I'm on a public bus, but it's a bit rickety, like one you might find in the movies from the 80's set in South America, full of chickens and racing down narrow dirt roads with cliffs dropping off to either side, bouncing and jolting, making you think that it would crash or plunge to its destruction at any moment. Except, there aren't any chickens and the cliffs aren't well defined. The land is various shades of dark brown and green. There are few trees, no bushes, possibly some buildings off in the distance in any given direction. But for the most part, it's all hills in my view, which is aimed close to the ground. The sky is a not-too-dark gray.
It's racing along a narrow dirt road nonetheless, up and down hills, like a rollercoaster. Sideways death is less of a problem in my mind, than the fact that it's bouncing up and down, and might crash into the ground in front of us due to the hills being so steep. We have somewhere to be.
We get there. I'm in a large, modern in a mid-century, expensive, California hills style house. The rooms are big, and things are in light tones of beige, tan, sand, gray, and so on. Windows line the outer walls of the large rooms, looking out onto a regular seeming world of gray and green hills.
People are bustling around the house. All of the air in the world is going to be gone in two hours and we have to pack up our belongings, horde our food stores, and get to a building that is designed to be airtight. The building, seen only in our minds, and miles away, behind me when I think of it (not west, east, south, or north) looks like a dark black dome structure -- your typical Mars settlement from uninventive science fiction movies. It's made of hundreds of bolted together metal sheets, and has sparing, dark-tinted windows to compensate for the lack of a filtering atmosphere.
I'm packing up my stuff... a few mementos I don't want to lose, clothes, bedding, and other basics. I keep thinking that I need to pack more food, but I get distracted by Playmobil toys. I grab a bunch, thinking that people will probably be bringing kids to the dome, but forgetting toys in the rush to grab essentials. I realize that I haven't packed any toiletries, and grab some of those. I'm near the kitchen and thinking of canned goods. I worry about how much more time there is, but there are still two hours.
Someone sees something out the window, and I go to look. Down a level, in a courtyard between this part of the house and another (looking in the direction of the dome from the house) a scraggily haired, skinny man, dressed in filthy clothes - a t-shirt and ripped jeans is propositioning families running by. In exchange for marrying their youthful daughter, he'll protect them through the Apocalypse. But in truth, he's a cannibal.
I go back to packing my stuff, thinking about how to get to the dome quickly.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Guest Blogger: Katie and the Angry Koala
After a long hiatus, I have invited a guest blogger to help revitalize the dlog. Readers, I give you Katie:
Why are nap dreams always the oddest and most vivid? This morning's nap dream (yes, I've already taken a nap this morning) involved abandoned children's play equipment, a pack of my friends, and an angry koala.
I revisited a dream I've had before- the stetting is a road along a babbling brook collecting output from spewing pipes from factories, near a dam, and continuing along the road, we find a forested area with a playground. In today's dream, my friends and I traveled down the road in the winter, and the playground felt abandoned and creepy.. unstable and very very tall.
We all climbed on it, and reached almost to the tree leaves when we heard the deadly snarl below. I said something lame like "oh my god, look out!" and we tried to climb higher as this snarling vicious koala bear started climbing towards us. Then it seemed to realize that it had us trapped, and backed down. So we edged down a bit too.. but then it started climbing up again. This pattern continued for a while, and I asked if anyone had a gun or something. Exasperated that no one did, I said "not even YOU, Audrey?"
Audrey has never mentioned weaponry to me, or killing animals, but she is an engineer and all around problem-solver.
Throughout the time on the playground, there was a definite feeling that we were unsafe to begin with- that the play equipment was just not up to today's safety standards.
Then I woke up.
Why are nap dreams always the oddest and most vivid? This morning's nap dream (yes, I've already taken a nap this morning) involved abandoned children's play equipment, a pack of my friends, and an angry koala.
I revisited a dream I've had before- the stetting is a road along a babbling brook collecting output from spewing pipes from factories, near a dam, and continuing along the road, we find a forested area with a playground. In today's dream, my friends and I traveled down the road in the winter, and the playground felt abandoned and creepy.. unstable and very very tall.
We all climbed on it, and reached almost to the tree leaves when we heard the deadly snarl below. I said something lame like "oh my god, look out!" and we tried to climb higher as this snarling vicious koala bear started climbing towards us. Then it seemed to realize that it had us trapped, and backed down. So we edged down a bit too.. but then it started climbing up again. This pattern continued for a while, and I asked if anyone had a gun or something. Exasperated that no one did, I said "not even YOU, Audrey?"
Audrey has never mentioned weaponry to me, or killing animals, but she is an engineer and all around problem-solver.
Throughout the time on the playground, there was a definite feeling that we were unsafe to begin with- that the play equipment was just not up to today's safety standards.
Then I woke up.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Kitten Bath
I had two new kittens, cute and furry and plump, but not much bigger than my hands. One was mostly black and grey and the other was orange. I overfed the black and grey one and he puked milk into the bowl I had him in. He lay down and rolled around in the milk puke.
I drew a bath of very hot water and looked around for the kittens to bathe them. I realized that the black kitten was already in the tub, swimming around in the water, only just able to keep his nose out of the water as the tub was so full. He seemed quite happy despite this and how hot the water was, so I called the orange kitten over.
She peered into the tub, and then hopped on in and started swimming around too. I was shocked that I didn't have to fight them to get them into the tub of water.
I drew a bath of very hot water and looked around for the kittens to bathe them. I realized that the black kitten was already in the tub, swimming around in the water, only just able to keep his nose out of the water as the tub was so full. He seemed quite happy despite this and how hot the water was, so I called the orange kitten over.
She peered into the tub, and then hopped on in and started swimming around too. I was shocked that I didn't have to fight them to get them into the tub of water.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The Tooth Temple and Luxembourg
The Tooth Temple
I was brushing my teeth, looking in the mirror, when I noticed that I had an additional top row of teeth 'above' my other teeth. It was set in a separate layer of gums, and was somewhat hidden from view unless I tilted my head back a ways to see it in the mirror. The teeth didn't go all the way around like a full row of teeth, but there were none missing. On each side of my mouth there were 3 molars, and near the front there were an additional three. The gums were a beautiful dark red, and the teeth were discreetly adorned with gold flecks and gems. The whole effect was an appearance of being a cosmic temple. It was beautiful, but disconcerting, as I continued to brush my teeth.
Luxembourg
I was running around a city during the day time. The sky was whitish-blue, it was sunny, and the buildings were primarily sand coloured. I helped a woman (a friend) find parking, and we parked in front of a large sand coloured building. The parking was metered. I was distracted by a friend walking towards us up a street (around the corner from where we were) who had waved as we drove by. I went to talk to him, but the woman beconned me back as a meter-maid was coming to give tickets. I dug out coins from my wallet, while she reparked to make it look like we were not just 're-feeding' the meter.
Later, and later in the afternoon according to the sky, I was wandering around the city. I, though it wasn't really me, had a secret identity as a non-super super-hero, complete with an identity-obscuring costume. I put a bag at a security checkpoint at a parking garage - a black backpack with my wallet in it - and went up the stairs to get a view of the city. The parking garage was about 3-5 flights tall and made of cement, and open, with decent views. I looked out over the city, and learned that there were terrorists running around and planning trouble.
I ran down the stairs, and tried to get my backpack, but it was missing. I met up with a group of friends, snuck by the increasing security forces, and went to the center of town. We passed the University of Chicago, which happened to be in a giant, grey square building adorned with intricate masonry - very Babylonian in its architecture. It was the largest, oldest, fanciest building in this town, which also held the Eiffel Tour, and was apparently Luxembourg. The Eiffel Tour was across a courtyard from the UofC, and we ran up its stairs.
There was a horde of scared people midway up the stairs who were trying to figure out how to avoid the terrorists. We sent them back down to the city streets and continued climbing. We reached the top, and looked out on the city. It was night, and a fireworks display was starting across the whole skyline, erupting from every building, for the holiday. It was beautiful. I looked down on Babylon-University of Chicago and turned to Robin and asked him why we didn't travel more when I was at the UofC, seeing as we were in the heart of Europe and it would have been cheap.
I was brushing my teeth, looking in the mirror, when I noticed that I had an additional top row of teeth 'above' my other teeth. It was set in a separate layer of gums, and was somewhat hidden from view unless I tilted my head back a ways to see it in the mirror. The teeth didn't go all the way around like a full row of teeth, but there were none missing. On each side of my mouth there were 3 molars, and near the front there were an additional three. The gums were a beautiful dark red, and the teeth were discreetly adorned with gold flecks and gems. The whole effect was an appearance of being a cosmic temple. It was beautiful, but disconcerting, as I continued to brush my teeth.
Luxembourg
I was running around a city during the day time. The sky was whitish-blue, it was sunny, and the buildings were primarily sand coloured. I helped a woman (a friend) find parking, and we parked in front of a large sand coloured building. The parking was metered. I was distracted by a friend walking towards us up a street (around the corner from where we were) who had waved as we drove by. I went to talk to him, but the woman beconned me back as a meter-maid was coming to give tickets. I dug out coins from my wallet, while she reparked to make it look like we were not just 're-feeding' the meter.
Later, and later in the afternoon according to the sky, I was wandering around the city. I, though it wasn't really me, had a secret identity as a non-super super-hero, complete with an identity-obscuring costume. I put a bag at a security checkpoint at a parking garage - a black backpack with my wallet in it - and went up the stairs to get a view of the city. The parking garage was about 3-5 flights tall and made of cement, and open, with decent views. I looked out over the city, and learned that there were terrorists running around and planning trouble.
I ran down the stairs, and tried to get my backpack, but it was missing. I met up with a group of friends, snuck by the increasing security forces, and went to the center of town. We passed the University of Chicago, which happened to be in a giant, grey square building adorned with intricate masonry - very Babylonian in its architecture. It was the largest, oldest, fanciest building in this town, which also held the Eiffel Tour, and was apparently Luxembourg. The Eiffel Tour was across a courtyard from the UofC, and we ran up its stairs.
There was a horde of scared people midway up the stairs who were trying to figure out how to avoid the terrorists. We sent them back down to the city streets and continued climbing. We reached the top, and looked out on the city. It was night, and a fireworks display was starting across the whole skyline, erupting from every building, for the holiday. It was beautiful. I looked down on Babylon-University of Chicago and turned to Robin and asked him why we didn't travel more when I was at the UofC, seeing as we were in the heart of Europe and it would have been cheap.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Guest Dreamer Appearance !
Dreams from the mind of my husband:
1. I had to go to this really crappy all you can eat buffet that was in my home town (fictitiously). I was sitting next to these med students, I think. They may have been Jon and Talia's friends from Mass, maybe? Anyways, it was very crowded, but eventually i got to go through the line, bumping into all these poor kids from Carson. I basically loaded up a plate full of all kinds of non-so-savory foods, (blintzes served by a yokel using chopsticks instead of tongs. Actually, they were Swedish pancakes, but he called them blintzes). As soon as I sat down to eat, I woke up.
I woke up very hungry, btw
2. In this other dream, I was a reporter or scholar or something and went to the PRC. I was way up in the north, and investigating the "36 walls movement." It was basically a populous initiative to tear down all but the 36 most scenic sections of the great wall of china. It was like watching a cgi reenactment, though. I had a bird's eye view of the great wall, and watched sections collapse or stay standing as someone narrated the proposal to me.
I was to promote agriculture and solidarity among the people living just north of the wall. It was legit and supported by the government. They were keeping the scenic portions. The rest were just decadent. It also had something to do with this woman artist who would paint watercolors of women's basketball practices. That was a let down, since I had been watching walls fall and stuff, and then I had to go into this stuffy gym and watch a lesbian paint cheesy paintings of sweaty women playing basketball.
3. I had this other dream where I was at this house that was supposed to be my parents house, but the architecture was all wrong. It was more like Ryan Ragsdale's parents house at Seaside, but way larger. I went out side in the middle of the night, maybe looking for Mr. Boy, maybe not. I went out to this old apple tree, which you may not remember... it was out at the side of the yard, facing the garage. (it got root rot and fell over when I was an early teen but didn't die, so you would have never seen it the way I did in my dream, which was standing up and larger than it had been in life)
It was pitch dark out, but somehow, I saw this keyhole on the tree. It looked familiar for some reason, so I tried a bunch of my keys on it. (These were my actual keys, the ones I carry around in my pocket now.) I was just about to give up on the last one I tried, which was our house key, I think, but then I got it to turn. It turned, but didn't seem to do anything, so I started to walk away from the tree, but in a circular fashion, so that I could see the back of the tree. There was a little explosion, and this two foot tall cupboard door blew open at the bottom of the back side of the tree. There was this little cubby whole in the back of the tree... like a cupboard storage area.
It had been rigged with a little bit of dynamite as a booby trap, evidently. It was full of all this random stuff, but what first caught my eye were all of these $1 coins. They were of all sorts of times, from Sacagaweas to various different times of silver ones. I started collecting them all up, and was somehow thinking that this was all my dad's stuff. There were maybe a bunch of weird postcards and stuff like that. But then I found a checkbook, and I didn't recognize the names in it, so it had obviously been stolen. I'm trying to remember the other stuff in the space, but I can't recall it.
I think that the explanation my brain came up with was that it was a hiding spot for some robbers, who liked coins since they were harder to trace. From there, I started to watch this pretty inept pair of robbers preparing for a hold up. It was out at the coast somewhere, and they were going to go stick up a drug store or grocery store or somewhere stupid like that. They both had shotguns, and were driving it this really old piece of shit car... maybe an old dodge or something like Ryan S's old car, but way, way worse and all rusted. The key ignition didn't work at all, so one of they had to basically hot-wire the car to start it, which he wasn't good at and it took him a long time to do. They knew they had to keep the car running during the heist, but then they both planned to go into the store to rob it. I was thinking that that was a very stupid plan, and that their POS car would stall or someone would come along and turn it off in the middle of their robbery, and they wouldn't be able to make their get-away. That's all I remember about that dream.
The part with the tree was interesting to dream at least, as it had that uncanny "finding new parts of a familiar house" feeling, but the part about the robbers was pretty dumb to dream.
1. I had to go to this really crappy all you can eat buffet that was in my home town (fictitiously). I was sitting next to these med students, I think. They may have been Jon and Talia's friends from Mass, maybe? Anyways, it was very crowded, but eventually i got to go through the line, bumping into all these poor kids from Carson. I basically loaded up a plate full of all kinds of non-so-savory foods, (blintzes served by a yokel using chopsticks instead of tongs. Actually, they were Swedish pancakes, but he called them blintzes). As soon as I sat down to eat, I woke up.
I woke up very hungry, btw
2. In this other dream, I was a reporter or scholar or something and went to the PRC. I was way up in the north, and investigating the "36 walls movement." It was basically a populous initiative to tear down all but the 36 most scenic sections of the great wall of china. It was like watching a cgi reenactment, though. I had a bird's eye view of the great wall, and watched sections collapse or stay standing as someone narrated the proposal to me.
I was to promote agriculture and solidarity among the people living just north of the wall. It was legit and supported by the government. They were keeping the scenic portions. The rest were just decadent. It also had something to do with this woman artist who would paint watercolors of women's basketball practices. That was a let down, since I had been watching walls fall and stuff, and then I had to go into this stuffy gym and watch a lesbian paint cheesy paintings of sweaty women playing basketball.
3. I had this other dream where I was at this house that was supposed to be my parents house, but the architecture was all wrong. It was more like Ryan Ragsdale's parents house at Seaside, but way larger. I went out side in the middle of the night, maybe looking for Mr. Boy, maybe not. I went out to this old apple tree, which you may not remember... it was out at the side of the yard, facing the garage. (it got root rot and fell over when I was an early teen but didn't die, so you would have never seen it the way I did in my dream, which was standing up and larger than it had been in life)
It was pitch dark out, but somehow, I saw this keyhole on the tree. It looked familiar for some reason, so I tried a bunch of my keys on it. (These were my actual keys, the ones I carry around in my pocket now.) I was just about to give up on the last one I tried, which was our house key, I think, but then I got it to turn. It turned, but didn't seem to do anything, so I started to walk away from the tree, but in a circular fashion, so that I could see the back of the tree. There was a little explosion, and this two foot tall cupboard door blew open at the bottom of the back side of the tree. There was this little cubby whole in the back of the tree... like a cupboard storage area.
It had been rigged with a little bit of dynamite as a booby trap, evidently. It was full of all this random stuff, but what first caught my eye were all of these $1 coins. They were of all sorts of times, from Sacagaweas to various different times of silver ones. I started collecting them all up, and was somehow thinking that this was all my dad's stuff. There were maybe a bunch of weird postcards and stuff like that. But then I found a checkbook, and I didn't recognize the names in it, so it had obviously been stolen. I'm trying to remember the other stuff in the space, but I can't recall it.
I think that the explanation my brain came up with was that it was a hiding spot for some robbers, who liked coins since they were harder to trace. From there, I started to watch this pretty inept pair of robbers preparing for a hold up. It was out at the coast somewhere, and they were going to go stick up a drug store or grocery store or somewhere stupid like that. They both had shotguns, and were driving it this really old piece of shit car... maybe an old dodge or something like Ryan S's old car, but way, way worse and all rusted. The key ignition didn't work at all, so one of they had to basically hot-wire the car to start it, which he wasn't good at and it took him a long time to do. They knew they had to keep the car running during the heist, but then they both planned to go into the store to rob it. I was thinking that that was a very stupid plan, and that their POS car would stall or someone would come along and turn it off in the middle of their robbery, and they wouldn't be able to make their get-away. That's all I remember about that dream.
The part with the tree was interesting to dream at least, as it had that uncanny "finding new parts of a familiar house" feeling, but the part about the robbers was pretty dumb to dream.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Hors d'oeuvres Buffet
I was in a fancy hotel, with high ceilings, white walls and pillars, and large open windows that created an open-air feel. The most famous orchestra in the world had been invited to play as background during a luncheon buffet.
I walked in and felt conspicuous. But the orchestra promptly left, and the luncheoners moved up into an outside balcony area. Three rows of elaborate buffet tables were left, holding half-devoured platters of exotic fruits, chocolates and pastries. I and a friend scrounged.
A green strawberry was slightly overripe and mushy, but its kiwi-like flavour came through.
[I spent more time wandering around the building, through sun-lit stairwells, but that part is fuzzy now.]
I walked in and felt conspicuous. But the orchestra promptly left, and the luncheoners moved up into an outside balcony area. Three rows of elaborate buffet tables were left, holding half-devoured platters of exotic fruits, chocolates and pastries. I and a friend scrounged.
A green strawberry was slightly overripe and mushy, but its kiwi-like flavour came through.
[I spent more time wandering around the building, through sun-lit stairwells, but that part is fuzzy now.]
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Bio-electric Flashlights and the Royal Swim
I was sleeping in a bed and awoke to the radio, knowing that I had won a competition of sorts, having been chosen to join the others at the Swim.
I went to the Swim, held in a large outdoor pool, just after twilight. Everyone else there were famous, perhaps royalty, and we all stood in a crowd on the cement near the deep end. Jack Nicholson was swimming in the pool, diving to different depths wearing a snorkel. A health-advisor/coach/lifeguard talked to him when he came up to the surface. "It's been confirmed. Diving in deep water negatively effects your bloodpressure, strains your clogged arteries, and significantly raises your chance of heart attack." We now all knew to swim only near the surface.
A few of us jumped into the water and were given a 1 foot pole that (connected by usb) snapped into a carved out section of a 6 foot pole that ended at a cone with a light in it that shone out when powered by the small pole. The small pole was a type of living creature that provided electricity to the flashlight function. I was concerned about being electrocuted while plugging this in while in the water, but I was reassured that it was perfectly safe and waterproof.
It was. Dozens more people joined us in the pool, and we all swam down the length of the pool to the shallow end. We stood in the shallow end with our bio-electric torches and scanned the landscape. A tall and attractive swimmer beckoned that we go up a hill to our left. We followed his direction, storming the hill.
As we climbed the hill, we slowed and enjoyed the walk. The hill housed a luxury spa. We passed a hot tub full of people and continued along on what had become a nice winding path. At the top of the hill, there was nothing much to do, but just over the crest there was something going on that attracted us. Some people slid on their feet down a little dirt hill that was being gardened. A gardener frantically protected their large cabage growing near the bottom. I contemplated sliding down the hill too, but the two women who slid down before me took separate paths and smoothed out the whole area. I had bare feet, and didn't want to slide too quickly, so I walked around the side of the tiny hill-garden via another little path.
I went to the Swim, held in a large outdoor pool, just after twilight. Everyone else there were famous, perhaps royalty, and we all stood in a crowd on the cement near the deep end. Jack Nicholson was swimming in the pool, diving to different depths wearing a snorkel. A health-advisor/coach/lifeguard talked to him when he came up to the surface. "It's been confirmed. Diving in deep water negatively effects your bloodpressure, strains your clogged arteries, and significantly raises your chance of heart attack." We now all knew to swim only near the surface.
A few of us jumped into the water and were given a 1 foot pole that (connected by usb) snapped into a carved out section of a 6 foot pole that ended at a cone with a light in it that shone out when powered by the small pole. The small pole was a type of living creature that provided electricity to the flashlight function. I was concerned about being electrocuted while plugging this in while in the water, but I was reassured that it was perfectly safe and waterproof.
It was. Dozens more people joined us in the pool, and we all swam down the length of the pool to the shallow end. We stood in the shallow end with our bio-electric torches and scanned the landscape. A tall and attractive swimmer beckoned that we go up a hill to our left. We followed his direction, storming the hill.
As we climbed the hill, we slowed and enjoyed the walk. The hill housed a luxury spa. We passed a hot tub full of people and continued along on what had become a nice winding path. At the top of the hill, there was nothing much to do, but just over the crest there was something going on that attracted us. Some people slid on their feet down a little dirt hill that was being gardened. A gardener frantically protected their large cabage growing near the bottom. I contemplated sliding down the hill too, but the two women who slid down before me took separate paths and smoothed out the whole area. I had bare feet, and didn't want to slide too quickly, so I walked around the side of the tiny hill-garden via another little path.
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