Saturday, April 22, 2006

Sweet Dreams are made of these

Dreams are always a regular source of interest to me. I can go through long periods where I remember every dream and equally long periods where I can't remember a thing. I have dreams which leave memories strong enough to confuse me later on whether certain things have happened or not (usually details but occasionally events). There are themes which return, and then compelling ones that never come back.

Lately, I have had a rather memorable set of diverse dreams and fragments. One night I was running a slippery cross-country circuit, last night travelling and missing my flight, a few weeks ago I was viewing the destruction of Auckland to a tsunami, and another night I was touring around London with my eldest sister. Occasionally there would be something really out of leftfield or out of place which seems quite normal in the dream. This period has to be one of the longest streaks of rather mundane dreams where most things aren within the realms of reason - there is hardly any of the surreal or fantastic scenarios such as those I occasionally had with sharks and lions looming large.

I don't have more than a passing fancy in dream-interpretation. I go through times where I record my dreams and times when I wish I had - but only after the key details have faded from memory.

If I have any interesting dreams in the near future, I'll record them here, but anyone is welcome to record their dreams or thoughts about dreams.

10 comments:

Crypticity said...

23/4 A two-part dream, firstly starting with a Trailwalkeresque situation. Apparently my sister was walking and I was going to link up with her in the morning. I prepared in many ways and went to sleep but got up late. Suddenly there were the images of scenery photographs. Suddenly I was sleepily walking toward my two sisters. I said I can't remember arriving or what just happened except for the photograph like images. My sister took a photograph of me, and we walked on...

Then (pt2) suddenly I was behind the curtain for a public assembly prize giving. The main speaker/leader was getting things ready for presentation. I had some items that were meant for particular people, that were given to me personally. The boss thanked me but got my name wrong. After the prize giving I brought food out to the waiting people. Some of them looked like recent AIESEC members. I got spoons ready for a delicious looking cheesecake which was yellow and pink.

Crypticity said...

24/4
Two connecting fragments:

Andrew, James and I were in a gaming parlour. James presses the Start button and luckily there is a coin in the machine already so it starts up. AJ goes and plays it (a racing game of some kind). I go to the machine next to it, insert a $2 and start playing the game (a low-tech graphic racing game). I win the first race but then... (while engrossed in the game, my mind may have forgotten that I was in a games parlour, because suddenly I was on my computer at home) I had problems because my screen got knocked over, and soil tipped onto the keyboard, and cords were getting tied up. It was a mess. There were two young guys in the room. One tall another much younger. Someone else (a woman) came into the room and said we had to go. I siad I had to sort out the mess of the computer first. I got the taller guy to help. The younger was from an earlier part of the dream because he said something which connected somehow to a previous scene. Once everything was fine, we went outside where the lady told us she was going to teach us how to cook acorns.

Crypticity said...

25/4 Another two-parter with a vague beginning and clearer second part.

The first strand was before I woke up briefly: There was a war or battle that took place in three large chambers, each the size of a large cinema. We were in one of the centre parts and evacuated just before the two sides met. Outside we chatted as a tank was visibly moving through the chambers...

The second strand “I” / the protagonist (who looked like Will Smith) was on a train speeding along. “I” got off and went through a plaza but was stopped by a rotund policeman. He questioned “me” and then asked “me” about a cylindrical parcel “I” was carrying, he opened it, pulled out stuffing to reveal branches with green leaves (a bit like manuka leaves) he said it was marijuana and was giving “me” the usual trouble. That was when a gang approached and after the gang leader waved a pocket knife under the cops chin, the cop retreated. The gang leader sent out orders, “my” job was to buy food and also three toys. “I” asked why I should buy the toys. He said it was for the parents of the three children who died (in the war?)

Crypticity said...

A call from somewhere near Frankfurt on my cellphone at 5:30am shattered my sleep leaving nothing but dream fragments but here are the interesting things:

More climbing through bushland and mountains, hyaenas and lions (the wild animals have returned) and in probably their debut, The Silver Ferns.

Crypticity said...

No interruptions but not a clear plot or crisp enough memories, and even more surreal than normal.

I/we were camping out on University grounds. Xin was attacked by a serial murderer but I saved the day (and Xin). Afterwards, we ate from the chopped up remains of an 'eagle'. (Go figure).

Crypticity said...

28/5 The first half of the dream was not able to be recovered but it ended in a poor household where the children were very resourceful... Then I was on the Trailwalker in Auckland. My ankle was holding up well, and we flew through the inner city leg...

Crypticity said...

29/05 Lots of different threads...

We attended a speech. The speaker had a large box on the stage. I volunteered for a special role so I was I got up on the side of the stage, for some reason I thought I was invisible. Unfortunately, the speaker had told the crowd "He will think he's invisible." Anyway, I tried to shut the door on the special box and scare people...

Xin and I were climbing around a mangrove like tree. It was a challenge because it was easy to slip into the water. There were stones that you could step on in between. After I finally got round, getting my feet a little wet in the process, I went to the computer. Some children came over wanting to see what I was doing. I said I would set the computer up for games but first I would check the internet for news. I saw the news and set it up for games.

We all rushed to get to another speech by a lady. It was a highly boring speech. We got out of it.

My family were in the backyard doing things. My father pointed over to the yard of the neighbours. There was a humungous spider. He mentioned that when I heard the cricket score I would be surprised in a good way (this is actually true)...

Crypticity said...

30/4 We travelled through a bush path, over suspension bridges and muddy banks. We were being followed by some enraged Down's Syndome child, very short, but we were faster than him (oh non-PC dreams!). We kept going up and up, ahead there was a doorway leading into a wall and a youth was standing by it threatening us. I went up to him and grabbed him by his collar and asked him if he knew what respect was. He said he didn't. I resolved to teach him. We kept going up, not wanting the deranged child to catch up to us. We finally got to the top of the trail. And at the top it was a room. The room had a glass tube slide to the bottom of the trail. We went down to the bottom again (don't know how) but got confused how to actually get back to the trailhead. We wandered around and visited a nice lady's house and her children.

Several dream fragments - being in a procession going into a wedding celebration - Being subjects for some sort of experiments (?)

The last phase of my dreams was watching the rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet. The dream ended with the actual performance. The performance had been changed for some reason.

Crypticity said...

1/5

In the evening, the baby disappears. We go outside and search. There are so many cats everywhere. I chase them away, using the flashlights to look for the baby. We have to search below the branches of trees and crawl down low... suddenly this fellow approaches me from the dark. He has a magical look in his eyes. He says I should join 'them'. I said I didn't want to. But in the flick of an eye I flick the gun I have so it is pointing at his face. I comment that although he might have super-powers like me, but he was obviously a bit slow. He wandered away saying that I should make a wiser decision... back to looking for the baby, there were still cats a-plenty (suddenly in my mind if becomes Xin and the baby who had gone missing)...

(unintelligible fragment involving a big mound of dirt)

Despite Xin being missing, my family and I go shopping. We eat a nice restaurant. As I buying something or paying for the meal, suddenly I get a call on my cellphone. It's Xin berating me for buying a gift for my mother and not her. I tell her to calm down, and told her she missed out on a wonderful meal...

Crypticity said...

Man, you can tell I was writing the above dreams half asleep. So many mistakes. Anyway, due to catastrophically bad sleep last night, I have nothing to report in the way of dreams, so that above can be the last dream of the sequence reported (unless I have a ripsnorter of a dream later on~)