In the Court of the Gameshow Overlords: A Not-So-Retro Feverdream and Continuing Love Story

So, I realize I’ve posted here a grand total of once since covidpocalypse began. My apologies. A LOT has happened, both on a micro and macro scale. A million people died in my country alone. I had a stroke. And now there’s a land war in Europe. Shit got real weird, man. More on that later.

Until I can think of something more relevant to share, please appreciate this follow up to the retro fantasy feverdream I previously faithfully transcribed for you.  The following is the first dream I’ve had that directly referenced another dream of mine, rather than just being a subsequent dream in the same setting or with the same reoccuring dream people. Instead of having the same dream characters as the original dream, Generic Protagonist As Played By Me and Hipster Teen Heartthrob As Played By A Vaguely Ethnically Ambiguous Kit Harrington, this dream had Actual Me As Played By Me and my real life partner, Noah.

This spinoff feverdream was dreamed in July of 2020. I feel it worth noting that I was on steroids at the time and, between the body trucks, the fireworks at all hours, and the constant police helicopter surveillance, shit felt real dystopian. So enjoy the inner workings of my stress- and drug-addled brain. It is written here as I posted it on Facebook at the time, save for cleaning up a few links and adding paragraphs and such. So without further ado:

In the Court of the Gameshow Overlords
An unnecessary, steroid-induced spinoff, faithfully dictated by Shannon Barnsley

So, the other night I had a dream that referenced another dream, which is a first. I’ve had people or places or things from one dream reoccur in other dreams (like I have a consistent dream high school that isn’t my high school and I’ve had recurring nightmares, etc), but, in this case, Noah and I were in some sort of trial set by mysterious omnipotent councilors that would require me to tell him and an imposter apart for reasons (???), which some of you may recall was the crux of a very cinematic dream I had and wrote about on my blog.

And, in this new dream, I was like, “Oh my god, what are the odds! This is just like that book* I wrote! You know what to do, right? Just do the thing from the book.”

I was very worried Noah hadn’t read it or didn’t remember it because I didn’t want the bad guys to catch wise to my totally brilliant plan of Noah only speaking in song lyrics. But when it came time for The Ordeal, the Trial Overlords did the old switcheroo and instead of me trying to tell Noah from an imposter it was Noah trying to tell me from an imposter and instead of being in a weird enchanted forest 80s soundstage it was on a cheesy 80s dating show.

So the host goes to ask me to describe my perfect date and suddenly I can’t remember any song lyrics, so I just panic and start screaming random bits of lyrics that are all in Elvish or Irish or German or Faroese or whathaveyou, which was very much the opposite of the plan’s desired subtly and the host is like, “What is happening right now?!” Then it cuts to me just belting out “What’s Up?” in my best He-Man falsetto and like soul-training off the stage in terror that I somehow fucked up such a perfect, foolproof plan.

But the camera pans over to Noah and he’s just like, “Yep, that’s definitely her. Pack it in, boys. Trial completed.”

And then he starts singing a duet with me and doing the Skeletor voice to boot and the Council of Random Trial Setters are just looking on in awe and terror before pronouncing, “My god. It IS True Love. The purest we’ve ever seen! The Curse** is lifted!”

So, you know, if you’re wondering how lockdown is going for the O’Sharma Clan, um, there you have it.

*note that this was never a book, but I guess in this dream I had written it as a book instead of just transcribing my feverdream on a blog

**I have no idea what curse this referred to. Not knowing is what haunts me.