Lions, and Tigers, and Flesh Eating Dolphins, oh my!

I had a not-so-fabulous day that included the alternator of my car dying, and an unexpected expense yet to be determined, of over $200. Quite frankly, if I just had that kind of money laying around right now, there are several things it would be spent on. At any rate, it's a stretch, but I gotta have wheels... so I sucked it up. And came home cranky as hell, which is why I didn't feel guilty about taking a mid-afternoon nap.

So I just woke up from my nice Friday afternoon siesta, and as I pulled myself out of the post-nap fog I was hit with a harsh realization: I had a dream that I was bitten by a dolphin.

This was particularly upsetting to me, because I have always been quite the dolphin fan. I consider myself to be quite fishlike, given my childhood spend in the water. I am a much better swimmer than I am walker, and I nearly have gills. My sister and I had a string of fish in elementary school, one of whom I'm fairly certain I named... you guessed it... Dolphin. (I was quite original.) In fifth grade, which was about 1994, I was part of the large dolphin movement where we all purchased pictures, jewelry, candles, and notebooks with the dolphin theme. I think it was in large part started up by the fabulous Lisa Frank, but I was very into it. In sixth grade, I decided that I wanted to be a marine biologist one day, a plan that was eventually terminated due in large part to my inability to do better than a C in high school biology and chemistry, and the fact that at the time I was completely unwilling to live on the coast, anywhere, because it would put me outside a two hour radius from my mom. (It was cancelled out by my newfound plans to become either a tennis instructor or a comedian, neither of which panned out... it's been a long road.)

Then, in college, my sorority sister Deedee wrote my themesong, to the tune of "Flipper". Hours were spent in the James Madison Alpha Phi house song writing- I'm pretty surprised Deedee isn't working for Nick at Nite writing themesongs at this point... I'm pretty sure that Green Acres and Laverne and Shirley would be hit TV shows, if Deedee was on the staff. Granted, the lyrics weren't particularly flattering- "They call her A. Butt, faster than lightning..." But it was a catchy tune and we spent hours of our senior year laying on Deedee's bed, singing for whomever may have been listening (tough luck for the Tri Sigs next door) and laughing. Ah, those were the days, and my affinity for dolphins lived on.

Now you can imagine the horror I felt when I realized that I have a newfound fear of dolphins. In my dream, my sister and I were splashing and swimming around a river of some sort- I would imagine the Potomac- when we started to feel some small whirlpool motion in the water. I glanced down to see a fish swim by, which I was not particularly alarmed by, as I've often felt the slime of fish skirt against my leg. But this time, the fish turned his head to my ankle, opened his jaws, and chomped down on my foot, right up next to my toenail. Ouch!

Then, as if he hadn't just sunk his teeth into my foot, he surfaced, looked at me, and bobbing up in down in the water, he made his little dolphin bark. It was cute, and evidently I had forgotten in the mere course of seconds, that the dolphin had just taken a chunk out of my toe. And naturally, as I reached up to stroke his long bottlenose, surprise! He chomped down on my forearm. At which point, my slow-learner instinct faded, and I freaked out and swam away at mach 10. Great dream.

Upon doing a little research, dreammoods.com says that dolphins in dreams represent spiritual guidance, instincts, and emotional trust. What do you think this particular instance means? Getting a chunk of flesh taken out of my arm is one hell of a spiritual guidance. OR.. my instincts and emotional intellect (or lack thereof?) are kicking my ass? 'Dolphins represent your willingness and ability to explore and navigate through your emotions.' Nothing about this sounds good. I looked up "bites", as well, and being bitten in a dream represents vulnerability surrounding my unresolved issues and emotions.

And so, I shall venture downtown for a few Friday night drinks, and aim to return home tonight for a night of deep, buzz-induced sleep, free of all disturbing images. I just can't take the chance of having my favorite things- clearly, dolphins- tainted by my own subconscious mental activity.