Dreamin'
I just had what is definitely one of the strangest dreams I've ever had. I like to think I remember quite a few of my dreams. It seems like I can remember at least one each night, often many more, so I've had some doozies. And, maybe 80% of the time, I know it's a dream. The other 20%, I don't even realize it until I wake. But this one... It's the first one I've ever had where... well, you'll see.
I was at work. Those, as far as I'm concerned, are some of the worst dreams. I've dreamed I was at work, actually doing the work I had for the next day, only to wake and realize I had to do it again. Makes me want to bill the time I spent dreaming, but ah well.
So the fact that I was dreaming about work wasn't all that unusual. It was Monday, and I have this feeling that I was dreaming for awhile about it, before the point at which I start remembering. It was a Monday, possibly tomorrow, and it was the first day all the colleges went back to school, because we had like 35 more employees than usual. They were the college students who work for us during the school year, but take off during the summer, and they were back. (Of course, it doesn't happen that way in real life. Really we hire college students [only like 2] for the summer. But at the time I thought it perfectly normal, well, almost.)
We were all sitting in the front of the office, by the receptionists desk (on the floor, which was odd to me), and I remember thinking we had just come from a meeting. I was talking to one of the college girls, and I remember saying I thought it was more common to work during the summer, then stop for school, instead of the other way around. Then the group broke up. And I realized I wasn't sitting on the floor, but on a mattress. The box spring was over by the wall, and I knew that I'd let one of the college girls borrow it, and they'd brought it back.
That was when I first started getting suspicious. In the dream, I thought about it. I thought it didn't seem strange that I'd lend someone something, even a bed, but it was kind of strange that they'd bring it up into the office to give it back instead of meeting me at my car... wasn't it? And why did the bed have sheets on it, and pillows? And why wasn't anyone yelling at me for having it in the front of the office, where any clients who came in could see it?
I grabbed the mattress and some pillows and started hauling it back to my desk (which is in the very very back of the office), and I just got more suspicious as I went, because I started seeing things that I was PRETTY sure shouldn't be there. Like, on the floor in the hallway, there was this wooden basket, filled with pretty colored yarn. I remember looking at it and thinking that I was pretty sure it didn't belong, kind of like what you'd see in a dream.
By the time I got my bed all back to my desk, and set up (?), I was sure enough it was a dream to want to do something about it. I was not about to waste my night dreaming about work. So, I went back to the kitchen area, and started looking for ways to wake myself up. I did the classic slapping myself, which did nothing but attract the attention of my coworkers sitting around goofing off. When they asked what I was doing, I told them this was just a dream and I needed to wake up. They completely accepted that, and went back to chatting.
At this point, more strange things had appeared in the kitchen, oddly enough all fish related.
There was one of those big styrofoam coolers (you know what I'm talking about) on the table. I opened it; nothing. Then there was a seafood display. And these two maintenance guys were standing by it. One said something like "can we help you with something?" and I again explained it was a dream I needed to wake up from. So the guy grabs this container of shrimp (cooked) and says I have to take a big whiff of it, walk across the room, keeping my eyes fixed on it the whole time, and set it on the opposite counter, and that will wake me up. I balked a little (hate fish, ptewy), but it made a little sense: the smell might be just disgusting enough to wake me up. So I did it. And as I'm walking, staring at the shrimp, I realize my coworkers are watching and if this isn't a dream, I'm going to end up being committed. But, I'm pretty sure it's a dream, so I keep on.
Course, it didn't work. I didn't wake up.
When I look up from the shrimp, I see the president's husband looking at me like committing me has crossed his mind too. I explain, again, and he says, oh, well, if you need to wake up, you should go to sleep.
That made so much sense, especially with the bed in my office (now I had an office. It was ginormous.), and I'd grown soo tired, that I went right back to my office to lay down. At first I didn't think I'd be able to sleep at work, but it was so comfortable that I just closed my eyes, and...
opened them in my room. In real life. That probably sounds like no big deal, but to me it was... well, it was wierd. And I felt a little thrill at knowing I was right about it being a dream, at having figured it out, and figured out how to leave. So I rolled over and went back to sleep...
and I was there again. At work. In the dream. I sighed, pain in my ass. This time I just walked to my office (I was in the kitchen again), and as I went, knowing it was a dream, I closed the blinds on each window, with my mind, like Matilda, as I walked, to make it nice and dark. I layed down in bed, and before I could close my eyes, heard some folks yammering outside my office. I got up, saw them "working", and just closed my door (I had a door!), and went to lay down. Closed my eyes, and...
opened them in real life again. Really, really creepy. Determined to get at least a little more sleep before work (ha ha, at this point even in real life I'm convinced it's sunday and work awaits me in the morning), I go back to sleep, and...
I'm back again, in the office. Son of a... So, I go back to my bed in my office again, telling myself it better be 5am (the time I usually get up for work) when I wake up in the real world or else, and close my eyes...
to open them in the real world and see the clock says 6:30. Which is when I both realized it was Sunday morning, and decided to write this stuff down.
I was at work. Those, as far as I'm concerned, are some of the worst dreams. I've dreamed I was at work, actually doing the work I had for the next day, only to wake and realize I had to do it again. Makes me want to bill the time I spent dreaming, but ah well.
So the fact that I was dreaming about work wasn't all that unusual. It was Monday, and I have this feeling that I was dreaming for awhile about it, before the point at which I start remembering. It was a Monday, possibly tomorrow, and it was the first day all the colleges went back to school, because we had like 35 more employees than usual. They were the college students who work for us during the school year, but take off during the summer, and they were back. (Of course, it doesn't happen that way in real life. Really we hire college students [only like 2] for the summer. But at the time I thought it perfectly normal, well, almost.)
We were all sitting in the front of the office, by the receptionists desk (on the floor, which was odd to me), and I remember thinking we had just come from a meeting. I was talking to one of the college girls, and I remember saying I thought it was more common to work during the summer, then stop for school, instead of the other way around. Then the group broke up. And I realized I wasn't sitting on the floor, but on a mattress. The box spring was over by the wall, and I knew that I'd let one of the college girls borrow it, and they'd brought it back.
That was when I first started getting suspicious. In the dream, I thought about it. I thought it didn't seem strange that I'd lend someone something, even a bed, but it was kind of strange that they'd bring it up into the office to give it back instead of meeting me at my car... wasn't it? And why did the bed have sheets on it, and pillows? And why wasn't anyone yelling at me for having it in the front of the office, where any clients who came in could see it?
I grabbed the mattress and some pillows and started hauling it back to my desk (which is in the very very back of the office), and I just got more suspicious as I went, because I started seeing things that I was PRETTY sure shouldn't be there. Like, on the floor in the hallway, there was this wooden basket, filled with pretty colored yarn. I remember looking at it and thinking that I was pretty sure it didn't belong, kind of like what you'd see in a dream.
By the time I got my bed all back to my desk, and set up (?), I was sure enough it was a dream to want to do something about it. I was not about to waste my night dreaming about work. So, I went back to the kitchen area, and started looking for ways to wake myself up. I did the classic slapping myself, which did nothing but attract the attention of my coworkers sitting around goofing off. When they asked what I was doing, I told them this was just a dream and I needed to wake up. They completely accepted that, and went back to chatting.
At this point, more strange things had appeared in the kitchen, oddly enough all fish related.
There was one of those big styrofoam coolers (you know what I'm talking about) on the table. I opened it; nothing. Then there was a seafood display. And these two maintenance guys were standing by it. One said something like "can we help you with something?" and I again explained it was a dream I needed to wake up from. So the guy grabs this container of shrimp (cooked) and says I have to take a big whiff of it, walk across the room, keeping my eyes fixed on it the whole time, and set it on the opposite counter, and that will wake me up. I balked a little (hate fish, ptewy), but it made a little sense: the smell might be just disgusting enough to wake me up. So I did it. And as I'm walking, staring at the shrimp, I realize my coworkers are watching and if this isn't a dream, I'm going to end up being committed. But, I'm pretty sure it's a dream, so I keep on.
Course, it didn't work. I didn't wake up.
When I look up from the shrimp, I see the president's husband looking at me like committing me has crossed his mind too. I explain, again, and he says, oh, well, if you need to wake up, you should go to sleep.
That made so much sense, especially with the bed in my office (now I had an office. It was ginormous.), and I'd grown soo tired, that I went right back to my office to lay down. At first I didn't think I'd be able to sleep at work, but it was so comfortable that I just closed my eyes, and...
opened them in my room. In real life. That probably sounds like no big deal, but to me it was... well, it was wierd. And I felt a little thrill at knowing I was right about it being a dream, at having figured it out, and figured out how to leave. So I rolled over and went back to sleep...
and I was there again. At work. In the dream. I sighed, pain in my ass. This time I just walked to my office (I was in the kitchen again), and as I went, knowing it was a dream, I closed the blinds on each window, with my mind, like Matilda, as I walked, to make it nice and dark. I layed down in bed, and before I could close my eyes, heard some folks yammering outside my office. I got up, saw them "working", and just closed my door (I had a door!), and went to lay down. Closed my eyes, and...
opened them in real life again. Really, really creepy. Determined to get at least a little more sleep before work (ha ha, at this point even in real life I'm convinced it's sunday and work awaits me in the morning), I go back to sleep, and...
I'm back again, in the office. Son of a... So, I go back to my bed in my office again, telling myself it better be 5am (the time I usually get up for work) when I wake up in the real world or else, and close my eyes...
to open them in the real world and see the clock says 6:30. Which is when I both realized it was Sunday morning, and decided to write this stuff down.