Nightmare

I know my dreams are strange. And this is a classic. Here's snippets.

We were (that's J and I, I suppose cos we spent the whole night out last night) standing outside a viewing room with a big screen. There were 3 big buttons labelled 'realist,' 'liberal' and 'constructivist' outside the room. Each button would start a film encapsulating the tenets of the respective perspective.

I pressed the liberal button, then a black and white film with men in top hats tap dancing with canes started showing. Lots of high society types socializing at a party with big band music.

I pressed the constructivist button, and a colour film with men in uniform marching, patriotic music playing started.

I pressed the realist button - and this is classic - and the screen showed a big room with a U-shaped arrangements of small tanks, with a few fishes in every tank. A goldfish (that looked exactly like the goldfish J and I saw at the aquarium near Paradiz at 1am last night) started jumping from 1 end of the U to the other. Somewhere along the other arm of the U, there was a big gap between 1 tank and the next, and when the goldfish tried to jump, it landed outside th tank.

Now here's where it gets REALLY weird. I (now suddenly in the movie) picked up the struggling goldfish and put it into the next tank. Then I asked it why it was travelling along the U to since it was a dead end on both sides. It said (it said!!!!!) that after the war they (I don't know who 'they' is) had promised it they would bring back the dolpins, and it wanted to travel to the ocean to see the dolphins. I laughed in a monosyllabically cynical way (like, 'ha') and asked if it really believed they'd bring back the dolphins, and if it really thought it could travel out of the tanks into the ocean.

I don't know why a goldfish would want to meet dolphins that would probably eat it at first sight.

I don't know what this says about me either. Am I a closet realist? Is it only in my dreams that I can admit my true inclinations?

Next snippet from dream continuing the piscine theme.

A Prof from my course (I shall not mention names) decided that in order to pass our module, we need to pass a particular test. We had to go to a small lake in which a HUGE monster shark lived, and each of us had to hold a dead chicken in front of the shark, bleed it, and then get ourselves back to safety. Yay. Easy-peasy.

For some reason the test was conducted at night, so all of us were dumped into the lake, holding a dead chicken, a small knife, and sort of floating around in a clueless way. (btw, Joyce, you were still there) It was dark, we couldn't see no shark, and I was scared shitless. I told a classmate that I was pretty sure I couldn't pass, and she looked at me uncomprehendingly (the way they look at me when I say no, I haven't done the essay, no, I haven't finished the readings, yes, I'm human unlike you). This is how the conversation went:

Classmate: I guess you just swim up behind it, cut the chicken, then swim away quickly. (a la I guess you just manage your time better and read whenever you're free. Oh, and give up your social life too.)

Me: But it's a huge shark! Aren't you afraid it'll eat you?

Classmate: Just give it a kick when you swim away... propels you further and delays it. *reassuring smile* It'll be fine.

Me: ... *runs/swims away screaming*

At some point in the lake, I had to wrestle with a 'small' shark that was about the length of my leg. I think it was trying to snatch my chicken from me. So I just blocked the 2 holes I saw on top of its mouth and suffocated it. (don't ask me how I did that when sharks breathe through GILLS) It's eyes turned red and sort of imploded when it suffocated though. Oh and by the way, I chose to suffocate it because I didn't want it to bleed cos I sure as hell didn't want to attract the attention of Monster Shark. I don't think I was thinking about passing the test by then.

The rest of the time was just floating on the dark water, hoping to HELL that Monster Shark wasn't swimming somewhere below me, ready to snap my fragile body into two and toss my bloody remains on to shore (a la Jaws).

Then I started thinking. Why should we even get into the water? Maybe we could rig it up so we can dangle a huge bait (like the shark I just killed) to attract Monster Shark, and then we could find a way to position ourselves way way WAY above that bait, wait for Monster Shark to come, bleed the chicken, and finish the test in relative safety...

And just as I was going to suggest this, our Prof got fed-up with our lack of creativity and told us to do exactly that. So, using a intricate contraption of ropes and dead bait, our classmates made attempts one at a time. And I got to see Monster Shark rise from the depths of the lake to engulf the bait in its monstrous jaws.

I figured that it'd take a while for it to be my turn, so I decided to walk down to town with Joyce (who'd already passed) to get some food. On the way back to the lake, however, I saw my classmates walking around, and realized the test was over and everyone had passed. Except me. I rushed back to the lake, only to see a couple of classmates carrying a late classmate's severed head in one of those baskets people carry their pets in. They were comforting her (the severed head!) that at least she didn't have to stay in the lake forever, and at least they were bringing her out. You're talking to a severed head for goodness' sake!

And I woke up. Please don't judge me by my nightmares...

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Btw, 2nd anniversary! *does happy dance* We rock!