Great, another anxiety dream theme

So, have already become lame blogger who hasn't posted anything for almost a month. My apologies to my avid blog readers (insert guffaw here).

But I did have an entertaining anxiety dream the other day. I work for a non-profit that is working on launching a 2.0 version of our website this summer, and as all of you who have gone through this process or software development know, it can be a nightmare (no pun intended). Right now we are in the midst of our first testing period, hence the following dream:

I dreamed that my co-workers and I were testing, but it was actually a test - with 4 parts, and of course I hadn't studied so kept trying to wheedle answers out of co-workers. One test question in particular showed a picture of Lisa Bonet and asked you to identify her. Then during one of the breaks, R.E.M. crowded into the classroom with a huge prop that included some sort of motorcycle with flames on it and played a song.

Huh.....

Well, just to show you how my subconscious functions, I don't recall seeing, hearing, or otherwise engaging any of my senses in any content containing references to Lisa Bonet, R.E.M., or flame-decorated motorcycles. Perhaps this indicates how baffling I'm finding this whole testing process. Either that or I'm not quite balanced in the head. Am leaning towards the latter.

But this brings up the topic of anxiety dreams. Because I always dreaded writing papers in college, for a long time my anxiety dreams involved me finding out a had a paper due the next day and had no idea what to write about. When I became a high school teacher, this was most often replaced by dreams about having to teach and not being prepared - often complete with at least partial nudity (pretty cliche, but effective).

What kinds of anxiety dreams do you have? Please check out my new poll question.

Working on a holiday

Title has nothing to do with any dreams, just my bitterness that I'm working on a holiday, AND a beautiful day.

No very exciting dreams over the weekend, but I wanted to invite other people to share their dreams too. We can have a "dream to the death" contest, or maybe just have prizes for the best dreams like plastic parachute men or a candle. Don't know.

Slightly better subject matter

Am already remiss in my blogging duties and it's only been a week! Oh well, will report on two dreams and their themes here:

Theme 1: Visits from my favorite tv/movie characters in my dreams.
I often have dreams featuring the crowd from Harry Potter. Although some of my friends might suspect that my slight crush on Daniel Racliffe (hey, he's legal now) is behind this, the tone of these dreams is usually more of a quest/adventure thing.

Well, the other night my dream featured the cast of Seinfeld in typical Seinfeldian hijinks. Don't remember details, but I think that hilarity ensued.

Theme 2: Bugs
Lately I have noticed that I often have dreams about bugs - I mean, a lot of bugs. There is usually some sort of infestation and these dreams are really unpleasant. A couple of weeks ago I had a dream about my home having an infestation of some sort of earwig-ish bugs; even worse, there were some jumbo-size horrible bugs that had to be stepped on several times to be killed, and when they were successfully smashed, spewed gross bug guts everywhere. Yes, I agree with you - yuck. In this particular dream, my dad was helping me dispose of said bugs. Hmmmm..

Last night I had yet another bug dream. In this one I had just returned from some trip and was hanging out at my boss's house while I tried to contact my family, which I kept being unable to do by phone. Anyhoo, my hosts were gone so I was sort of snooping around, and besides having a ginormous, pool-sized bathtub, they also had a spare room for the guy's son. When I checked out this room, all of the sudden a swarm of cockroaches emerged from the bedcovers. Dear God. Then I went to my room and was relieved that the bedclothes were bug-free, but then two large ones emerged from a corner and I was trying, unsuccessfully, to kill them.

So, I ask you, what is wrong with me???

Not a propitious beginning

Ugh, sometimes I have very disturbing dreams for apparently no reason. Last night I had a very vivid - and long - dream about an abusive father and his family. Like, torturing the kids and I think a couple died. Then a few of his sons finally shot and killed him, but then it was the whole "cycle of abuse" thing with the grown-up kids. I have not idea where these dreams come from; they just appear occasionally. Well, I did see Romeo and Juliet (the ballet) last night and have been traumatized by watching the horrible torture scenes in the Last King of Scotland. This may have been it.

Every now and then I try the whole "imagine what you want to dream about before you go to bed and you will" thing, but it has never worked for me (has this worked for you, reader?). And I've noticed that I often have these really disturbing dreams on the weekend when theoretically I should be the most relaxed. And they're always really long and drawn out. How come you always wake up during the pleasant dreams??? Bizarro.

Inaugural Post

Hello you legions of blog readers (very few of which will ever read this but wanted to be inclusive)! This past year has really brought it home to me that I have very vivid, detailed, and often wacky and/or disturbing dreams. I've come to the conclusion that it might be a hereditary thing as my sister shares this trait with me.

My favorite of her dreams is one she had which included a Jon Bon Jovi who was a medical doctor. He kept insisting that everyone call him Dr. Bon Jovi, thank you very much.

I have consulted multiple dream dictionaries and friends about my dreams, and always marvel at the range of diagnoses they make in response to the elements of my dreams.

As I am a reflective person and also a storyteller at heart (Watch out, Uncle Remus!), I thought I would enter the blogosphere and report my more interesting dreams. My expectations of you, the Reader, are really to read, relate if appropriate, and comment if you feel like it.

So, read, enjoy, and if you are dream-analytically inclined, feel free to take a crack at diagnosing me!