Bad Dream 125 -- Morning of 6/15/20

Another dream that showed up relatively late.  Rather than 2:00 or thereabouts, this showed up around 4:40 or 5:00 this morning.  I was so delighted with the dream that I posted the following on Facebook:

Some of you already know that I've been studying Dream Analysis for the last several years. I'm now keeping a Dream Diary with over 120 entries and counting.

I'd like to share a dream I had this morning -- not because it is loaded with Important Content (some of them are!), but because it's lighthearted and pleasant:
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In my dream, I am standing near a tall tree. I have a fairly large white metal sign with writing on it that I wish to hang from the tree so that others can read the writing. (The words on the sign are multi-colored, but the dream does not include information about what the writing says. Dreams are like that.)

I see a pair of branches overhead -- almost parallel to the ground -- that are a good height from which to hang the sign. And the sign has holes at all four corners so that it can be properly tied up and suspended between the two branches. Unfortunately, the branches are just a little bit too far apart for proper alignment of the sign.

So I convince an octopus to climb up into the tree, grab the upper branch with two tentacles and the lower branch with another pair of tentacles. And pull them together a bit so that I can tie up the sign. The octopus doesn't require much convincing and seems genuinely pleased to help.

The octopus performs his/her task beautifully and it becomes an easy job for me to secure all four corners of the sign in place. End of dream.
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Now you see, this is why I place so much confidence in Dream Analysis as being a pathway for my Unconscious Self to communicate with the rest of me. I consider myself to be a reasonably clever person, but there's no way the Conscious Me would ever come up with such a delightful, inventive story. And this is something I feel about most of the dreams that I've been documenting: I'm just not that clever, that inventive.

BTW, if you'd like to discuss Dream Analysis in any context, please let me know. Dreams are often best handled by small groups of interested people.

Bad Dream 124 -- Morning of 6/14/20

It should be noted that this dream showed up after I had been awake for a while and gone back to sleep -- I think twice.  I spent much mental "time and energy" this morning worrying about the future.  Will our country manage to hold itself together in the face of all these challenges showing up at once?  It feels like this anxiety was an important part of the dream, but I don't know how.  Just yet...  Also, I didn't write up the dream until late Sunday afternoon and early evening.

In my dream, I am standing in an old, large garage.  It feels just too large to be a single person's -- or family's -- garage but the stuff that's in it feels like personal property. Much of the detail of what's in the garage remain just a sideline to the "gist" of the dream, but I seem to recall some gardening equipment, a gas can or two -- that sort of stuff -- placed around the walls of the garage.  All of it casually placed and somewhat dusty/grimy/dirty.  

In retrospect, I find it a bit odd that I didn't have a car or even a thought about a car.  Great big garage.  No vehicle to put in it. 

But I do remember a motorcycle.  A black Honda twin from the 1960's.  In the dream, I recall thinking it was a 305cc engine -- and looking closely to confirm that.  Yes it is.  I feel somewhat smug for knowing that.  

But I know it isn't my bike and I am getting tired of it taking up room in the garage.  And the fuel tank is dusty, so it hadn't been used in quite some time.  So I lift the side kickstand and wheel it out to the street curb.  I think the owner will get a bit shirty about this, but I think he has it coming to him.  

(I don't remember the order of the next two phases of the dream.  They may have happened in the reverse order of my writeup.)  

I am back inside the garage.  I notice a door on the side of the garage.  The wall is made of brick, and the door is nicely made -- if a bit tired -- with a rounded top.  Then I notice that the brick pattern around the door indicates pretty clearly that this wasn't the original door.  The original door was much wider and taller, and the space between that original brick door frame and the newer round-top door is filled in with a well-done pattern of bricks.  I wonder what that original door was meant to be used for.  It's much too large for people but too small for a vehicle entryway.  The "new" door is properly sized for people, but maybe two feet above the floor.

The owner of the Honda shows up but is not surprised to see his machine at the curb rather than inside the garage.  He's a short round nebbishy looking fellow.  His concern, which he voices loudly is "Where's my helmet?"  I look down at my feet and see a bright red half helmet.  Stupid looking, but befitting the bike and its owner.  I tell him "It's in here, sitting right next to your helmet."  The owner grumbles something and starts walking in.  

(My notes from this morning next say "I want crying uncontrollably."  I think my dream self is doing just that.  Crying uncontrollably.  And feeling that if he/I keep at it, the crying will drain off the anxiety that I'm feeling.)

The next part of my dream involves my Mother.  It's very unusual for my dreams to include her, but it's good in this case to be close to her.  (There's something in my notes about " something something, but the flows are not the same.  This could be water or energy, but it's important to know that there are two separate systems of the flow.  There's also something about Eddystone, which refers to a power plant where I taught several courses ever so long ago.)

I see that my Mother is seated and has her hand wafting slowly over a used  electronic panel.  It looks very much like the horizontal mother board of an old-fashioned TV set.  I'm concerned because I recall that there are big whacking capacitors on some of these modules, and that touching one of them if it's charged could release a considerable amount of electrical power.  I don't want my Mother to get hurt.

I wake up -- more because this is my third wake up of the morning rather than that my dream is complete.  

Bad Dream 123 -- Morning of 6/4/20

(I didn't get around to writing up this dream until about 30 hours after it took place.  So some of the details are a bit fuzzy and possibly inaccurate...)

In my dream, I am taking an exam.  It's a math exam -- and back at college, I struggled with math considerably -- taught by a woman teacher.  (I had a woman teacher -- PhD in math -- and did particularly miserable in her classes.)  But the teacher is not in evidence for the exam.  

Knowing that I'm up against a serious challenge in the exam, I get to the classroom early to  get situated and properly prepared.  There are two other people in the classroom when I arrive: Ricky Coburn and an unidentifiable.  (Ricky lived quite close to me and we did, in fact, share some classes back in High School.  We didn't get along at all, but I don't think there was any antagonism there.  Just different circles of people.  But I did beat Ricky in our elementary school's spelling bee.  He and I were the last two contestants and he blew a word that I knew how to spell.  I think he left the stage in tears.  I felt sorry for him -- watching him go offstage -- and wished that maybe the end result had gone the other way.  Ricky had an older brother -- Rusty -- and he was the same age as my older brother -- Richard -- and I think there was some serious animosity there, but I never knew why...)  

As suggested, I was expecting an exam with some very difficult questions and exercises on it -- and the two other people in the room seem to be working quite hard.  And now the room has a number of other students in it -- all of whom seem to be working hard.  When I look at my test paper, however, the questions look to be rather easy.  I wonder if something is going on that I should feel so  comfortable while everyone else seems to be struggling.  Do I not have the same test paper as everyone else?  

As I settle in to working on the test, there is some chatter starting up between various members of the class.  I don't think they're talking about the test -- giving each other answers or suggestions about how to approach any particular question -- they're just chatting.  

The chatter gets a bit louder, and I find I can't concentrate with all this talking going on.  (I think) I call out and ask for some quiet -- this is, after all, a test we're taking.  There is some agreement with my concern and the chatter decreases.

But one guy, a heavy set fellow, who starts loudly complaining that there's been too much noise.  That he can't concentrate on the test and it wasn't fair and on and on.  He doesn't seem to recognize that, at this point, almost all the noise in the room is his own talking, and he is now interfering with everyone's taking the test.  

I'm pretty fed up with how this is going -- especially since I feel my chances of doing okay on the test were improving until all this noise -- and I yell at this one guy talking and tell him, "Shut Up!!"  He looks surprised and offended.  I start getting concerned because he looks like he could be dangerous -- and certainly that he may continue talking, but start complaining about me calling him out.  And all of this interferes with all of us working on the exam!