I'm so off-topic lately. D:

[Freemage]

WARNING: Ear-worm alert.

I've had this stuck in my head for three days, now. I must now assume that the only way to free myself of its eldritch grip is to pass it along to others.

[NobodySpecial]

That won't do it.

This might.

Or if not.....and I hate to suggest it in casual company....close the curtains, turn off the light, and try this. Be very careful with it, though.

[Freemage]

From the Q&A:

I've come up with all sorts of underhanded tricks, since because I (obviously) nearly always use vinaigrette, too much dressing will make the vegetables unbearably tart, and if it drips, the stains do not come out. (Of course, for the same reason, dipping the fork doesn't really work...)

Mr. Brightside: When I use vinaigrette, I pour a little on top and then put a plate over the bowl and shake until it's evenly distributed.

I took a different approach--straight balsamic vinegar, no oil. I've just developed my taste for tart (if I'm at home, I'll use a flavored balsamic from the Olive Tap; seriously, you can go around that store tasting straight vinegars, and it's GOOD). No oil, no creamy dressings, cheese definitely optional (unless it's a good salad bar with something more exotic than shredded cheddar)--it's one of the few places where I really have managed to cut the fats from my meals.

[Valerie]

Adding a poll, 'cause I'm curious about this.

I have dreams where I'm a different person. Like, not Val-as-a-cowboy or something, but just straight-up another person. The past two nights, I've dreamed about being an overweight woman (I think Hispanic?), a man, a teenage girl, an overweight girl roughly my age (21), and a little girl (maybe like 6?). (All those other characters were white, which is my actual race.) I also tend to "morph" between characters. Does anyone else do this? D:

[sgtrock]

Adding a poll, 'cause I'm curious about this.

I have dreams where I'm a different person. Like, not Val-as-a-cowboy or something, but just straight-up another person. The past two nights, I've dreamed about being an overweight woman (I think Hispanic?), a man, a teenage girl, an overweight girl roughly my age (21), and a little girl (maybe like 6?). (All those other characters were white, which is my actual race.) I also tend to "morph" between characters. Does anyone else do this? D:

Once in a while. I very rarely dream of being female. I almost never lose my sense of self, so it's more like I'm watching what happens from inside another character, if that makes sense.

[Freemage]

I've occasionally dreamt myself as some of my more in-depth RPG characters; given that in those cases, I tend to do a fair bit of diving into their psyche in order to stay in-character, that's not exactly unexpected, though.

[Zanosuke Kurosaki]

I once dreamed that I was The Ray (DC Universe character, look him up sometime), fleeing from some rather top-tier villians, and I couldn't stay in my hiding places too long because they could track my energy signature, and they had a guy on their team who had powers of the same order as mine (light-manipulation), so near-constant movement through Earth's atmosphere with only the occasional hour or so of sleep snatched here and there was pretty much my only way to stay free until I could find any other heroes to help (being that said guy on their team had drained me of my reserves pretty thoroughly, fight was not much of an option unless I felt like being ruthless and settling for quick'n'dirty lobotomies...) Third-worst dream I've ever had in my life.

[Valerie]

You guys make me feel so much less like a freak. ;_; <3 Just every time. About everything.

In dreams where I'm another person, I don't really have my "sense of self." I'm that character and I'm feeling and thinking what that character is feeling and thinking. Remember the overweight Hispanic woman? She uh. Did some very terrible, violent things, and there were two moments of complete clarity where she realized that what she was doing was wrong and almost fixed it. (Once, she got a ride to the hospital, but she started hurting the person again while in the passenger seat of the car. Then, in the hospital, she took... a bag... *ahem* to the counter and handed it to the receptionist, only to be told that it looked like some kind of weird bubblegum. So, apparently, my character was not only a violent psychopath, but also schizophrenic or something?)

Needless to say, I was terrified to be near any sharp objects when I woke up.

My husband told me I'm not allowed to read horror stories anymore, but he can trip over a ladybug. D:

Anyway, my dreams where I'm another person are rarely horrible and violent and stuff, just, that sometimes does happen regardless of who I am. I'd say I'm another person in my dreams probably around half the time. I was a cat once. I don't really remember it now, though.

So it seems like the major differences here are that I gain the character's self-awareness as opposed to my own (unlike Sgt. Rock) and the characters are always completely new and unknown to me (unlike Freemage and Zanosuke).

And let me just add that I never thought dreaming of being someone else was uncommon until I mentioned it to my dad. He was confused by the concept. Then I asked my husband and one of my friends, and neither of them had ever experienced it, either.

[MudFlap33]

Don't worry, I have as well, and have had the "characters" I inhabit also do some pretty screwed-up things. I usually have the vaguest sense of myself when I am these characters...although maybe it's more like I feel like I am the characters and not that I am inhabiting a character. But I also usually have the vaguest sense that I'm dreaming, though not to the point where I can easily lucid dream, just to the point where it's easy to wake up if things get too weird.

I was going to provide an example as to the worst thing I've ever dreamed, but it's so gross and screwy that I can't let myself post it. Maybe in a PM if you have brain bleach on-hand.

But don't worry! You're totally normal. If we're any definition of normal.

[Valerie]

But don't worry! You're totally normal. If we're any definition of normal.

Most of the people I know IRL are incredibly insensitive and stupid. So yes, I prefer that you guys on the board be what's "normal." If nothing else, I'm a thousand times happier to count among your ranks than theirs, even if it turns out you're the not-normals.

[Kamino Neko]

I'm always 'me' in my dreams.

I may be a different age, sex, race, or species, but I'm still me, just in a different body.

[Alice Macher]

I've very occasionally dreamed I was me as a child, and I once dreamed I was a man who looked nothing like me. But that's pretty much it.

[sgtrock]

Don't worry, I have as well, and have had the "characters" I inhabit also do some pretty screwed-up things. I usually have the vaguest sense of myself when I am these characters...although maybe it's more like I feel like I am the characters and not that I am inhabiting a character. But I also usually have the vaguest sense that I'm dreaming, though not to the point where I can easily lucid dream, just to the point where it's easy to wake up if things get too weird.

I was going to provide an example as to the worst thing I've ever dreamed, but it's so gross and screwy that I can't let myself post it. Maybe in a PM if you have brain bleach on-hand.

But don't worry! You're totally normal. If we're any definition of normal.

This description is actually pretty close to how I feel as a different character in a dream. I'm still self-aware, but acting and feeling as this other character/person, too. Make sense?

[Valerie]

I'm self-aware as the person I am. Like, I'm not "Valerie" in these dreams, I'm "overweight-Hispanic-woman." I can't recall any of my non-Valerie forms ever being named, but it's like I completely lose any sense of what "Valerie" is.

[NobodySpecial]

If I'm not myself, I'm like a third person observer. Most of my dreams, I can't remember. Some come back again and again. The worst one has to be the spider the size of a pie plate on my chest.