Lost in the Elevator

I'm walking towards a high rise building, but it feels like my old dorm.  I'm walking with a girlfriend and we are talking about guys.  She off-handedly mentions that she saw one of my old boyfriends from college lately.  Really? I ask.  As I step into the elevator, she waves goodbye and says, Oh yeah, and I slept with him.  Whaaa?  The elevator takes off, and I can't remember what floor I need to go to because I'm so befuddled by her remark.  I'm convinced that I'm on the wrong elevator as the floor I need to go to doesn't have a button.  It must be an express elevator, but where is it going?  I tried to hit any floor to get it to stop, but it overshoots the floor.  Where is it going?  I press the first floor again and it starts to go down.  It overshoots the first floor as well and stops in the basement.  I get out just to get out of the elevator.  I manage to get back outside and notice that the river next to the dorm is no longer a calm river, but a huge waterfall.  Everything seems quite out of balance.

Observations:  I had this dream shortly after reading this article on elevators (fascinating, worth reading all 8 pages).  And a long time ago, I was driving with my SO and he mentioned that he had dated a friend of mine before he knew me.  I got so flustered I missed my exit.

Golfing with a friend......

I was on a tee at Ponkapoag Golf Course which looked like a combination of the 2nd hole on course #2 and the 14th hole on course #1. We were teeing off, and it was my drive.

I tee'd the ball up, addressed it...then felt the ball was too high.

I re-tee'd it up, addressed it.....then felt it was too high.

I tee'd the ball up, addressed it...and the ball fell off the tee.

I tee'd the ball up, addressed it...and I wasn't comfortable with my foot positioning. (bump in the tee grass)

It went on like this for about 1 hour.....and I never did get to drive the ball. I think I woke up frustrated.

CONCLUSION:
What this means, I do not know. It seems to indicate some hesitation I might have about doing something with them, but I just don't sense anything like that, so I am not at all sure.

Knitting Karaoke Pool Relay Race

Sometimes the title says it all, here goes...

I'm in line for a relay race where I have to run up to a table and knit a row of stitches. There are lots of teams running this race and I'm trying to psych our team up by cheering them on. I have fairly large white plastic knitting needles in my hand, ready to jump in to knit my row of stitches. I imagine doing them with chunky off-white cotton yarn with colored speckles. When I get up to the front of the line, I realize that it's really a pool table and not a knitting table but I don't have a pool cue, only these knitting needles. I don't think hitting the cue ball with the knitting needle would work very well, and am relieved to see that there are spare pool cues to use. I run up to the table and line up the shot. I realize that it's been years since I've played and hope that I could still make the shot. It is a fairly easy shot, but I see that it is tricky. The ball is fairly close to the corner pocket and if I overspin the cue ball, it would go in too. But if I underspin the cue ball too much, it would roll back and drop into the side pocket. So I decide to shoot is slightly off center so that the ball would hit the bumper of the pocket before going in and the cue ball would bounce slightly to the side and avoid any pockets. I shoot and it goes exactly as I planned.

I run down to the next station which is a TV monitor replay station. I watch in slow motion as I wait my turn in line. I see that I'm wearing a short sleeve yellow plaid shirt which I don't like very much but looks OK. My hair is more styled than usual, with a long curl on the bottom which bounces as I run up to the table. When I get to the table, I see that I raise my knitting needle up to my mouth and start singing. I realize that karaoke was part of the race as well although I don't remember doing it. The song is in slow motion so I don't hear it and then I see myself line up the pool shot.

Observations: Been knitting a lot lately, obviously causing disjointed knitting dreams! I like this dream because it is full of details and watching myself on TV was an interesting twist as well.

Early or Perhaps Belated Christmas Present

This is but a dream snippet, but the only part I remember. I remember recalling more of the dream earlier in my battle with the snooze-alarm, but as with all my dreams.....they get lost pretty quickly.

I was looking around the house for something, and having a great time doing it. I recall knowing what I was searching for, but at this point I don't.

When searching, I got to my wife's closet and was looking amongst the things on the top shelf when I found a sort of roll of what I thought looked like very-thin insulation. It was a very small roll for insulation....but it was sort of pink in color and kind of fluffy. (I twas only about 8 inches wide and the total length of it was about 2 foot long)

As I unrolled it I noticed that it smelled like tuna, so I took a bite. It was apparently some sort of dried tuna rol, but it wasn't quite like jerky. It tasted wonderful, and I stood there for a while eating it.....almost forgetting about the search I was just on and trying to figure out why it was there.

I'm not sure if I decided in the dream, or after I woke that this was probably a present that my wife had gotten for me last Christmas because this closet was one of her hiding places. (though she always hid things on the floor)

I'm not sure the dream went much past this.....but I know there was a lot more before...but the discovery of the rolled Tuna made me almost forget the prior search.

Not much of a dream......but my dreams are so few and far between I take what I can get!

This is really just a snippet of what might have been a very long dream, but it is all I can remember. (please recall that I never ever remember my dreams....no matter how hard I try)

Last night I was driving in my car, and I believe I was on my way home. The road I was on was not a familiar one though and it was night time.

I was pretty much on the road all by myself, though I had the sense that it was a multi-lane road which would normally have other cars. But as I drove, things began to impede my travels.

First, my glasses became very fogged.....I was struggling to keep them fog free by rubbing and wiping the condensation away. I was able to stay on the road even though I was very distracted. (in fact, there was no memory of radio or passengers at that time)

I then found there was something covering the windshield. I sort of recall that it looked like snow, except it also looked like a bed blanket. It only partially covered the windshield in front of my face, but I was able to peek over to the right and see past it...but it then moved slowly over to the right to the point where I could only look to the right of it and see the edge of the road going by.

It was getting dark, and I was basically watching the grass to road interface and keeing the car just on the road. I came very close to hitting a telephone guide wire and when the road took a few twists and turns to the left I almost left the road. (or made me slow down)

I then remember that I had one of my daughters in the car. It would change from Kim to Kristen fr some reason...and it would seem I had both in there, but I remember looking around and seeing only one.

They were not worried about my driving, though I seemed to have a consern about staying on the road and getting us home w/o accident.

The windshield was still blocked, but as I started to feel OK about my driving, the car began to lose power. It was as if the fuel was running low or had water in it....the car began to skip and studder.....but I pumped the peddle and it just kept going.

I never did make it home, or to any road I knew.....I simply woke up. It seemed sort of like an "Old man and the sea" sort of struggle....though I never ended up with the fish. (and I guess he didn't either)

What does this mean......you've got me. Life is a struggle I suppose...and I suppose I was "winning" this one.....

Not a dream, but a joke

Sorry for the lack of dreams lately, they have been too boring, personal or work-related. In this intermission, I offer you this joke:

Always follow your dream, unless it's the one where you're at work in our underwear during a fire drill.

- Unknown

Water world

I'm in a building which houses several companies including my own (my last job). I'm there on a weekend and some of these companies are having holiday parties. I walk into one of the rooms, and it is full of kids playing games with water tables. There are sinks lined up against the wall with tubing contraptions that feed the water tables with rivers and boats. On the other wall are piles of presents for the kids to open later. I think, this would be a cool company to work for, my kids would love it.

I wander through this building some more. I walk through this hallway, which is lined with large slabs of rough cut granite. There are small rooms which are open to the hallway on one end and then narrow to a slit about 6 inches wide about 10 feet away. There is a shower head on one side of the wall, but no drain. The water from the shower flows to the other side of the room and out the slit in the wall. I peer out of the slit to see an open foyer below with a pool. These showers actually form a waterfall for the pool. I'm transported to the lower level and can see that several of the showers are running. This level is low enough so that you cannot see the people showering above. I think this is a really novel way to incorporate a necessary function with design art.

Observations: I had this dream the night after visiting the Charles B. Wang Center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Outside this building there is a waterway that trickles water through many long steps from one fountain to another.

Live Journal Posts As I Dream

I guess I have been sort of worried about not being able to remember my dreams, so I suppose I actually had a dream that pulled all that together.....in a strange way.

I laid down to sleep (this is in my dream) and as I did I tucked a tablet PC propped up on the pillows above my head. As I slept I was going to take notes about that I was thinking/dreaming of.

I began this work right away, scrawling notes in. (apparently the PC had handwriting recognition as I did not have to type)

About 10 minutes into it, I realized that my two dogs were not making notes, and this frustrated me. For some reason I thought we had agreed that we would all take notes, so I poked at them to wake them up and remind them.

Mikey simply rolled over and had nothing to do with me....Elijah got upset and growled, but stood his ground and refused. I tried to ask them for input so that I could type it in, but they simply closed their eyes and went to sleep.

I was frustrated and typed in a long paragraph about this and put my head back down again.

Some time later a cat came into the bedroom and jumped on the bed to sleep. The cat looked familiar to me (for some reason....because I don't have a cat) but I was worried that the dogs would be territorial. But they could care less and just kept sleeping.

The cat however seemed to pick-up on the Journaling routine very quickly, and instantly started making entries. This actually bothered me because the laptop was laying very close to my ear and the cat was scratching the entries in with her claws and it was keeping me awake....so my entries then became about the cat keeping me up......and the cat complained about my complaining about her. (it was a regular dueling banjo's situation)

The alarm went off and I woke. (for real too)

NOTE: I typically wake before the alarm, and I might have awoke to a state with regret that I had again not remebered a dream....and in my half asleep state simply conjured up this story about how I might enter my dreams in real-time. I have no clue how or why the cat came into the picture.

Don't Break the Ice!

I'm on a team with 2 other people that I seem to know, but not in real life. We are supposed to walk across this huge field which is made of 2 feet wide blue cubes all wedged together. They are suspended about 30 feet in the air. The cubes are not quite lined up together height-wise and some are looser than others so it is like crossing a rock pier except suspended in the air. The first team across the entire field wins of course. We start crossing and then there is a break in the cubes where you'd have to jump about 15 feet to get across. There is no way that we can jump that far, so I told the rest of the team that I was going to go back, climb down and walk to the other side. This would mean taking penalty points but I didn't see anyway around it. I wasn't going to try jumping across a 15 foot span with a 30 foot drop. My other teammates start getting angry with me but one follows me down. By the time we reach the break, we look up at the suspended cubes and the other teammate is still yelling at us that we need to jump. He said it wouldn't hurt if we fell. The floor is a gym floor covered in interlocking black rubber squares, somewhat padded, but not enough in my eyes. Then the teammate above leaps off and lands flat on his face with a huge thud. I turn away, not wanting to see the aftermath, but the other teammate runs over to him immediately. I start walking the other way, imagining the blood and mangled bones and wishing that it didn't happen. Miraculously, they come running up to me to show me that he is alright. Now, he gets angry with me for walking away. I start to apologize for walking away and that I didn't mean to desert the team and I feel terrible. I wonder how it is that he isn't hurt. Perhaps I'm in the Matrix...

Observations: This cube setup is very reminiscent of the game Don't Break the Ice and also this build-your-own arch from the Ecotarium in Worcester MA.

Thank goodness for rich relatives

My family and I are driving around in Toronto in a car that is only a 2 seater and the kids and the luggage are stuffed in the back. It is roomy enough for them as there is a large space under the hatchback window for them to sit and play. We are trying to drive to Doug's cousin Allen's house but then remember that he has moved and we don't know where his new apartment is. Suddenly we see that we're being followed and realize that they want us because we've stolen the car that we're in. We drive faster to avoid these people but then the kids start asking to go to the bathroom. I suddenly remember that there is a another cousin that lives nearby so we quickly drive to their house. The address is a building on a city street, so we all hop out, run across the sidewalk, run inside and shut the door behind us.

I'm amazed at the beauty of this house, it is immaculate with tall ceilings, white walls, floor to ceiling windows, and perfectly polished medium-toned wood floors. In the foyer to the left of the door, there is a large table with a centerpiece that is a six foot long ceramic canoe used as a vase. The inside of this ceramic piece is colored from very pale blue to a deep cobalt blue. Inside are an arrangement of fresh flowers that reach three feet above the vase. We are greeted by Doug's cousin who looks like Kate Hudson with curly light brown hair and a warm smile. She is extremely friendly and happy to see us even though we came unannounced. We explain that we just needed to make a stop and also mention that there are people chasing us. She tells us that we're welcome to stay as long as we like. I ask, what do you mean by as long as we like? She says, since you're relatives, you could live here if you wanted, it's a family house. I ask, Permanently? for free? She says yes. I say, sure, let's look around. I start thinking that this would mean relocating to Canada and all the logistics of it but then I just let the house take me away.

Now, this house or rather building is huge and takes up a whole city block. The kids quickly see other cousins that they know and they bring them to the movie theater. I tag along behind them to see what it looks like. There is indeed a huge theater with about 10 rows of seats, a red and white striped curtain and a popcorn machine. The guy running the popcorn machine says that the peanuts are slow getting roasted, but the popcorn is ready. The peanuts are roasting in their shells over an open flame grill. I see him filling up bags of popcorn for the kids and he also has french fries and gravy. I think this is a weird combination, so I try a piece. It is actually quite tasty, but I didn't think Adam would like it because it would be too soggy. Next thing I know, I see him eating a bowl of them and enjoying it. I guess he likes this place. There are about 20 kids and they settle down for their movie, so I wander around some more.

I go up the stairs and am amazed by the beautiful architecture. There are windows along the round winding staircase and skylights above. Sun is streaming in from all angles filling the stairwell with radiant light. The railing of the staircase has two shiny metal bands that curve in a wavy upside down U shape. I look at these bands from above and think that this would make a great photograph. I want to run back to the car and get my new DSLR camera, but not just yet, need to explore some more. I finally get to the other side of the building and there is personal travel agency there. There are large light blue tiles walls with the tiles emanating in a stretched polar pattern from the lower left corner. The sign for the agency over the counter has a retro-looking map of the world in the shape of a football. Here the floors are shiny black tiles.

I walk back to the front of the house convinced that this is the place to live. I look out the window to see that the people chasing us have gotten a hold of our car, which is now clearly a silver Lotus. Someone from the house starts chasing after them on a skateboard. I don't feel too bad about losing the car or our belongings because we can get everything from this house.

Observations: This mysterious Kate Hudson-like cousin is probably Allen's daughter Lara who also lives in Toronto. In real life, she is not independently wealthy but she is nice as can be. I woke up from this dream at 8:05 AM already late for work!