Writers Block: Dreams

[shipperx]

:
Do you usually remember your dreams at night? Do you analyze and/or record your dreams in your journal? Are there any recurring themes?

Submitted By detroitlions60

More often than not, I don't remember my dreams. When I remember them it's usually because they either struck me as quite odd/interesting/wha-huh? or because they frightened me.  I don't frequently have nightmares so when I do I tend to remember them. For instance, last week, I remember having one that was at least partially a memory and partially just fear.

A few months ago I had someone come to my door late at night and knocked -- repeatedly -- then tried the door knob. This scared the crap out of me, and I suppose it belatedly made it into a nightmare that I had last week where the same incident happened in my dream only, as I stood in the hallway, the person magically appeared in my foyer... and it was Capt. Phil, the crab-fishing sea captain that died on The Deadliest Catch... only it wasn't the guy who seemed so nice on the show.  He was terrifying and ghostly, and I tried to get away, grabbing my keys to hit the car alarm button that just wouldn't go off while I hit the garage door opener to escape out the back before running to my neighbor's house screaming for Mr. Horton to open the door... while Capt. Phil stole my car...

Huh.

I have no explanation for the dream.  None at all.

Recurring dream throughout my life:  Realizing that I have missed an entire semester (or more) of calculus (university or high school.  It could be either), haven't attended classes, don't know when or where the class was to meet, but knowing that  I will flunk unless I make an 'A' on the final exam... and I always hated calculus and haven't had the class in a bazillion years and how the frell am I to pass a final exam on it?!

And last night I actually had a dream about BtVS's Spike... which really doesn't happen much... if ever.  But I remember being vaguely aware that it's been ten years since Season 5.  I'm guessing that I was working out fanfic in my sleep because the area of the fic that I'm working on harkens back to Season 5.  That's all I've got on that one.

Then there was the twilight sleep/dream thing this morning where my alarm clock/radio went off but I wasn't quite awake yet, and the radio station was playing one of those perfectly horrible political ads that I suppose the state is becoming notorious for and in my still mostly asleep head, the whole thing was coming off as a bizarre spoof of really, really bad political ads.  Then my awake self kicked in and realized that horrible as it may be... that's a real ad.

So, I guess, recently I remember more dreams than I thought  I did... or something.

Comments

[sp23.livejournal.com]

I had a zombie!apocalypse dream the other night, and you'd think it'd be all Oh, Horrors! But, no, I totally loved that dream. LOL

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Hee!

Okay, I have had a vampire or two show up in dreams, but never a zombie. :)

[rahirah]

That's weird, Spike showed up in my dreams last night too - but then he transformed into Sock from Reaper. Wearing a Speedo and complaining that his balls were chafed.

And people wonder why I sleep with girls...

[ceallaigh-hk.livejournal.com]

so what did you do about said chafed balls?

You must have baby powder or something at Chez Barb.

[rahirah]

Yeah, but in the dream we were in some random restaurant. And my mom was involved somehow or other, and there was a plot afoot I can't remember, and really, I'm just as glad to forget the details of this one. *g*

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Okay, your mom becoming involved is just weird. >:)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Spike into Sock. Hee! That's... interesting.

[ceallaigh-hk.livejournal.com]

Realizing that I have missed an entire semester (or more) of calculus (university or high school. It could be either), haven't attended classes, don't know when or where the class was to meet, but knowing that I will flunk unless I make an 'A' on the final exam... and I always hated calculus and haven't had the class in a bazillion years and how the frell am I to pass a final exam on it?!

I have similar type of dream. But it's either chemistry or molecular biology. It comes down to the final (That's also in another language) OR I haven't gone to lab all semester and will fail as a result of that.

there's a third involving a thesis, but I've written said thesis, but there's the added troll logic that I never finished my liberal arts honors thesis, therefore I never received my BS, which then nullifies my MD. And if I'm really lucky, I also haven't paid my rent to my landlord in six months for time I never really lived in my apartment.

when I hit the trifecta, I know it's time for a vacation.

[jerrymcl89.livejournal.com]

I thought only people like me that must feel guilty about not going to class more got the dream of having a final for a class they've never been to, which in my case includes not even knowing where it is. I used to get that more, but still do occasionally.

[ceallaigh-hk.livejournal.com]

And do you have the dream where you can't remember a/ your class schedule or b/ your locker combination?

[jerrymcl89.livejournal.com]

Not really. I get ones where the bus is coming and it's incredibly hard to get dressed in time.

The weirdest of all dreams are the ones where I think I've woken up but I haven't, and I can't really move. Those always throw me for a loop.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I have the one about not knowing your class schedule. I can't remember which day the class is supposed to be or what building the class was supposed to be in!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

which in my case includes not even knowing where it is

Not alone. That often features in my dream as well. I don't know the schedule. When was I supposed to attend the class? What building is the class in? Who is my professor? How did I miss it for an entire semester?! I'm going to faillllll!!!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I've never had it involve my thesis. Which is odd considering that I actually did have a full on panic attack midway through writing it. But the stuff from architecture never features in the dream. It's always calculus. I'm not at all sure of the reason for that. Maybe I felt more incompetent at calculus?

I have had the dream that somehow or another I didn't graduate high school, so despite my degree I have to go back and take a high school final exam in... calculus. EEEEeeeee!

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Wow, I get these school dreams all the time, too. Sometimes ones where I find out that somehow my high school diploma isn't valid, and I have to give up my life in NYC and go back to my middle-of-nowhere high school to finish up senior year. Also ones where I'm running around trying to get to class, knowing I'm late, being totally lost, realizing I don't have my books and haven't been to class all semester and am doomed to fail even if I do manage to find the class. The worst is a recurring nightmare that I'm failing Mrs. Botta's 12th grade pre-calc class (which IRL is a class I did fine in)--usually I'm at or trying to find the final exam, upon which my ability to graduate depends, and I know I can't pass it. (I've noticed I tend to have this one most often when I'm stressed at work and feeling behind on my responsibilities.)

I wonder what it is in our cultural consciousness that leads to so many people having virtually the same dreams.