Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Favourite worst nightmare

A further refinement to my long and tedious quest to define the modern intellectual: you are an intellectual if you have a recurring dream about going into an exam for which you haven't prepared more often than you have a recurring dream about standing in the school playground in nothing but your pants.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I constantly dream that the coast begins at the (Marble Arch) end of Edgware Road, but, damn, neither of the other things. (I fail the WTO test, though perhaps not the tea-cosy one. And scrape through on the books-to-shoes ratio, so I hope I at least pass as a soodo-intellectual.)

Betty said...

Ye gods. This is the only time I've been able to put forward an argument which can prove that I'm an intellectual.

Still, I'm probably more of an intellectual than Peter Stringfellow, who no doubt dreams about other people standing in the school playground in nothing but their pants.

... and I've just enjoyed reading a really good post about psychoanalysis on Doppelganger's blog. What's happening to me?

Rog said...

I must admit to the exam nightmare, even although the exam was 30 odd years ago. Thankfully I fail miserably to resist your wonderful Tea Cosy test so that's OK.

PS I'm sure you've already seen this.

Rimshot said...

At least you have pants on in your playground nightmare.

I've actually dreamed that I was in class taking a test with only an undershirt on! Luckilly, I don't dream much at all these days (awake or asleep).

llewtrah said...

What if you're taking an exam naked in the playground? Mum has recurring nightmares of not being able to find the examination room or trying to get there but things keep delaying her. She blames it on passing exams but not being able to stay on at school because of the costs.

Billy said...

Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me.

Tim F said...

Thanks for all of these. I shall be passing them on (with names TippExed out) to m'colleague Dr Freud.

Last night I dreamed that I accidentally got on the 159 bus to Streatham, got off in a panic when I realised I shouldn't have been there, and left my passport behind.

amyonymous said...

i often dream that i step into the classroom to teach, but am completely unprepared and have nothing in my head to make up on the spot. this does not make me an intellectual. it makes me an academic. and the two are not the same thing!