Thursday, April 17, 2008

Weird Ass Weather Dreams

This time last week we’d already had a couple of 90 degree days, 80% humidity, and even a torrential afternoon thunderstorm or two, and I thought: Woo-hoo! Summer’s finally here! Then over the weekend this cold front comes through and it hasn’t gotten out of the mid-70s all week. It’s like friggin January. Yesterday, was one of those “perfect” days where it’s cool and clear and slightly breezy, not a cloud in the sky. I hate those days. I don’t know if it’s the low humidity, or the sun’s just too damned bright, or what, but I always feel off balance on those days, like I’m about to fall off the edge of something. I can’t explain it.

Anyway, I never dream or remember my dreams unless I get eight or nine hours sleep, which I rarely do, but because the shitty perfect weather threw me for a loop, I crashed early and hit the road to dreamland. There was more to this dream I’m sure, but what I remember is I was surfing the internet (yes, in my dream, it’s embarrassing, I know), and I found a kind of directory site that listed all these people I used to know, people from grade school, high school, guys I used to play baseball with. And I could click on their name and find out where they were now and what they were doing, and I could email them and get back in touch. It was pretty cool, but then I came across a listing for Sigourney Weaver. And in my dream I was saying, “All right. Let’s see how Siggy’s doing.” But at that exact moment I realized I was dreaming, and another voice, which was also my own, was saying “What the fuck? You don’t know Sigourney Weaver. You’re dreaming motherfucker.” Then I woke up.

It’s not the first time I’ve had the beginnings of a lucid dream, but it is the first time I’ve ever called bullshit on myself while unconscious. I wanted the dream to continue, if for no other reason than to see how many ways I would try to con myself. So what I want to know is, are there any lucid dreamers out there? And if so, how do you keep your lucid dreams going? It’s shaping up to be another crappy perfect day, so I might get another shot at it tonight.

8 comments:

Sarah Laurenson said...

I dream a lot. Long involved ones that usually have pieces of my day thrown together and my mind tries to make sense out of it as if all that stuff belongs in one story.

Sometimes I remember them vividly and sometimes I remember bits and pieces. I can still remember one dream I had when I was eight years old.

I used to have a pad and pen next to the bed so I could write down these awesome wanderings of my imagination. Only when I couldn't read most of it the next day and what I could read was crappy, I stopped. Now I only write down the ones that stick with me long enough for my conscious mind to flesh them out into good story ideas. A lot of my book ideas come from my dreams.

PJD said...

Occasionally I have lucid dreams, but 99.999% of them are not worth continuing or remembering.

Recently I had a strange dream experience. It was a dream in which ghosts--the spooky, scary, creepy kind with a really hair-raising soundtrack--played a prominent role. I woke up with a start, in a cold sweat, and consciously thought to myself, "Oh thank god it was only a dream."

What was interesting was not so much the dream itself but that I actually woke up in such a stereotyped way.

I have never been able to keep a dream going once I've discovered I'm dreaming.

Robin S. said...

I rarely remember my dreams anymore, but, sometimes I do dream and know I'm dreaming, or some part of me knows it, anyway - and that sort of reality intrusion thing happens like it happened to you - where I'll say to myself- well, I'll be waking up soon, or, this is a dream, it doesn't really count or things like that - I'm aware on some level that I'm watching myself dreaming.

I love HOT and humid days, by the way. I 'm with ya- come on summer.
Fry me, baby. Here I am. Take your best shot.

I wear jackets until it hits the mid-70s.

McKoala said...

The dreams I can never forget involve two school friends who died young. One while we were at school, one a few years later. I dream about them fairly regularly and the dreams are so real that I'm thrown off balance for the next few days, sometimes longer, wishing they were true.

McKoala said...

Cool updater thingy. Are the times the last time you visited, or the last time the blogs were updated? Hey, I'll update mine and find out! Posting more story...

Sarah Laurenson said...

Thanks for the update blog links. That's way cool. I think it takes a little while before it registers an update though.

Blogless Troll said...

It's the last time the blogs were updated. And Google Reader usually takes about an hour before it registers an update. I think it pulls off of that.

Chris Eldin said...

The only lucid dream I can remember is actually the worst nightmare of my life. I remember every detail, but I'll spare you the long version. Basically, I saw my youngest son fall into a body of water. I was up on a cliff, very high, trying to think if I jumped would I kill myself and be of no use to my son, but if I go down the steps I wouldn't make it in time.
So I jumped. But not in time. My son had started sinking, and I kept going under the water to try to find him. Of course it was murky as hell.
Next, when I woke up in my dream, I was in the hospital, and his pre-school teachers were standing there giving their condolences. I started to scream, in my dream. In my dream, I wanted it to be a dream. I wasn't sure if I was going insane.
Then I woke up, and I really felt, for a brief moment, the gut-wrenching agony of truly believing your child is dead.
So I'm always the mom who ends up staying at the birthday parties and going to field trips, etc. I'll take it.
But you know, I'm glad I remember this dream so vividly. I go back to it often when I want to remember to be thankful for what's there.