January 04, 2010

You Are Not a Pleasure Unit; or, My Banal Anxieties

First, an observation: The Flint movies (the first title above is a quotation from Our Man Flint) play differently after Austin Powers. The tongue in the earlier films is somewhat salaciously in cheek, but the films are silly without being spoofs. Their existence renders at least a couple of the Austin Powers films superfluous. IMHO badabimbo. What's that? Oh, great.

And now for something completely different ...

I had an anxiety dream today, and it was disappointingly banal. I was in college again, taking a biology class(!), and I had an oral report due ... on bluegills(!!). I walked into class assuming I was prepared--after all, I had notes, and I've taught for many years, so I can prattle on endlessly with minimal preparation--only to learn that I had forgotten my notes and had no recollection of anything I learned while preparing them.

Gee. How novel. I might as well have showed up without pants.

The interesting thing is that it was me now, not me as a student ... so I didn't argue with the professor. I just asked him how many points the presentation was worth (152!?) and told him I was probably going to drop the class. His response was a wholly appropriate shrug.

When I woke up I was feeling quite anxious and relieved that it was only a dream. My only consolation is that I've probably inspired nightmares like that once or twice. At least I hope so. I want to be your superego!

2 comments:

Michael said...

Five years out of academia, I still have anxiety dreams in which I realize that I haven't gone to the class I'm teaching in weeks; when I rush there (always overcoming great obstacles like traffic jams or snow drifts), there are a handful of sad looking students sitting there looking at me like I'm a dog that just peed on the carpet.

Rosemary said...

I have nothing to say except thanks to you both for making me laugh out loud. I needed that.

I've also had teaching anxiety dreams, but they are so extremely banal that I don't even remember the details. At least you guys do!