I had a nightmare the other night, too. Like you, after waking I spent the majority of the night jumping at every sound. My brain even concocted a few noises just for giggles. I'm at a loss when it comes to deciphering the night terror, but I think I should stop watching "Taradise" before bed.

I unfortunately do not know how to decipher dreams - But I hope that it does not become a nightly thing for you. That would be too much

I very rarely have scary dreams but when I do, it is always the same one. Wonder why that is?

Dude! I think you may have solved at least a part of the mystery.

Things NOT to do before bed:
Get loaded and watch The Dark Crystal.

Skeksis are fucked up, man.

Jewels,

I hope not too! I can not survive on four hours of sleep nightly!

Does your recurring nightmare have any basis in an event from the past? Are there Gelflings in it?

Yeah, never take dreams literally, or to have a deeper meaning.

My recurring nightmare is that I realize I've shot a cop -- and my life is over. I flee, and don't care who gets in my way. I always wake up scared shitless... not exactly my personality in those dreams. But, as a writer, you often have to get inside other people head... and sometimes these sorts of dreams help conjure up emotions you never would from "real life".

LOVE the Dark Crystal, but I too was scared by the stripping-of-Chamberlain scene.

I am still haunted by his whiny "MMMMmmmMMmMMMmmmmm".

PS-- Dark Crystal sequel in the works. w00t.

Remember what's great in that dream: you got away. That's the seed of lucid dreaming. You can always change your dreams if they upset you. I got the hang of it when I was pretty young, but generally it seems better to resolve the problem within the dream. I used to wake up from nightmares and then be right back in them if I fell asleep again. If in the dream, you can kill off/put in jail/disarm/outwit your enemies or save your friend, it will become easier to make a nonsequitur leap to something pleasant or neutral. Or even just tell yourself you're dreaming and you're fine and decide to dream something else while asleep. It's a semi-conscious state sort of like when you're mind is wandering as you fall asleep. You're not awake but your conscious enough to know you're dreaming. Anyway I hope that helps more than just sounding crazy... the main thing is that you have to believe you can control your dreams.

Unsom, you're saying you're NOT a natural-born cop killa'? I had you pegged all wrong, I guess.

AJ, you are a nerd after my own heart. Did you know they made a Kira and Jen doll set a couple of years ago?

Claire, on a couple of occasions I've had that presence of mind in my dream to realize it's a dream and get in control. That was a great feeling. You're right: even though in this one I couldn't make the landscape change or the awful things stop happening, I was able to find an escape and then wake myself up.

Now if I could just fine-tune it, John Turturro would be my love-slave at last.

I've always found dreams fascinating. And yes, sometimes I too find it shocking to see the images we are capable of putting together. I can imagine the terror of your recent self inflicted "experience".

But I think you should not read too much into it. Dreamland has it's own logic, I think, and the images are put toghether of stuff we've seen, read or heard about. Maybe to make a point and maybe not...

Why we do it, or even if it has any significance at all, is a mystery to me.

I think that one of the girls on The OC looks like one of the puppets from The Dark Crystal.

It is quite a mystery. I enjoy dissecting them to try to find out what each one means. But then again, I think I enjoy dissecting everything.

Bill, I think that if they replaced the entire cast of that show with muppets, I'd be much more compelled to watch. Sad? Probably.