Andrea, I’ve done the waking thing you described with the spiders. My eyes will be open and I’ll *know* that I saw a huge spider crawl across my pillow. It’s the strangest thing. And I *hate* creepy-crawlies.

For years after I got out of college I had a recurring dream about getting to final exams week and realizing I had a particular class on my schedule but had never attended. Yikes! How’m I gonna take the exam???

I don’t dream much these days — or at least I don’t remember it. I have Restless Leg Syndrome (you’ve seen the TV ads, haven’t you?) and the medication I take for that pretty much knocks me out. I apparently keeps me from remembering any dreams too.

My problem has more to do with me waking up while I’m dreaming. I am a sleepwalker, talker, etc. Lately, I can open my eyes in bed and incorporate my dream into what I can see in the darkness. I’ve sat in bed and watched my bedroom wall crumble, seen people in my bathroom, all sorts of weird creepy things that are a weird mosh of dream and reality. In the bug dreams, I usually leap out of bed, run across the room and turn on the light. Then I wake up, realize there are no bugs, cuss and go back to sleep. Last night, I dreamt I was painting rooms in my house, only my house had double the rooms it does now and I was so irritated that I had to paint all this extra stuff.

Wonder why I’m sleepy…?

The most recent involved me being with a group of people who were all being tortured, and to keep me from trying to escape, I got a meathook stuck through my knee.

Another one from a few years ago that I’ll always remember is me standing on a road winding through forested mountains, watching as the minivan containing my family drives off the edge of the highway and over a cliff.

Yep, I know. I worry about me sometimes, too.

I just wish I could have hot, sweaty, naughty dreams about my crushes, instead. No dice, though. No matter how hard I try.