Painful Dreams

Keeping a dream log might be useful to me some day. Perhaps when I've been institutionalized and a clinical psychologist needs to go back to my history in order to diagnose a problem that I'm fairly certain is present somewhere deep within the gray stuff sitting in the anatomical attic. A couple of months go, I had posted here an account of some peculiar dreams I've had. The weird dreams have returned recently, and I still have no idea what to make of them.

One started with me picking at some sharp objects stuck inside my mouth. I slowly came to realize that there were small pine needles stuck inside the flesh of my mouth. While removing them one by one, I felt the pain that strangely felt real, complete with the sensation of an embedded object being pulled out. There was one last needle to remove, and as I started pulling it, the needle became a flat, wide object that was like a thick tape. As I continued to pull, the tape gradually became a thicker rubber-like material shaped like a thin hose, and then I slowly became aware that the thin hose was my esophagus. The awareness started choking me, and I woke up in a frenzy.

The second dream was equally strange, which started with me noticing that there was something stuck inside my hand. There was a small slit where I could slip my fingers through. As I dug in, I felt around to see what was bothering me. When I got hold of the object, I started pulling slowly to minimize the pain and the blood. What came out strangely looked like a coffee stirrer from McDonald's (white plastic wand, with a flat tab at the end). It's a bizarre object to see in a dream, since I can't remember the last time I went to a McDonald's, and I don't normally drink coffee.

How I have not become an insomniac is beyond me. Despite these dreams, I still like my sleep, and the dreams are completely weird, but they make me laugh. As long as I can laugh about my supposed craziness, I don't need to seek help, right? Right. I love how my cultural background has instilled in me a deep sense of denial so that I can compartmentalize my feelings and bypass emotional distress.