In a recent blog post I mentioned finding old notes about various things that might become future blog posts. Well, the future is now!
Four of the notes begin: “Dream:” and have some mention of what happened in some dream I had years ago. Often when I take notes, such brief phrases are enough to conjure a memory, but over time become less evocative. However, I still remember some details of all four of these dreams—perhaps because I took the notes?
I’ll skip the first one because I want to dwell on the philosophy behind it, so on to the next. The second says: “Dream: killing zombies in a supermarket.” I was trapped in a grocery store with some friends, and zombies were attempting to surround us. We managed to get on a small raised platform (a stage?) at the front of the store. Even though it was only a 6” rise, the zombies could not step up and attack us. I then began killing them by jamming a sharp pencil into their foreheads to kill their brains. After clearing enough for a path, we escaped.
At the time I interpreted this as, “Writing has the power to kill the unthinking.” The fact that I was doing so on a stage (pretty much at the start of my theatrical career) also seems significant.
The next entry is: “Dream: McDonald’s tries to hire me with MA.” The mention of the degree places the dream between 1983 (graduation from OSU) and 1985 (starting at Berkeley). All I remember of this one is that someone from a McDonald’s restaurant thought I would be a great employee since I had an MA. I was not having it. Likely the dream reflected my concern about not getting a real job with only an MA in Theatre. (During this time I worked seasonally at Toys ‘R’ Us at Christmas and an arts camp during the summer, so that fear was close to the mark.)
The last says, “Dream: ToysrUs employee ordered killed during the revolution.” It seems that I was leading the revolution of said employees and one of our enemies, an older worker who did bike assemblies, was captured and brought to me; his captors wanted to know what to do with him. I had seen many movies where the enemy is imprisoned, only to escape and cause trouble, so I said, “Kill him.” This seemed an expedient way to get rid of the potential problem.
I guess I’m still surprised at the ruthlessness of that event, but it occurs to me that, if there is a new civil war in America, this is a warning not to get captured on my watch.
MUSOFYR 