Brain Sludge - Thu Jun 11

I dreamt Diane had convinced me, Helen and James to take part in a robbery from a shop. I think we’d got so desperate for cash that this seemed like the only way out. We even went as far as practicing it – going into the shop, and at a signal from Diane legging it really fast outside and round the corner. But on the morning of the heist I suddenly came to my senses and decided it wasn’t worth it. I went round to see James to try and talk him out of it too… “have a think, Jim… if we’re caught robbing a shop there is actually a very real possibility we might go to prison…”

But of course by now the dream had been infested virally by some of my not-so-subconscious stress at the busyness of Arts Life in Milton Keynes, and so the latter part mainly revolved around me trying to draft and redraft an email to Diane where I explained why I wouldn’t be turning up for the robbery later that day. But somehow I just couldn’t get the wording right. First it was too formal, then too casual. And meanwhile the clock was ticking inexorably onwards towards the time I was supposed to meet them for the blag!

I love dreams. As I was saying to Darren last night on the dog n’ telephone, almost all of the best things I have ever written have come either directly or indirectly from a dream. It’s probly cos the nature of dreams adds that all-important layer of inspiration / imagination that it’s far harder to tap into when you’re awake. Dreams skew. I find it difficult to think ‘round corners’ when I’m awake, but dreams think in every direction. Maaaaan. ;-)

I’ve been dawdling at a leisurely pace through my old LiveJournal (if you like, the Blog which pre-dated this Blog, circa 2003 – 2006) cos I think it’s time I shut it down and scrubbed it out. As with my first ever website (on something that was called Xoom) and my first ever non-work email address (with something that was called Postmaster), the world has moved on. But reading back over it is comforting too - in a way - seeing who I was during that time span, to see that my highs and lows then were higher and lower, and that I have moved on too.

And that my dreams are still as important as they always were…

Sept 11th 2003
“Dreamt Simon's boss took me aside and asked me confidentially if it was true what she'd read in the local paper - that Simon had decided to adapt "The Silmarillion" for stage. She'd heard he'd come up with the idea while drunk, so I had to placate her.”

Feb 17th 2005
“In other dream news, I've been having this recurring dream that there are four or five missing episodes from the end of the third series of Monty Python. They were never shown at the time, as they're far too bleak and sinister, with very few laughs. In one of them, they invented the characters who later become The Young Ones. Most of the sketches take place in a very cold, bare, semi-detached house with splatters of blood and bits of meat on the walls. I am fascinated by these dreams. I wish it were true.”

March 28th 2005
“Had a brilliant nightmare this morning where Jennifer Aniston was trying to seduce me (s'okay, it gets worse!), and we were sat in a big chair, with her sitting behind me. She grabbed my arms at the wrist, and started beating out this kind of voodoo rhythm on the arms of the chair with me. It went kind of Beat-Beat Beat Beat Click (the click being a finger snap), and was somehow her taking control of me. I woke up with a start after the voodoo became frenzied, only to discover I couldn't move at all. My arms especially were completely rigid at a ninety degree angle from my body. It was as if Aniston still had control over me even though the dream was over. I lay like that for what seemed like ten minutes, but must have only been twenty seconds, before I realised I was being stoopid and of course I could move. Later dreamed that Wayne had a really slutty sister who was very sweaty and hairy but kept trying to lure me into her massive bed, which was about ten feet off the ground on stilts.”

March 24th 2006
“Dreamt Helen had bought a series of pets that were designed to only live a day, so that each day you could have a different pet. They would look just like a normal pet once you got them out of the packet, they felt alive, they acted like a real animal, but towards the end of the day, they would slow down, start to look sick, then crumble into dust. On successive days, we had a rabbit, a cat and a monkey. Even in the dream I was struck by the unpleasantness of this, and wondered why she'd done it.”