<p>What about the tooth dream? Anyone have the dream where your teeth are crumbling in your mouth? I have that one from time to time. My teeth are either falling out or crumbling. I think this is one that is fairly common actually. And I also have the plane dream – where I witness a plane that’s about to crash.</p>
<p>I’ve had several dreams over the years:
I’m trying to do my Latin exam and I’m stuck (my Latin is gone).
Everybody around me is speaking French, but I can’t understand what they say (I’m losing my native tongue!)
There’s this problem I can’t solve about people pedaling on bicycles with different radii (I wasn’t terribly good at math, and I’m still full of angst about it).
And a real life screw-up. In my sophomore year, I mistook the dates of two finals. When I found out my error, not only was I wholly unprepared for that week’s final, but I had to trudge all the way down the hill in the snow. I arrived at the exam site late, tired and worried. Somehow, I got a B on that exam. I can’t remember the grade for the other exam, administered a week later.</p>
<p>1:</p>
<p>Oh, no! I just realized that I forgot to take a required class in [high school/college/grad school] so I never really graduated! I can’t let my [college/grad school/employer] find out, or they’ll [kick me out/kick me out/fire me]!</p>
<p>I had this dream regularly between ages 18 and 28 or so. My wife says it means that I felt I hadn’t earned what I had achieved and worried that I would be exposed as incompetent. I think she was right.</p>
<p>In one version of this dream that’s funny in hindsight, I am exhausted from commuting every day from grad school back to undergrad (a three-hour drive each way) in a desperate attempt to finish the missing class before my grad school finds out.</p>
<p>2:</p>
<p>Oh, no! I just appeared on this extremely high ledge or cliff, often while a storm rages! It’s too dark or foggy to see anything below, and there are no stairs or ladder! I’m stuck here forever!</p>
<p>This one was pretty obvious. My job was going to be eliminated, and I had to decide whether to find another job or start a consulting business, which is what I really wanted to do.</p>
<p>After a while, I started reasoning in my dreams, “Well, the only way down is to jump, and whatever happens, it’s better than being stuck up here forever.” So I would jump.</p>
<p>At first I was afraid, but before long I was having the dream every night, and I was quite lucid in it. “Oh, it’s this dream again. Well, here I go!” (Jump.) (Wake up feeling fine.)</p>
<p>Of course, I decided to start the business–I took the plunge, as it were–and the dreams stopped.</p>
<p>I have the “missed the flight” dream–showing up at an empty airport with a horrible feeling that I’m there on the wrong day/time (happened to me in real life–back in 80’s–travel agent wrote the wrong time on the ticket. . .but the plane was actually held for me!)</p>
<p>I also have had the “teeth falling out” dream many times. (Now I have mouthful of crowns, and haven’t had that dream lately!)</p>
<p>H has the “missed final” or “naked at final” dream. One semester he was completely unprepared for finals (too much partying, relationship issues), and doomed to fail. Luckily, he came down with appendicitis the day before finals–he was able to reschedule all his tests and study in the hospital.</p>
<p>Missing exams wasn’t part of my dreams, but reality!!
- Stuck in elevator after taking GREs, and needed to take specialty exam in afternoon. Got there, but scared, hungry, etc</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Muffler broke when leaving town to drive 3 hours to defend dissertation. Nice gas station took off bad muffler, but I had to drive with all that noise</p></li>
<li><p>Honors class in UG; only 11 students, prof said absolutely no make-up exam. I woke with high fever, could barely make it to class. He took a look at me and sent me to infirmary, and did let me do make-up. I still don’t think he would have believed I was sick if I hadn’t showed up.</p></li>
<li><p>Presenting papers at conferences–major cause for anxiety. Now that I’m not in academia, don’t bother.</p></li>
<li><p>Most current dreams focus on S–will he get accepted somewhere, will his plane crash, will he OK? I worry about his friend in Navy, and his other friend who just enlisted in Israeli army. I’ve known the latter boy’s parents long before he came into existence.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’ve had the teeth crumbling/falling out dream, too. It’s supposedly very common, and supposedly represents castration anxiety! As does losing your keys. (See Leopold Bloom.) How all that applies to women, I’m not sure. </p>
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<p>Exactly! And it’s pretty scary when you dream at age 54 that you have to go back to law school without letting your employer find out.</p>
<p>I dream a lot that I never graduated college and must go back to complete a semester. </p>
<p>This week I dreamed that I went back to grad school…at my son’s college. What’s strange about this dream is his college doesn’t even have a grad school.</p>
<p>My common variety nightmare is arriving for an important business meeting with the bigwigs totally unprepared and dressed like a slob.</p>
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<p>I was about to type these very words, but coureur beat me to it. Now, the reason I had this dream for decades is because it was not so far from the truth for my freshman year. Fortunately, I learned to be a more serious student, but the nightmare went on an on…</p>
<p>I think I have had every recurring dream out there -</p>
<p>missed final</p>
<p>can’t find classroom/locker</p>
<p>naked in public</p>
<p>teeth crumbling</p>
<p>backing up in car with no brakes</p>
<p>I can fly</p>
<p>Has anyone had the “dirty toilets everywhere” dream? That is my least favorite. I am searching everywhere for a bathroom and there are lots of them but they are all full and disgusting and … just disgusting.</p>
<p>I remember having a dream when my boys were very young that I left one of the baby carriers on the sidewalk, and then I drove off.</p>
<p>I couldn’t remember exactly what street I had parked on or left the child on. That one, I still remember vividly.</p>
<p>Of course, with lack of sleep and two babies that close together, I didn’t sleep a lot, anyway. I guess the sheer terror of this dream was for a good cause, because I never accidentally forgot where I left the kids, after that!</p>
<p>I love that website!</p>
<p>I actually offended one of my long time friends with one of these comic strips. I thought he would find it funny and cheer him up, after having a bad week. Instead, he called me out and told me I hurt his feelings. </p>
<p>It’s good to know who your friends are. Or not, as the case may be. </p>
<p>Great comic strip find!</p>
<p>I never missed any real exam but I have bad dreams about missing exams all the time, exams in both HS and college. I did not know the exam dates, exam locations, textbooks to study. I tried to contact my friends for info but it was totally hopeless. I did not know where to find them or the info they gave me was very vague,… I could not find my printed college class schedules,…</p>
<p>DonnaL, my mom actually lived that out… as a kid she and her cousins decided to take the bus to the movies (Aunt was working at a defense plant and thought 12 year olds were good to be in charge) Little sister didn’t have shoes on, but the 12 year olds cut out cardboard to fill her sock so, like who could tell?. Well, sock kid was the one who won the theater gift certificate, and went up on stage to accept… these are the family stories nobody can make up!</p>
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<p>I don’t know why I’m admitting this, because it’s embarrassing, but I have, unfortunately, had that dream with great frequency in the 26 years since my large intestine had to be removed because of Crohn’s Disease. In my case, I know exactly what the dream means: it’s my subconscious telling me that I’d better wake up because I really, really need to go to the bathroom, and trying to deter me from going in my sleep by making that possibility seem unbelievably revolting. Fortunately, it works 99% of the time. I don’t think I’ve slept through the night on more than a handful of occasions since 1984. I won’t talk about the 1% of times it didn’t work!</p>
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Wow. I thought I was the only one. I have that dream all the time. In the dreams I have to throw up and all the toilets are filthy. I’m emetophobic, I don’t know if that has anything to do with it.</p>
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<p>I have a variant of this dream: the searching for a toilet because I have to pee (IRL) dream. My dream mind seems to come up with some pretty funny variations of why I cant use the particular toilets I find. Some don’t have doors that close, some are so tall I can’t climb up onto it, some are in public places without any doors at all, the last time was in a girl’s school gym (never actually been in one in my life), etc etc. I finally wake up and realize I have a full bladder. Lately, I’ve even dreamt I finally find a “good” toilet and am able to go. One of these days no doubt, I will wake up to find I’ve wet the bed.</p>
<p>I also have the exam dream, usually of the forgot/slacked off and oops, the exam is today? variant. Panicked running around but can’t find textbooks.</p>
<p>I haven’t had that dream recently but did have a variation recently: I had invited all my extended family to thanksgiving dinner but forgot all about it until about noon on Thanksgiving day. Running around like crazy trying to get it together. I woke up exhausted. (Why are these dreams so long?)</p>
<p>Also, ever since my D started college, I’ve been having another recurring dream which involves my first day at college. Usually in the cafeteria trying to find a friendly face, wandering around with my tray. The weird thing is that I go back and forth between being myself (30 years ago) on my first day at college, and being my D.</p>
<p>And speaking of culturally common dreams, there is the NY apartment dream that many many New Yorkers have had, including me: opening a closet door only to realize that it opens not onto a closet but to another wing of the apartment that you had no idea existed!</p>
<p>cartera45, I’ve had all of them, pretty much every one mentioned in this thread except the forgetting to pick kids up from daycare. Thing is, my life is very good. But I’m at the point that the kiddos (15 & 18) need to be their own motivators, which doesn’t come easy to me.</p>
<p>So how about the tidal wave dream? Read somewhere it was a sexual thing. Dunno about that, but I always body surf out of it. Chat amongst yourselves about whatever that implies about me.</p>
<p>I think Bugmom (post 32) and I are having the same dream. I never dream about missing law school exams/classes, but still have the dream about not attending an undergraduate math class which is required for graduation. I also can’t find the classroom, and I’m in a building I’ve never seen in real life, with Harry Potter type staircases that keep moving. </p>
<p>I actually went to court once in shoes of different colors. (It was dark in my closet.)<br>
Several people noticed. I no longer buy similar shoes in different colors. I have dental issues and often have the crumbling teeth dream.</p>
<p>I had a dream during both pregnancies about the unborn child that was very disturbing. The dreams weren’t identical, but the end result was the same. I made sure both of them learned to swim at a young age!</p>
<p>Missing classes/final exam–check.</p>
<p>Lost/crumbling teeth–check.</p>
<p>Plane crash–check.</p>
<p>Dirty toilet–check.</p>
<p>Finding unknown rooms in house/apartment–check. </p>
<p>Many of the other dreams mentioned–check.</p>
<p>Have I ever had an original dream? I guess we are all a lot more alike underneath than we realize.</p>