OK...I thought I would start a thread, based on recent comments in Off Topic, about common recurring dreams. We can talk about them here, and maybe there's some dreams we think we are alone in having but others have to.
In additon to the school, failed exams, lost schedule ones--there are two dreams I have often. Wondering if you have them as well.
1. The bathroom dream. I often dream I have to use the bathroom, but every bathroom I can find is filthy beyond belief. Toilets unflushed or backing up when I flush. That sort of thing.
2. The car dream. I often dream that I'm backing out of my driveway but my breaks don't work, so now I'm reversing down my street, avoiding other cars, but unable to stop.
Any of you have similar dreams? Any other types of common, recurring dreams.
Quote from: Josephus on April 22, 2010, 11:06:28 AM
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Any of you have similar dreams? Any other types of common, recurring dreams.
Common symbols perhaps - Jung called them archetypes - but such dreams are highly personal. They're usually messages from the subconscious.
Personally throughout my childhood I've had variations on the same theme: the house where I grew up (by a lake) was getting flooded, drowned, overwhelmed by a tsunami wave... well you get the picture.
For many years I hadn't had that kind of dreams and, coincidally, I had another instance of that dream last night... Keep in mind I haven't lived in that house for 25 years...
G.
I've had many recurring dreams.
In addition to the good old exam anxiety standby, there is one which I've had off and on for many years (with variations), and which never fails to unnerve me.
I dream that I'm compelled to go downstairs into the basement of the house I grew up in. Only, in this basement, the rooms keep going on for miles and miles - dusty, ill-lit by tiny cobwebbed windows at the top of the walls. I can't find the way back out. I feel a dread comming up through the floor, like malevolent dead people are buried there. The smell of damp, rot, and dust is getting worse and worse the further I wander.
Finally, I see a way out - a big window in a closet filled with old clothes, with sunlight shining through. I push through the old clothes to get to the window. As I do this, the window shutters slam shut, and so does the door behind me; all is darkness. The smell of rot and damp increases tenfold and pushing through the clothes gets harder and harder. Then, the clothes seem to come alive and wind around my body, tighter and tighter until I'm wrapped up like a mummy in them, no matter how hard I struggle; then they start, slowly, to force their way into my mouth, choking me.
At this point I wake up.
Often when I'm feeling under pressure I dream that I am murdering katmai with my bare hands. At the moment of climax though I always wake up to a profound sense of disappointment.
I have never had recurring dreams per se, but I do have some recurrent themes, or theme. almost every dream I have, I'm looking for something or someone... and traveling somewhere for this reason, most often walking or on a train. Last night my dreams took place on "Pandora" :bleeding: I woke up feeling like an asshole for being so pedestrian.
Usually my dreams take place in the small town where I was a kid or in a magical noir-ish place that is an amalgamation of San-Fransisco and Winnipeg.
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on April 22, 2010, 12:32:07 PM
a magical noir-ish place that is an amalgamation of San-Fransisco and Winnipeg.
:blink:
I have a recoccuring dream where there are hidden doors in walls only i can see that transport you to other rooms. i don't know ahead of time which doors lead where.
the only other one i have is that i failed OAC English (old grade 13 in ontario) and i have to redo it now.
My variation of the "missing an exam" dream is that I had slept in and skipped the class, only to realize too late that there had been an exam. Since that actually happened on one occasion, it always feels real.
Also used to have that dream where you show up to school naked (in my case I was always missing my pajama bottoms), but I haven't had that one since junior high.
Quote from: Barrister on April 22, 2010, 12:35:54 PM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on April 22, 2010, 12:32:07 PM
a magical noir-ish place that is an amalgamation of San-Fransisco and Winnipeg.
:blink:
That would be very noir indeed.
I always seem to have odd dreams about short cuts.
I suddenly notice that somewhere I previously thought was on the other side of town can actually be got to in 5 minutes by going through a fence somewhere. It makes no logical spatial sense but...yeah.
Quote from: The Brain on April 22, 2010, 12:24:58 PM
At the moment of climax though I always wake up to a profound sense of disappointment.
Oh boy.
Quote from: Josephus on April 22, 2010, 11:06:28 AM
1. The bathroom dream. I often dream I have to use the bathroom, but every bathroom I can find is filthy beyond belief. Toilets unflushed or backing up when I flush. That sort of thing.
Yep. Though my problem is often finding a bathroom that's unoccupied or a stall that isn't completely out in the open. Rows of toilets with no dividers or just the flimsy ones they put between urinals.
Quote from: Josephus on April 22, 2010, 11:06:28 AM
Any of you have similar dreams? Any other types of common, recurring dreams.
usually, I dream I'm getting killed in one way or another. I once dreamt of the same girl killing me 3 days in a row.
While I was attending university, and a couples of years after that, I used to have the classic "miss an exam" dream. It happened to me once in College, so I suppose it's not a dream.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on April 22, 2010, 02:01:25 PM
Quote from: Josephus on April 22, 2010, 11:06:28 AM
1. The bathroom dream. I often dream I have to use the bathroom, but every bathroom I can find is filthy beyond belief. Toilets unflushed or backing up when I flush. That sort of thing.
Yep. Though my problem is often finding a bathroom that's unoccupied or a stall that isn't completely out in the open. Rows of toilets with no dividers or just the flimsy ones they put between urinals.
The AntiMart has arisen! :o
Quote from: viper37 on April 22, 2010, 02:06:07 PM
usually, I dream I'm getting killed in one way or another. I once dreamt of the same girl killing me 3 days in a row.
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The subconscious indeed... :P
It's fun to check the symbolism behind those dreams - and can be instructive. Take Malthus' basement for instance; what dirty secrets are you hiding there counsel? :D
Or myself with the house (the dreamer's persona) being overwhelmed by water (emotions)...
Or Vip being murdered by women...
I can't wait to read what Marty or Garbon have to report! :lol:
G.
I can fly or levitate in a number of my recurring dreams. :)
I also get the false awakenings from time to time.
I've had two recurring dreams in my life, neither in good long while.
In the first I'm a scientist feverishly working on a special ray gun that is humanity's only chance of defeating an on-going alien invasion. I race against time as the invasion gets closer and closer to my home. I tighten the last screw as they burst through the front door, point it at the first alien...and it doesn't work.
In the second I'm in college, there's a term paper due the next day, I haven't started researching it, let alone writing it, and the library is open for another four hours.
Oh, thought of a third. It's final examination period and I find out that I have a test the next day in a class I didn't realize I was registered for, and have not attended all semester.
Most common dream is failing an exam. In these dreams, I always go back to my high school, and I need to face an important exam in a subject that I suck, usually math or physics, in the next 24 hours. Somehow I know that this exam will test material in the past 2 - 5 years, and I always neglect to study at all prior to the exam. Which means I have to cramp at most 5 years of material into my head in the next 24 hours.
And I always wake up before the exam happens.
I sometimes have lucid dreams, where I know I'm dreaming. They are very annoying. Mostly I dream about a girl I had a crush on in high school named Melody. When I wake up from those dreams I'm sad. :(
well... there is the one with the gorilla chasing me and never catching me despite always getting closer...
Quote from: Viking on April 22, 2010, 08:35:47 PM
well... there is the one with the gorilla chasing me and never catching me despite always getting closer...
Does the gorilla answer to the name "Melody?"
Hey, :mad: Don't cross that line. Or I'll bring up that thing with you and Cleopatra (and every other guy in the ancient world).
I dream about tornados. Even though I've never seen one before in person.
I dream about ex-girlfriends. The good ones and the bad ones.
I dream about pets I've had. I miss my cat, and I miss our golden retriever we had when I was growing up, Brandy. She was a good dog.
Quote from: Barrister on April 22, 2010, 12:35:54 PM
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on April 22, 2010, 12:32:07 PM
a magical noir-ish place that is an amalgamation of San-Fransisco and Winnipeg.
:blink:
I shit you not... I realized when I visited SF in 95. I think I've just seen too many movies.
Quote from: Grallon on April 22, 2010, 04:19:47 PM
The subconscious indeed... :P
It's fun to check the symbolism behind those dreams - and can be instructive. Take Malthus' basement for instance; what dirty secrets are you hiding there counsel? :D
Personally, I always associated it with getting wound up in my blankets as I slept - but I like the sound of deep, dark, dirty secrets better. :D
Quote from: Admiral Yi on April 22, 2010, 05:17:57 PM
In the second I'm in college, there's a term paper due the next day, I haven't started researching it, let alone writing it, and the library is open for another four hours.
Oh, thought of a third. It's final examination period and I find out that I have a test the next day in a class I didn't realize I was registered for, and have not attended all semester.
I've had both of these ... I suppose almost everyone has.
Of course I've often had a school anxiety dream. It is always the same: I have forgotten to write an essay for my 3rd year Central European history course (dunno why it's always this course, since it was my second highest mark while at university).
My most common dream is that I am driving without a driver's license. I am in fear that the police will pull me over and ask to see my license. In some dreams they do, in others, they don't. Perhaps it reflects an innate mistrust or fear of authority figures?
I just dreamnt I was a Prussian Hussar and I fell in love with a french woman. What a nice dream. :)
I dream of cannibalism and fucking Hitler's daughter.
I miss my wife.
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 23, 2010, 06:59:18 PM
I dream of cannibalism and fucking Hitler's daughter.
You dream you're Syt? I wonder if Syt dreams he's you.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on April 23, 2010, 09:38:09 PM
Quote from: Jaron on April 23, 2010, 07:53:53 PM
I miss my wife.
It's lonely out in space. :yes:
In space, no one can hear your wife bitching at you to take out the garbage.
I just had a dream about being in a museum, sexual frustration and people speaking with irish accents. I wonder what it means.
I have two regular themes. One is swimming in outdoor pools. Usually the sun's on me and I feel great, but there's something wrong, like the tiles are cracked or its dirty. In the other I find a room or cellar I didn't know I had (cellars are hard to come by on the second floor!). Guess it's the usual tiny flat frustration.
Quote from: derspiess on April 22, 2010, 01:44:14 PM
My variation of the "missing an exam" dream is that I had slept in and skipped the class, only to realize too late that there had been an exam. Since that actually happened on one occasion, it always feels real.
My variation is that there is a class that I haven't attended all semester and didn't even know I was registered for, and now I have to ace the final to pass the class--and I can't find the room where the exam is being held. I still have this dream fairly often. Keep in mind that I havesn't been a student since 1984.
Another dream I've had a lot over the years is the sudden onset of a new Ice Age, somewhat like in the movie
The Day After Tomorrow. The movie certainly didn't trigger this dream--for one thing, I've never actually seen the movie, and I've been having this dream since childhood.
Quote from: dps on April 24, 2010, 11:46:51 AM
Keep in mind that I havesn't been a student since 1984.
I think we can tell. :rolleyes:
Quote from: garbon on April 24, 2010, 02:20:27 PM
Quote from: dps on April 24, 2010, 11:46:51 AM
Keep in mind that I havesn't been a student since 1984.
I think we can tell. :rolleyes:
Writes like my freshmen...seems like modern student material to me.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 22, 2010, 09:22:17 PM
I dream about pets I've had.
Sometimes I do, too, but my dreams are always nightmares. I dream that when I attempted to have my old, sick pets put to sleep, it didn't take. Instead it lobotomzed them, so that they are constantly stumbling around, unable to walk correctly, drooling and witless, but somehow always following me wherever I go.
Quote from: Kleves on April 24, 2010, 08:37:52 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 22, 2010, 09:22:17 PM
I dream about pets I've had.
Sometimes I do, too, but my dreams are always nightmares. I dream that when I attempted to have my old, sick pets put to sleep, it didn't take. Instead it lobotomzed them, so that they are constantly stumbling around, unable to walk correctly, drooling and witless, but somehow always following me wherever I go.
OK, you're a sick fuck. Noted.
My worst recurring nightmare is this: I am with some good looking male friend or colleague of mine (it's not always the same person - I had this dream about maybe 10 or more different people over the years), who is straight. I try to seduce him and otherwise convince him to have sex with me (usually involving my particular fetish :P) but all the time someone interrupts us and we have to find a more secluded spot. Finally, when we manage to get alone and I start to undress him, I wake up. Admittedly, this one was much more frequent before I started dating guys, and now happens once a year or so.
Another dream I sometimes have - and this one is purely health-based - is one associated with the fact that I never had my tonsils removed and so I often open my mouth when I sleep and my throat gets all dried up. So whenever that happens, I dream of choking on things - food, bird feathers, cloth, that kind of thing - I keep removing them from my mouth but there is always more coming, like the cherry stones from that woman's mouth in "Witches of Eastwick".
Finally, when I was a kid I used to have this recurring dream of some monstrous dwarf crawling towards me while I kept trying to kill him, hitting him over the head with some long log or sword or something but he would never die. Eventually, one night I dreamed I cut his head off and the dream never came back. :ph34r:
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 23, 2010, 06:59:18 PM
I dream of cannibalism and fucking Hitler's daughter.
The subject is
dreams, not
fantasies. ;)
One of the weirdest recent dreams I had (not sure if I can consider it a recurring one, since I think I had it only once or twice), started with me walking down the road in my home town. Suddenly, I see my parents driving by slowly in one of their pre-WWII cars, all dressed up and shouting to me to join them since they are going to some event or a celebration. I get closer and I see that in the front passenger's seat there is a corpse of my grandma (now over 10 years dead), dressed up in a papal robes and tiara. I lose it at that point and start screaming at them along the lines of "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?" And I wake up extremely angry at them (when my mother called me that morning, I was still pissed off at her, over that dream :P).
In fact, the theme of my parents (especially my mother) causing me to go into blind rage in my dream is a non-infrequent feature of my dreams. :P
Quote from: Malthus on April 25, 2010, 10:12:17 AM
Quote from: Ed Anger on April 23, 2010, 06:59:18 PM
I dream of cannibalism and fucking Hitler's daughter.
The subject is dreams, not fantasies. ;)
:blush:
I had a pretty odd dream last night. I was buying something, and I gave my credit card to the sales staff. I waited, and waited, but they didn't come back. I went to the cashier's desk to see what was going on. Sure enough, the card was on the table and no one was doing anything. I took my card back and left, without buying anything.