Project Dream, Continued.

Again, for those of you just tuning in (i.e. everybody), this is now my dream blog.  I've started sleeping with a tape recorder next to my bed and whenever I wake up after a dream I tell it to the tape recorder.  Then the next day, or the day after, or whenever I have time, I write out a word-for-word, unedited copy for my xanga.

Heavy emphasis on word-for-word and unedited.  These were recordings made in the wee hours of the morning.  The part of my brain that takes care of details like run-on sentences and bad grammar and things that don't make a damn bit of sense--that part of my brain was still asleep.  Which, personally, I think just adds to the character of this experiment.

Segment One:  "I dreamed that I went climbing and it was that condescending jerk at the wall.  Might've been a new condescending jerk.  Anyway, she like handed me a new, kinda weird harness and she said, "Do you know how to put it on?" and I'm like, "Of course I do" and I start to take it, and she said, "No, put it on in front of me." And then next thing I know, she gave me the climbing harness but didn't give me the [climbing] shoes I asked for.  So I asked again for shoes, but she didn't get any for me.  So I walked into the back for 'em and there were a bunch of people...Well, you know, like five people, the climbing staff.  Then.... I asked them for shoes and someone said, "Yeah, get the girl some shoes."  So I wait for shoes, but noone ever brings them out.  Then I notice there are my size shoes just you know, laying on the counter.  So I use those shoes."

Segment Two:  "I dreamed that I was, like, trapped in a Harry Potter episode?  Like, like that one scene, I forgot what the book it was, I think the second to last where, uh, Voldemort gets into the.... not Voldemort, all the Death Eaters get into the castle.  And so I'm like running through long corridors.  And everyone's chasing me.  And, and, it's weird because I don't, I don't remember if I was, in the dream, I was Sarah or if I was Harry, and I don't remember if I knew I was in Harry Potter.

I remember Snape being like, like everyone else's giving bad news and Snape's like, 'yeah, I understand your grief.'"  [I sound like a total stoner on this part of the tape]

"And then I dreamed I reached over to grab my tape recorder to record this dream, but I grabbed my cell phone.  And I looked at my cell phone and put it back and then I thought "that was my cell phone" so I reached to grab my tape recorder, but it was my cell phone again.  Then I grabbed my tape recorder and was trying to figure out how to turn it on.... because it was dark, y'know.... and then my alarm clock went off."  [as far as dreams go, that's probably not the best]

Segment Three:  "Also on that Harry Potter dream, I dreamed that the, Madame Pomfrey, and, like, there were these plants that tried to, like, eat you or something.  And she, like, cooked them up for supper the next day.  And there were all these footnotes in the book, eplaining all the characters like, "well madame pomfrey didn't know what was going on but was talkative"  it was, it was...it didn't sound that condescending in the dream.  And there was a footnote about snape too, and some others..." [no fucking idea]

More Dreams
(If you haven't read my last blog, I've started keeping my tape recorder next to my bed.  Whenever I wake up after a dream, I tell it to my tape recorder.)

It's really funny, listening to the recordings after I wake up because some of them are pretty illegible.  I don't make much sense when I'm sleepy.

The brackets are what I add when I'm typing in hopes that it will help clarify things.

Segment One:  "I dreamed that, camping after work, we were at some camp place at the woods and it was after work at like midnight or three or something.  I think I was going with my friend Amber.  Walking home I saw, um, my tapestry.  Uh, the Wishing Tree [name of the design on a tapestry I have].  Like, just laying on the ground.  Like, what the hell.  So I gathered it up and somewhere on the way home I realize it's not my tapestry, it's  a blanket.  I'm like, well I've never seen my tapestry in a while.  I guess I'll just have to take the blanket.

So I take it home and walking or something I see these people arguing, [saying] 'Well I just left the blanket there a little bit, now it's gone already, someone stole it.'

So then I'm like, 'Ok just one second,' and then I give it back to them.  [Somehow it ended up at home, so I went home to get it.]"

Segment Two:  "So I dreamed that there were these weird pictures hanging up and Josh was sitting on the floor looking at them and I felt way self conscious because I knew they were bad.  There's also this video playing, like a home video that I'd taken at, like, well I didn't actually go to a halloween concert [seems like my half asleep self wanted to make this clear for some reason], but apparantly in my dream I did, and I'd taken this video of this band that was this really stupid emo full-of-itself band.  And I felt, like, especially self-conscious about... [Here I sort of trail off]  Because Josh was so much into music.  That's all I remember."

I have a couple more, but I think I'll save those for tomorrow.

xoxo

So I got a tape recorder (actually it's called a "digital voice recorder" and runs on magic rather than tape).  I got it because I wanted to interview the crazy preacher man who comes onto campus occasionally.  Find out why he's crazy preacher man, how he became a crazy preacher man, etc.  And then I want to interview some of the kids who watch him and argue with him.  Find out why they go from sane rational human beings to these nonsensical screaming things.  That's how these transactions always end, with the preacher preaching nonsense and the kids surrounding him and yelling.  One angle I'm considering for this story is based on my realization that, watching this scene, I find it hard to tell who's the crazy one--the preacher or his audience.

Anyway, the first time the crazy preacher man came to campus, I was armed only with a notebook.  He was scheduled to come again yesterday, so I increased my arsenal to include a tape recorder.  Unfortunately, it rained and rained and rained yesterday, so crazy preacher man didn't show up.  (I was suprised and mildly disappointed in him--I assumed he wouldn't be stopped by a mere tropical storm--after all, he's doing God's work!  God's work, I say!)

The point of this being, I have a tape recorder that I'm in love with (which caught me off guard, because I actually hate hate hate my voice) but I have little to record.  And then the idea came to me that I could use it to take inventory of my dreams.

First let me say that I'm fascinated by dreams.  Some people take them for granted, but I never do and hope I never will.  The reason for this is because until I was ten or 11 and started taking Epilepsy meds, I very rarely dreamed.  Perhaps one every three months, and usually a nightmare.  So I was completely amazed when I started taking my meds and started dreaming.

Now understand--my meds aren't like those weird sleeping pills that supposedly cause really bizarre dreams.  Mine normaled my brain activity, and I started dreaming like an average, non-medicated person.  Normal, garden-variety dreams that everyone has.  Except to me they were amazing and surreal and really really cool.

But I rarely remember any of these dreams, which frustrates me.  And that's when we return to my recently-bought tape recorder.  I'm going to leave it on my bedside table and whenever I wake up after a dream I tell it to my recorder before I forget it.

Last night I had two dreams that I remember.  This is the word-for-word transcript of what was on my tape recorder this morning.  The brackets are words I added just now to help clarify things.

Dreams from last night (11/11/09- 11/12/09):

First segment of tape:
"I dreamed that there was a bike that doubled as a dining car, it had like a tablecloth over the seat.  My newest assignment with the tape recorder was, Josh [my brother] told me to do this, something about seeing if it was possible for someone to take neurotic drugs, because apparantly whoever would use such transportation had to be on drugs, and to see if they could get away with it.  And, at the end of the dream, before Josh woke me up, someone drove away, rode away on a similarly weird bike."

Second segment:
"I dreamed that I went grocery shopping with Mom, and later in the dream Luke's [Mom's ex-boyfriend] there too.  For several minutes we discussed peanut butter, seeing if there's a, a price difference between crunchy peanut butter and smooth peanut butter.  I think we come to the conclusion that crunchy peanut butter was cheaper.  There was... two coupons, one's like, buy one get one, with like two for $1.85 or something.  I'm reading this then realize I'm, like, reading a can of food instead of peanut butter.  [It was something random, like a can of beans or something.]

Later I see pumpkins and I say we should grab some because I want to make pumpkin soup.

Um...."

[Here the segment ends because I run out of things to say.  I turn the tape recorder off to remember what happened next, then I turn it back on again to resume recording.]

Third segment:
"Josh has the pumpking open, and, uh, this is when we're back in the kitchen.  And he, uh, well, first he sort of cut out a triangle, and is about to scoop out all the brains when you tell him that you never scoop out all the brains when you make a pie or pumpkin soup or something."  [I switch to using 'you', I think because as I'm recording this I realize the person I'm probably going to show it to will be my mother.  So instead of saying "and then Mom did..." I say "and then you did....", as if I'm actually talking to my mom.]
End Segment, my alarm went off and woke me up.

I love comma splices, I use them all the time.

But not as often as I start sentences with if, and, or but.

Sometimes run-on sentences are good and interesting so long as they're not overused and they have meaning and impact that would otherwise be lacking if they contained commas or other punctuation.

Occasionally I'm a rebel and use a preposition to end a sentence with.

See, what I love about the English language is that it's flexible.  It's like college, there's a lot of structure but a lot of freedom too.  Sometimes it's Ok to miss class or a comma.

The best writing is like the best times in college:  drunk and sexy and stupid, full of compromise and confidence.

So I love love love the radio show This American Life.  I'm on their website now, listening to past episodes.  This one's talking about "Kid Logic", or conclusions kids come to, and this part of the story just struck me.

There's a girl, four years old, and she asked her dad about Jesus and the meaning of Christmas and stuff.  So he gets her a Bible storybook or whatever, and talks about "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" and all that.  One day she sees a crucifix for the first time and says, "who's that?"  (Her Dad explained about Jesus, but kinda left out the "he got crucified" part.)  So her dad said, "well that's Jesus.... some people didn't like his idea, thought it was so radical that they killed him."

And then a month later on Martin Luther King Day, she asks who Martin Luther King was.  Her dad said, "well.... he was a preacher, and he thought that everyone should treat everyone the same, no matter what they look like."

And she said, "so that's kinda the same thing Jesus thought, right?"

And her dad said, "well I never really thought of it that way... but yeah."

And she said, "did they kill him too?"