05/15/03: Purple Ninjas

[juju]

Last night, I dreamt that I woke up and there was a small alcove/shelf thing recessed in the wall at the head of my bed. We don't use our headboard, you see. So normally it's just a blank wall at the head of my bed.

Anyway, sitting in the alcove was a huge rat, about 1 foot long, standing on the edge of the shelf, staring at me. Even now, I remember exactly what it looked like. It was furry and snow white, with greyish fur at its center. So I screamed. Really loud. Because, you see, seeing a large rat directly above my head when I wake up is not something *I* normally expect to see. In fact, it's very surprising. Then, after a moment, I realized that although I was still screaming, the shelf and rat were no longer there. I'd woken up for real! So, I went back to sleep.

Apparently, I wake up screaming like this about once a month or so. I never remember the incident the next morning, and on the rare occasion that I do remember it, I almost never recall what the dream was actually about. According to my wife, sometimes it'll happen two or three days in a row. This is one of only two occasions where I've actually remembered it happening. I usually just have to be told by Kathy.

Since I never recall the incident, it's not stressful in the least to me. This time it wasn't stressful because after I woke up, I realized that I had only been shocked and surprised.

There was only one other incident where I woke up screaming and actually remembered what it was that I'd found so disturbing. I was at my mom's house in her guest room, back when I lived there. I'd fallen asleep on a made bed in my clothes during the day. Suddenly, I woke up to the sound of the door being thrown open violently and the sight of bright purple ninjas rushing at me at full speed with their swords held high. I screamed as loud as I could, then woke up again to the exact same scenario, except with no ninjas.

I found two things about this dream to be very frightening and disturbing. First of all, the door is only about 10 feet from where I was laying on the bed. The purple ninjas were rushing towards me at full speed. What could I have done? It my groggy state, absolutely nothing. I would have died a college student skewer in about 1 second. Therefore, I paniced and started screaming.

Secondly, when I woke up for real, the environment was exactly as it was when I had woken up the first time. The dream had been so real that I had no idea if I was awake or dreaming. I was laying in the exact same position on the bed as I was before, only the door was closed. I actually sat there in an upright position with sweat streaming down my face, staring at the door, waiting to see what would happen. I still remember their bright purple outfits to this day, and that was over 2 years ago!

So, does anyone else have any similar stories?

[wolf]

no more buffalo wings before bedtime, juju ...

[juju]

Once, I dreamed that I was a coyote that had been unexpectedly teleported to the very top of a snow-capped mountain. I knew that I had to travel all the way to the bottom of the mountain before I starved to death. It was a long journey, you see. But thankfully, I had some company. The fleas that were on my body were my friends. They talked to me and kept me company along the way.

Once I reached the bottom, the fleas all jumped off of me and turned into Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles. Then, we all went to attack the farmer who lived at the bottom of the mountain, because he was our enemy.

I swear to you that I had this exact dream when I was young. :)

[darclauz]

. I was laying in the exact same position on the bed as I was before, only the door was closed. I actually sat there in an upright position with sweat streaming down my face, staring at the door, waiting to see what would happen. I still remember their bright purple outfits to this day, and that was over 2 years ago!

So, does anyone else have any similar stories? [/b]

i used to live in these dumpy little townhouses on the west side of columbus, where speaking spanish is the norm and all the streets are made of garbage...you know. bad when you move in, worse when you leave.... anyway, i dreamed that there was an intruder in our house. (no doubt i heard the neighbors in my sleep). anyway, in the dream, i woke up and saw the flashlight, and was paralysed...unable to move, barely breathing. i was in complete terror. i woke geoff up, and he sat up, and the light bobbed along the wall, and stopped at the edge of my bedroom. i woke up hysterical, and woke geoff up, turned toward the light, and..... then i woke up for real. i only knew i was awake because then i slapped geoff and asked if i had just awakened him, and he said no. but he was in a different position from the last dream-wake and that's the only way i knew..it was terrible. now he works mids and i sleep with the light on...because i won't be able to see any headlites and think it's a flashlight.

[SteveDallas]

Ahh, nightmares. Fleas, rats--ick!! Next to that it sounds kinda silly to have nightmares over music lessons. But...

When you're a music student, you have to do a "jury" every semester, which means you play for a bunch of faculty and they give you a grade. Minor pressure. As a music history major, I had to pass through the "junior" level successfully. Some few days prior to this final jury, I had a dream.

I was in my teacher's studio having a lesson. Now, my teacher was the most congenial, supportive man you could imagine. He could find something positive in anybody's playing. (That's not to say he wasn't critical, but he was nice about it.) So, I was playing, and my teacher said, "You sound like shit. And you're flunking your jury tomorrow." At this point the phone rang and he picked it up and talked for a moment. After he hung up he said, "Boy, are you lucky. That was the head of the woodwind department. They didn't have enough space to schedule all the juries tomorrow, so some of them are rescheduled. You don't have to do yours till Saturday."

At this point, I woke up in a cold sweat. I wasn't really worried about this... was I?? I went back to sleep.

It is now SATURDAY, and I'm back in the studio for another lesson. And my teacher, Mr. Nice Guy, says, "Hey you know something--you still sound like shit. And you're still going to flunk that jury. And there's going to be no last-minute schedule change to save your butt this time."

I woke up again, and now I was really freaked, for two reasons. 1, these were the most realistic dreams I had ever had. Usually a dream has some surreal elements. This was absolutely completely 100% realistic in every detail, from the wallpaper in the studio, to my beaten-up clarinet case, to the pencil markings on the music I was (trying) to play. And 2, it was (and still is) the only time I had two separate dreams with the same setting and situation on the same night. It took me quite a bit longer to get back to sleep this time... and fortunately there were no more dreams.

Of course, when I related all this to Mr. NG at my next lesson, he chuckled and said, "don't worry about it, you'll do fine." And he was right.

[darclauz]

my brother dreamed that he was being chased by a bumblebee..his wife said he leaped out of bed like he was jumping into water, and woke her up.......she asked him if he was okay, and he said, scowling:
"FINE."

he is a big macho italian guy, so she pressed him a little further:

emily: what happened?
fred: (mumble)
emily: what?
fred: i was being chased.
emily: by what?
fred:(mumble)
emily: honey, i can't hear you.
fred: a BEE! okay, are you happy??

NEXT DAY
emily, to brian: guess what?
emily, to mom: guess what?
emily, to dar: guess what?
etc.

brian to fred: hey! look at this bee picture i found.
mom to fred: hey! seen any good bees lately?
dar to fred: hey! bee good.

apparently, last time he was being chased in a dream, he got up, grabbed his pillow, and sprinted for the bathroom, leaving emily to the monster.

when she found him, wild-eyed and clutching his pillow, he refused to discuss it. it wasn't till later that she got it out of him.

[Whit]

     Gah, dreams can be troublesome. I tend to suppress my own dreams, I can't rest well with full-blown partialy-remembered dreams. Rather, I don't feel rested the next day.
     When I do have those dreams they tend to not be surrealistic and are full-fledge touch and smell filled color surround-sound dreams. The worst example was back when I was thirteen. I dreamt I got up and got ready to go to school four frickin' times! In great utterly uninteresting detail! In one night! When I did wake up it sucked. I felt that I had to do things differently than usual just because it was so aggravating to be doing it again.
     It happens more when I'm not at home though. A couple of days ago I had this whole silly pointless dream involving a friend yelling obscenities while we were trespassing and a lot of running. sigh. Then had big bags under my eyes the next day like I didn't sleep at all. Oh nightmares with full-contact feel also suck...