A nightmare
We're at this Flash conference but it's being held at this horrible hotel. You know the kind where it was pretty swanky in the 70s but hasn't seen a new coat of paint since. Where, like a hostile witness, the ancient smell of mold from the carpets reveals a far deeper decay masking the lethargy of the not-quite-dead.
So a pretty crap conference.
We're all milling about, not attending sessions and our band is supposed to play that night but I've forgotten my microphone. And no, they don't have a Beta 58 for me. I begrudgingly accept an SM 58 (you know things are going to get bad in a dream when you have to sing with an SM 58.)
So everything is set up for our performance but the band's just sitting in a different room, chatting lazily. We're supposed to be on at 9pm. It's 11pm. I start asking about the performance. "Maybe tomorrow." That's horrible, what about the audience? They've been waiting.
No one cares.
Oh boy.
Where's Stephanie?
I start searching for Stephanie in the hotel and find her asleep in her room. The door's unlocked. I have a go at her for leaving the door unlocked only to discover that she's hit her head and doesn't remember who I am. Strangely enough, that makes me remember another dream where the same thing happened and I was able to remind her.
This time though, trying to trace back her steps results in my finding out that she had a romantic dinner "with some Scottish guy."
Oh boy.
And then there's an earthquake.
And I wake. 
The A nightmare article by Aral Balkan, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England License.
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Clare Lopez
Alex
Erwin Verdonk
William from Lagos
Clarkson
Manfred
thats funny, lol
can someone analyze this ?
August 6th, 2008 at 11:21 amIain
That’s weird because I had the exact same dream?!
August 6th, 2008 at 12:54 pmMario Klingemann
I must say that I wouldn’t mind a hotel that was pretty swanky in the 70s but hasn’t seen a new coat of paint since. At least better than those modern steel + glass hotels with default furniture that haven’t got any soul.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:54 pmHu Shunjie
I got a dream about earthquake for 3 times in a row last year. Something similar but I am in a shopping center rather hotel.
But weird, we developers never dream of our codes cannot compile and throwing exceptions.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:05 pmbarry.b
@Mario: what you’ve forgotten (which is hard to get accross in a dream) is the sense of smell - where the dingy 70’s dives usually smell of sweat, mould, mildew, leaking sewers, stale cigarettes and spilt beer rotting the carpets. At least the soul-less modern uglyness doesn’t usually stink.
speaking of stinking, worse that getting a 20 year old bent and twisted SM58 when you’re used to a Beta58 (or a Senheisser) is one that’s been on the end of every punk band through the place - where the bad breath and spray has all but collapsed the grill through corrosion and the foam within the grill has turned to goo.
and of course, there’s the packup at the end of the gig. where someone’s dropped a turd in a bass bin and there’s vommit all over the multicore as you roll it up. and the sense of outrage and dread as you realise that your guitar wasn’t packed up by one of the other band members but instead by some junkie in the audience has quietly picked it up and are on their way to the closest pawn shop to cash it in…
See Aral? it could have been worse…
August 6th, 2008 at 1:15 pmLee McColl Sylvester
@Hu Shunji: That’s because it’s everyday life
Funnily, though, on the occasions when I have a day where something crucial just simply isn’t working, I can often dream the solution that very night. I wake up, dash to the PC, try it out and viola! It works! Dreams are powerful things…
August 6th, 2008 at 3:21 pmGecco
I’m with Mario on the hotel front!
August 6th, 2008 at 3:28 pmKevo
I’m with Stephanie in the dining room.
Did I mention I have Scottish ancestry?
August 7th, 2008 at 2:07 pmAral
@Kevo: Oh, I didn’t mention what happened to the poor Scottish guy at the end of the dream, did I?
August 7th, 2008 at 6:49 pm