[Jeysie]

Erwin: Hey, your dream reminds me I forgot one!

4. The "Non-Functioning Bathroom Light at my Old House" dream.

I periodically will have a dream where I need to use the bathroom in the house I grew up in, and the light won't turn on at all. Not only that, but the bathroom ends up being pitch dark for some reason when I close the door. (I grew up in the city, so having a room with windows ever be pitch dark is pretty damn weird.)

The bizarre thing is, whereas my other recurring dreams vary at least somewhat in details, this is always the exact same dream every time I have it.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[RLacey]

I forget dreams within about ten seconds of waking up . I once got out of bed and scribbled a diagram relating to one of them, but I can't work out what it means now .

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by em-deecee

The closest I came to a reoccurring dream lasted for years. I was in a rowboat with a leak, heading for the dock. I rowed furiously as the water got higher. Once it got up to the seat I'd wake up, realizing I'd wet the bed. I was in my late 20s the last time this happened. By that time I was able to recognize it as a dream & wake up & go to the bathroom.

How I wish I hadn't read this post before going to bed. W.E.I.R.D. I don't remember having seen any boats, though...

[Sage]

It's a brilliant sun-washed day as I lean against a wooden post in the shade, waiting for the stagecoach to arrive. The mountains rise in the distance, mottled in shades of pale green and brown, and the dry yellow-orange dust of the road rises in little poofs with the footfalls of each horse that passes. I think about going in the saloon across the street for a quick drink, but the position of the shadows on the road tells me I don't have enough time for that. I wonder how much loafing is going on back at the ranch and what's not getting done while I'm waiting here to meet my late bosse's daughter, fresh from the East and unused to the crudeness and simplicity of the West. I just want this to be over, my late bosse's will read, and Miss High-pockets put back on the next stage out of town with a purse full of gold so I can get back to work. I have far too much to do, and don't have the time to waste playing nursemaid to some delicate flower from Boston.
My revery is broken by the sound of a team of four, and I turn to see the stagecoach coming into view. The horses look tired, and I'm sure the driver will be spending the night here before heading out in the morning. The coach stops beside where I'm standing, and I nod to the driver. He glances back at the coach and rolls his eyes, then hops down and starts unloading the mail bags into the waiting postmaster's hands. I walk up to the coach and open the door, and I get my first glimpse of her.
She's wearing a purple silk dress and matching hat, both trimmed in black lace. Her skin is very fair, and her mahogany-colored hair is wound in a tight roll on the back of her head. Her eyes are like two dark pools that give no clue as to their depth. She gazes at me with a haughty, quizzical look, but not even the trace of a smile crosses her Patrician features.
Suddenly remembering my manners, I offer my hand to help her step down from the coach. When she places her hand on mine, a shock goes through me as if I have touched a live wire. She steps lightly down, and gazes around at what passes for a town here with a cool and appraising eye. Her attention returns to me and she says "Get my bags".
Then I wake up.

ScottMate

[Fairygdmther]

Scott, if you aren't writing a book in your spare time, you damn well should be! What an amazing picture you just painted here. I felt like I was standing beside you watching the same thing.

It is a strange dream - does it ever vary at all? Does it ever go any further?

Lynsie

[em-deecee]

I bet in the follow-up dream, you get it on with the coach driver!

[Sage]

Originally Posted by Fairygdmther

Scott, if you aren't writing a book in your spare time, you damn well should be! What an amazing picture you just painted here. I felt like I was standing beside you watching the same thing.

Well thank you, Fairygdmther. I have always dreamed very vividly and in color, and all I did was describe what I saw and felt in the dream.

It is a strange dream - does it ever vary at all?

Only in length and starting point.

Does it ever go any further?

It sometimes does. I fall madly in love with her on sight, and she uses this to her advantage. She doesn't sell the ranch, but instead stays and uses me to help her run it. Her cool aloofness and businesslike manner never wanes, and she almost never smiles.
Occasionally I'll get glimpses of doing other things like breaking horses, branding cattle, or giving directions to the other hands, but the person I am in the dream is a very simple one and not much given to conversation. He does seem to be well thought of, though, because everyone he meets acknowledges him with a smile or a nod and knows who he is.
At one point one of the neighboring ranches asks for my help with a particularly difficult horse, and she does not want me to go (she doesn't like me leaving the ranch for some reason), so I have to patiently explain to her that we will surely need their help in turn someday and that this is the way things are done out here. She's not at all happy about it, but she allows me to go.

ScottMate

[Fairygdmther]

This seems like a regression kind of dream. It also would explain your affinity for the west, and for animals.

Lynsie

[Sage]

Originally Posted by Fairygdmther

This seems like a regression kind of dream.

I've often thought so myself. It doesn't feel like a dream when I'm having it; Everything is bright and clear, and I can feel the sun on my skin and smell the sweat of the horses and hear the creak and jingle of the harnesses on the stagecoach's traces.

It also would explain your affinity for the west, and for animals.

Not to mention my hatred and intolerance of overly romanticized Western movies. The only two I've ever liked were "Little Big Man" and "Blazing Saddles", for entirely different reasons.

ScottMate

[Melanie68]

Originally Posted by Thrift Store Scott

I've often thought so myself. It doesn't feel like a dream when I'm having it; Everything is bright and clear, and I can feel the sun on my skin and smell the sweat of the horses and hear the creak and jingle of the harnesses on the stagecoach's traces.

The thought that came in my head was you lived in the Old West in a past life but FGM beat me to it. It is fascinating.

Not to mention my hatred and intolerance of overly romanticized Western movies. The only two I've ever liked were "Little Big Man" and "Blazing Saddles", for entirely different reasons.

ScottMate

Do you watch Deadwood? If so, do you like it (it doesn't come across as overly romanticized).

[Sage]

Originally Posted by Melanie68

The thought that came in my head was you lived in the Old West in a past life but FGM beat me to it. It is fascinating.

If it is a regression dream, I'd love to know where that life took place. I first had the dream a few years before I went to Reno, but the landscape looks very similar to Northern Nevada. I felt completely at home in Reno from the moment I stepped out of the airport, so maybe it was somewhere near there. The stagecoach that the lady arrived in entered town from the West, so the town must have been East of the nearest rail depot.
The things I remember about the town itself is that it had only six or eight buildings, the road through town ran East to West, and the saloon was on the North side of this street directly across from the post office/telegraph office on the South side. There was a one-story adobe building to the right of the saloon, but I don't remember what it housed.

Do you watch Deadwood? If so, do you like it (it doesn't come across as overly romanticized).

I haven't seen it, but I've heard it offers a grittier than usual portrayal of that period.

ScottMate

[Jeysie]

(gapes) Wow, Scott!

I wish I had cool dreams like that! I like the way you write scenes, too.

On the rare occasions I dream of a different era, it's always a futuristic sci-fi sort of setting.

Peace & Luv, Liz

[Wormsie]

I had a dream in which I killed a talking communist banana with a knife.

Discuss.

[Glenn Epic]

My dreams have product placement in them

[Sage]

Last night I dreamed I was in a Hammer Films murder mystery.
I was hired by a dowager in the country to do an inventory of her belongings for her will. Aside from her home and it's contents, she had a very large collection of porcelain dolls.
Her fraternal twin nephews were staying in the house with her. One was quite charming and personable, and the other was unfriendly and morose. Neither appeared much inclined towards earning a living.
A frequent visitor was the local vicar (played by Vincent Price, no less! ), who constantly toadied up to the lady of the house and who seemed to take my presence as a personal insult.
The lady was found dead by poison while my inventory was underway. As I was technically under the employ of her solicitor, I went ahead with my inventory even though she was dead. In her bathroom, I found two broken off doll's feet with painted-on shoes, and slipped them in my pocket. Although these feet at first appeared to be from the same doll, on closer inspection I found them to be similar but not identical in detail.
I'm guessing the twins did it, but some idiot called and woke me up before I found out how it ended. I only have dreams this bizarre when I take antihistamines.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Perchance, Scott, are you an adventure gamer?

[Fairygdmther]

Scott, I hope you took more antihistamines last night, and were able to finish that dream!

And I reiterate, you need to be writing, Scott - you have a natural talent for it, and you present a story very well.

Lynsie

[RLacey]

My brain seems to like having dreams in which I do a whole load of work or serious thought, allowing me to wake up feeling like I've had far less rest than I have .