Alright, in the grand scheme of nightmares, this is really STOOPID- but this morning's nightmare was one of those 'naked in front of the classroom' type of nightmares. I'd rather have a slashing of my throat nightmare, personally. The psychological reasoning behind that statement is probably one that requires more study (heh)......

Anywaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, queue in the dreamy-nightmarish harp music...

Someone with power over me (no idea who, but really- they had to possess a LOT of power to make me believe that I had to do this) required that I do a one person play of the Wizard of Oz. Not only that, I had to make my own props and sing everything acapella. Oh, and I had one day to put everything together and I'd be performing in front of a HUGE audience. Even worse? They were all people that I know either from work, family or old church acquaintances.

Note: When I used to sing in front of audiences, I preferred to sing in front of people I *didn't* know. I'd rather sing in front of 10,000 strangers than one person I care about. I'm still that way. I won't 'perform' (piano, singing, or otherwise) for anyone I know. Period. Hmmmm..... more psychology studies necessary, perhaps?

So, there I was, opening night and I couldn't find the props I needed, and I was making the yellow brick road and poppies out of cheap construction paper and hanging them with scotch tape- which I *KNEW* would never stick, but that's all I could find. The witches bike? Yeah, that was my programmable (with lots of LCD lights!) exercise bike. Apparently I couldn't find a normal bike. I remember thinking in my dream that NOBODY is going to fall for an exercise bike being the witches bike- ESPECIALLY due to the fact that I had no time for costume changes. I was wearing the same outfit (tanktop and jeans, no less) for every character in every scene.

I just finished a huge crying jag right before the curtain came up because I knew those songs would sound horrible if sung acapella. Oh sure- "over the rainbow" would be fine, but could you imagine "follow the yellow brick road" without music or the munchkins? I didn't think so. I did *NOT* want to do this because I knew I'd look like a complete fool, but I felt compelled to do it because of whomever was in charge .

The end of the dream was most interesting though. I dreamed that my mom was in the back row and I overheard someone telling her that if she were in charge of production, the whole play would have gone off without a hitch. I remember thinking to myself that this person was completely right, and in real life even, that's true. My mom has a knack for putting together talent shows and things like that. They end up looking perfect, but I know it's a LOT of work. I've grown up witnessing how much effort my mom puts into these things.

I woke up right after that and, while awake, I acknowledged my mom's mad skillz at this sort of thing and thankful I'll never be thrown into a situation like that. I can honestly say that the production aspect of the dream-being so haphazard, was most of the painful experience because I only want to be associated with perfection (yeah, I'm fun like that...). If someone else was in charge and took care of the details- and that stuff went without a hitch- and all I had to do was perform, it would have been 90% less nightmare (but a nightmare just the same...)

I was mortified throughout the entire nightmare and was so relieved when I woke up. Of course, now I have "follow the yellow brick road" stuck in my head.

Arrrgh.