Late to Work at the Flower Factory

Date Dreamed: 2014-02-18

Dream

I work at some sort of flower distribution business. We cut and arrange flowers in a sort of factory anyhow. I’m walking to work in the morning, and the weather is overcast and somewhat hazy. There are plenty of other people out walking and we are all converging at the bridge over the river. I stop at the pedestrian traffic jam formed by this bottleneck and the person in front of me turns around. He starts insisting that I take out some sort of loan from him. This guy is clearly shady and it looks like he has some henchman in the crowd. I refuse his persistent requests and get so uncomfortable that I leave the sidewalk and start walking away through the grass. It's very muddy and slippery and I have to work just to keep from falling down. I meet my friend Ryan, who also works at the flower factory. We walk to work together and spend some time outside cleaning our shoes before we go inside. When we finally enter we are late for work. A broadcast system announces that two of the workers who were supposed to be stationed at the gift shop haven’t arrived yet, so that department is understaffed. Ryan and I understand that the two missing workers are us, and realize that we are needed in the gift shop. The factory works on some sort of daily work rotation that is unannounced ahead of time. Before we enter the shop we make two new flower displays as a sort of excuse for what we were doing and why we are late. When we walk in the gift shop we find the two women who will be working with us (because apparently four people are needed to run this place). The gift shop consists of various fancy displays of flowers and other decorations scattered around the room on shelves and plinths. The women, one of whom is Alaina, tell us that nobody has been in yet so it doesn’t really matter that we were late. Ryan and I add our newly created bouquets to the other displays. Mine is a gift specifically for the parents of newborn twins. It consists of a tiny leather couch and some water balloons. The balloons have happy messages written on them. The big one in the middle say “We Wanted Twins and We Got Twins”, and a smaller balloon say “Two Wins” (as a sort of pun on the word twins). The shelf I set the couch on isn’t very stable and the balloons keep rolling off. After trying to keep the balloons stationary for a while, one of them develops a hole and starts leaking water. I start to panic and attempt to pinch the hole shut, but all my efforts just make the problem worse. Since the tiny couch is leather I’m making a big deal about getting it wet. My fellow workers tell me just to pop the balloon but I keep insisting that I can’t do that on the leather couch. The situation is getting increasingly out of hand and now water is spraying all over the place and not just on the couch. I try to direct the stream of water into my mouth as a way of containing it, but I only manage to get myself soaking wet. I pick up the balloon and start running for the bathroom. The water finally stops flowing right at the entrance to the bathroom, and I collapse from a combination of frayed nerves and a sense of defeat. At that moment some customers arrive at the gift shop. The others try to distract them as I dejectedly drag myself into the bathroom to hide. I hear the customers make and inquiry about why there is water everywhere and one of my female coworkers pokes her head into the bathroom to check on me. I’m lying curled up on the floor, broken and defeated.

Context Explanations

Ryan and Alaina are friends of mine from high school.

Plot Holes

That was an outrageous amount of water to be coming out of one balloon.

Erection?

Despondently Yes

Analysis

This dream might seem very downbeat, but it was actually played with a more comedic tone. It was reminiscent of an I Love Lucy sketch, where a seemingly small problem steadily escalates to absurd levels. My actions at the end were a deliberate overstatement of my emotions. Exaggerating my feelings was a way of getting in on the joke. Less reaction would show that my pride had actually been hurt, and trying to pretend it was a big deal would be a sign that my self-esteem needed to be shielded from damage. By playing up the situation I acknowledge that it was funny, and excepted that my behavior had been humorous if not taken seriously. The part with the unrelenting usurer was a combination of my fear of confrontation with strangers and my dislike for being in debt. I think the whole idea of the flower factory grew from hearing someone say they bought a cooking spice from a flower shop, and now my understandings of the limits of that business have been thrown into question.

Auguries

We had mud on shoes and water on a leather couch. This speaks of something fancy of expensive being dirtied or damaged. 

Coins for Crystals

Date Dreamed: 2014-02-14

Dream

This one is long and wandering, so bear with me. I start out at a class trip in sixth grade. We are staying at a hotel for the night, since it is apparently a multi-day thing. I’m in the basement with a couple of elderly people and find a large amount of change on the floor. I get the idea that I could use the coins to have a poker game with my classmates (I happen to be carrying playing cards). The old man helps me pick up the coins and there is more than enough for poker so I split the money with the man. On my way back to the lobby where all the other kids are hanging out I run into Kirk. I ask if he wants to play poker, but he seems apprehensive. When I tell him that I found a bunch of coins so that nobody has to use their own money he is much more willing to play. In the lobby I try to find more people to join us, but everyone else is busy with their own activities. Later we get on the bus to drive to our next historical site, or whatever our class is touring, and I still want to play poker. Nobody sits next to me on the bus and I don’t have the courage to ask anyone. I figure the bus might be a little too bumpy anyway. Next I’m fighting some evil crystalline aliens (with no transition to speak of). Some giant alien is apparently threatening Earth, and I’m battling him on a floating disc or crystal. I end up pounding him through the floor of the disc with a giant hammer and save the earth. I find the alien’s mother clinging to the broken edge of the disc and drained of all energy after he son’s defeat. I notice she has a bag of gem stones and when I ask her about them she explains that they have little value to her people (being made of crystal and what not). I offer to trader her my coins for the gems, and she jumps at the idea since she finds metal far more precious. Now I’m at a family reunion (huh?). I get the idea that my father once worked for the same company that I did, but this doesn’t make any sense and I struggle trying to figure out which office he would have been at. Then I give the gems to my cousins Brett and Trevor. They use the gems to gamble and make a bunch of money. Trevor meets a woman at the casino and they fall in love. Brett shows up and the woman instantly falls in love with him instead, and Trevor is hurt and mad at his brother. Later, we are eating in a cafeteria and I am obsessing about setting up chairs and trays for everyone. I don’t know how many people will be joining me and there is a policy where you need to stack the chairs and trays that you aren’t using. Eventually I’m joined by Brett, Trevor, Leah, Nick, and a two foot tall amoeba who can sit in a chair (the amoeba was even at the head of the table). Everybody finishes their lunch and leaves except for Nick, who help me put the chairs away. Then we hear that everyone is coming back so we have to place the chairs out again.

Context Explanations

We did have a class trip in sixth grade, but it was just a day trip. I carry a deck of playing cards now, but I didn’t back then. I was a big fan of poker in grade school, specifically five card three-two draw. Sixth grade was the year I moved between schools, hence the lack of friends, but Kirk was in my class and was always nice to me. Brett and Trevor are older cousins of mine and are brothers. Leah was a girl from early grade school, and Nick was from junior high.

Plot Holes

Why are we eating lunch with a giant amoeba? Also, it wasn’t very clear if I just left the alien's mother to fall to her death or not.

Erection?

Meanderingly Yes

Analysis

There is a pretty good mix of books, shows, and video games I’ve experienced in the recent past popping up here. Cutting all that stuff out, we’re left with some loose change, questions about my father’s work history, and setting up cafeteria chairs. The money might be a combination of the fact that I like to carry enough coins to make exact change and also that I recently made a chess set out of coins. I can’t say why I found the money on the floor in the basement of a hotel while elderly people were present. My dad and I went to the same college, but never worked for the same company. I did get a job with an uncle, so I think I just got all of that mixed up in the dream and this confused me as I knew the facts were false. The lunch scene is a little more analyzable. I always get anxious before social gatherings because I can’t be sure of how people will behave. Perfect preparations are hard to accomplish when you can’t even be sure who will show up. Having everything planned and understood ahead of time is just something I always try to do. This anxiety is the reason that I tend to avoid loose social gathers. I prefer things like sports, where you have a set time to arrive and specific actions to perform.

Auguries

I should stay on the lookout for an advantageous trade opportunity, possibly with a woman in need. 

Corporate Corruption

Date Dreamed: 2014-01-15

Dream

A man and a woman decide to exact vigilante justice on a local drug dealer. The dealer in question is operating in a large concrete plaza, with his back to a retaining wall in what could only be described as a shady manner. Our heroes confront him, and then beat him up. The police arrive and the drug dealer is taken away in an ambulance. The man and woman are trying to explain their reasons to the police, but then some high ranking detectives pull them aside. The detectives explain that the dealer was just the tip of the iceberg, and that the real problem is located in the corporate office building at the head of the plaza. The detectives can’t get into the building (not enough evidence to get a warrant sort of thing), so the main characters agree to go in to try to uncover what is going on inside. They just walk right into the building and start wandering around. Past the wide open foyer, and through some labyrinthine shelving, they come to a collection of desks where people are working. Immediately, they notice a nun loading money onto a black duffle bag that looks similar to a bag carried by the dealer they beat up earlier. The female vigilante dumps the bag out and starts asking pointed questions about what it’s for. She turns around and sees another working loading various items into a duffle bag. She then starts shouting to everyone in the office about how she has only been in the building a few minutes and has already noticed two instances of questionable actions. She asks why no one has come forward and exposed the company’s clandestine activities. The woman notices an executive whispering to the fat man who leads the security personnel, and the security forces start deploying around her. Now seems like a good time to leave, and she starts moving back to the building entrance. When she emerges into the foyer, she finds one fat security officer, holding a bow, who is guarding the main building exit and a second who is guarding the hallway to the elevators. She dodges back into the high shelves to avoid arrow fire, and runs deeper into the building. After weaving a complicated escape route through the shelves, she finds another fat guy with a bow guarding the stairs. She is able to get behind him with a feint and descends the stairs into the basement, taking whole flights of stairs in single leaps. Screams are heard as the guards turn on all the panicking workers. The woman runs through the dark basement corridors for a way before entering a shower room to hide. When she passes two frantic women running out of the showers and shouting warnings she drops into a slide and skids across the wet floor. She comes to a stop at the far end of the room without finding any threats. The dream ends with a classic failure to resolve the story.

Context Explanations

My brain was crafting this one out of whole cloth.

Plot Holes

The fact that the woman smuggling money for the corporation was a nun seemed a bit strange. Without explanation the male vigilante simply disappeared from the dream half way through, but he wasn’t really needed in the story anymore I guess. Also, bow wielding security guards seem an odd choice. Maybe they didn’t want gunfire to be heard from outside the building.

Erection?

Excitingly Yes

Analysis

This is my favorite type of dream. These fictional stories created by my subconscious are the reason I started writing these down. The best part is that I’m not in the dreams, and just watch them like a movie. Anyway, this one seems like pretty stereotypical action movie writing. The honorable detectives who are handicapped by their own system are hardly new characters, and corrupt corporations seem to be the favorite villain or our times (evil hackers are also popular, but I’m glad my dream didn’t try to add to the bad reputation that has already been built around the title “hacker”). As for clues about my subconscious that can be pulled from the dream, the fact that all the armed security officers were fat might be telling. It speaks of a distrust of overweight individuals, but also seems to harken to an old video game practice of having similar enemies use the exact same character design.

Auguries

If I find myself being pursued by evil henchman through a shower room I should drop into a slide, because it will look really stupendous.

Crappy Car

Date Dreamed: 2013-12-30

Dream

I’m driving my old work car and I want to make a turn up ahead. I hit the brakes but the car barely slows down. I realize that the breaks are bad and pin the pedal to the floor with both feet. The velocity remains virtually unchanged and I miss my turn, finally creeping to a stop a block past it. I throw the car into reverse, since I’m determined to make my turn. I give it a three second burn and a few short controlled bursts of acceleration to propel myself backwards at a low enough speed that I'll still be able to stop with my bad breaks. I still miss the turn again. I’m right back where I started, and now there's spontaneously a downhill grade approaching the turn. I ride the breaks pressed to the floor the whole way down the hill but never get to a speed where I can make the turn. I wake up still feeling incredibly angry at my old work car.

Context Explanations

I used to drive a car at work that had over 200,000 miles and had developed a few mechanical issues. The breaks were never as bad as I perceived in the dream, but we had our problems.

Plot Holes

I’m assuming I’m the only car on the road if I could just reverse down a whole block.

Erection?

Frustratingly Yes

Analysis

I’ve combined driving my old work car with driving on snow and ice. Tis the season of winter driving, and this dream was an expression of the sudden panic I feel when my car isn’t breaking as fast as I anticipated, combined with my old frustrations with the work car.

Auguries

Three attempt and three failures foreshadow future attempts to reach my goals.

Chopping Wood in a Sporting Goods Store

Date Dreamed: 2013-12-23

Dream

I’m working in a sporting goods store and we are preparing for a big sale. Adam is trying to light a fire for a camping display, but he’s trying to start with whole logs. I explain that he is going to need kindling to get the fire going, and help him to get it working. After the fire is burning we use big umbrellas to catch the smoke (we are indoors). I’m wondering why the fire alarms aren’t going off. This was only practice for the sale and for the actual event the boss decides that I should be in charge of the fire. We still only have unsplit logs and the sale is about to start, so I start chopping the wood into kindling right in the store (I’m assuming we had a splitting maul in stock). The boss is giving a speech to rally the crowd at the front of the store while I hurry to light the fire. I get the fire going just before the shoppers arrive.

Context Explanations

Adam was my coworker back when I used to have a job, and he also works part time at a sporting goods store. I have a bit of a reputation as a good fire tender. It's one of my many skills that for some reason completely fail to impress women.

Plot Holes

Why would I get a job in a sporting goods store? I would be terrible at selling things and helping shoppers.

Erection?

Pyromanically Yes

Analysis

I pine for a job where I can do things that I enjoy and am good at, like tending fires. I also miss working with Adam I guess. I also planned on going to a sporting goods store later in the day.

Auguries

The fire symbolizes a consuming desire, and the wood chopping symbolized badassery (think Rocky IV or Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven). I’ll be consumed by striving to be badass in the future. Also in the present. And the past too.