When it comes to being a dreamer, I can’t say that I normally am one.

I’m not talking about being ambitious and having career dreams and goals, I’m talking about the type you have when you are asleep. 

I don’t know about any other students on campus, but I’ve noticed recently under the stress of midterms that my dreams are becoming just a little strange.

I normally don’t have dreams, or at least I never remember them, so this occurrence is a little strange for me. 

Some of the dreams I’ve been having include getting severe dandruff (a nightmare for me), seeing my sister with missing teeth and being in a zombie apocalypse.

Ironically, my sister Sara and I both had these zombie apocalypse dreams within a span of two days.

I’m not sure if these strange dreams are directly correlated with the stress that comes along with midterms, but they did make for a good laugh when trying to interpret them.

The dandruff dream had me paranoid for days that I somehow obtained this chronic issue overnight and was going to class flaking everywhere.

After I woke up that morning, I walked across the hall to my sister’s room and told her about my strange dream.

All I can recall about this dream was how bad the dandruff was, nothing more and nothing less. 

We made the decision to consult a professional — Google.

Google didn’t tell me that I had three months left to live, but it did tell me that the dream symbolizes that I have high stress levels and that I am worried about it.

At this point, Google was correct, and I decided to try to work on my stress levels because I didn’t want any more strange dreams about dandruff, or anything as gross as it for that matter.

That night I had another strange dream, but in this dream I was in the shower with the curtain pulled and my sister was talking to me while doing her makeup.

I remember peeking my face out of the curtain to crack a joke to her, and when she responded she was missing a front tooth.

I vividly remember her with half of her hair pinned up, a mascara wand in her hand and her laughing with a big gaping hole in her smile. 

I was flabbergasted that she didn’t hide it or say anything like, “Uh, Liz … so I’m missing a tooth now.” Then I woke up.

Once again I walked across the hall that morning and made sure I told my sister I was glad she was not missing a front tooth.

Then I told her the strange dream I had for the second night in a row.

Google told me this time that it meant I feared some sort of change in my life and that I feared some sort of risk that I will be or am taking.

I’m not quite sure what Google had to say about my sister and me both dreaming about the zombie apocalypse, though. 

My sister recently dreamt that Judaism (we are Jewish) saved her and I both from the zombie apocalypse.

She said it was almost like we got a “get out of jail free” card and the zombies couldn’t attack us and they left us alone, so we never died.

Strangely enough, the very next night I too dreamt of zombies, but Judaism didn’t save me.

Maybe I woke up too quickly or was too busy dreaming of killing these zombies, but I haven’t convinced myself to consult Google about this dream yet.

I assume Google will have some philosophical or witty answer to why my sister and I dreamt about zombies, but I have decided to let that one rest. 

I can’t say that these dreams are doing a disservice to me by occurring, but I can say that they are definitely keeping me on my toes to see what weird things I will dream about for the rest of the week during midterms. 

Liz Stephens is a junior journalism major. She can be reached 581-2812 or at ejstephens2@eiu.edu.