Queen of the Zombies
I have always had bizarre dreams - Dali-esque and in vivid Technicolor - and always chalked it up as being one of the characteristics of creative overdrive. I suppose I have an equal amount of dreams that are good, bad or just weird, although it is not unusual for me to wake up during a very intense dream and then fall back into sleep and continue the same dream, which can be awful if it is a nightmare. They say you only remember dreams you have right before waking. Maybe so, but since I wake several times a night, (due to apnea) I normally get up in the morning with a head full of nonsense. It explains a lot, doesn’t it?
Ever since I was a kid (teenager) there has been only one recurring theme in my dreams: the walking dead. Fortunately this is an occasional thing and not an every night thing ... or if it is, I don't remember most of them. Typically, the dream starts with me in the process of some normal activity, and then suddenly hundreds of reanimated corpses (the usual Hollywood variety) come shambling onto the scene. Fortunately they are not the fast-moving zombies that populate the more recent films, just the classic foot-dragging, slow thinkers that are only dangerous if you find yourself in the thick of them. For instance, last night’s dream was about Himself and me trying to repair part of our house (somehow one of the exterior walls “blew out” and we needed to replace it - yes, I know that makes no sense) and while we are puzzling over how to begin repairs, here come the zombies from all directions. FYI, Mr. Bush, duct tape and plastic do not protect the home from the living dead. Chicken wire only slowed them down. We were just getting in the car to head for safer ground, hoping the buggers didn’t make too much of a mess before they cleared out, when I woke up.
One of the more memorable dreams I had years ago involved me making preparations for the visit of a very good friend. He had once lived in this area and had moved to Minnesota to be nearer his parents. He was considering moving back here, and I was in a flurry to make things as pleasant and welcoming as possible, planning fun things to do, etc. So what happens as we drive out for a celebration picnic the day he arrives? You guessed it - the dead rise from their graves and start meandering all over heck! They glut the busy intersections, leave pieces of themselves all over the parks and scenic spots, and just create general horrid havoc, as only zombies can. Of course my friend decided against the move.
HOW INCONVENIENT!
I have decided these are frustration dreams. I have the usual “late to work” dreams, in which a million stupid things happen that cause me to not get to work and no way to contact the boss to say why I have not yet arrived. I assume everybody has those now and then. There are the normal “in my underwear” mares and there are the flying dreams - though usually in those I am being pursued by someone (that usually can’t fly) unpleasant or harmful. The somnambular zombies must represent all the obstacles in life that seem to thwart progress in whatever the goal du jour may be, especially since they are only a mortal threat if one makes a wrong or stupid decision. Since my life has always been one hell of an uphill climb, (single parenting, personal and family health problems, three ex-husbands, crappy and/or low paying jobs) frustration personified by the reanimated dead in a dream probably isn’t so odd after all. Maybe it’s just my psyche’s way of getting me through life without shooting anybody.
Considering the above, you wouldn’t think I’d enjoy all those George A. Romero “of the Dead” flicks, but I love them! Again, I only like the classics, not the cheap imitations where the zombies dash around in high speed. The very word, “zombie” begets images of slow, awkward movement, in my opinion. With bloating, rigor mortis, parasites and the disorientation death would surely cause, nobody could move like a track star on crack.
So anyway, now you all know why I find zombie jokes and allusions so much more humorous than such a morbid subject would seem to warrant - I’m on a first-name basis with the living dead.
* For those of you who read both - this is duplicated on my MySpace page. *
Ever since I was a kid (teenager) there has been only one recurring theme in my dreams: the walking dead. Fortunately this is an occasional thing and not an every night thing ... or if it is, I don't remember most of them. Typically, the dream starts with me in the process of some normal activity, and then suddenly hundreds of reanimated corpses (the usual Hollywood variety) come shambling onto the scene. Fortunately they are not the fast-moving zombies that populate the more recent films, just the classic foot-dragging, slow thinkers that are only dangerous if you find yourself in the thick of them. For instance, last night’s dream was about Himself and me trying to repair part of our house (somehow one of the exterior walls “blew out” and we needed to replace it - yes, I know that makes no sense) and while we are puzzling over how to begin repairs, here come the zombies from all directions. FYI, Mr. Bush, duct tape and plastic do not protect the home from the living dead. Chicken wire only slowed them down. We were just getting in the car to head for safer ground, hoping the buggers didn’t make too much of a mess before they cleared out, when I woke up.
One of the more memorable dreams I had years ago involved me making preparations for the visit of a very good friend. He had once lived in this area and had moved to Minnesota to be nearer his parents. He was considering moving back here, and I was in a flurry to make things as pleasant and welcoming as possible, planning fun things to do, etc. So what happens as we drive out for a celebration picnic the day he arrives? You guessed it - the dead rise from their graves and start meandering all over heck! They glut the busy intersections, leave pieces of themselves all over the parks and scenic spots, and just create general horrid havoc, as only zombies can. Of course my friend decided against the move.
HOW INCONVENIENT!
I have decided these are frustration dreams. I have the usual “late to work” dreams, in which a million stupid things happen that cause me to not get to work and no way to contact the boss to say why I have not yet arrived. I assume everybody has those now and then. There are the normal “in my underwear” mares and there are the flying dreams - though usually in those I am being pursued by someone (that usually can’t fly) unpleasant or harmful. The somnambular zombies must represent all the obstacles in life that seem to thwart progress in whatever the goal du jour may be, especially since they are only a mortal threat if one makes a wrong or stupid decision. Since my life has always been one hell of an uphill climb, (single parenting, personal and family health problems, three ex-husbands, crappy and/or low paying jobs) frustration personified by the reanimated dead in a dream probably isn’t so odd after all. Maybe it’s just my psyche’s way of getting me through life without shooting anybody.
Considering the above, you wouldn’t think I’d enjoy all those George A. Romero “of the Dead” flicks, but I love them! Again, I only like the classics, not the cheap imitations where the zombies dash around in high speed. The very word, “zombie” begets images of slow, awkward movement, in my opinion. With bloating, rigor mortis, parasites and the disorientation death would surely cause, nobody could move like a track star on crack.
So anyway, now you all know why I find zombie jokes and allusions so much more humorous than such a morbid subject would seem to warrant - I’m on a first-name basis with the living dead.
* For those of you who read both - this is duplicated on my MySpace page. *