Snooze and Muse
"A dream is a postcard from your subconscious." (Anonymous tagline)
"My dream is a code waiting to be broken." (Agent Cooper, TWIN PEAKS)
I've been thinking a lot about my dreams recently. See, I'm one of those people who not only have extremely lucid dreams when I sleep, but also remember many of 'em when I come to in the morning. And while many of the plotlines are of the "what the HELL was that all about?" variety, every so often a dream comes along that's triggered by -- or, creepier still, anticipates -- something in the real world.
Like this one I had back in April of '93. Don't remember much about the dream except one rather vivid scene, and it featured Johnny Depp and Mary Stuart Masterson, the stars of BENNY AND JOON -- and even though I ain't seen the movie yet, I can GUARANTEE the scene my sleeping brain cooked up weren't nowhere in the finished film. To wit: Masterson, one leg up on the bed, was pulling on a black stocking, while Depp watched impassively from the other side of the room.
Now considering the sort of romantically-stunted sumbitch I am, this dreamscene, in and of itself, wasn't that unusual. It certainly tied in with all my standard lingerie/voyeurism/cancan-girl fetishes, et cetera, ad Freud nauseam. Why Masterson (who, though cute, I've never considered a primary object of desire) and Depp, and why should they be playing REM-state dress-up? Hadn't a friggin' clue.
Until the next morning when, en route to the day job, I detoured off Route 3 into downtown Nutley, NJ to tank up the Flatmobile on some el cheapo ethanol. I'd actually taken the same route the previous evening, as part of my second-income career as an adult-ed PC instructor. And what's that up ahead? Lo and behold, two landmarks that seeded the previous night's dream:
[a] The local movie house, which just happened to be screening BENNY AND JOON, and;
[b] A tavern called Maggie's Garter, whose trademark was a shapely female gam, skirt at three-quarters mast, adjusting the titular stocking-holder.
Fine. A little reality/memory bleedthrough into Slumber-land. Not that unusual. Certainly not as bad as the time I caught a sneak preview of John Carpenter's remake of THE THING (third row center, with my nose virtually squashed against the screen, and stoned outta my gourd), then went home and dreamed that The Thing was chasing me around the room.
But now, here's where the going gets a bit...eerie. Coming home from work that same day, I found the new issue of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY on the doorstep, and who do you think was on the cover? Johnny and Mary Stuart, thass who.
(And no, I don't believe in coincidence. But you gotta admit, that was one hell of a synchronicity!)
(And speaking of syncronicities, about a year later I was watching THE JON STEWART SHOW on MTV, and who should come out but Mary Stuart herself, to plug her then-new flick BAD GIRLS. And whaddaya think she was wearing? A velvet mini-dress and...black thigh-high stockings.)
[If this page supported sound, you'd be hearing the TWILIGHT ZONE theme...]
By now, you're probably drumming yer fingers on the keyboard and muttering "That's all fine and well, Dix, but what the screaming yellow zonkers does ANY of this have to do with computers?" Glad you asked, since earlier that same week I'd been trolling for files on a favorite underground BBS and banged my (virtual) shins against a ware that purported to analyze your dreams. One speedy Zmodem download later, I was the proud owner of Persistence of Memory, Inc.'s DreamScape, "The Personal Interactive Dream Analysis System." Written by one Nicholas E. Heyneman (Ph.D.) using Asymetrix's Toolbook, this Windows app lets you enter as terse or verbose a dream recollection as you like, then pumps out a psych analysis for your reading pleasure. The trick is not so much what you enter, but what keywords from the dream description you select. So I typed in "woman dressing, man watching," tagged "woman" as the Primary Aspect and the remaining words as Secondary Aspects, and let DreamScape go to work. The results (retyped here manually; the fool thing doesn't support cut/paste on the analysis!) are as follows:
When you see someone else in your dream, you're really seeing an aspect of yourself. For instance, seeing your mother represents the nurturing & loving side of your personality. Look to the character's actions as well as the feelings associated with this dream. If the tone is positive, then you're comfortable with this part of yourself.
Consider the female figure you saw in this dream. Your female side is the receptive side -- it provides substance to relationships & nurtures growth. It's the emotional & intuitive part of your personality.
Were you at odds with the person in your dream?
(I answered "No.")
Your dream is reminding you of this person & how you feel about them. If you've had a recent encounter with them, then this event may be on your mind. Judge your feelings about this incident from the emotional tone of the dream. A favorable tone reflects positive feelings.
Consider the male figure you saw in this dream. Was this person an enemy of threatening in some way?
(Again, "No.")
Then your dream represents subconscious feelings about the masculine side of your personality -- the part of you that embodies strength & protection. It exercises authority as well as provides control and direction. Its power is balanced by your female side -- the nurturing, emotional, and intuitive part of yourself.
Judge your feelings about this part of yourself from the emotional tone of the dream. A favorable tone reflects positive feelings.
Have some aspects of your life been a bit rocky lately?
(Considering how lousy the weekend with the missus had been, I had to answer this one "Yes.")
Your dream is telling you to take heart, Dixie Flatline. It's encouraging you to recognize the wisdom of your feelings.
Strive for balance between your intellectual & intuitive abilities. Follow your heart using forgiveness, compassion & love.
Your dream analysis is complete. Pleasant dreams, Dixie Flatline.
Urk. I dunno about you, but this strikes me as the sort of non-specific mumbo-jumbo that goes into the average newspaper horoscope. For that matter, it reminds me of the time in college when, zonked halfway to the asteroid belt on The Weed Of The Moment, I was stricken with a sudden artistic impulse and sketched a portrait of Stevie Nicks from memory -- an act of instant art I've never duplicated before or since. When it was done, my fellow substance abusers had some fun psychoanalyzing my work -- why I'd drawn her lips a certain way, etc. All pure kark, of course, but amusing nonetheless.
Meanwhile, the dream weaving continues with unabated bizarreness. To wit:
The other night, I dreamed I was both watching and participating in a horror movie. In one scene, I was descending the stairs in this old mansion. At the bottom of the stairs, I opened a door -- only to come face-to-face with a hideous female ghoul. I jumped back and let out some kinda "holy SH*T!"-class yelp. The ghoul merely looked at me and intoned, "Why aren't you upstairs watching this on TV?"
"Uh..." I sputtered. "B-b-because I already saw this in the theater?"
"Oh. Okay," said the ghoul, and shambled off down the hall.
Wonder what Prof. Heyneman's little program would make of THAT nightmare?
Sleep tight, hackers...
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