So, I'm driving backward, uphill, in the snow...

[balthazar]

... in some sort of hoary blue 1960s EuroEconoBox that I've never seen before, using the side mirrors, but there was no steering wheel, just 2 pencil eraser-sized buttons on the console to steer it. They are off-white plastic buttons & one unthreads, forcing me to press on the sharp threaded stud. It hurts my middle fingertip. I made it up the hill nearly to the top when a tiny orange car rounds the corner and smacks into the snowbank on the left. I park on the right side (the road is quite narrow) and jog over to it. Two girls are inside- they do not speak but gesture; one's ankle is twisted & they have no cell phone. They nod for me call for help when a massive garbage truck rounds the corner. No way will he snake his way thru our 2 cars, so I jump in mine and head off (forward) down the hill.

When I reach the bottom the 2other (faceless strangers) I was riding with disappear and my car turns into a 'circus clown'/ cafe racer minibike so small, that when I glide to a stop in the bus stop lane, I pic it up by a handle at the RR edge of the RR fender, and carry it inside the building I am going to, to avoid theft.

-- -- -- -- --

The building is bland, brick & modern, like a parking garage or something, yet inside it appears more like a gilt Spanish Opera House from the 1800s. There are offices & office workers, a plethora of doors & heavy drapes, and some sort of production is going on in the center arena of the building. I am on the 2nd floor, looking out the window where I see my brother down below in a dirt-yard, walking his dog. A new faceless stranger is beside me, and suddenly behind a separating fence, we spot an orange spider monkey, which walks on all fours and has most of the proportions of a large pit bull, but no external ears. I yell down to be careful, the dog & the OSM meet, no incidence.

I turn back into the building and am with a good-looking tall brunette chick. scenes change, things happen and we deduce we are flickering back & forth thru time, about every 2 minutes. Same building, but the events & people are noisy & frequent in 1 with white & gold colors, and it's nearly deserted & darker blue in the other. As I move thru different rooms, trying to get to the event in the center, thick stubby lizards morph into walking-upright creatures with long fingers, and small, furry, white & golden wallaby-types morph into dark, dog-sized shorthairs with black eyes & unsettling attitudes. I have to carefully step over them in a narrow hall, climbing along on furniture.

-- -- -- -- --

There is a lot more detail, but I'm running long already. Yep- a typical dream out of my twisted, moldy mind from about an hour ago. None of the surroundings I've ever seen before, and shockingly I actually knew 2 people in this dream (I almost never dream about people I know or places I've been) : my son & my brother. Fledgling continuity, nonsensical events... but a common thread like a hard-to-figure movie.

Read a bunch of dream forums & books, this one isn't quite as wild as many others... but have yet to encounter such regular strangeness & unfamiliarity in anyone's dream world.

You'd think I would ONCE dream about the houses I've lived in, or work, or family, but instead I get this. Frankly, it's mildly mentally exhausting.

Just thought I would share.

[Camino LS6]

Pretty intense!

I rarely remember my dreams - and that is a very good thing judging by the few that I do.

[Robert Hall]

Trippy..

I rarely remember my dreams, but the ones I have remembered seem to loosely follow the plot of the movie 'Duel'... alone driving in an isolated area in an underpowered car chased by big trucks..

[ocnblu]

Love reading accounts of ppl's dreams. This one's like Salvadore Dali. Balthy, lay off the shrimp before napping.

[Drew Dowdell]

Driving backward, uphill, in the snow?!

YOU WERE DREAMING OF FRONT WHEEL DRIVE!!!!!!111!!@!!11ELVENTY!!!

[balthazar]

@ Olds : LOL

I remember once dreaming of a brilliant red '67 Eldorado (it was on it's side in my backyard), but even there the thought that it was strangely RWD flickered thru my dream's mind.

They are all like this and I often wake up borderline exhausted from the mental turmoil. It's like they're the dreams out of someone else's head. If I wasn't so well grounded, I could get really paranoid/ worried about it all.

[Intrepidation]

I don't usually remember my dreams, but there is one from when I was around 5 I still remember. It involved me in the `69 Barracuda going backwards at high speed down the main road that went past our old home. Except instead of going into the city it became more rural, and the speed increased. I wasn't even driving it, but the car was following the road as it would if it were travelin in the normal direction, just all in reverse. I don't remember much else, but that part I still do pretty clearly.

[balthazar]

If anyone has any time/interest in delving into that world, take a short (30-60 min), spontaneous nap and set a good alarm- chance you wake yourself up during one is better, I believe.

I used to dream like a fiend- to the point I obtained regular lucidity and entered into dream control.

I don't catch my dreams as often anymore, but they've always been disturbingly weird.

I written some of the most bizarre down, I don't like to go back & read them tho. The Ash People, the skin room {shudder}...

Not nearly enough sex dreams, and too many about Roland D LeBay.

My twisted mind is pretty busy at night...

[Drew Dowdell]

If you're interested in really making your dreams vivid and weird, there is an herbal sleep aid called Melatonin. I use it for insomnia and it gets me into deep sleeps.... but I have incredibly vivid and weird dreams.

It doesn't put you to sleep. It lets you sleep. Take 12 hours before you need to wake up.

[balthazar]

I have no issues sleeping: average time-to-sleep is 3 minutes.

Afraid of the odds I might literally go mad if I supplemented the process.

[SAmadei]

If you're interested in really making your dreams vivid and weird, there is an herbal sleep aid called Melatonin. I use it for insomnia and it gets me into deep sleeps.... but I have incredibly vivid and weird dreams.

It doesn't put you to sleep. It lets you sleep. Take 12 hours before you need to wake up.

Yeah, it works by shutting off the brain activity... but not making one actually tired. I've had no problem continuing to function after taking Melatonin then having altered plans that kept me up all night. Before Melatonin, I had to work myself to physical exhaustion, otherwise I laid in bed thinking intensely about nothing at all, it seemed.

I never had dream issues with Melatonin... and I usually use it pretty heavily... 10mg/night. It builds up in your system, so I have to skip every once in a while, otherwise it keeps me from sleeping...

I hadn't had more than 2-3 dreams in 20 years... until I got a CPAP... now I do dream, and they aren't all that horrific, like they used to be. But they still are in dusky black and white and the darn electrical lights NEVER seem to work.

Edit: For the record, I don't share my dreams with others because I don't like them getting clues about what is going on in my subconscious, that I have missed...

Edited December 12, 2010 by SAmadei

[Northstar]

I had the exact same thought as Olds ("oh, the car must be FWD") before I started reading, haha.

I remember parts of dreams, but there are always missing parts. I had some really weird dreams this summer, mostly on nights I would get absolutely hammered drunk.

[Sixty8panther]

Wow... I can not compete with that. Wild stuff.

One of my recent favorites was borne of my time playing the video game "Heroes of the Pacific"

I was flying a Fw190 for the Luftwaffe but I was shooting down Japanese Zero fighters,

Betty Bombers and strafing Japanese Landing craft, with limitless ammo... LOL

(Heroes of the Pacific: WWII air combat, featuring American and Japanese planes, mostly fighters,

Bombers, Torpedo Bombers & Dive Bombers, as well as a few prototypes, two german & one

Russian fighter... but sadly no Bf.109, although the Ki-61 is which is the Japanese built cousin

to the Messershmitt 109 is... it used the license built Daimler Benz inverted, supercharged V12)

Edited December 12, 2010 by Sixty8panther

[Robert Hall]

@ Olds : LOL

I remember once dreaming of a brilliant red '67 Eldorado (it was on it's side in my backyard), but even there the thought that it was strangely RWD flickered thru my dream's mind.

They are all like this and I often wake up borderline exhausted from the mental turmoil. It's like they're the dreams out of someone else's head. If I wasn't so well grounded, I could get really paranoid/ worried about it all.

Maybe they were someone else's dreams that were planted in your head....

[Drew Dowdell]

Yeah, it works by shutting off the brain activity... but not making one actually tired. I've had no problem continuing to function after taking Melatonin then having altered plans that kept me up all night. Before Melatonin, I had to work myself to physical exhaustion, otherwise I laid in bed thinking intensely about nothing at all, it seemed.

I never had dream issues with Melatonin... and I usually use it pretty heavily... 10mg/night. It builds up in your system, so I have to skip every once in a while, otherwise it keeps me from sleeping...

I hadn't had more than 2-3 dreams in 20 years... until I got a CPAP... now I do dream, and they aren't all that horrific, like they used to be. But they still are in dusky black and white and the darn electrical lights NEVER seem to work.

Edit: For the record, I don't share my dreams with others because I don't like them getting clues about what is going on in my subconscious, that I have missed...

I use it in reverse. I take it on weekends (when I can sleep in) and I find that it has a lasting effect for the rest of the week. But if I skip a weekend, I sleep terribly the rest of the week.