Since coming to Taiwan, I've been watching a lot of National Geographic and Discover channel. There are always shows with people catching and relocating crocodiles, or catching snakes for their venom. A few nights ago, I caught the second half of a show about a crocodile and snake handler explaining and showing footage of a few "oopsie" moments where he gets bitten. The last of such clips was when he was bitten by a cobra, and had to wait about 2 hours before paramedics were able to get an anti-venom to him while the snake's venom ate through his stomach wound making a hole in the flesh. Any longer and he would have died.

Anyway, I had a dream last night that I was handling snakes. Like most dreams, you never know how it got to be that way. But it didn't matter. There was a viper under my blanket (I wasn't under it), and it needed handling. I removed the blanket, and just avoided a quick strike by the reptile. Then, I cleverly did what any person in that situation would do: I copied the professionals. I held its head down by pressing a long object with a flat edge on the back of its neck. And then, I reached down to grab its head. Seen them do that on TV a million times. Sure, it was my first time, but what could go wrong?

Now, I reached down and took a hold of its head, and as I released a bit of pressure off the back of its neck, the darn thing manages to turn its head sideways and sink it's fangs into my hand. The weird thing is, I actually thought I felt the bite on my hand (in real life) and boy it was not fun! With its teeth still buried into my hand, I quickly panicked thinking about what I needed to do. The first smart thing was to flip out and try flinging the snake off me, and that didn't work. The toxins were working their way through my body, and I knew I was just waiting for death. My head felt woozy and I was only able to gather a few thoughts before it happened...

I woke up.

Perhaps I should stop watching these "educational" shows.