Dreams on a night bus

I had some weird dreams during the bumpy ride in the night bus to Sapa:

The field was alive and peaceful with lots of animals. There were especially many dogs and lions. A dog was just lying down relaxing by a hill when a lion casually strolled up to the dog looking almost as if to say something nice. Then the lion began mauling at the neck of the dog. You could see in the dogs eyes that it wanted to survive but it knew that it was over. The biting and pulling of flesh was so gruesome and the dream ended there waking up in the dark bus only a couple hours after falling asleep.

I fell back to sleep.

I was poking around a field looking for something on the ground. I was with a few friends who were scattered about 20 meters away. We were all in a good mood, maybe we were playing some sort of game. I found a piece of metal and didn't think any of it. As I was walking away from what I had found my mind connected that it might have been a mine. Just as this thought went through my mind it happened. The sound was so loud that I only heard it for a split second. The rest was like a loud silence. I couldn't feel my body, but I knew I was hurt. My vision pointed upward and slightly to the side. I knew what happened. I had detonated a mine. I couldn't move or feel my body. At first I thought I might be ok since I couldn't feel any source of pain. But I knew something was horribly wrong. I wanted to lift my head to see what was wrong with my body but I couldn't. I started yelling to Levi and my other friends with really rational words, like I was trying to walk them through what they should do. Levi! Call 911. You! get over here and tell me what's wrong with me. Try to stop any bleeding. I realized that no words were coming out of my mouth. Actually I'm not sure if I just couldn't hear myself because of my defended ears or if my numb face couldn't tell if it was moving but I knew I just had to depend on my friends to save my life. If it was over, then there was nothing I could do about it. I was scared. I had hope but I knew even if I survived my life would never be the same. My eyes opened facing the window of the night bus to Sapa. It was light out and we had come to a stop. I was so relieved to be awake and know that was not reality. I didn't know my mind was capable of creating such a situation especially since I have no idea what it would be like to step on a mine, but it seemed real.

Does anyone interpret dreams? Feel free to comment. 

Improving the World to Make a Better Picture

          My friend Kelsey who is a free-lance photographer was explaining to me shooting in RAW. She said that the file is much larger because it contains so much more information. It picks up all of the different shades of the color spectrum in-between the main colors. I have had a lot of time to think philosophy and many times I try to come to a conclusion using solid colors like black and white, but I get frustrated because I can’t come to any solid answers. I have decided in order to come up with the answers and become wiser I must begin to shoot in RAW. Kelsey also told me that sometimes the picture can look worse when shot in RAW and that you have to know how to edit it to make it look nice. I feel this is a good metaphor for life. Although its more simple and easier to move through life seeing in black and white, it is important to see all the shades of the color spectrum and although this can get ugly you have to accept that as reality and work hard to improve/edit the reality around you. I believe that before you try to change the world and make it better you have to see and have a deep understanding of what the underlying problems are and then you can begin to search for a real solution and put your energy into the most efficient direction. I feel like I am still a baby learning and growing in the massive sea of knowledge flowing through the universe.