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.

Not a Snake, Afterall

I was at Red Rock Canyon, walking along the rocky bank of a river bed. The bushes were green because it was spring. Then, the rocks turned to sand, but I didn't mind. I was enjoying my walk, when I spied a snake sunning itself on the bank. It was brown and russet, with a diamond shaped head. I froze, seeing a second snake next to it. Then I saw two more snakes, green and yellow and black stripped, buried in the sand. I could only see their heads, but I knew they were poisonous. I stared to take small steps backwards, and they did not follow. But then I felt a pain in the back of my head. It was sharp and did not stop.

I called to my Dad, who was ahead of me. I told him I thought a snake bit me, but he did not seem to believe me. When he reached me I asked him to look at my head to see if there was a snake attached. He looked, and said something. I felt a sharper pain, like something being pulled. Dad showed me a long, black leech had attached itself to my head. It was partially swollen with my blood, and I was disgusted by it. When I tried to leave,  I found I wanted to go back and look at the leech that had bit me.

I could see the snakes moving, unburying themselves and moving up the banks to the bushes. I thought I could maybe get a photo of them since they were so beautiful.

***

I was working on a cruise boat, though it did not seem very formal. We sailed around the island of Aruba (though I've never been in real life). It was green and mountainous and very beautiful. I wanted to get off and look, but the boat was leaving. We sailed so close that I could see the natives burning all the hanging vines on a cliff face, singing while they worked.

We had docked somewhere, and I was on a sidewalk. It seemed as though we were on the same island - maybe just a different part of it. An old parrot was flying around - I knew it was old because it had a beard of feathers on its chin. I wanted to help it, so I held out my arm for it to land. Instead it sort of crashed into my arm/grazed it and kept flying, all wobbly. The people around me laughed and teased me for wanting to be important, and someone (Dad?) brought the parrot back to me. I was angry that everyone was babying me and assuming my thoughts that I took the parrot and threw it high into the air. It caught a breeze and flew off towards a mountain.

***


There was a lot more on the cruise ship - playing around and goofy stuff. At one point I think I was swimming.

Research (Not a dream)

What I have neglected to do at all in this dream journal is write about the images I look up.

For example, a few days ago I had back-to-back dreams about being chased by an animal. I did not get caught, but I was being threatened. According to the two pop-culture dream image books I have, both of the animals in question - sharks and bears - have negative connotations when attacking the dreamer. This might sound obvious. However both also have a very specific negative connotation: that the dreamer is going to be betrayed by friends.

I found this to be a little disconcerting, naturally. If these sources are to be trusted, then my subconscious is feeling betrayed, or senses that treachery is near. It could be a manifestation of some hurt feelings I have right now. It could be my brain is trying to warn me about something that I do not see.

This is all based on whether or not I accept the dream imagery books or not. I am of the opinion that some dream images do have meanings that apply to all dreamers. Beyond that, however, I tend to think the image or object's actions in a dream, and how the dreamer relates to them while dreaming, are equally important. A certain animal might be considered a bad omen in theory, but if in the dream you are happy with said omen, then perhaps a different interpretation is in order. For example, when I was a little younger than I am now I dreamt about snakes frequently. I was indifferent to their presence, even when they were popping up throughout a dream. For the most part the snakes and I cohabited a dream space with neutrality, sometimes positively. Lately when I dream about snakes, however, there is more of a threatening aspect about them. At times I am even conscious while dreaming of the different tone when I see them.

Ultimately, I think that one has to examine the emotional overtone of the dream to pick out the best signal and potential meaning.

Yes, that sounds nice and conclusive...