Am I Dreaming?

I’ve always been very fond of dreaming. I think of it a little bit like a drug. Of course I don’t like the ones that involve home invasion, which are the scary ones that wake me up in a cold sweat. But generally my dreams are fascinating and I think a translucent window into my psyche.

Not that I always understand what they’re trying to tell me.

And not that I always remember what they were even seconds after I wake up.

Last night I had one where I was visited by a former student. And not one that I was very fond of. Why would she suddenly show up in my dreams when I haven’t thought about her in a long time? She just had a couple of lines and exited. I don’t remember what she said. So why was she there?

I also had another recent dream where I was being visited by a series of students. It was practically like the old show “This Is Your Life.” At one point, I almost woke up, thought of a particular student who had not appeared, and began having a lucid dream about her. Now if I could only figure out how to do that more frequently.

By the way, I have had the most brilliant ideas for stories in my dreams, and at one point I even had a pencil and paper by my bed to take notes. In the morning I would wake up, look at those notes, and wonder what strange alien stenographer had visited me in the night. I had no idea what the notes said.

Dreams can help you work out problems unconsciously, but if you’re looking at them as a source for material, maybe you’d better keep a voice recorder by your bed.

But that might not help either. You should see what I’ve had to correct from dictating this blog post!

Postscript: Just remembered why that student would’ve shown up. I was talking about how I once cast two new and unknown freshman female students in a play when older, more experienced students were expecting those roles. I guess she came to mind. So it does make sense!