Dreams

I had a dream the other night that I was trying to wash a spider down the shower drain, but it just kept getting bigger and bigger and wouldn't go. It was coming at me when I woke up with a start.

When I was about 13, I was really into dream interpretation and I remember browsing dream dictionaries in book stores. After a while, I started to think they were just nonsense though, because each object was described as being super symbolic and there was a lot of talk of "enemies". Who, my math teacher? Who thinks of people as enemies?

Anyway, here's the interpretation of spiders from sleeps.com:

"All spiders except tarantulas are omens of good luck. If you see a spider climbing the wall you will have your dearest wish come true and if you see a spider spinning a web you will have an increase in your income due to hard work. A large spider sitting on a telephone shows you will have a phone call that will benefit you greatly. The larger the spider, the bigger the rewards."

I really wonder how your subconscious makes the distinction between tarantulas and other kinds of spiders. And if larger spiders mean bigger rewards, why would tarantulas be bad luck?

My first year in France I was really excited the first time I dreamed in French. My French teacher back in 8th grade had told us that that was the sign that you were really understanding the language, and 2 or 3 months into my year abroad I felt like I had finally arrived.

Nowadays, I don't notice as much. I might have a dream every once in a while where parts are distinctly in French or English, but the story sticks out more than the language. I'm trying to keep track of my dreams for the next two weeks, so I'll have to pay more attention to the language.

This NPR story talks about nightmares and the science behind dreams, and has a link to a NYTimes article.