Thursday, December 15, 2011

Dream Journal: December 15, 2011

I dreamed I was at a small department store across the street from the Dollar General store. I bought a bunch of junk food. Cookies, candies and two Slim Jim meat sticks which were twice as tall as the bag the stuff was in. As a result I had a difficult time tying the bag, which I would not have worried about but I had to go to the Dollar store for some other things and worried that the clerk there would think I'd brought it in to shoplift.

As I walked into the store the first thing I noticed was Sandy Denny playing on the store's sound system. Odd that someone would be playing Denny, but even more so because the Dollar store doesn't even have an in-store sound system. I decided it must be coming from the portable stereo at the check-out counter. I made a point to congratulate the cashier on her excellent choice in music. 

I showed the checker my tied-up bag from across the street to let her know that she could trust me not to rip them off, then I walked to the back of the store where the fabric softeners were kept. Apparently a bottle of Downy was my purpose for coming to the store. To the strains of "Listen, Listen" I checked out the stock only to find that they were out of the proper size. They only had a slightly smaller bottle and a really big bottle...but both of them were only half full. I noticed that all the brands of fabric softener were half full and I thought, well maybe you're supposed to add water now? 

I decided I'd wait until I was sure the situation wasn't universal before making a purchase and I walked towards the exit, still intending to compliment the cashier for her choice of music.  When I saw her I was struck with the impression that she was not the kind of person who liked Sandy Denny. Don't ask me why. I know it's stupid. But it discouraged me from saying anything. 

There was a small refrigerator near the counter...not one of those refrigerator units the keep soda pop in, you know, the point-of-purchase "yeah, might as well get something to drink, never mind that it's twice the price of warm soda in the pop section" trick. Just a small ice box. I opened the door and as the frost rolled out I noticed something in the door shelf. A CD. A copy of "No More Sad Refrains: the Sandy Denny Anthology". What it was doing in there I wouldn't even presume to guess, but I wasn't going to say anything about it. 

I walked out of the store befuddled and I woke up even more so. I'm not convinced that dream interpretation isn't on the same level as telephone psychic hot lines, but it would be interesting, even if not enlightening, to know what this one signified. Some possible factors that may play into a genuine interpretation:

  • I've been fairly successful in maintaining a low calorie diet over the last month or two. The junk food (especially the Slim Jims) represents a strong craving for food that actually tastes good.

  • A paranoid suspicion that people, store employees in general, think I'm going to steal from them, even though it's the farthest thing from my mind. 

  • Maybe I should break out that Sandy Denny anthology and give it a spin.

  • An almost desperate desire to bond with someone based upon their taste in music, which is actually significant because all my best friends have scattered across the land and it would do me a world of good to make some new ones. Yet I don't feel that I can do that with anyone who isn't as passionate about music as I am. Maybe I'm cutting myself out with such a requirement, but I can't help it. Music is my comfort zone and up to now I have yet to be introduced to anyone with similar characteristics.

That last one probably holds the key to the entire dream. I would elaborate but I've already spent more time on this post than I had planned. 

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