I had a doozy of a dream last night. It starred Brittany Murphy, one of my all time favorite actors. She was hosting Saturday Night Live. Here's where things got weird. SNL was in Victoria. Outside. On Yates St. There were kites and remote-controlled PAPER airplanes. And Brittany was actually Sarah Jessica Parker. Even though she was Brittany.
Got that?
It wasn't the strangest dream I've ever had. That honor goes to the night that I dreamed that Ed Asner and I were fighting The Blob in the parking lot of the old Bay store. We were using toy laser guns and leading a whole gang of "Blob fighters." We won.
I've dreamed about improv. Years ago, royally pissed off at what I perceived as a lack of respect for the art from performers and audience members alike, I dreamed that I machine-gunned down everybody in the theatre, actors and audience.
Twice I dreamed this.
I've had many dreams about losing my teeth. Apparently, this is a subconscious sign that one's dreams or plans will crumble. And yes, my teeth did crumble in the dreams. More accurately, they fell out of my mouth like little Chiclets. Or Tic Tacs. I have long worried about losing my teeth, They're not in great shape. I have gum disease, bad fillings, and a lot of cavities. (Ooh! Sexy!)
Sometimes I dream that my teeth are falling out one by one. Or are about to. But something in my subconscious tells me to wake up before the disaster hits, and usually I do.
Sometimes in these "dental dreams" I am very aware that I'm dreaming. I screamed at myself to wake up the last time this particular dream occurred.
Even knowing that I'm experiencing a dream, it's still a relief to wake up and discover that, for one more day at least, I still have all of my teeth.
There are, indeed, few better feelings for me than waking up and realizing that it was all "just a dream."
I once dreamed that my Grade Ten Science teacher (whom I liked) was a child molester. I couldn't look at him in the same way after that.
As a child, my greatest fear was that I would become separated from my mother. Lost forever. Not abducted. That never occurred to me. Just lost, and unable to be found. A recurring dream of my childhood was getting lost in The Bay (yes, it was always The Bay. My mother and I went there a lot.) I would run up - or down - the escalator in a panic. Frantic. Eventually I would fall down the escalator. It was always a slow motion, tumbling fall. Soundless. Soaring through the air. Always waking up before I hit the bottom.
I once jerked awake in the middle of the night, hands clutched tightly around my throat, gasping for breath. Strangling myself in my sleep. At least, that's what I've always believed that I was doing. But I have no memory of what I was dreaming.
Having no memories of my dreams is rare for me. I usually remember at least fragments.
I kept a dream journal for an entire year a few years ago. My plan was to write a play or perhaps several short stories based on my dreams. Never happened. It still remains a plan.
I dream in color.
Another favorite aspect of my dreams is knowing where I am, even though the dream location bears no resemblance to the real life location. The University of Victoria has been a 7 - 11, for example. Nobody in the dreams ever questions the location's change. It's what it is. In the dream world, everything is accepted.
Kind of like improv. Or, at least, what improv SHOULD be.
I'm an actor. Actors have dreams about being late, bombing on stage, being in the wrong play on the wrong night, and many more. Enough to fill a book. (Hey!) I have dreamed most of these, too. Most often it's being late, knowing that I'm late, and just not able to get there. Over the past few years, the "dream me" can't get to the venue because I can't walk. My knees and legs are weighted down and I can only crawl painfully.
My knees do hurt in real life. I may be developing arthritis. Maybe my acting dream is really a "scared of getting old dream?"
I have dreamed that I'm performing drunk, or have forgot my lines. But in these dreams my actions are deliberate. I WANT to get drunk. I WANT to forget my lines.
Rarely do I have sexual dreams. And when I do, they never involve anybody, real or imagined, whom I am actually attracted to.
I cannot remember ever having a dream where I'm naked and nobody else is. Apparently these nude dreams are fairly common. I'm still waiting.
Several years ago, I had a recurring dream in which my mouth was filled with black bile. It would spew out of me like endless lava. I would grab the stuff and break it off, but more would follow. Very scary. I had this dream at least once a month, sometimes more. It was during a relatively bad period in my life, a time when I was feeling alone, remorseful, and guilt-ridden. I've always believed that the "bile dream" was my soul trying to cleanse itself. It's been at least three years now since I've experienced this dream. A good sign?
I don't drive. Have never had my license. Yet in most dreams involving a vehicle, I'm the driver. Occasionally I've "borrowed" a friend's car and gone driving. That's the dream. Me. Driving.
Real life sometimes creeps into my dreams, especially where money is concerned. I usually have the exact amount of money on me in a dream as I do in reality.
I finish dreams, sometimes after I wake up. I've also started dreaming in serial. Episodic dreams have occasionally reran in my head, with some of the same characters. I doubt that this is unheard of, but it sure is awesome.
Since I became an avid reader of detective stories, I sometimes dream the book which I am currently reading. Or I write a new chapter in my sleep.
This is also awesome.
Every now and then, the first thought I have when waking up was the last thought I had before drifting off.
