"I Was Bit by a Shark!"

Lately I've been having exceptionally strange dreams; last night was no different. The strange thing about last night's dream is that I couldn't stop thinking about it today...it keeps following me around. There were several elements/sub-plots to last night's dream, but the part that really stands out to me is where I am bitten by a shark.

I am on vacation with my family in some remote beach area surrounded by crystal-clear water and randomly occurring sandbars. On the biggest of the sandbars is a series of booths carved into the sand, identical to the booths you can find in a restaurant. However, you are sitting chest-deep in the water on sandy benches. I'm sitting in a booth with my parents, and swimming amongst us in the water are various tropical fish and three-foot sharks. My father decides that he wants to see the shark's teeth, much to my complete surprise and inevitable panic. My father corners a shark, reaches over, and pries open the shark's jaw. He examines the relatively undeveloped dentistry of this particular shark, which only has a single row of seemingly dull teeth. My father is not impressed.

Throughout all of this, I'm sitting in a corner of the booth, silently crying to myself and begging my father to stop. He won't listen. He corners shark after shark, becoming reckless in his quest to examine their teeth. He becomes completely fearless of them and begins placing his hands and arms inside their mouths; he now wants to experience what a bite feels like. Several of the sharks bite down on his arms and hands, but none cause any damage. At this point I am crying hysterically, incapable of forming any words, pulling helplessly at my father and trying to get him away from the sharks. Suddenly, a shark swims directly up to my father and stops inches away from his torso. My father leans down and looks the shark squarely in the eyes. Instantly, the shark lunges forward, rows and rows of sharp teeth exposed, latching on and baring down on my father's left shoulder.

My father is taken aback by this unexpected attack. He reels backwards, stumbling through the soft sand, and looks at me with sadness and a realization of imminent death. The shark swims away in a triumphant glory, satisfied by his damage done.

The next few moments are a blur, but in a sheer force of will, I am able to take my father's injury on as my own in order to spare his life. I knew that I would be capable of surviving the injury, whereas my father, in his old age and poor health, would not. He is instantly cured, not the slightest mark on him; I now bear the full extent of his injuries. I feel little pain. I slowly make my way to the shoreline, holding my gaping wound with my right hand, blood pouring through my shaking fingers. I am alone with my ordeal.

The dream continues on in ways that make even less sense. It was one of the more disturbing dreams I've had lately, which is probably why it's so fresh in my mind and why I can't shake it. And, like I said, it's been following me around all day today. Tonight, when I happen to turn on my computer, the first thing I see on Yahoo! news is this: Ryan Seacrest: "I Was Bit by a Shark!". I thought it was a joke. Seriously. What are the chances?

Here's a bit of the article:

On his KIIS-FM radio show Monday, Ryan Seacrest said he decided to take a dip in the ocean over the weekend when, he said, "I was bit by a shark!" Alas, the American Idol co-host, 33, wasn't hurt too badly, as he still went on the air to blab about it. But he's bitter. Asked by his radio co-host if anyone else got bit, Seacrest lamented: "No, just me, of course! There were like 1,000 people in the ocean, and I get bit by the shark!"

My favorite part? "But he's bitter." Really. I can't stop laughing.

UPDATE (8/5/08): I found out yesterday from a Facebook update that someone I went to high school with, Travis Kvadus, was bit by a shark over the weekend. That, grouped with my dream, Colleen's dream, and Ryan Seacrest's experience, I must say that Iamfreakingout.