Dreamland

[Trebuchet]

I see enough "weird dream I had" posts here that I've decided they deserve their own thread. I wake up pretty much every morning and think "Wow, that was goofy!" so I should have plenty to contribute.

First, for the students here: You know that recurring nightmare where you're late for an exam and can't remember where the room is or even what the subject was? The one you probably think will stop happening once you graduate? I just signed up for Medicare and still have those from time to time.

Now that I've retired, of course, it's more common for me to have "back at work" dreams. They're all a little different but have common elements: First, the physical work environment NEVER bears any resemblance to any place I've actually worked. (That applies to the school ones as well.) Second, I've usually gone back to work after retirement, have been there some time, and have just realized I've been working but not turning in time cards or getting paid. Third, I realize it's been some time since I logged into my computer and checked e-mail, but have no idea how to do that. Finally, I often get done for the day and spend the rest of the dream wandering around an endless parking lot trying to find my car -- usually a car I haven't actually had for some years.

I did have a good "work" one the other night in which I had to go join some other engineers in a flight simulator -- something I've done in real life. If the real simulators had graphics like the one in the dream, nobody'd ever leave them!

Yours??

[Solfe]

I have lucid dreams which are really strange. The lucid bit tends to be along the lines of always being aware of being asleep and dreaming. Often, I encounter someone who will ask "What is this dream about?" They seem to expect an answer, but I usually don't answer. I often dream about the same themes, although the details change wildly.

I seem to think I can change things but the only thing I can say for certain is that I can wake up from a dream at will. It is usually with a start and my wife hates this. I can't say I like much either, because I can't to get back to sleep.

The best dream I ever had was about entering a darkened, abandoned house only to find my wife, family and friends waiting in the backyard. It was just like my wedding day, except it was outside because everyone could fly and did. Pretty awesome.

My worst dream was about being threatened by some sort of creature that appeared to be a young blond girl, about 11 years old. This was one of those dreams where I could see myself from the outside like a film. I had a sense that this girl was not a child at all. I was waiting for my wife at an outdoor cafe when the demon child showed up. She spoke in a barking language that clearly upset other patrons as they fled. My wife showed up and took a seat. The demon girl kicked it into high gear and started this barking chant. The sky changed from deep blue to oppressively too bright, blue.

My wife grabbed my hand and I said "Let's get out of here."

My wife shook her head and said "No, you need to wake up. NOW!" As soon as she said that, the girl rushed us, flipped the table and continued running forward. She was quickly advancing on my point of view. Not the dream version of me, but the location that I, as the dreamer perceived myself to be.

I woke up immediately. This was the start of long week of dreams about this demon child. I had about five dreams about her. She was not a fun figment of my psyche.

[Tog]

I had one last night that centered on an old typewriter with a way cool spy feature. It was developed around 1950 by Smith-Corona and was a large portable unit which was 100% manual. Somehow, it had a way to determine it's latitude and longitude and encode that position into the serifs and kerning of anything it typed. I woke up, excited about this idea and wanting to jot down some basics before I forgot them, and when I started to, I realized I had no clue how it would actually work.

[BigDon]

Man, I've been having this messed up recurring dream where I'm in a Mr. Magoo-as-Ebineezer-Scrooge in his nightshirt at the cemetary moment.

I'm looking at this stele and written on it are these names:

Buddy Holly

Jim Croce

Stevie Ray Vaughan

But then the names continue on to include entertainers who are still around!

I wouldn't have said anything thing but one of the names on the dream-stele Twittered last month how much she hates flying in small commercial aircraft to get to engagements.

Gawd I hate it when reality encourages my delusions!

[Noclevername]

About two hours ago I woke up from a dream so weird and terrible and wonderful and complex that I barely know how to describe it. In fact I'm not sure I can describe it in any way that makes sense.

It started with an ordinary guy, an office drone working in a boring job. Somehow behind the scenes there were a couple of scientists who wanted to perform social experiments on him. But somewhere along the line he walked past them and went into the wrong door, where he was kidnapped along with his wife (I don't know how she got there) and was put through a long series of humiliating torments. Somehow he found a way out, and was somehow indirectly responsible for triggering a technological singularity, which led to an almost utopian society; until he also causes an accidental offense on a subway (the exact nature of which I cant recall right now) makes things go horribly wrong, with a single argument snowballing into worldwide strife and leads to an apocalyptic war.

At first there's just struggle in the ruins, but people begin to find old books and rebuild societies. They share and copy their books, build a great library, and technology re-advances to the point of computer access cards, which the library gives away for free. Somehow again, a single coincidental piece of bad luck in the library leads to an argument that gains followers and grows into another impending war, this one fought with grey goo, which could potentially wipe out the rest of humanity.

The two scientists from the beginning era of the dream, were now somehow nanotechnologists instead of social scientists, and they design a way to reprogram the goo to only destroy nonliving things, and so everyone becomes primitives in a Flintstone-esque (or Gilliganite) stone age. They begin writing equations in the sand, trying to return to their previous lifestyle, and somehow the whole of history and development starts to repeat itself with minor variations. While most people don't (for some reason) seem to remember their previous repeats, slowly the two science guys become aware of the looping history, and over many spiralling changes manage to solve an equation that lets them control the process and finally eliminate the bad luck that led to the accidental triggers.

I'm leaving out an enormous amount of details in this summary: Various individuals who also interact with the main players, various stages along the path to the singularity, a giant library card that needs 20 people to carry it, national and racial strife leading up to the wars, jet powered trains, clockwork orreries, hovercar canals, a recurring mall food court, competing sports teams, the Jetsons and the Jeffersons (or people similar to their main characters), a Mars colony started during one of the post-singularity times that is apparently outside the time-loops and watches Eath with bemusement, the bizarre vortex-like swirl of ideas and images when the timeloops get progressively faster until it's all mushed together, and of course the theme music and the ending credits. Plus a postscript that seems to indicate that Mars is about to undergo the same thing all over again.

It was just a short nap.

[Taeolas]

This morning was a strange one. I dreamed I was going back to University (UWaterloo) for some reason, but I still had my job here in New Brunswick somehow. I drove around campus a bit, then headed to my dorm room (and for some reason had to drive OVER a car that was parked in the road). Next morning, I 'knew' I had classes, but I was working for a company called RARE (and I don't think it was the game company, but I have no clue what it was, other than thinking 'why aren't I working for <current company> any more?'.

I got to my car ( I don't even have a car IRL), watched someone else drive over the car I drove over earlier, then had to drive over that car again. I then started noticing people were acting strangely, so I stopped at a physics building where people apparently knew me (even though I never took more than basic Physics in University). It became more of a zombie-movie style from there, with me running into a classroom with a couple other normal people, where the Professor knew me. We got into a lab with a heavy door that we could seal to hide from Everyone Else, who were apparently being taken over by a hive mind (think Borg) of some sort.

I woke up for the day shortly after that so I have no idea what was going on beyond that.

I know I've had other dreams just as strange, but this one I managed to remember for a few hours now. What's sort've strange, is the people and places in the dream were familiar, but I couldn't begin to describe them, other than knowing they weren't real places or people.

[Perikles]

I'm sick of dreams, and am always glad to be able to wake up. Often, they are such rubbish that I get annoyed, and realising it must be a dream I force myself to wake.

But I have two reoccurring dreams which I've had all my life. 1) I'm about to go on stage to perform something, usually Shakespeare, and I've forgotten my lines. 2) I'm about to sit an exam and can't remember a single thing about the topic, which is usually physics.

Doubtless these types of dreams can be 'interpreted' as some inadequacy which I actually don't feel in real life.

I'm baffled as to why a dream is usually connected with something pleasant. I've never had a pleasant dream ever.

[starcanuck64]

First, for the students here: You know that recurring nightmare where you're late for an exam and can't remember where the room is or even what the subject was? The one you probably think will stop happening once you graduate? I just signed up for Medicare and still have those from time to time.

Yours??

I made several "interrupted" attempts at getting a degree so my dreams about college were a little more involved.

The dream would start with the first day of college, I'd get registered and find out where all my classes were. I'd make lists of my class schedule and post copies inside my locker and in all my binders so I'd never forget where I was supposed to be and what class it was. Then I'd start losing the lists and forgetting which class I was supposed to be taking, by the end of the dream it was exam time and I hadn't gone to class for weeks and was totally lost. I'd wake up from those in a cold sweat.

Successfully completing some part time college courses years later helped make them go away.

[starcanuck64]

cleves dream reminded me of another very vivid dream I had years ago.

In it I was a scientist with a revolutionary theory about lunar geology, I think it was that the Moon had a liquid core and I knew how to prove it. The experiment involved drilling a deep shaft and detonating a very large thermonuclear device to send out a seismic wave then read the returns to see if the core was liquid. The only problem was most other scientists were warning me that if the core wasn't molten the Moon would shatter.

But I was firmly convinced I was right and went ahead with the operation without authorization. Of course I was wrong and the explosion did shatter the Moon and the rest of the dream was about mankind trying to survive the constant bombardment of the Earth by huge chunks of the Moon coming down. The last bit of the dream was a huge fireball coming directly towards me at which point I woke up.

[Buttercup]

As a kid and until 5 years ago, I dreamed every night. And recalled them upon awakening.

That's since changed. Now it's mostly "I don't recall" or I didn't dream. But when I do dream, they're rich in archetypal content.

The most common *anxiety* dream I have is suddenly quitting my job. Then I'm scared, wondering why I did that?? What if I can't find another job soon? Bills! And then I go back to employer and ask to be rehired.

[redshifter]

I must be the lamest dreamer ever...my 'weird' dreams usually mean me showing up naked someplace and having that fact only slowly come to my realization...

[Trebuchet]

I had "work" ones the last two nights in a row. One of them I never even got into the office. Instead I realized, after dropping off the carpool I never had, that I didn't have the parking pass to be where I was and spent the rest of the dream driving around an increasingly bizarre parking lot in a car I owned quite a few years ago. Last night I came into the office after lunch and everyone was packing up to move to a different building. I've actually been through that 15 or 20 times but usually there's at least a little notice!

[Taeolas]

I've had other University Dreams before too. When I get my course schedule and know when all the courses are; but sometime later I suddenly realize it's weeks later and I can't remember having gone to one course (usually an artsy course), and Exams or Mid terms are coming up fast. I'm usually completely convinced that it's real when I'm dreaming.

[Noclevername]

Bump. This is the most recent weird-dream thread I could find.

I just got woken up from an enormously complex and developed dreamworld by an ill-timed phone call. It was one I wanted to document here before the details slip away.

It was set in and around a huge amusement park complex that I kept visiting. In addition to rides there were lots of shops, malls, restaurants and hotels. I and sometimes members of my family and/or a group of eccentric and varied friends would visit the park, usually entering through a complicated ride (although other entrances seemed to exist).

When the park had a theme (which varied during the course of the dream) it was a vague muddle of Tolkien, Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy/medieval stuff. The odd thing about that was that actual D&D-esque monsters and races existed and visited the park as well, along with several varieties of angels, demons and magic. At first it was merely about wandering through the park, riding rides, talking about endless numbers of things I can barely recall now, eating all sorts of foods, window-shopping for souvenirs, typical fun stuff. Occasionally I seemed to exit the park only to re-enter it under different circumstances and with different people. As the dream rolled on, more "characters" appeared, mostly nonhuman: me and my friends somehow developed a "rivalry" with another group of creatures, and a whole whole "plot" seemed to develop involving increasing amounts of fantasy elements, magic, demon-summoning, good/evil alignments, chasing jewel-like MacGuffins, and the occasional martial arts battle.

By the time I got forcibly awakened, I and my new silver chainmail had been merged with the Black Knight to form a giant grey-magic monster holding all the magic jewel/dice, and going on a rampage in the park against the rival group.

[Hlafordlaes]

Apart from all the dope-on-exam-day, or nude-at-school-desk, or running-from-danger-while-stuck-in-molasses repeating standbys, I have two others since childhood that pop up once in a while.

The first I thought was just a variation of the above, but it is sort of always true in real life. In the dream I am faced with a violent situation, and my arms won't move, move slowly, or pass through my opponent. In real life, whenever I am faced with a stand-off, which does happen in my profession, at the moment of truth I am always extremely hesitant to strike when it comes down to it. So much the better; keeps me out of trouble.

The second is always a lot more fun. I fall out of an airplane or from some great height, and invariably strike a very inclined snowy slope and tumble down it alive, or go whacking through a huge bunch of tree branches until I hit the ground and happily brush myself off (fell off the top of a tall pine tree once and did just that when a kid, and used to play sliding down a nearby little cliff face, too, so those must be the source.) It's scary at first, but I love that dream.

The recurring nightmare from real life puts me right back on that train trestle 50 meters above Rock Creek, just a little kid, stepping across spaces between rail ties that drop all the way down, with a train suddenly coming and I can't go faster because I am already scared out of my wits. Mom and Dad almost lost me that day, by about 30 seconds.

[Noclevername]

Usually my "get away from someone" nightmares are not stuck in molasses, but of the "everywhere I go they keep finding me" type. I've run through or into every type of building or structure, up and down stairs, through woods, caves, canyons and tunnels, across parking lots or city streets, climbed trees bigger than Yggdrasil, and so on. I've run, snuck, and sauntered, depending on the type of dream environment and circumstances, and who/what is chasing me. Usually it's a group of bullies, thugs, mooks, or ruffians of some sort (probably drawn from real-life experiences I've had), with the rare (usually unseen) monster or just unknown perceived threat.

[Trebuchet]

I've had some doozies (sp) the past few nights. Can't remember any details at all, of course, just waking up and thinking "Wow, that was a weird one!"

[Noclevername]

I may actually use the latest dream as inspiration for a story, it had a lot of detail.

[Trebuchet]

I may actually use the latest dream as inspiration for a story, it had a lot of detail.

If I could be half as creative when awake as I am in my dreams, I'd have it made!

[Noclevername]

If I could be half as creative when awake as I am in my dreams, I'd have it made!

When it's finally made, send it to me, I can use it.

[Buttercup]

I had a very lucid, odd dream this early a.m.

Husband and I visiting his sister (50 miles south). I notice something about her Christmas tree, mention I have something she might like for it. I decide to drive home to get it; husband stays behind, sis-in-law (R) comes with me. Turns out we're living in an apartment complex (in real life we're buying a home). And there are my keys, in the apartment doorknob (impossible, as car and home keys are on same ring)!! I'm startled, R's worried; surely someone must have gone into the apartment and stolen stuff!

We go in.

Turns out husband/my property are neatly placed in one room. Otherwise the apartment's been taken over by a college student who is claiming "squatter's rights."

We got into it. I told him there are no "squatter's rights" as the place wasn't vacated; I simply left my keys in the doorknob!! He continues arguing; I grab his computer and smash it on the floor, threaten to call the cops. He leaves.

I call the cops. Get the run-around. Cop is siding with the college student!! I'm again pressing the point, say "-BUT!!" ... and wake myself up saying that word, lol!

Relieved it was only a dream!

[Trebuchet]

I must have been having some sort of creepy one early this morning just before I got up to go to the bathroom, because as I stumbled through the dark I was suddenly alarmed by something coming into the room. Actually scared for a moment. It was just the cat.

[Ken G]

I call the cops. Get the run-around. Cop is siding with the college student!! I'm again pressing the point, say "-BUT!!" ... and wake myself up saying that word, lol!

Relieved it was only a dream!

If there is any meaning in that dream beyond a little game your mind played on you, I'd be asking: who was the squatter?

[Noclevername]

And how did you know he was a college student?

[Buttercup]

Ken G: I don't know.

And how did you know he was a college student?

He said he was. We live in a University town, my husband's currently taking classes at Community College, and close friends are involved with the University...so there's a lot of that in my life.

p.s.: Although, come to think of it, sometimes I have felt that University and Community College have too much presence in my life (as I personally have nothing to do with either)...so maybe it was a carry-over of "I'm tired of hearing about the University and Community College" (the dream student represents forces taking up too much of life [peripherally speaking]); like an intruder.

Guess that'd make sense.

I'll be glad when husband's graduated, so we can get on with our lives together.

[Noclevername]

Looking back, it seems almost half my current stories are directly based on dreams I've had. Bits and pieces of settings and events that I've dreamed about make it into almost all my fiction.

[Trebuchet]

I see dead people in my dreams. Not in a creepy way, I just frequently have dreams that include my late parents and other deceased relatives. I had quite a vivid one of those last night, with my late aunt and uncle as well as my parents. And several additional siblings I never had. What would Freud make of that!

[Ken G]

I don't know what Freud would say, but I know what I would: you are using your dreams to go beyond the limitations that life has imposed, limitations that perhaps you rail against at some level.

[Noclevername]

I see dead people in my dreams. Not in a creepy way, I just frequently have dreams that include my late parents and other deceased relatives. I had quite a vivid one of those last night, with my late aunt and uncle as well as my parents. And several additional siblings I never had. What would Freud make of that!

You are dreaming about your relatives because they still exist in your memory. I still have dreams of meeting and talking with long-dead family, friends and even pets. I also dream that I'm still close to people whom I haven't seen in years or, in some cases, who ended our friendship or relationship in anger.

[BigDon]

Clev, my good friend Ol' Weird Bob insists these are visitations from the afterlife.

Notice we don't call him Ol' Normal Bob.