a dreamy summer night at the carnival.

The date is November of 1959 in California. A fatigue man meets with his psychiatrist explaining his reasoning for forcing himself to not fall asleep, ever. Hardly able to explain himself while he fights to keep his eyes open, he tells the psychiatrist he will die of heart failure due to the triggering of a nightmare if he falls asleep. The nightmare takes place at a magical and eerie carnival on the Santa Monica Pier, where ferris wheel lights glimmer and sparkle like fireworks in the sky.

The man spots a woman, whose looks are fierce and intriguing, with cat-like eyes and hair as dark as midnight. She is dressed in the most fantastic gown of diamonds that would even make the jaw of Elizabeth Taylor drop. This woman was dangerously beautiful and had her eyes set on this man. Her name was Maya and she was a carnival dancer.  He couldn't resist her temptations, as he regretfully followed her through the glimmering lights. Dizzy and confused, he grabs her hand as she mysteriously smirks at him while luring him onto a wooden roller coaster in a fun house in an attempt to scare him to death.

 With no control, he begs her to let him off as she tosses her head back and cackles. The moonlight lights the surface of the ocean as the man looks out into the world he is about to leave. He grabs his heart and begins to drown in the noise of the witchy woman's cackles. Her cat eyes gaze into him as he sinks lower and lower into his seat.

The man wakes from his dreams as he finds himself laying on the couch of his psychiatrists office. When the receptionist walks into the room, in horror and disbelief, the man realizes that the woman looks exactly like Maya. Terrified, the man jumps out of the window to his death.

In reality, the doctor calls the receptionist into his office where the man is still lying on the couch with his eyes closed. The doctor begins to explain to the receptionist that the man had come into the office, laid down and then immediately fell asleep. Within a few minutes, the man let out a scream and died on the couch.

"Well I guess there are worse ways to go", the doctor says philosophically. "At least he died peacefully.... in the Twilight Zone.

This is one of my most favorite episodes of the Twilight Zone. Every time I go to a carnival it brings me back to this episode. You know I love eerie and mysterious thrilling stories and shows especially when its set in the 50's. This episode was obviously filmed in black and white, but the way that it was filmed and portrayed with the carnival, all of the lights, the fun house and roller coasters - not to mention Maya's outfit was nothing short of glamorous and perfect for the carnival occasion of the 50's.

Carnivals are always a place of interest, with carnies and flashy lights. The chaos and rush of it all brings me back to this episode. I feel as though carnivals are a place where time has consistently stood still. I'd like to believe that everything was the same back in the 50's as it was now- same rides, same food, same sorts of crowds and it gives you a whiff of nostalgia. Once again, I do live in a dream-like world of the past in which I have never lived in, so for me, Carnivals become very dreamy and it's exciting.

With all of this said, I had a field day on Saturday, as it was Steel Days in American Fork, Utah and we spent the whole day cheering on my favorite girl and cousin Estelle in the American Fork Parade. She's going into the 9th grade and is on the Freshmen Cheer squad and rocked it in the streets of Utah. She gets cuter and cuter every day. Following the parade I spent the whole day with my cousins at the public pool where we fooled around with underwater cameras, made up olympic pools games, ate popsicles and got fried. As for the night time, we continued our Steel Day shenanigans at the carnival where we literally rode every right in site no matter how long the lines were. We lost our voices and about spewed, but that didn't stop the Zoo and I from getting cheeseburgers on the ride home. It's summer days like this that really feels like the Sandlot, if you know what I mean. I love spending time with family, especially the younger ones. They are my favorite people in the whole wide world and they bring out the best side of me. I love feeling like a kid again and with them, every day is an adventure. What a fun weekend we had, one that I'll never forget.