Two dreams

I don't usually dream about people I know -- except myself! -- but last night I had a pair of them.


The first dream:

My co-workers and I were at work, and one of my colleagues (who in the dream was in poor health and was about to take some sick leave to recover) received (at work) a large envelope in the mail, containing the application forms for a Ph.D. program in History.

(Clearly, this is pre-internet: I remember getting university application forms mailed to me; now-a-days I presume people just download the *.pdf?)

He said that he'd been thinking about getting a Ph.D. in History and becoming a History lecturer, to escape the stress at work -- but now that the envelope was in his hands, he wasn't so sure.

It wasn't clear in my dream whether he was planning to attend part-time, or full time.

Then I made a crack about "Professor ______ -- we have an urgent data request from the Pro-Vice Chancellor!"


(Underlying meaning:  This co-worker really **is** taking some time off from work, due to poor health.  So this appears to be an extension of that.)


The second dream:

In real life, The Lady plays a few "classical" instruments, but not any "rock" instruments.  None the less, in my dream she and I were a husband-wife rock duo.  One of us was electric bass, and the other was electric guitar:  it wasn't clear which.

It was about an hour before our first performance as a group.  We'd dressed up in our "performing" clothes, and we were now at the venue -- just a small club, basically a cafe.

It wasn't to be a big performance -- maybe 50-100 people -- and we were the opening act.  It was a fundraiser for some sort of "sick kids" charity.

We were hanging around out front, on the sidewalk.  It was a weekend, and a warm, sunny afternoon.

Suddenly, I realized that we hadn't actually brought our instruments:  we'd have to drive home (maybe 15 minutes away) and get them.

What's worse, I also realized that we'd never actually practiced any of the songs we'd be performing!  The songs were mine -- but I'd never showed them to her.

And -- even though they were my songs, I hadn't played some of them in (literally!) years.  I didn't remember the chords, or most of the lyrics.

The one exception would be "Only Women Should Have Guns".  But given that this was a "family" show, I didn't think it would be appropriate:  the lyrics are witty, but a little grim.  And you can't build a set on just one three-minute song.

And on a related note:  we hadn't prepared our set list.

The dream ended with me about to head back to the house to pick up our instruments, get a marker (for the set list, and to jot down the chords in the margins of the set list), my old notebooks, and a music stand.  I'd get back to the venue about a half hour before we were scheduled to play.

We'd pull it off -- no choice, except for simply cancelling -- but it would not be a smooth performance, and we'd end up looking like idiots...


(Underlying meaning:  The Lady and I have both been pretty busy at work for the last four weeks -- so we have a huge backlog of dishes, a backlog of laundry, the lawn needs mowing, the house is a mess...  So this probably drives the whole "un-prepared" theme.

I haven't had any "woodworking time" in about four weeks.  I also haven't played the guitar in about two months -- and I haven't re-visited any of my old songs in probably nine months.  So "not being able to perform my old songs, from memory" is factually correct.

"Only Women Should Have Guns" is an actual song -- and it's the only song I end up playing when I'm messing around with the guitar, because I actually remember all the lyrics.  That, and "Pretty Little Sue".  So, that's actually a two-song set:  still a little short.)


 --GG