YOUR DIPLOMA HAS BEEN REVOKED
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| This re-run is from February 2012 |
Due to a change in the College’s requirements for graduation we find that the degree awarded to you in 1968 was in error. You are nine credits short of graduation; your diploma has been revoked.
Sincerely,
Lafayette College
This is the start of a dream that used to recur about three times a year. In it my job is dependent on a degree. To keep my job I go back to school to earn those nine credits.
I was not a good student in college. I had too much fun and not enough smarts. I managed to barely scrape through going on and off probation right up to my final semester. My graduation was in doubt until the last hour when grades were posted and I just slipped in under the minimum grade point average wire.
Having to go back and earn nine more credits without slipping under the required grade point average is indeed a nightmare.
The only part of this dream that I ever remember when I wake up in a cold sweat is having to take my final exam in Ancient History (I know…there was no such course). In the dream I did not attend a single class or lecture. I never read a page of the required reading. I never even bought the book. Somehow I thought I could borrow the book and read it the night before the final exam. No one is willing to lend me the book. The book is not available for sale. The test is due in one hour. That is when I wake up in a cold sweat.
I have not had this dream since I retired four years ago.
I’m retired.
I don’t need my job.
I don’t need the degree.
Fuck you dream!
While i loved school and studying and learning, and kept my grades up, i'd rather hire someone like you than someone like me. When it comes too easily, the person doesn't know how to work. You know how to pour the coals on and get things done when needed.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny about recurrent dreams like this? I remember for years having dreams about forgetting my locker combination for school, even though I had graduated years before. Weird how the mind works.
ReplyDeletebetty
While I'd never have nightmares about a History exam, I often have a reoccurring dream where an art project is due and I'm totally unprepared. This never happened to me, not in college or in my career as a professional artist so I don't know why my subconscious is tormenting me with this. Like you: Fuck you dream!
ReplyDeleteOh that's a nightmare and then some indeed. I like the last sentence so let's go with that.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺
I have a different version of what I call "the anxiety dream" but it has recurred from time to time involving a job I left more than 30 years ago!
ReplyDeleteI have those dreams all the effing time!! I used to get them more for grade school and high school (and I HATED grade school and high school), but now it seems to be just college. I don't get it, because I actually mostly enjoyed college. Always the same dream tho--I have to go back for those last credits, and I never go to the classes or do any work.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're free of the dreams!
they say when you dream about school, your subconscious is trying to tell you you're not learning some lesson in life that you're supposed to. i used to have dreams about high school a lot - and i liked school!
ReplyDeleteAren't you glad when you wake up though? That feeling when you realize all is well often makes the dream not such a bad thing. I have learned to recognize those dreams while I am dreaming and I can thumb my nose at them. Ahh.
ReplyDeleteI had that same dream for many years. Also one about trying to get to the ski resort and by the time I'd put on my skis and gotten to the lift, it was closing. I broke my leg the first time I skiid, so maybe that's another potential disaster.
ReplyDeleteI have dreams about moving when I get stressed in life. Sometimes having such a dream is the first thing that makes me realize I'm dealing with too much.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I had this dream, I moved to Brazil. A few days after that the news about the Zika virus started appearing in the media. Not sure what to make of that. Well, other than that I should do something about the stress in my life.
Silly Joe! Didn't your dream self know that all you had to do was find out from the library a family who had that book, and invite yourself in to read it, while sitting on the end of their white couch eating nuts, squabbling with their daughter, and drinking grape juice?
ReplyDeleteI've had wacky dreams Joe but never one like that. I did have a recurring dream about being chased by a giant.
ReplyDelete