Strength and Otters

This dream is couple of weeks old, but here:


I was driving through a country scene. There was a bridge - concrete - over a river. I was driving a red station wagon. Below me, I saw some otters playing in the water. I thought it would be cool to swim with them, and then the bridge broke/my car was dangling backwards over the edge. I was frightened as I fell to the river. I climbed out of the car and the otters were there. I felt extremely put out about my car. I did swim around with the otters, but I was annoyed again that the otters seemed smug about my accident - like they knew they were the cause.

Then I lifted the car of of the water by its front bumper and carried it up a nearby set of utility steps, also made of concrete. At the top of the hill was an old town. My car was dripping water and had muck all over it.

***

The reason I remember this dream is because I thought it was strange that I was able to simply lift my car all by myself. I don't think I've ever been super strong in my dreams before.

Last night I had a crazy series of mini dreams - none of which I remember unfortunately. I've actually had several good dreams over the past few days, but I cannot remember them. Isn't that the worst?

Part of me thinks that the reason I can't is that I've been meaning to put this otter dream down on this blog and haven't. Perhaps holding on to dreams takes a lot more energy and space that we think, which is why it's hard to remember several dreams at once?

Aliens! Alcohol! Knives! Teaching!

I was in a field, as part of a nature documentary. I was trying to save this bee the size of a golfball from freezing to death by spitting on a flower so the bee could drink from it. The bee lived in a long silver tube for some reason - though the field reminded me of the one by my childhood home, there was a lot of hidden chrome and futuristic flair in this part of the dream. I believe there was also an arctic fox, or perhaps it was a wolf, wandering around.

****

I was working at the Ren Faire, and there were these men wandering around who made me uncomfortable. One had a set of carved silver knives, all of a single piece of metal, with hilts that folded back. He kept wanting to show them to me, and I knew I had to get him away from the knives because he might hurt people. Another creepy guy had half a pair of scissors, and he was wandering about mumbling to himself.

It grew dark, and I went back to the faire to collect the knives, partly because I didn't want the creepy guy to get them, and partly because I wanted them for myself. I found the three - a steak knife sized one, a small thick one, and a fillet like one - littered on the ground. I picked them up and put them in my bag. I realized I was late for a party, and took off down the street. I got to a club, and tried to drink with friends. Except I realized that I shouldn't be in the club with knives in my bag, so I left to put the knives back in my car. Then my Mom showed up, and she was furious that I was not enjoying the party. She accused me of not even trying to go out. Then she said she knew that I had gotten knives, and tried to test me for alcohol as proof that I had gone to the bar. I didn't let her, and tried to explain.

Then the sky opened up (still nighttime), and a glowing spaceship lowered through the clouds. It was like a flattened cylinder with spires on it, and it was spinning with green lights. I was on a balcony, and C. was there. He looked at me and said, expectantly, "Where are we going?" I smiled.

There were, I believe, octopi in the sky - though they might have been aliens. They were bioluminescent and spinning as well, shooting off ink because they were afraid.

Military people started pouring out into an aircraft carrier, which is where the balcony was. I found myself strapped in in a large assembly room, listening to the debate about whether to attack the alien ship or not. I needed to be heard, and raised my hand.

"Hi, I'm ***, a civilian, and I would like to speak," I announced.
"I'll allow it," said the commander, a stern looking woman with short black hair.
"I come from a military family," I began. "My father is a retired Marine. My brother is a cadet at West Point. Perhaps you know him - ****" Here the West Point Cadets who were in attendance lit up at the recognition of his name. "I know we are all afraid..." and here I cannot remember the rest, except that I convinced them not to fire on the aliens. I think my reasoning was that even if they attack us, we can totally beat them. Everyone cheered.

****

So somehow I wound up in a classroom, teaching English. I was sort of shadowing the teacher who held the job before me. I didn't have the right book. I taught my lesson, and left, then I came back and found my helpful drawing had been copied crudely with the words "Ur a dork" written underneath it. This led a series of realizations - I had forgotten my European phone, I never got an apartment so I had no place to stay, I had the wrong books, I had no friends I could call, and now my students didn't respect me.

All of this was being chronicled on a giant terra cotta urn.

The Worst Microwave (and a Sinkhole too)

This dream opened with me in a house - my house. The front porch simply fell away with a rumble. Then the side of the house, which I was facing, fell straight off. I ran through the house, grabbing my family members (not my actual family, but in the dream they were). We ran to the back, as the hole side of the house got sucked into the ground. The sand was grey and grainy, and I realized we were on a sinkhole. None of us, however, left the house. We all just stood on the solid section, staring around at everything which had collapsed.

*break*

I was in a large, cavernous mall. C was there and he grabbed me and tried to throw me over his shoulder. Instead, we both tumbled over and landed on one of those cushiony mall bench things before landing on the floor. Neither of us were injured - we both were laughing. And the crowd around the mall was laughing. They thought it was great fun.

*break*

I walked into a kitchen, where my dad was warming up hamburger meat in the microwave. I went to look, and going around and around were two one pound packages of hamburger meat, and two kittens. They were tearing ferociously into the raw meat.

"What are you doing?!" I screamed.
"What? They're hungry," Dad replied. "Besides, the microwave will keep them warm."
"You don't understand microwaves!" I cried again, opening the microwave. I didn't touch the kittens, because they seemed too ferocious



*****

I actually understand that last part a little. Our freezer broke and we lost all our pork and beef. Dad gave what was salvageable to the cats, which he said reminded him of that scene in "Jurassic Park" where they feed the velociraptors.  

It starts with an Orca...

I was in Sydney - or what I believed to be Sydney. I do not remember where I was, but I could see a big suspension bridge across the bay. Then I saw an orca whale breeching in the water. I was impressed by it, and decided to follow it. Except I didn't follow the whale on sea level. Somehow I found myself zooming upward, backward from the ocean. Then I was high above the water, following this orca whale along.

From there I found myself in a nice stone apartment. There was an arbor with ivy, and empty jars around. There were also different platforms in the room. I had a roommate, though I don't remember much about her. We had to go to a grocery store and they had coins in the handles of the carts. I kept trying to wedge mine out, and when I did it was a palm-sized gold coin - a three euro coin. I was confused because they don't make three-euro coins.

There was a jumbled bit about parking spaces, and beggars, and needing to get to my apartment before someone else (the police/?)

Then I had a cat - a pretty grey tabby tom. My roommate did not want me to have the cat, especially after the cat ate a toothpick and started throwing up. But I was concerned for the cat, and was fully prepared to pull out the toothpick once I saw it. The cat kept throwing up and then when it hacked up one end of the toothpick, instead of letting me pull it out it chomped it into a small piece. I realized the cat had it handled, and went about my business.


*****


Two nights now I've dreamt of cats.  Glad the whales are back, though.

Chicago Hobos and Flaming Cars

Chicago

A red bridge over the river with a bottom missing, just the scaffolds. I was crying trying to scoot across it (I had to take off my shoes). I made it across, and then I saw Dad following me, and he was hanging from the metal underside, like monkey bars. I tried to warn him, but he fell in. It wasn’t dangerous or anything. I wondered why I had gotten so worked up and worried.  I went back to find my shoes, and realized that I could have just walked the whole time because there was a concrete walkway on the side.

My shoes were missing. A group of young children sort of pushed me around, and I saw that these two dirty hobo women. They wouldn’t give my shoes back. The one kept trying to convince me to take other shoes, sneakers which were just as good. The other one was peeing against a wall. I was losing my temper. I kept trying to force them to give me my shoes, but they wouldn’t. Eventually I got one back, but not the other. They disappeared, and I tracked them over Chicago to a gritty underground YMCA. It was full of beggars and dank. I demanded my other shoe, and after a lot of pushing and arguing, I was given my left shoe at last. But a man who was like a short, ugly Liev Schrieber forced me to sign a contract promising to bring him more shoes. I refused, but he kept insisting.

In the teenagers kept brushing by my Dad, and I thought they were trying to rob him. I grabbed one to check, and he called me a racist.

--

Earlier in the dream I caused a car accident, and the car in front of me ran off the the road and burst into flames. Everyone inside died, including a little girl. I didn’t want anyone to know about it, so I lied. I opened the trunk to discover several large snakes, which I took with me.  I felt more and more guilty as the time went on, and the town held a ceremony for the little girl. I hated seeing her on the video screens with a flower around her head, dancing and laughing. I knew I should tell someone, but I did not want to get in trouble.

Glass Spaceship

I was in spaceship made of glass and metal. The character Abed from "Community" was there, and he was in a blue uniform. There were people walking about, and I had a chance to leave. I sat there in my seat for some time - most of the dream actually - wondering why I didn't feel confident with the situation. I knew there was something, but I couldn't figure it out.

So it was a whole dream of indecision.

***

Incidentally, I woke up and realized that you couldn't ride a glass space ship because while it can take a lot of heat, the glass would break upon reentry, and it would melt the people inside. Phew - I knew it was something!

Tina Fey Disapproves...Cruelly

It was night and I was sort of lost above a city - I believe I got on the wrong cargo plane. I remember seeing skyscrapers around me lit up.

While wandering around I realized that I was near Tina Fey, and somehow she had something I read. I was nervous and excited because I thought I had finally found a chance to show what I was capable of.

"Gladys? Really?" she said at some point, and she was so condescending I balked. It kept going - she flipped through my pages and snorted and was horrible and bitchy about everything I said. I wondered if she was trying really hard to show everyone that she wasn't like her 30 Rock character.

I spent the rest of the dream lost, floating around. I might, at some point, have been trying to get back.


***

This is the second dream I recall where a professional woman I respect disapproved of me. I imagine that means my subconscious is less than impressed with my life place right now.