Sleeping: Where Dreams Meet Reality

The other morning I woke up to having remembered a dream rather vividly. I was walking alone down Hollywood Blvd. looking for a place to eat lunch. Every restaurant had tons of people dining outdoors on the sidewalk; a common custom in Europe that I happen to adore. I walked into a place where everybody was eating salads, including Michelle Pfeiffer who had also appeared for a quick moment in the movie preview I had seen the previous night. As I walked in, the female hostess quickly hurried inside. Of course she was busy because it was the lunch rush. She was wearing black shorts, a black top, and a black apron- an outfit rather familiar from my teenage years as a waitress. I waited to be seated because there was a chalkboard sign instructing me to do so which read "Please wait to be seated". On every table was a free snack, ready for you before you even sat down. I always told myself if I ever opened a restaurant that I would serve a bowl of red cherries for free, so of course something like this appeared in my dream as well. The only bizarre thing was that the snack was all the salad fixings excluding the lettuce and dressing, and it was being served in a white plastic bag instead of a bowl. Of course the bag wasn't plain though, it was covered in advertisements.

When I retold this dream to my friend Amy that morning it got me thinking about how weird but cool it is that we borrow from our real life experiences and then use those experiences to create a full story that feels realistic and true to life. The female hostess, her familiar black outfit, the sign, the bag with ads... all common visuals that I could encounter in my average day. When I retold my dream it was my friend who reminded me that Michelle Pfeiffer was in the preview we had seen the previous night; I would never have remembered that. It made me wonder how many other one-second visuals get burned into my memory and then resurface latter when I'm ready to find them.

Dreams are a mysterious and fascinating world where the rules of reality do not apply, but I believe we do not ignore reality, we incorporate it. No other person in the world has your background, emotions, or experiences and I feel that we draw from our personal lives to create our own unique dreams. So when dreaming, especially when awake, just remember to incorporate your unique perspective.

This blab is for Amy.

Goodreads: My Friends' Favorite Genres

It's been a while since I've thought about bar charts, but it's a visual I cannot ignore. I went on the website Goodreads.com today to see what my friends were reading and it looks like I choose to be friends with people similar to me. Non-fiction tends to be my favorite book genre which is also ranked #2 among my friends. So, if you want to be friends with me, this is a start. Let's talk non-fiction :)