Dream Theme For April A to Z

        The weeks preceding this year's Blogging from A to Z April Challenge have been more nightmare than dream.   I know it could have been worse, but I hope I never have to find out what that's like.  Crazy computer problems have vexed my waking hours and infiltrated my sleep.  These are not the kind of dreams I like to have.   You probably know that feeling-- waking up in the morning tired as though you had never slept.

       Having signed on to this Challenge weeks ago, I am committed to do this.  I have all of my topics laid out before me but not one post written yet.  With 3 other blogs signed up as well, I may be in trouble.  But it's a challenge, right?   So I will try to get through it and see what I can do.

        Just so my computer continues to hold up and nothing else comes along to interfere with my plans.  And we know what can happen to even the best laid plans.   Ah, such is life.

My Theme for April

         During April my theme will be dream meanings.  This will not exactly be the dream dictionary sort of approach.  Another blogger whose name escapes me at the moment of writing this (sorry!) did a fine job with this type of approach in the 2012 Challenge.   There is undoubtedly some reasonable credibility to dream interpretation symbology, but as I have stated in the earliest posts of this blog, I think dream interpretation probably tends to often be on a more personal level that varies from dreamer to dreamer.  If you dream of an apple, the apple may mean something totally different to me in my dream.

        That will be my approach.  Dream symbols and what I think they may mean to me--do they apply to you in the same way?   I hope you will join me if I can keep up with the April posts.   Let me know what you think of my interpretations and if you think the dream topics mean the same thing to you.

         Hopefully we'll have some fun with this and maybe even learn a thing or two.  And maybe I'll even get some better sleep time in with more relaxing dreams.

         Do you take much stock in dream symbol interpretations?   Do you ever consult dream dictionaries?   Can you recall who the blogger was in 2012 who used the dream theme?

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The Little Movie Dreams that Could

   A to Z co-host Nicole Ayers of The Madlab Post returns with another movie related to the film she's been working on.  You can help by visiting her site for Abyss and doing whatever you can to get the word out and help Nicole achieve her dreams of waking life.  But first a dream from sleep.

The Little Movie Dreams that Could

Foreword/Prelude: I had this dream sometime in November or December while in production on my short film, “ABYSS.” Coincidentally, I experienced a lot of difficulty trying to find locations for this movie. One of the apartments that I originally looked at fell through weeks leading up to the initial shoot date and another one became unavailable several dates before production started. After contacting City of Philadelphia Film Commission officials who (supposedly) help filmmakers find locations in the city, and coming up short, I eventually had to start thinking small and simple by talking to people who I’ve been directly or indirectly connected to in one way or another, to find locations that would suit my needs.

The Dream:

          I walked into the house of my grandmother’s neighbor, hoping to ask if I could shoot there but I saw the eldest sister sitting in the dining room going through a table covered with papers, folders and envelopes. Instead of the ask, I reluctantly said “Do you need help with anything?” – She responded “Yes – I need you to make sense of this will” while giving me a handful of papers. Since the homeowner had died many years ago and left the property to her children, I wondered if the eldest brother passed away. If so, maybe the sister was trying to get his affairs in order. Unfortunately, she never said anything else about him during my visit, so I just assumed that he might be the one who is dead.

         We spent more time organizing the papers and testing different features on the three TVs she had, than “making sense” of any will. Later, she started to leave and that’s when I asked if I could use the house. She said yes, gave me the keys and left. Just like that!

         I stood in the foyer – figuring out whether the place would be even viable for a shoot and that’s when I was approached by an older, flirtatious guy who was working on the house next door to this one. This roofer -- builder or whatever he was, followed me throughout the house despite me making it clear through my answers and demeanor that I was not interested in him or his comments, nor did I want to be bothered with some strange man following me around in another person’s home. He asked me questions about “John,” the youngest son.

        Some of the actors and crew showed up by this time, some of whom were outside on the sidewalk. Rodney (the leading actor in ABYSS) got into an argument and confrontation with the builder guy and out of nowhere, the husband of one of my childhood friends appeared to defend Rodney; I thanked him for helping to ease this problem. When I did, however, Rodney started yelling at me “What are you thanking HIM for?”

Next, I went into my grandmother’s house and found my cast and crew there, sans the men. All of the females working on the movie were in the house – weird. Titi (she plays Rodney’s girlfriend in ABYSS) was in the bathroom and I didn’t have any food for them but there was a cake in the kitchen, so I offered that for breakfast. They declined and we all started getting ready to shoot some scenes for the movie, when I encountered a problem – Rodney is nowhere to be found? He’s from New Jersey and is not familiar with areas of Philadelphia, so where the hell did he go?

Have random, unrelated people ever appeared in YOUR dreams? Do the people in YOUR dreams ever suddenly disappear, leaving you wondering why? What sense and/or explanation would YOU make of this particular dream of mine?

Be sure to check out Abyss for more info.

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Do You Have a Dream Editor?

Santorini - Edited by Dale (Photo credit: libraryman)

         Have you ever had a very long dream and then within that dream have a particular sequence that you know should be long, but in the course of the dream that sequence becomes shortened as though it were edited?

          Editing in a movie or a written work is the norm.   We don't have to see every action that is a part of the story and not every long-lasting action needs to be seen in its entirety.  If a character in a story needs to get from point A to point C, we don't have to know everything about the B in between the two points.  Highlights are essentially all that matter.  Whatever is necessary to drive the story and illuminate the motivation is what needs to be presented with unessential parts edited out of the final product.

          Does our mind work in a similar way? 

          If you think back to a memorable day of your life, a vacation, or a long trip, you will normally recall the parts that seemed most important and the more mundane aspects become lost to memory.  Think about a time when your spouse or someone else asked, "What did you do today?"   Sometimes you probably have to stop and try to remember what you did do that day.    The memories may come haltingly and other things you skip not only because you may not remember them, but also because it would be absurd to do a minute by minute replay of the day.   Editing is expected by your listener and by you.

         A dream example that I will use came on a recent morning when I was able to sleep later than normal.  This particular part of my dream sleep that I recall seemed to be very long and involved.  I was going somewhere in a very large setting that consisted of very odd constructions and landscaping.  At one point I was following some sort of maze and came to a very long segment where I had to scoot along the top of a sort of hedge.   As I recall the dream I started on the hedge and then suddenly I was at the end.   It was almost as though the long repetitive activity was edited out of the dream.

         Reflecting back I wonder if this activity was actually edited out?   Or did I edit the tedious process out of my memory?  Perhaps the dream contained the activity but I merely don't remember it because it was not memorable due to the repetitiveness of the action.

         There are many times I am in one point of a dream and suddenly appear in an entirely different point.  This could be the result of dream editing either within the dream or in the memory of the dream.  Not being able to reexamine the dreams it is difficult to say. 

          Have you had what could have been a dream editing experience?   Do you think this phenomena has more to do with not completely remembering a dream?  If dream editing does occur, how would you explain it?

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One of My Weirdest Dreams Ever by Nicole Ayers

        This post comes from one of the A to Z co-hosts, Nicole Ayers of The Madlab Post.   She's presented guest spots on nearly all of my blogs and now she adds dreaming to her repertoire.  Of course, as a filmmaker Nicole does her fair share of dreaming up new projects.  At the end of this post you can follow a link that will take you to her latest movie adventure.

One of My Weirdest Dreams Ever

Foreword: I had this dream in August 2012 -- around the same time that the final draft of my short film, Abyss, was being completed. This movie is about an Army officer who faces many troubles while stranded at a bus stop, after his marriage proposal goes wrong. After directing the film and going into post-production, I am now inviting you to join in making my film festival premiere happen. If you enjoy reading about the following weird dream I had, support this project by making a contribution to my movie campaign to help with cast and crew transportation, submission fees and press materials.

While in New York, I just got off of one of those Greyhound types of buses before realizing that I was still holding a drink coaster. It belonged to an unknown café that I left earlier that day – after being fed up with answering questions by an older couple who wanted to know what I was listening to on my CD player. I then entered what looked like a school or office building instead. Suddenly, I got thrown into a movie set as some sort of extra, for what sounded like a very crucial scene -- based on the director’s anxious behavior.

As it seemed, the cameraman, who volunteered to work without pay, brought her brash words to everyone’s attention: “Grandpa, if you don’t stay still, I’m gonna smack you!” I left that place -- possibly to return the coaster – when I realized that I forgot to book a return bus ticket back to Philadelphia. To make matters worse, I only had $20 in cash on me. Sure, I could find some place with Wi-Fi, where I can order one ticket online using a credit card – but – how am I going to print the darn thing?

Of all the weird dreams I’ve had throughout my life so far, this one hits too close to home, on so many levels. In retrospect, I wonder if the dream reflects an overall sense of panic that I feel in situations where the outcome is uncertain or circumstances that are beyond my control. I’ve been out of town often – in New York, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and other places. Being stranded has been one of my biggest concerns while traveling. It’s usually, however, not related to a lack of transportation. Maybe it’s due to living in cold climates and shady cities but, I’m more concerned with lodging than many other comforts. I need to know that I have a place to stay – one that’s been confirmed and verified.

Nicole Ayers on set

I do find it interesting that the director of that movie was female, given that most movies – at least those that are familiar to the average person -- are directed my men. Was I supposed to learn something, like how not to behave when making my own films, perhaps? Also, who brings a CD player to a café these days? I own a CD player but would more than likely never use it out in public – especially when modern day mobile devices such as iPods and smartphones are so much easier to use. So that is one of the portions of this particular dream that does not make any sense to me.

Have you ever felt stranded in a dream? Do any of your dreams take place in multiple locations? What is the furthest destination that you have traveled to while dreaming?

To find out more about Nicole's current film project please visit Abyss/IndieGoGo.   While there be sure to give an extra boost to the project by tweeting the link and letting others know by whatever means you can think of.  

 

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