"Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?”

Do you ever have those dreams that, when you wake up, seem like they really happened? Well, it doesn't happen to me very often, but it did on Sunday.

I took a nice, long nap--scratch that. I slept. For three hours. I had what I call a nightmare because it seemed so real that it freaked me out. The essence of the dream was that my roommate told me a girl killed herself in our apartment. Even now that I'm typing this, it freaks me out a bit.

One thing that I like to do with dreams--when I remember them--is trace back the possible origins of the dream. I once read that dreams are the brain's way of sorting out all the things you're storing in there, particularly the new ideas. So, I traced back my dream in an effort to convince myself that it was just a dream (since I was very tempted to ask my roommate if someone had died in our apartment). Here's what I figured out:

- Friday afternoon was spent researching commercial haunted houses and Halloween events within Utah. One place in particular was an actual haunted mill near Salt Lake. I read (very) briefly on a few people's experiences there.

- I now live in an apartment complex with people in various stages of life--single, married, young, old, etc. I hear my neighbors upstairs fighting and get this "Rear Window," L.B Jeffries syndrome.

- Lame point, but half the doors in the apartment squeak when you open or close them. The bathroom door is especially annoying/creepy because it does this loud, slow creak as it slowly closes--just like in all those horror movies right before the stupid blonde gets attacked because she ran upstairs instead of out the front door. During my "nap," I was actually woken up by said door. A very possible reason for my dream subject.

So, the rest of the Sunday, I was a little creeped out by my apartment. I still am and not just at home. I freaked myself out when I was alone at work this morning and closing up tonight (both in full daylight still). It's not as bad as it was on Sunday though. Perhaps I'm just getting myself prepared for the upcoming Halloween season. For which I need a killer* costume. Ideas?



*"Killer" meaning "really good" in this instance. I don't want my dream come true. I really like my apartment and don't want to move.