Step inside T.C.’s Dreams
I originally posted this on the Vendor X comment section. ‘Vendor X’ is the pseudonym for a friend named Mike whom I attended boarding school with at Subiaco Academy. He and I became very good friends, and it happened that he made an appearance in a dream that I recently had. I thought it was significant enough to share with everyone that frequents his online journal. And I’m reproducing it here, because I think it’s significant enough for me to share with others as well.
When I remember my dreams, it’s aways in vivid detail. I don’t always remember a dream in its entirety, and on the rare occasion that I do, the dream ends up being a sequence of random scenes that more-or-less morph from one to the next in a way that’s almost impossible to explain in writing. And I’m sure it would be a little tricky to pull off visually even in Mike’s line of work, even with the best CG people in Hollywood. But I digress…
Last night I had one such dream, and in one particular scene I remember making a pit stop to pick up some lunch at a fast-food burger joint. I believe I was on some kind of road trip because I can’t remember the exact name of the restaurant and usually when I stop to pick up a burger, I try NOT to stop at a fast-food chain. I think I was traveling with somebody, I can’t exactly remember that detail, and if I was, that person must not have been anyone of personal significance because once I entered the restaurant, what my eyes immediately met drove any recollection of a traveling companion to the furthest reaches of my consciousness.
For in this burger joint, I happened upon not one, but two (2) Mike Heaneys. As plain as day. The pair were much younger than the original model, but identical in every detail. Which led me to believe that they might be clones, an accomplishment that I wouldn’t have put past Mike having gone to school with him and basically lived with him for four years. But these soon proved themselves to not be clones, or even to be associated with the original Mike at all. In fact, if Mike had somehow financed the manufacturing of two clones, then he obviously got totally pissed over the result of his investment and ostracized the pair on the spot.
The two of them had no idea who “Mike” was, and even though their likeness to his physical appearance was impeccable, their power of intellect was all but absent. In fact, Mike himself, the real Mike, probably would have used the phrase “gibbering twits” to describe this pair.
Wave after wave of shock ran over me as I tried to come to terms with the reality of what I was currently experiencing. I finally gave up the attempt and promptly turned to leave the restaurant and head back to my car, totally dismissing any previous notions of needing a burger, or the possibility that I might be leaving a passenger behind.
If you want to analyze this dream fragment, do so with caution. I’m not altogether sure that the fundamental truths of the universe as we know it would be able to handle any kind of interpretation.
tc
munkeegirl: Channeling the whole of German psychiatric tradition, I’m going to say the dream clearly means that Mike is 1) suffering from split personality 2) an old fogey, thus engendering the need for new models, especially now that the old one is defective and missing the toes.
Vendor X: What I want to know is, doesn’t one’s dreams usually reflect on THEM, and not the person they’re dreaming about?
T.C. what were these vile offshoots dressed like? I think that’s key. And did they speak with British accents?
geekhorde: I think what this is saying is that whatever presence of Mike’s that is in TC’s life is erzatz and not-quite-as-real as the real thing. I.e., his website, wonderful though it is, is a poor substitute for the flesh and blood (and guts, if truth be told) glory that is Michael B. Heaney.
That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.
Vendor X: Pssssst, Pete! Did you remember to mention about my awesome guts? Oh, I see you did! Great!
tc: Well, truth be told. I think the dream says more about the dreamer than the dreamed. And Pete’s Ersatz Theory was VERY close. So, I’ll offer this up as the dreamer’s interpretation:
I’ve recently, as in over the past few months, had a number of ‘reconnections’ with old friends. Which is a new experience for me. Being from a Navy family that was moved from coast to coast every 2-4 years, having a friend longer than that period of time was a rarity. In fact, I have only one (count ‘em, one) person that I would consider to be a friend that pre-dates my high school days at Subiaco. In other words, there is only one person in this whole world that is an older friend to me than our own M.B. Heaney.
So, when our Subiaco graduating class started making plans by email for the 15th year reunion, I found myself re-establishing connections with people. An odd experience for someone who has grown up severing connections with people and not thinking anything of it. Now here I am, with a 15th year reunion looming in the not-to-distant future. And in my mind, everyone looks pretty much the same as they did when we graduated. Except for Mike, whom I recently saw in an episode of ‘The Suite Life’.
Mike asked if the dummed-down duo in my dream were talking with British accents. They were, but it wasn’t just that, they were going on and on like Martin Short’s portrayal of the Mad Hatter in the made-for-tv version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ (also starring Tina Majorino and Whoopi Goldberg as The Cheshire Cat). It was mind boggling, and I think it was a subconscious caricature of my reservations about going to this reunion and fears that, once there, the experience is going to make me want to 1. scream, and 2. run! Mike also asked about their dress, and they dressed pretty much the way Mike dresses now, which is to say, like this.
tc
tc: I mean, like this.
tc
tc: No, no! Like this.
tc
tc: Okay, this one is totally IT. What I saw in the restaurant, only there were two of them, remember. And I’ll stop now.
tc
geekhorde: Yep. That sure looks like Mike there.
I always thought it was funny when Mike was still living here, and we’d be out, hanging out somewhere or something, and we’d get the whole ‘Are you guys brothers?’ sort of thing. I mean, we don’t really resemble each other much, other than being two white dudes with a modicum of facial hair and brown hair. Plus, let’s be honest, the man is pretty fit, or at least, moreso than me.
Although I am a little more handsome, if I do say so myself.
(wink wink).
tc: Well, the best way for you to really understand what the experience of that dream was like would be for me to show you. And the best way for me to show you would be to create…
tc
So there you have it! The up close and personal view of what my dreamworld is like. I do dreamwork (dream analysis) with clients sometimes as I think that dreams can be revealing, as this dream turned out to be. They can also be pretty comical, which this dream also turned out to be.
tc