Post your dreams

[Brian]

I had a dream where Mariss Jansons said in an interview that he wanted to record a HIP set of Beethoven symphonies with hard-stick timpani. I seem to recall being very surprised by this.

[CD]

I dreamt last night that a former roommate of mine had dug an underground bunker near the house in which I grew up, only the house looked like a mansion, and the former roommate didn't look anything like he really does, but somehow I knew it was he.

[vandermolen]

My wife has a recurring dream in which she is living with a family of dwarves.  I am quite small - this is all most disturbing 

[MN Dave]

My wife has a recurring dream in which she is living with a family of dwarves.  I am quite small - this is all most disturbing 

Is her first name "Snow"? And does she call you "Grumpy"?

[prémont]

Well my most stupid musical dream:

I was attending a concert, Robert Levin was playing a piano concert by Mozart, do not remember which one. When the time came for the cadence in the first movement, he began improvising, as he uses, in the most Mozartian manner. But little by little the music became more jazzy and then the other musicians began one after the other to sing and make strange noises, until at some point I was witnes to a strange modern jazz-session. Then I stood up and cried out:

"This is not a cadence, this is decadence".

And woke up.

[greg]

I had a dream last night. It was bad.
I had read in the newspaper yesterday about this computer program that you can use to record everything a user of a computer types into their computer without them knowing. A potential use is for parental surveillance of kids.

My dream was that my mom had come home and gave me some type of wrapper that somehow represented that computer program, and told me she installed it on my laptop. Then, I left the wrapper at the edge of my bed right next to the wall. I fell asleep, then woke up. I saw the wrapper still there. I realized it wasn't a dream and panicked. Then I fell asleep again and woke up- this happened literally 3 or 4 times, each time with me reconfirming that this was reality. Finally, the last time I woke up, I checked that same area again, and no wrapper. This time I was actually awake for real.

[MN Dave]

Well my most stupid musical dream:

I was attending a concert, Robert Levin was playing a piano concert by Mozart, do not remember which one. When the time came for the cadence in the first movement, he began improvising, as he uses, in the most Mozartian manner. But little by little the music became more jazzy and then the other musicians began one after the other to sing and make strange noises, until at some point I was witnes to a strange modern jazz-session. Then I stood up and cried out:

"This is not a cadence, this is decadence".

And woke up.

Classic.

[greg]

A nice dream last night.

For some reason, I had to drive to this place many miles away and meet this one girl that works with me (one that i don't get to talk to much). We met in the front yard of this house (or trailer?) and then discussed driving further away, until I suggested Canada.  (and i live in Florida)

She said, "let's go for it," and I followed her car until we drove maybe 10 miles, then she made a U-Turn and we ended up back at the house/trailer. She said, "that was fun."

Then her boyfriend called her (one of the guys we work with, who is really good guy) and I knew it was him even though she didn't say it was him- but, she gave me the phone and I said, "Hey, Ryan!" then he said something, and I couldn't make out what he was saying because it was so staticy. I had to move around to hear, but don't remember what happened after that. It could've been the end of the dream, not sure...

[Benji]

I dreamt last night that a former roommate of mine had dug an underground bunker near the house in which I grew up, only the house looked like a mansion, and the former roommate didn't look anything like he really does, but somehow I knew it was he.

I get those kind of dreams a lot.

I imagine the part of the brain that stores facts/concepts about a 'person' is separate from the visual part of the brain that stores the information about their physical appearance (i.e. the discrete properties that distinguish them from other people). In fact, i'm sure I read that there are people who cannot recognise faces at all, even those of their family, but can recognise them from the sound of their voice, body mannerisms etc.

At any rate, it seems the dreaming mind doesn't place too much importance on matching the 'concept' of a person with their actual appearance, even sometimes putting the appeareance of another acquaintance on top of another person's concept. And as we know, in the dream that does not confuse us at all. Wow, our dreams are just like that film, Face-Off, except not a pile of crap! 

[MN Dave]

I dreamed my stepfather broke my mother's neck and hid her in a creek behind the house. 

[greg]

I imagine the part of the brain that stores facts/concepts about a 'person' is separate from the visual part of the brain that stores the information about their physical appearance (i.e. the discrete properties that distinguish them from other people).

Well, the way I think of it is similar, though not exactly the same.

I'd say that the brain never really "turns off," even when you are sleeping. The only time it does (just like when the heart stops beating) is when you die. The two primary things, to me, that seem to drive the brain like a beating heart, is just random thoughts and desires (the relation being a mystery).

However, when you fall asleep, it just means the brain is impaired (kind of like, drunk, maybe?). This causes distortion of all types, the most obvious being visual. One thing you can't do, for example, is look at your watch 2 times and see the same number in your dreams. (I tried once, and didn't work, so I knew I was dreaming ). Another type of distortion is simply logic and reasoning (that one should be self-explanatory)- being at a house you used to live at years ago and not even questioning anything about it and just accepting it as reality, etc... Actually, you experience this even when you are awake, but half-asleep (my example in the first post of the "Creative Fatigue Thoughts" thread.

You can also think of degrees of distortion- a visual example. Look at a picture of a person you know. That is clarity. Close their eyes and try to picture them. It won't be the same- I'd say slightly distorted. Then, if you dream about them, in most cases it'll be even more unclear (with the exception of the rare lucid or realistic dream).

So, I think the truth is similar to what Freud says in The Interpretation of Dreams, except there is no "censor" (that's ridiculous). I would say the vast majority (if not all) dreams are driven by desire (which is usually something repressed, forgotten, or overlooked), but there are varying degrees of distortion which make the message cryptic, not realistic, and give dreams the "mysterious" and "random" quality that they have. Just try to have a conversation with someone who is really drunk. 

[greg]

Had a lucid dream last night, finally- and I know why.

I decided to, on a whim, research more about lucid dreaming right before falling asleep- read a web page about different techniques you can use as "signals"- for example, checking to make sure something works- if it isn't, you're dreaming.

So, while I was dreaming, I thought I was on the computer messing around with some program. Then, for some reason, I remembered what I read. "Check to see if something works." (a.k.a. performing a "reality check"). So, I tried to touch my hand to see if I could feel it, but it didn't work- so, I knew I was dreaming.

The only thing was, I wasn't in a very deep sleep so nothing seemed that clear- actually, not much more clear than regular thoughts.  Then, I very easily woke up. It was 6:00, and usually the best hours for lucid dreaming are between 3 and 5.

It would be nice if I could remember the technique in every one of my dreams, but the only reason I remembered it in that one was because I stopped reading about lucid dreaming and went to sleep before I really "felt like stopping." So, given the general rule that "if you feel like thinking about something more, but haven't thought about it enough (or repressed/cut off the flow of thought you started), then it's likely you'll think of it in your dreams," that's why I was able to lucid dream. I'm sure there has to be a name for this "rule"...

Anyone have any idea how I could maybe be get myself to perform reality checks while dreaming not just on a whim, but during every dream? (I've tried the regularly scheduled reality checks for months at a time with little success, possibly because they don't make you think and they're just annoying.)

[vandermolen]

Is her first name "Snow"? And does she call you "Grumpy"?

[greg]

Last night a bunch of dreams, details which are escaping me.

There was one where I was in a room with an old friend visiting my old school, and there was some sort of need to carry something around in a circular direction on the floor. For some reason, they got something easy while I had to use a small rhino. Then I saw the one girl from my old Japanese class... again...  and we just looked at each other for a second blankly and that was it.

Then, there was a scene with me and someone else (I forgot who). We were in a city and by a tunnel like the ones you see in Mario. A fireball came out of one and then landed on buildings in the distance and spread within seconds to many buildings until it nearly made a 360 around us. Luckily, there was a small gap we could fit through with no fire. Then, another one after going on... then a pond to cross and we were safe.

[CD]

The other morning I dreamt that I was in a giant warehouse-type mall (like the one in the "flea market! Montgomery! It's just like, it's just like a mini-mall!" commercial) and came across someone displaying an antique Pleyel harpsichord (I know, they only made pianos) and asked the person running the booth if I could play, after which I proceeded to play a section of the adagio of Beethoven's Op. 132 quartet. I guess my mind substituted that because pretty much the only thing I can play all the way through from memory is the aria of the Goldberg Variations, and they are a bit similar.

[greg]

Dreamed I went on myspace and there were 222 people that came on myspace chat all at the same time, (probably) all of them being girls. I was confused how this could happen, and they suddenly ended up getting off at the same time, leaving it saying Online(0).

This is of course related to last night, when two of them were online at the same time, and I figured they might be chatting, and then I just left.

[greg]

A few nights ago, I dreamed I was driving at night. There was a huge traffic jam by a light and I saw cars in front of me turning back .

Then, eventually I got close enough to see right in front of me several cars that had caught on fire and people burning to death inside their car and some guy who had jumped out of the car and was trying to shake the fire off of him while burning to death. Then, the fire jumped right in front of me, about to take me into it, but luckily I woke up.

[Cristofori]

Do any of you have dreams of hearing music? I don't mean just hearing music, but music that is so damn real or loud in your head that it can either wake you up, or make you feel bizarre for awhile after waking up? These occurrences for me are mostly positive, sometimes negative, but I couldn't even begin to describe the way I feel when it happens either way.

I've also had dreams where I hear some kind of very real piece of classical music (usually baroque), but I can't tell if it is just a mish-mosh of various pieces I've heard or if it is something I conjured up myself. I sometimes have dreams of rock/pop music I've heard as well, but these are more precise and I usually recognize where they came from. 

There have been a few times where I've remembered some melody or notes I dreamed about after waking, but not having the ability to write them down in anyway, I completely forget what they were in a short time. I've had a few where I could have sworn I've never heard them before, but I'm not sure. 

This is all very frustrating, but also beautiful at the same time!

[greg]

Yeah, that has happened to me a few times.
The two times I can remember involve them sounding like certain pieces (and me thinking they actually are, even though they aren't)- so they must be an original derived from the style.
The clarity of sound you get from this experience is really trippy.

[greg]

So, I dreamed last night I was at the bookstore and I saw the president there, looking through some books just like a regular person. I walked past him without even giving a second thought- maybe I might've said, "what's up?" at the most, though I don't even remember.

By the end of the dream, while waking up, I realized how strange the scenario was. Shouldn't I have been a little bit more interested and surprised? Sadly, I couldn't even figure out that I was obviously dreaming- what an easy clue to start a lucid dream.