Res Ipsa Loquitur (phrase)- Latin, Legalese: "The Thing Speaks For Itself." . . . DREAM JOURNAL

My dreams tend to repeat geographic features. Last night I had one about a variation on a town. The dream-town seemed familiar: it had a rural and somewhat historic feel to it, with older shops and wood-sided buildings. This town was very crowded, as at one point there seemed to be some sort of processional going on, led by a wispy lady in a white dress. For a while, I was just walking in the town, then I decided to look for someone who would be at the courthouse. So, I was asking around, trying to learn where the courthouse was. Some buildings and their locations seemed familiar, but not others. An older man gave me general directions, pointing down a street. He seemed to think I wasn't quite as bright as I could be for not having pieced it together myself.

So I went through the crowds, but discovered the courthouse had actually burnt down, long ago, and that the remaining brick shell was being used as part of a indoor marketplace. But there was another building next door, so I went there. Again, the place was full of people: it felt like a combination of an eating and drinking area, and a general "hang out" spot. I found the person I was looking for in one corner, talking in a rather professorial manner about an obscure point of Irish history. I wanted to talk privately, and we began to do so, ignoring the surrounding crowds. However, a woman with stylish dark-blonde hair repeatedly tried to interrupt. She as a real-estate saleswoman and wanted everyone's attention on her. I was able to talk with the person I was meeting by refusing to focus on her, but we did not entirely finish the conversation before I woke up. Oh, and for some reason, I was wearing a pink shirt.

I think the saleswoman represents the nattering, surface layer of the consciousness. I've been working on trying to still my mind and work from deeper feelings, thoughts, and perceptions. This outer layer seems very tuned to others' imagined expectations and it wants to keep a constant stream going through one's mind. This is actually quite tiring. I find that I feel better grounded when I can shift away from this type of thinking and refocus from deeper within. I took the dream as encouraging, as I was able to disregard the saleswoman after a while.

Lats night, I dreamed I was in a house with many rooms. It was very dark inside. At first things seemed all right, but then someone else mentioned that there was a dark spiritual presence in my room. So I spent the rest of the dream feeling threatened by malevolent ghosts in the house: it turned out there were several haunting the place, and they were very unfriendly. Interesting, that nothing was bothering me until someone *else* brought up the issue. Perhaps there is some wisdom there.

I had a repeat of a dream from years and years ago (which I had forgotten about, consciously... the subconscious seems to remember its own dreams, though). It was of a gargantuan house which I recognized. This house had many floors and rooms, and it "felt" like it belonged to my husband. Some of the rooms were occupied by different family members, usually on his side. There were lots of empty rooms, though. Some looked very familiar from the previous dream. There were also lots of washrooms: some linked to the rooms, others extras. Some were very cramped looking: not dirty, but not inviting either, and with everything too close together or worn floors, shower stalls, etc. In one part, there was actually an entire indoor mall area. That was bright and well-lit, and with some people around, including the store owners. I could see more vivid colors in that part of the dream, especially when looking at the shelves and displays.

In an earlier dream today, I was in a big area indoor meeting all sorts of interesting people. At one point, a class was visiting and watching me do something I'd been in the middle of: I explained that I was startled by the interruption but welcomed them. I was talking to various young people then, and it was interesting. At later points, the indoor area felt a bit like a fairly pleasant hotel or conference center (which are reoccurring locations for me). More people all around.

Some of this theme of crowds may be from work, which is very busy lately.

Lots of bizarre dreams this past morning, going onto the evening shift. I had one before I woke up where I was exploring some sort of building where a dream enemy lived--people who would chase me. It was disjointed, but later I was out in a field and forest area, and could fly, so could get away that way. I remember sneaking into the building and seeing that my enemy had left a roll of hundred-dollar bills out in his desk. I could have taken it if I wanted, without consequences--or so I sensed--but did not do so. The dream shifted over to being in a big, dimly lit conference room. I was surrounded by other people. It turned out we were working on some sort of assignment, but in the meantime, I'd gotten a big envelope from the publisher I am waiting on... it was a contract for publication, with all sorts of odd corrections they wanted. Things that would make no sense in waking life. They also mentioned a sizable advance in the letter. A teacher or some other authority figure came by, and I realized I'd done nothing on my assignment and that my time was running out. That made me nervous, but I said something about how I didn't care, as I was going to be published and that the assignment did not matter. I was really going against the group there.

In an earlier dream this past night, I dreamt of an alien invasion. At first, it started off with pretty, sparkling clouds, hanging low in the sky. Then, it became clear that the sparkling light was actually reflections from the metal sides of ships. I was on the ground with other people, and we waited for the ships to land, unsure what we would see. The ships did land, and many of the people queued up in straight lines and fell to their knees to worship the new arrivals. But this was a bad idea. I was pretty much watching with horror at this point, for the aliens had huge, ghastly heads with vast mouths and their own head was somehow inside their mouth. They'd come up to the people waiting on them and somehow devour their heads and meld their victims to them: when they'd open their mouths again, there would be two trapped, severed human heads on each side of the alien head (five heads total per alien). That was one disturbing dream: I was very glad when I woke up from that sequence!

Last night I was dreaming of rather striking environments. For some time, I seemed to be a an odd version of the northern city where I attended undergrad. It was supposed to be cold out, but instead the weather was warm and rather soggy. Many of the buildings were made of brick and felt rather old, but were not run-down. The dream city had a sense of "presence" about it, as one sometimes feels in more historic towns. For a while, I seemed to be going back and forth inside apartment buildings and interacting with hazy people... much of the those parts have faded. I do remember one fragment involving the two characters from the children's book "The Cricket In Times Square." Apparently, the mouse and the cat (Tucker and Harry... I actually remembered their names) had found a new place to live in a large, fancy room with red, formal decor. They were happy to be getting out of the pipe they used to live in. The mouse was a lot more "adult" than in the book: he had a New York mouth on him, all right.

The brick buildings faced a valley: I later found myself on one end of a vast waterfall with clear, frothing water. I had to get across, and started making my way along following stones. I was very close to the drop, but sensed that I should be able to cross the water without being swept over. Still, it was frightening.

In another sequence, I was driving to a park with swampy land: I found a place to park and walked on wooden footpaths that went over the wet ground (wood footpaths seem to be becoming a reoccurring theme; some of the parks I've visited in waking life have them). I came back to the car and was able to figure my way out of the neighborhood, which I had not been in before. Then I was at some sort of vaguely treehouse-like structure. There were lots of people there and there were hanging paths made of wood going between sections. Some of the people were drinking in bars up in the tree-house-building. This makes sense, as I was at a bar last night for a holiday party.

Interesting dream about my paternal grandmother when coming out of a nap today (naps are ever the friends of the shift-worker). I've never had one before where it felt like her. She died back when I was in elementary school--which is a while back. In the dream, we were hugging and I was saying how good it was to see her again. She was very, very much into writing. The timing is poignant, as I have something important to me under submission to a publisher.

Last night I dreamt I was a camp. The sequence seemed to drag on for a while and was not particularly fun. I had brought some personal items to hang up that were important to me, and they just broke, all on their own. Plus, there was no privacy.

Then I was dreaming I was at a house that seemed to belong to an older fellow. It felt a bit like visiting family or a friend of the family, but wasn't anyone I knew in waking life. Anyways, I was on the porch and looked out and saw the most beautiful lightening. It was sort of light bluish-gray and very bright and vivid. The storm clouds were menacing, but I was very glad to see the lightening and wasn't particularly afraid of the storm. Then I was walking later in the "historic district" or downtown area near the suburb. There was a beautiful restaurant made entirely of wood and I wanted a picture of it. I could see people up on the balcony eating.

Last night I was having a dream about walking. I started off in daylight, walking through a suburban area. Eventually, I ended up in a wilder area, along a beach. It was a long, circling journey. Then, the sun was setting and it was almost dark. I knew I needed to get "home"--wherever that was in the dream, but I knew what direction it was in. Going back the way I had come would take a long time, but my instincts told me there would be a way across the water if I looked further down the beach. My view was blocked by plantlife.

So, I went only a few steps further down the beach and saw a long, flat wooden bridge with rails. It crossed over an expanse of water... sort of a wide river or a bay. By then, it was almost night and the waters were very choppy and were rising, but I ran across the bridge, knowing it would be the quickest way home. The bridge jig-jagged in places: it was not a straight route. But I got to the other shore and after walking a bit more, recognized the suburban area I'd left earlier.