jchrisobrien ([personal profile] jchrisobrien) wrote2006-01-11 11:17 am

Is it a zombie apocalypse if no zombies show up?

I suspect it was the green tea mix I had before bed on Monday, along with some slight stuffiness, that made it impossible to sleep.  Nyquil fixed the stuffiness, and put me under, but it woke me up again early in the morning with the same restlessness.  Despire my earlier vow, I came to work anyway, with more of that green tea.  If it can keep me awake at night, I can work during the day too.  Right?

It did.  There was a price to pay, however.  My brain felt like it was trying to lift out of my head, floating along in front of me, pulling my body along with tendons and other stringy material.  My body was little more than a puppet all day.  I crashed out amazingly early for me, only to awake at 3 again.  Despite that, and the infusion of zombie dreams, I still woke up relativly refreshed and alert.

The tea is still here, at my desk.



The word came over the radio: the dead were returning to life.  I ran with what few possessions I could carry, and found this amazing house.  It was about the size of a barn, with a smaller building attached to the side.  The entire space was built for optimal zombie defense:  There were lots of narrow , high stairways to confound the zombies, and landing where you could pour down fire or throw rocks.  All the doors were on opposite ends of the rooms, forcing the zombies to travel further.  Small murder holes were in the walls for sniping.  The decoration inside was superb: comfortable, yet tactical. There were no windows excpet for the upper floors. 

The funny thing is: there were no actual zombies in the dream.  The people in the house trained to fight them, but all the action seemed to occur "off panel".  What did occur were people problems: fights over who would lead the group, the owners of the house feeling superior to those they rescued, power struggles, humanity turning against each other.  Actually, this could make for a very interesting zombie movie idea.  You could call it "Waiting for Romero." 

[identity profile] water-childe.livejournal.com 2006-01-11 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Not to get all Jungian on you, but I always wonder what it really means when someone's dreams have such persistance reoccuring themes?
I always have labyrinth dreams. Endless rooms and spiral staircases. Surfaces figure heavily. Walls, floors, and ceilings that look like polished stone, and often small bodies of water, either natural, or man-made.

[identity profile] water-childe.livejournal.com 2006-01-11 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
persistant

Dam I'm bad with the typo's today.

[identity profile] silas7.livejournal.com 2006-01-11 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I think zombie nightmares are too new to show up as a Jungian archetype! (but it could be a modern version of an older one).

[identity profile] water-childe.livejournal.com 2006-01-11 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I agree with the idea that it's most likely a modern version of an old archetype. People often dream of the dead coming back to haunt them in some way.

Hmmmm.

"Jung dreamt a great deal about the dead, the land of the dead, and the rising of the dead. These represented the unconscious itself -- not the "little" personal unconscious that Freud made such a big deal out of, but a new collective unconscious of humanity itself, an unconscious that could contain all the dead, not just our personal ghosts. Jung began to see the mentally ill as people who are haunted by these ghosts, in an age where no-one is supposed to even believe in them. If we could only recapture our mythologies, we would understand these ghosts, become comfortable with the dead, and heal our mental illnesses."

Full article @ http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/jung.html

[identity profile] talesinsdaughtr.livejournal.com 2006-01-11 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Huh. I wonder if Campbell's got something say about that... (I'm sure he does. I'll just have to wait to come across it in the right book ;) )

[identity profile] silas7.livejournal.com 2006-01-12 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
You'll have to let me know, so I can be prepared once the dreams return!

*stocking up on zombie fighting supplies*

hmmmm

[identity profile] flutterby369.livejournal.com 2006-01-11 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
well, how about Dead Man's Party? can't go wrong with Oingo!

[identity profile] dwaallicht.livejournal.com 2006-01-12 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
(pssst... totally off topic, oh Tea Zombie Man.... I don't have an email for you other than the LJ one and sent some stuff about dancing on Sunday to it... let me know if you're interested? ) ;)

[identity profile] silas7.livejournal.com 2006-01-12 06:02 pm (UTC)(link)
wierd. I sent a reply but you must not have gotten it. Do you have more details on when we'd leave and stuff like that, or when we'd be back?

[identity profile] dwaallicht.livejournal.com 2006-01-12 06:51 pm (UTC)(link)
nope - no reply... you can send to myfirstname @ pcgplus.com (work) or first.last@comcast.net...

We'd be heading out Sunday afternoon sometime - door's @ 8:00 - will be checking into hotel that early afternoon/evening sometime.... hotel will give us the boot probably no later than noon Monday, getting us home if all goes well w/traffic sometime Monday evening.

So far there are only three of us, so 1 car would work... if need be, we can add another car and squish in the hotel room. =)

oh! Can you please send me a message so I have your email? thanks!



[identity profile] mrfph.livejournal.com 2006-01-12 12:51 pm (UTC)(link)
You need a Nightmare Journal. The Emily line of products makes them. There's usually totally bizarre and are really fun to re-read later.

[identity profile] silas7.livejournal.com 2006-01-12 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll look into that. I can also start tagging my entries, so I can look and see what's going on upstairs...