Hooked Into Your Mind

2005

"They know the truth, and yet do nothing about it."

"Indeed," said the Realtre. "That is the magic of that monitor. What they see hypnotizes them ... and the individual chooses what to be hypnotized by! Damn, I love modern technology!"


***


1985

Two friends sitting in the upper deck of Shea Stadium on Mets Duffle Bag day, watching the players warm up on the field.

"I thought it would be boring."

"Phil! How could you think 1984 would be boring? What a movie," said Al.

"Okay."

"I mean, sure, the real 1984 was a whole lot different than what George Orwell imagined ... but you can definitely see how it could happen, you know?"

"Uh huh."

"Man, Richard Burton had this incredible line in the movie: 'If you want a vision of the future, imagine ... a boot stamping on a human face forever.'"

"Your British accent is weak."

"Aah. You're just mad because you missed it."

From two rows behind, the Icon known as the Nihilist spoke up: "George Orwell got it wrong."

"Excuse me?" said Al.

"The vision of the future."

"Well, yeah, we can all see that!" Al turned and said under his breath, "Jerk."

"You don't get it. That future came to pass, just not how Orwell imagined it. He offered us a vision, but the controls aren't based on brute force and a drone-like reality. I wonder how much he actually knew ... perhaps he was just a tool used by the Icons, much like Goldstein was used by the Party, to introduce people to the idea that they would be controlled, so that when it actually happened, it would be palatable...."

"Shut up, jackass," said Al. "We're here to enjoy a ball game."

"My point exactly. We sit here, watching this meaningless event, when...."

"Dwight Gooden isn't meaningless, jerk! You say one more word, and I'm going to slug you in the mouth!"

Al stood, fists clenched. The Nihilist stared, sighed, picked up his duffle bag, and left.


***


1955

A conference of potentates, outside Zurich. A picture of a family in front of a radio is projected on a screen. A speaker, to the side, stands behind a podium.

"Ladies and gentleman, what once required imagination to enjoy has been ..."

A picture of the same family, sitting in front of a television set.

"... improved upon! Thought is no longer required. The mind is hypnotized, drawn to the pictures displayed on the tube. In time, based on our studies,a person cannot help but be drawn back to the television set ... like the father here, coming home after a long day at work. It is as if images the father watches, entering through his eyes and into his mind, replace imagination with hooks ... the father is reeled in at the same time every night, to watch his favorite programming...."

"And some sponsors," said the Realtre, standing off-stage. "Who hired this poetic prattler? These execs are already buying -- he needs to shut up!"

"You hired him, sir," stated a faceless assistant.

"Really? Well. I'll just have to take care of that, won't I?"

"Yes, sir."

The Realtre loosened his tie and smiled. The faceless assistant would have to go first, of course....

New house for everyone

A family member shared this with the Dream Seeker:

A family friend (Warren) gave one of his houses to my mother, my wife, and I to live in New York. Everyone was happy. My mother's security was taken care of. Warren played it off like it was no big deal, of course.

Tsunami

This dream was related to the Dream Seeker by Lily-Loop:

I was with my daughter and I was so scared because a tsunami was coming to wipe out South Florida. All of my property would have been destroyed. I saw Son of Thor, and his wife was fat because she was pregnant again. I tried to comfort my daughter, but we knew that we would lose everything.

Comic collection

Photo copyright Damian Hospital 2006

I had a dream that a co-worker told me that her brother-in-law, who also cleans up Tashman Technologies, wanted to buy my entire comic book collection. So I agreed and sold it to him for around $80. My co-worker went to my house and told me that she loaded all of the boxes on her pushcart and gave them to her brother-in-law.

The next time I saw him on Wednesday, he said, "Dude, your comics are all spoiled, man." He implied he wanted his money back AND that all of my comics were ruined.

So I followed him out to his truck, and opened the trunk to see junk, and not my comics. I told him that those weren't them, and he implied that perhaps his sister-in-law didn't give him the collection. I used this opportunity to back out of the transaction.

Alien Invasion

Pretty long dream that is hard to remember, so let me highlight the scenes:

Setting:

Sometimes on a large naval ship, with full accommodation and high ceilings, other times in the countryside with meadows.

Scene #1:

The United States was being invaded by an alien race, but not every state was being invaded. In fact, one Tashman Technogies client actually called while I was watching the news on a giant flat screen TV on a Navy ship. This client wanted to know why her project was late, and when I told her we are in the midst of an intergalactic war, we're going to be a bit late, just like we were late for her project during World War II.

She put me on the phone with another salesperson, who disbelieving that we couldn't make the deadline, and was threatening to use another teleportation company. I had a 3-D global map watching the points of battle between the aliens and our forces.

Scene #2:

During all of this, there was a break in the action, and my grandparents and I were watching an a classic Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick) black and white movie on the giant flat screen. I remembered this movie to be an inspirational movie during World War II in the struggle against the Axix powers, and my grandmother was usually emotional when she watched it. However, this time she was noticeable distracted, and my grandather was dozing off on the couch.

Scene #3:

My wife and I were on the run from the Navy ship to a field of green. We were being chased by Federal Agents, and we were being tracked, recorded, and about to be set up and captured. I believe we had committed an infraction on the Navy ship, which was captured on tape, and now we were in trouble.

Chase

I dreamt I was working for a technology firm in Seattle. I ended up traveling to Moscow, where I met two people from Bolivia, who were working there temporarily. The guy had been there longer than the girl -- she was talking about how winter in Bolivia happens in June and July. I marveled at this, and admired her winter coat that she had just purchased.

I was looking up movie times in Seattle, even though I wasn't there. Suddenly, I was there, at my office. The couple from Moscow were with me. Then, we were eating at a restaurant with some other co-workers. I was holding hands with the Peruvian girl, only as friends.

At another table, a girl turned away, but I recognized her as someone else from the office. I said, "Don't hide from me!" She laughed. Then, she said, "I thought we were dating."

I smiled and said, "Don't say that. Can't you see I'm holding hands?" We all laughed.

Somehow, the topic of me producing a television show came up ... we discussed how tough it was to produce something independently , and how Hollywood was notorious for ripping off good ideas from up and comers.

After discussing this, I ended up getting into some kind of mythical loop -- I'd be on the street. A beat-up Volkswagen van from the 1960's with it's rear squished in to the front would appear, and I would get shot. Every time this would happen, it seemed I was walking along, discussing the television show or movie with friends.

Finally, after a few times of this, I found an abandoned car door and held it up at the precise moment that the van would appear out of nowhere and I would get shot by someone in the van. After this, I ran, and told my friends, who were with me, to scatter.

A big burley, bald wrestler type (looked like Brock Lesnar), appeared out of nowhere and started chasing me.

I was one step ahead of him, but he seemed to be able to follow my scent. I ran into a shopping district ... went through a store, into a back alley that faced a canal, crossed the canal, went into the back of another store, came back across a bridge when the big guy followed me over, ran, ran, ran ... and all because of a TV show.

Down Syndrome Rollerblading

A gentleman recounts the following dream to the Dream Seeker:

I dreamt this Asian couple living in the U.S. were married. Young couple. They had two children -- both with down syndrome.

As time went on, they divorced. The guy paid alimony and child support.

The woman taught the kids how to rollerblade and do tricks on mini-platforms.

Meanwhile, the guy had enough money to travel to places like Hong Kong, looking for true love. One day, he saw his kids rollerblading on television.

I was there, with two co-workers. We looked at a map as we sailed into Hong Kong harbor. For some reason, we were debating where we should jump off the boat and attempt to swim ashore.

Eventually, we were in the city. I saw the woman with her two kids; they were performing tricks on the street, riding up and down ramps on their roller blades. There was another woman there, assisting.

The guy appeared. He was unhappy with what he was witnessing. The woman pulled out a gun and shot him.

There was only one other person standing around, witnessing this -- me. The woman pointed the gun at me, and I fled. She cornered me in a restaurant; we both ended up sitting in a booth.

I reasoned with her. She pointed the gun at my head and chest. She put her arm around me, and threatened to have the bullet go through me and into her.