What Dreams May Come

Lately I've come across a lot of people who, either periodically, or constantly, experience vivid movie-like dreams; dreams from which they sometimes wake up exhausted, as if they had been up all night watching movies, instead of sleeping.

In my dream, I had just moved to Hollywood (not Los Angeles in general, Hollywood itself with its 1930s bungalows) with my 5 year-old daughter (!) I didn't know anyone yet, but my daughter had been invited to a birthday party, and I was driving our little car in search of the right house. Fortunately, I was being guided by the ghost (or more like a spirit, not frightening) of a young woman. She lived in our house I think, á la The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

I dropped my daughter off and mingled for a few minutes with other mothers who were having cosmos in cocktail dresses upstairs (and eyeing me curiously, since I had spent little time on my own appearance, getting my daughter ready for the party). My hair, a sandy dark blonde (my own boring color), was a bit greasy and I was wearing a white t-shirt and black pants, and no doubt, to them I looked more like a waitress than a Hollywood "yummy mommy."

I remember one of the women was smoking one of those long slim "woman's cigarettes" in an ultra-light (curious, since Angelenos are notorious smoke haters). They had the TV on, showing a beauty pageant, but this was a beauty pageant for men. I was shaken, when I saw my (ex-?) boyfriend, a model, walk down the runway in a relaxed casual shirt and jeans, one hand brushing his blond locks behind an ear. He came in second, but I didn't stay to watch him get "crowned" or whatever they do in male model pageants. I made something up about running errands and coming back to pick her up in a few hours, and got in my car.

My new spirit-friend steered me towards the beach (Pacific Palisades I think), where a small crowd of policemen was gathering, along with some curious onlookers. In the distance, I could see were two cinnamon-colored Model-T Fords (!). I parked my car hastily and got out to see better. I was on top of a small bluff. I was approaching the crowd, when suddenly I lost my footing a bit, and as I looked down, a small scream escaped me. To the right of my foot was a pit filled with sand or gravel, out of which a man's feet were sticking up towards the sky. He was wearing once-shiny black Italian mafia shoes, a bit pointy. I was feeling very queasy, when one of the policemen came to herd me and a woman reporter away from the scene. My spirit friend smiled an enigmatic, but relieved sigh, and walked away into the distance.

I woke up.

And this was just one of the dreams I had last night. Anyone have a clue what this dream "means" in the language of dreams? I sure don't.

Sometimes I go through a time when I have so much REM for so many nights that I myself feel like a walking ghost at daytime. I've often said to my Dad, whose in the medical field, that one day they will actually diagnose it and call it Excessive REM Syndrome (ERS). No deep sleep, just movie after movie after movie; and more exhausting than a night of movie watching, since you're an active participant. Imagine having a movie like James Bond, except you're the agent who has to fight the bad guys... pretty tiring.

Anyone else ever experience anything like this?