Dream 590

'I Hate LARPING!'

Dream date: 20 March 2016

This is Day 21 of my Dream Incubation Experiment. You can read the details and methodology of my latest Dream Incubation Experiment by clicking HERE. 

Scene 1: The Field Outside my House on Campus (Norwich) - Evening

For the real-life context of what was happening at the time of this dream, see Dream Information section, below). In short, there were some LARPERs outside my house, making a disturbance, which I could hear during my sleep, and kept waking me up from my sleep, which not only caused me to have broken sleep, but also influenced the content of my dream, as you will see. 

I was outside and it was late afternoon, almost dusk. There were some LARPERs nearby, and I had come outside to smoke some cannabis, in private. I was annoyed that the only location I could find was beside a fallen tree (I was sitting on the tree) in the middle of the grassy field on campus. The campus did not look exactly how it does in real-life, but I cannot describe what was different. I started smoking a spliff. I then saw a male dream character approaching me. At first, I thought it was a member of security coming to punish me for smoking cannabis, but as he approached, I noticed he was just dressed in a similar uniform (without the high-vis yellow jacket). He was quite young - 20s or 30s and white, with brown hair and a very 'average' or 'normal' looking face, which I cannot provide a good description of, as there was nothing distinguishable about it. I did not recognise him, but he seemed to know who I was. He was holding a magazine. He said: 'I thought it was you, because I recognised your trainers and hair'. I looked down and noticed I was wearing my white Adidas shelltoe trainers (throughout my life, these have been the brand of trainers I have re-purchased the most, so they are somewhat associated with my style; it is also quite easy to recognise me from my hair alone, as so many people tell me). The male did not seem to mind - or even notice - I was smoking cannabis. He didn't mention it. He held the magazine open and showed me a double-page spread, which was mainly recalled as 'white' (I cannot recall any words or images).

Scene 2: The Childhood Home of a Friend (Location Unknown - I do not know where he lived as a child) - Day

I was then in a scene which I knew was in 'the past'. The location I was in was the childhood home of TT - completely imagined in the dream, as I have no information about TT's family life or childhood or where he lived as a child. The house was a large, traditional family-style home in the countryside. The furniture was rustic and homely, and I was in the lounge. There was a large bay window, showing the front garden, and beneath the window, a long sofa, on which a number of children were sitting. TT (aged about 4 - 5 years) was kneeling on the sofa - looking out of the window. I was aware that this was a child's birthday party, hence why there were so many children present. I have no conception or awareness of how old I was in the dream scene, as I was a passive observer of the action, rather than an active participant. Two males - adult relatives of TT - entered the room. One of the males had a child riding on his shoulders, the other male had balloons - a bunch of balloons, carried in his hand, which were different shapes and sizes, but all white in colour. The male with the balloons said: 'I'll get the rabbits out' and this excited the children in the room. 

Scene 3: An Interior (Location Unknown - but some elements of my Norwich Home i.e. Bathroom) - Time Unknown

I was then in a different interior - I am not sure where, by my Mum and other dream characters were present and it felt familiar in the dream. I thought: 'It would be terrible if I smashed the screen of my mobile phone' and then decided to check to make sure the phone was OK. I noticed that the screen was broken in 2 places - one at the top and the other bottom left. I was annoyed, and could not recall how my phone would have smashed without me knowing at the time. I went into the bathroom - this was very similar to my own bathroom in my real-life home, but I am not sure if this was my actual house, as the rest of the interior was different. I was trying to 'swipe' the screen to use my phone, but the smashed screen was preventing it from working and the glass felt jagged and dangerous under my finger, so I gave up. I went back to my Mum and said that I needed to pay for my phone to be fixed. My Mum said: 'It will cost £80 and that's a lot of money'. I then tried to calculate how long I had left on an 18 month contract to work out if it was worthwhile getting the phone fixed, or waiting for an upgrade. I (correctly) calculated that my Mum was with me in October 2015, shortly after my birthday when we got this mobile on this contract, and it is currently March 2016, meaning I have had this phone for 6 months, and am therefore one-third of the way through the contract (this means, that in the dream I not only got the dates right, but was able to perform a maths task and get a correct and logical answer - given I have problems with numbers and dreams tend to make mathematics confusing or absurd, this was quite interesting!). I said: 'There's too much contract left to be stuck with a broken phone', which my Mum said she agreed with. I kept looking at the phone in dismay, but also thought: 'At least I had it for 6 months before I broke it'. 

I cannot recall anything else about this dream.

TIME: 11:00 - 15:00 hours (I am not sure when this dream took place, as I had a very broken sleep and recalled it when I finally got out of bed, rather than at any point I woke up during the sleep)

LUCIDITY: NO

SPECIAL NOTES: NONE OF NOTE

Dream Information:

• I real-life, when I took this sleep (which was intended to be a nap), there were some LARPers outside, on the field at the back of my house. I have posted 2 images, below, which show where my house is (obscured in photo by a tree), where the LARPing took place, and a a larger shot of the field/lake, to show how much open space there is on campus (the lake is actually 'Broads' and is a popular area for walks, as on the other side of the lake is forest (which I walk through at night, by myself, because I am fearless!) and a nature reserve. LARPing usually seems to be done on a Sunday and I have always hated it. LARPing is Live-Action Role Playing - players dress up as historical or fictional characters and then use fake weapons to stage a fake battle. The players at my university were dressed in sort of Lord of the Rings-style costumes and had wooden swords. When they inflicted an attack on an opponent, they pretend to hit him (they were all male) with a sword or other weapon (players also have a shield for 'defence') and then shout (extremely loudly): 'Single!' or 'Double' or 'Multiple' - I guess this relates to the number of hits made in a single attack. The attacked player would lay on the floor for a moment and they rejoin the game, so there isn't even any in-game logic, making it a realistic re-enactment. For some reason, these LARPERs decide to play their fantasy game right outside residences, where they were disruptive and annoying (all I could hear for several hours was 'SINGLE! SINGLE!' (ironically, these players are probably single if they do this in their spare time) and pretend screams of pain. I have no idea why the players couldn't just move away from the buildings, given there is a huge amount of space all around them, and they were causing chaos near houses and public walkways. 

Dreamsigns:

• The university campus looked different from how it does in real-life, but only subtly so
• I visited the childhood home of someone I know (a little - I met him as a friend of a friend on one occasion and then added him as a Facebook friend) - this dream scene took place 'in the past' (i.e. TT's childhood)
• My real-life bathroom was part of a different interior

Recurrent Dream Themes:

• A party
• A broken screen on my mobile phone and me calculating how long I have left on my contract when deciding whether to pay for a new screen

Potential Day/Dream Residue:

• The LARPing taking place outside my house (very audible from my bedroom) while I was asleep and having this dream
• The night before this dream, DL and I had been watching The Jonathan Ross Show and I said that one of the guests, a Welsh actor (Taron Egerton) who I am completely unfamiliar with, was dressed 'like an off-duty policeman' - his outfit was similar to the uniforms worn by university security - black trousers, jumper and tie, with a white shirt
• The night before this dream, I had uploaded a photograph onto my Facebook, commenting that I had added a filter to make it look like a low-quality photo, taken in the 1990s with a bad camera. TT had commented, saying that there is no need to insult the 1990s (as a joke) - TT would have been a very young child in the 1990s, as he is a couple of years younger than myself

Waking Thoughts & Emotions:

This dream was clearly not related to my Dream Incubation Experiment, and I did not have any particular waking thoughts or emotions associated with it, other than the fact I was impressed by the fact that I could recall dates and perform simple maths in a dream, something I actually struggle with in waking life!

* If I recall anything else about this dream, I will record it below.