Dreamed Reality

Historically, I don’t remember 99 percent of my dreams. Which is good because my dreams are always stupid and borderline insane. But, every once in a while I subconsciously retain dreams. Perhaps using the psychology term incorrectly; let me explain. By subconsciously, I mean that I don’t recall the dream when I wake up in the morning but rather I remember a portion of it later – when something triggers the memory.

All of that would be fine. Except that I am unable to differentiate between dream and reality. I’ll start contributing to a conversation only to realize that something may have been a dream rather than reality.

An example of this: I was recently surprised to see that a person who attended my high school had an active Facebook account. Because I wrongly thought he was dead.

Or, one recent Monday, after not having internet or phone access all weekend, I spent some time catching up on Minnesota sports. I was caught off guard after learning that the Lynx had added to its league-leading win total. Not because they won (the Lynx is the lone good team in all of Minnesota sports right now). But rather because I "remembered" the league was contracted mid-season on the prior Friday as a result of four WNBA teams not being financially viable in their current cities.

Making matters worse, my dreams have become more vivid and repetitive – thus more deeply ingrained in my already fragile psyche.

The other night, I woke up after having the same dream two times in a row. Only difference was the second dream had a slightly different ending. Not one to dismiss the importance of the lesson, I got up at 3:30 in the morning and began frantically scribbling all of the finer points onto a notepad using my phone as a flashlight. It took me an hour of writing as fast as I could to capture it all.

As odd and nonsensical as that dream seemed, I’m planning use it as the platform for some sort of fantasy-based sci-fi movie. If horse crap scripts like Melancholia and Prometheus can attract the attention of Hollywood producers, I’m confident my novel will be a major motion picture within a few years.