A:
I forgot to tell you about this dream I had last night!
B:
I don't want to hear this.
A:
There's a point to it, I promise.
B:
Make it quick.
A:
Ok, so the dream was that Beth and I went to an Apple store, and they were having a sort of sale, where if you prank called this certain number at Microsoft and made fun of whoever answered, they'd give you $150 off your purchase that day at the Apple store.
B:
Great.
A:
Yeah, and to advertise it, they had this big poster sort of thing, with these pull quotes from different satisfied customers. So it had stuff like, "'My new Mac makes video editing fun and easy!' - Amanda S." or "'My new MacBook plays the latest games!' - Justin R."
B:
Ok.
A:
And then one of them was just, "'Please stop calling. Please' - Steve. B". !!!
B:
So...
A:
It was Steve Ballmer! They got a humiliating, plaintive request from Steve Ballmer to put on the billboard, just to rub it in that he couldn't stop them from calling! It ws so mean!
B:
What's the point then?
A:
Well, in ANOTHER dream that night, I referred to this dream! But not as a dream, as it actually happening!
B:
So?
A:
Well, just get this. There were two girls that I hung out with in high school, all three of us were friends, and we all basically stopped hanging out after school. And like a month ago, I had a dream where I hung out with one of them!
B:
Great.
A:
It was fine. But then, the same night I had the dream about the Apple Store, I had a THIRD dream where I hung out with the other one of the three! And in that dream, I said that I had recently seen the other one!
B:
<Shakes head>
A:
Rather than each dream being self-contained, it seems like my dreams are vignettes taking place in a single, coherent universe!
B:
Brilliant. So if you have a dream in one of your dreams, are you actually just remembering the real world?
A:
Unclear! I don't know if the real world and the dream world are two-sides of the same coin
B:
They're not
A:
Well, conceptually
B:
No, not even conceptually
A:
Metapho
B:
Nope.
A:
Anyways, it's unclear if each world is accessible by the other through dreaming, or whether it's more of a hierachy, with the real world at the bottom and each dream world above it having one way access to the dream world one level up.
B:
But if that's so, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT WHAT WE CALL THE REAL WORLD ISN'T JUST A LONG DREAM??
A:
!!! I just got chills.
B:
Jesus. You're really easy to freak out.