Sick.

I noticed that every time I start exercising, especially during times when I exert more than ordinary effort, my lungs would produce more mucous than normal. Yeah, I have been told that's exercise induced asthma, and so far Zyrtec, Singulair and plenty of sleep have been helping me with that. However, not this time. And it was so bad that I had to go to the hospital to see my doctor.

This hospital wasn't the same as the usual one I go to at Northwestern. It was sprawled out with just two floors. Given that it was a Sunday, I had to wait in my rather large examination room for a long time. It was so spacious that my living room sort of dwarves in comparison. Then there were these four kids who kept on entering my room to play around! I could tell that the oldest girl was the ringleader here, as the other younger boys and another girl were mostly hesitant whenever a mischievous opportunity presented itself. The older girl would always say, "C'mon! Who cares?"

Anyway, while waiting a rather long time, I realized that these kids would spend a lot of time rummaging through the cupboards to my left, and then leaving. And I would always know that they're back when I would hear the little laughter and giggling in the hallway, before my door swings open again. There were times they would look at me, with eyes that gave away the thought of, "You don't look sick to be in the hospital, so why are you here?" But they would never say anything. Whenever I say a hello, they would just scurry away.

Finally, this last time, they took a bag out of the cupboard and hurriedly left. As annoying as it was to have these little tykes come in and go as they please in my exam room in a hospital, I started to miss them when they didn't return for a long time. But it was no big deal. Then another hour passed by, and finally a doctor, not my regular one, walked right in. Behind him in tow were the kids! What a striking resemblance between two of them and the doc. I must say, those two must have been the doctor's own kids. But he didn't make any introduction or the sorts. They just stayed silent, occasionally giving me shy glimpses before looking at their feet. I could tell that whatever fun they were in was over. My doctor told me real quick that they were swamped and that I would have to wait longer. And they all left. Ugh!

So I started out with just wandering around the hallway near my room and returning. I noticed that there were no nurses around. It was rather strange, I thought. Eventually I started wandering around further away. And that's when I first saw a long snake. Or rather, the snake first saw me. I bumped into something on my feet, and upon checking it out, this long snake has its tail end near my feet, and the head further away rose up and turned its head at me, as if it was ready to strike. Uhm, yeah, that was freaky. I just froze. Luckily it just went away after a few short moments.

I rushed back to my room to get my camera from the jeans I had to change out of, cos you know me, I never go anywhere without my camera, even when I visit the hospital! When I got it, I went out in search of this snake with which I had a close encounter with just moments earlier. But I could not seem to find it. And I'll tell you what, this hospital was huge, I noticed. But stranger yet, I didn't come across anyone still, especially the staff.

Eventually, I came across the kids running by the hallway. And my best friend was with them. So I tagged along. Apparently, they found this area with a small inner courtyard surrounded by a walkway on four sides, and they wanted to show me something cool. Hey, I'm not going to complain about that. =)

When we got there, I could not believe my eyes. There were snakes galore. But mysteriously, the kids ran off again. And it was just my best friend and I. The suppressed Japanese tourist gene in me came out and I started taking pictures. At first I was standing kind of far away from these creatures that seem to be moving slowly and without regard of our presence. Then slowly I got bolder over time that I started taking the pictures real close. That was when one of them hanging off of a tree branch in the courtyard all curled up decided to lunge at me. I got away, but that was super close. I looked at the picture, and laughed, because you can see the snake with its mouth wide-open coming at the camera. I showed my best friend, and he laughed too.

We finally got bored of this, so we decided to go somewhere else. But we were lost. I did not know how to get back to my room. And somehow, we ended up at a wing where the hallways were narrower. And to my horror, there always one or two snakes in the hallways! Then I started feeling that my situation was getting worse. Each time we pass by a snake, it tried to strike us! Why?!? You would think that if they were going to have snakes in the hospital, especially in the nice courtyard, that they would have the safe, un-poisonous, and non-aggressive types. Looks like a few got loose.

So we decided that this is crap and we could not take it any more, so we ran into the first room we saw. There she was, my sister waiting for me in there, surrounded by a bunch of other people whom I did not recognize for the most part. Some old lady was weak and sitting up at her bed. Apparently everybody was waiting for someone. I asked Szu what was going on, and before she had a chance to respond, Kathy Griffin walked in. We hugged briefly, and thanked Szu and I for taking the time out of our busy schedule to swing by with her family while her aunt was sick.

Then everyone started grabbing a chair to sit down, but I decided to stand. My sister grabbed a chair and each time she tried to scoot into the circle that was forming, Kathy's relatives would scoot in a way to block her out of the circle. So Szu just gave up, thinking that we were not welcome. After all, we only know Kathy and none of her family members. After joking around with the sick aunt, which I have to say, the humor was apparent as a family trait, I bided farewell, gave Kathy another hug, and went back in search of my examination room, while Szu decided to stay.

On my way back, this time alone, things got direr. It was extremely stressful and scary, because I am extremely terrified of snakes. I mean, if it was at the zoo behind some glass or cage, that would not have been a problem, but when there was nothing between them and myself, with the occasional attacks, it was a huger problem for me!

Finally, I came across the biggest one there ever was. I was about to faint, but just kept my cool. I could see my room, and the only thing between that and myself was this big snake. Then it started to slither slowly towards me. I froze, thinking not to startle it with any sudden moves. But what do I do? It kept on getting closer and closer. And this one was a good twelve footer! And I could have sworn that it was looking right at me, coming towards me!

That was when I woke up. I have never sweated so much in bed, with the sheets around my legs soaking wet, and the back of my shirt was just as bad. And I had dripping sweat on my forehead. Normally I don't remember most of my dreams, but this one was so spooky and visual that it stuck in my head. The funny thing is that when you dream, sometimes you don't have a face to certain individuals, and I am puzzled as to who my best friend in the dream was. It wasn't Cesar, as the voice and accent didn't match. It wasn't anybody from my past, either. And when have I ever been a close friend with Kathy Griffin? Stranger yet is that I am not a particular fan of her either. What is the meaning of this dream? I just hope that I don't ever have a dejavu feeling of this in the future, because I don't think I can handle it.

Okay, now that I have put memory to paper {or digital blog}, I can now try to relax and distract myself with other less scary thoughts. That was way too weird! So now, the total count of dreams I explicitly remember with great details is five or six. Two from my childhood, and the rest from my adulthood. I still shudder from this past dream. Brr...