One of today's WoW Insider articles asks readers to describe any WoW dreams they've had. For as much time as I've put into the game you'd think I would constantly dream about playing, especially as it's one of the last things I do (often for several hours) right before going to bed, but I don't recall ever having any dreams that featured WoW, and I'd know because I can remember my dreams.
So I've never dreamed about WoW (that I can recall) but I have dreamed about work before.
One of my strangest work-related dreams was related to a 3-week job I got shortly after returning to Australia in '97, where I was part of crew distributing Wheelie Bins.
In the morning we'd arrive at the storage yard and load up the back of the truck with Wheelie Bins. They came with lids on but no wheels, so they were able to be stacked on top of each other, much like giant, green plastic cups, and once the truck was loaded we'd set off to make our deliveries.
A couple of guys would start on the back of the truck and it was their job to assemble the Wheelie Bins. They'd take down down a Wheelie Bin from one of the stacks, grab a wheel one from one tub and an axle from another and snap them together. Then they'd slide the axle through the two plastic sockets on the base of the Wheelie Bin, grab another wheel and snap it onto the other end of the axle, and there you have it, a Wheelie Bin, which they'd toss off the back of the truck to the guys running along behind.
The runners' job was to catch the bin, run to a house and drop the bin off in the correct orientation (facing the street), then run back to the truck to catch another bin. Rinse & repeat. Following behind the runners was a guy with a handheld computer which had a database with every single address on our route. His job was to key in the ID number on the side of the bin with the corresponding address, as proof we'd made the delivery; he needed the bin facing the correct way so he could read the number at a glance and key it in to his computer while heading to the next house and Wheelie Bin.
As tough as it sounds, it was actually a fun job. There was only 5 or 6 of us on the crew, so there was no room for people who didn't get along or for people who didn't pull their weight. We got up early, we worked hard all day, and if someone called it quits the Foreman would go to his list and when we'd turn up at the yard the next morning there'd be a new face. This only actually happened twice during the 3-week job, which apparently was a record. The Foreman said it was not unusual to begin a job with one crew, and by the start of the second week have a completely different crew. We also set another record in that our 3-week job was actually a 4-week job, we just completed it with a week to spare. Possibly because we didn't have the turnover of other crews.
So there were two parts to the job. Assembling the Wheelie Bins on the back of the truck, and running behind the truck delivering the Wheelie Bins. As you ran along behind the truck, catching Wheelie Bin after Wheelie Bin, running from truck to house to truck again, the muscles in your legs would start to burn and you'd think, "I wish I was on the back of the truck."
The Foreman was pretty good at his job. He'd switch us up so everyone got a turn on the back of the truck, assembling the bins, and everyone took a turn running behind the truck, delivering the bins. We actually switched around several times each day, because when you were on the back of the truck assembling the bins, you were constantly bending over to get wheels & axles, then standing up to toss bins off the back of the truck, then getting a new bin and bending over to get more wheels & axles, then standing up again. All that bending over and straightening up took its toll, and your lower back started to really fucking hurt, and you'd look at the guys delivering the Wheelie Bins and you'd say to yourself, "I wish I was running along behind the truck."
This was just a 3-week job, and yet in that short three weeks I still managed to dream about work. When I told the Foreman I'd dreamed about making Wheelie Bins he said that wasn't unusual, at least one person on every one of his crews mentions dreaming about the job. I wasn't the only one on our crew, either.
Not only did I dream about making Wheelie Bins, I actually woke myself up reaching for an axle to put the wheels on the Wheelie Bin. I was actually glad I dreamed I was making the Wheelie Bins. I don't think my sleep would have been too restful if I'd dreamed I was running along behind the truck all night ;)
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7 comments:
I've had a few dreams about WOW. I know this because my wife woke me up laughing at my left hand that was in the 1,q,3,e position. I got a good laugh out of it as well and blamed her for wiping my dream raid. I never had dreams about WOW until I became main tank for my old guild. I think the pressure of maintaining aggro was the root cause lol.
Wolfgang, I think you're right, being your Guild's MT could very well have been the catalyst for your WoW dreams.
With me being mostly a solo-player, WoW is a relaxing way to unwind at the end of the day. I go out and do a few quests on my own, maybe pair up or group for an Elite quest, then I drop group and continue on my merry way.
This is not to say I don't enjoy a challenge. A couple of nights ago I solo'd Charlga Razorflank, the Witch Boss in RFK, on my 33 Druid. I had to be MT, DPS, and Healer, all in one. Although technically I was just DPS & Healer, but I still needed to be able to survive her Chain Lightning blasts so I was also sort of Tanking her.
I may have dreamed about WoW a couple of times, but if I did, they were not as memorable as some of my other dreams have been.
The one job I dreaded dreaming about (and I had a dream about it almost every night during this job) was detasseling. I only did it one year because I couldn't take it anymore. And it was only like a month long job, max! We'd work between 7-9 hours a day depending on the field size, starting at about 6am. If you started any later you'd die of heat exhaustion.
Anyway, it was just walking up and down corn rows pulling each tassel off each corn plant. Often it was wet and humid. Corn leaves will slice your arms if you don't wear long pants and sleeves. And it smells like earth and corn. And if you don't have a walkman (this was back in the day before ipods ;) ) it's very very quiet. And every night when I lay down and closed my eyes, I would dream about walking up and down rows of corn all night... *shudder*
Elsha once famously asked me early in the morning if I wanted a wake up coffee and I drowsily replied, "No, I need to finish the quest".
I usually dream about games in the first few months of them starting up. So I haven't dreamt about WoW for 3 years or so.
I think the adrenalin of the doomfests we used to have would have burnt away any chance of dreaming about it!
When I was a cashier at the supermarket, I used to wake up and find myself checking groceries. Sometimes the groceries where my pillows, sometimes they were just dream stuff. Either way, it was seriously annoying.
@angela, I sooooo feel your pain.. Detasseling was the WORST job I have ever had. The pay was good, for reasons you have already stated, but working at 5am in a wet field just to be soaking wet by noon when the temps would reach 115 F sucked worse than attempting a Pandemonium Warden raid.
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