5/01/2007

Thunder Only Happens When It's Raining

I had a dream last night that I was on my way to a hotel in the town that I grew up in.

While I was walking along a crowded street, a small person with an elaborate clown face blocked my way and looked menacingly at me. I was able to go around her but shortly after I was on my way again, a rough and tumble blonde haired man stopped me and was shouting at me that I’d been rude to his friend and all she wanted was a cigarette. I fished in my pockets and pulled out a single cigarette and gave it to him and he let me continue on.

I got to the hotel which seemed to be a boarding house. I checked in at the front desk and walked up some stairs to my room. I let myself in and found the bed unmade, a lot of clothes strewn around the room and an open suitcase with more clothes spilling out of it. I called down to the front desk and they had a ‘so what?’ attitude.

The guy who’d made me give him the cigarette came in and it was his room. I was trying to explain there’d been a mix-up and he just sat there smoking and looking at me. I heard voices out in the hall and several young people who I understood to work at the hotel were out there laughing and talking. I called over a young blonde girl and explained the situation and the attitude at the front desk. She was very apologetic and told me she’d make sure it was cleared up.

She then told me that if I gave her a --- and she used some sort of slang I wasn’t familiar with. She explained that if I showed her I had a 20 dollar bill, she’d get me a deluxe room in another hotel down the street called The Princess of Wales hotel. I showed her the 20 and she told me to go there and they would know to give me a good room.

I woke up.

So, this is what I know:

I watched the Amazing Race and there’s a little person on it.

I read Bubs’ interview of Melinda June and she mentioned her dislike for clowns.

I’ve had smoking on my mind a lot since being in England where it’s practically law that you smoke like a chimney.

There is a Princess of Wales theatre here but no hotel by that name.

The only place you can buy satisfaction for a paltry 20 bucks is in my dreams.

27 comments:

Melinda June said...

You are obviously psychic, dale.

Cup said...

Did the small person dance and talk backwards?

Tanya Espanya said...

Or he's psychotic, Melinda!

;)

Allison said...

That is a great dream! I wish I could remember mine in such detail.

Tumuli said...

I was just thinking about "Dreams" the other day, but for entirely different reasons...

This reminds of my own dream analysis posted back in September. Still, my copy of Freud's "Interpretation of Dreams" remains incredibly useful these days. Nightmares abound!

Anonymous said...

Brains are weird, aren't they? This is what they choose to do in their spare time. You'd think they'd be trying to cure cancer or something, but no.

Fearless said...

Everyone in your dreams is blonde....creepy!

Anonymous said...

Did you smell the smoke? It must be in the air, today I almost smoked a cig. Work, mortgage, bills and just daily crap is getting to me. Maybe I'll move to England.

Barbara Bruederlin said...

That's pretty sweet - you only had to SHOW her the $20? I wonder what sort of great service you would have gotten if you had actually GIVEN her the money?

Writeprocrastinator said...

David Lynch has mainlined your cortex. Prepare for a visit by a lady caressing a log and Robert Blake in pancake makeup.

Seriously, it amazes me in dreams that the simplest things will alleviate distress, yet they are completely unattainable in the dream world.

Tenacious S said...

OK, you're titling these posts to take over my mind aren't you? Well, it's not working Mr. Snide Ass.

668 aka neighbour of the beast said...

as soon as i read clowns, i had to fight the urge to hide under my desk.

mellowlee said...

That is a great dream! I haven't had a dream I remembered for a while. I think I've been too tired! I can relate to being around smokers a lot lately. The friends who helped me move chain smoked. I think I went through two packs of dentyne fire today.

larry h. said...

What's that London air doing to you, mate?

BeckEye said...

This sounds like a movie I watched recently on the Sundance channel.

Marni said...

So funny! I posted about my latest strange dream yesterday...

Aren't the fascinating?

Jill said...

Someone has weirdest dream than me!!!

Joe said...

Dale, I'll try to find my hypno-disk and see if we can delve deeper into this dream of yours...

You're describing (in the exchange with the girl from the hotel) what is called in Las Vegas "the $20 trick" in which you hand a folded $20 to the desk clerk along with your credit card and ask politely if any upgrades are available. It doesn't work there any more, so your dreams are truly the last refuge of $20 satisfaction.

Jenny Jenny Flannery said...

I want to take a vacation. Destination: Your subconscious...that is if you'll have me.

Chancelucky said...

Dale,
When I read your dream, I didn't think about your Londom trip at all. Having seen some of your stories about your childhood, I simply assumed that any dream about coming back to your home town and having to stay in a less than adequate hotel...suggests some feeling that "home" doesn't feel like home for various reasons.
Second there was this notion of the kind of "hotel" you should have gotten there.
The clowns made me think of the way the adult version of you seems to use humor to smooth over your inner world (pretty good strategy as best I can tell).

the interesting thing to me was the happy ending where they recognize that you're not getting the room you deserve and they send you to another "hotel" where you'll be properly taken care of.

the only London connection is a bit scary....it seems to suggest that Melinda June and Coaster Punchman have become your family in some way. That's a good thing I guess, then on the other hand I read their blogs and think about the 3 of you wandering London and I shake my head..

Anonymous said...

Actually the law down here now is not to smoke. Unless you're a clown. In which case who gives a f***

Moderator said...

Eeeeeee Clowns!

Dale said...

Clearly I am Melinda June. In fact, I know what you're thinking right now.

If only Beth, and then I could have just said Fire Walk With Me or some such. The only Twin Peaks may have been the blondie heads.

Tanya, you clearly have excellent insights at times.

It's not often I remember them with such clarity Allison but I like it when I can.

Ah, the nightmares Tumuli, I've had my share of those too. I'll have to go back and refresh myself on your dream analysis.

My brain is sometimes very weird PinkFluffySlippers, I'm sure analysts would have a field day wandering in mine.

It's alarming isn't it Fearless? At least they weren't gingers out for justice!

Let me know when you're packed Bluez, I'm there.

I'm guessing full release Barbara or is that $50 now? I'm so bad with numbers.

Oh not Robert Blake WP, I beseech you. I can handle anything but the sight of him in that film.

It is so working Tenacious S and you know it!

What happens when you look at your avatar 668?

I hope the one fire put out the other MellowLee. And I'm glad you're moved!

Larry H! It's making me smile and long for another visit is all.

Was I in it at least Beckeye? Please tell me I played myself to perfection.

Yours was funny and strange Marni.

That was a tame dream for me Jill, usually there's more turmoil and drama.

Any professional help or help from a hypnodisc is welcome Bubs! I'll keep my 20 I guess.

You can travel in my subconcious or my unconcious but I won't have you on my conscience Flannery Alden! Okay, maybe I will.

It wasn't the kind of happy ending that would have made it a great dream Chancelucky but man, I guess I should send you the 20 for your insights? You hit a few good theories there that seem to work but don't scare off CP or MJ before I propose marriage to them both.

Yes Freelance, the signs are up that the chimney style fun stops this summer. What will the Brits do then?

A very appropriate reaction Grant. And the eyebrow nails it!

Old Lady said...

How did you know I had a clown face?

Dale said...

You're too sweet to have a clown face. And too tall Old Lady.

X. Dell said...

Wow. That's a dream.

As an archetypical symbol, a hotel could represent a temporary condition of life, and a room a state of being. Rough guys often symbolize urges that aren't well socialized. Cigarettes sometimes mean, well, cigarettes; usually, though, they symbolize the membrum virale.

Does that lend any clarity to the dream, or would you like me to elaborate?

Dale said...

So you're saying that I want to have rough sex in a hotel but I can't get my cigarette lit X. Dell? Kreskin's got nothing on you!