Chest Pains

As
a crane operator there are many risks involved in every lift. No matter
how well a lift is planned, there are still possibilities of problems
arising. The biggest fear for me is human error so, when there are risky
lifts coming up there is no wonder those problems can follow me to bed.

Saturday, February 18, 2012
I
was on a job with 3 other people where we were working to disassemble a
portal crane. Most of the crane had already been disassembled when I
arrived and there was only the base of the crane left. The base was
blocked up in the middle allowing us to remove the large section with
the traveling rollers. This section was about  thirty feet high and
long, with the width less then five.

Facing the narrow part of the base
from about twenty feet away, sat a 70 ton HTC (hydraulic mobile crane). I
had just come in on the shift and was asked by the supervisor (who
resembles the actor Edward James Olmos)  to rig up the rear of the base
while the foreman took care of the front. I wrapped the free end of the
cable around the base and made a choke. After finishing, I saw that the
foremen had rigged his part also but noticed that he had only cradled
his cable which would make the pick not only un-level but very unstable.

I
walked over to the foreman to let him know we needed to decide on which
technique to use. As I was talking with him, I heard the supervisor
yelling over to the operator in the HTC to hoist up. I began waving my
arms to get the operator’s attention, not believing that the supervisor
had jumped the gun without checking with me or the foreman.

The
operator’s attention was on the supervisor and the base. The operator
was also coming up much too fast. The front of the base came up first
causing the back to twist around toward the three of us on the ground.
The base shifted hard and kicked away from the HTC which overloaded the
crane and it began to tip forward. The tipping was fast and the operator
panicked.

He should have hoisted and boomed down quickly but instead he
held onto  his seat. The three of us ran as the base fell toward us. I
was closer to the crane so continued looking back. The crane’s body rose
to ninety degrees and the operator fell out of the cab. I watched in
horror as he hit the ground. The fall was only about ten feet but I knew
the 100,000 lb crane would fall over, crushing him.

   The ground began to rumble as tons of crane and crane base smashed
to the ground. I felt the breeze and shock of the ground as the boom of
the HTC landed a foot or two behind me. Once the noise and rumbling
stopped, I came to a stop. I turned to see the job site in a mess of
twisted metal.

I rushed over to the fallen operator who had luckily been
spared from the crushing burial of the crane;  however; he had been
struck in the chest by something and was in pain. He needed medical
attention but I had the feeling he would live. I heard a cry from the
foreman and ran over to him. He too had just missed the fallen steel of
both cranes and like the operator had the same chest injury. 

My
next move was to find the supervisor. I recalled seeing him running
around the falling base at the time to get to the other side. I found
him near where the base had been standing and he was surrounded by
twisted metal but none had fallen on him. I had to make my way over the
steel to him.

As with the other two men, I found him with the same chest
injury. I left him and made my way out of the debris in order to go get
help. Just as I was out on clear ground a pain began to well up in my
chest. The pain became so bad that I fell to the ground unable to
breath. Clutching my chest, I awoke from the pain.

Nomadic Displacement

With special permission from
my son Daniel, the names have not been changed to protect the
innocent.

Tuesday December 17, 1995

My father, my two sons Jonathan
and Daniel, and myself were in this dream. We were living in the age
of nomadic tribes. We were wearing thick furry skins of animals in
abundance, due to the extreme cold. At the time we were riding horses
through a mountainous area. My father, who is usually clean shaven,
wore a thick beard.

We were out on a hunt, but this
hunt was not for food. In our tribe each family held an idol
representing that family. The idol was more or less a family tree
that looked like the wooden frame of an umbrella without the cover.
Throughout the ribs and stretchers of the frame hung an heirloom
which represented one member of that family.

The top of the frame held the
heirloom of the head of the household, be it male or female. When a
child became an adult they would seek out something unusual: animals,
rocks, sticks, anything that would be considered one of a kind or
different that would represent them. When that person started his or
her own family, the heirloom would come off and be mounted on a newly
made idol that would represent that family.

We stopped on the top ridge of a
small hill. The purpose for this hunt was for Daniel to seek out an
icon for himself. Looking down the ridge, Daniel spotted a small
furry creature that we had never seen before. The animal was about
the size of a small dog with a round head; it had just came out from
underneath one of the many bushes along the hill. It moved slowly as
if deciding which way it wanted to go. It had not spotted us but
moved away slowly, down the hill.

We could only see parts of the
animal here and there due to the tall grass. What we could see, was
that the rear legs were shorter than the front legs and the paws
seemed to be turned backwards. Daniel got out his bow and arrow; my
father objected until we could get a closer look at the creature.
Daniel was afraid that if we tried to get closer it might run off and
we would lose it.

He said that the head of the
animal would be a great addition to our family heirloom, and then as
the top piece of his own once he started his own family. Before
anyone else could object, he pulled back on the string and shot. His
arrow hit through the midsection of the animal. The animal turned and
limped back over to the bush it had come out from under.

We raced down the hill to where
it had crawled under the bush. We got off our horses by the bush and
could see the back of the animal. The arrow was sticking out and the
animal was not breathing. Daniel reached under the bush and pulled
out the small creature by the hilt of the arrow. To our horror, we
all gazed down on a small infant child that we had mistaken for an
animal.

The child had been wrapped in furs to protect it from the
cold. Somehow it had become separated from the parents. Daniel was in
shock, as we all were, but not as much as Daniel. He wanted to bury
the child but my father said no. My father stated that Daniel had
chosen this to hang on his heirloom and he must. It would not be
right for Daniel to hide his sin.

The head had to be removed and
then hung on the heirloom. The act would be his punishment for
foolishly slaying a child. It would also from this day forward teach
him patience and respect for other life and next time he would not be
so fast to kill. Most of all he would never forget his sin. As Daniel
was doing this, a flood of memories came to me and I recalled our
lives back in Hampton, VA.

How or why we had ended up there in this
time and place I did not know but I told my father that I wished we
were living the life we had had back in Hampton. He said that was
only a day-to-day nonexistence and that we could not grow spiritually
there and  that here my sons would become real men that could
fear God. It was after this I awoke.

Animals, Bosses, and Buses, oh my!

This is one of three dreams I had this night. I am sure that two of these dreams coincide with each other. For one, I am trying to become more spiritual and flush out old resentments. It has not been easy due to some of those resentments have to do with being stabbed, harshly, in the back by a so called friend.

Friday, January 13, 2012; (Unconscious dreaming)

I was driving a charter bus and pulling into an empty parking lot to take on passengers later. I pulled the bus along the curb, leaving the cab a bit beyond it The bus was in two parts, the cab and the carrier. The owner of the bus showed up and did not like the way I had parked. He got into the bus and pulled it up into someones driveway in order to back up. An elderly female home owner was watching and came out when the driver had run over part of her yard.
The bus owner got out and exchanged words with the w

The bus owner got out and exchanged words with the woman, acting as though he had all rights to do whatever he pleased. While they still yelled at one another the man got back into the bus. and backed the bus down the woman’s driveway, running over the corner of a flower bed. The woman shouted, as he showed no concern. He came back down to the side of the curb I had parked by but he was unable to keep the bus straight. Time after time he backed the bus trying to place the entire bus along the curb.

The bus either ended up with the rear angled away from the curb or the front rolling up on the curb. From that point I do not recall what happened next but it was nighttime and the bus was in front of my home. I went out with a bucket and sponge in order to wash the bus. The trees along the left of my yard were gone and had been replaced by bushes. As I walked next to them I heard a loud rustling speeding through the bushes. By the sound of the commotion, it was two large dogs. I came very close to jumping in front of them to scare them. I changed my mine at the last minute and let them pass. As they ran out of the bushes just in front of me I saw a full grown male and female lion. My heart jumped in my throat as I thought how close I could have come to being torn apart, had I gone with my first plan.

I was frozen in fear but did not want to move in case I attracted their attention. Once they crossed the street, I would run back into the house. As they crossed Chesapeake Ave., two dogs were coming down the sidewalk from the east. The dogs ran for the lions and attacked. Right away the dogs knew they had taken on more than they could handle. The lions pounced but the dogs slid out from under and ran toward my yard. I dropped the bucket and ran for the front door. The lead dog which was a pit-bull saw me and knew I was running for the inside.

It too headed for my front door. As I jumped up on the porch the dog was just crossing the yard. The male lion which was behind him, passed the dog and headed toward me. I guess I made a more tempting meal. I swung the screen door open and reached for the door knob. A quick glance behind me revealed the lion leaping for the porch. I knew I would get the door open but also knew that the lion would be on top of me just as I entered. The fear was so bad that I woke up.

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Sharp Pains

This dream is one of three I had this same night. I do not mention the names of actual people in my dreams unless I get their permission, in which case I use the term John Doe for men and Jane Doe for women. In some very rare cases, John Doe has to be replaced by a more suitable name for the person. The title is the closest I can come up with for an ex-employer without getting too vulgar.

Wife: “Did you dream last night?”
Me: “Yes, it was a nightmare.” Shivering as I said it.
Wife: “Was it that bad?”
Me: “Yes. I’m not sure I want to talk about it.”
Wife: “Can you give me a hint?”
Me: “Dreamed I was back working for “A Sharp Little Pain.”
Wife: “That is a nightmarish dream. Pray that one doesn’t come true.”

Friday, January 13, 2012; (Unconscious dreaming)
I was working, once again, for “A Sharp Little Pain”, which means this dream was a nightmare. I was somewhere out in a large muddy pit. The air was frigid and I was damp from a previous rain. There were several others among the crew I was in and we were trying to load a tool trailer. We had been getting screamed and yelled at all day by, “A Sharp Little Pain” who as usual cared nothing for safety.

“A Sharp Little Pain” was now screaming at us to get the tools put away, but to his satisfaction. If the tool was not laid just right, he would scream for it to be brought out of the trailer and handed to the next man to place it correctly in the trailer. “A Sharp Little Pain” was even going to the point of screaming if our boots were not clean when stepping into the trailer, a task that was impossible due to the mud.

One of the men on the crew came up with the plan of having two men take their shoes off while in the trailer and the rest of us handing the tools to them. At that “A Sharp Little Pain” went furious and began jumping up and down in the mud which splashed over us.

“You don’t do the thinking here, I do!” he continued to shout and bounce. “No one is taking off their shoes unless I give the order!” he continued.

On the left side of the trailer stood, ‘A Sharp Big Pain’ who gave his son no feedback about how he was behaving. My mind boggled on how and when I had ended back up with these two. I was sure I needed the money but anything had to be better then this.

“Who got mud on the side of my trailer?” ‘A Sharp Little Pain’ screamed, stomping the ground.

“You did,” one of the men said. “You keep jumping up and down splashing in the mud,” he added.

“Are you f*king crazy?” ‘A Sharp Little Pain’ screamed as he came around from the side of the trailer to the man. ‘A Sharp Little Pain’ got nose to nose with the man who was much bigger then he was.

“You’re fired! You’re fired! Get your fat a** off my job!” The man looked at ‘A Sharp Little Pain’ then over to ‘A Sharp Big Pain’. ‘A Sharp Big Pain’ was larger then anyone else there and would protect his lunatic son. The man looked down and walked off the job.

“What are you people looking at?” he shouted as he went back into his hysterics. “Why isn’t this trailer loaded? Get to work!”

The next thing I recalled was driving home. I was miserable from the cold and mud and more so with the thought that I had to go back to work tomorrow. My phone was on the seat next to me and began to ring. I answered the call and it turned out to be from my present employer offering me a job but only if I could start the next day. I gratefully excepted. Arriving home, I saw ‘A Sharp Big Pain’ was in my house waiting on me for some unknown reason. Entering the kitchen, I found him scolding an employee, one who had been with us during the day. I watched as the crewman stood there daring not to speak for fear of being fired. My spirit was lifted knowing I no longer had to go through the belittling from him or his son.

‘A Sharp Big Pain’ had yet to realize I was standing in the kitchen with him. I raised my voice just as loud as I could and screamed, “Shut the f*k up!” ‘A Sharp Big Pain’ jumped at the shout and turned to me, speechless. I pointed to the front door and added in a scream that would overshadow any bellowing he or his son could put out.

“Get your fat a** out of my house! This is my house so don’t even respond, just get the f*k out!”

He closed his mouth and I led him to the front door. I held it open for him almost expecting him to hit me as he left. He did not even bother to look at me as he passed. I yelled a few more more expletives at him, informing him I would not be to work tomorrow. I then happily put everything I had into slamming the front door inches behind him. The slam woke me.

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