I was having an awful time trying to come up with a topic to write about tonight. I’d like to discuss Occupy Wall Street, but I haven’t been following events closely enough to speak with any confidence and the situation is too complex to quickly study up tonight. I had an idea to read through the entire Constitution in parts and discuss it from my layman’s point of view, which I may still do if I think I can make it interesting enough, but that’d be a pretty dry subject and there’s really not enough time for that tonight. I’m positive there was something I had in mind this morning before breakfast, but by the time I was fully awake I’d forgotten and it’s stubbornly refused to come back. I was beginning to get frustrated.

Then, just as I was starting some brainless twaddle about operating systems and computer standards, this appeared in my inbox:

Topic #265:

Describe a dream you’ve had more than once.

Everyone has a dream, or nightmare, they’ve had more than once. Either write a post describing one, or explaining why you think it you’ve had the dream multiple times.

What an interesting thing to read! It fascinates me because I’ve never had the same dream twice, at least not that I can remember. In fairness, I often can’t remember my dreams at all. It’s possible, I suppose, that I’ve had a recurring dream and just not remembered it, but would that really count? Certainly I couldn’t describe or discuss it as suggested.

I DO recall, hazily, dreaming a sequel. Much like real Hollywood sequels the tone was often different, the faces changed and the story not as good as the first one, but it clearly was or at least clearly pretended to be a continuation of a previous dream. Perhaps I started having the same dream again and recognized it, thus jumping off into a new and different but still related dream?

I’ve always assumed recurring dreams to be a myth or a fictional device, something invented to symbolize divine intervention or the psychological struggles within a character. I’ve certainly had many recurring elements in my dreams; finding a forgotten room or even a whole wing in a house, driving a car with strange controls or that changes shape on the road, and my legs feeling heavy or moving in slow motion, for a few examples. But never the same dream.

Thing is, I really don’t think I’m some kind of freak here. I seriously doubt that it’s terribly uncommon to never have recurring dreams, I’m mean I’m just not that special. Surely I’m not the only one who read that and said, “Wait, I haven’t!” Are there any other never-recurring dreamers reading this?

Anyways, I’ll still try to address the topic.

One recurring element that I can easily explain is forgotten stairways and hidden rooms. I’ve always loved secret passages and hidden compartments, ever since I was a child. Perhaps my favorite story setting is the spooky old house filled with secrets and mysteries.

Should I ever become excessively wealthy I’ll build a huge house with more secret doors than obvious ones. I’ll have different levels of secrecy, from “secret” doors that everyone knows about to carefully concealed passages that future generations will be shocked to discover. Adventurous children will love the place. My inner child will cry that I never got to explore it when I was ten, ghosts will be lining up to haunt the place, each telling outrageous lies about how they died there under mysterious circumstances, and the Winchester Mystery House will sue my estate for demarcation.

Huh. I tried to address the topic, and promptly swerved into a new one. Oh well, I think that’s a lovely little fantasy to end the night on, so I’ll go try to dream about it. Good night everyone.