What did you dream last night?

I was in Santa Monica shopping. It didn't look like the real Santa Monica. I remember that I knew what things I was shopping for, but have now forgotten.
That's all.... relatively boring as my dreams go.

Actually fascinating.

I and two guys were readying an apartment for a family to move into. For no logical reason, we were installing four foot double fluorescent light fixtures in all the rooms. Which would entail removing all the ceiling fans. While we worked, the family began carrying their belongings in and were moving around me on my ladder. About this time, my compadres faded from the dream. The family left, presumably to haul a next load. I looked down at my car on the street and noted they had set an incredibly beautiful flowering plant on my back seat. They had gone, leaving my door hanging wide open. Then an overly huge Cadillac came to a stop near my car. It was a gleaming white vehicle, with no spot of dirt on it. I immediately went down to the street.

I came away from the stairs in time to view the receding Cadillac and to confirm the driver had taken the plant. That car had no license plate and no bracket in place to carry one. It was seamless and flawless. As I contemplated running to my car and attempting to head the Cadillac off at the complex entrance, a four year old boy rushed from the apartment building. "Take me with you," he said. I don't know who this child was supposed to be, but I had a responsibility to him. I was about to get him into the car, except the sound of the other car's engine told me it was too late to block the car in.

At that time, I awakened.

I seem to have a Santa Monica dream fascination - when we lived with my aunt, we were a block past city limits and I went to St. Monica's, first communion et al. Back at my aunt's in 4th grade for a bit. Much later worked there, in design studio just south of Pico, but lived in Venice, kind of an anti santa monica, not that either place cared. Somewhere along the line there was a pacific rim earthquake and tsunami warnings and I dreamt about racing to the Santa Monica Civic auditorium. This would have been stupid if a tsunami happened, but it was a block from where I worked, thus on my usual scope.

I've had those dreams more than once. I also seem to be finding my way around the old to me hospital area in repeated dreams (I worked there six years, from 57-63) What is that about... I think that I was before-I-knew-it somewhat spacially oriented, even though a girl. Or at least making photographic shots in my mind.

With the tsunami warnings today, I remember this all again.

Oh I had a nice dream last night....

Was at someplace I can only describe as a different sort of world with lots and lots of people I didn't know. Every 4 hours or so the day would start over and people would go about their business as if everything was exactly the same and they had no memory of the time before. I

I could remember crossing paths with a male someone at certain points in time. With every repeat it seemed, we remembered each other and soon I was looking forward to those few moments when we would cross again in the next cycle.

At some point a nice, slow, soft kiss was exchanged with the male someone. Then we would have to go on our way again, only to look forward to the next cycle....

Jonah Lehrer on Why We Need to Dream...

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/why-we-need-to-dream/?hp


So, I woke up with a vision of sort of rectangular tins (like sardine cans, maybe a little taller) stuffed with broiling sausages cooked by a boyfriend from the seventies. Whatever our joys or problems, none of them involved sardine tins or sausages, ahem. Although he did teach me how to make manicotti..

Not from this recipe -
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Manicotti-Alla-Romana/Detail.aspx

Oddly, I've never run across manicotti since, even in food reviews, or in Rome.

What, oh what, does all this mean?


(kidding. I think dreams are a kind of data swipe that we give meaning to)

I dreamed I was a muslim.

And then what?

I have to add - to my sardine tin post - that I've been reading the Cooking with Fernet Branca book. That would send anyone's mind to spinning out pink lard (beet slices are the secret).

fernat branca and canned sardines ?
well , there is always something new ... ...

That was all there was to it.

The book is farsical.. not least about food. Our protagonist loves cooking up new and exciting food melds, all of which are - at least to me - execrably horrible in concept. I've railed about the book for a few posts, but am beginning to think the author is a genius. (It was nominated for the Booker Prize, but since I don't follow all that, I hadn't noticed.)

that explains it ... thanks ossobucco

( neighbour just brought over a HUGE pulled pork sandwich - i bet i'll have nightmares tonight ! )

there is always B & B

I do subscribe - bemusedly and not scientifically - to food causation for some dreams. Protein versus carbs. Chile pepper.

i had a dream last night well i went to bed cryn i need a hug... hugs make everything better..... welll in the dream my friend gave me a hug.... not one if the i am afraid im guna break u hugs, no it was a come here and ill hold in my arms and keep u safe kinda hug. but the strange thing was that i could feel his arms around me.......it startled me and i awoke ((((

I had forgotten to report this: about three nights ago in a dream my sister (she was across a street and in a second story window of a building and the city seemed to be in Italy or France.) that I had a pair of shoes waiting for me at the store.
~~~
Last night as I was getting ready for sleep, I was going over what I needed to do today and my mind said "and I need to go pick up those shoes." I had to really think about it for a minute to convince myself that it had been a dream.

Joe(your mind has a completely different map of the world.)Nation

In last night's dream, Setanta came into my living room. He was very pleasant and I with great hesitance showed him a CD I had recorded, singing my own songs. I prefaced the playing of it by telling him I made no pretence at having a singing voice. He graciously overlooked my hoarse croaking voice to concentrate on the songs, which he pronounced good. There were further exchanges, but I cannot recall what was said.

I don't think nightmares are acceptable Ed.

So last night I got a phone call in my dream from someone I didn't know. He spoke with a Pakistani accent and said that he was sorry the rent was late but that he would be over soon with a check. Huh.
The dream went on through some other unremembered stuff and then suddenly here was this guy....thin, lightly bearded and smiling. He handed me this large yellowish piece of paper that was perforated for easy separation at several points. The bottom section appeared to be a check with my name in the Pay to the Order section. The amount was for over a thousand dollars.

I turned the paper over and saw that someone had already endorsed the check. It was the guy who was giving me the check and I said "This is no good. I have to endorse this, not you."
"Oh," he said "My mistake." And he told the check, got a pen and wrote on it the back of it for a minute. When I looked at it, he had written my name below his in a big loopy script and now there was no room left for me to put anything onto the back of the check.
===
That was the whole dream.
I was upset because I could really use the money.

Joe(I rent nothing to no one.)Nation

It was a semi-duel on the freeway, apparently. The other car (rivals' cars in my dreams are always white) shot through, taking advantage of my momentary lapse. Later, same setup. All I had to do was punch it, and I would power through, leaving the other car a distant second. My foot was frozen over the gas pedal. With increasing urgency, I sought to free myself to win it. At the same instant as I awakened, I managed to get some movement to the foot.