It’s rare that I have dreams that I remember, as I’ve noted before many times on this site. It’s even more rare that, when I do remember those dreams, they’re not somehow either inexplicably weird enough, or unsettling enough, that they stick with me. for whatever reason. The other day, though — the other night? Well, early morning, I guess — I had a dream that was just… nice. Pleasant. Positive, even. And for some reason, it stuck with me, and so here it is.
As with so many of my dreams, it’s the details I remember rather than the plot, per se. (Do dreams really have plots, or is that just pushing some kind of expectation of storytelling on them that they don’t deserve?) Everything was happening on a sunny fall day — I remember both the sun, and the chill in the air — even though I was inside, talking to people in a big room with massive windows from floor to ceiling. The room was part of an imaginary office, and I remember there was a lot of white furniture everywhere, including white shelving that extended across the window in part to dramatic effect.
I was in that office because, in the dream, I had been offered the job of editing a magazine. I’m not entirely clear on who was offering me that job or why, but there was some weird connection to the fact that James Gunn’s first Superman movie was about to come out and that was playing some factor into it. (Was it DC offering me a job? Who can tell at this point.) All I remember was, it was a job where I was being told I could do what I want with budget not an issue, literally a dream job, and I was sitting in this room thinking variations on, “I can’t believe my luck” and also “But I’m already editing Popverse, would I have to quit to do this? Is that something I’d want to do?”
Such thoughts weren’t anxiety inducing or bad, I should note; this was, again, a positive dream so it was far more, “Oh, what a great place to be in, what an opportunity” than anything else. The feeling throughout the entire experience was one of being fortunate, and of the potential available to offer people work as a result, and make a good thing that also helped other people in the process.
There’s no small amount of dark humor to be found in the fact that my dream was literally, “Imagine the publishing industry was so healthy to launch a new magazine that you got to be part of,” and also, “imagine the industry was so healthy good writers you know could get work,” but let’s overlook that for now. Let’s just bask in the memory of a nice dream. Good vibes only, as the frustrating saying goes.
