This morning, I was laying in bed, thinking about my most recent dream.  In it, I was in the military.  I can vaguely remember quite a few scenes of being on a bus, and going into another building.  While this was all happening, I generally was being very non-social (to a rather extreme level).  Later on, I was assigned to pilot an aircraft with one other person, except it didn't go too well.  We ended up landing on top of a high mesa that had steep cliffs all the way around (although there was a road leading up there).  There was also another small aircraft that somehow ended up there (possibly in pursuit of my plane).  I (who was just in training) and my co-pilot (possibly a more experienced pilot- who knew that this mission would turn out wrong, just not quite as threatening to our lives) would take the other three people off the mesa and fly back to the base.

From this, I started thinking about the meanings of dreams.  I'm sure I've posted about this before.  Every once in a while, for a really nifty dream I have, or if something stands out in an odd way, I'll go to a dream dictionary for interpretation.  I don't usually believe so much in what they suggest, though.  It's more of a fun thing, like horoscopes.  For me, it wouldn't make sense to gather much meaning by looking in dream dictionaries.  I generally take things more literally.  If there is some significance to a dream that my subconscious mind is trying to alert to my conscious mind, it would make no sense to do it in a way I could not (or would not) interpret.  I don't necessarily think my dreams would, or should, be taken exactly literal, however.  Otherwise, I should have superpowers, flying around in aircrafts, and going through the stargate (where I know Daniel Jackson, of course).  That sounds like an exciting life, but not all that real (of course not, they're all from dreams).  I think more than anything, dreams give a broad picture of something going on in life- not to the extent that a dream dictionary might suggest (saying, for example, if you dream of a certain food, that it means this or that- and if it's prepared in such a way, it obviously means something different).  I guess I do see some meaning in dreams, but very losely applied rather than finding meaning in every particular aspect of the dream- more specifically, what I do and how I react to situations are more important than objects in the dream or scenarios I'm placed in.  Instead of finding meaning that I dream about a stargate- and thinking what a stargate might represent, I should look at what I'm doing in the dream.  In most of my dreams, I'm usually helping people in some way.  I often dream about being a superhero, where I'm preventing someone from taking over the world (which is odd, considering how often I play a civilization-style game). 

In another recent dream, I think there was flooding happening in the building I lived in.  I can't remember exactly what was going on.  I do remember a major focus point of the dream (or at least that I focused on remembering) was that I fell in love (I hate dreaming about love).  There are just a few aspects about the person I distinctly remember, such as his hair.  The big thing I remember about this dream is that I wanted to help him.  I was having trouble with certain things of my life, and he was around my apartment building frequently- so I naturally came to him for help with things I couldn't do well myself (mechanical stuff, mostly).  Later on in the dream, it turned out he was having a hard time with his career.  He wanted to essentially be a handy-man.  For the time being, he just wanted to get practice (which is why he was always so eager to help me- I would let an uncertified guy with little background and/or knowledge get hands-on experience... and it didn't cost me anything, because I never paid him).  I worked with him on creating a "business plan" (so to speak- because we were trying to keep this in the informal economy as much as possible for legal and tax purposes).  By the end of the dream, he was telling me how good I was at organization (and some other things I don't remember now).

I would probably apply fairly literal intereptations to this dream.  It's like my subconcious mind was telling me I wasn't getting it and made it very obvious to me, by having someone literally telling me something.  In this case, it was telling me something I had already figured out: I'm not necessarily very handy, but I am good with a lot of "mental" things- such as organization.  Correction: when it comes to dealing with other people, I am.  Dealing with my own organization (such as cleaning up my room, figuring out what I actually want to do with my life), I'm doomed.  Helping others in this regard is so much easier.

I still like another idea about dreams I've had, but it's a bit "out there:"  Dreams are really a vision of our selves in other dimensions.  Extreme, yes.  It is a fun thought, though- that in some universe or dimension, I'm out there with the ability to fly (with superhuman ability, and with my own ability as a pilot), and that stargates exist, and that I seem to kick ass whereever I go (I seem to help lots of people- and am generally not the bad guy).  Fun thought, but insanely improbable (I think I'll emphasize the "insanely" a bit more: INSANELY). 

Oh, or dreams could just be the firing of random neurons in our brains as we sleep, and then developed into images that our concious minds can understand to make sense of the random neurons.  Then each image is connected with a previous image because the mind really likes to connect things together like that.  This also might explain why dreams seem scattered, why we're doing one thing in one scene and then something else in another.

Random question, but if you happened to have a stalker who knew everything about you and your family- including every pet you've had- and had nothing better to do than to keep an eye on everyone, attempt to control your life by periodically aiming a high-powered sniper rifle in your direction, would you eat a cake that was baked by him (supposing he backed this by a demand- further backed by his rifle)?

That was a very strange dream I just had. I woke up just after seeing the cake. It looked good. I'm not sure what type of cake, but it had white frosting. The weird part was that he then had the icing with everyone's names on it and blocked off. I had a feeling there were a few people in my family who he didn't like, though I think he generally didn't want to kill me. He just wanted to basically control my life to some extent... and watch every moment of it. I guess that's almost like the Truman Story, but with a scary, "I should do what he says" kind of twist.

Last night, s0rr0w told me that Radiohead has a new album. It's available on their website either as a download or a disc box (which includes a vinyl, CD, bonus CD, hardback book and slip case, plus all the downloads). So what do you pay for the download? Well, it's up to you. "No really. It's up to you." That's just what the website says. You can set your own price.

Radiohead also appeared in a dream last night... which is odd because I'm not all that familiar with Radiohead, so have no idea what they look or sound like. I think over the course of the dream their genre changed many times from an almost folk type group to hip hop. *cough* I remember seeing them in a small concert setting, and one of my friends had to go up on stage for something. Later, I ended up going into a back room of sorts. I can't remember why. I think I went there to meet with someone. It got strange. It was dark. I had been talking with whoever I was supposed to be meeting... but then I got attacked. Someone jumped me (or tried to- I was very aware of their presence). We fought a bit. It was an old fan (although he wasn't actually that much older than me), and not very happy with the new album. He liked the old-school Radiohead, giving lots of criticism to the newer band, including this album. Then he mentioned something about hip hop, which has nothing to do with Radiohead- except in my dream, Radiohead was a hip hop band, apparently. He had said something about Radiohead being a "birthday" band, where they appear at birthdays and stuff. I made a joke about hip hop birthdays... and then woke up. It was an interesting dream. Plus, I kind of liked that guy.

That's besides the point. The point is you can set your own price on the downloads. So there.

I had multiple dreams last night where I was Veronica Mars. Yes, multiple. I woke up several times throughout the night. I would go back to sleep and then I'd be in a new episode...err..case.. err... d'oh! Something.

( Welcome to Neptune )

I had a dream last night where I was Gaius Baltar from (the new) Battlestar Galactica. I had to sneak about the Galactica for some reason with Number Six. I can't remember what we had to do- maybe steal something... but we managed to sneak passed Laura Roslin without her recognizing either one of us. The last thing I remember is the two of us being in some sort of... ship(?) about to leave the Galactica. It was interesting. Now if only I knew it was the Number Six in Gaius' head or one of the real Sixes. I think she was real.

Hopefully I'll have more of these dreams and not dreaming about thiessen polygrams or entity operations (since I've been studying for a big test Monday).

At least in my dream, anyway. The other night, I dreamt I was running for the governor of New Mexico as the Socialist candidate. Very weird, considering the state doesn't have a very active socialist party (that I'm aware of... there could be an underground socialist party, maybe?). It actually (almost) made me want to do... uhh... political stuff, as if the dream was somehow telling me I should work on developing a/the socialist party in New Mexico... and then later run for governor.

I actually had a dream about making my language. It was very odd. I only remember a few specific things, such as wanting to create a word (or affix) that would indicate a room is centrally-located or not. I also remember sleeping in some kind of lounge... because... uhh... I'm not sure. I think it had to do with my language, though. It's possible I was leading a group of people who were learning my language. There was also another person creating a language, but that seemed more like a "code" for English- where she was creating words to use in English grammar.


On a related note... ( I could form a micronation! )

... or at least the Dalai Lama. In the first part of the dream, I was run over by a cart carrying the Dalai Lama. The excuse given was that in order to maintain the happiness of His Holiness, the cart should remain moving. Later, I was visiting the Dalai Lama. I can't remember why (maybe to collect the insurance from the cart thing? okay, so that was a joke). At some point, I overheard a story about things attacking the Dalai Lama. Then... things...uh... started attacking the Dalai Lama. Just like the myth, a variety of creatures wanted to attack him: robots, ghost-type things... uhh... I can't remember what else. Not to fear! I was there! I managed to defeat all of the many creatures. (I think there were a few others there... possibly Leela? Okay, that wouldn't make sense. Wait. This dream doesn't, either). At the end, there was a big celebration. Somehow the Fantastic Four got in on that, especially the Thing. So... uh... go me for saving the Dalai Lama. I think my spirituality has just been enhanced. Now it's time to eat some Cocoa Puffs.

I think I've been watching too much Phil of the Future (POTF). My last dream involved me, possibly a lover, and an old blind/deaf woman named Cinderella... or she was just nicknamed that... or I'm totally confusing parts of my dreams with fairy tales. Somehow, the three of us got turned in for something and the military wanted us. We used a wizard (from POTF) to turn ourselves into other people. It got weird. I also think time travel may have happened. I remember having to take the form of perhaps three people--- at the same time... in order to cross the border because of how many people were after me (and I needed a really good disguise).

Before all of the whole changing into other people stuff happened, however, I did fall in love (stupid love dreams). I remember there was much cuddling involved. I think alcohol later came into play, as I woke up and saw something carved into some wooden furniture... or a tree... something... that I don't remember writing (then again, with my memory, maybe alcohol wasn't a factor).

I think last night, I had a dream where I got my GRE results back. I can't remember what they were... 700-something for some part of it... and 800-something in math. Well, I can't remember my scores, but I remember I did really well in math and I was surprised.

Of course, that was a dream. Today, in just a few hours, I'm going to take the real thing. It's supposed to be a four-hour test. I really don't know what to expect on it. I guess this is the kind of thing people prepare for. *nervous twitch*

I dreamt about mutants again. More Spider-man. Spidey of all mutants. He's not really my favorite, but there he was in my dream. I also remember seeing the Thing and Mr. Fantastic...Rogue... and I know there were bunches of others, too. The main villain was some kind of magnetised giant... uhh.. Venom? I'm not sure. Oh, and Magneto was likely there, too. To make things especially interesting, this villain wanted to be a immigration counselor of some kind, but passed a qualifying test. It had a happy ending, however. Even though most of the heroes and villains somehow got mad at each other (as in, heroes turning against other heroes), they all came together at the end--- including the villain. Another villain (I think this is when Magneto comes in) recently passed the immigration counselor exam and needed an assistant... so that giant magnetised Venom was hired. Horay. The day was saved.

They keep coming. Last night's main attraction involved me being at school. I was taking a creative writing class, but missed a lab portion. (A lab for creative writing? Apparently, it was the day we would analyze stories we wrote). Then it weirder by my instructor saying that anyone who owns a house can't be in the class (or some other ridiculous statement like that). I try to straighten it out and talk to her. Later on, after band practice (*sigh* even in my dreams, I'm a band nerd), I talk with another professor. Somehow he starts talking to me about geoarchitecture (and actually used that term in my dream). This lead me to think about a project where I'd examine some building's main features/elements and determine what style of architecture was used.

Aside from that, there's about 10.5 hours until I open presents... and it's just a coincidence that the presents are mostly grouped by who they're to underneath the tree. It's not like I'd sort them or anything. Okay, so I thought about doing that, but honestly, they are mostly sorted--- just conicidentally. I didn't really have to sort through them. *cough* Coincidence.

I had a dream last night where I went to talk to a police officer about becoming a cop. I was asking him questions about it and such... actually, that's about all the dream was about. I think we were playing ping pong while I was inquiring. *ponders* Me? A cop?

Also, I had another dream where my brother gave me a dead fish... or a dying fish. It turned out it was one of many sea monkeys... or just some really tiny specs in the water.

If you're looking at what's wrong, it's easy to forget about what's right. -Me.

That came to me in a dream last night. Dream-me was writing in a journal about something, and an old lady came up and gave me that advice.

It's 03:22. I'm awake. I didn't stay up all night. No. I went to sleep and woke up. I'm going shopping. I almost wish I wasn't, but I'd like to buy a 512 MB USB flash drive for $10.

In other news, I had a dream where I killed someone. I didn't do it on purpose... or directly. As a result of something I did (or didn't do), someone died. I was in some military training class and we had to calculate something. I think it involved explosives and jumping out of a plane. Anyway, the guy who went after me ended up dying because of me. I felt very bad in my dream- even though a memorial was constructed for this guy at the school, with some saying that whoever was responsible shouldn't feel bad. I also was nervous going back to the classroom, especially when we had to turn the assignment in.

One of my friends recently told me she believes that when we dream, we basically see ourselves in other dimensions. There's an infinite number of dimensions- and new ones are created with each decision we make.

( War and peace- my dream )

I guess in some other dimension, I bring about world peace by not really caring about what country I'm apart of. My lack of any national pride whatsoever is actually a good thing in that world. Interesting.

I had a fun dream. There was apparently some charity/fundraiser for, I think, a gay/lesbian group. It had something to do with movies- possibly like a film festival. I watch 1-2 movies there, including some strange Simpsons epside-movieish thing. The most amusing part was that I saw an old high school crush there, who I recently saw at Barnes and Noble. He was sitting in a chair, but kind of cuddling (it's the best word I can think of) with the guy next to him. Someone nearby says to him, "Aw, you two make a cute couple." His response: "Couple? No. We're not a couple. We're just friends." He might have said something about being straight... or if he didn't, he tried to imply that. Then he looked towards me and asked how far apart (how many seats) two guys should be. I say that usually there's a seat between... but then casually add in (to try to defened his... *cough* "friendship") if they're really close friends, then sitting together isn't necessarily implying anything.

I had a dream in which I was leaving on my old high school's A.D. state competition trip... which is odd since I'm in college now. Then someone from my communications class (who I happen to like) was on the bus... I can't remember all of what happened... mostly just hanging out, talking... somehow I remember cuddling... or not really cudding... it was more of like playing some sort of game... or maybe it was just the bus turned really fast and we ended up on each other or something... Actually, I think there was someone else involved, too. Anyway... at the hotel, he asked me what I was wearing and such (kind of like an interest in me...) but later he said he wasn't gay. **shrug** In mean head, I was thinking, "Whatever you say," with strong disbelief.

I was working for a rather annoying boss, who was a total jerk to me. Somehow, he won the lottery. I had found that out only after I found his body frozen to death in a freezer. Or something like that. I think that's how I ended up with the winning lottery tickety. Either that, or it was mine to begin with and someone killed my boss in attempt to get to me.

After I have the lotto ticket, I realize {no matter how I obtained it} that I would need to get far, far away--- fast. The first thing I had to do was get through the amusement park I was in.... or something like that. Actually, what I think happened was someone started shooting at me so I had to run into a nearby amusment park as I was trying to call the police about the frozen body of my boss. After losing the guy shooting at me, I quickly got into my truck and started driving.

Some other stuff happend at the amusment park before I actually left... but I can't remember it. {D'oh!}

Eventually, I made it to my house. At this point, I might have come across a few people and started talking with them... I guess. I take off, thinking it wouldn't be safe and knock on the door of a house not too far from mine. In fact, it was only 2 houses down. I'm invited in, and then I {with a santa hat for some reason} look out the window to see those guys I was just with following me. I quickly ask the host family if they have a gun. They get it out, and I head out the backdoor just as those guys are breaking in.

The chase has begun. I should make a note at this point that these guys I was with are dead. So it's very difficult to kill the already dead, especially while they're trying to killy you and they have great magical powers.

So I ran outside the house and ran along a nearby irrigation ditch for some amount of time, with them closely behind. Eventually, weird stuff started to happen... like the ground trying to eat me and stuff like that. I mean, they are the dead... and they have weird powers like that, right? In my dream they did.

I finally made it to the lottery place after some time... and other stuff happening I don't remember. I presented my ticket, but then one of the guys chasing me ate my money. But because it was too much money, he had to throw it up. That was the end of my dream, assuming I got to keep the money and probably just shared it with the dead guys who can't hold millions of dollars in their stomachs.

...or something like that.