I have a two-year-old with an ear infection. After trying many different potential solutions in an effort to get him sleeping comfortably (and failing utterly), I wound up sitting on the couch all night with my poor little dude. He woke up this morning as usual wanting to run around, which was a relief. He’ll be off to the doctor to get some antibiotics today, thank Penicillin (the Norse god of antibiotics). However, his moving about and crying during the night left me without much sleep.
On the bright side, it did find me dreaming some wonderfully strange things. My favorite of the current crop involved being on a supervillain’s rocketship, and this fiend had developed a terrifying weapon — an evil vacuum cleaner that could convert a person into something called “Ascii Hair“. Fortunately, Spider-Man showed up, and he got a sample of the Ascii Hair and took off like a bat out of hell off to S.H.I.E.L.D. to go have it analyzed (which obviously unravels the whole plot in the end), and the bad guy was in hot pursuit. Then I had to control Spider-Man via Google’s new gesture-based interface from my Motorola Droid. Spidey knew the bad guy was going to run out of fuel soon, so all I had to do was dodge. Problem was, I couldn’t actually see Spider-man, so I had to guess where he was. Never did find out if it worked, but I was certainly optimistic up to the point where I woke up.
There was also a part where I was fighting a Dire Poodle with a broomstick. Yes, that is as relaxing as it sounds.
Obsession – by Vanir
Dreams generally tend to be playtime for me, and I am fortunate not to have a large number of nightmares. Instead, my brain waits for me to get sick. Then, I get a twelve-hour long dream in which I obsess over one singular concept until my sanity crumbles. These have included:
- Sitting on my bed, which featured a chessboard and tiny representations of my family moving as pieces. I whacked them flat with a rug. Did this all night.
- I was 19, and I’d been playing Final Fantasy III (now VI) that day. Screen showed the pool I worked at as a lifeguard. I was given the option to select “X SLEEP” to make myself go to sleep. It never worked. Pressed it all night.
- Was trapped in one of the ballrooms at Gen Con, leading the Black Hole Army from Advance Wars. Had amassed an utterly huge number of units I was slowly moving across the room. Did this all night.
- In college, woke up on the toilet. I was mad as hell, reciting the following mantra to myself: “American martial arts movie star Jet Li has given me diarrhea.” No idea how long I’d been there. Probably all night.
- Dreamt I was viewing my life projected on my bedroom wall. That’s not the weird part. The weird part is that I dreamt I was a creature called the Gygax, and I had to drive around a mountain as if it were a car in order to protect the creatures that lived on it. All viewed in a 3′-square area on my wall. Did this all night.
At least the flu isn’t usually boring.
Help Make Me Feel Normal
Surely I am not the only one whose nocturnal brain produces such fruits. Share your bounty with us. Consider the comments section a cornucopia. Today is dream-Thanksgiving. I’ll cut the frisbee.
You’re lucky Vanir, as my fever-induced dreamtimes tend to be stark raving nightmares that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
In high school, obsessed with LotR and D&D at the time, I had a nightmare where Gollum was under my bed reaching up to throttle me in my sleep.
In my 20s, I went through a CoC phase and read lots of Lovecraft, Long, and Lumley, and had a real screamer of a nightmare while recovering from bronchitis. In that one, I was lost in a catacombs under a graveyard, choking on the stench of corruption and seeing some THING which to this day I don’t fully remember… and don’t really want to!
And it was not too long ago, while fighting off the flu, I had a nightmare where there were some strange creatures in my room, whispering in corners and drawing closer. So I jumped out of bed and turned on the light, only to wake up sitting in bed in a dark room, and realize I had not turned on the light at all… and thinking I was still hearing the whispering…
.-= Neuroglyph´s last blog ..Warning: Player’s Handbook 3 May Be Hazardous… =-.
@Neuroglyph – I think I’d go in for a doctor’s checkup before reading certain kinds of fiction. 🙂
.-= Vanir´s last blog ..Night’s The Only Time Of Day =-.
A good friend of mine doesn’t dream, but he does run game, and he harbors a sort of bitter hatred for those of us who get to do double duty while we sleep–both resting, AND coming up with ideas for game. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!
My “nightmares” tend to be comically absurd in the morning light. A general during a siege, shouting battles atop the castle ramparts, only to have my walls breached by keebler elves telling me there’s no reason to fear the croissant. Trying to merge into freeway traffic while riding a too-tiny tricycle. Stranded on an island full of children’s bones, the unfortunate victims of the killer porpoises that circled and jumped through the tropical waters.
I think vivid dreaming is usually sign of less-than-restful sleep (and I’ve had many mornings where I was late to work because I wanted to find out what happened next in the dream), but I don’t think I’d give them up for anything. They’re too entertaining.
.-= Jenny Snyder´s last blog ..Lesson #4: Risky Business =-.
I have various dreams in which I realize I’m dreaming and then attempt to fly. But, even in my spaceless, timeless, airless landscape of the surreal, I cannot fly.
I find myself running, but slowly. The faster I try to run, the more my body restrains me. One step. Another. Others passing me. Defeat. Failure. As I lose balance, I awaken.
Then its infomercials till 5pm. A short nap from 5-6, and… alarm.
Vanir, you are the only reason I read Critical Hits.
Once I dreamed that cyberneticaly-enhanced Velociraptors were chaceing me through a best-buy.
It started as I was in the Best-Buy shopping for magic tricks. Suddenly two raptors with laser rifles burst through the door with a human wearing 80’s sci-fi armor. They yelled, “We are from the Cyberneticly-enhanced Dinosaur Liberation Front, and we are here to stop the oppression!”
They began to shoot up everyone there, but I grabbed a toy laser gun to try and bluff them into thinking I was on their side, shooting nerf balls at fellow customers. They realised I was not with them and gave chase.
The dream ended when I exited the store and saw a heard of raptors running after me, I hid and once they were gone, Ellane, the character from Sienfield, came up to me and said, ” George, why arn’t you in your appartment?”
The dream then went from 1st to 3rd person view, and I could see that I was infact George Costanza.
.-= Trevor´s last blog ..gaming =-.
@ Vanir: You might have a point there… 😛
.-= Neuroglyph´s last blog ..Warning: Player’s Handbook 3 May Be Hazardous… =-.