School Days

School supplies, originally uploaded by Crayons to Computers.

I don't recall the specifics, but I had my first school anxiety dream that I've had in years last night. I think I'm nervous on my sister's behalf since she starts college tomorrow. All I remember is that it was the first day and I still hadn't figured out where my classes were - which she already did well ahead of time. Hopefully she'll have far more fun than I did in my dream!

Narrow Escapes

Creepy old house, originally uploaded by CaptnMom.

My dream last night was exhaustingly elaborate. It started with my mom and sister and I going to this old house for a tour. It was supposed to be haunted and was a cool place. There was sort of a complex of old houses together and even a small theater that they held little improv shows in.

Somehow I had been there before and knew that there was something wrong with the "package" deal they offered to stay overnight. Before I could warn mom, she signed us up. I was nervous but finally said okay since it would take a long time to get home and it would be easier not to have to drive.

The first part of the night was a sort of burlesque show thing in the theater that reminded me a lot of the environment at Rocky. It was a lot of fun and put me at ease. When we went back to the house to get ready for the dinner they offered, I started getting really edgy. Part of the "story" or whatever of being an overnight guest was that the people who worked there would sneak into people's rooms and steal things using a series of secret passages and panels and stuff. I finally got way too freaked and told mom we had to leave. She said that was fine but that she'd promised to help the older lady that owned the place with something first.

I reluctantly agreed to wait a little longer. I stayed in our room and got all our things together because I didn't want something to get taken and us have to stay longer just to get it back. After awhile, mom still hadn't come back, so I took our backpacks and went downstairs calling for her. The employees - who had already started the formal dinner for the guests - told me she was still talking to the lady. I asked where my sister was and they said she was outside. Everyone was acting very polite, but it was a creepy, strained politeness.

Eventually (I can't recall how), I found Kathy and we realized by then (the people weren't pretending to be nice anymore and they were trying to chase us) we had to get out whether we could find mom or not. They'd managed to box our car in when we tried to drive off, so we ended up running on foot down this crazy, scary, complex network of roads looping over and under each other. We finally found a spot to get off the road and cut through into a swampy area.

On the way through, we found another guy who was running from the people at the house. Together we all managed to evade them and eventually get back to down. It was supposed to be the town where my mom and sister live, but it was different. The guy went his own way and we went to our grandma's house. While there we saw strange pictures (they weren't home yet) and realized that she and my uncles were somehow in league with the people at the house. We high-tailed it out of there and back to mom's house, which was very different from her real one.

We were completely freaked out and had no idea what to do. We were both terrified of where mom might be and how to get her out and somehow I was worried that Wes would go there or had already gone there. Unfortunately I woke up before the mysteries could be solved. Maybe tonight it will be Kathy and I to the rescue.

The Best of Times and the...

Ewan McGregor, originally uploaded by Uncinefilo.

I've been having a lot of nightmares lately dealing with family drama. It's nothing all that deep. I know precisely what it means, it's not that interesting, so I've been sparing everyone.

Before the nightmares set in last night, though, I was treated to something I haven't had in awhile - a cameo from my dream husband. I don't mean dream husband in the sense of him being my ideal, exactly, just that Ewan's my go to sexy dude in dreams. I mean, look at him. Not hard to figure out why ;)

I wish I could remember the plot (something complex involving sci fi stuff and clones and whatnot), but the good part? I had my very own Ewan, and I got to have a lot of fun with him. Not as much as I would have liked (stupid dreams changing on me right in the middle!), but it was enough to take the sting out of the second half of the night, believe you me.

Creepy Ickiness

And I don't even remember enough of the story to share it! I know that there was a "hiding from the evil" vibe to my nightmare last night, but I don't remember what said evil was. I do remember being chased by bugs that would get into people's bodies and kinda eat them from the inside at one point, but I think they were just minions of the bigger evil. I do know me and other survivors were hiding out in my grandma's house, but that's about as far as my recollection goes on this one.

Zoos and Murder

creepiest men's room EVER, originally uploaded by wizmo.

Once again, my dream started out rather pleasant last night. I was at a really cool indoor zoo with my best bud Ashley. I noticed that some people had taken to getting annual memberships and jogging through the building as exercise. I thought that was ingenious since the zoo was right downtown and close to so many businesses. What better way to exercise than in an air conditioned environment while looking at cool animals?

Sometime later I went down the escalator (which was going far too fast for some reason) to leave. Outside I spotted a guy with a gun. I bravely... well, okay, I grabbed the closest guy to me and begged him to help me before more or less throwing him at the dude with the gun. What? Self preservation, baby. Anyway, while the guy with the gun beat the crap out of said guy (no idea why he didn't shoot him), I ran for it. The landscape outside was strange, but I finally found a spot at the end of a house behind some bushes that seemed secure. Unfortunately crazy dude with a gun caught up with me. I think he was going to shoot me or something, but I woke up. Yay alarm clock?

Be Fruitful & Make Baby Rats

My dream last night actually started out well. In the waking world, one of our rats is dying. She's having a lot of trouble and we're doing what we can to make her comfortable. In my dream, however, we discovered that she'd only been ill because she was pregnant. She had a large litter of beautiful little baby rats (that oddly ranged in age from tiny to obviously a few days old) and was doing well. We were playing with the babies and so excited about how excellent she was doing!

Then I went over to Spike's cage (Spike being our gargoyle gecko) and found that he was dead. Worse than that, for some reason he was split open. It was absolutely horrific, and I immediately called Wes to take care of him. Thankfully at that point my memory of the dream blurs.

Needless to say, for the third day in a row I don't feel particularly rested.

Anxiety Dreams

Kid Fears by WildeMoon
Originally uploaded by wildemoon

I've been having a lot of anxiety dreams for the past week or so. It's not surprising after losing papau, but it's not a lot of fun. I'm hoping that they'll slowly die down since it's definitely making being rested more than a bit difficult. If I manage to hold onto any of them after I wake up, I'll certain share them, but they've been slipping away quickly after I get up in the morning.

Drama & Mystery

Apparently reading Dead and Gone right before bed was poorly thought out on my part. I ended up having an interestingly cinematic nightmare featuring Wil Wheaton as the villain (sorry about that, man! I love you, I promise!).

While a van from a local mental institution (or something along those lines) was visiting a local store or whatnot, a girl was attacked. It was naturally assumed by the police that one of the patients had done it since apparently the orderly who drove them (that's right, Wil Wheaton's character in my dream) had been separated from the group at some point.

There then ensued naturally a lot of interrogating the girl (I want to say my brain cast Anne Hathaway in the role) and then the girl and the police (can't remember clearly who "played" them) working to find who did it. They ran all over the city, talked to tons of people. Finally somehow a recording surfaced from something that had been in the room during the attack. The orderly could clearly be heard on the tape, and then he was caught.

A lot of the details in my mind are fuzzy, and I want to say that the girl actually had a bad feeling about the orderly all along - subconscious memory or something. I just can't quite recall. In any case, it was one of those annoying dreams from which you wake up feeling as if you haven't really rested yet. I need a nap.

Missing Class

This post isn't about a specific dream but rather a recurrent theme in my nightmares. Actually, it even happens sometimes in regular dreams. I realize that I was signed up for classes that I'm not sure I've been attending. Sometimes I just can't remember when I'm signed up for what class. Sometimes I know what classes I'm supposed to be in, but I can't figure out whether I've been to them or not or how many classes I've missed if I know I've missed some. Sometimes things keep me from checking into it all, and sometimes I'm trying to figure it out at the school but don't know how/can't find my schedule/etc. Drives me nuts!

Seeing Inside

Last night's dreams were brought to me by terrible acid reflux. Good times!

It actually started out well. Wes and I found a house in Denton that was about the same size as ours currently and found a buyer for our current house. We were thrilled and moved in. The place was great, and the kitchen was like something out of a magazine - all super duper well appointed and fancy. I moved out into the living room and was about to tell Wes about how absolutely perfect a particular spot (with a high arch-y window and lots of ceiling clearance) was going to be for Christmas tress, and he got all pissy. I told him I was just trying to share my excitement and he answered something rude that I can't recall now. Effectively killed the buzz of THAT dream.

At that point, I think I must have partially woken up because my dream switched focus. I was watching a television commercial where everyone was shadowed by people who were showing how they really felt. For example, a couple was talking about how happy they were together, but behind them their "shadows" (who didn't actually look like them) were making faces and rolling their eyes.

Then I realized that I could see those things in the real world. I was in the house Wes and I had bought, but no one was there except myself and my papau. He was moving around more easily than I'd seen him do in a long time. There was a problem with the plumbing, and maggots and ants and other bugs were coming up through the pipes. We were annoyed but not freaking out. Apparently the city was somehow responsible. But since we couldn't drink water out of the pipes, papau had gone out and gotten me a shake before I got up so I'd have that to drink. I was getting ready and turned around to look at him and saw that I could see one of the "shadows" following him. It was smaller than him and greenish - basically a sort of cartoonish version of someone who was really sick.

That was about when the acid reflux woke me up yet again.

Worries and Fears

Last night I dreamt that Wes and I were staying somewhere with grandma and papau. I think mom and Kathy may have been there as well. It was a condo or something where there was a main living area with a living room and kitchen and the bedrooms all branched off of it. We were just getting unpacked when Wes starting talking strangely. Most of what he was saying made no sense at all. He didn't seem to be aware of it, and I started to get freaked out and told him I was calling the hospital. He protested, but I was too worried not to. For some reason I then tried to lie and say I was just calling his doctor to ask them about it. I kept trying to call 9-1-1 over and over, but I didn't have the right prefix. I tried it with a one and with a four before the number, but I kept getting wrong numbers and stuff.

Finally I dialed four-four before the number and it went through. By then I was crying and really upset and trying to tell them what was going on. They said they'd send someone, but I told them I didn't know how to explain to get to the house (which I suddenly knew was my Aunt Sylvia's). Before they could even reply, grandma and papau said they were driving us to the hospital. They did, but on the way there, I got upset because I realized they were sending the ambulance anyway, but we wouldn't be there when the ambulance arrived. Grandma assured me that was okay and that it was more important that we get there quickly.

We got to the hospital and they took Wes into a room but wouldn't let us come. I was crying and trying to explain that I was scared because his dad died young and his mom had a stroke when she was young too. The doctors said it was fine but they made us leave and go back to the house. Suddenly it wasn't a house but a hotel attached to a mall. I kept trying over and over to call the hospital but no one answered. Finally I apparently dialed Wes' number without realizing it and he answered. I was crying, and he told me it was fine but that they thought there might be fluid on his brain that was making him confused. The connection kept cutting out so I could only hear part of what he was saying. Finally I hung up, but I didn't want to go back to the hotel.

I eventually did go back because I didn't have anywhere else to go and the mall stores were all shutting down. When I got in, no one else seemed to be there, so I went to papau's room. For a few minutes I was sure that papau was the one in the hospital, the one I was scared for, and I kept hugging one of his shirts. Eventually I tried calling the hospital again but Wes hadn't ever hung up his phone, so all I could do was listen to what was going on to his room. I could hear him talking nonsensically to his roommate, and I could hear the TV in their room. When papau got  back, he asked me what I was doing (I was lying on the floor with his shirt with the phone up to my ear). I told him I was listening to the music on the TV in Wes's room.

That's about when I woke up. Very, very exhausting dream.

Strange Convention

Somehow I knew I was on the way to A-Kon. It was Wes and I with Otis. We were in a big glass elevator that was absolutely bizarre. Instead of just going up and down the building, it went up and down on the outside of the building, and it flipped over the top to go back down the other side. Given my fear of heights, just watching it freaked me out. And for some reason once Wes dropped Otis and I off (why Otis was with me, I don't know), we had to wait in the elevator until my sister got there.

We would stop on the floors and I saw people dressed in their cosplay stuff, and that did make me feel better. I was excited even though I was scared. I was also annoyed with myself because I'd forgotten Otis' leash, so I was going to have to carry him once the elevator stopped (for some reason I knew he wouldn't run off of the elevator).

Then I woke up a little, and when I drifted back to sleep, I was in the elevator, but Otis wasn't there anymore. Instead I was in it with Melissa and her ex husband and kids. Strangely, though, her ex wasn't the same guy. Same name, but he was Indian, and so while her son looked the same for some reason, her daughter looked younger and looked like she was Indian. It was like one child looked like Mel and the other looked like the dad who wasn't exactly the dad. Very odd.

We were all stuck on the elevator for the night, but the elevator had become huge - it was more like an old storehouse or something than an elevator, and we were all trying to find comfortable spots to sleep in. Then finally the alarm saved me from any further bizarre dreams.

Nightmares

Lately I've been sleeping poorly, so mostly I've been having snippets of dreams that I lose once I fully wake up. Most of those have been nightmares (double the fun, right?). Once I manage to hang onto any of the snippets long enough, I'll post them here. Right now I'm just hoping for better rest in the not too distant future.

MJ Lives!

This is one of those duo dreams where one dream seems to lead into another.

It started out that I was in some sort of camp. We were all supposed to finish writing a book before we were allowed to leave. Some people wanted to give up or run away, and they were all murdered horribly. I can't remember the specifics of it all, just the stress of knowing I had to write something but not having any idea of what to put down or where to begin and knowing I didn't have much more time to finish in.

Then I was attending a final press conference with Michael Jackson. I knew it was not long before his death somehow even at the time. There were a lot of other people there, including Lindsey from work and her husband (who I've never met). MJ came in wearing cut off shorts and a bulky jacket/shirt. We all thought it was pretty bizarre-looking, but he was really nice and polite and greeted everyone warmly and answered questions. Then as he was leaving with his entourage, he whipped off the jacket, and there was a long, flowing cape underneath like the kind you'd see a king wearing in an old movie. Very lush and expensive-looking... and an odd match with cut off shorts, let me tell you.

Living Horror Movie

Last night was a strange one. I was in a horror movie. Well, part of the time I was in it, part of the time it was like I was watching it. I can't remember the details, sadly, but someone had killed a bunch of people and hid the bodies in this old house. Myself and some other people were there for another reason but ended up finding the bodies. Then the killer showed up (after he spoke, I remember observing that he was played by Henry Rollins of all random things).

The "scene" changed and I was lying in bed seeing the killer out my window. He was on the next hill over from the house sort of yelling to the heavens about what he was going to do to the people there, and then he looked over and I knew he'd seen me. It was odd, though, because I was scared and at the same time reassuring myself that it was just a movie, so I'd be fine. I wish I could remember more specifics about the first part - very weird.

Bad Dream

Had an awful dream last night that papau had died and mom and I were at g&p’s house. Kathy wasn’t there for some reason. Grandma kept trying to act normal and make little jokes, but she was never really smiling. She just seemed sort of lost wandering around the house.

At the beginning of the dream, I knew what had happened, but I can’t remember now. I finally couldn’t take talking to grandma anymore and went into papau’s room. I got one of his suit jackets out of the closet and pretended he was there telling me about the stuff in the closet, taking it out and showing it to me. Mom came in and kind of broke the spell and I just curled up on his bed and cried. I wanted to keep pretending he was really there.

Actually woke up crying, and I don’t remember ever doing that before.

Anyway, paranoid about sleeping tonight. Finger is still bruisy and hurting but I needed to write this out.