Dream a little dream

Before I forget, if I were you, I'd head over to read what Theresa had to say at edittorrent today - I was relieved to find out that I'm not just being a snob, I'm using the phrase properly!  And yes, I'm a grammar geek.

And now, onwards with my own stuff!

I had some truly messed up dreams last night.  I don't think I ate anything crazy, and I fell asleep watching one of the movies that I've watched hundreds of times, so I can't figure out why I had these dreams...

In the first one, I was at a restaurant downtown, and I was eating spaghetti (and twirling it with a spoon), and one of the doctors from work was sitting there, staring at me like I was crazy, because I was twirling my spaghetti.  Then I woke up.

Then I fell asleep again, and I dreamt about a prison, where there was a group of women who were in this big room, wearing very unattractive orange jumpsuits.  They were doing prison-y things, like hanging around and sitting on tables, until suddenly it was time for them to shower (GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER!). One girl went in, and turned on the water but got distracted brushing her hair, so the next girl couldn't get her shower in time.  The second girl, who was inexplicably played America Ferrara, was stuck standing outside of the bathroom in a terrycloth bathrobe (which was waaay too nice to be prison-issue).  She got in trouble with the guards for not having a shower.  As she was getting hauled off, swearing that it wasn't her fault, I woke up.

Then I fell asleep again, and my next dream starred Charlie Sheen.  I was hanging out with him somewhere warm and sunny, beside a pool.  Next thing I know, I'm in the pool, and sliding towards the deep end as Charlie warns me that there have been unattended children in the pool, and that I should watch where my feet go when I touch the bottom.  Before I got to the bottom of the pool, I woke up.

Weird, no?  I really can't explain the random celebrity cameos, especially since I don't watch Ugly Betty, and I haven't watched Two and a Half Men for a while.  And I've got NO clue why a doctor was watching me eat spaghetti.

So tonight, I'll be watching Castle, eating chocolate, and crossing my fingers for some less weird dreams.

Am I qualified?

So...

There's this writing workshop coming up in January, and I've been asked if I would like to be a guest speaker.  Um.  Okay...

I have no problem with public speaking - I used to teach, so I'm used to standing up in front of groups of people and talking about stuff for hours at a time.  I write, so I've got some background there.

But am I qualified to talk to other people about writing?

Obviously, I talk about writing here, on my blog.  But that's an entirely different forum!  Here, you all have read (or had the chance to read) about what I've done, and make a decision on your own about my credentials.  Plus, there's the whole 'never believe anything you see on the internet' rule that you can blame if I'm wrong.  In person, though... I feel like I should have a half-dozen novels published.  Or one.  Or an agent.

At the same time, though, why shouldn't I be able to get up and talk to people about writing?  Oh, yeah, because I don't know if I've got any real 'cred' as a writer.

So.

That's where I am right now.  I'm thinking I'll say no...

I had a dream last night...

...and it felt real. So real, that for a moment, when I woke up, I was sure that I still felt arms around me.  And some of the details, while ridiculous, were so clear!  There was an elevator, but it was huge - the size of my living room.  It stopped in weird, between-floor sorts of places, but when it reached my floor, it was fine.  There was a pair of tap shoes, in a box, that were for me.  I took them out and looked at them, confused.  They were similar in style to the cheap, patent tap shoes that you get when you first start learning, but they were made of real leather, with TeleTone taps, so they were quality. My sister was suddenly beside me, taking out a pair of her own shoes. As we looked at them, a friend came up behind me, wrapping me in a hug and leaning forward to kiss my cheek.  He couldn't, though, because my cowboy hat got in the way and bumped his face.  Wait, a cowboy hat?  Yes, a black felt cowboy hat, worn over a pair of high pigtails.  It was not my most stylish moment.  I was suddenly aware of my clothes - a pink plaid AE button-down, short-sleeved shirt over top of a navy, long-sleeved shirt, and my favourite jeans.  I was barefoot, getting ready to put on the tap shoes.

It was then that I woke up, the blankets and pillows tangled around my arms in such a way that it felt like I really was being hugged from behind.  It was nice.

And yes, I know that this wasn't true fiction, but I wanted to remember the oddness of this dream.  I'll treat you to some random prose later.

Fever dreams

I dreamt that I went to a wedding. No, not a wedding - a wedding reception. I went with C2, D and E. We were invited because one of C2's friends was playing at the reception. It was a last minute thing, and I was irritated that no one had warned me, because I didn't even have a card made for them.

We showed up just as the friend was leaving, but sat down at a table anyways. Only problem was that the table with our five names on it was a teeny-tiny wicker end table, so we had to move all of our plates and cutlery to a real table with chairs. The appetizer was brought out, but it wasn't so much an appetizer as it was a sampler of all the dishes that were going to be brought out. There was something green, there was salmon mousse (and it was a dessert), and three other things that I don't recall. After we each took a bite of each sample, servers hurried in and took them away. A parfait glass stacked with caviar, sugar cookies, and whipped cream was brought out. I picked up the top layer of all three and took a bite, then turned to the others and said, "If I'd have known caviar was this good, I would have tried it years ago!" I distinctly remember the taste, too. It was like tapioca in whipped cream, on a sugar cookie. Nothing at all what caviar ACTUALLY tastes like.

And then I woke up.

He's so dreamy!

I think this cold is affecting my brain.  Here's last night's dream.

It was about five a.m.  My dog woke up, and started to stretch, standing half on top of me, her hind legs digging into the squishy part of my belly.  This was (obviously) uncomfortable, so I groaned.  She looked at me, and said, "You should really stretch as soon as you wake up."

The weirdest part, though, was not that she spoke to me, but that she had the voice of Alton Brown (from FoodNetwork's Good Eats).  

I looked at her,  and gave a half-hearted stretch, mostly just moving my arms a little bit.  She looked at me and frowned, then said, "That wasn't a good stretch.  This is a good stretch."  She demonstrated a 'good' stretch, and it looked good - like it woke up every part of her body, but in a nice, gentle way.

I looked at her and said, "Of course it wasn't a good stretch - I don't want to be awake!"  I then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Any dream analysts out there want to tackle this one?

On a day like today...

I almost wish that I had resolved to write every day instead of resolving to blog every day... I just want to go and work on a story!  And it's not one that's ready for public consumption yet, so I don't really want to write it here...

I've been having all kinds of crazy dreams lately, the kind that are only a little bit off from reality, so they're more creepy than any other kind of scary dream.  Like the one where I dreamt that it was morning, and I had to get ready for work, but when I went into the bathroom to have my shower, one of my friends was laying there in a bubble bath, just grinning at me.  (In the dream, I got pissed off and went to use the guest bathroom.)

Or the one where I dreamt a full day of work, and then my alarm went off and I had to get up and do it all over again.  (That REALLY sucked.)

Or the one where it snowed in Georgia.  Wait.  That one really happened.

Okay, off to take another crazy dream and write it into a story!  (That's the only good thing about these dreams - they make awesome stories!)

Feeling Random

For Christmas, I got the complete series of Friends on DVD, so, of course, that's all I've been watching.  (Have I mentioned that I don't have cable?)

In any case, I just watched the episode where Rachel tells Chandler that she had a raunchy dream about him.  Ross reacts badly to this, and Chandler apologizes with, "I'm sorry, it will never happen again.  I was very drunk and it was someone else's subconscious."  (I LOVE that line!)  This got me  to thinking... is it wise to tell someone that you've had an erotic dream about him/her?  I think, in some cases, it can go fairly well - the someone is amused and teases you mercilessly until something new comes along.  In other cases, well, it might result in this awkward tension between you and the someone, and cause all sorts of unpleasant moments.  I don't think I've ever told anyone about a dirty dream I've had about them... I've told other people, because it amuses me that most of the men who show up in my raunchy dreams turn out to be gay, but I've never told any of the ones who were actually IN the dream.  Has anyone out there tried this?

In unrelated randomness, I tried writing my blog this evening, around 6, and it just didn't happen.  Nothing came out.  I stared at the screen.  It sucked.  Apparently, I can't write before 9pm, unless I'm sneaking in writing time during work hours.  Strange.  When I become a world-famous author, I think I'll end up staying up all night, and sleeping all day, just so that I can always be awake during peak writing time.

And in another unrelated random thought, one of the gals at work almost convinced me to buy another puppy today.  But then I thought of Mia, and as much as I would like for her to have a friend to play with, I'm not ready for another puppy, and she's not ready to share my attention.  So I stayed strong!  Barely...

Finally, I've had a link open in my computer all week for this site that sells bookplates, because I love having bookplates in my books, and I've finally found a company that sells the bookplates that I got years ago when I joined the SFBC (Science Fiction Book Club - like Columbia House for SciFi/Fantasy).  But I haven't purchased them yet, because I keep forgetting to bring my credit card upstairs.

Tomorrow,  I think I shall produce fiction!

I love my dreams

I have the most whacked-out dreams!  And I love them, because they give me something to write about :)

I dreamt that I was the stage manager for a show, and I had to sit in the audience to watch rehearsals.  (Okay, that part's not a big stretch.  Shut up.)  It was a musical that I had never heard of, and it was starring my friend Jonathan.

He was up on stage singing a song that summed up the whole show - it was about bad poetry and unemployment.  And the words of the song were atrocious, but in a way that had everyone rolling with laughter.  The song had a line about how hard it was to find a balloon that said "I'm sorry I couldn't take you to the zoo, because I'm broke," so he found a plain balloon and wrote on it with a Sharpie.

It was an awesome show!  I wish it existed outside of my dream... *sigh*

Weird dreams...

Maybe it was the beer and pizza for dinner. Maybe it was watching "Evil Dead: The Musical." Maybe it was something else entirely. In any case, I had a crazy epic dream last night.

It started out in a boardroom at the dance studio where I used to take classes. It didn't look anything like the studio, but I knew that was where I was. We (myself and two of the teachers) were sitting at a table, talking about dance. Then, the room started to shift, and the table and floor started to slide out of the room - literally. The wall on one side was just a continuous stream of paint (or something of that consistancy), and the floor slid out, taking the table with it... kind of like that Jamiroquai video for "Virtual Insanity." Then patterns started coming in through the other side, hills and bumps and winding paths, and the three of us were still talking, but we were manoeuvering around these things. Tara, the tap teacher, asked me about something that I was making for a friend, and I told her that it was for Jonathan. Then she told me that he was her nephew, but that they hadn't seen each other in years...

Next thing I remember, I was in a car with Jonathan, just chatting, and he confirmed that yes, Tara was his aunt. We were in the car for a while, on a road trip. To England. (Look, I know and you know that you can't drive from the US to England, but apparently my dreams don't know that.) We were driving around London, but it looked more like Chicago. We were trying to find a place to get souvenirs, and decided to go to Costco. As we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed that all the spots had signs indicating that all of the parking was metered. And it cost $3.76 to park (what a weird number).

Neither of us had any change, so we got out of the car and Jonathan walked over to a nearby truck and stuck an American $20 into a slot on the trunk's bumper. A bunch of Canadian change (four toonies, two loonies, and about eight quarters - yes, I know that doesn't add up to $20... blame it on the exchange rate) came out of the tail pipe, and we headed back to stick the coins into the slot on the sign.

As we were walking over to the car, Tony (Nathan from G&D) came up to us and started chatting. He was afraid that we would tell his wife that he was at Costco, and made us swear not to tell her. We chatted a while longer, then said goodbye to Tony, and tried to put the money into the sign. Jonathan gave me the change, and I kept dropping it and trying to figure out how to put in exact change without having any pennies. Finally, I got the money in, and we went into Costco.

And then I woke up.

I need to get some more normal dreams.

Take Five (Part 4)

"Really? Just to see me?" Sophia asked, suddenly looking sweet and innocent, every trace of irritation gone from her face.

"Just to see you," Blake repeated. He leaned in again, wrapping his arm around her. "Seeing you makes my day a bit brighter." He slid his hand down her arm, but left it on her elbow this time.

"You know," he said softly, "I'd really like to see you again... on purpose..."

She blushed and looked down, then laid her hand gently on top of his. "I'd like that," she said, looking up to meet his eyes.

Blake lifted his free hand and ran the backs of his fingers along Sophia's jaw, then gently turned her face towards him. Her gaze flickered between his eyes and his lips, her cheeks flushing with anticipation. Slowly, he brought his mouth towards hers.

Her eyes closed as their lips met, and after just a moment, Sophia lifted her hand to Blake's cheek.

"And cut!" Ricardo called out. "Beautiful! That's a wrap for today - we're out of light, so go home and get some rest."

Blake slowly pulled away from Sophia, still caught up in his character. It didn't take him long to drop it, though, and he nearly jumped up from the bench. "See ya tomorrow," he said with a grin as he started back towards the craft services cart.

Sophia blinked as Blake leapt up, once again irritated at how dismissive he was being. Taking great pains to keep from looking as irate as she felt, Sophia rose and walked back to her trailer, snapping her fingers at Laura when she saw that the door was closed. The intern barely hid her exasperation as she opened it, and Sophia frowned at her - the girl had a lot left to learn.

((PS: Last night's brilliant plan didn't work - instead of sleeping deeply, I dreamt I was shopping at the liquor store. *sigh*))

To sleep, perchance to dream

I am having a snack tonight before bed. It is a high-quality snack, and apparently a high-cholesterol snack. Did you know that Bailey's Irish Cream is high in cholesterol? I did not... but I'm young and I've been pretty good about not getting tons of cholesterol, so I'm going with it.

Why am I drinking before bed, you ask? Because I don't want to dream tonight. I want to sleep all the way through the night. Last night I woke up no less than four times, and I had crazy dreams all night. I think the problem is that I'm not getting into a deep enough sleep to get past the dreaming phase. My dreams are incredibly vivid and interactive, so it's actually quite exhausting to dream (if you're me). Many people have suggested that I take an allergy pill before bed, but all of my allergy meds are the non-drowsy sort, so that won't work. I don't really like the idea of sleeping pills, because I end up feeling really groggy the next day. So I'm going to try having one drink - just enough to relax me, but not so much that I'll be hung over.

We'll see if this will work.

In other news, I've got way too many projects on the go. Wait... that's not really news, is it? I've got to finish Jonathan's poncho in the next 11 days, so that's at the top of the list right now. Luckily, it's almost done. I'll make him model for a photo when it's finished. I've also got a novel to finish, and a play that's demanding to be written. Oh, and I'm still working on Take Five (stay tuned for another installment, coming soon!) Plus, I've got a new dice bag to finish, at least three blankets to finish, and my sweater. I REALLY want to finish that sweater before it's sweater season! Of course, given the way the weather works here, I've got quite a while... but that's next on the list, after the poncho. I've got a gift certificate for more yarn, and I won't let myself use it until I finish at least two projects (because new yarn = new projects).

...I think that's all for tonight...

More about coloured dreams

So after all those comments about curiosity, I decided to look into this colour dream thing a bit more...

I'm going to start with the blue one, because, well, it's interesting. Blue is associated with philosophy (according to The Meaning of Colour in Dreams ), particularly art and culture. The person who is all about the blue in my dreams is definitely associated with art and culture in her life. According to Dream Moods Dream Themes, blue is all about truth, loyalty, and openness. The blue friend is definitely one whom I feel is truthful with me, and I'm comfortable being open with her... and I can definitely see that she is loyal to the people she is close to. This one indicates blue as a symbol of inner peace... I don't really see how that jives with my blue friend. She seems as stressed as me sometimes, which is kind of off from having inner peace... I like Dreamlover Inc's best - communication! Maybe my blue friend really is a spirit guide of sorts; all of these sites refer to that, and she does have many characteristics that I admire, and goals that seem similar to mine.

I don't know if that really made sense to anyone but me. Actually, I'm not entirely sure that it made sense to me, either. But this whole thing is very interesting... I'm definitely going to poke around at it some more!

And just for interest's sake, the colour brown represents "the need to eliminate old emotions and/or structures that have outgrown their purpose" according to Light Center; the person who shows up in brown is someone that I used to have a crush on, but have since gotten over. Intriguing, no?

And on a totally different topic... I've got names! I broke down and bought a new baby names book, and it was exactly the inspiration I needed, because now all of the characters in my play have names that we're all happy with: Owen, Riley, Connor, Livia, Joey, and Isabel. I'm loving it!

I dream in colour

It seems that my dreams have become colour-coded by person. I've noticed that in the past month or so, when the same people have been appearing over and over again in my dreams. Is this normal? I know one of my friends who associates colours with people, but it seems weird to have it happening in my dreams, too...


For their privacy (and mine!), I'm not using names, but here are some examples: One of them shows up in white - a white shirt, white background, etc. Another shows up in a pink outfit - consistantly pink for the last month or so - but with yellow in her surroundings. One is always in a variation of blue clothing, and frequently in a blue setting (blue paint on the walls, blue couch, etc). One who I'm not actually friends with (just acquaintances) is a vibrant red - in my last dream, I didn't actually see her, but she whispered from behind me, and I got the sensation of red associated with her words.


Like I said, it feels kind of weird. On the bright side, I can tell who I'm dreaming about, even if I can't see their faces!

Stupid storms and power outages!

Stupid storms and power outages! Yet another belatedly-posted blog, because a storm knocked out my power for over an hour today, which knocked out the internet, which has only come up intermittently all night. So I’m blogging free-form tonight. Okay, maybe free-form isn’t quite the right phrase, but that’s the phrase that I’ve chosen. So there.

Now that I’m done channeling my inner two-year-old...

Last night, I dreamt that I was at work. I actually dreamed the entire day, from the moment my alarm clock went off until the time I got home and let my puppy out of her crate. I dreamed that I saw all of the patients that I would usually see. I dreamed that I did the crossword puzzle at lunch. I dreamed that I had a conversation with a coworker about how slow our doctor is. I dreamed that I got a ride home and we listened to the soundtrack from “The Pajama Game.” And then my real alarm clock rang.

That really, REALLY sucked. Because I had to get up and go to work anyways.

You know what’s really going to suck? Tomorrow. I feel like I’ve already put in five full days of work, and I have to go back for another. I think I need to remember what I ate before bed on the night that I had the dream about the Colby/Jonathan musical – that was a much better dream!

Was it something I ate?

I just have weird dreams. Really odd, messed-up dreams. Here's what ran through my head last night....

Colby and Jonathan put on a show. It was a really awesome musical. I know that it was one that I had heard before, but I can't put my finger on what it was. They did break into a chorus of "There, Right There" (the "is he gay or european" bit), but in the dream, it was out of place. The strangest part was that the show was being put on in someone's living room (I didn't recognize it as belonging to anyone in real life).

Ashlee, Kaitlin, someone else, and I were the only ones watching it. The other three got seats on the mattress in the hallway, but there was no room for me, so I had to sit on the floor on the other side of the room, behind a chair. The lights were all off, and there were spotlights on the two performers. It was awkward, because they were trying to aim their performances in two directions, so that I could see, as well as the girls on the mattress. I never actually saw Jonathan, but I heard him. I did get to see Colby through the legs of the chair. Her hair was longer than it is now, and it was curly (side note: if it works as well in real life as it did in my dream, you'll look awesome with curls!).

At one point, I got frustrated with not being able to see the show properly, so I moved across the room to sit beside the couch instead. However, this put me right in the path of the big dance sequence, so I had to keep scooting across the room so that I stayed out of the spotlight, and out of their way.

How's that for a fun dream? I just wish I could remember which show they were putting on...

Of dreams and old ladies

Today, I had a double-take-WTF moment at work. I work for an eye doctor, and sometimes, when I call a patient into the room, they'll have a book or magazine that they've been reading. Occasionally, they leave said item open on their laps while I'm doing the vision testing. On these occasions, I get bored (because eye exams are boring), and nosy (because I'm a writer and want to know everything), and I look down at what the person is reading. Today, the patient in question was a 70-something-year old lady. I looked down at what she was reading (a book), and in a sidebar style box on the left hand page was the title, "So you've decided to suck your own dick." I bet you read that again, didn't you? I had to! But that's what it said! I barely managed not to choke.

Last night (or possibly the night before), I had a crazy dream. I was in this river-y thing, and the water was all murky and nasty, and at the end of the river-y thing was this nasty creature that I was battling. I could only hurt it by throwing dead puppy fetuses at it. The river was full of puppy fetuses and kitty fetuses, but they weren't all dead, so I had to be careful about which ones I picked up, because I was trying to kill the nasty creature to save the live puppies and kitties. I think it's probably a good thing that I don't have a psychiatrist. I can't begin to imagine what that dream might mean...