The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of

Or not.

Last night, my friend Dr. Joey and I went to see Guillermo del Toro’s new film, The Orphanage. Erik had seen it recently and said that though there were lots of loose ends, he would definitely recommend I see it because it was very, very creepy. So I got all excited. I’m a jumpy one, during scary movies. I squeal and curse and scream. So of course, during the first 45 minutes or so of the movie, I did a lot of that. And then I started laughing at how ridiculous I must seem to the rest of the audience. And I couldn’t stop. I had to hold in both urges to scream real loud and laugh hysterically. So, needless to say, if you find yourself laughing in the middle of a scary movie, you’re probably not going to go home and have horrifying dreams. Or daydreams. Or experiences. Or imagined experiences.

I didn’t.

On the other hand, before the movie, Dr. Joey (who happens to be a psychiatrist) and I sat talking about recurring dreams and epic/saga dreams (dreams that not only recur, but grow older with you) and, of course, nightmares. Dreams make for very interesting conversations. And you realize they make less sense when you’re relaying them to someone, than they did in your head. You also realize you may want to censor. Those recurring dreams where (blank blank blank)? You might want to hold back.

Kidding. Dr. Joey is pretty easy to have strange conversations with. I did confirm, though:

Me:
So do you think I’m crazy?

Dr. Joey:
No. I think you’re more sane.

Besides. He had nightmares of his own. And other dreams…