As Milli Vanilli did once upon a time, I blame it on the rain. Seriously. My bedroom window overlooks a tin-roofed car port and the sound of rain on that is completely hypnotic. More specifically, the post-hypnotic directive it imparts to me is “Snooze! Snooze! Snuggle up to your snuggly-wuggly covers and snooze on, dearie!” (For reals, yo. Rain on the roof is a magical thing….The Lovin’ Spoonful wouldn’t sing about it if it wasn’t)
It has been my sleeping-in experience that when you sleep in in the morning, you get a lot of that lighter Stage 1 REM sleep. Sometimes, my bladder will rouse me at around 4am and I’ll be astonished when I take a look at the time because it doesn’t seem like I’ve been asleep so long. And that sensation, I think, comes
from me waking from some real, deep, hardcore Stage 4 slumber. Like, I was OUT , dude, know what I mean?? I suppose it’s possible that I have a totally flawed, piecemeal recollection of the Sleep Chapter from Psych 101 (freshman year at CSC), but on the other hand I know that I was really interested in that Chapter, so I think perhaps I retained the info accurately. I do know that when I sleep in in the mornings I do a lot of dreaming (and I feel pretty certain that it is Stage 1/REM when you dream) I will dream in these quick vignettes and then my conscious mind will intrude on my dreams and that will wake me up a bit and then once I drift back to sleep I’ll start another dream. This has happened to me a lot on sleepy Saturday a.ms, though you shall hafta take my word for it, because I can’t recall any specific examples from the past. I do , however, remember what I dreamed this morning….
*Dream 1-- I dreamt I was going back to college. I actually dream about going back to school a lot. Usually about going to college and occasionally about going back to high school. These are not scary dreams (as they might be for some) I think I might really like to go back to school but (here comes the hitch) I also think at my age I should have some kind of objective or end goal behind a move like that. And I lack that objective. ANYWAYS…back to the dream. This morning’s back-to-college dream had 2 unique twists. The first was that I was going back to college with, and rooming with,my old friend Jenny, who I was friends with mostly in grade school &junior high, somewhat during high school, whom I’ve not kept in touch with and I probably haven’t seen her for 7 years . Secondly, we had off-campus housing …in a log cabin. Not a rustic little cabin, but one of those luxurious Montana millionaire log-mansions you see on HGTV. The place was ginormous. It had 3 dining rooms. I was touring the place all astounded and slack jawed, and I said “ Just think--we could throw dinner parties!!” And Jenny replied “I’m sure we’ll be too
busy with studying and homework”. And then I went about moving my stuff in to the log mansion. Soon after my conscious brain started butting in (eventually waking me up ) I started thinking, “How am I going to make this work?” and “How am I going to afford this?” And began planning: I’ll quit Thermal, I’ll go to work at that answering service in Rutland I used to work for, I’ll take the overnight shift and that will allow me to get my homework done at work, I’ll take classes during the day and sleep in the early evening and between classes….Ain’t nothing like practicality and planning to rouse one out of a (formerly) pleasant dream…
*Dream 2-- This one I recall only sketchily…I dreamt that I was watching sort of a preview for an upcoming movie. It wasn’t a trailer, but they were shooting the movie and some entertainment reporter was interviewing the actors between scenes. There were two actors in Frankenstein make-up working out on some gym equipment while being interviewed…they were all outside though, so I imagine the locale was somewhere like Venice Beach. Anyways, there was one bulkier Frankenstein, I don’t remember who that actor was, and he might have been some no-name stunt double actor. The other Frankenstein (this is where it impossibly gets weirder) was Andy Samberg from SNL. So I feel pretty sure it was a comedy movie. And Richard Dreyfus was there being interviewed for it too, although he was just sitting on the gym equipment and not using it, and was dressed in regular street clothes. Bizarre stuff. Although that dream movie is probably better than “Hot Rod”. Don’t get me wrong, I like Samberg, but I don’t think he’s quite ready for a movie career. And if he must jump in to movies prematurely, I don’t think this is a very auspicious start.
*Dream 3-- I dreamt that I woke up and went over to visit my Aunt Lorraine. I was visiting with her and a bunch of other people came over. I was pouring everyone iced tea when it was decided we should all go to TJ Maxx. And my Aunt said, “Unless you’ve been shopping already today, Sandra” and my Uncle George said “She hasn’t! She hasn’t been up that long! Sandra, when did you get up today??” And (still pouring iced tea) I looked over to the digital clock on the range and it said 12:40 and I said “ I woke up an hour ago” but as I’m saying this I realize that the range clock has read 12:40 the whole time I’ve been there. At this juncture, my brain buts in again. And I don’t consider the possibility that the clock could be busted , rather, I instantly realize that I’ve been dreaming the whole episode. It’s like the time on the range clock hasn’t changed because I overlooked that small detail when constructing my dream. And I think, “You never got out of bed at all today! You’re still sleeping! You’re still dreaming…”
And it was a very Chazz Palmenteri at the end of The Usual Suspects sort of moment.
That last dream is what woke me at 1:20pm. And one half hour nap later, I was up, dressed, and on the road.
I went to Kmart because I needed an airtime card for my Tracfone. Of course I wound up buying a few other tchotchkes too.
I saw these really loud hued, futuristic looking flip-flops and it was love at first sight. But they were $9.99 and that struck me as ridiculously expensive for a pair of flip flops. I had just barely fought off the urge to buy a turquoise necklace that I‘d become insta-smitten with . I’m not usually a big fan of turquoise but this was really cute. It would have looked great along with a silver bangle or two. Damn it…I kinda wish I’d given into temptation on that one. Right now, I’m wishing I’d left the flip-flops and bought the necklace. Oh yeah, I did buy the flip-flops. I was eyeing them covetously but sternly telling myself that I didn’t need flip-flops and it was a frivolous purchase. And then what else should catch my eye but some signage proclaiming “All footwear-- buy one get one 50% off!!” And that persuaded me that if I found another pair that I fancied (and I did..of course) then it was really an unavoidable purchase. Meant to be. Also, flip-flops are in season. Buying flip-flops is a rite of ushering in the summer. And considering the chilly weather we’ve been having, I think perhaps summer needs a little ritual encouragement. And jewelry is a year round thing…no seasonal imperative to buy it. So it always
winds up being a frivolous buy. I know, I know. I’m a total nut job. No wonder my finances are always in a somewhat precarious state. Still, I wish I’d bought that damn necklace….Also I was compelled to buy the Music & Lyrics DVD but at $19.99 there was no way in hell!! I’ll give it a few months and buy it pre-viewed from Hollywood Video. They’re constantly running a 4 for $20. Sale on previewed DVDs (so of course, I’ll need to find 3 other “must-haves” and that will be another o’ those unavoidable purchases)
I did buy me some num-nums-- Sierra Mist FREE (I didn’t check the label to see what undesirous element it is “FREE” of) and these corkscrew shaped Cheetos (which negated whatever redeeming values that Sierra Mist had). I’m not a huuuuge fan of cheesy poofs, but on rare occasion I will get a hankerin’ for them. I also was intrigued by these X13-D Doritos. The Doritos folks have cooked up yet another new flavor . Personally, I like original Nacho cheese Doritos (when I occasionally eat ‘em --you see, my feelings toward Doritos are similar to my feelings on cheesy poofs)in regards to Doritos flavors I am a staunch traditionalist. Their extra spicy varieties taste too much like pain to be enjoyable, and I have been strongly anti-Cool Ranch ever since its inception in 1986 or somewhere thereabouts. Well this X13-D flavor is like this new MYSTERY flavor, and they have an online contest to name the flavor. As you may know, I LOOOVE me a real gimmicky marketing ploy …but I am notsomuch enamored of Doritos. And, incidentally, am in the mood for cheesy poofs today. So I bought a bag for my sister & bro-in-law. I can think of no better contenders for this gustatory challenge. I think a shared love of Doritos & Diet Coke is one of the key pillars of their marital harmony. In this cockamamie metaphor, the marital harmony is manifested as some sort building. Apparently a Grecian-type structure…with pillars. Ionic or Doric pillars…not Tuscan or Corinthian.
