Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
SEPTEMBER 8, 2024 – I dream a lot—every night. Back when I maintained a daily journal I’d often recount the more unusual dreams, but it’s been years since I kept a diurnal record of things, dreams included. Last night, however, I experienced one of the strangest dreams of my life; so strange I feel a …
DECEMBER 10, 2023 – Nearly always a huge gap separates someone’s bizarre dream from the person’s description of it. Inevitably, the bright, colorful details of a dream fade quickly, though the general impression holds firm, at least through the dreamer’s transition into consciousness. “Oh my gosh but I had the weirdest dream last night!” your …
NOVEMBER 30, 2023 – For readers who’ve followed this blog since June 1, I’ve managed daily postings of two memoirs; writing projects with ample material that simply required assembly. Each day I reviewed plans, gathered parts, and applied tools to the task. Never did I experience “writer’s block.” Today, however, I find myself without map …
MARCH 18, 2023 – I wouldn’t hurt a flea. Well, maybe a flea, and true confession: I’ve killed my share of mosquitoes. And swatted flies and flushed many a wood tick down the toilet. But murder a human being? I’d be incapable of that. . . . Or would I? The other night in my …
FEBRUARY 17, 2023 – Last night I experienced an unusual dream segment. It was connected to a long, diverse chain of dreams; a seemingly endless train like the one that ambles past a crossing on my way to downtown St. Paul whenever I’m running late. With several acquaintances, I was standing in a hallway somewhere. …
JANUARY 9, 2023 – Last night I experienced my usual kaleidoscope of dreams. In one segment, I was leading my wife on a chase through the back, cluttered offices of a bank. Our objective was to cash a check. She wore an N95 mask, but I’d forgotten mine, so I held my breath as we …
DECEMBER 18, 2022 – When you’re young, you dream big dreams. When you’re old, you light your pipe, lean back in the recliner and recall the big dreams that might’ve been but for circumstances . . . beyond . . . ahem . . . your control. In my case, the big dream derailed because …
NOVEMBER 5, 2022 – Blogger’s note: Given the subject matter of this (lengthy) post, I found it difficult to split it into installments. I think you’ll understand why, assuming you read the post in its entirety. I hadn’t touched my fiddle in a week, and before that, not in a month; maybe that’s why …
SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 – We’re well into football season. What’s notable is that I’m mentioning it: I’ve never been a football fan. For a short time last season, I developed an appreciation for the sport, thanks to our son Cory, who is not merely a fan but a close follower of all details regarding the …
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022 – (Cont.) Late in my dream sequence last night appeared a garbage container. Yes, a large, plastic garbage container like the ones that line our alley on garbage pick-up day, which happened to be today. The refuse receptacle was the sole object of the dream, and it was a veritable wreck. A …
SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 – (Cont.) The dream last night must’ve been triggered by yesterday’s appointment with Dr. O’Leary, “BMT doc of the month.” I’d met the good doctor on the day of my “chemo-blast.” Back then, Dr. O’Leary, a bit of a killjoy though a life-long downhill skier, had told me I’d have to give …
JULY 18, 2022 – Over the weekend, while sitting on our dock, I watched cumulus clouds billowing upward over the lake. Earlier, when our six-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter was doing likewise and seeing dragons and unicorns, she’d asked, “How are clouds made?” I explained that when the earth warms by day, the moist, heated air near the …
AUGUST 28, 2021 – “Stay off the MSG,” our son Byron texted in response to a synopsis of my dream Thursday night. Years ago he would have been right. Whenever I ate lunch at the Nanking a block from my office tower in downtown Minneapolis, I experienced hallucinogenic dreams the following night—after my hands tingled …
JUNE 15, 2021 – In one of my dreamworlds, I’m an “as-long-as-I-want-to-be-professor-at-large” at some small, leafy, liberal arts college in a quiet New England town. I design my courses, decide my class times, and select my students. I’m assigned a small office on the third floor of a creaky, original academic building—a room lined with …
JANUARY 30, 2021 – By whatever causes, I’m a dream machine—and always have been, since my earliest days. My deceased elders—parents, both sets of grandparents, and sole uncle—still figure prominently in my dreams, proving, that there really is an afterlife, though I have no way of knowing whether the dead people featured therein are cognizant …
MAY 17, 2020 – Often I dream about the book I’m currently reading. I fully anticipate this when I’m reading—“What part of this book, what scene, what subplot, what character will wend its way into my dreams tonight?” And then some weird and whacky version of the book does, in fact . . . er, …
MARCH 22, 2020 – When my wife is under stress, she can’t sleep. She gets out of bed, goes downstairs, turns on lots of lights and . . . organizes stuff. When I’m under stress, I dream dreams that mirror the stress. Among my dreams the night before last was a direct hit. I was …
NOVEMBER 25, 2019 – All my life I’ve experienced vivid dreams. Many reflect anxieties in life. Other dreams are fun or interesting. Some provide ideas. Saturday night I dreamt I was with three close (real-life) associates in a strategy session regarding a big (real-life) project. Having the floor, I described a formal, illustrated presentation for …