« amazing (ly awful) action sequence | Main | imogen heap, her upcoming ep, and her online goings-on »

March 9, 2009

Have you had the dream?

If you’ve had the dream, you will know it

Strings, tubes, wrinkles, or flowing lines….
Massive
Small
The dot

You probably had it multiple times, and it probably started when you were young. It may have been while you were asleep. It may have been while you had a fever. It may have sometimes been a waking dream, like a trance.

You’ve often wondered what the dream was… and if anyone else had it.

We are looking for others who have had the dream.
Tell us about your dream.
What did you see, or what was happening, in the dream? It might defy words, but try…
How did the dream make you feel?
How old were you when you first remember having the dream? How many times would you guess that you had it? Did you stop having it at some point in your life?

*
The rules:
Send an email to: ihadthedream@gmail.com
Describe your dream.
We probably won’t write back for awhile. We need time to collect dreams and compare them.
We won’t publish comments that describe the dream, because we want people to describe it in their own words. If they see yours, it might change or influence their memories.
We may share your dream (anonymously) with someone else and ask them if your dream sounds like theirs, or not. We may send you someone else’s dream (without sharing their name) and ask you if it sounds like yours, or not.
After we build up a collection of dreams that we think are the same, we may post them (anonymously) on our blogs.

Have you had the dream?

Jane McGonigal & Ze Frank

Comments (21)

OMG! No WAY! I completely thought it was just me - and a completely random image but carrying over to wakefulness powerfully through things like how something feels.

I'll send details in the email but I'm a bit stunned this might be a common thing.

Oh, and I guess I should say:

FRIST!

Posted by: Brett Cropley at March 10, 2009 4:28 AM

I have sent my dream in Ze. I look forward to seeing other's dreams as well. The dream is a very real, shared human experience, that seems to happen to us each when we are at our weakest moments...

Posted by: Justin at March 10, 2009 9:14 AM

Ze,

What the hell are you talking about?

Seth

Posted by: seth at March 10, 2009 5:22 PM

No wrinkle. No dot.
But there's a hotel and I know my way around it very well. It's got a theater and a dining room with a slick, glass floor. I've been there many times. And there's a street down the road from the hotel and I have a house there.

Posted by: seela at March 10, 2009 6:05 PM

I started a video blog in which I blog my dreams and ask people to deconstruct them for me.

http://sureality.tumblr.com/

It hasn't really taken off yet - I haven't blogged a dream for a bit either. I will blog one in the morning and you can break me down.if you want ;)

Rich

Posted by: Richard at March 10, 2009 7:10 PM

about dreams and meaning: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/science/10tier.html?_r=1&em

Posted by: ingrid at March 11, 2009 7:32 AM

I've never had a dream remotely like this. I feel left out.

Posted by: Jennie G at March 11, 2009 11:03 AM

I had a conversation with a friend awhile back, we were discussing the dream, everyone else in the room thought we were nuts.

Posted by: KG at March 13, 2009 3:29 PM

This makes me sad.

Posted by: grimeden at March 15, 2009 6:47 PM

Yep. Nope.

Posted by: Alice at March 16, 2009 6:56 PM

I'm a pretty vivid dreamer - color, b&w, different angles, inside and outside of myself, as a different person or as an inanimate object - and I can I nearly always remember them.....but I have never had the dream that is described above.

Posted by: Lucky at March 16, 2009 11:48 PM

A big heavy iron ball is rolling on a smooth, unruffled base gradually getting more and more ruffled resulting the iron ball to start jumping away.

When the ball jumps away, It will all start over again.

Posted by: titus at March 17, 2009 5:14 AM

I really hope this is successful. Haven't had the dream, so I don't know what I'm hoping you'll accomplish. However, The Explorers was one of my favorite movies, and there is something about this vague dream description that reminds me of that movie.

Posted by: old grimy at March 17, 2009 11:30 AM

huh... I'm going back and forth with this... I had a dream with one of these elements, *sort of*...
Eh... maybe I'll just send it to you and let the chips fall where they may :)

Posted by: Marianne at March 18, 2009 6:23 PM

are you still accepting dreams?

Posted by: Lolli at March 21, 2009 2:07 AM

oops, almost typed it all out here... send my account now.

Posted by: AlbertOMG (Jackaroo) at March 21, 2009 1:56 PM

sperm and egg
lower case letters
arabic calligraphy
sufi dancers
waves with sun on horizon
little boy stopping to meditate on a flower
yin/yang symbol
top ramen with one cheerio
medusa (hair versus eye)
sea turtle vs the ocean

Posted by: Lynne at March 21, 2009 4:59 PM

Yes... stick figures moving along a line, then a "poof" and it all starts again. I knew when I was getting sick because the dream came just before I was symptomatic and recurred as long as fever lasted. I hated to go to sleep. It also coincided with illnesses during which nothing ever tasted "right." I've sometimes wondered if it was just me. Thanks for bringing it up. I look forward to seeing your results.

Posted by: liane at March 24, 2009 8:41 PM

Used to have this weird dream when i was very young. all i can remember is complete blackness and this tiny dot. i had to put another dot right on it, not physically, im not exactly sure how. maybe with my mind?... anyway, if i missed it, something horrible would happen, like the world would end, or i would die, im not sure but i would barely miss it every time and get this weird feeling like an emotion i've never felt outside of this dream. and i had this "massive" feeling like the place i was in was either gigantic or very small

Posted by: Taylor at August 15, 2009 7:28 PM

I thought I was nuts. I tried describing it once at school and everyone laughed at me. I remember seeing lines when I woke and sometimes when I zoned out.

Posted by: Kamui at October 17, 2009 10:47 AM

Hollllly cowww!!! I've had the dream!!! I had a very bad flu when I was 5 years old, and was so feverish and weak that the Pediatrician made house calls to treat me (unheard of in these parts). In my feverish state I had the dream!!! I can't explain it... I felt like moving really fast through an endless tunnel of grooves or maybe wiggly lines... or maybe I was perfectly still, but it was the tunnel that was moving... I'm not sure. The only colors I remember are dark browns and maybe black... I could feel it in my chest or something while it was happening and I think I still felt it after I woke up. Had the dream at least a couple of times during that flu. Since then, whenever I've tried to remember the dream, to figure it out, I get a tightness or tension or something like that in my chest...even as I'm typing this and trying to remember.

Posted by: Nellie at November 8, 2009 3:57 AM