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Work and Career Advice

Work, job and career advice in dreams... not all of it sane, but what the hell. What's intriguing is how common such advice is. And how we generally ignore it.

RELATED TOPICS: weird dream careers - race, culture or identity changes - general dream advice - romantic advice - health advice - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

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ALLEY SONG: by Wayan; 1994/4/21, a sharp little piece of dream advice.
In a suburban alley, I learn how much of an artistic coward I've been...
ALL-GENIUS CLASS: by Wayan; dreamed 2007/5/2, a dream warning it took a decade to spot
Our gifted class is on a field trip. Our teacher happily explains we're going to wreck a freeway,
tying up traffic for months, to protest crappy gifted programs...
CAUTION: SLOWEST DREAM INTERPRETATION EVER
AMBITION: by Wayan; 1994/5/25, an odd little dreamlike real-life experience.
My intuition led me to a panel discussion of women artists, just to hear one single sentence...
THE ANTLIAN JUDGE: by Wayan; 1997/6/29, an otherworldly dream.
On an alien world I meet a judge from the newly discovered
galaxy of Antlia, and learn distance can lend objectivity...
A PEEL FOR APPROVAL: by Wayan; 1990/9/24, a cautionary dream
Ariana's a brilliant young writer, but how she plans to escape her family is alarming...
CAUTION: TEEN PREGNANCY, SKIN MAGS, HORRIBLE CAREER PLANNING
APPLY FOR PRIORITY: by Wayan; 2000/7/11, a dream about taking yourself seriously
While building the World Dream Bank, I dream a hacker says
"certain remarkable sites get free fast access; you should apply..."
BALEENA'S GAME: by Wayan; 1974/1/26, a surreal dream with a practical point
A whale-spirit marries a poker-player. But her sonar sees too much. Whale-spirits prefer blackjack...
THE BANKERS' TABLE: by Lily and Wayan; 1991/7/28, parallel/shared/telepathic dreams
Lily & Wayan have simultaneous dreams of bizarre quarrels over seating bankers at picnic tables...
BEETLE: by Daniel Quinn; spring 1941; a life-defining shamanic dream
A black beetle insists I'm not needed or at home in the human world; my lifework is elsewhere...
BIRD, CAT, TREASURE: by Anna Kingsford; 1877/8/3, two warning dreams in one night
Should Anna quit hiding her psychic dreams? She dreams a cat eats her bird & burglars loot an open house.
Maybe keep hiding?
BLEEDING HEART, the SELF-HEALING CORPSE, and IN THE FUTURE DESERT:
by Wayan; 2002/5/29 - 2004/5/11, a diagnostic, predictive dream-series; Bleeding Heart as comix
A tree-girl moves to Hollywood to make film deals, but jealousy stabs her...
CAUTION: BLOODY ASSAULT, GAY DRYADS, MUTANT NUDITY
CAMPION'S WARNING: by Wayan; 1994/6/12, a warning dream--but not warning of what I think.
On the beach, seated at The Piano, director Jane Campion warns
"Avoid Hollywood, they'll snip away at your vision..."
CHE FANNO GLI INGLESI?: by William Archer; 1917/7/30, a senseless dream.
To help the King of Italy, I become a baker in Baluchistan--
learning Norwegian, levitating, meeting quaggas, riding landslides...
COMICS & DREAMJOURNAL: by Rick Veitch, Jan 1974, a life-path dream
I'm trying to jam together my dream diary and my first comics. My grandmother's
skeptical. But at last, with an audible 'click', dreams and comics suddenly merge...
CREATORS' BREAKOUT: by Rick Veitch, c.1995, a career-advice dream
The House of Comics has a shabby annex jammed with self-publishers.
We make a human ladder and climb out a high window, but I don't fit;
as the tenement collapses, I must smash the windowframe to free...
CUPOLA: by Wayan; 1994/7/28, a dream of an alternate life.
I live in a cupola atop a Victorian house in the Haight-Ashbury, but that's not the City out my windows...
DEADWOOD, or, MAO'S ONEIROLOGIST: by Wayan; 1976/4/2, a career-advisory dream-poem
The Cultural Revolution denies me the Himalayas--the spiritual heights.
So I flutter around the base of the Stairway to Heaven...
DINOSAUR BARD: by Wayan, 2005/2/7, a dream-poem advising song
Dinosaurs and tigers fill my music club. Not that it takes many to fill it. So spiky!
A dino bard croons. A tigress leaps onstage & snuggles up! Music hath charms...
THE DOOMED TRAIN: by Anna Kingsford; Nov. 1876, a galvanizing political nightmare
We were on a train headed for a crash. No one was in the engine. Rather than jump, my friend insisted we try...
DRAMATIC PARASITES: by Wayan; 1995/6/28, a dream on fear of success.
I project I'll make a lot more money soon. Good, now I can support all my lazy friends! Wait...
THE DREAMSUIT: by Wayan; 1992/7/12, a dream on unconscious programming.
An experimental helmet knocks me out. I'm groggy, miserable, till I learn what it did to others...
EGO FACTORY: by Rick Veitch, late 1974/1, both a Jungian & career-advisory dream
I go to work at the factory, clock in, strip naked, and build my... self! Myself as art.
A long slow job, but when my workmates ask, I'm admit I'm happy with me at last...
EXTRACT FROM A POEM IN PROGRESS: by D.M. Thomas, c.1972, a poem of an advisory dream
As it was revealed that the pianist in Truro Cathedral was T.S. Eliot's illegitimate daughter, her
wretched playing suddenly became beautiful. I knew the dream meant "cleave to the illegitimate"...
FAIRY URGES A WORKTABLE: by Wayan; 2009/7/15, an advice-dream wiser than it seemed
I find a long, narrow table. I have a table, but a fairy friend
perches on this one and urges "Take it home! You'll do better art!"
FOINBREK THE MOOSE: by Wayan; 1993/12/4, a dreamtale on love and work.
My lesbian twin, who lives in the unemployment line, falls in love with a pushy moose from Brooklyn...
CAUTION: INEPT SEX
FOOD CAME BETWEEN US: by Wayan, 1993/4/25, an incubated epic diagnostic dream.
The terror of Navy breakfast, the joy of filterfeeding,
how to marry pudding, and a sniper lunch with kisses...
FOOTPRINT: by Wayan; 1980/1/11, a dream of the floating world.
I'm jogging in Yosemite. A man tells me I'm possessed. There IS something in my shoe...
FOUR PERCEPTUAL SCREENS: by Wayan; 2018/1/24, a dream urging me to drop some armor--but not all
I dream my Doors of Perception have four layered screens to keep out mosquitoes, when one is plenty...
FOUR WHO COULD ONLY GET HALF-WAY by Nancy Price; 1948, a frustration-dream with deep advice
I'm one of four mediocrities: all our efforts come to nought. Mum says "You're netted, but you can fray the ropes...
FOX AND THE EYE OF GOD: by Wayan; 1984/8/14, a predictive mythic dream
DREAM: I hike up my Career Path into the hills. On a snowfield,
a bird and a fox create the eye of God, who banishes all evil!
NEXT DAY: I read a novel full of images out of the dream...
GALLEY SLAVE: by Wayan; 2008/11/27, a punning career-advice dream; Dreamverse #47
Shipwrecked and claimed as salvage on Crete, Ed the writer became
a dishwashing slave! In contrast, Marie the musician...
GENRE NICHES: by Wayan, 2008/4/17, a dreamlet of literary advice
A friend claims literary "personalities"--humorist, craftsman, kook, lowbrow--are really just marketing
niches. So write as you like! If readers like you, industry will make a niche for you, almost arbitrarily...
CAUTION: FOR WRITERS ONLY. OR IS IT?
THE GIVE-AWAY: by Wayan; 1982/6/7, a career nightmare.
My parents pray for my success, and arrange a great learning opportunity for me. Really.
THE GREAT PEACE: by George Antheil; early 1922; two predictive dreams that change a pianist's life
I dream it's after a great war; I hear the music I must write, and meet the girl I must marry...
THE GREEN GODDESS: by William Archer; 1919/9/1, a playwriting-idea dream that paid off
I was held hostage in India by courteous revolutionaries who avoided spelling out that we were soon to die...
HALF SHAMAN, HALF STATESMAN: by Wayan; 1986/4/21, a parallel-world dream: Chapter 6 of UNICORN TAG
I get a scholarship to Shaman U. Some of my classmates are Terran, but I still don't fit in, because...
CAUTION: LANGUAGE
HER STINGY DAD: by Wayan; 1998/7/29, a dreamtale on parental ambition-stunting
A single dad loves his daughter, but is so pathologically cheap he's teaching her an unintended lesson...
CAUTION: CHILD NEGLECT
HERSELF IN REVERSE: by Wayan; 2013/6/13, three surreal future-prompting dreamlets
1: In a theater I meet weird big-eyed ballerinas, & realize I'll choreograph for them soon...
2: A sorcery student & her powerful future self flying back through time meet & fuse...
3: A squirrel-mage meets his future self too. He gives us a mild fever to protect us against a deadly plague...
CAUTION: NOT FOR TOTAL SKEPTICS ABOUT PREDICTIVE DREAMS
IN THE SHADOW OF MAN: by Wayan; 1994/3/4, a dream on how to escape the cage
I'm a lab animal who discovers voice software and creates a personal zine, testifying for our rights...
IT IS THE ONLY WAY!: by Rick Veitch; c.1960; a child's career-predicting dream
My bedroom window is choked with dirt. I dig up to the surface
and find a man reading comics. He says 'It is the only way!'...
IT WASN'T EASY: by Wayan; 1983/2/24, a dream of escaping my family's unrealism
An Arabian prince kidnaps my girlfriend and me. We eventually escape his flying palace, but she gets trapped in
Victorian underwear, while I escape feuding politicians by turning myself into a truck tire. NOT a smart move...
CAUTION: BOGUS VICTORIAN SEX-EUPHEMISMS
JOKE PILOT: by Wayan; 1995/7/15, a dream of defiance.
Among aliens, humans are jokes. Fragile and blind, we can't fly starships. Unless we build our own...
LBJ OR WOODROW?: by Lyndon Baines Johnson; July-Sept 1955 and Feb-Mar 1968, recurring paralysis dreams
From the neck up I was me; from the neck down, Woodrow Wilson in his old age, paralyzed.
My presidential aides divided up my duties, and ignored me...
LBJ SHACKLED: by Lyndon Baines Johnson; c.1962, a nightmare foreseeing his presidency
I started to get up from my chair, but I couldn't move. I looked down at my legs
and saw they were manacled to the chair with a heavy chain...
LBJ'S RIVER NIGHTMARE: by Lyndon Baines Johnson; Feb-Mar 1968, a nightmare on political paralysis
I was trapped in a river, trying to swim to shore. But I was in a powerful eddy. No matter which way I swam...
LEARNING SCALES: by Wayan; 1985/6/26, an epic dream of Chinese dragons.
I find myself in astral China. The Empress is banished, the Jester rules. Wisdom is lost.
We need an Imperial Dragon...
LIES!: by Wayan; 1992/7/10, a dream that thinks it's a two-page novel.
To investigate a criminal couple, I have to lie. And that's hard, since all my lies turn true...
CAUTION: NEW AGE AND FILM NOIR DON'T MIX
LIFE FORCE: by Patagia; 2006/8/9 & 8/31, three career-advice dreamlets
Out of a Campbell's soup can poured life force: someone's last breath...
MARINE GEOLOGY'S NOT IT: by Wayan; 1984/6/2, a dream farce.
After finding marine geologists in my chocolate pudding, I'd rather be a Frenchman and insult my wife...
CAUTION: DECADENCE
MARVIN, CRASH: by Rick Veitch; Feb 1974; a predictive/warning dream
My "friends" pull me away from the girl of my dreams, push booze & pot at me,
and won't even try to climb the rope to success. But Marvin saves Evel Knievel
from a motorcycle crash. Sounds good--until, ten years later, I hear how Marvin died...
CAUTION: GRIM AFTERMATH
MENTOR: by Wayan; 2001/6/13, six advisory dreamlets.
I meet a shapeshifting mentor who warns of coming war (9/11?). Then a sentient book, "The Art of War," gets intimately involved...
CAUTION: ELECTRODES, LIBROPHILIA
MIGRATION THROUGH FIRE: by Wayan; 1999/9/3, a dream of what matters.
I'm a shaggy primitive whose tribe's outgrown our caves. We migrate, and meet two new species of people...
MUSIC HEALS SMOG: by Wayan; 1994/4/28, a career-advice dream
The smog of Portland is so bad it hides the dream-towers! Only one thing will heal it: making music...
MY DESIGN FOR THE DOME: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2009/5/1; a painting from an advisory dream
At first no one seems interested in my mural-design for the inside of the City Hall dome, but...
MY POETIC LICENSE: by Wayan; 2008/10/5, a self-referencing dream poem; Dreamverse #33
Renewing one's life has its costs. What if you can't pay the price? A dreamlet of warning and shame...
NAZIS BURN MY ART: by Rick Veitch; 1994 or before; the primal art-nightmare
Nazis call my simple architectural drawing a social protest, take it at gunpoint,
and toss it in the ovens. The commander mocks me with its ashes...
NET PROFITS: by Wayan; 1998/7/14, a dream of family values and Web credit.
At a family picnic, my sisters and I fish for scholarships and grants. They put down my art, my website...
ONE FRUIT REMAINS UNEATEN: by Catshall; November 1983, a journal dotted with dreams
My day life as an artist and explorer of the San Francisco underground scene
gets regularly commented on by my dreamlife...
CAUTION: SEX, BONDAGE
OTTER MEDICINE: by The-Fringe, a Crow healer, early 1850s; a shamanic dream with physical effects
I slept on an island in a scalding hot spring, praying for a dream. I got one--and woke up on the shore...
OVARIES: by "Ann", as told by Gayle Delaney, 1979 or before, a curative dream
Ann had inflamed ovaries and faced surgery. She asked her dreams for a second opinion. She dreamt of voices and images saying
"there's plenty of time for all this." She bathed peacefully in a river, meditated, gave easy birth to an infant, climbed a ladder to
her law degree. She woke cured. Her next doctor said "you must've been misdiagnosed; you just thought you were in pain."
CAUTION: SEXIST GASLIGHTING
PARROT TAMES BUSINESSMAN: by Wayan; 2011/10/6, a surreal career-advice dream poem
My last two businesses went bust. So I let a giant parrot talk me into interviewing
her people, who've been settling all those alien ruins in Amazonia. Great career move...
PAY CUT: by Sara, 1973/6/23, a surgery nightmare with practical advice
DREAM: Surgeons cut off both my breasts--without my consent! I feel resigned, but the staff is upset...
DAY: I'm interviewing for a job offering $2,000 less than I make now. Told myself it's OK, but...
CAUTION: MALPRACTICE, MUTILATION
PIANOBED: by Wayan; 2012/1/22, a health-advisory dream.
I forgot how to play my pianobed, so I just thrash around in it. And thus thrash music is born (sorry)...
PIED MAGE: by Wayan; 1995/2/6, an architectural dreamfable.
A wizard into spots and dots invites me into his beach house, hungry for advice on his peculiar fears...
PLANET-SCULPTING APE: by "AE" (George Russell); mid-1870s, a childhood characterological dream.
On a cloud in space I met an ape molding a model of Earth, glancing at the original far below. We were much alike...
POKEY?: by Wayan; 1993/4/15, a dreamtale on my soul.
My lover's turned into a tiny living pull-toy, trapped ankle-deep in a wheeled platform. Can I free her?
POLTERGEIST: by Wayan; 1983/11/17, a comic surreal dream.
A living camera edits us all: the dappled hawk-man, the slutty candidate, the blue businessmen
who give such bad advice when you pull the thorns from their feet. And my sweet sad hell-hound...
QUIT THAT LAB!: by Wayan; 1999/5/2, a deductive nightmare.
I'm working alone in the lab at night, when the lab gear wakes up and tries to kill me...
RADIANT LIGHT: DREAMING IN THE HYPOGEUM:
by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1999/5/15, 6/12 & 7/14, a painting based on 3 dreams
I'm in the Hypogeum, an ancient Maltese dream-temple. I join some women
staging a ritual; a little girl draped in a web plays the role of an insect...
RANGE: by Wayan; three 2019/8/19 advisory dreamlets plus 2020/1/8 followup
1: My dad can't see my world. Literally can't see my world...
2: The House of Busyness is unlivable--busy, crowded, noisy...
3: Achievement takes twelve factors; any one can block you...
RECURRING SCHOOL NIGHTMARE: by Julie Doucet; July 1995, a dream of... oh, read the title!
Trapped in elementary school, Julie is forced to study the alphabet
until she declares "I'm a professional cartoonist, goddammit!"...
RUBY UNICORN: by Wayan; dreamed 2012/11/15; a sculptural dream.
THAT DAY: My bandmates want to record crowd-pleasing songs. I want to record our strangest ones...
THAT NIGHT: In a woman's art studio, I'm struck by a low, feline, muscular unicorn mare, carved
out of a giant ruby. I ask, and she says "Oh, that's not mine. I found it in the trash"...
SAFETY GETS ME HOT: by Wayan; 1997/3/27, a dream on sensitivity.
I'm trapped in a post-apocalypse pulp story! Fun for my readers, but not for me! How to escape?
SCULPTOR OR WRITER?: by Lucian of Samosata, c.135 CE, a career-advice dream
As a boy, my family urged me to aim low and follow our trade: stonecarving. I dreamt two strong women fought
over me, a grubby sculptor and an elegant writer. I sided with the writer, and she let me ride in her flying chariot...
A SEAMY REALITY: by Wayan; 1999/10/21, a surreal predictive dream.
Sharp seams between realities cross Silicon Valley; I end up in the Dark Castle of the Oracle. When I wake...
SHE IS THE SNAKE: by Sharon Stricker, 1980, a warning dream from a censored goddess
Should I try to keep Janine out of jail? But outside, she'd gotten back on drugs. That night I dreamed
a huge beautiful snake bit my writing hand, and said "Don't go to court. Stay home and write"...
CAUTION: JUNKIE, RESCUER
SHRIEK ADOPTION: by Wayan; dreamed 2015/8/23, a dream-poem exposing self-sabotage
A man adopts two orphaned, talented musical griffins. But their previous guardians were
so traditionalist & stifling that the cubs want to BURN all their instruments...
SILKY AT THE MIKE: by Wayan; 1983/12/23, sketch of recurring dream
Ours is a mixed-race family, and my sister takes after the horse side. No hands, but can she sing!...
SLEDDING NEAR C: by Albert Einstein; around 1890-95; a transcendent career-advice dream
Sledding at night, I approached the speed of light, and the stars turned colors I'd never seen...
THE SMILING SHAW MACHINE: by W.B. Yeats; 1894/4/19, a nightmare about popular success.
After Shaw's Arms and the Man eclipsed my own play The Land of Heart's Desire, I dreamt I was haunted by...
SNOW STALLION: by Wayan; 1994/6/4, a tangled political/spiritual dream.
I'm a peace terrorist trapped in Squaw Valley, herded like a mare by a huge stallion made of snow...
And then the dream shifts. I blurt out the truth behind our idiotic waking world! And wake believing it...
CAUTION: MERMAID AND HORSE NUDITY
THE SPHINX WANTS CLEANING: by Thutmoses IV, c.1400 or 1405 BCE; a god's dream-bargain
Thutmoses napped in the shade under the Great Sphinx--then buried to the neck in sand.
The resident sun-god complained of the sand; "the throne is yours if you'll clear it off..."
SUSHI CIRCUS: by Wayan; 1982/2/17, an illustrated psychic dream.
To avoid being stabbed, I flee the Psychodrama Circus. Wisely--the place explodes!
But it's the filling of the sushi roll that really upsets me...
CAUTION: CANNIBAL MAKI
TEACH DREAM E.S.P.: by Wayan; 2012/2/14. An advisory dream with an intriguing model of time.
I'm co-teaching a class on ESP. My specialty's sending warnings to my own past self to change the present...
TENNIS UNDER STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCES by Nancy Price; 1948,
(A comic frustration dream hiding a warning)
Our tennis game's spoiled by rubber rackets, fierce grandmas,
Good and Evil (those identical twins) and a bully on stilts...
TILT THE GLOBE TO MAXIMIZE BIOMASS: by Wayan,
1987/8/15, 1990/3/31 & 6/10, 1993/8/10, four dreams prompting Planetocopia
I dreamed I took a globe off its stand, drilled new poles, and put it back on tilted, so that
most continents are greener; Tokyo, Alaska and Tierra del Fuego are now all tropical...
Over a decade later, dreams forgotten, I start what I think is a nondream art project, by tilting...
TITAN, or, SATURN'S WEDDING BAND: by Wayan; 1981/3/22, a billion-mile roadtrip dream.
Our band's touring Titan. Road trip blues: diners, feuds, romances. Have I been chasing the wrong girl?
TUTELARY UNCLE: by Wayan; 1993/5/28, a dreamtale.
I'm half Anglo, half Kwakiutl. My uncle the shaman died,
but he still wants to teach me his medicine...
TV DEVIL FLU: by Wayan; 1994/10/24, a comic nightmare hiding useful advice.
A "friend" gives me her TV. No wonder! Turns out it's haunted
by a small-minded devil who cheats on all his deals...
UNICORN FEEDBACK: by Wayan; 2009/1/3, a double dream of advice
A telepathic unicorn gives me some subtle advice. I wake, and tell a friend, who easily proves my account
is distorted by my own biases. Telepathy's confusing! Wake again. Her correction was part of the dream...
THE UNICORN MASK OF IGNORABILITY: by Wayan; 2009/10/13, a predictive dream; Dreamverse #59
My family home's invaded by ancient Egyptian architects. So
I put on my unicorn mask and eavesdrop on their plans...
VANDERMEER'S STAIR: by Jeff Vandermeer, 2013 or before,, a nightmarish creative prompt
I was on a spiral stair. The walls had scrawled messages, not sprayed,
carved or painted but living tissue--and getting fresher as I descended.
Whatever was growing them was still below me, and still writing...
WALKER'S DREAM: by Madame C.J. Walker; c.1895, a dream-cure that worked AND made her rich
My scalp had an infection that just wouldn't heal. I tried everything. Then I dreamed I met
a big, black man who advised me to use certain ingredients from Africa...
WHAT E.S.P. IS FOR: by Wayan; 2012/12/10, three dreamlets on my real nature and purpose
I dream ESP isn't just for oneself.
A romance between a wolf singer & a deer guitarist.
I'm furry too, and better accept it!
WHAT MEN HIDE BEHIND: by Wayan; 1992/11/30, an alarming comic dream
The real pursuit of happiness: she pursues me, and I run in shame and hide! But she's persistent...
WILLPOWER (HAPPINESS): by Wayan; 1991/1/17, a didactic dream.
At age 90, the first female high-rise steelworker tells me
why she did it--and why she regrets it now...
WISH-RATIONED EARTH: by Wayan; 2015/6/19; an advisory dream on...miracles?
I'm stranded on an alternate Earth under strict rationing--of wishes!
But you need to wish a few times a year to keep the system greased...
CAUTION: INSULTS BOTH CAPITALISM AND ASCETICISM
THE WORLD NEWS: by Nathaniel Hawthorne; 1843; a dream-job (and career advice?)
I dreamt the world itself hired me, at a generous salary, to report its great affairs exactly as they happen...
YAKETY YAK: by Wayan; 1984/5/1, a dysfunctional dreamtale.
I'm at a family dinner. Killer Grampa, kid-hating Ma, larcenous Dad. Then a bum offers some advice...
"YOU'RE INSANE": by Wayan; 2000/5/26, a nightmare warning I've been misjudged
DAY: My dad's sick; my mom nags me to visit, though hospitals endanger me (weak immune system).
DREAM: My parents say "You're insane. We must take control of your life." So I divorce my family...
CAUTION: UGLY FAMILY VALUES


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