Dream Interpretation

[CellarDweller]

Very true, Lee!

[Front-Ranger]

Coincidentally, I dreamed I was laid off last night. This was from an engineering firm I worked for several times, first as an employee (I quit) and then as a consultant twice. The guy who was my supervisor in the dream was Hugh Laurie in his House role. He sat down and started giving me the laying-off spiel and I interrupted to remind him that I was just a contractor so he didn't need to go through all that.

He was visibly relieved. I was gracious and understanding, since I realized that they might need me to come back sometime. Although, as always happens when I get laid off or divorced or something like that, a pounding ache had formed in my lower back. We stood up and I moved to shake his hand goodbye. He gestured that he wanted a hug and we crashed together very awkwardly. Laughing and pulling away I said "hug much?" to myself as much as to him.

Then he asked if he could get me a box for my things. I replied that I would take care of it. There was a wild goose chase with me looking for a box and encountering most of the people who worked there in the process. I kept telling myself to maintain my dignity and stiff upper lip.

My office was on the 5th floor and I had trouble finding an elevator or stairs. There was a rickety outdoor elevator so I decided to use the stairs. I encountered a crazy midfloor only inhabited by families and children with no stairs going up to the 5th floor. I finally found the stairs. As it got dark outside I still didn't have my stuff all packed up and people were gathering in my office for a party to see me off.

[Front-Ranger]

I woke up in the early hours and thought about two dreams I had just slept through. One was about my daughter and the other was about a humiliating professional incident. Both were troubling. So I went back to sleep and seem to have "undreamed" them. They're gone from my consciousness now, and perhaps I have shaken those cobwebs out of my brain.

[serious crayons]

I dreamed I met Eddie Vedder, we worked on some kind of project together and fell in love for one day. Then he went back to his regular girlfriend. Note: it wasn't sexual, just sweet and then sad. I'd seen some old Pearl Jam videos the previous evening.

Often dreams like this have to do with something work-related -- I know, kind of weird -- and I've been able to understand the message they're sending. In this case I can't interpret what it might be because I don't remember the nature of the project Eddie and I were working on. Some kind of sale, maybe? Maybe because Pearl Jam was known for being devoted to ethics and art even at the risk of financial success it has something to do with selling out?

Fun fact about Eddie Vedder, though: His voice was reportedly the model for Bradley Cooper's character in A Star is Born. Here I thought it was Sam Elliott. Apparently Bradley Cooper spent a few days with Eddie Vedder to learn how to sing with that deeper voice. But Bradley's voice in ASIB, while deeper than his usual, is still not as deep as either Eddie's or Sam's.

[Front-Ranger]

Interesting dream! If someone were to aspire to singing with Sam Elliott's voice, that would be foolish IMHO. I've never heard Eddie Vetter sing or Pearl Jam; maybe I should look them up.

[serious crayons]

Interesting dream! If someone were to aspire to singing with Sam Elliott's voice, that would be foolish IMHO.

Bradley Cooper did lower his regular voice considerably. Still didn't quite match Sam Elliott, but at least they sounded like they were from the same family.

I've never heard Eddie Vetter sing or Pearl Jam; maybe I should look them up.

Here you go:

Actually, while I love that song it's the only Pearl Jam song I know very well. I was a bit more into Nirvana, with whom Pearl Jam was usually lumped as representing the Seattle grunge scene, back when Kurt Cobain was alive and all were at their peak.

When I analyzed the Eddie Vedder dream later, I realized it was definitely about art vs. commerce in my work. For a while I was writing more creative nonfiction -- essays, mostly -- which were artistically satisfying but completely unlucrative. I mean literally, you might sell an essay you'd spent weeks on for a few hundred dollars at the most and sometimes no pay at all. Now I'm mainly doing regular old newspaper journalism, which can often be creative, but not to the same degree, obviously. Newspaper reporting is not super-lucrative, but at least it provides a regular middle-class paycheck.

I thought of this interpretation because I once dreamed I was considering leaving my then-husband -- a journalist -- for a guy in a creative writing class I had taken. The guy was objectively good looking but I wasn't attracted to him when we were in the class. So I knew at once it must mean something else, and the journalism vs. creative writing contrast seemed pretty obvious.

Meanwhile, this song has been stuck in my head for about a week.

[Front-Ranger]

Interesting insight. It reminds me of the episodes of The Crown that I am watching lately. Tobias Menzies plays Prince Phillip, who spends a lot of time looking back on all that he wanted to do but was prevented from doing by the demands of his job as consort. Then, there's a lot of script devoted to the young Prince Charles who was thwarted so much in his career and personal life. The show makes him into a much more sympathetic character, very Shakespearean and tragic in the requirement that he not do or be what he wanted but yet giving him no role outside of being perpetually in the wings. And it draws parallels between him and the previous Prince of Wales, who stepped down from the throne.

[Front-Ranger]

I had a dream last night that I knew I would have to record here. My family was at our in-laws' house in California. The television was on. No surprise there, they always had the TV running, even early in the morning. Mercifully, the sound was muted. I came in from outdoors, it was a beautiful California day. Everyone was mesmerized by the TV. I thought they must be under some kind of spell. I tried to turn it off but the knob wouldn't turn. I finally managed to find the electrical plug and pull it out of the wall, but that didn't change anything either. It must have been some kind of Blutooth device.

I was looking at the TV, and I felt myself being sucked in. There was a woman talking, and she had a very large mouth. When she talked you could see her tongue, very soft, pink, and pillowy. And her teeth were all moist and glowing. I watched, entranced, until I woke up.

[serious crayons]

Wow, that's an interesting one for analysis, FRiend.

As you all know, but as I was telling my ex-husband just yesterday (he'd had a weird dream where he was working at previous jobs), things that happen in dreams often don't represent those actual things in real life. Making your way through a many-roomed house might be exploring about your mind, etc. Or like my Pearl Jam and writing class examples earlier, they're more about creative writing vs. journalism, not really not so much the band or my writing class. I'm sure you've all talked about this, as I'm a relative newcomer to this thread, so this is probably elementary for you guys.

But with that in mind, what does the TV represent? What is the mouth? Even your in-laws -- could they represent something other than your actual in-laws?

Just a wild guess, but could this be something about the tension between wanting to separate yourself from current events and/or popular culture (the TV) vs. the difficulty of escaping it (being sucked in, the huge mouth)?

You're the best judge, of course. What do you think?

[Front-Ranger]

...with that in mind, what does the TV represent?

Oh, I would guess, popular culture, electronics, social media, the world, Trump; one or all of those things.

What is the mouth?

Maybe the cacophony of the world, or maybe just the attention-grabbing, demanding, watch-me-ness of the world stage.

Even your in-laws -- could they represent something other than your actual in-laws?

Sure! They could represent judgmental people, conservatives, the silent majority, the status quo...that type of thing.

Just a wild guess, but could this be something about the tension between wanting to separate yourself from current events and/or popular culture (the TV) vs. the difficulty of escaping it (being sucked in, the huge mouth)?

Pretty good guess, I would say, friend! And then there's also the fact that I watched the new Dracula series that started on Netflix the other day. Just the first program of it. I'm not sure I want to watch any more of it.