Life and science fiction dreams
20 June 2009 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
3rdragonWell, this evening of babysitting has so far gone much better than I expected when I arrived to discover the seven-year-old crying on the living room couch because he couldn't decide between a cookie or a popsicle for dessert. The three-year-old was extra clingy, and I was suspicious that it was going to be Just One Of Those Days, but so far it's been the usual gig, right down to the quiet-footed visitor half an hour after bedtime, and everything has been quiet upstairs for the past while, so I might escape a second iteration of the "Go to bed. They'll be back late. Don't wait up for them. Yes, they'll be here when you wake up in the morning." etc conversation.
We went to REI this afternoon. For those who don't know, REI is to camping supplies and outdoorswear as Ikea is to home furnishings, although not quite so overwhelming. And dad was very patient while I tried on what seemed like every boot in the store (I have wide feet, and they didn't seem to have women's boots in wide, but the men's boots didn't seem to come in wide until size eight, and one of the two kinds that came in wide were cut narrowly, and the other kind was cut large - so I wound up in a 7 1/2 men's . . . I got the blueish ones that were cut large and hope that they will stretch enough that I do not regret this purchase). I also got useful things like wool socks and a bike light and a new bike lock and a father's day present.
And the dreams. I blame the science-fiction-y-ness on the fact that I was reading The Risen Empire this week (and it was excellent!) and watching Babylon 5.
One night this week, possibly Wednesday night, I dreamed about a group of people who had a spaceship. I'm not very clear on the exact nature and size of this ship, and if the people were on it or controlling it remotely, but what I do know is that it was one of the DUCK models, and it was, on some level, intelligent. This particular ship was more intelligent/sentient/human in its intelligence, so the group had named it the ManlyDUCK, because it was more like a person. There was another ship, an evil counterpart, if you will, that, while no less intelligent, was somehow a bit more soulless than the usual line of DUCKs, the UnDUCK, and it was the job of ManlyDUCK and the group of people to deal with UnDUCK.
Last night I dreamed about an astronaut. He was going on an EVA somewhere in the vicinity of a planet that might have been Mars, and suddenly became aware that a woman was floating around in space unprotected (because losing astronauts out airlocks happens so frequently). And, mind you, not just any woman, but one that he happened to be in love with. There was a rescue group, but most of them were too far away and wouldn't even reach her in time, much less be able to do anything. He hurried over and grabbed his supply of special space-protection ziplock baggies (standard equipment to deal with people wandering around in space without spacesuits - as I said; frequently). Of course, the space-protection ziplock baggies are somewhat complicated, needing thermal bits and oxygen and etc, so it takes some dexterity to use them. And not only was our astronaut dealing with the usual awkwardness of opening multiple ziplock bags while wearing a space suit, he had the extra awkwardness/perceived awkwardness that this was the woman he was in love with in the process of dying in outer space (as my father pointed out when I related this dream to him, you really don't want the last thought that the love of your life has about you to be You clumsy idiot!). But he did manage to get the ziplocks set up, and her inside them, and one of the other rescuers showed up to help him finish (you know that the hardest part about ziplock baggies is getting them shut again). I did get the impression that the woman might've been rather sweet on him too, but it was harder to tell with her because she was in the process of freezing and asphyxiating and preparing to do all the other nasty things that happen to fragile human bodies in the vacuum of space, and so had other things on her mind.
Speaking of science fiction, there's nothing quite like explaining Moodle to a room full of adults, many of whom would rather just keep using Blackboard, using examples like Swanick's "The Dead" and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kadharonon's post on "Geeks in Space."
And speaking of books, I've also been reading The Dresden Files, Robin McKinley's Chalice, 1984, some stuff that's not coming to mind right now, and The Screwtape Letters, which is interesting, if, on occasion a bit preachy (if something narrated by a devil can be preachy in a Christian way).
We went to REI this afternoon. For those who don't know, REI is to camping supplies and outdoorswear as Ikea is to home furnishings, although not quite so overwhelming. And dad was very patient while I tried on what seemed like every boot in the store (I have wide feet, and they didn't seem to have women's boots in wide, but the men's boots didn't seem to come in wide until size eight, and one of the two kinds that came in wide were cut narrowly, and the other kind was cut large - so I wound up in a 7 1/2 men's . . . I got the blueish ones that were cut large and hope that they will stretch enough that I do not regret this purchase). I also got useful things like wool socks and a bike light and a new bike lock and a father's day present.
And the dreams. I blame the science-fiction-y-ness on the fact that I was reading The Risen Empire this week (and it was excellent!) and watching Babylon 5.
One night this week, possibly Wednesday night, I dreamed about a group of people who had a spaceship. I'm not very clear on the exact nature and size of this ship, and if the people were on it or controlling it remotely, but what I do know is that it was one of the DUCK models, and it was, on some level, intelligent. This particular ship was more intelligent/sentient/human in its intelligence, so the group had named it the ManlyDUCK, because it was more like a person. There was another ship, an evil counterpart, if you will, that, while no less intelligent, was somehow a bit more soulless than the usual line of DUCKs, the UnDUCK, and it was the job of ManlyDUCK and the group of people to deal with UnDUCK.
Last night I dreamed about an astronaut. He was going on an EVA somewhere in the vicinity of a planet that might have been Mars, and suddenly became aware that a woman was floating around in space unprotected (because losing astronauts out airlocks happens so frequently). And, mind you, not just any woman, but one that he happened to be in love with. There was a rescue group, but most of them were too far away and wouldn't even reach her in time, much less be able to do anything. He hurried over and grabbed his supply of special space-protection ziplock baggies (standard equipment to deal with people wandering around in space without spacesuits - as I said; frequently). Of course, the space-protection ziplock baggies are somewhat complicated, needing thermal bits and oxygen and etc, so it takes some dexterity to use them. And not only was our astronaut dealing with the usual awkwardness of opening multiple ziplock bags while wearing a space suit, he had the extra awkwardness/perceived awkwardness that this was the woman he was in love with in the process of dying in outer space (as my father pointed out when I related this dream to him, you really don't want the last thought that the love of your life has about you to be You clumsy idiot!). But he did manage to get the ziplocks set up, and her inside them, and one of the other rescuers showed up to help him finish (you know that the hardest part about ziplock baggies is getting them shut again). I did get the impression that the woman might've been rather sweet on him too, but it was harder to tell with her because she was in the process of freezing and asphyxiating and preparing to do all the other nasty things that happen to fragile human bodies in the vacuum of space, and so had other things on her mind.
Speaking of science fiction, there's nothing quite like explaining Moodle to a room full of adults, many of whom would rather just keep using Blackboard, using examples like Swanick's "The Dead" and
kadharonon's post on "Geeks in Space."And speaking of books, I've also been reading The Dresden Files, Robin McKinley's Chalice, 1984, some stuff that's not coming to mind right now, and The Screwtape Letters, which is interesting, if, on occasion a bit preachy (if something narrated by a devil can be preachy in a Christian way).
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 21 Jun 2009 11:13 am (UTC)Speaking of urban supernatural a) the Hulu of the Dresden Files TV show is worth watching (and a surprisingly amount of the fan fic is worth reading), and have you looked at Kim Harrison, _Dead Witch Walking_?
How many TIMES have I warned you to STAY AWAY form the airlocks?
no subject
Date: 21 Jun 2009 11:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Jun 2009 12:50 pm (UTC)Several. I wasn't anywhere near the airlocks; I don't know how that other woman got there.
no subject
Date: 21 Jun 2009 11:31 am (UTC)I like ManlyDUCK and UnDUCK. The second dream would cause me to freak out a bit, though. I can't really say whether they were B5 influenced or not, though considering there is a decent amount of talking about how they're floating there in a thin shell in space... well. Maybe.
I'll keep an eye out for The Risen Empire!
no subject
Date: 22 Jun 2009 12:54 pm (UTC)I like ManlyDUCK and UnDUCK, too.
It's funny; the second dream was one of those where its description sounds mildly terrifying (I have mentioned to you how scarred I was by The Magic School Bus: Lost In Space, right?), but in the dream it was okay. Like, a little bit of me knew that everything was going to turn out all right. I think that having his lady-love nearly die might even get the astronaut to say something to her about his feelings. Or her to him.