Driving with Dad

Date Dreamed: 2014-02-15

Dream

I’m riding in a car while my dad drives. By driving, I mean that he is doing some intense rallycross on dirt roads through forested hills, complete with plenty of power sliding and Scandinavian flicks. I’m reading a new Neal Stephenson novel. The characters work in L.A. and they are name dropping all the famous people they have worked with. An Iva is mentioned, and I get excited because I think it’s an Iva Davies reference. I’m super impressed that the book would mention one of my obscure interests. Dad is getting increasingly wild with his driving and we are sliding off the trail and bumping into a few trees. We are in a Ford Escape which I used to drive for work, and I hated it, so I don’t care that we are causing damage to the vehicle. I continue reading and find out that Iva is actually some woman who I’ve never hear of. All my happy feelings about obscure references relevant to my interests are shattered. At this point we start sliding out of control, spin around and crash into a tree backwards, and then somehow hit another tree going forwards. Black smoke can be seen billowing out of the hood and we are worried that we may have broken the car. The vehicle is pointed down an incline and we both get out to push it away from the tree. My dad has me get in and hold down the brakes so it won’t roll forward while he inspects the front end. The dream ends while I’m pressing the brake pedal to the floor with both feet, hoping they don’t give out.

Context Explanations

I’m currently reading Reamde by Neil Stephenson, and am a fan of Icehouse, whose lead singer is Iva Davies.

Plot Holes

I’m unsure how we were able to smash both the back and front ends of the vehicle in one crash. It is also impressive that I was able to read a book while engaging in motor sport.

Erection?

Wreckingly Yes

Analysis

I am practically obsessed with obscure references. I do things like watch movies, just so I can understand references from other movies. I dislike “popular at the moment” references. Celebrity worship or corporate aggrandizement are things I just can’t stand. In the book Reamde there are a lot of references to things like Google and World of Warcraft that I find kind of annoying. Sure they help establish the story in our current world, but I’m not sure if that is a good thing. For one, it really dates a piece of work so that it will be harder to understand outside of the time it was written. These references also carry a lot of context from experiences of my own life, which I feel can damage the story. I prefer books that exist in their own world. Building unique and interesting worlds is what I like so much about science fiction and fantasy, and if I want to hear stories based in the world I live in I can just read the news. All the rally driving stuff might be based on some of the reckless driving I used to do on dirt roads while working. I never got too crazy in the Escape, but I ended up in the ditch a couple times with our Impala (which was another vehicle I didn’t like that much).

Auguries

Letting someone else steer my path could lead to problems.