Rant #3,060: Dreaming

I have not been sleeping well lately.

I think it has to do with my allergies, which are acting up as a result, I believe, of the unseasonably warm weather we are having this winter in my neck of the woods.

I have been falling asleep early, waking up early, and then I am unable to go back to sleep in my bed.

So I often wander out into our living room, and try to fall asleep on the chair that we have there.

It is very comfortable, and I usually fall asleep for anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half on this chair.

Afterwards, I go back into the bed, try to have the remainder of my sleep there, and sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail, as I did last night, so I was back on the chair in the living room, where I once again fell asleep, and did the entire routine over again.

Funny, whenever I fall asleep in the living room, I have a dream, sometimes that I remember, but most times, I only can recall bits and pieces of it.

But last night was one of those nights that I remember just about everything about the dream that I had, which started up the first time I went to sleep on the chair, was put on hold when I went back into the bed, and then started up again when I went to sleep on the chair again.

So I guess you can call it a continuous dream, interrupted by whatever bed sleep I got, and then revved up again when I went back into the living room to sleep on the chair.

I think I have these types of dreams when I go to the chair to try to sleep because I am in a sitting up position when I sleep on that chair—it does have a handle to make the chair more into a bed, but I rarely use it—and it stirs my imagination, even when I am supposed to be sleeping.

Anyway, the dream I had last night was most certainly inspired by yesterday’s real-life grand opening of Grand Central Madison, which links riders of the Long Island Railroad on Long Island to Grand Central Station in Manhattan.

The link is not what it will be yet—when certain lines will go directly into Grand Central Station without having to change at the Jamaica Station hub--but it still provides another option for riders who need to go past Penn Station for work or for play in Manhattan.

Anyway, in my dream, I was in Manhattan, alone, evidently back from a trip of some kind, and I was carrying a suitcase and a bag of souvenirs like T-shirts and trinkets and things like that.

It was very clumsily, but I was making it on foot to where I had to go—I assume Penn Station, but I don’t know why I was where I was, many blocks away from that hub.

But as I was clumsily walking to get to my destination, with my bags falling from my grip with seemingly every stride, I then, all of a sudden, had the urge to go to the bathroom—and I mean, really go to the bathroom—and I needed to find a lavatory ASAP.

I entered this large structure—which I believe might have been Grand Central Station which I have been in about two or three times in my life versus Penn Station, which I have been in thousands of times--and it was all gleaming new, so it might have been the new Grand Central Madison portion of the facility.

Anyway, I am dragging the suitcase and the bag along with me as I ferociously look for a bathroom, but I cannot find one, and the time is getting precious, if you get my drift.

Anyway, I finally find someone who knows where the bathroom is, but he tells me this one thing as he points to where I have to go (literally): “We are very European here, and you just can’t use any men’s bathroom. You have to be able to fit yourself and whatever you are carrying into the bathroom to be able to use it.”

I didn’t care at that point, and I asked someone else about where the bathroom was, and they pointed me in the right direction … but when I got there, it was a single-use bathroom, and although it was not being used, there was sign on the door that said something to the effect of what I was told earlier: “You cannot use the bathroom unless you can fit yourself and what you are carrying with you in the bathroom.”

I had to go really bad by this point, so I went into the bathroom, which was the size of a linen closet, and even though I tried, I could not fit into the bathroom with all my stuff, so I opened the door and told some Asian guy waiting to use the bathroom about the rules of engagement there.

He walked right in and did what he had to do while I was still dragging my stuff around looking for a bathroom that would accommodate me.

And then the dream ended.

I kind of figured that this was sort of a mix of the Grand Central Madison project and my trip to Korea nearly seven years ago, where I discovered that the Koreans handle their bathroom facilities a little bit differently than we do.

Many of their public bathrooms are communal, meaning that at least in the men’s bathrooms, you pee in a large urn-like structure with others doing so at the same time, and I also remember that our hotel room had a toilet with a bidet, where the water squirts up at you.

I also remember that my wife said that the women’s bathrooms were different there too, but I don’t recall what she said about them.

But anyway, that was my dream, and I have no idea why I dreamt it or what it means.

And no, when I actually woke up, I did not have to go to the bathroom at such a ferocious level, and since some of you are going to ask this, no, I did not have any accidents.

So, do you have any takes on this?

I have no idea at all what it all means, but as I write it down here at the Blog, I guess it must mean something.

What? Who knows?