Premonitions

I posted this before Blogger exploded. And, as it were, as an addendum to a post already read, so perhaps it was missed.

Mr. Peter over at Man Eating Bookworm gave an excellent review of "Liar"... 5 stars! His review can be read here.

He also reviewed "Cheat" awhile back, giving it 4 stars.

Please consider stopping by his excellent blog to check out his reviews :)

As for the title of this blog, I'd like to give a little insight into myself. I can do that, because this internet diary belongs to me :)

I often write about paranormal, supernatural, crazy and weird situations that my characters find themselves confronting. I feel comfortable in this genre because freaky stuff happens to me all the time.

Examples? Things falling off shelves/moving. Ouija marker moving with no hands on it. The steering wheel feeling like it's been jerked out of my hands (but the car doesn't stop going straight??). Bizarre and nonsensical things. Ghostly things.

I've shared a few of my dreams recently. They are crazy and funny and wild. A lot of my friends know that when I start a sentence with, "I had the craziest dream last night..." they are in for a treat. Heck, I like dreaming them, they're fun.

But sometimes I have these dreams that are so vivid and seemingly random that an image or a phrase sits with me for a long time. Something I just cannot get out of my head. Then, one day, I will find myself in that exact situation. Sometimes it's a week after the dream. Sometimes a month, or years!

Here is an example.

I taught English in Japan for 3 years. For the first seven months I taught in a private English school. Then I moved to the public school system. Around that time I was dating a Japanese man. My public schools were made entirely of wood and brick. White walls, brown floor. Pretty basic stuff.

Then one night I had a dream: I was getting ready for class. I looked around. The floor was covered in green carpet and the walls were painted a muted shade of yellow. On the wall were posters, obviously hand-drawn, with English phrases like weather, countries, et cetera. The right-hand wall was made of windows and had a sliding door to the outside. I was sitting in the only desk in the classroom - the rest of the floor was essentially bare.

The first thing wrong with this image is carpet - there is just no carpet in Japanese schools. Secondly, many of my schools refused to let me make posters, let alone hang them up. Third, all doors leading outside from the schools are attached to hallways, unless they are on the second floor or above. Fourth, if this was an English classroom... where were all the desks? Fifth, I'd been to all my schools on my list (I taught at 4 at that time) and none of them had a classroom even remotely mirroring this image from my dream.

But it stuck with me. That green carpet. Those posters. That door. NO DESKS.

It was so vivid that I told my boyfriend at the time about it. We had a good laugh. "Japanese schools don't have carpet!" he chuckled. "I know!" I laughed. What a crazy dream! Sometimes he would kid me about the green-carpeted room.

A few months later my company announced a position for an emergency "lead" teacher. Said teacher would travel all over the country wherever our teachers needed a quick replacement. Reasons like: illness, quarantine (big swine flu epidemic), contact with family that resulted in quarantine, deportation, arrest, et cetera.

Long story short - I got that job. Toward the end of my ELT reign, my last assignment was in Osaka. I would attend 2 middle schools for part of the year, then 5 elementary schools the other part. It was only supposed to be a short-term position, but unfortunately repeated attempts to fill it were met with failure. I ended up there for about 7 months. So, I ended up in the elementary schools.

About a week after I started in the elementary schools, I was introduced to my classroom at Minami (South) ES. Minami was a large school that fell in student body as the birth rate of Japan had declined. They had a number of empty classrooms. So, they assured me, I'd have my own classroom to do with as I pleased. They had converted an old classroom in the new wing to be an English-only room. Fantastic! Could I hang up posters? Sure!

Two posters later, I was sitting coloring a number of flags with markers, to hang around my "Can you guess which country?" poster. The marker stopped moving.

I was sitting in the only desk in the classroom. As it had been converted for use for "recreational" purposes, no desks were needed. Further, they had carpeted it. The carpet was a deep, calming green. My neck craned slowly back as I surveyed the posters on the far, yellow wall. It turned sideways - the room's wall to the grounds was made of glass. It had a sliding door.

I was exactly where I had dreamed I would be. I furiously drew out my keitai (cellphone) and texted my boyfriend. "I'M IN THE ROOM!!!" When I got out of work, I explained the whole thing to him. We loudly exclaimed, together, about the whole situation.

But, by far, it was not the first time.

I sort of feel like these premonition dreams are like a road map for my life. When I reach them, I feel a little secure - like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.

Now don't get me wrong - I don't think I'll end up being (the worst) evil sorcerer. Nor will Obama abandon me to the zombies to find Baby Jacob's Ashes. I doubt I will escape a murderer by flying out the window. I'm pretty sure I'm not a minotaur sent by the gods to wreak punishment on mankind.

But a few nights ago, I had one of those dreams. It was that same feeling - that, "Here is a moment of your life. When you reach it, you'll know you're in the right place."

It was a mundane dream. I awoke, bleary-eyed from bed. I stumbled out of our bedroom and into "my" room (computer, bookshelves, futon, MY room). I opened Firefox. I opened KDP. Then I had a moment of clarity.

I had sold 45 copies of one of my works.

In one night.

The previous day it was zero, and today it was 45. That was my dream. I felt a dawning sense of wonder and accomplishment... then I woke up.

Premonitions, anyone?