkers were outside taking a break like my female coworkers MH and JB and someone else (maybe MA).

We talked, I gave them library suggestions and encouragement to help them with their jobs, and I remember telling JB that I was on page 15 of the book 11/22/63 that she had suggested (I read to that page before getting in bed).

There was something else going on in the dream of maybe some other group going around offer money and other incentives to help people improve at their jobs, and find things that they actually want to do in their lives.

Inside the library this group approached Cat Grant from the television show Supergirl about this, their approach seemed a bit shady like someone trying to bribe you, and so Ms. Grant was cautious and did not trust them so she questioned them about their intentions.

They claimed to just want Ms. Grant and others to be better at their jobs and to find what they really want to do in life.

But I woke up as I walked away from their conversation.

The end,

-John Jr

Categories
Miscellaneous

Mindful Me: Mindfulness And Meditation For Kids

What is it?

The 2018 book Mindful Me: Mindfulness And Meditation For Kids by Whitney Stewart.

What is it about?

This is how Goodreads describes this books:

Sometimes kids’ lives can get busy and out of control, and worries can take over.

When that happens, knowing how to pause and regain composure with mindfulness can help!

This easily digestible guide introduces kids to mindfulness as a way to find clarity, manage stress, handle difficult emotions, and navigate personal challenges.

With step-by-step instructions to over thirty breathing, relaxation, and guided meditation exercises, readers will have an entire toolkit at their disposal and writing prompts will help them process their discoveries.

Clearly written and incredibly relatable, this invaluable resource provides a positive introduction to the world of self-care and mindfulness.

Categories
Dreams

A Talking Dog & Sacred Trees & Creatures On A Planet (Jupiter)?

I think that this was all one transitioning dream with four or more parts that I can partly remember, unfortunately there are forgotten parts as usual, and so I will try to break this up into parts even though the dream probably transitioned each time without me noticing the dream world and time period and even planet changing.

This dream seemed to be partly inspired by my dreams from the previous day, From The New World, Dredd (2012), Harry Potter, Jupiter Ascending (which I have never seen), Pauline Croze’s most recent video Elle N’ose Pas, Fallout 4, a Double Toasted video called BRANDON ROGERS INTERVIEW – Double Toasted, cetera.

Categories
Dreams

My Subconscious Communicating With Me Through Writing?

I fell asleep on the couch until the alarm on my watch woke me up at 7:00 AM, and so I got in bed and I went back to sleep.

I had a series of continuing and connected and similar dreams, possible semi-lucid or almost lucid dream or lucid dreams, possible semi-daydream(s), et cetera that I will type with some of them together because I kept waking up and going back to sleep into some of them so many times that things are too unclear.

Unfortunately all of this waking up and going back to sleep almost instantly so many times messed up my memory and so this is all unclear and confusing, but something very interesting happened that seemed to possibly be my subconscious communicating with me through other dream characters using writing and some reading like maybe it was continuing from where we left off in my last lucid dream but unfortunately even in the dream I could not make out a lot of it and now I can not remember most of it except for part of one thing that lined up with something that maybe Moment (Lost Truth) told me.

Dream 1

One of the dreams took place during the day and I went to maybe the Walmart Vision Center inside the Walmart in the city of D to look at the eyeglasses, the inside was smaller and slightly different than in real life, and I remember looking around at the eyeglasses.

The selection that they had was disappointing and maybe 0 – 2 of the eyeglasses could possibly fit me (most were too small), at some point a female employee with light-color skin and maybe yellow or red hair who had been busy doing something else approached me, and she said something to me that I can not remember (maybe she said that she had a message for me and / or she started to say some personal things about me like she was delivering a message to me from someone else, but I can not remember) and she started to write something on some paper for me to read.

She handed me the paper and I could read some of what she wrote, it was in her own handwriting in either stylized print and / or cursive in maybe black ink or pencil, and I remember starting to struggle to read it over time and to make sense of some of it but it seemed to possibly be a message to me that seemed to possibly be a continuation of my conversation with my assumed subconscious in my previous lucid dream.

I told the woman that I did not really understand and that I was starting to struggle to read it so I asked her to read it to me and / or to explain what this was about, she did not explain what this was about, but she did write some more and read some of it to me and she had me read some of it almost like maybe my subconscious was using her to write what it wanted instead of just talking through her oddly.

If it was my subconscious using the woman to communicate with me through writing it seemed that it really wanted me to read the text when possible, and the woman would only read part of it to me sometimes and she would mostly make me read it myself.

Like in my previous lucid dream the messages from my assumed subconscious were probably a bit cryptic and unclear at times, there was probably information there that no one else should know, but I can not remember what I read or heard.

I just know that it became increasingly difficult to read it and to try to translate it and make sense of what it all meant, and having some parts of it read to me helped a bit more.

I possibly wrote some questions and the woman would reply in writing instead of talking, and she probably would not read replies to questions out-loud and so it seemed that my assumed subconscious would only respond to questions in writing instead of by voice (even though the woman could talk, and would read some things to me when asked; but for some reason my assumed consciousness would not talk through her or would not respond to questions by voice and it was more focused on me reading its messages that it wrote through the woman I assume).

But that is all that I can remember of this dream.

Dream 2

These dreams took place during the night, and it seemed that maybe The Iranian military (this is just a wild guess, part of their uniform (not the camouflage parts) and / or armor had a green color that reminded me of the color green of one or more Middle Eastern militaries, but it clearly looked like it was the military of a Middle Eastern country but I am not sure which one) controlled the city of D (maybe they had recently taken control of it or something, but I have no idea) and there was a curfew and strict rules so there were armed and armored (maybe just bullet resistant vests) soldiers (not many) patrolling by foot et cetera as I walked to a fictional version of The BP Library where I work that was where the replica of maybe one of the first homes in the city of D should be except the library was like a larger version of the replica house and it was raised high off the ground so you had to walk up stairs to reach the entrance.

I saw some people hiding on the railroad tracks trying to avoid the patrols, they were laying down, and as I approached the steps of the library a male soldier with light-medium color skin stopped me and several other people who were walking by at the same time.

He asked me what I was doing out at night, I told him that I was going to work here at the library, and he asked me for proof so I showed him my name tag so he let me go while he went to question the other people.

I walked up the stairs and I entered the library, which was smaller and different from the real library, and it was larger than the replica house that it looked somewhat like.

I liked the look and feel of this library because it was off the ground with a nice view and there were windows, it had a nice museum / library / comfortable look and feel to it, and all of my coworkers were fictional and all of them were women (I remember at least three of them including one with light-color skin with yellow hair, a second with light-color skin with red hair, and a third with dark-color skin with short curly black hair who reminded me of my former female coworker C (it was not her); but I am not sure if there were more of them or not).

I am not sure what I said to them or what I did, I just know that at some point I was approached by one of them (which coworker it was probably changed at different times that I woke up and went back to sleep continuing the dream or having similar dreams), and like the previous dream she wrote down something that seemed to be a message to me from my assumed subconscious again.

The rules seemed to be the same with the communication happening through writing and some reading, but no direct verbal responses to questions.

There was possible waking up and going back to sleep and continuing this dream several times with some of the same things still happening when I would return to the dream(s).

One again I could read some of it but reading was a struggle at times, having part of it read to me helped a bit, but things were probably still cryptic and unclear at times.

One thing that I do remember translating and / or understanding seemed to possibly say: that I should relax sometimes and just let go and be in the moment (which reminded me of something that Moment told me, and I probably thought this during the dream).

The relaxing and letting go part was possibly emphasized, the letting go part possible referred to several things with one thing possibly involving letting go instead of getting in the way of myself and / or my subconscious (which would stop conflict sometimes I assume) and let it handle somethings and maybe trust myself sometimes and maybe go with my instincts sometimes instead of being so cautious that I do nothing et cetera, but I am not sure.

Through some of these dreams there were possibly moments of semi-lucidness and / or almost lucidness and / or lucidness without me trying to control the dream because I was too focused on trying to make sense of my communication with my assumed subconscious, but I am not sure.

All of the waking up and going back to the dream(s) continuing similar things possibly pushed these dreams between various states of consciousness with maybe some semi-daydreaming and semi-conscious thinking blending with the dreams / almost or semi-lucid dreams.

But that is all that I can remember of these dreams.

Dream 3

These dreams took place during the day and it involved me returning to the fictional version of the library from the previous dreams, I probably did not see the assumed Middle Eastern soldiers patrolling this time, and my fictional coworkers were there again.

The communication between my assumed subconscious and me through writing and reading through other dream characters continued, the same rules applied, and the same struggles with reading and trying to make sense of the text continued.

But that is all that I can remember of these dreams.

The end,

-John Jr