So, I had this really weird dream last night…
(ooh! THAT’s a real rousing start to a thread! Nothing says “interesting” like some random asshole on a message board spewing out his inner life for all to see. But I digress…)
So I had this really weird dream last night. But first some background. I have a recurring dream–well, not so much a recurring dream as a dream template. The details change, but the basic pattern is the same. I am in my (home / secret underground base / dorm room / beach house) preparing to leave with a (group of friends / family / platoon / kindergarten class) to go to the (candy store / concert / orgy / catch the last plane out of the doomed city). There is much running around and preparing involved in whatever the hell we’re doing, but finally the (car / spaceship / submarine / covered wagon) is packed with all of the supplies we need and everyone is buckling their seatbelts. I suddenly realize that I forgot my (teddy bear / laser cannon / wallet / hooker). Whatever it is, I must have it and tell my companions to wait just a moment while I run back into the (apartment building / space station / tent / log cabin) to retrieve it. I know exactly where it is, I say, so it will only take a second. Once inside, I discover that the (geodesic dome / huge mansion / hogan / fire station) has radically changed in the short time I was outside and now resembles a maze. I run around in a blind panic. It takes hours to find my (fake moustache / hat / pills / backpack), and then even more time to find my way back outside where I discover that the (airplane / armored personell carrier / rocket ship / horsedrawn carraige) is gone. Sometimes there is a note saying “We couldn’t wait any longer and had to leave you.” I totally freak out and (collapse in tears / am vaporized in a nuclear holocaust of alien origin / don’t get any candy).
At one point I was having this dream so much that it was making me very angry. I learned to recognize the dream template and sometimes would stop right in the middle of the dream and scream “This is that stupid dream again!” Eventually, the frequency of the dream diminished.
So last night, I dream that I am in the gynmasium of my old elementary school sitting on the bleachers with some people who I assumed were my friends, even though I didn’t recognize them. We are all adults, but this doesn’t seem to be much of a problem. My co worker and friend Trillian* appears and I ask her how the book fair is going. She says that the scheduled guest of honor, a famous author, has not yet arrived and she’s getting worried. I say, relax, he’ll show. Then I play some dodge ball. Later, Trillian returns. The author has still not shown up and she’s beside herself. Calm down, I say. Do you have his cell phone number? Can you call the airport and see if his flight has been delayed? She says she’s tried that, and hasn’t gotten an answer. Then she leaves and I play some more dodge ball. Moments later she returns in tears. She says that while she was talking to me the famous author showed up, couldn’t find her, got mad, and left. Now the book fair is ruined. I say, damn, that sucks, but you know, I have this dream sometimes where I’m trying to leave a place but can’t find my keys or whatever and eventually get left behind by my companions. Isn’t that odd that something similar just happened to you?
AARGH!
So I guess that my subconcious has tried to do an end run around my conscious mind by folding the old recurring dream into a new dream and then bending the new dream back to the old dream. My dreams have become self-referential! Is there a deconstructionist in the house?
*names have been changed to protect the sane.