I have the strangest dreams. No, wait - don't click away. I know that hearing about other people's dreams is about the most boring thing on the planet, and unlike some people (Ahem, bleat bleat, ahem) I won't bore you with my personal demons turned fairy without warning.

No, mine are, I believe, literally unique - nobody I know has dreams like I do. I used to dream in the normal way, short sequences of intense fear or love, bright coloring, unclear details. Now, I have what I would call Movie Dreams, or perhaps Writer's Dreams.

(OK, I can't explain further without some details. I won't blame you if you click away)

This morning I dreamt I was escorting my wife to a class she wanted to take - pretty normal so far, as the class was filled with various people we know, or that I've known, over the years. But then it started, and things got strange. The Professor, who was a pretty normal guy in my opinion, starting in on a subject, some local history, that I know nothing about - and spoke at length. Again I don't want to bore with details, but my big question when I open my eyes: If this is my dream, in my brain, then how are these people having intense dialog for minutes at a time about things that I've never studied, heard about, or otherwise encountered? I guess the strangest thing is that I'm surprised by what happens.

I mentioned I refer to them as "Movie Dreams" as well. That's because I sometimes dream of complete movie scenes - fictional characters, slowly developing through facial expressions and dialog, talking about things I've never heard about or thought about. Recently a dream ended with a plaintive, older woman explaining and pleading to me that her lawyer kept her involved in some personal case for a very long time. I asked how long, and she showed me a pamphlet which included a photo of herself, and replied "This is what I looked like when the case began." In the dream, I saw the woman, and a photo of her that must have been 20 years younger. And the action was very deliberate - she removed the pamplet from her purse, which had some legal documents and such in there. She opened it, found the page, and showed it to me. My viewpoint changed from looking at the woman, to her purse, to the pamphlet, and incredulously back to her face. After that things got pretty normal as far as dreams go and I advised her to kill him by driving a stake through his heart since he must be a Vampire. Ok, so I'm not Einstein dreaming over here.

The other strange thing is that some dreams repeat, but after a very long time. I had one recently where a single scene (my "Movie" dreams are often many scenes in length - like 10, all interconnected and with a plot) was a repeated scene from one of my dreams years ago. It was a woman I didn't know, having a conversation with someone I didn't know, about things I don't know about. They went on and on, and although dreams themselves happen very quickly, the time elapsed in their conversation could not have been less than 20 minutes. I mean, these conversations are Kevin Smith-like in their length and cleverness. No joke, the people use conversational pauses, changes of emphasis, and facial expressions that are, without doubt, beyond my own somewhat wooden level of communication.

So, why write about it? For one, I want to remember this stuff, because I normally don't dream because I wake up early. It's when I go back to sleep at times like this, when I am on vacation, that they come.

Second, because this morning had a very strange one. Start normally - guy I know from high school, Tommy Philips. I didn't know him that well, but we were on the Cross Country team together for a couple years so I know some things about him. Over the years I've had updates, such as whom he married and what his job is.

So, in the dream, here's Tommy, and we start with that sort of uncomfortable stilted conversation you reserve for acquaintences you're not even sure you want to talk to. I make small talk - I ask him questions that I know the answers to, from other sources, such as if he got married and what he's doing. Soon we warm up and we're going for 5 minutes or so, laughing about some things and talking about new interests (he fishes now - can you believe that?). What's funny is, he keeps calling me "Del Russo". After the third time, when he stumbles over a "Da..." and reverts to "Del Russo", I realize he's forgotten my first name. What did I do? Crescendo? No, I calmly mentioned my name over the next couple sentences, giving it to him without putting him on the spot, and we continued for some minutes, then I left.

That's just not dream material - that's what happens in real life. So, what does it mean?

Call me a skeptic when it comes to dreams - I've always believed that they don't mean anything, that they are pretty much random memories elicited by electron fire in one's brain, tied together to make sense by one's imagination - one's impressive ability to take events and feelings and knit them into a somewhat coherent thought. But. My dreams aren't like that, really. They're too long, and they take place at the wrong point of my sleep cycle.

What I think, is that these dreams are a window into how a real author or film director works - all the time. Or, when they are at their best - lots of imagination and an eye for detail. When I am awake, I don't have the free imagination and knowledge necessary to write a 10 minute dialog. But some people do, and I suspect that to some degree they can "dream up" their scenes and narratives consciously the way I do unconsciously. In other words, these are sort of "flashes of brilliance" indicating a career path and style of thinking that I am maybe ->||<- this close to possessing. Those who actually possess the ability can do it reliably, well, and with purpose. I do it when I sleep too late. I don't mean to disparage the real work that authors and directors accomplish - more of an homage, as it's pretty incredible to me to have such an imagination for these things, and I wish in "real life" I did. It would probably be quite compelling.

Happy Monday.