So, I took a break from writing these but we're back now. These posts take more time to do than I would like, but I still have a desire to blog my dreams for whatever reason. I guess I'll just going to pick and choose the "good" ones and only do write-ups on them for a while. It seems like a biased approach, but I just don't want these to feel like a chore. Anyway, on with the show.
Dream
I’m in a Geotechnical Engineering class
being taught by Captain Sisko (of Star Trek DS9). We have a guest speaker in who is showing us some videos. The first video is supposed to have
something to do with hydraulic pressure (which isn’t very Geotech, but
whatever), and we lead up to it with some discussion about what would happen if
the dam in Pierre (the town that I live in) broke. I do some thinking about if
my apartment was about to get washed away and what I would take with me if I
evacuated. We watch the video and it consists of the two Jedi from Star Wars
Episode One riding a raft through a huge pipe. They are basically falling straight
down and they mention that they are already going faster than the speed of
sound (apparently the pipe is pressured in a way to get around terminal
velocity). An enormous Crow T. Robot head is drifting through the water
underneath the raft and when the pipe narrows it gets jammed behind them and blocks
the flow of water. The water builds up pressure behind Crow’s head and this is
supposed to be analogous to a dam somehow(?). The water eventually burst
explosively past the blockage, but the Jedi have fallen so far ahead that it
will never catch them, and I fail to understand the point of the video. I want
to make a witty comment about how crazy it was so I turn to the people
sitting behind me. I don’t know them very well so I’m kind of nervous about
talking with them. When I start to make my comment someone else starts talking
so I stop halfway though. A little later I get a change to tell it again but
the joke doesn’t land. I feel like a jerk for putting so much effort into a bad
joke and I hope no one realizes it’s the same thing I was trying to say
earlier. Nick (a friend from college) starts passing out engineering paper to
everyone (engineering paper is great, just FYI). Earlier the teacher had asked him to retrieve a few reams from the
storage room so that everyone could get five or ten sheets. While I’m paying
attention to Nick and feeling guilty about bad jokes, Rueben (who isn’t mugging me) asks a question pertaining to the specific way that we need to be formatting
our notes on the videos. I realize that we are supposed to be taking notes to
turn in at the end of class for a grade, but I have no idea how to do them.
Luckily I have a copy of Nick’s notes that he put on my desk as he was passing out
the paper, so I start to copy his formatting. The guest speaker notices me
furiously copying. She seems mostly concerned and assures me that we have plenty
of time and that I don’t need to rush. I thank her and tell her that it’s fine.
Then Sisko notices me copying and thinks that I’m cheating. I tell him that I
just need to copy the formatting and that I can take my own notes. He says that
I should have just asked him how to format them. I agree that this idea
probably would have been a better solution. The next video we are going to
watch will be about Liquid Limit (LL), Plastic Limits (PL), and Plasticity
Index (PI) for soil classification. For some reason this video is going to be
projected on the opposite wall of the room as the last video. Before we start
watching, the guest speaker asks if we know what LL, PL, and PI mean. I have a
good answer ready but she picks someone else. Their answer is terrible and you
can tell that they really don’t know what the terms mean and are just trying to
bluff their way through it. I get mad because I can’t understand why you would
try to answer a question when you didn’t really know the answer and imagine that
they're making us all look dumb in front of the guest speaker. Sadly, the dream
ends before I get to watch the second video.
Analysis
Science fiction references a plenty! I
got Star Trek, Star Wars, and Mystery Science Theater 3000 all in the same
dream. I was starting to feel guilty that TNG had made a few appearances in my
dreams but DS9 hadn’t made any (since I’ve come to regard DS9 as a better
show), but now I feel better. It’s funny that I put some Phantom Menace in. Especially a reference from
the scene where they take a sub through the center of the earth. That is one of
my least favorite scenes in a movie that has a lot of competition for least
favorite scenes. I haven’t watched that movie in a while but seriously. A
watery planet core makes no sense geologically; and how could that possibly be
the fastest way to travel on a planet that is capable of space flight? If the Gungan
(SP? but I don’t care) city was on the opposite side of the planet from the human
capital then how did they get their (terrible) army there so fast when none of
the vehicles moved faster than walking pace. At least Crow (or his
head anyway) made an appearance to redeem things. He is my favorite character on my
favorite show, so maybe the Jedi were just there for contrast.
There is some good example of my social
awkwardness on display. The deal with the witty comment getting interrupted and
then not working out has happened to me before. This is why I often have
trouble approaching new people. My jokes generally have a high level of
intellectual depth and often require the hearers to understand my personality so
they can tell when I’m being facetious. It's terrible when I say
something ridiculous and people take it seriously and don’t see the joke. You can’t
really blame them when this is coming from someone who they may have never
heard speak about anything but math problems before. The note copying event
also matches past events of mine. I’ll often take a rougher path to get
information that I could just ask someone for. I feel bad about asking for
something that I could have gotten had I just paid attention. I don’t what to
bother anyone for a problem that is totally my responsibility. The situation also carries some of that classic fear of an assignment that you didn't know what due until it's too late.
I was a real jerk about answering
questions in school. People probably learn better if they get a chance to
try to answer questions themselves, even if they aren’t right. Having me
answer everything for them really doesn’t help anyone.
Auguries
I sure hope the dam isn’t going to break.
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