Friday, August 8, 2008

Dream a Little Dream

In my Psychology class we do a unit on dreams and consciousness. During the unit I have my students keep a dream diary for two weeks (b/c we all dream) and then they have to take three of their dreams and analyze them. It's really interesting to hear what's going on in a person's subconscious. I've always been fascinated by dreams. I think it's because I have such weird, vivid dreams and I'm slightly scared that I'm abnormal. The other night I had this dream that I was driving to Lansing to check out where Ben and I could park for our upcoming excursion to Wicked (that's right...I'm seeing Wicked in 1 day!!!). So I'm driving and I think I'm in Lansing when all of the sudden I'm in Puerto Rico driving to the mall. Then this guy pulls into my lane and broad-sides me and starts screaming at me in Spanish. And since I'm not real great with the Spanish language, I'm sure he was just speaking gibberesh. So then I'm like, "I need to get back to Lansing...I'll just take the freeway to get home." I guess the ocean didn't pose as big a problem. So I'm trying to find the freeway but all the signs are in Spanish. Then I see a sign that says, "I-94 oeste". So, I think my problems are solved until broad-sided guy is on my tale screaming at me in Spanish. Then I woke up.

So this dream got me thinking about my weird dreams and my recurring dreams. So here are three dreams that I seem to have at least once a week.

Dream #1: I'm the lead in a musical and it's opening night and I don't know any of my lines or songs. I don't have my costumes and the curtain is about to open. Then the dream takes a variation on me either going on stage and making up songs or me going on stage and realizing no one is in the audience.

Dream #2: I'm signed up for this college class, but I keep forgetting that I'm signed up for it, so I never go. Then the end of the semester comes along and I have to take a final in this class that I've never been to and which I need to graduate. I go to the class and get the final and know nothing on the test! I freak out and usually start crying or yelling.

Dream #3 (this one is more recent): It's the first day of school and I'm the teacher. I get to class and have nothing prepared. I don't have a syllabus for any class, I don't have lesson plans, seating charts, nothing! It's frightening.

Weird aspects of dreams that are recurring:

1. I lose all my teeth (just had that one the other night. Actually, I never really had real teeth--I had dentures my whole life and just realized it. So I took them out and couldn't get them back in.)

2. I'm trying to run away from something, but my legs move super slow.

3. I'm running and I'm super-awesome and have the longest legs.

4. I'm talking to people or driving and can't open my eyes. I had a dream where I was walking up to the front of our church to sing and my eyes suddenly closed, and I fell (even weirder...Damon Seacott had to help me to the stage).

5. I'm friends with Angelina Jolie.

I invite all of you to take a look into your dream world and see what your subconscious says about you.

6 comments:

rachel said...

I love it.
Doug used to have the dream about forgetting to go to class and needing to take the final.
I have dreams where I need to punch someone to protect myself, and I can't punch hard at ALL. It's like I sort of swat at my attacked and they just stand there and let me keep swatting. So annoying! Could the dream me just man up and hit someone?!
Say hey to Ang for me, and I'll say hi to Dooce... our dream BFFs.

Kyle Luke said...

DREAM #2!!! I have this one ALL the time! So weird.

I don' have any reoccurring dreams anymore (that I'm aware of), but I used to have one that My babysitter when I was little (Ellen) was trying to keep us safe in our house and a man on the outside kept pressing his face up against the windows and trying to get in (as I'm typing this, I'm realizing how disturbing it actually is).

The second is that I was driving to Canada with my family, and the Ambassador bridge was super high and steep like a roller coaster and I always woke up as we were dropping down the other side.

I wonder what these say about my childhood.

rachel said...

When I was little, I had reoccurring dreams that my cousin and I were being chased by T-rex, and we would try to hide, but he would only find us. The only way we could escape him was to get on the enormous wooden-rope swing at the end of our driveway that was attached to the sky... as in, the ropes just went straight up and then disappeared. And for some reason, that T-rex could never get us when we were on that swing. Thank goodness!

M said...

Jeanette! I have the teeth dream and the unprepared dream! At least once a month I dream I have to take a final in Mrs. Britner's class senior year but I haven't gone to class all year. I also have a dream where I am wearing a shirt and no pants or underwear and I'm at school or somewhere in public and I hope that no one can see my butt.

Let me know if you can decipher this stuff psychology teacher! I just assume that I'm insane.

Jeanette said...

Well, according to my very exact Book of Dreams (I purchased a couple for my class...not b/c I so earnestly need to know the meaning behind my dreams), dreams about teeth falling out means you are anxious about losing control of something. Dreams about missed classes or big tests again mean anxiety or fear of loss of control. Dreams where you are naked mean you are anxious something hidden will be revealed about you. Again, I'm not sure if dream analysis is an exact science. One of my books said that if you dream about having a baby and you're not pregnant, your baby will be ugly. Soooo...take it with a grain of salt. :)

M said...

Jeanette,

Thanks for looking that up. Unfortunately, now I know I'll have ugly babies.

Megan