Bad Hosts

There was an awards show - we were in a big theater. I believe it was the Academy Awards, but it was poorly lit. There were too many hosts - all famous comedians. They were trying to be zany, but no one was laughing. It was painful to watch. At one point a man was "eaten" by a giant mechanical robot, but it looked too real. At another point D, who was sitting on my lap, ran off to another woman, who agreed to hold him. I said it was ok, but truthfully I didn't want to keep watching the awards show without him.

There were a lot of gowns.

****

I was in the front yard in my old neighborhood. There was a bad man on the loose. He was after the children.  I saw him running out of my neighbor's house, and he was chased. There were mothers on the streets. I grabbed a small shovel, then a larger shovel, then a big shovel and tried to join them. The man - who was small - fell to the ground and started to sink. I hit him in the face with a shovel, and he passed out. When he came to, we were all standing around him. One woman told him we had called the cops. The man's mouth was hanging open, and we could see the back of his throat. In front on him materialized an enormous black spider with teeth - like tentacles? They were like monster teeth, crustacean feelers, but not long. I remember being a little mesmerized by its creepy teeth. It was red on the back, and shiny all over.

The women started to chuckle, and I was uncomfortable. I felt the feeling of vindictiveness and revenge rising around me. They said something like they would simply let the spider (they knew its Latin name), do what it did best. The back of the spider detached - it was the male spider. It started crawling towards the man. I knew that the spider was going to crawl down his gaping maw of a throat, but I could not watch. As I tried to leave, the ground began to sink around me, and I panicked that I was falling into a sinkhole. One of the women grabbed me and pulled me to safety. The sinkhole spread around the man further.

****

Somewhere around here, I was going to meet a television crew for a show. I got a text from a man I knew, and he was curt. I saw him from across a way, and ran to him. I demanded to know why he was upset. He would not tell me, so I pressed him further. He yelled at me for forgetting to help him with his graphics problem. I told him I was going to, that I didn't know he had needed it so soon. He did not seem entirely mollified - he still acted distant and unconvinced.

_________________


If I had to pick a theme from the past couple of dreams (since I've been away from home, at least), it would be groups. I don't feel as though I dream of big crowds. I would have to think on it a bit more, but I also feel as though there's a heavy feminine strength thing strutting around my subconscious - or a feminine weakness. It gets confusing, drawing out what means what.

Metamorphosis and Grand Poisonings

Two parts - a dream and a nightmare

I was outside the old library building in my home town. There was a stop sign coming out of a wooden bucket. Inside the bucket was a snake submerged in water, but the snake had a row these fine strands coming from its side - like the legs of a house centipede, or the sides of a feather. It looked stuck.
"Now aren't you interesting?" I said, coming closer. I did not know if the snake was poisonous, so I was hesitant to touch it. The snakes feathery strands floated in the water, and shimmered dark opalescent. I reached out to pluck it from the water, but it started to twist away gently. The feathery strands grew larger and the snake rolled into a ball. It changed into a black rooster with the same black/green shiny feathers. It looked at me quizzically. I asked it if I should remove it from the bucket, when my cat Axle showed up and pounced. I knocked her away and picked up the rooster. It was not very big. I carried it inside the library, which now was a two story white house that was falling apart. Inside, I set the rooster down, and tried to find food. I only had meat, and a few breadcrumbs in my pocket. Another of my cats, Bait, arrived - much fatter than I've ever seen him. He sort of waddled to the rooster and tried to bite it. I smacked him gently on the nose - then there was another cat. I felt like I had to work really hard to keep this rooster from getting attacked.

---

I was in Chicago - sort of. There was a park with trees and a large, old, brick building. There was a man there - but the man was deformed or on stilts - both. He was grafted onto these mechanical spring stilts, and he was on a drug that made him strong but crazy. He was hunting for the scientist who did this to him, and I offered to help. I climbed on his back and he leapt high and far into the trees. He shimmered in and out of focus as he did so, but I knew they could see us because he was hitting the branches too hard. He was too hard to control - he was so full of rage. He leapt again, to another tree. I was talking to him, trying to calm him down. He leapt to the outside stairs and ripped the metal off the wall. I fell to the ground, and called to him.

We tried again - this time I made it to the door and called him. Inside there was a great commotion. A squat man wearing outside ribs of metal was bathed in blue electric light. He was electrocuting the man with the mechanical stilt legs. He was also trying to break down a door. I knew he should not do this. As I ran to confront him, his power suit broke down and I started pounding on the metal "heart" of his suit - a button. I felt very weak, like I wasn't doing anything at all. The squat little man looked at me from behind his dark glasses, surprised. His lackeys just stared at me as well. I think I must have succeeded, or the mechanical stilt man showed up and helped, because his skeleton suit fell to pieces.

There was a chaotic bit.

The building was now a hospital of sorts. The mad scientist who made the mechanical man - who may also have been the squat little man - was putting all sorts of drugs into the food and drink to control all the people. I knew this, and was trying to expose him. There was a crowd of people - restless. There was a sort of protest going on against the food - there was an underground system. I was walking (I wore saddle shoes and an old style dress). When I saw a man coming - black, and somber. His family was there. I started to cry and shook his hand. I thanked him for what he was doing and he invited me to walk with him to the building. This surprised a great many people.

 I found children in an old-timey candy shop. There were basins of glittering candy around the shop - hypercolored biscuits and donuts and pastries filled with glittering, shimmering filling. But something was wrong - this was more dangerous food. I got out my smartphone and started recording the donuts. The sprinkles were turning into bugs and eating the donut - all the candy and food was eating itself. The crumbs swirled around me like a kaliedescope and I was trying to catch it all on my phone. The mad doctor had erased his evidence, I realized, so no one could catch him. I had the video, and tried to leave. There were men there and they tried to stop me. I think I knocked something over - I turned the power off? - and ran.

I found the mad scientist's servant on the second floor, and she tried to hide me. She gave me a pair of red flats and took me into his apartment. The maids were all part of the underground, and they hid me in the bathroom. The scientist came in, and knew exactly where I was. He was cold and crisp and oily all at once - I hated him. I shoved past him and took off running, again trying to shut down the power as I went.

I got through the hallway of the building, then to my car. I went driving down the Indiana toll road, except there were people in the way. Children were laying down in the streets with their parents - the parents encouraged it. I stopped and asked a group of men what was going on. They did not answer me, but spoke in street talk I did not understand. Some asked for money.  I rolled around them carefully, but did not make it out. Somehow I was brought back to the old hospital building. There I was hooked up to a wagon, which was covered in wire. I looked around and saw people dear to me. I asked them why they were letting this happen. A nun I knew was looking on - I begged her to help me. "This will help you," she said in a cold, neutral voice. The machine turned on and I started feeling electricity work its way over my skin. I struggled to free myself.

The dream rewound.

I was on the steps of the building again, and again the black man was making his way slowly with this family. This time, however, another woman stopped in front of me with her friend - they were talking about how each of them hoped to be the man's girlfriend. I stood there, politely waiting with tears in my eyes. This time the man stopped at them instead, and they cooed over him. He only looked at me before walking on. I sort of followed, but not really.

I confronted the mad scientist about the food. He had me tied up to a wagon and the electricity started up. I asked my friends to help - but they were all drugged and thought it was better if I were fixed. I saw the cable ahead of me was forked, and I grabbed the end of it. I was starting to fizzle with what I knew was pain. I grabbed the cable and pulled myself to the wagon. I fed the cable back in on itself by plugging it in to the wagon's outlet, and the power short-circuited.

I ran. This time I had no phone, no shoes, and I was wildly running. I ran through all my friends - they were so interconnected I knew I couldn't go to one without one of the mind-controlled ones figured out where I was. As I ran, I realized that I had to go north - to HW. He would keep me safe - but I had no phone. I determined I need to get a burner phone, and a pair of shoes. The ground beneath me started to incline and decline - a series of small hills. I wondered if I would ever get home again. I knew they'd never stop chasing me.

----

Ok, there was a lot going on in this dream. The details were so vivid - the red shoes, the glittering candy. Also, I don't know if this is important and I feel strange writing it, but everyone in the second half - the crowd, the people on the highway, the maids - they were all African American. Perhaps that was my subconscious making assumptions about Chicago.  Ethnicity has never been a strong aspect in my dreams, but upon waking I think it's an important point because it was so clear.

And there was so much more nuance than I can remember now. There were so many more words spoken, so many more reasons. The man on the legs did much more I know. And the mad scientist guy did more - he hunted me a lot more, but I can't remember how.

I will say that the short fat man looked like Gru's assistant from Despicable Me. The man on stilts sort of resembled Steve Valentine, and the mad scientist at times reminded me of Bob Balaban.

Flipper Flipped

This was an abrupt dream:

I was driving to the beach I believe. There was someone else in the car. I don't remember what we were talking about, but all of a sudden a dolphin was hurtling towards us. It smashed right into the hood, nose first, and up through the windshield. It was really angry about something - I could see it in its eyes.

--

I woke up with an audible sound - not much time had passed since I went to sleep. Wonder why that dolphin was so upset...

An Angry Past

This dream was very jumbled, or was when I woke up. Note: there were a lot of people I recognized in this dream, so I shortened all names:

I was on a sidewalk in the drizzle. There was broken furniture on the street, and I wanted to see what it looked like. I was examining a nightstand when I saw K and K driving nearby. They started to tear into me, talking to each other about how much they hated me. I got angry and started to walk away, but then I realized I had to go in the same direction. The two women, who were now walking on the sidewalk with me, gripped each others forearms in front of me and kept walking, yelling and swearing at me. I tried to confront them, but was never able...

Then there was a restaurant. I was given a table. I did not have a lot of money, and the restaurant was pricey. A waiter was there, and I asked to sample a white wine. Instead he poured me half a glass, set the bottle on the table and walked away. I saw that the bottle was two-thirds gone already. Next to me, a portly man was drinking rose. There was a commotion of some sort...

EDIT: I remember that at some point, I felt a peculiar feeling in the back of my tooth, like there was food stuck between my molars. I felt with my fingers, and after several attempts I found something and pulled. It felt like I was pulling my own tooth out - it was really uncomfortable and I could feel a building pressure in my head. But I kept pulling, and finally I pulled out a piece of string. Except I kept pulling, and more string came out. I must have pulled out four feet of white cotton string! I stared at it in my hands, confused.

I was home, and B was in the kitchen with D. Jake came charging in, and I had to grab him. D yelled at me to get the dog out of the house. Again, I felt tense and upset because it was Jake's house too.

There was a large basement, like under a church. It was TD and everyone was in a panic, packing and bustling about. I found J and asked what I needed to do. He just ignored me, and so I went walking around, observing. There were biscuits (?) everywhere. J found me all at once, and demanded to know why I wasn't working. I told him he hadn't given me anything to do, but he didn't believe me. He told me I needed to have everything checked off - off of what I don't know. There was a clock ticking above on a wall, and now there were large puppets being pushed through the space.  We were walking in a large carpeted hallway, and there were special effects. A wall melted away to reveal a door; A face appeared and laughed before turning to a black pit. I was impressed with the quality of everything.


****

I think that I wrote this out of order. I think it started with the convention center, went to the restaurant, then home, then to the sidewalk. I don't remember where I went after that.

I'm a little concerned about the tension in this dream. It doesn't really match where I am in life right now. Well, I know where part of the tension is coming from, but I'm not talking about it here. Perhaps this is my subconscious trying to relieve old tension. Perhaps it's because my back really hurts and there is tension there. In any event, tension dreams are dreams I could do without.

Giant mall, Trolls, and Dolphins

I was in a large building with D. It was perhaps five stories - there was an entire mall on one story, a train station on another, a sort of aquarium on the top floor. Each floor was massive, and everyone was speaking French. We went up to the aquarium to look for toys. We wound up on a moving walkway underwater, though we could breath. Just above our heads, so close that I felt like ducking, swam two hammerhead sharks. The water was green and sort of murky. I did not feel comfortable there, with the sharks brushing against my head. There weren't any good toys on the shelves either - just ugly old legos and building sets.

We tried to catch a train, but missed the little tram that ran from place to place in the building (which was starting to look like the inside of a mountain). We kept trying to find a place. At one point, we were being escorted by hairy orc/troll creatures, who were also trying to find a way out. There was some sort of fight about to happen? The monsters were not interested in being mean - they were just trying to go about being monsters.

I wound up outside - sort of - and there was a great expanse of water in front of me. In the distance, I could see great disturbance in the water, spreading out like a circle. I knew there were dolphins coming, and I called for everyone to come and see. People weren't as interested as I, so I ran to watch. There were hundreds of dolphins, leaping out as the tide went through. The dream flashed all around, to the dolphins and to different points of view of the water - to lock systems and tidal pools and a channel made of concrete. The dolphins were swimming closer to the cliff I was now on, and I ran to go and watch them swim below me.

As I ran, I thought there would be a railing (I was on bleachers now), but I realized as I got to the end there was no railing, just a straight drop down hundreds of feet to the rocks below. I caught myself just at the end and did not go over, but I was breathless because I thought I would fall. A man standing next to me nodded, as though he had done the same thing. I wondered why they'd build such an unsafe thing by a sheer cliff face. There were giant blue waves now, swelling high and crashing into the cliffs. The dolphins had moved on, and so I watched the giant waves breaking.

The only other thing I remember was being in a laboratory. There were dolphins swimming by, but the water was brown and sort of stagnant, and the dolphins were not moving with much energy. In a brightly lit room I found a strange sort of monkey monster on a table, shaking vials and wearing a coat. It had arms and legs as thin as a spiders, and its hands were skeleton and oversized for its body. It looked at me and started talking to me, but I can't remember what we talked about. I think it wanted me to free him from something, or to free some other animals (maybe those trolls from earlier)....


***

I was giddy in the dream about the dolphins. This is true to real life - I was whale watching and almost fell overboard because I was so excited by watching the dolphins jump  alongside the boat.

Chivalrous Date at Chimney Rock

I was in the mountains - it was dry and stony like the desert. I was on a sort of perch, trying to climb down. A man showed up in armor - to be more precise, it was Sir Jorah Mormont from the Game of Thrones series (played by Iain Glen). He agreed to help me down from the rocks. My Grandma was there, nearby, and she commented on how nice this knight was. Then my Mom was there, and she agreed, suggesting that this was the sort of man I should marry. I was surprised that they were both so smitten, but I stayed with the knight for the rest of the dream.

Eventually we wound up at Chimney Rock - except it too was in the desert and not surrounded by grasslands.  There was a tour there - a bunch of school kids swarmed around the rock and the caverns which ran below it. There was a really old soda machine in the caverns under the rock - the whole place felt really old. The knight held my hand and kept the kids from bumping into me.

***

This dream had a lot of tactile detail - the dryness of the rocks in particular. The overall feeling was one of safety - I felt incredibly safe in the knight's company. Very secure. I also seem to recall feeling amused that my mother and grandmother wanted me to be with someone who was clearly much, much older than I was.

I am not up to date on the Song of Ice and Fire series - but I've been led to believe that Ser Jorah's story is not a pleasant one. Pity, because he was super polite in my dream.

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?