Only dreams a geek would have...

[optimusx]

Well, this is reaaaallly off topic, but I figured I'd post since it would give everyone a look into my pysche. What sparked this thread was a dream I had last night. It started off innocent enough.

Apparently I was going back to college for whatever reason. I had all of my stuff ready to go, and apparently I got demoted to living in an undergraduate dorm (Field at GATech). Well at the apex of the dream I realized that I didn't have a parking space. It was the night before classes were to begin and here I was, without a parking space! I tell you I was in sweat last night at this point. Since you can't park on campus without a parking pass and it's near impossible to get a pass unless you applied for it the semester before I knew that I was never going to get a parking pass. The thought of being late for classes and not being able to have a place for my car in Atlanta drove me crazy.. I woke up. This is not the first school related "nightmare" that I've had.

For the past year I've had a reoccuring dream that for some reason I missed a necessary class for HS graduation (remember I've already graduated from college). So I always end up back in HS, fighting to not have to go back there as a 22/23 yr old guy. But it's no use, they just won't listen, and they relegate and control my entire day to make up one class. Of course the dreams go even further back...

When I was in college and some HS I kept dreaming that I'd get to school (HS), be in class and realize that I didn't have my homework for that class... I'd frantically go through everysingle book and notebook trying to find the assignement... I'd then ask to go to my locker to get the assignment, just to get there and not be able to find it. I'd wake up many a nights with this nightmare.

I know it's strange. Most "normal" people have nightmares about going somewhere without their clothing.. for me it's going somewhere without homework. Go figure. I guess these are dreams only nerds could have... hehe..

Now I will admit I do have "nice" dreams too (rarely)... there is ONE muscle dream that I do remember vaguely. I remember going up to a mountain where a woman stood watch, she asks me what I really want and I say I want to be huge. And she starts with my arms and starts to pump them up and they slowly grow, then they stop. She asks if that was good enough ... I replied bigger... then of course my alarm goes off So the one good dream I can remember ends in a cliffhanger.. unfortunetly I never was able to tune back into that channel ...grrr..

I know.. I'm really screwed up. But I figured you guys would get a kick out of my warped dreams.

So what kinda of dreams do you guys have that are out of the ordinary?

Scott

[glammaman2000]

it's perfectly normal,especially if you are in a stressful situation currently,to refer to previous stressful situations in your dreams.i used to work in restaurants,which i HATED,&i had terrible"waiters'dreams"(pretty common in the profession)all the time.if i'm worried about my job now(which i rather enjoy)i'll have a"waiters'dream"again,although i haven't done restaurant work in 7yrs.in general,my dreams are so boring,they put me to sleep.

[buffdoc]

optimusx, i guess i am a geek too because I have a similar reoccurring dream--it concerns not finishing an AP English paper and no matter what I do it cannot be completed. There is always this surreal component were I did not even attend the class but it is essential that the paper be completed for me to graduate. When I wake up, i feel emotionally panicked and drained. For some reason, it always involves high school and never college or med school.

[arpeejay]

Ditto, and I'm 46 years old, dammit! I dream that I didn't actually graduate (from high school, junior college, university, graduate school.) Or, similarly, I dream that I never finished library school and I'm back working at the newspaper in my hometown for some strange reason (bleah!)

Most of my dreams are entertaining (there's usually some action/adventure element that has me saving the day, hah!) but few of them are really primo. They do, however, occur from time to time!

xoxo

richard

[BigSteve6ft3]

Ditto for me, too. And I'm 44. This must be a pretty common dream.

In my case, I dream I'm back in college and, sometime near the end of the semester, I suddenly realize that I had signed up for a class that I've never attended even once. Totally forgot about it until just now. Yikes! It's too late to withdraw from the class, and way too late to catch up. I've already missed a couple major exams and all the homework. There's nothing I can do to avoid getting an 'F' and having that permanently on my transcript messing up my chances for the rest of my life. And no one will listen to my excuses. Sorry. You should have withdrawn before the deadline. Rules are rules.

I've had this one several times over the years.

Another recurring variation comes out of my musical background. I am a classical pianist, currently just as a hobby but previously very serious about it. In the dream, the opportunity of a lifetime comes my way: through some miracle, I am the featured soloist with a major orchestra. I am scheduled to play one of my favorite concertos, the Rachmaninoff 3rd, for example. The rub is, I don't actually know the piece. I suddenly realize this as I walk on stage. I've maybe looked at the music once or twice and worked through a couple passages, but that's all. What was I thinking? Why did I agree to this? But now there's no backing out, so I have to fake it. Badly. Really badly. People are getting up and leaving in disgust. People in the orchestra are snickering. The conductor is totally exasperated and is looking at me like I'm some kind of a moron. I wake up in a cold sweat.

I usually have dreams like this when I finally get to relax after a long stressful period. It's like some kind of stress withdrawal syndrome. It often hits on about day three of a vacation. When they happen, they're unusally vivid, and I'm bothered by the dream long after I wake up. But once it's out of my system, I can really begin to relax and enjoy myself. It seems to be something my brain has to do to shake itself out of stress mode. It's odd, though, that my subconcious chooses to dig so far back into my past for this.

[optimusx]

Originally Posted by BigSteve6ft3

In my case, I dream I'm back in college and, sometime near the end of the semester, I suddenly realize that I had signed up for a class that I've never attended even once. Totally forgot about it until just now. Yikes! It's too late to withdraw from the class, and way too late to catch up. I've already missed a couple major exams and all the homework. There's nothing I can do to avoid getting an 'F' and having that permanently on my transcript messing up my chances for the rest of my life. And no one will listen to my excuses. Sorry. You should have withdrawn before the deadline. Rules are rules.

You just reminded me! I've had this exact same dream (I must have repressed it since it's such a new nightmare ). It's scary that anyone would share a dream that was almost 100% exactly like mine. I guess it's just an underlying fear of not being able to complete a task, a goal or some other type of step in our life.

If you've noticed most of the dreams mentioned deal with having walls put up that prevent completion of a task, which leads to stress. Maybe it's the otherway around... maybe stress is providing the block to getting tasks done and our body is just trying to tell us... Stress does have a funny affect on the body, no?

As far as them coming at a relax point after a stressful event, not for me. They are totally random. I wish they were predictable, but alas... these kind of stressful dreams only come to me at their own whim. I'm sure there is a trigger I'm just not seeing (and if I could I would avoid it at all cost!)

Scott

[ethernet_jock]

Wow.... I wish I could relate but....

I mean.... I pretty much almost NEVER remember my dreams. When I do - it's always something incredibly abstract. Always about some situation in my life to come or something that's already happened to re-live and analyze. I don't really specifically recall any dreams about school or pressures related to it - but I also never took formal education seriously - just barely graduating high school and not going to college at all.

The only other dreams I remember are the bad ones. Either about losing something very important to me - usually to death - IE my wife or my son. Or they're just re-lived memories of past suffering.

Where do these school worries come from?

[skumbum]

Originally Posted by BigSteve6ft3

I usually have dreams like this when I finally get to relax after a long stressful period. It's like some kind of stress withdrawal syndrome. It often hits on about day three of a vacation. When they happen, they're unusally vivid, and I'm bothered by the dream long after I wake up. But once it's out of my system, I can really begin to relax and enjoy myself. It seems to be something my brain has to do to shake itself out of stress mode. It's odd, though, that my subconcious chooses to dig so far back into my past for this.

Same here, but didn't notice until you mentioned it. Have had dreams about realizing halfway through the semester that I'd totally forgotten about a class and haven't been going, and woke up and remembered that it was summer vacation. Also had one about going in to take a final, except it was totally illegible. There were scribbles and nonsense all over it. Woke up to realize I'd already graduated.

[skumbum]

Originally Posted by optimusx

there is ONE muscle dream that I do remember vaguely. ...
So what kinda of dreams do you guys have that are out of the ordinary?

I dreamed recently about a ring that gave me some nifty powers. I knew the ring was cursed or evil, but I just put it right on, without stopping to think about the rammifications. In retrospect I'm a little disappointed in myself. But things don't always make sense in dreams, I just wanted to get the show on the road. The part I remember is pretty short, unfortunately. It was a gold ring with a single, round, smooth, red gem. After putting it on, I reached out and willed bars to form over the dim room's window, and then grabbed them and twisted them apart like nothing. Then I decided to grow. Just felt like stretching, except that I was getting taller, until my eyes were above the top of the window. Then I think I woke up; if anything else happened, I guess I don't remember. I half remember holding someone under the arms as I grew, but I may just be remembering incorrectly. All fuzzy. I kinda tried for the same dream the next couple nights unsuccessfully, and then forgot about it until now.

[Mdlftr]

I'm 46, and I've had the "back in school and facing a Test I haven't studied for" dream many times over the years.

A common feature of these dreams is that I am suddenly aware of being in a bad situation, and it is some sort of mistake--I usually did not create the situation, but I have to deal with it.

The feature of my test dreams that is different from what all of you have said so far, is that the time frame varies--sometimes I'm back in college, sometimes I'm in grad school, and once, very traumatically---I was back in Catholic grade school! I remember THAT episode of the dream VERY vividly. I was stuck in a little kid desk, and the nun, dressed in a traditional black habit, was leaning over me and telling me that I had to repeat 6th grade "....because they couldn't find 'the record'." [Nuns are very big on the whole concept of "Your permanent record"--everything bad you do is "going to go on your permanent record"--and define/ruin your life forever!] I remember saying, "But, Sister, I've graduated from college and professional school! There's some mistake!!" The nun just frowns at me and turns away to the blackboard, while I remain stuck in the desk.

More terrifying than any muscle theft story, anyday!

I suspect that these anxiety dreams are related to waking life events. I also have a recurring series of dreams where I'm talking to people who are dead. I'm saying to them, "But X, you can't be here--you're dead!" and X will say, "Yes, but I want to talk to you." After that, these dreams get fuzzy...

Ethernet---be glad you don't remember your dreams when you wake up!


Sleeping with the light on......

Mdlftr

[garrix]

Originally Posted by BigSteve6ft3

Another recurring variation comes out of my musical background. I am a classical pianist, currently just as a hobby but previously very serious about it. In the dream, the opportunity of a lifetime comes my way: through some miracle, I am the featured soloist with a major orchestra. I am scheduled to play one of my favorite concertos, the Rachmaninoff 3rd, for example. The rub is, I don't actually know the piece. I suddenly realize this as I walk on stage. I've maybe looked at the music once or twice and worked through a couple passages, but that's all. What was I thinking? Why did I agree to this? But now there's no backing out, so I have to fake it. Badly. Really badly. People are getting up and leaving in disgust. People in the orchestra are snickering. The conductor is totally exasperated and is looking at me like I'm some kind of a moron. I wake up in a cold sweat.
.

I am a pianist too, so i know this kind of dream, trust me. I've had similar.

i think, honestly, (from a thread i once read in a piano forum that i visit) that this is a pretty common theme in the dreams of pianists. Stupid anxiety.

[ashleydelfin]

Yeah... I know these kind of dreams... in fact I have them kind of often... missing the homework for the day, not waking up for a test. But there was this majorly freaky one not too long ago.

Okay, I live in Mexico, but I used to live in CT like 5 months ago and went to school over there. Last week I had to do a presentation with a friend. So THAT weekend I dreamt I was at my school in CT with my roommate from over there and suddenly I realize I have, like, half an hour to get back to Mexico in time for class. So I panic and beg my roomie to take me to JFK (which was like an hour away from where I lived) so I can fly to Mexico and get here. Of course I KNOW it's hopeless but this insane part of me wouldn't let me give up.

So THEN I wake up, it's lke 3 AM, and what I think is: "great, there IS time for me to get to JFK then fly to Mexico and get to school... wait a second... I AM in Mexico!"

But considering I've kissed really hot twins in pink rabbit suits while running away from a circus in SOME of my dreams, this one isn't THAT weird.

~Ashley

[glammaman2000]

the rabbit twins!great guys,huh?