There’s this ad I keep seeing that I really despise. It’s for teeth-whitening toothpaste. The actress is wearing a white coat then holds up a tissue to her teeth, lamenting that her sparkling white teeth are ‘still yellow’
They cut away to teach you how toothpaste works, because surely you’ve never heard of this newfangled thing, and when they cut back she’s no longer wearing her white coat and says how much whiter her teeth are.
It’s transparently obvious that the wardrobe and tissue are just to give you something whiter to look at. But like… your teeth aren’t supposed to be freakishly white. It’s just something that Big Toothpaste wants you to feel bad about the way your body is. Also, using whitening toothpaste when you don’t need it can damage your enamel and cause you long term problems.
I don’t remember where I heard it, but I do remember hearing that one of the signs you’re in a dream is that your phone doesn’t work properly. Which leads me into this dream I had recently:
I was asleep, when my phone wakes me up. I don’t remember it actually ringing, just thinking “someone is trying to call me,” so I answer it and do my best to pretend I wasn’t just sleeping. We don’t have an actual conversation, like no words are exchanged, but through the inscrutable logic of dreams I ascertain that the caller is an old acquaintance setting me up for a job interview. We hang up and I go back to sleep.
Next thing I know I’m at the mall wondering if this was where my interview was supposed to be. I try to think back on the conversation but I don’t remember anything other than being really sleepy. For a moment I suspect that I must have imagined the conversation, maybe it was all just a dream. I don’t remember who I’m supposed to meet, where I’m supposed to meet them, or what job I’m supposed to be interviewing for. Then I reason that I wouldn’t have come to the mall unless I was supposed to, so I decide to fake it til I make it.
Sure enough, I find my old acquaintance who introduces me to someone I’ve never met about the job. We start chatting for a bit, and then the job interview turns into a scavenger hunt and I’m sent off into the mall with my prospective employer’s shopping list. I wake up before I find out if I got the job.