Only in Dreams

I Wish I'd Done Something With My Life, Something Safe It's So Useless

But in my dreams I'm much more adventure prone...

 

I’m in a really crowded urban area, in some sort of a coffee shop that is part of a large conglomeration of other shops and cafes.  A girl walks up to me from behind and starts yelling at me.  She is very scary and mean looking and acting crazy.  Apparently she is an old boyfriend’s new girlfriend, and she has prepared a scrapbook documenting her relationship with the guy to prove how great it is.  I'm not sure why she's telling me this, so I just ignore her and go on with my business.  This makes her upset and she and storms off, leaving behind her keys and wallet.  I'm annoyed by the interruption, so I chunk her keys and wallet across the busy room, but then feel bad because I don't want anyone to steal her id or car.  Then it turns out that she's called the police saying that I'm trying to attack her, and all of a sudden there is a manhunt out searching for ME!  

I turn into a super MacGyver like character, darting from building to building, ducking through obstacles, and carefully creeping around corners.  At one point I really really have to pee, so I make my way to a bathroom and start to go, but then friends who are looking out for me warn me that I’m making too much noise and tipping the cops off as to where I am.  Next I run into a lot with a bunch of abandoned cars.  I decide to hot wire one and try to make a get away.  I stealthily move from car to car, hoping to not be seen, but there are cops everywhere so I don’t make it very far.  Then my friend and I find these two guys who have no idea what’s going on, and we tell them we want to go back with them to their house and hang out and watch movies.  My friend keeps emphasizing how we have to pick out lots of movies to watch, as our plan is to hide out in their house until things clear over.  Then it turns out these guys still live with their parents, and their mom gets home and starts talking about how everyone’s looking for this particular girl, and starts describing me.  Then I wake up.

Anecdotally, while I had this dream about a month ago, yesterday there really was a manhunt of sorts for a crazy girl in my neighborhood who shot a family member.  And my puppy and I found ourselves right in the mix of things.  All of the sudden we see police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, and swat teams heading right up the street from where we were walking, with a number of helicopters swirling above us.  As we got closer, I heard from witnesses that the shooter, who apparently was off her meds, had fled the scene after firing three shots.  But it turns out that she was holing up in the house where the shooting occurred, and the police had an eight hour stand off until she finally gave herself up.  Crazy times in the neighborhood! 

You Can't Go Home Again

I'm in high school again, and so is my sister (even though in real life we were not in high school at the same time).  I'm wearing really short shorts, and just when it's time to go I realize that I really need to shave, but we don't have time.  In real life we lived right down the street from my high school, but in the dream we live somewhere else, so I am really excited that we actually have a drive and can listed to a few songs on the way.  My dad is driving my sister and me to school, and we decide to stop off at our old house.  We go in, and while it looks like someone else lives there, we don't think they're there, so we go into my old room and then I decide I need to look for a razor so I can shave.  We don't find one, and then we realize that the new owner is there, and he is not happy about us being there.  We look in the garage and he has what appears to be a really fancy compact car, but it is actually just a really fancy golf cart.  My dad says we have to leave, but me and my sister both really think we need to shave before going to school.  My dad ends up telling my sister we can skip school that day.  Being the goody-two shoes that I am, I can't believe he would say we can just skip school for the whole day, and as a compromise we decide that we'll just skip first period so we can shave but not miss the rest of the day.

 

As a side note, there was a teacher at my high school who was a short shorts nazi - she would stand in the hall just waiting to catch someone in violation of the dress code.  I've never been a big fan of someone telling me what I can and can't wear, so I would just try to avoid that teacher's hallway.  Perhaps this dream sums me up in a nutshell - not one to skip school (at least not the whole day without a good reason), but I ain’t gonna follow your stupid dress code.  

Fight For Your Right

Subconsciously I must be much more worried than I realized about the playing music too loud issue.  Shortly after remembering the dream about hearing my music from across the street, I had another dream involving loud music.  We were having some sort of party at my house, which was more like an apartment.  It was a small group, and things were really not out of control, but there was of course music playing, probably rather loudly.  At one point later in the night I go to check my answering machine, which is more of an email/phone message system, and notice that I have multiple messages from the apartment complex people saying we're being too loud, which is followed by some messages from the police, and then finally a message from the apartment people saying that because I ignored the other messages, I will be evicted!  I'm not too worried about it though, and think I'll just go back to the party and take care of it in the morning.

 

I Play My Music Louder Than You'd Like Me To

I'm always wondering if my neighbors can hear the music I play in my house.  Apparently this is something I worry about in my subconscious.  The other day while I was blasting a selection my ipod hadn't spit out in a long time, I suddenly remembered a part of a dream I had recently where I'm walking down the next street over from my house, and I was surprised to realize that you can hear my music from that far away!  I'm sure that's not the case in real life, but who knows, I've never actually tested it.  And in case you're wondering, I was playing some Springsteen in the dream.

So You Wanna Be A Rock 'n Roll Star

This dream was a random assortment of things that flowed from one thing to another.  At first, I’m going on a big trip overseas with my family – to Europe I think.  But it is a big ordeal trying to get everyone packed and to the airport on time.  Of course I have way too many bags that I’m trying to cart around.  Then it turns into me having to prepare and pack for a trial that is going to be out of town.  We have to get everything boxed up and shipped out.  I have to dig through all of these boxes that are in a storage room to find what I need, and I am really mad because no one is helping me.  There are people from other groups that are having to do the same thing, but they all have a lot of people helping them.  Then it turns into a concert that we are about to attend.  There is a band playing that in real life I had just heard on VH1 radio, and I realize that my friend from high school’s husband is the lead singer of the band.  This is really weird because he totally had an office job (I don’t know about in real life, but at least in my dream that’s what I thought), and then all of the sudden became a rock star.  Why can’t this be my life??  Instead I’m stuck with all the boxes.

The Birds

A few weeks ago I had a disturbing dream about birds.  I was holding two little white birds and lighting a candle near them.  The flames slightly touched the first one, and then it slowly started to melt away into nothing.  The other one was somehow my dog Oliver reincarnated as a bird.  He was fine at first because the flames didn't touch him, but then he started to melt away too until he turned into nothing!  This may not sound overly distressing (other than my dog being a bird and melting), but I woke up short of breath and with a horrible feeling about the dream.

This is what the dream dictionary has to say:

 

To dream of dead or dying birds foretells a period of coming disappointments. You will find yourself worrying over problems that are constantly on your mind.

 

Great.  That's just what I need.  Haven't I had enough disappointment?   And what type of disappointment is it supposed to be?  Who wants to live their life dreading some looming unknown disappointment?  

After reading the interpretation, I immediately decided that I didn’t like it and was not going to accept it.  The lawyer in me wanted to argue around it.  The birds weren't actually dead or dying - they melted away, which is obviously something completely different.  Maybe even something magical or supernatural.  I balked at this supposed interpretation and vowed to take things into my own hands and skip the disappointment.

But then the disappointment stated to come, in many different respects – in both big ways and small ways.  Maybe over time it won’t be lasting disappointment, either in that it wasn’t really anything significant in the grand scheme of things, or maybe what seemed disappointing at the time won’t actually turn out to be a bad thing.  Time will tell, I suppose.  But for now my dreams are freaking me out.  And I really hate birds.

Take It On The Run

I had another Veronica Mars like dream – although this was more of a mixture of Veronica along with Shawn and Gus type debacles (Shawn being the “psychic” detective from the show Psych who is always dragging his reluctant friend Gus into crazy situations they have to get themselves out of).  But instead of being a detective, I’m some sort of a political activist - for what, I’m not exactly sure.

 

At the beginning of this dream, I’m with two other people and we’re breaking into some sort of top-secret facility with lots of security devices.  We get in, but realize we have about five seconds before we’re detected and alarms will start to sound.  We manage to get out in time, and the next thing I know, I’m in some sort of an Ally McBeal like coed restroom with my boyfriend in the dream, who is not anyone that I know from real life, and we are trying to figure out our escape plan because the people from the place we broke into are after us.  I go into a stall, and all of the sudden a very short, yet very mean and scary looking guy is in there with me.  I realize that I am in trouble.  Because there are still other people in there and he doesn’t want them to realize he’s after me, he tries to say something innocuous about needing a ride to a party.  To alert the other people that something is wrong, I very loudly say “What, you need a ride to a party?  Why would you come into the stall to ask me that?”  Well this works, because some guys end up punching him out, and I grab his phone and a bunch of money and credit cards in his wallet before making a run for it. 

 

Once I’m outside, I totally start freaking out – I know I need to be running and get somewhere safe really fast, but I just don’t know what to do.  At first I think that I’m in New York by Central Park, but then I realize that I’m in DC.  I actually woke up at this point, feeling very stressed out, but glad this is just a dream.  But then I fall back asleep and go right back where I left off in the dream – which is very strange because this never happens to me.  So back in the dream, I decide the best thing to do is to take the subway because there will be a lot of people around me if anyone tries to attack me.  Then I realize that the short bad guy’s phone has a tracking device on it, so his bosses will know exactly where I am.  But then I decide that I will detach the tracking device and throw it onto a different train to throw them off. 

 

Next thing I know, I’m on the subway and I’m back with the boyfriend.  We’re discussing how we should just turn ourselves in and explain that we really weren’t trying to do anything wrong – we were just standing up for something we believe in.  I have no idea exactly what it was we were doing or why we were so passionate about it.  We decide that we should just go find my dad because he’ll be able to take care of everything.  Then there is a news bulletin on the TV on the train (fancy subway system, huh?).  It announces how there is a search out for us, and shows how we got these fake student id’s using aliases, but somehow they have figured out our real names and flash pictures of us.  A lady then walks up to me and says that I look a lot like the girl on TV.  I quickly tell her, “that is so weird, so many people today have been telling me that, but that’s not me.”  I explain that I’m actually several years older than that girl, so there’s no way it could be me.  She buys it, and we’re safe for the time being.

 

Once we arrive at our destination, I start freaking out about what we’re going to do next.  I try to quickly jump in a cab, but can’t find an open one.  Then I realize that I can just wear my black wig and this will prevent people from recognizing me.  I then end up on a train going to Chicago – I have no idea why.  But I look on facebook and one of my friends has posted a news story about me being on the run, and reports that I am on a train heading to Chicago.  It even has a tracker showing exactly where my train is.  I am so worried about what I’m going to do once the train stops, because I know everyone will be waiting for me when I get there.  Then I wake up, thankfully this time for good.

 

P.S. – There are rumors of a Veronica Mars movie in the making.  Hopefully they’ll do it justice!

I Am Just A Dreamer, And You Are Just A Dream (Maybe)

I used to pride myself on my “psychic dreams.”  It seemed like I was always dreaming about things that ended up coming to fruition in one way or another.  There was the time I dreamed that a good friend got a letter telling her she got into a school she wanted to attend only days before she got the news she was accepted.  I dreamed that a co-worker would be leaving several weeks before he announced his departure.  There's also the surreal feeling of arrving someplace (in real life) for the first time thinking that it all seems so familiar, only to realize that I have seen the place before – in a dream. 

 

But I haven’t had as many of these type of dreams in the past several years.  Or sometimes I'll have a dream that I have a very strong feeling about and just know that what I dreamed about will one day come to pass, but it never does.  So is there really such a thing as psychic dreams?  Maybe what I’ve thought to be this type of dream before was really just my brain subconsciously putting together things I’ve observed in my waking life.  Or maybe the dreams that leave me with a strong feeling about what will happen is nothing more than wishful thinking – hopes and desires manifesting themselves in a dream where things turn out exactly the way I think they should. 

 

My dream consultant (also known as my office neighbor) is not a believer in psychic dreams.  I’m starting now to lean in that direction.  But still I feel that dreams are powerful, and I can’t completely preclude the notion that we have the ability to predict what is to come through a dream.  Think of all the examples of forewarnings and predictions in dreams in the Bible – Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dream about the seven years of severe famine that was to follow seven years of abundance, and the dream warning Mary and Joseph to escape to Egypt to avoid Herod’s killing the infants, to name a few.  I've even had a few dreams lately that I'd say pretty squarely fall into the psychic dream category - so maybe my psychic abilities are back.  Perhaps it all is a question of deciphering between dreams that truly are intuitive versus ones that simply represent something you’re longing for.  But then how do you figure that out?

Umm, Why Do I Keep Dreaming About My Nails?? Vanity? Scandal?!

Within a span of a few days, I had several dreams about my fingernails.  Weird huh? In the first one, I was at some sort of a hearing that was supposedly in federal court in Galveston, but the courtroom looked like an old run down classroom with a bunch of card tables (who knows, maybe this is what it looks like after Hurricane Ike and the Judge Kent scandals – and I’ve never actually been there in real life).  For some reason there are all these people from my high school at the hearing.  At one point, I look down and notice that my nails, which in the dream I had just had French manicured, were all broken and the white tip part was chipped.  In real life I had just gotten my nails done, but painted with one of my favorite warm red colors “20 Candles On My Cake” (I wish!!).  I usually get a more neutral color because I hate it when the color chips, and you can’t tell as much with something neutral.  Whenver I do get a color I am always paranoid about it chipping right away.

 

In the next dream I’m at some sort of party that my friend hosted.  I decide to be helpful and wash the dishes, but half way through I realize that I have totally chipped my nails (this time painted the red color), and then I am very angry that washing the dishes has caused this to happen.

 

I don’t think I’ve ever dreamed so prevalently about my nails, so I decided to consult dream dictionaries.  These are usually not entirely helpful because the words they include are not always sufficient to describe my dreams, but they can be interesting.  So here’s what a variety of dream dictionaries had to say about dreams involving fingernails:

 

To dream that you broke a fingernail suggests that you are trying to avoid some situation or get out of a responsibility.  Or, the dream may reflect your self image – you are overly concerned with how others perceive you.

 

To dream of polishing your nails is a warning against impulsive behavior that could lead to a scandal.

 

Dreaming of well-kept fingernails symbolizes your intelligence and ability to learn, and denotes that you are well cultured and have a high literary mind.

 

Well, I really don't care all that much about what other people think of me (or how they think my nails look), and I hope there aren't any scandals brewing on my horizon.  And I generally am pretty good about accepting responsibility.  I just like for my nails to lok nce, is that too much too ask?  So maybe according to my dreams I'm striving for intelligence, culture, and a "high literary mind," but I guess I'm just not there.  Oh well, I'll just get my nails done again and maybe I'll be one step closer.

School Daze

This past week I’ve had several vignettes in dreams involving being back in school in one way or another.  In the first one, I’m with my sister in some sort of field on a college campus.  There are these crab-like insects that keep attacking us.  They attach themselves to our arms, and as soon as we pull one of them off, another one jumps up to attack.  Then I notice as my sister is pulling one off of her arm that it is leaving a syringe stuck in her arm.  Weird.  And gross!

 

In another dream segment the same night, I’m in my sixth grade classroom – well, it doesn’t look exactly like it really looked, but in the dream I’m basically back in elementary school, and we’re all throwing our books all over the room and running around acting crazy.  Sadly, this is something we often did in junior high right before the teacher started the class.  Very mature, I know, but we were only in junior high after all.  But in the dream, while we have been sixth graders running around, we suddenly turn into ourselves now, and there are students that actually are in sixth grade at this time.  That’s about all I remember about this one.

A few nights later I dream that I’m in high school, and I have totally zoned out on the beginning of a new semester.  I don’t have any books, and I don’t even know what classes I’m taking or what my schedule is.  Then I’m walking around an empty hallway with one of my sister’s friends.  The principal or a teacher stops us, and my sister’s friend is getting in trouble for something, but we don’t really know what she was doing wrong.  She just keeps laughing and laughing, and each time the principal keeps writing her up and she is getting in more trouble.  Then I start laughing a lot too, and think that I’m probably also about to be in trouble for whatever it is.  But then that’s all I remember.