I know but one freedom, and that is the freedom of the mind. --Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Reading: Fire and Hemlock, Diane Wynne Jones
Listening to: Indigo Girls, Strange Fire
July 24, 1999
To Sleep, Perchance to Dream?
I don't usually remember my dreams. For the past two days, though, I've been having really vivid, frightening dreams that wake me up.
Friday morning, I dreamed that all the hallways in my office had turned into water, and the only way to get around the office was by using these narrow catwalks that were suspended a few inches about the water. Everything seemed fine at first, but I started to hear first a splash and then a scream. This happened several times, and when I finally got up to look, there were sharks in the water. I decided that I needed to warn my friends who work on the other side of the office, so I started making my way there on the catwalk. I could still hear splashes and screams. I woke up when one of the sharks burst out of the water and tried to drag me off the catwalk.
Last night was a more convoluted dream. In it, I woke up and decided that I didn't want to go to work, but I had to come up with a reason not to go. I decided that I'd tell the boss that my upstairs neighbor had had a heart attack, and I'd been up all night because of the ruckus. As soon as I came up with the story, I knew I couldn't use it, so I got dressed and left for work. I was running late, so I missed my regular train. I got on another train, and there was no one else on it. The train turned into a roller coaster. It finally jumped the tracks at a station I have never been to. I got off the train and stood with a bunch of other commuters who were waiting for another train. As I stood there, a stranger came up to me and pulled on a string that was hanging off my shirt. She kept pulling until she had unravelled the entire sleeve. I decided that now I had a real reason to go back home, so I got on the roller coaster train and headed home. I woke up just as the train was hurtling through the air toward my stop.
I have had a recurring dream for years now that has some elements in common with last night's dream. In the recurring dream, I am in my car, about to go over a bridge. As soon as I start across the bridge, the incline gets steeper and steeper, until the bridge turns into a roller coaster. This dream just scares the hell out of me. The uneasy feeling that the dream inspires lasts well into the day.
I'm not at all afraid of bridges, but roller coasters are not my favorite thing. I've only been on two my entire life, and I probably should have skipped the experience. (It was during senior week at college, and I was very badly hung over.)
These are probably all stress dreams, although I'm surprised that the setting is work and not home. Things at work have been good since they fired the idiot boss from hell, and I know I'm more stressed out about moving than I am about anything going on at work.
I was out running errands this morning. First I went to the PetSmart to get cat food for Casey. Then on to Rite Aide and the Acme for odds and ends. I needed to get a blank tape so I could tape Iron Chef for a friend.
I should have done something about some of the piles of books, but I was just not motivated. I took a long nap in the afternoon, ordered Chinese food for dinner (General Tso's chicken), and read most of the evening.