subconsciously busy

I forgot to add one more thing to my "busy list" from my earlier post: I've been subconsciously busy. I have had the craziest dreams lately, and they often revolve around something really stressful. (Which is part of the reason that I've been waking up in the night and having a hard time going back to sleep - hence the reason that I'm writing his post at 3:00 am). Some of them are pretty funny, though, so I thought I'd write them down.

Dream #1: I just barely dreamed that J and I were at a rehearsal/studio recording session with J's old band, Fictionist. We were standing around in an old shack - the interior had been painted in streaks with a bigillion different colors of spray paint. Anyhow, J and I had to go home and grab something (I think they were sandwiches for lunch). As we started to drive back towards the shack, a huge volcano in front of us erupted. J had to turn down the a side street (into oncoming traffic), to try and beat the lava flow before it covered our little Prius.

We turned onto this long, straight boulevard that went directly to the shack. The lava flow kept coming. It was weird - in one way, I was driving the car, but I also was sitting in the passenger seat. I had to push the gas pedal all the way down, so that we could speed up faster than the lava - and we were only barely in front of the lava flow the whole time we drove down the street. If you could have seen an aerial view of my dream, it would have looked like our Prius was surfing in the wake of the lava (it was almost curling up and around the back of our car, threatening to fall down at any second). It was really stressful - even though I was driving the car at one point, at another point I was in the passenger seat and I kept shouting, "I love you!" to J, since I thought we were about to be smothered.

Anyhow, the lava flow petered out at the same time we reached the shack (in fact, the lava flow went about four inches underneath the shack door before stopping). We ran inside the door and announced that we had barely escaped the lava. I remember that Jacob Jones' eyes got really huge and he said, "Really?" Apparently, the band didn't hear the volcano eruption while they were rehearsing. Everyone went outside to look at the lava, but Stu stayed behind. He wasn't even phased by the lava or the eruption. Instead, I must have said the word "sandwich" while I was telling our story to the band, because Stu just wanted to talk about that. He said, "I think it's really interesting that you pronounce the word like 'SAND-wich.' In Philadelphia, a lot of people say 'SUN-wich' instead." And then Stu and I went into a detailed conversation about how to pronounce "sandwich."

Dream #2: I dreamt last night that I had to go on a second mission, but I had the exact same missionary companions, president, etc. In my dream I was in my last transfer (I was about to go home in two days), even though I was with the missionaries from the penultimate transfer of my actual mission. We were at a missionary conference, and I could NOT speak Portuguese correctly - English phrases and sentences kept popping out. Everything I said was Portu-glish gibberish. I was getting really upset and explained to someone, "It's not my fault that I can't speak Portuguese anymore - Sister MC insists that I speak English with her all the time!" I felt like such an idiot and wished that I could go home that second. And then the mission president's wife stood up and started to say how missionaries in Brazil were now required to wear long-sleeved shirts all the time (and she stood next to me and glared at my inappropriate short-sleeved shirt). Then I was really glad that I was about to go home.

Dream #3: I was singing in a choir and needed to find a place to change into my choir outfit. We were singing in an outdoor venue, and people already had started to arrive. I kept wandering around, trying to find a bathroom to use while I changed. Everything was full, so I had to walk down this really long hill until I found another small bathroom. I went inside and was in my underwear when the choir director barged in with her daughter. She said, "I'm sorry, but this bathroom is the only entrance to the venue. Everyone needs to come in here so they can get to their seat before we sing." And with that, a stream of people started to walk through the bathroom. So I had to run up this really long hill (in my underwear) and find another bathroom to use as a changing room. I finally found a one that was occupied, but I was able to sneak in the bathtub and pull across the shower curtain for some privacy. Then I walked outside and realized I had the wrong outfit on.

Anyhow, this is just a sampling of the dreams I've had lately. They usually involve some type of stressful situation in which I have to run around, try not to die, or try not to come across as an idiot. No wonder I wake up in the morning and am still tired.