my dream log

Every once in awhile, I have these vivid, crazy dreams. I have had a couple memorable ones lately, so I thought I’d share, before they diffuse into the black hole that is commonly known as my memory…

For starters, I had quite a scary dream that I was with a bunch of friends and for some reason we were staying overnight in a cheap motel. I went outside and noticed that there was a sketchy guy that was watching and following me. I was scared he would follow me back to our room, so I began to book it, and he began to chase me. I made it to the motel room alright and slammed the door behind me. I told my friends about Sketchy Man and we collectively decided it would be a good idea to call the police.

Unfortunately, somehow by calling 911 that alerted the police to my presence which apparently was not a good thing. Suddenly, they were after ME. I don’t know why. I hadn’t done anything illegal (as far as I know)…

After splitting up from my friends, I remember running through the streets of an enormous, unfamiliar, extremely modern city. There was one particularly large and imposing concrete building that I remember running through as I was evading and avoiding the sound of police sirens.

Fortunately for me, I had somewhat of a flying ability. Not quite Superman-esque, but I could at least take large leaps in the air, covering an entire city block in one bound, much like how Peter Parker can run and leap across adjoined buildings.

So that definitely helped me stay one step ahead of the police for most of the pursuit. Not bad when you can leap buildings in a single bound.

I somehow got the idea that it would be smart to disguise myself, so I ducked into a hat shop in a mall. Only one problem, as you may or may not know, I have a major hat fetish, a quirk that unfortunately translated into my dream. I spent about 15 minutes in the hat shop, trying on a number of different hats, mostly plaid but I saw a couple cute dark red ones. Eventually, I noticed the shop owner nervously clutching a phone in one hand and looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

I figured that somehow the police had sent out a wire to be on the lookout for me, faxing my picture to all law enforcement agencies and shop owners apparently. Then I realized that they probably already had access to my account information. So I realized that as soon as I swiped my credit card to buy the hat, they would know exactly where I was. Then I realized that I probably should just go to an ATM and dump as much cash as I could out of my account, in case I had to stay on the run for awhile. So I finally gave up on buying a hat.

The shop owner tried to block me from leaving the store, but I somehow made it past him. Then I heard the sirens.

So I started running/leaping/semi-flying away.

I made it safely away.

All of a sudden, I felt like I was in the Old Town section of a smaller European city, and it looked a bit like Heidelberg. The buildings were older and the streets had more of a cobblestone look. I ran into a friend from high school. At first she was friendly to me, but then she accused me of stealing her boyfriend (which also was not true), but she threatened to turn me into the police as revenge.

Then I woke up.

So essentially, the dream was about me running away. Chasing dreams are quite normal apparently. I was glad that I could at least somewhat fly in this one. That helped in my anxiety to escape the police. I hate those dreams when you’re trying to run away and your feet just sink you down lower into the ground.

Unfortunately, I don’t think this dream reveals anything particularly flattering about me. Running away in dreams for me often signifies that I am attempting to avoid confrontation, which is usually true. I have gotten better over the years at confronting, but it’s not my strongest suit. Also it tends to signify that I am anxious about something. Which is probably true.

I also had a dream last night that I went to a Brooke Fraser concert, and met her afterwards. I think this may be due to the fact that I fell asleep listening to “Albertine” on my iPod and that worship band sang “Hosanna” at Status last night. But who knows.

In the dream, Brooke actually seemed a bit withdrawn and none-too-psyched about meeting people after her show for some reason, which I can’t imagine happening in real life because she seemed really open-hearted and easy going at the conference, but in my dream, I began to tell her about Hananasif and she was keenly interested in the orphanage. We began to swap stories about our experiences in East Africa. In the end, she seemed really interested in supporting the orphanage.

The Running Dream inspired me to write a song called “Say Good-bye.” It’s a bit mainstream sounding, but it’s fun for me to sing, at any rate. It’s definitely not even remotely the best song I've ever written, but it was also good for me to poke fun at my weaknesses with irony and make it sound somewhat melodic;)

Say Good-bye

I grew up in a town
That was born for the wind
And bears anyone, everyone
Farther away, farther away

I came so much closer this time
To being someone who is brave
And marvelous, effortless
At giving away, giving away

Chorus

Spinning and swaying and breaking away
Taking my cue from the sky
Coming full circle, it’s better this way
I don’t have to say good-bye

Kinder words
Have been spent on beckoning me
But I want your honesty, honestly
When I walk away, I walk away

Spinning and swaying and breaking away
Taking my cue from the sky
Coming full circle, it’s better this way
I don’t have to say good-bye

I’m taking and turning and burning away
All of the things left behind
[i don't like this line so who knows what'll go here...]Maybe some day
I’ll learn how to say good-bye