Notes to Myself

Mac Desire

What on earth is happening? Last night I dreamt of talking to a Apple Mac owning friend of mine. Totally intrigued, I found myself really wanting one. We walked around a shop looking at Macs and their ethernet ports - I was asking if you could plug one directly into my router at home. When I woke up this wanting crave persisted.

My very first computer was a Mac. It was a tough decision but because my school had a fair number of Macs it seemed like a wise choice. I bought a Performa 630 and spent hours on it, tweaking this and that, trying to get it to run as fast as it could. Now, I know next to nothing about how to use Macs.

It wasn't until I started university that I bought a Windows based PC - I haven't looked back. Is it time to think about returning to Macs?

Slipper Problem

These dreams are in full flow these days. I call this one 'The Slipper Problem' or 'The Slipper Quest.'

At the beginning I was in assembly at school in Japan. Was I a teacher or a student? Everyone was already seated in groups but I decided to sit alone. A couple of friendly girls came and sat either side of me and I was thankful for their company. In Japanese style they covered their legs with a small blanket and got out their keitai (mobile phones).

One girl was playing a tennis game on her phone. It looked like it was real tennis footage, only that it had been purposefully pixelated to make it look worse. Did I have a friend there? We commented on the advanced game.

School was long gone. We were in the country with fresh green hills surrounding us. The two girls with me were much older now, perhaps around 20. Were they the same girls? Probably not. One walked a little way up the hill while I followed a path with the other. We all chatted along the way.

'There's Mt. Fuji!' I shouted as I caught sight of a beautiful mountain capped with snow.
'No, that's not Mt. Fuji.' I was corrected.

We'd travelled some distance before a wooden fence marked the boundary of a series of football matches. Carefully we made our way around the perimeter dodging footballs and people. It felt that we were near our goal. But so were the others - we had to hurry.

At last we were inside, running down a long slope towards our goal that waited at the end. My friends had gone and I was running alone. The people behind had realised the goal too and were now in pursuit. As hard as I tried sprinting was always my weak point. Someone dashed passed me with ease.

Sex & The City

Last night my dreams were blessed by the presence of Sarah Jessica Parker. To me this is strange because I don't even like her and I've never dreamed of her before. The details of this dream I don't really remember, just that she was there and I think that she was my therapist! For some reason I woke up before anything else happened.

Sister Reunion

After some years I finally met my sister again. Her face was not entirely her own, that is, it was my sister but I could see elements of other people in her features. It sounds grotesque, but it wasn't.

We were walking along the streets near our London home. To my knowledge the streets had been tarmac before I left for Japan, but now they were entirely cobbled. I turned to my sister.

'Have the streets always been cobbled?' I asked
'For a long time. Since the time mum died of cancer.' she replied.
'...died of...cancer??'
'Who have I been talking to on the phone all this time from Japan?' I went on, utterly confused.

The look in my sister's eyes as she looked at me was beyond sadness as she said these words. I felt bewildered and almost like I'd been cheated of the truth. Maybe I had been shielded from the truth for my own good. But I knew I had been talking to my mum: surely she was still alive.

I should be thankful I woke up and didn't have to endure any more. My stomach feels tangled and in pain. Why can't I just have the flying dream?

French Lesson

Since leaving secondary school I haven't much thought about my French teacher. I had no special feelings towards her so why she should appear in my dreams now is a mystery.

Well, I was back at school, back in the same classroom I used to have French lessons in. I didn't notice anything about the other students, only that they were there. The French teacher was managing to teach us French but without the French. Maybe it was actually in Japanese, I'm not sure.

Towards the end of the lesson she kept asking me questions about the grammatical subjects and what 'it' and 'that' were referring to in my English textbooks. This is a common thing Japanese people tend to ask about English sentences.

The lesson was over. On the board there were several of my magnets and postcards which I use to introduce myself and the U.K. to the students in real life. I took them off the board and wiped it clean of chalk.

For some reason I was trying to recall how to say 'seventeen' in French. No matter how hard I tried it wouldn't come to me. Everything was blocked by my Japanese. I even thought some Japanese words were French.

While some students were still in the room I was talking to the French teacher at the front. I was puzzled over a problem and she was trying to point my in the right direction while she held my arm. Then I realised there was meaning behind her touch. She was trying to take advantage of me.

Presence

Even though we see the same people day-in-day-out I find that they are not always the people who appear in my dreams. Isn't that odd? I think so.

I had a dream about a girl I thought I knew. Her attractive face was largely hidden by the way she stood and by her long straight hair. We were standing in her shop, though in real life to my knowlege she doesn't do shop work. What kind of shop was it? A shoe shop? There was someone else with me, I could feel his/her presence but I never saw this person.

We were all taken from Japan and were placed in my family's house back in London. At some point the girl made to leave. 'Where are you going?' I wanted to ask. But I was afraid of the answer, so I hesistated until she reached the door.

Time jumped backwards and we were talking together. We were talking about her plans for the evening. It was all innocent enough, she assured. Just friends and a movie. But there would be other people? 'Yes,' she replied. I was jealous and confused, but in the end it was her choice to make.

There's something that really bothers me: who or what was the presence beside me?

Deceptive

There is something deceptive about the winter here. It's so beautiful and yet it's so cold. It's uncaring and empty. I dreamt about sitting under my new kotatsu. I was eating After Eight chocolates while enjoying the warmth and the good company of the special people around me. This was my Christmas dream.

Venue Change

It has started - the nightmares about the JLPT that is. I can't remember much about this dream, only the following point...

I had two exam venues, one in Kanagawa-ken, one in Tokyo. After the first two exams I had to figure out a way to get to Tokyo in time for the final grammar exam. Panic!

Why do I always get these 'trying to get somewhere but not able to dreams'. I must be very worried inside.

Interestingly my friend told me that Japanese people all seem to have a dream where they physically can't move - like a kind of being chained feeling. That would be freaky - don't think about this too much or your brain might conjure it up for you tonight...

> http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dream - Dream dictionary

Bad Dreams

Ok, first up is my bad tennis shoulder. It's been injured for over a year and still hasn't really healed properly. It's obviously bothering me even in my sleep.

As I ripped off the Kinesio sports tape from my shoulder after a game of tennis I was horrified to see 3 patches of sprouting black nori (seaweed) growing on my shoulder - I still get chills whenever I remember this dream.

Second up, I'd broken up with the girlfriend in my dream. She taunted me with her great new hairstyle. I was infuriated... couldn't she have made the effort while we were together? I've never had a dream like this before so it was a bit surprising.

The nori shoulder image was probably worse though and is just something I don't think I can forget. My hair is standing on end just thinking about it.

Giving Beats

Last night I had a bit of nasty dream I'd like to share with you. I was working at a big company somewhere when I was called in to talk to my boss. 'What have I done?' I wondered.

In this dream world it seemed as though someone had accused me of beating up a youth. 'What?! I have never done anything like that and never would.' I said in defense.

After thinking for a while it came to me. By the Thames river near Chiswick in London I had had a play fight with a young kid friend of mine who was into boxing. Someone had apparently saw this, got the wrong end of the stick and told someone.

Then word got around. Everyone knew and even my own family spread the untrue rumour. It was only time before the people higher up found out about it. I was worried for my job. Would I be given the sack?

Slicer

Have you ever seen Bio Hazard? Bio Hazard 2 has just come out, I think, explaining why the first one was on TV the other day. Watching the film obviously left a deep impact on me and appeared in one of my dreams.

There was a huge room with a kind of revolving metal structure. The silver metal that arched out from the center were cutting through the air and I somehow knew that being caught by one of them would mean being sliced into two. But there seemed to be no escape...And so the dream went on...

Do you know which part of Bio Hazard this comes from? I hate that gross scene!

On Speed

The sun was setting and the sky was quickly growing dark. Something was compelling me to dash to take a picture of a unseen building far away. The reason for my haste was unclear but I knew I had to hurry. This was on a dirt country track; open with few trees; there was a metal fence on my right side. Time was running short so I turned on my heels and abandoned the photo opportunity.

Even though I can't drive that didn't matter. I was suddenly seated in my car at a large junction with a large flyover overhead. I tried to reverse and turn around which took time and patience - there were many cars rushing by and my driving skills were less than disireable.

On the car radio a caller was talking to the radio DJ. The caller was on his mobile phone and he pressed something so that we couldn't hear what he was saying. The DJ challenged other listeners to guess what the caller had done wrong.

My car vanished but I had a new vehicle; a better vehicle. It felt like a motorbike as my body was in a very horizontal position but it was deadly silent and didn't seem to make contact with the ground.

Musclee

A mix of old a new memories created this bizarre dream. There is only one thing I can remember about the dream, probably because it was so vivid and unusual...

My old mate Lee, quite a small guy around my height and build, suddenly had biceps that Arnie would be proud of. But the rest of his body remained as it is normally - an unforgetable image that I wouldn't mind forgetting.

Clean Cut

It's dream time again! This was a pretty gruesome dream. All I remember is the gruesome part, actually. For some reason I took a blade to my lower leg and started a sawing action. This continued until I'd gone clean through my bone; my foot came clean off in my hand.

All I can think of that this is related to is the Japanese film Audition. That scene in the film was so nasty I found it funny. A lady saws a mans foot off with cheese wire and then simply hurls it across the room. With other forms of torture involving needles this is not a film for the faint-hearted.

Toilet Food

This was one bizarre dream. Unfortunately, I can only remember a few snippets:

I dashed to the toilet, possibly at school. However, the atmosphere turned into more of a prison scene. Then, while doing my business, I suppose, a teacher started calling me from outside. 'I'm on the toilet,' I said. But she came closer. A plate of food was slid across the floor under the toilet door - my prison lunch? When I opened the door, the teacher was standing in front of me. She was hideously transformed from her real appearance - her whole body was like a huge cube of fat. Imagine an the NHK mascot with rippling fat, if you can.

That's about all I recall. Not a very pleasant dream but something worth noting, I thought.

Drunken Dreams

It was late and I was waiting for a train. I knew I was a little drunk, but I had no particular worries about getting to my destination. Though I'd set my keitai alarm to wake me at the station I had to change at, it didn't wake me; I woke up near the end of the line! It was borderline 'last train time' and the train I wanted to take had already left. It was the last one. Luckily, taking a different train I was able to get home. However, I was very pissed off by this mistake of mine. Somewhere along the return journey my keitai alarm vibrated in my pocket - I'd set it for the wrong time. Now, I realise I shouldn't have made that promise...

This real life event mixed with other thoughts in my mind and as I slept my dreams turned back to the old classic - 'being late'. So, in my dream the time was tomorrow morning - the day of a tennis doubles tournament I was to take part in with my friend. I had to meet him at 8:30 in the morning. When I opened my eyes I found myself back in my old room in London. I searched for my alarm clock - it was '10:30 a.m!!!'

I felt so annoyed that I'd missed the tournament and let down my friend. But why hadn't he rang after 8:30? When I called him, I told him that I'd been drinking alone the previous night and made a mistake when setting my alarm clock. For some reason, my friend wasn't the least bit bothered. We were no longer on the phone, but walking through what felt like a mixture of public Roman baths and Japanese Onsen!

The phone rang and I struggled to open my eyes. Where was I? What appointments did I have? My mind was lost and it was an unsettling feeling. I was back in Japan. As I placed my thoughts I said to myself, 'Don't make promises when you're drunk.'

Neglected Dreams

My dreams, oh my long lost dreams! I admit to forgetting about my dream posts and feel as though many dream memories have faded out of the world forever - to right this wrong I must try and note my finer dreams again!

Let's start again with any recent memories of dreams. Have you ever been half-awake, half-asleep and dreaming at the same time. You realise you are dreaming but you don't quite fully wake up. It's quite a bizarre experience but happens to me from time to time. The last time, I knew the dream wasn't real - I was half-awake- but I was still seeing it unfold before my eyes and I helplessly responded, spitting out a few slurred words.

Dream Fall

As I talk about quite frequently, people love to sleep on trains here. Well, finally I have let myself fall asleep on trains. Actually I didn't really let myself: I just couldn't keep awake, and Harry Potter just fell to my lap. Feeling half-awake I my head popped up every now and then at various stations, but at some points I was dreaming! Do you ever realise when you are dreaming as you are falling asleep? Perhaps as you fall in and out of sleep? I like that feeling, though I find it rare.

So yes, I got a seat. Battling for a seat on trains is all well and good, but there is a down-side. That is the 'falling sleeper'. Especially bad late on Friday night, but it can happen at any time. Slowly, inch-by-inch, the person sleeping next to you starts falling in your direction.

It's quite funny when you see someone sleeping on another person's shoulder, unless you are that person, of course. I remember this happening to my female friend late one night on the way home. However, we wondered whether the man in question was actually asleep... I've been quite lucky that this hasn't happened much to me, but yesterday I was faced with one person on each side falling towards me! Maybe a quick elbow to the ribs was in order?

Yawn to Yawn

Don't you find yawns interesting? Especially how one person can induce a yawn by someone else simply by yawning? I once heard that this response may have originated from social behaviours before speech - "I am tired, (so you must be too)"? Anyway, I think it's intriguing.

Why am I writing about yawning? Well, because instead of the yawn induced yawns I mentioned above, the other day, I yawned at exactly the same time as the person sitting next to me. That is bizarre. Have you experienced this variation?

Source of info below - yawning webpage info for kids!

"It is possible that yawns are contagious because at one time in evolutionary history, the yawn served to coordinate the social behavior of a group of animals. When one member of the group yawned to signal an event, all the other members of the group also yawned. Yawns may still be contagious these days because of a leftover response (a "vestigial" response) that is not used anymore. None of this has been proven true and yawns are still one of the mysteries of the mind."

Where Am I

Just as yesterday I can remember some of my dreams! I was at some kind of bar or inn with a friend. Something told me it was in Australia, but there were no visible signs (you just know right?). There were two guys; the owner and I guessed his father.

Leaving the establishment I paid the old man, as the owner had gone somewhere, but realised later that I had left some things behind. So, I went back to get them. However, upon trying to leave the second time, the owner had returned and insisted that I had not paid. The old man said nothing and I was shocked at this lack of trust, even after explaining I had paid the old man. The owner wouldn't accept that I had paid, and I could not believe Australians would be so mistrustful!

Well, I think I can see elements from real life in this dream that would explain things... - except the Aussie bit - some of these real life events happened a long time ago, but they stick in my mind... haunting my soul.

The scariest part, though, was that I woke up confused and bewildered. For a split second my mind cycled through many locations, trying to work out where I was. Since arriving here I have been surprised that I haven't woken more often thinking the same thing, but perhaps you need a bit of a panic to set it off.

Supressed Dreams

It's been many a week since I have written about my wonderful world of dreams. Why? you ask. Well, because I haven't had many. Sure, we all forget dreams, but usually I wake up remembering parts of dreams each morning. Since arriving in Japan, however, I don't seem to have had any - or I can't remember anything about them. I wonder whether a significant change in your life can lead to such a loss of dreams/dream memory? Well, in any case, I can report that my dreams have started to return and I am very happy! The veil has lifted.

Death I

At some point today I remembered one of my dreams from last night. It was quite freaky, because my dad had died. I don't know what happened, but my family was sitting down together, distraught, aware of the fact that he was gone. Then, all of a sudden, my dad walked into the room, like it was all a cruel joke. I'd better phone home tonight when he finishes work...

Queen Dream

This one is a little bizarre [aren't they all? er..]. The Queen, it turned out, was actually a robot! If you know the robot called 'Number 5' from the film 'Short Circuit' then you will get the general idea.

I drempt that I was writing about the situation on www.notestomyself.net, but then started to think that I might be mistaken - it seemed that perhaps the robot wasn't the Queen, but one of her employees - very confusing. There was also an amusing scene in which Prince Charles was entangled in cables and robot parts trying to check everything was ok!

Running Man

An extract from one of last night's dreams: I was running; I was running away from something. Two companions ran along with me through a huge, vividly-green park.

We turned off the path into an open expanse to our left. The floor was covered... in miniature poo droppings! "Maybe something in the water nearby," I thought. Just as we reached the fence and trees on the far side it struck me: "They are bat droppings!!!". One person had started climbing a tree to escape as I turned to retreat; something fluttered in the tree above.

We ran at full pelt back to the place we had come from, but now there was a towering fence with barbed wire at the top. Climbing to the top was no problem, but the barbed wire was stuck into my thigh. Once over we carried on running down the path...Everybody runs.

Sky's The Limit

The flying dream! Yes, and not the aeroplane type either. The last time I had one of these... I don't remember, but they are fabulous! Imagine the scene: there were people standing around watching whilst some kind of huge inflatable cube-shaped room was being filled up with hot air (think the inside of a bouncy castle). The walls were seethrough and looked like some kind of mesh or netting; how the room was staying inflated I'm not sure.

Ok, so I may not have had the ability to fly myself, but I was more than happy with my jet-pack! A silver concertina like pipe led me into the flying cube area. I flew about along the netting and danced in the air using thrust from my boosters as I pleased. Such fantastic fun!! I really hope I have this dream again soon.

Flying Guitars

Mini dream update:

1. I am the pilot - on the right-hand side (is that correct?) of some kind of airplane. There is a co-pilot next to me and there is some kind of problem with the landing gears. Though we hadn't started the engines, I don't think we were on the ground! Eventually everything worked and we flew off. I had an awareness that someone was following...

2. This one is related to my sister. During the evening she walked out of the house and on to the road with a guitar. Placing the guitar slap-bang in the middle of the road she then proceeded to jump up and down on top of it!

Castle Battle

What a bizarre collection of dreams all rolled into one I had last night. First I was at something which I can only describe as some kind of careers fair where future plans were discussed with new-found friends.

Transported to a new location with my real work colleages, we were standing outside on a road facing a newly built, detatched, narrow building, located between two older buildings. My colleagues seemed to think that this was our new office. A new rule was put in place that everyone had to do a certain amount of programming in a week even if they weren't programmers. This definately links to a conversation I had earlier in the day about getting away from programming!

Lastly I was inside a gothic castle. It was typically very dark and moody and long tables were centred along the long open rooms. Unfortunately, I seemed to be doing battle with some kind of fiend that lived there! We both appeared to have swords and were jumping on and around the tables having a vicious sword-fight. Having plunged my blade into him, he stood motionless, but I knew he wasn't finished. He came back to life and we were off again, this time running around his booby-trapped rooms, up and down stairs and through secret doors. If only I knew the ending...

Kill That Itch

A small dream report this morning, no doubt related to uncontrollably itching my eyes throughout the night with hayfever:

My mum had a gun and she shot my eyes with it! The bullets however, were not like normal bullets; they were about 10cm in diameter and flat like discs. It turned out that she was helping to "reduce the swelling" of my eyes.

Mum then also pointed out that I should get a blood test. I didn't really fancy that, but she then gave me a demo of how easy (not painless perhaps) it is. She took two tiny blood samples with a huge syringe, but from whom I'm not sure. What is the meaning of this?

Dannii Vs Kylie

Argh, I'm quite frustrated because I had an interesting dream, but I only remember half of it. Shortly after it happened I woke up and thought hmm, that was interesting, but I forgot most of it after going back to sleep. That's how it goes I suppose.

The most memorable part was when I walked up to the outside of a large window reaching from the floor to head height. Inside Dannii Minogue was sitting on the left and Kylie Minogue on the right - neither was moving much. It was rather like a deranged arcade machine at Trocadero. I didn't have to put money in, but instead tapped on the right side of the window, in Kylie's direction. She got up and performed one of her songs for me. It was hard to concentrate and my mind was drifting off. Day-dreaming in such a strange situation in a dream seems very strange!

Gladiator

Wow, two days in a row...

Though I can't remember the start of the dream, later on I found myself going up some stairs in a mansion with other people. We broke off from each other at the top and each entered different doors.

Suddenly, passing through, I was outside, in the bright, hot sun. The floor was sandy and the area was enclosed by a wooden fence. There was a small wooden house consisting of only one room. The windows looked flimsy, possibly plastic.

On the floor there were lots and lots of pieces of armour, for a gladiator or soldier and even some for a horse, I thought. I noticed in particular a forearm protector and some kind of amour or decoration for a horse's head. It was all very strange because the items were laid out in a way that it looked like a museum exhibit. Each item seemed to be broken into its constituant pieces. Did I have to put it all together? In any case I knew that I had to put them on! Perhaps I am going to battle...

After some confusion, I decided that I needed help. Outside a found a man who it seemed could help me. He came into the small house. Suddenly, he picked up a huge machine-gun which had appeared on the floor, and retreated outside. Wildly he started firing, tearing the wooden walls to shreds; I dived to the floor and saw pieces of wood flying through the air!

Maybe I am having withdrawel symptoms from computer games..?!

Mental Prison

The dream of the week award must go to this entry!

It started inside a large building. There were four colour-coded wings joined by a central reception area. It was a psychiatric institution of some kind and I appeared to be a patient.

I was trying to get somewhere, wandering around outside my room. What was I trying to find? I'm not sure. There were armed guards, and I was definately wary of them. One gave me directions, but I seemed to go the wrong way and found myself in huge bedroom with a gigantic bed, about 4x3 metres in size!

I left and when I wasn't in view of the following guard I ran. Soon I found myself in a large warehouse and a struggle was happening between the patients and the guards. A handgun skidded near to me, but I left it alone. Another patient picked it up and shot several guards. Guards were saying, "where did he get that gun?" as they ran up to my position. I was cowering by a wall, with my hands up. Thankfully, they didn't shoot me.

I'm not sure how I escaped that, but I was then with gang of patients trying to escape. By a fence, at the edge of the outer compound a fighter jet swayed in the air as if it was hanging from wires, and it would not take off. A patient, clambered on top of it and it swing back and forth in the breeze like a swing.

The next thing I knew, I found myself in a prison cell. There were little moving platforms or shelves with coloured glowing edges moving in and out of two opposite walls. After a few goes I managed to climb up towards the ceiling and wedged myself between the two walls with my legs.

I felt the walls and surfaces, looking for a way out. I managed to open a panel and inside was a bit like a computer tower case! There was a battery deep inside. I yanked it out. Immediately I heard sounds outside. Panicking, I closed the panel as fast as my shaking hands could and jumped down.

Thinking that guards were coming to punish me, I was pleased to see instead, lots of fellow inmates who it seemed I had set free. They came down the stairs from the left knocking on the doors looking for me. My door was open too.

We saw a dangerous man pacing around in his cell. His face was largely shadowed by the hood of his jumper that covered his head; but he looked familiar. We left him behind.

Outside, two creatures, which seemed to be female were running along on a yellow-brown concrete ledge. They were black coloured with strips of red and they looked shiny all over. These 'things' were disgusting because of black trailing black (smooth) tentacles.

One carrying a sub-machine gun turned suddenly on the other and shot her to pieces. The flashes of light could be seen on the shooter's body and face as she sprayed bullets. "I didn't mean I would give you that sort of help," the other said. But it was too late. The murderer sucked the dying one inside her and two heads could be seen as they merged into one being. They started floating like some kind of fish in water, yet in the air with their odd things trailing in the wind.

Woah! That one was a little crazy.

Dream Ride

It's dream time folks. I was at some kind of fairground by the sea, perhaps geographically based on Ocean Park in Hong Kong. With friends, I waited at the top of some kind of odd rollercoaster ride which overlooked the rest of the park. Actually it also felt like a slide because the rider had to get on and go down alone. The ride had one rail at least, and at the beginning - for the dream changed later - people stood on a tiny platform with only one of those rear-passenger motorbike hand holding bars (behind naturally) as protection from falling! It looked terrifying!

Once my friends had gone whizzing down it was my turn. Zoom, off I went. Initially, the track was straight in direction but had a few dips accelerating up to the first hard right turn. For some reason my platform/death trap decided that the forces of physics could no longer hold it to the start of the bend and it flew straight off, spinning through the air!

Uh-oh, another falling dream. I haven't had one of these in quite a while, but it's supposed to be one of those insecurity dreams. I was considering my life last night, and that was a little scary...

Anyway, whatever I was on (falling with), it was now a bigger platform; about a 1x1 meter square of foam sitting on the same sized heavy, metal(?) base. The air rushed by and my thoughts were of the wait until I came crashing down on some horribly hard concrete below.

Then I realised that I had overshot the whole of the hillside where the fairground was built and was going to crash-land in the sea. Still spinning, I somehow got rid of the heavy base under me leaving some kind of water-slide mat. Now, this was fantastic, because instead of crashing down with a deadly thud, I hit the water and skimmed along like a flat stone thrown at the seaside!

Having survived, but with my mat sunk, I conciously checked each limb and was surprised that nothing seemed broken. The water wasn't rough so I started to swim back towards the land. Strangely a group of huge guys, "Sumos," I thought, jumped in to come and rescue me - there wasn't a beach but a raised platform like a pier. However, I was ok, and swam back alone. Heaving myself out of the water, my boss was waiting for me.

Funland

These dreams lately have been strangely vivid. I got to sleep early last night, so perhaps I was at the right stage of sleep for me to start dreaming and for my alarm to wake me up.

The rain was pouring down and the sky was grey. I ran along roads with my (non-existent!) girl-friend with the rain lashing down on my umbrella. The rain was gone, and we were running down a grassy hill. We had also become children and were headed for some sort of play-centre! After a collision with another running person, and a near fight it was time to go and play!

This place seemed like one of those fun-land type places for kids - those areas with things to climb on and things to play with. It must have been opening time, as kids streamed in rushing to get to the entertainment. There were steps and stairs everywhere, they twisted and turned, and sometimes went vertical all of a sudden - changing into ladders!

Eventually I found myself in the entertainment section. There were various arcade machines and other strange games. There was a Virtua Tennis machine there, and you were then next to me, Mike. I asked you about your exams and how they were going. I played a strange game a bit like snooker, but played with your hand wearing a glove. The aim was to pot balls, but you had to chop at the balls using spin!

These dreams are very strange, and they are difficult to remember. If only I could recall everything!

Fighting Bears

In a brightly lit forest I walked along, tracing out the paths in the grass, trying to follow the arrows. The path was curvy and even looped in places, but for some reason I had to follow it carefully. This is how my latest dream started.

Then, all of a sudden I was with at least one other person. We were armed with hand guns and approaching some sort of bear enclosure. There were solid metal bars coming out of the low concete walls up to about 7ft tall.

A huge brown bear approached on the other side and started clambering up the bars. "I don't think it can get over that." With an effort the bear scrambled over the top and jumped down, running towards me. I shot the bear as it charged and jumped on me. "Shoot it," I was shouting, but apparently I was a crack-shot, and had killed the bear with a fatal chest wound. Phew!

With that we turned back and went through some big metal doors that slid back automatically. There was blood everywhere, all over the floors and walls. We kept running on through similar doors and blood-filled rooms. It was obvious that we had been framed! I wonder what the rest of the story is?

Late For Exams

My sister stayed away last night. Of course, this meant that at 7a.m. her radio alarm kicks in - very loud! Being pissed off, I get up, turn it off and go back to bed. Then, about 30 minutes later, when I have gone back to sleep, another alarm goes off! It doesn't sound loud enough to be mine, placed beside my bed - sure enough, it's my Sister's secondary alarm system. Several magnitudes higher in the pissed-off scale, I get up, turn it off and go back to bed...

What followed was a dream, no, a nightmare! This dream is unfortunately of the recurring variety. It can take various forms, but the theme is always consistent. I think it was spawned partly through the whole alarms palava.

My sister was visiting a house far from our own. I accompanied her and waited outside on the grass - the road was a lot more spacious than in inner-London. After talking with a neighbour, I was in some kind of super clean, near-futuristic station of some sort with my Dad & Sis. Suddenly I realised that I might actually have an exam that same day (this is how it normally goes). All in a daze I try to call a friend to confirm if the exam is in the afternoon - in half an hour's time! In frustration at not being able to use the phone (something normally goes wrong that is very trivial), I throw it against a wall. Upon rebounding back to me, it works, but the memory has been wiped! The panic felt in this type of dream is just horrible - and there is nothing I can do that remedies the situation.

Maybe it was my own alarm, at 8:15, that saved me from the rest of the dream. Consulting my dream book would be a good idea. I think I have done so in the past for this type of dream and it apparently shows some insecurity or something very negative. Dream School has a page on common themes of dreams if you are interested.

Fishy Dream

Last night I had (another) strange dream. I seemed to be visiting relatives in Ireland. Initially, it started out with me running along a dirt track following a river at night.

Suddenly I was at a house with my aunt and cousin. I presume it was their house, but it was obviously entirely dreamt up. Stepping stones, flush with the ground carried on from the front garden into the entrance of the house! Inside the house, the floor was wooden and the walls were different shades of yello. Also of note, the ceilings were exceptionally high for a normal house.

Needing to use the toilet, I was pointed to a small door, about 5ft tall in the corner of a bedroom. There seemed to be something orange inside the toilet. Unsure, I flushed, only to see a goldfish swimming around. Unfortunately for him, he was stripped to the bone by the flush, only leaving behind his small skeleton. By the look on my cousin's face, it was her goldfish.

Blue to Red

This morning brought with it a nice blue sky and a pleasant warmth. Shortly after getting up, though, I had another nose-bleed. This was quite a fast dripping nose-bleed; just what you need to start the day. In a sense, seeing blood all over your hands makes you feel alive - or maybe like a murderer.

During my sleep I had a dream in which no water would go down the sink. Getting to the route of the problem, I found myself scooping out huge amounts of thick sludgy oil from the drain in my back garden. What could this mean?

Dreams

I had such a vivid dream last night that I feel I must share it. This dream is easy to remember because my alarm rudely disturbed me and woke me up from it.

The dream involved me swimming in beautiful clear tropical waters. Being under water without breathing equipment is usual in my dreams and this one was no exception.

Swimming around were a couple of sharks. Pretending to swim like one of them supposedly made me feel like I wasn't going to be eaten. Well, I wasn't eaten!

The strange part: a new type of creature was floating around. It was some kind of colony of animals creature (man-of-war type?), which may not be unusual, but this one was rainbow coloured and shaped like a television set! The colours seemed to change as it lit up in various places. The TV-animal was also highly dangerous and could kill with the slightest touch. Many humans no doubt died from the need to touch it - this one had no remote control.