Do microbiologists dream of electric bacteria?

In my case, nope. Do the microbiologist dream about various things better left in history and memories? Yes. (I know the analogy doesn’t really work since as far as I know, I am not an android... But then again, the idea of going into work every day makes me wonder about that too sometimes… nag nag nag)

I wanted to elaborate this whole dream thing, especially since I wrote a long rant about translation and being lost in it. They have things in common you see. Why? Well, it is a known fact for the one of us who have moved to a new country where our native language is not spoken that one of the things that change once you “adapt into your new environment” is when you start dreaming in the new language.

For me, that took about two to three months… then I woke up one morning and though about my dream and it was all in English. That was definitely cool, yet somewhat unnerving. Why? Well, I have dreamt in English before. The one thing about that though is that I knew I was dreaming… or that I thought I was in a movie or so… since I was talking English. Nowadays I more often than not dream in English although after a little vacation in my native land I retorted back into speaking my native tongue, even in my sleep.

It is quite confusing though, now when I am back in my English speaking country, to wake up from a dream that has its settings in “real life” and having the characters of my “real friends and acquaintances” and things that happen that aren’t really strange per se. What do I mean? Well, it might not be strange that one of your friends is pregnant, or that two of your colleges are dating or that your oldest friend in the world is talking to you in English, but it is not “true” and only happening in the dream. When these sorts of things happen in the dream and they are not only directly related to me, they are also intertwining my history and my memories to create something that has never happened…. Like you have a real memory with people, just that those ones weren’t the ones who were really there and then you mix up their language into English and then it is all very skewered. A bit like reality on crack I would assume… or maybe just looking through the looking glass and everything is tinted in green (like in the OZ books).

On top of that there is this language thing, which leads me to end up fairly confused in the morning. I wake up and have to stop for a second and think it all through. Did it really happen like that? Where am I? (I know, it sounds cheesy, like one of those amnesia movies but really – sometimes it is fairly confusing waking up and not knowing if I am supposed to speak English or something else….) What is going on? And most of all, do I dare turn around and look at the walls and the rest of the room? What if I am not really there….

Not to mention that having a real history moment play out in a dream, but change the ending into something you don’t recognize nor like, makes it all very scary, imho. You know, like those scary movies where everything seems just normal …before the sky comes falling down, the zombies start chasing you with blood from their eyes and mouths and you find your parents in the basement with an axe in their heads…. Just to name a few lovely images that sometimes happen after you watch Dawn of the Dead or 28 days.... (Let me tell you, if you drive a car and there is a road underground and one above ground… even if you think you will save time going underground. STAY away!! Take the scenic route and give yourself a few more hours, ok!?)

I will now go back into the lab and start hunting my bacteria down (with antibiotic nevertheless and not guns) and think about my next post, which will either touch on the subject of sin, or be a part of this months Carnival about "Tell us about that most firey fire through which you have had to walk in your scientific career." as decided by Candid engineer I guess I need to make a decision about exactly how candid I will be, and how much of the dreams I would tell....