comprehensive exams

I'm inside a hotel on a vacation with some friends from my PhD cohort. I overhear someone talking about one of our comprehensive exams. It's tonight!

I panic, I haven't studied at all! We have already made plans to explore the city but I'm debating whether I should stay at the hotel and study. I freak out and ask my friends if they've studied for the exam. One of my friend tells me that she's only studied a couple of days before. I haven't read any of the articles, don't know anything about the topic, and am clueless about the research on the subject. I tell her I can't go, that I won't pass the exam. She calmly tells me that she has the notes and all I have to do is memorize the outline. I tell her I won't be able to do all that within a couple of hours if the exam is tonight.

Next thing I know, I'm in line to go to the bathroom. There's a really long line but I'm at the front. Someone finally gets out of one of the stalls. I lock the door and as I'm about to pee, I realize that the stalls are separated by curtains. I can see the other people next to me. There are small beds in these stalls and the two girls have their bags and clothes hung on the door and go to sleep in the bathroom. This is why the bathroom line is so long! Because these girls are sleeping inside the stall!

I think to myself how smart they are to sleep there so that they don't have to pay for the hotel. I am apparently in Vegas and I know these girls are just taking a nap before going out to the clubs again. I wonder how they can deal with the smell but the Vegas bathrooms are so clean that they're beautiful.

And then... I wake up.

shooting someone

I'm inside the office where all the PhD students' offices are. There are some shooters running around the building and people have told us to stay inside the office.

My friend Angie and I decide to investigate and want to catch these bad guys. We grab some guns that we find in the office. We peek outside the hallway and don't see anyone. There are lots of cabinets out in the hallway. We sneak behind them, waiting for the bad guys to come through the hallway. I sit down behind one of the cabinets and Angie hides behind one of them further away from me. Two Asian guys walk by as if they're just students roaming the halls.

I know that all students have been told to stay in the office. These two guys must be the shooters. They walk past pretending not to notice me but I see one of them stopping in his tracks because he caught a glimpse of my gun. He reaches for the inside of his jacket. I wonder "Is this a dream? Am I really about to shoot someone right now?" Angie is frozen in place, looking at me with panic. I shoot both of them. But the bullets fly in slow motion and they look like balls of paint just touching them. I shoot a couple more times and they slowly fall to the ground.

There's no blood anywhere. A couple of seconds later, the shooters start talking and start to stand up. I try to shoot them again but nothing's happening to them. Angie looks at her gun and realizes she bought blanks instead of real bullets. We look at each other not knowing what to do.

And then... I wake up.

no camera and volleyball practice

I get out of the car with my friends. We're heading to a concert. Then suddenly, I realize I don't have my camera on me! I have no way of taking pictures!! I start freaking out in my head but act calm with my friends. I tell them that I forgot my camera. It's too late to go back. One of my friends has one and tells me she'll let me upload the pictures to my computer.

We're walking down the center of a path with everyone facing us. This is the path where the concert is going to go through. It's kind of like Disneyland where people are sitting on the side of Main Street before the parade goes through.

We sit down on the aisles and wait for the concert to come through the path.


Suddenly, I'm at my high school gym at a volleyball practice.

All of my old teammates are there and some new people I've never seen before. We're doing a drill and it's been a while since I've done this. The coach blows the whistle and I fall on my behind. He looks at me with a look of resentment. I can tell he's disappointed that I'm a veteran and fell on my butt doing the drill. I feel so embarrassed in front of the new people.

I get to the end of the line to do the drill again. I see a table with yummy pieces of cake for us. I'm really hungry and so is my friend so we split one. They're delicious! I take a bite out of mine and I'm already the next person in the drill. The coach blows the whistle and someone else messed up. We have to start all over again.

And then... I wake up.

unprepared

I'm at the mall with some of my friends from my PhD cohort. When I look in my bag pack, something triggers in me that makes me realize I have to do a presentation.

Lia and I have to do a 50 minute lecture on something and I'm completely unprepared. We enter a store and it turns into a classroom. My entire cohort is sitting down and Lia and I are at the front.

I didn't read the chapter I was supposed to present on, I didn't make a Powerpoint presentation, and I don't have any notes on me. I'm stressing out and getting worried. I see that Lia has her notes in her hands. I whisper to her that I haven't read or done anything! She tells me she has 2 slides on her powerpoint so we could go off that. I look over at my professor and she patiently waits for us to start.

I have to present for 25 minutes and I have no idea what I'm supposed to be talking about. I ask a very broad question to the class to start discussion. Maybe they'll just have to all talk for a long time to make my 25 minutes. Some people start talking, then I realize I have to start lecturing. I don't know what to make up.

And then... I wake up.

melted ice cream

I'm grocery shopping with The Bf and we decide to buy some ice cream. My parents or his parents (I can't recall) call him up and tell us to stop by their house to say hello. I'm worried about the ice cream melting in the car but I tell him we'll stop by really quickly.

Next thing I know, we're home and I recall telling The Bf to bring our groceries in. A couple of minutes pass by and we're watching a television show on our couch. I go to the kitchen and realize our groceries aren't here. I yell at him and ask him if he brought in the groceries, knowing he didn't. He forgot. We run out to the car that's parked in an underground parking lot. We open the car and get all the other groceries out. There's melted ice cream all over my trunk. 

I am SO sad because I was really looking forward to eating the ice cream. He tells me to keep the box and we'll go to the supermarket tomorrow and just tell them to give us a new tub of ice cream since this one melted. I tell him we'd have to buy one but he tells me his friends have done this before and apparently, the store just gave them ice cream for free.

And then... I wake up.

biking with a crazy man

It's dark outside and I'm biking home towards my studio. I see out of the corner of my eye, a man biking next to me. I look over and he's talking to himself, he seems a little crazy. I try to bike faster but he seems to be going at the same pace as me. I look over again really quick and now I feel bad because I think this man is also intellectually challenged. He looks over at me and says, "I don't mean to be biking next to you, I swear. I'm just going the same way".

I try not to get too scared because he's obviously following me. I turn left at the corner and try to bike my way up the hill but it's too steep. I'm floating in the air and I pretend to accidentally hit this man in the face with my bike (all this is in slow motion). It doesn't hurt him. I pretend it was an accident so he doesn't get too mad at me. He doesn't. I land back on the ground and he grabs my wrists really tight. It's hurting but I don't panic. I tell him, "I need to go home really quick because my family's waiting for me. My mom will get worried. I'll come right out, I promise." I'm trying to make him trust me so I can go inside and call the police but he won't let me go. Finally, he does, and I'm walking away really fast, telling him I'll come right out.

I walk up the stairs and realize he's following right behind me. My family's having a huge dinner and they're wondering who this man is. I mouth, "Help me" and tell them in French to call the police. I introduce him to them and them to him, pretending that I was simply saying in French that he was my friend. My cousin, who's a policewoman, takes her cell phone out and asks this man if he has any money. It was some sort of tactic for something. I pretend it's not strange for her to ask for money and I tell her, "I told you not to ask strangers for money" while winking. The man catches me and says he saw me wink. I tell him I was just blinking, but he doesn't trust me. My cousin gets on the phone and starts talking in French [Didn't know American cops spoke French].

Firefighters come up the street with their sirens blaring. The man knows he got caught. I go towards the back of the room where my parents are in case he wants to grab and hurt me. Some guys come in and give him shots in the neck to put him to sleep so they can take him away. I turn around and start crying because I feel really guilty that this is all happening to him because of me.

And then... I wake up.

mom doesn't fear snakes

I'm inside an apartment with my mother. I walk into the kitchen to get something from the fridge and when I walk towards the living room, I see something on the ground.

It's a snake! A tiny one, but still.. a disgusting-looking snake. I scream at the top of my lungs. I yell at my mom to hurry but she takes her slow time coming from the kitchen even though I'm right there!!

She walks slowly towards me and grabs the snake. I tell her to throw it outside immediately. She won't do it. She's just holding it as it gets longer and longer and twists around her wrists. At this point, I'm cursing profusely and crying. I can't yell. Nothing comes out of my mouth. I try and try to yell for to put it outside but she wants to keep it roaming free inside of the apartment. I start crying even more and try to yell but can't.

My mom then sees how upset I am about it and agrees to put it outside.

And then... I wake up.