It’s the second week of finding my own questions for the Friday Five. It’s still easier than writing a whole entry from scratch.

1. Do you sleep well?

On the whole, I sleep well. I usually get eight hours a night. I really feel that sleeping well is the best way to have a good day, so I try to get to bed on time during the weekdays so that I can have a productive week.

When I do have insomnia, it hits me about two hours before I’m supposed to wake up. I’ll awake in a panic with a nightmare, heart pumping and adrenaline rushing. For the first few seconds, I’m paralyzed and I can’t move. I used to think that I was still dreaming, but I’m pretty sure that I’m awake, I just can’t move anything for about thirty seconds or so. I usually can move my head and arms before my legs will work. After I regain my senses, it usually takes about two hours to get back to sleep. I can’t take a sleeping pill or I’ll sleep right through my waking up time, so I’m just stuck being up two hours early.

2. Describe your nightmares.

I have the run-of-the-mill nightmares just like everyone else, but I also have a few of them that are a little strange. Of course, I have the Stinky Ghost nightmares, which are a new occurrence. I only started having these nightmares when I moved into the Sugarhouse house in July of 2003.

I have a recurring nightmare in which I am stuck in a game that never ends, kind of like Monopoly, but the unpleasant portion of the game is this huge, throbbing noisy brown thing instead of having to pay rent on Boardwalk. I haven’t had that dream in a long time. I hope it doesn’t come back because I don’t miss that one.

I have the typical nightmares where a loved one is in danger. I always end up calling said loved one in the middle of the night to make sure they’re ok. When my grandma in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Montana had an aneurysm, I had a dream about her, but it wasn’t a nightmare. I guess I should stop waking up my loved ones when I have nightmares because my track record sucks.

I have never had a nightmare in which I go to a public place naked or in my underwear. I think it’s because I have nothing to hide. My whole life is right here for anyone to read about, so I’m naked every day.

I have the nightmare where my teeth are falling out or disintegrating. The worst teacher in the world, Mr. Hatch, taught Psychology at Kearns High when I went there. He told our class that if you dream about your teeth falling out, you’re sexually repressed. He stated it as if it were fact. He didn’t even mention that it might be quackery and that wasn’t the worst thing he ever did.

3. Do you get them often?

I get nightmares about once a week. If I am stressed, I get them more often than that. I don’t get the horrible insomnia with every nightmare. I usually am able to just calm down and go right back to sleep.

4. Are they recurring?

The Stinky Ghost nightmares and the Monopoly nightmares are the two most frequent recurring dreams that I have. Every time I have a flying dream, it’s different, so I don’t count those as recurring.

5. What is the scariest nightmare you’ve ever had?

The worst nightmare I ever had was several years ago. I lived at Stonehedge, so it was almost ten years ago. In the dream, we were in Billings, Montana. Mike, my grandpa and I were walking on the side of the road at the intersection of 13^th and Polly. Just as we got through the intersection, a car came barreling toward us and hit my grandpa, throwing him into the air. His hat flew off his head while he fell to the ground. The car didn’t stop or even slow down. At that point, I woke up.

I immediately picked up the phone and called my grandpa. He was just fine, of course, and kind of bothered that I called him, hysterical, at that time of the night. The car didn’t even slow down.