HP Forum Archive 20

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OT: The Dream Message #1 Posted by Bob Patton on 5 Apr 2011, 3:00 p.m. Has everyone discovered that almost all techies have the same recurring nightmare: you are back in school and suddenly realize an exam is due in a course you have totally ignored. Our group realized this when it appeared in Ann or Abby around 1980. Twenty years later Ed Nitley mentioned it in Dr. Dobbs Journal. You can be relieved that you are not alone in this.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #2 Posted by Jeff O. on 5 Apr 2011, 3:45 p.m., in response to message #1 by Bob Patton I have that dream all the time. Most times I can't even find the classroom, or a copy of my schedule to tell me where the room is. Do you have evidence it is just "techies?" The cartoon below seems to indicate it is more widespread. I guess I figured it might be anyone who attended college.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #3 Posted by JJB299 on 5 Apr 2011, 4:08 p.m., in response to message #2 by Jeff O. The cartoon is right on. I still have that dream years out of school. And what's interesting is the progression of thought the cartoon outlines. The first thought is always surprise/fear, then moving right to acceptance, and THEN the logical reasoning that wakes me up. I wonder why I don't take the time to stop to think about the situation first? Cool post.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #4 Posted by designnut on 5 Apr 2011, 4:25 p.m., in response to message #3 by JJB299 Never had that problem, Planned ahead and went to a movie or something relaxing the night before. Same way about projects. Prior planning prevents poor performance. sam 82

Re: OT: The Dream Message #5 Posted by Michael Plant on 5 Apr 2011, 4:47 p.m., in response to message #4 by designnut I too often have this dream. Usually, I am in a crowded hallway fighting my way to a final exam in a subject that I had forgotten signing up for and for which I have attended no lectures and have read no textbooks/primary material. What's weird is that I always write the exam anyway... The dream usually ends somewhere in the middle of me realizing that I am going to completely bomb the exam.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #6 Posted by Geoff Quickfall on 5 Apr 2011, 5:43 p.m., in response to message #5 by Michael Plant STill get that one!!! and it's been 25 years since post grad finished!! 8-0

Re: OT: The Dream Message #7 Posted by Namir on 5 Apr 2011, 5:49 p.m., in response to message #6 by Geoff Quickfall No nightmare says it quite like the one where you have an exam in Arabic poetry and you can't remember a single verse!! :-) Namir

Re: OT: The Dream Message #8 Posted by Martin Pinckney on 5 Apr 2011, 7:52 p.m., in response to message #5 by Michael Plant Quote: I too often have this dream. Usually, I am in a crowded hallway fighting my way to a final exam in a subject that I had forgotten signing up for and for which I have attended no lectures and have read no textbooks/primary material. How can it be that so many people have this same dream? (Me included).

Re: OT: The Dream Message #9 Posted by Jeff O. on 5 Apr 2011, 8:42 p.m., in response to message #5 by Michael Plant Exactly! I'll write and write and then realize I don't know what the question is and what I have written makes no sense.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #10 Posted by Namir on 5 Apr 2011, 5:53 p.m., in response to message #4 by designnut I was very talented in Chemistry so the night before final Chemistry exams in College I'd go to our social club to watch a 7-pm movie. On many occasions, people at the club would ask me if I had finished the final exams altogether! I'd give it a wide grin and say "No, no yet. It's just that tomorrow is the Chemistry final! exam"

Re: OT: The Dream Message #11 Posted by Martin Pinckney on 5 Apr 2011, 7:54 p.m., in response to message #4 by designnut Quote: Never had that problem, Planned ahead and went to a movie or something relaxing the night before. Same way about projects. Prior planning prevents poor performance. sam 82 There's one in every crowd...

Re: OT: The Dream Message #12 Posted by Palmer O. Hanson, Jr. on 6 Apr 2011, 12:27 a.m., in response to message #11 by Martin Pinckney Quote: There's one in every crowd... Actually, there are at least two in this crowd since I have never had that dream. A possible reason is that very early in my college career I was introduced to the idea that hours spent studying during the early weeks of a course were much more effective in successful completion of the course than hours spent cramming for the final exam. Another possible answer: If I am not mistaken I think that "design nut" was in school at the same time as I was.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #13 Posted by bill platt on 5 Apr 2011, 6:06 p.m., in response to message #2 by Jeff O. The naked dream for nerds.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #14 Posted by Bob Patton on 5 Apr 2011, 8:14 p.m., in response to message #2 by Jeff O. I have no personal indication that it's only techies, but Nitley in his Dr. Dobb's blurb did say he had asked several liberal arts majors with negative results. He conjectured it was due to the intensity of the curriculum.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #15 Posted by Katie Wasserman on 5 Apr 2011, 8:21 p.m., in response to message #14 by Bob Patton I've asked many people and I've come to the opposite conclusion -- that it's a very common dream for anyone that's been to college.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #16 Posted by Martin Pinckney on 5 Apr 2011, 9:39 p.m., in response to message #15 by Katie Wasserman Quote: ...it's a very common dream for anyone that's been to college. [Emphasis added] Some curricula are apparently very easy, non-stressful. So I would have to agree with Bob Patton: Quote: ...it was due to the intensity of the curriculum. ...regardless of major.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #17 Posted by John B. Smitherman on 6 Apr 2011, 9:21 a.m., in response to message #16 by Martin Pinckney This Wikipedia article contains examples of common recurring dreams: Article John

Re: OT: The Dream Message #18 Posted by Dusan Zivkovic on 6 Apr 2011, 11:29 a.m., in response to message #17 by John B. Smitherman Seems that we all have hidden backup copies of recurring dreams. We'd all like to delete them, but they keep coming back. I was reading this thread while listening to a song which has a line "but I'll be back again, because my backups are forever". I never interpreted the song as a recurring dream, but with a bit of an imaginative stretch, it fits that interpretation quite neatly. And the video is suitably dreamy. Enjoy :) Backups Are Forever Edited: 6 Apr 2011, 11:30 a.m.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #19 Posted by Eddie W. Shore on 6 Apr 2011, 8:38 a.m., in response to message #1 by Bob Patton I have not had this dream lately. I am more calm about exams since I graduated with a Masters in Math recently.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #20 Posted by Bill Zimmerly on 7 Apr 2011, 2:50 p.m., in response to message #1 by Bob Patton I've never had a dream like that one, but I do have one like this all the time: (Background information: I went to the University of Missouri, Rolla, in the mid-70's. It's the weekend, and everybody has gone "home." The place was quite literally a "ghost town.") In my dream, I'm reliving an experience over and over again of walking the streets of Rolla and seeing no activity at all for long stretches of time. No people, no cars driving on the roads, no businesses open ... this dream is vivid, lonely, and very real. I usually wake up feeling quite good to have waken up! It's like an episode of the Twilight Zone!

Re: OT: The Dream Message #21 Posted by Gerson W. Barbosa on 8 Apr 2011, 5:18 p.m., in response to message #20 by Bill Zimmerly Quote: It's like an episode of the Twilight Zone! A quite good analogy! One of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes is Shadow Play, about a man trapped in a recurring nightmare: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Play_(1961_The_Twilight_Zone_episode)

Re: OT: The Dream Message #22 Posted by Matt_12c on 7 Apr 2011, 5:57 p.m., in response to message #1 by Bob Patton I didn't catch this thread initially but it's so true. I had this for two classes - a PE class and a marketing class (with a completely inept teacher). I am glad I'm not alone! The dreams stopped or at least slowed down about 2-3 years ago. However, I'm in a Master's program now so that should take me almost to retirement with these night terrors.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #23 Posted by Crawl on 8 Apr 2011, 12:29 p.m., in response to message #1 by Bob Patton Yeah, I have this dream and a lot of variations on it. Sometimes it turns out that one of my degrees has been invalidated and I have to go back to take a class to get it back. Sometimes it turns out that I even have to go back to highschool. A lot of times, when it's the end of the semester, the reason I will get a bad grade in this particular class is that even from the beginning of the semester I was never able to find the room it was held in. Other times, I drop in and out of the class, but over the course of the semester I get overwhelmed with all the courses I'm taking and forget about one. And often the reason I'm doing so badly in the course is that it's something I know nothing about ("Religion in 15th Century France", let's say). Though often, when I'm wondering why I'm taking that course, it's the tip off that I'm dreaming. Schooling seems to be a pretty traumatizing experience.

Re: OT: The Dream Message #24 Posted by Gerson W. Barbosa on 8 Apr 2011, 6:01 p.m., in response to message #23 by Crawl Mine are always the same: I'm puzzled about why I should be taking that one more exam. I have to solve a problem, but time passes and I cannot find a solution. I feel I won't pass the exam. It is a great relief when I wake from the dream. From the posts above I'm glad to know I'm in good company!

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