Trip to India

I'm taking a business trip to India. I arrive at the hotel and go to check in. On the way to the front desk, I see a co-worker coming out of the elevator. I feel relieved that I know someone in this foreign country. He is in a rush to get somewhere but mentions that both he and his wife are there and they are on floor 10. Hopefully, I can get a room near them. I get on line to check in. As I approach the counter, I try to fish out my company credit card and I can't find it. I have my purchasing card, but you aren't supposed to use that for travel. The front desk person looks at me impatiently and I can see that the line is getting longer behind me. A woman employee tells me that I'm taking too long and asks me to move to a different line. I'm so flustered that I simply follow. Finally when I get to the counter, I decide to use my regular personal credit card since I will at least get a 2% benefit back. The clerk tells me that since I'm not using the credit card that I reserved with, I will be assigned a different room, as if this were a e-Ticket check-in at an airport kiosk. I'm a little concerned about this and ask where the room will be. He says, "Actually, your pool is right here around the corner, but the room is in building 10-D which you well be escorted to."

I look around the corner at my assigned pool and see this room with a small pool which is about 10 x 15 feet made entirely of stainless steel like a huge sink. It is extremely crowded, filled with Indian people. There were two levels to the pool. Around the shallow outer ring, all the adults were sitting around the edge with their feet in the water. In the center of the pool, all the children were playing inside. The water was divided into three colored areas, one red, one blue and one green, as if the children were swimming in various jell-o colors. I couldn't tell whether the color was achieved by actual colored water, in which case they would probably easily mix together, or lights from above or under the water. I thought this pool was pretty cool and different from pools back home, but it was so crowded and filled with local people that I did not want to try it. There were several rooms with these pools for the different parts of the hotel.

After check-in I was asked to hop into a cream colored Mercedes car which would take me to my room. I had a soft duffel bag for luggage which I stuffed into the foot well of the back seat before hopping in. There was another traveler going to the same building. He was chatting with the driver about some restaurant and karaoke club that he liked and the driver said it was right around the corner from our building. We drive around for quite a while, turning so many times that I quickly lose my direction. I look out the window at all the new sights and sounds of India and think about taking out my camera, but I'm more concerned that I don't know where I am and I know that I'll have plenty of time to take pictures later. Finally, I see "10-D" on a nice beige complex that look like American condos with garage doors in front. We drive through the parking lot and drive back out onto the streets. After a couple of turns the driver stops and lets us out. I ask why we aren't at building 10-D and the driver said the we were being dropped off at the karaoke club that the other passenger mentioned and points to it across the street. I somehow missed the conversation where this decision was made. The driver informs us that our lunch has been prepared and sets them up on picnic benches along the sidewalk.

My kids are suddenly there and I have to make sure all the Indian food is to their liking. An older Indian woman sits down besides me and I find that I have to move all our meals down the table. She has a lot of wares with her as well and takes up a lot of room. I realize that the guy I was traveling with has his lunch packed up and is walking towards the club across the street. Since I'm no where near the co-worker I had seen previously, I feel this is the only guy that I know in this country, plus I can't even remember how to get back to the hotel building. I call out, "Steve?" He doesn't answer and I realize that is not his name. I run over and tap his shoulder and ask him to show me how to get back to the hotel building. He points down the street and says just go right at that traffic light, then go left and the building is on the right. I ask him, "Can I have your phone number because I don't know anyone else in this country?" I'm a little concerned that we probably don't know the local number of the hotel and that our US cell phones won't work with Indian providers, but he willingly writes down his name, Roger, and his phone number on the back of a receipt. I, in turn, do the same and write down my work phone number (obviously this will do him no good, but I'm not so logical when dreaming).

After watching Steve (apparently I refuse to believe his name is Roger as I type this) cross the street to his restaurant, I turn back to my kids and see them running around the sidewalk with a bunch of headbands from the woman with the wares. My son (6) is chasing my daughter (almost 3) trying to put them around her neck. They are laughing and having a great time. I start yelling at them to "Stop!" and "Give those back!" and "We will have to pay for those!" I'm concerned that I don't have any Indian cash as I had forgotten to exchange some at the airport, and I'm sure this woman cannot take a credit card. I'm completely at wits end with the kids when I suddenly realize that I have to wake up. I wake up, look at the clock and it is two minutes before the alarm was set to go off. I'm extremely relieved to be out of that stressful situation in India.

Observations: Of course, I've never been to India. I rarely set the alarm, but I was going to a seminar this morning in not so foreign Manchester, NH (in which I wrote the draft of this dream in its entirety). Last week I planned business trips to benign domestic cities of Palm Springs, CA and Chicago and certainly will not be bringing those crazy kids of mine. We did take a family trip to Disney World two weeks ago, and I probably said all those phrases, but it was not nearly as stressful as I thought it would be.

Hooked on hypnosis

I'm in a city that feels like New Orleans, because it feels like very spiritual as in a psychic, ghost-spirit way. I go into an office that practices hypnosis and chiropractic which is actually just a Victorian house. I sit in the waiting room which is a parlor with a curtain hiding the rest of the house. Somehow I have the power to see through the curtain into inside of the house full of victorian furniture. Finally, it is my turn and I go in. They sit me down in a comfortable high back chair and I lean my head back. The lights are dim and they bring over two flashlight-like devices and hold them up to my eyes. I see blue sparkling dancing lights, and in two seconds, I'm suddenly in a trance. I'm completely weightless, and my body is totally relaxed. There are no aches or tension anywhere, almost no feeling at all, as if I am no longer attached to my body. My mind is also surprisingly crystal clear, no cares, worries or even thoughts. It is wonderful to be so completely quiet, calm and relaxed in both body and mind. But alas, it lasts only about 15 minutes and then my session is over. I come back another day and enjoy the experience again, and find myself addicted to the sensation.

Finally I try to get some of my friends to join me. We sit in the waiting room together and I'm going on and on about how this will be the most mind-blowing experience they will ever have. Since we are in a group, they sit us in a theater-like room with rows of fold-down seats. I take my seat and await the blue lights. The attendant shines the blue sparkly lights in my eyes, but I don't go into the trance. I tell them it didn't work. I look over at my friends and can see that they are all in their trances. The attendant comes back and tries to use the blue lights again. Now, it looks more like a pen with a blue light on the end and she is scribbling on an imaginary plate of glass in front of my eyes. It is my left eye that doesn't seem to work and I feel my right side falling into the trance. She shakes the pen as if it isn't writing well and tries to scribble on my left eye again. It doesn't work. She says she'll be right back with some stronger tools. I hear her in the back room switching on some controls. Suddenly I see patterns of colored blocks flying towards me, and although they seem hypnotic, I still don't go into a trance. At this point, I'm getting frustrated because I can't get my fix. More patterns change in front of me. Fractal swirls, popping bubbles, all to no avail. My friends are all coming out of their trances and I've missed mine. I'm very disappointed and hope that my trance days aren't over.

Observations: I've had both chiropractic and hypnosis clinics at work in the past. I find the chiropractic stuff a bit of hokey, but I'm dying to go back and get my neck "fixed" again.

Grenades for the motorcycle gang

I'm in a motorcycle store and they are having an open house recruitment for their motorcycle gang. I am really excited about joining this gang and will do whatever it takes to be a member. One of the leaders pulls out a grenade that looks like a water yo-yo and pulls the top off. He yells, "We're gonna show them!" and lobs it into the next room. Everyone ducks for cover. I, as well as two other people, jump into the bathtub in a bathroom. I figure that if the whole building collapses, I will be safe because the bathtub walls are tall enough to protect me. Because it is crowded with 2 other people in the tub, I make sure that my head and torso are below the level of the sides let my legs hang outside the tub. The bomb goes off and it ends up just being a stink bomb, so just smoke and smell. Afterwards, the gang leader addresses the people who haven't run away from the store and instructs us to set off more of these bombs in the city if we are to join the gang. The cops are starting to show up and we quickly disperse out the back door. I stick the bomb in my mouth so as to avoid detection and it turns out that I can eat the outer jelly surface and it is just candy. I'm left with a smaller ball the size of a large gumball with the top still attached. I wander the neighborhood looking for a garbage can that I can set it off in. Everywhere I look, there are children playing or people walking down the street so I can't set it off. Finally, a distraction occurs and I have a chance to set it off. I quickly pull the top and drop it in the garbage can and run off. I ran so fast that I don't even hear the bomb go off. Finally, I sneak back into the store and join the gang. There are only 2 other people that are there, and I ask why there are so little people. The leader just replies, "Ehh, no one was really that interested." We just sit around and pass a pipe around. I guess that gang life is not all that interesting after all.

Observations: This "grenade" reminds me of the water yo-yo that I got from a fair that day, which I somehow felt was unsafe. The next day, we noticed that it started to leak a little when you squeezed it hard and finally I threw it out. Today, while I was writing the post for the dream, I found this article, Water Yo-Yos Banned in New York. Indeed it is a very dangerous toy!! My kids were swinging this thing around wildly and even jokingly wrapping it around their necks. Good thing is has been confiscated. In reality, I have no experience with gangs or stink bombs or anything of the sort!

Green Bingo markers and green dragon tires

I'm walking around MIT near the Student Center with an old classmate who I haven't seen since I was a student there, and he's pointing up at the sky. It is full luminescent green arrows that look similar to Magnetic Bingo markers, but in the shape of arrows. He says, "Can you imagine when we didn't have the direction markers for airplanes and when we used to rely solely on air traffic controllers?" There are thousands of planes in the sky and in front of each one there is the green directional marker that automatically point in the direction that the plane is headed. The other planes can clearly see them and they avoid each other this way. I, myself, think that it makes the sky way overcrowded, but it is the norm nowadays, so I just nod my head. He then says, "Can you imagine if people had the same thing?" All of a sudden the space in front of me is filled with these green markers in front of all the people walking. Not only that, there are cartoon bubbles showing some of their thoughts as well. Now, I think this is too creepy, I don't want to be telepathic or anything, there would be no more privacy with these markers! So I say that I really don't like it, makes things too crowded.

We walk down to Amherst Street and suddenly I stop because this antique car catches my eye. It is covered in a green form-fitting hard leather case and all you can see of the car are the tires. I move in closer and see that the tires are not a rubber tube, but actually an intricate carving of solid green rubber similar to a Chinese ivory puzzle ball. My friend is telling me to come on, but I wave him off because I want to touch this tire and all the cool dragon shapes on it. Suddenly it is clear to me that I must talk to the owner of the car and I know where he is. I walk into a Sloan school building (on Ames street now) and into the elevator. I very deliberately press the button for the 8th floor.

(At this point my daughter walks into my room and wakes me right out this dream. Thankfully, the imagery was so vivid, I didn't forget any of it.)

Brawling in a restaurant for coupons

I'm eating in my favorite Japanese restaurant with my husband, a small framed girl from work (who appeared in yesterday's dream in the minivan) and a heavy guy who I don't know. The food is great and near the end of the meal I'm sitting at another table. There I find a coupon for buy one entree and get one free. I'm psyched, as I love this restaurant and am looking forward to coming back. I look back at the other table and the heavy guy stands up, bends over to pick something up, and then purposely puts his butt right in the girl's face. I get really pissed off watching this and when I get up to give him a piece of my mind, I hear him excuse himself to go to the bathroom. The girl gets up to follow him, and I'm trailing behind her a few feet. He turns to go down the stairs to the restrooms and I watch her push him down the stairs and then jump on him and pummel him but good. Whew, I thought, she can take care of herself, no need in my getting involved. After she comes back to the table, the guy has taken off from the restaurant and he was going to pay for the meal. The waitress came by and because we were so inconvienced by having a fight in their restaurant gives us another buy one entree get one free coupon. We walk out of the restaurant, I am beaming and holding the coupons tightly.

Interpretation: I need to get back to this restaurant, haven't been since my anniversary in July. Magically the mother-in-law called today and offered to babysit this weekend!

Where do I work?

I'm at my old job and working after hours in a second floor conference room. All of a sudden I realize that it is getting really late and they have locked up the building and I won't be able to get out. I remember that you just need to call security and they will help you out. I pick up the phone and try to dial the number but I just can't remember it and I keep pushing the wrong buttons.

Now I'm working at my new job, and I decide for casual Friday to wear my old Fragon t-shirt (left) that I got from the very first day of my old job. When I get to work, all the people from our main customer are visiting and they are all wearing the same shirt. Now I feel like an idiot for wearing it. They are busy setting up instruments and labs all over the building and I keep running into people that I know with the same shirt on. I feel relieved at lunch to be able to go out and escape these people, only as I'm walking out to my car in the parking lot, a whole throng of people follow me and expect me to drive them to lunch. I don't want to be rude so I let them into my silver minivan. I drive around and pull into the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant with corrugated aluminum siding. I ask the occupants whether this restaurant would be OK and one girl from my new work replies that we've already had lunch. All of a sudden I remember that I've already eaten at a different restaurant, and how could I forget that I've already eaten?

Observations: This is obviously a case of mistaken work identity. I worked at my last job for 12 years and my new job for 1 year and can't seem to shake the old job off. In my new job, our main customer, has a joint venture my last company. To give even more details, that customer bought out my group at my last company and laid everyone off. I had to showcase an instrument in their joint venture booth earlier this year and our blue shirts were exactly the same color as their blue shirts so I felt as though I was completely assimilated back. So apparently I'm still holding a grudge against them. I also wore that old t-shirt over the weekend, while visiting a friend from my old work. And I don't own and never will own a minivan!

Final Poetry Exam

I'm in school taking courses in Poetry and Mechanical Design. I've sorely neglected my Poetry course because all my time has been taken up making autonomous syringes for the design course. I'm at the end of the semester and there is a take home final exam for the Poetry course. I heard that all the answers are all contained within a house that is located in the country. I take a bus to there with some other classmates, and it is a very long ride. We arrive as the sun is setting, and the late day sun casts a warm glow on this huge log cabin house, with glass sliders along the front. I walk inside the house and it is full of little rooms containing many interesting things. Many rooms have at least one wall full of books and I immediately try to find the book that I need to answer the first exam question. There are way too many books to look through and there is no card catalog or anything. I just want the quick answer so I can get back to my mechanical design project. I walk through the house some more and realize that one room has a machine shop where I could have worked on my syringes as well as study for my poetry course at the same time. I realize that I have a syringe in my pocket so I can do both now. I immediately put the syringe on a machine and went to work, forgetting about my poetry exam.

Observations: I work on autonomous syringes at work, but only the software, not the mechanical design, although I am a mechanical engineer. The mechanical design course that I took at MIT (the famous 2.70 competition) was extremely stressful for me. I hate having dreams about being in school, especially being unprepared for final exams, even though I haven't been to school full time for 19 years. This house reminds me of a cross between the Hands-On Art Museum in Shirley, MA and Dean Kamen's house which I've only seen in these pictures. Hopefully, I'm not sorely neglecting anything in my life!

A new car

I dreamt that I had a new car, which I thought was a Panoz, or at least that was what I told everyone. It was yellow, a one-seater, open air car, like a Formula 1 car, and I don't think it even had a convertible top. The closest thing that it resembles in real life is a Plymouth Prowler.

It had a trunk just big enough to put my work and gym bags, and when you sat inside the cockpit, it was really tight, but comfortable. The steering wheel was rectangular and it felt like it had rubber mounts to absorb the shock. Something like this, but without all the controls.

It had 12 cylinders and I remember driving out of my parking lot at work with everyone oohing and ahhing. It had a stick shift (no paddle shifters for me) and the pedals where cool perforated metal. I felt really cool driving it.

Interpretation: I need to take Doug's new Corvette to work again (hint hint).

Traveling with co-workers

Here are some dream fragments from last night:

I'm traveling for work in some New Hampshire city walking down a street that looks like it could be in Portsmouth. I'm a little anxious because I'm lugging some golf clubs and we are going to play golf, and I know that I can't play. I'm walking behind my boss and a co-worker, C, and it starts to rain. We quickly duck into a shop and it has lots of rooms. C and I end way in the back in a room that is covered only by plastic sheets like in a greenhouse but it is totally dry and the rain is coming down hard. C gets really excited because it is a chocolate shop and he proceeds to pick up lots of packages to give to his girls when he gets back. He shows me a bag that he says are the very best chocolates, it looks like it has individually wrapped chocolates that are the size of plums.

Now we are golfing, but instead of using golf balls, we are using these short sticks to push little chihuahuas towards these small hoops which they collect by putting their heads through. One golf hole has one hoop and another has a bunch of hoops in a row. Whew, I think, I can do this kind of golf no problem.

Observations: It was definitely raining last night. I don't play golf in real life. Am I anxious because I wrote an email yesterday about the motion control system to C and my boss and was worried that I've lost all my mechanical engineering jargon? The chihuahua hoop thing is definitely a reference to this Flickr photo.

National Guard

I dreamt that Phil and I took a National Guard test and we did so well they wanted to sign us up for security jobs. We just laughed and walked away but this guy followed us out to our car. He put these masks up to the car window to scare us but we just started up the car. As I was driving away, the guy put his face into the driver's window and started screaming, but I just ignored him. He eventually either fell off or jumped off.

I'm sure this has to do with my nephew signing up for the National Guard.

Welcome to geek sleep

This will be a group blog to post our dreams, so as not to scare the readers of our regular blogs. Please contact Angela if you'd like to join.