mostly david ephgrave

While last night didn’t involve much sleep, it did feature an exciting dream in which I helped build what would be best described as a cross between an intricate slide and an epic theme park ride with a small team of people made up by my subconscious. (Time to get the psychiatrist from Return to Oz on speed dial.) The twists and turns were so intense I can still picture its complexity through the fug that comes with waking up to find what made sense while unconscious was almost completely wiped from my memory. Like many others, I’ve had dreams in the past that were so thrilling, the writer in me thought they would make a great film even when in the midst of them, only to find my mind's recycling bin had been emptied when I woke up; what a bastard the brain is. I don’t know why I was involved in the building of the thing, other than to say that in the dream I didn't question it ; this, despite the fact the plotline seemed to suggest ...

I can’t imagine many people dreamt they were in a TV special about Hear'Say last night. In fact, I can’t imagine many people have dreamt they were in a TV special about Hear'Say on any given night. It’s alarmingly specific. Or at least it sounds that way, until you learn it was actually a strange mash-up between a programme celebrating the prefabricated pop group and a function gig with Shirley Bassey. The lines blurred, yet made sense in my unconscious state. It was only when I woke up that I questioned it. (I must stop dropping acid before bed.) The fact I remember it so vividly illustrates how badly I’m sleeping of late. I have no trouble dropping off, but my nights are so dream-filled that I feel I’m getting little rest. I then wake up between 5:00am and 6:00am, and can’t get back to sleep. It’s a vicious, sleep-deprived circle that I’m in.   (…which makes me write sentences like that.) I’m surprised my brain ha...

Last night, I dreamt I was having a chat with a musician who, as far as I know, doesn’t really exist. When I woke up, I started thinking how incredible it is that the brain will make up faces. That’s if you believe it does. A quick Google search brings up plenty of websites suggesting it doesn't. One popular theory is that everyone featured in dreams are people we’ve seen in real life, however briefly, and then subconsciously stored away to play the bit parts in the soap operas that form in our minds while we're in a comatose state. That seems unlikely to me. If we can invent places and situations, both consciously and subconsciously, what’s to say we can’t do faces? Or is everything that enters our head based on personal experience? That would suggest it’s impossible to have an original thought. But then the brain is an incredible and unfathomable thing. I’m often surprised when memories that were long forgotten suddenly pop back into my head....

Last night, I had a very bizarre but exciting dream (don’t worry, it wasn’t sexual). I dreamt that I had been secretly drafted in to replace Paul McCartney in The Beatles. The swap was top secret. Not even John, George or Ringo knew anything about it. Presumably, my subconscious assumed that none of the Fab Four were particularly observant. The only person that was in on it was their producer, George Martin – who took me to one side when the others weren’t looking and congratulated me on a sterling effort. The only thing that Sir George was unhappy with was my hairstyle, which was exactly the same as it is in real life. He told me to brush it forward. I took his advice, though it wasn’t quite long enough to pull the style off. (Trust my subconscious to put such a mundane fly in the ointment.) It was a bit like Quantum Leap, only without Dean Stockwell cropping up to smoke a cigar and fiddle with his little electrical device . Most ...