[Dream] Letterman shows me the world — and we visit Neil Gaiman

In a new episode of "What the Hell Did Bev Dream About This Time?", I was treated to a vivid dream where David Letterman took me all over the place to see interesting things and people. It was like I was his assistant or something.

Along the way, my clothes got messed up, so I was forced to continue the journey wrapped in a towel. This made me uncomfortable and nervous, but Letterman paid it no mind as he had lots to show me on our trip.

Eventually, we ended up at a venue where Neil Gaiman (one of my favorite authors) was having his latest work presented (I believe it was in movie form). I was upset about still not having any clothes to wear, and especially since Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite people and, quite frankly, I had a crush on him. How embarrassing!

Soon after this turn of events, my alarm went off and I didn't get to finish the dream. Bummer! It was a fun, interesting, and realistic dream, so up till the time I woke up I enjoyed it immensely. David Letterman and Neil Gaiman in the same dream? MOST EXCELLENT!

Dream a little (Trazodone) dream

Last night I dreamed about Russell Brand. Most of you know I have a crush on him. So yeah...that was a pleasant dream.

The night before, I dreamed about Michelle Obama and being part of her wedding. It was HUGE! I had an elaborate red velvet dress and my hair was styled beautifully, with lots of intricate curls and hair accents, like pearls and such. Again, a pleasant dream.

It's nice to have dreams other than those centering on catastrophe, getting lost in amusement parks and/or campuses, or exploring dark, creepy warehouses that are used for sex clubs.

My mind is a strange place, but I love dreams of all types because they are fodder for stories and ideas. I pity those who claim they don't dream (they do, they just don't remember the dreams) or those who dream but have a hard time remembering most of them.

I'm not great at always remembering mine, but if I can grab hold of bits and pieces as soon as I wake up and place them in long-term memory, then I'm satisfied.

Of course, I've been taking Trazodone for insomnia and depression for a while now. Trazodone delivers intense dreams—and often strange ones at that. Many people don't stay on Trazodone because they can't handle the dreams that come with the territory.

As for me, I LOVE Trazodone dreams. Each night I'm taken on a journey, and I never know what type of journey it'll be or where I'll end up in the complex dreamscape. It's a mystery and there's always anticipation before I fall asleep.

Trazodone dreams don't bother me, but the tragedy and senselessness of events that happen in real life often do.

[Dream] Cobras & Demons

Two big dreams last night. In the first, I worked in some sort of a warehouse where people would come to have dinner and watch performers do all sorts of things. A group of snake charmers were charming a shit-ton of cobras (they were a bunch of pretty colors, though).

Now, I don't like snakes and I'm scared to death of cobras and vipers! Well, one snake charmer came over to me and tapped on my right shoulder (from the front). The cobra leaned down and laid its head (or nudged its head) on my right shoulder without biting me. I was scared shitless and I remember holding my breath in terror!

Then, the snake charmer was touched by the cobra and the snake charmer ended up dying -- I tried to run around and find an antidote (something called H1-something or another, but could only find H2-something). The guy's body bloated up and died, his stomach was big and distended like you'd see in a Feed the Children ad.

I did not die from the cobra touching me, though. I felt like, somehow, I'd been blessed and protected by the cobra (not sure if that makes sense). So, THAT dream was freaky and weird. But then...

Discovery: I have a lot of dreams -- a TON of them! -- about battling and/or exorcizing demons. Most always when I forget to take my Trazodone before bed. Then I wake up with a sore body and barely able to move from having my muscles tensed up all night, as a result of fighting demons (could you get more symbolic?!).

Last night I was helping our friend Carly's neighborhood rid itself of demons and Josh P. showed up as well. I didn't want to do down into Carly's basement, because it would be a high and tenuous climb to get back out of it, but I went in there anyway.

When it was time to get out, there was no other way except to climb up a steep, rigged ladder that was unsafe and shaky. I'm terrified of heights in real life, so in the dream I had no other choice but to face my fears and climb that shaky ladder and chance falling a long way down. Since there was no other way than up that ladder, I decided to avoid looking down and climb that ladder. I was scared to death. In the end, the ladder nearly came loose, but I made it up and out of the basement and to safety again.

Funny how the demons were less scary than that damned ladder climb! Anyway, last night's dream couldn't have been more dead-on about life right now, or how I'm feeling. I've never wanted to climb 'that ladder' many times in my life. I don't want to now, either. But sometimes climbing 'that ladder,' no matter how scary it might be, is the only way out of the abyss known as the basement. Damn...helluva dream, eh? Lots to think about.

[Dream] Defending friends from hate and gossip

If I ever had a normal dream (whatever that is!), I'd be surprised. Then again, I'd probably be disappointed since I'm so used to strange, twisted, surreal dreams.

Last night I dreamed I was in a large building where church services and other events were held. More than one group or organization would meet there. In this case, I was there to learn how to conduct a special ritual or service for a LGBTQ organization. I was there as an ally, because in this dream (and in real life), I'm heterosexual. They gave me an impressive, white-feathered cape/robe to wear. It was heavy, but gorgeous. The feathers were small, not large, and there were countless ones all over over the cape/robe.

In another area of the building, a right-wing, evangelical church congregation was meeting. I found out through observation and overhearing things that they were saying awful, mean things about my friends in the LGBTQ organization. The churchgoers would smile a fake smile when they saw anybody from the group I was with, but then they'd immediately talk and gossip about them, making fun of who they were and saying snarky things about gays and homosexuality in general. They were haughty in their manner and acting like they were better than everyone else.

The thing that angered me the most was the two-faced behavior of the churchgoers. They would plaster on a fake smile, then drop the act and become vicious and mean when they went back to their area. In real life, as well as in my dreams, I can't stand such duplicity. I cannot stand it even more when nobody will challenge it and call people out on their behavior.

When I got the chance, I went over to the area where the churchgoers were and I stepped out into the big room/area, startling them (because they were busy trashing my friends down the hallway in another room). Four of the church leaders/evangelicals were at the front of the room, and I walked up to them and pointed at all of them. Then I confronted them about their false, duplicitous behavior. They were so taken aback, they didn't know what to say. Someone had heard and seen what they were doing, and they never expected to get caught.

After confronting the mean-spirited and homophobic congregation, I walked out of the room, leaving all of them speechless. Then I returned to my friends at the LGBTQ event, donned my white-feathered robe, and learned how to conduct the honorary ritual. It was a beautiful, uplifting ceremony and everyone was happy. I was nervous, but did okay.

After it was all over, there was much laughter and hugging, with plenty of conversation. I was glad that I had stood up for my friends and defended them against people who pretended to be good people and holier than thou, but who were actually mean-spirited, gossipy homophobes who gained pleasure from hurting others and saying awful things about other people.

A strange, interesting dream, but the end of it was terribly satisfying.

[Dream] Who is John Kavorsky, and why is his name in my dream?

John Kavorsky. I do not know anybody by that name, but I read his name in one of my dreams the other night. 

My old FB friends will know that I have a habit of seeing names, addresses, and random words in my dreams at times. I try to write them down or record them in some way just in case I need to refer back to them. 

I also saw "Ft. Ord" written on an old stone sign at my former university, Phillips University in Enid, OK. Why "Ft. Ord" would be written at the bottom of that sign is beyond me. Doesn't make sense. Then again, Trazodone-fueled dreams usually don't make sense.

[Dream of July 29, 2013] A steep road, impish statues and lush greenery

Last night I had a cool dream where I was in a car with some people (I don’t remember who), and we were traveling up a steep, one-lane road that wound around and had sharp curves. It was precarious, but still beautiful because both sides of the road were lush with greenery and featured all sorts of beautiful plants. Within the plants and greenery that dotted the side of the steep road, there were countless statues and parts of statues of all types. Some were peeking out, some were posed, some looked like they were intentionally placed there for artistic effect. The lush, deep green plants and trees/bushes grew up, over, and around the statues…it was fascinating and beautiful.

I was driving, and although I was fearful of the steep road (and worried another car would come down the hill and force us off the road or hit us), I couldn’t help but marvel at the beauty all around us as we made the trip. We eventually made it to the top of the street and up the hill, although at one point I had to stop, put the small car in reverse (it was as small as a Mini Cooper — reminded me of a European car), and carefully back it down the road a bit (not sure why). But eventually we continued our trek up the hilly road.

Once we arrived, there was a beautiful stone mansion with majestic pillars on the outside. The place had an astonishing view. We got out, but from there I don’t remember much after that.

The prevailing memory from the dream was the amazing beauty of the foliage and how the statues were cleverly placed along the side of the road, seemingly peeking out from behind leaves and trees as if they were alive and not merely made of stone. There was an impish, playful nature about the whole thing. Like the statues were alive, but shy and hiding. Like…I don’t know…guardians? I don’t know how else to capture the feel of it.

A strange, yet wonderful dream. I needed the respite from the nightmares I’ve been having lately.

The Buddhist Temple/Pagoda Dream

The other night I had an interesting dream that involved a longtime friend and former classmate of mine, Cyndy C. I've already shared it with her, and now I'm posting it here so I can tag it for future reference should I need it.

Essentially, we were tooling around Colorado Springs in a small car -- like a Mini Cooper -- and having lots of fun hanging out and seeing all sorts of stuff, including having lunch. We left lunch and got in the car, saw a HUGE pagoda-like building, drove up the steps (!) and parked right at the entrance. Nobody said anything to us about parking there. We got out of the car and went straight inside.

It was an open building -- no doors -- and it was a massive combination Zen Buddhist temple and marketplace selling incense, mini altar statues, Buddhas, incense burners, altar supplies and the like. We walked around, checking out the wares. We spoke with various Buddhist monks who were wandering around, greeting people who were visiting. It was exceptionally pleasant.

We were up on the massive top floor. The pagoda-like structure had a red brick-colored roof (not made of bricks, but of red ceramic tile) and there was an odd sea-foamish green color used throughout the structure -- very brushed, worn and old. The pillars of the building were painted with the red brick color, too.

We were checking out the layout of the main floor at the top when we noticed there were holes, or shafts, that led to the bottom. It appeared there was some kind of machinery down inside of them. I remember looking down into one of the shafts and asking what it was and what was I was seeing in there.

A monk told us the entire building was built on top of a large, old ship (which was the same sea-foam green -- worn and with the paint rubbed off the ship's steel hull). He said it was to honor the Zen Buddhist monks who had been on the ship when it wrecked and sank. So what we were seeing when we looked down those rectangular holes/shafts were the remains of the ship, which was what the temple was built upon. Essentially, it was an altar of remembrance to those monks who had perished in the ship accident!

That's how the dream ended...but Cyndy and I were both fascinated by the story the monks told us about the history of this place of worship. We loved the place in this dream. It was so peaceful and felt so homey. The energy was loving and accepting. Monks would freely come up to us and tell us about their history, worshipping rituals, legends and such. One monk came up to us with a large bundle of smoking incense (had to be like 50 sticks!) and it was smoking/burning. It was an incredibly enjoyable dream!

If you have any thoughts, ideas or interpretations of this dream, feel free to post in the comments. :-)