Gift Certificates

MORNING OF MARCH 24, 2012

Somehow I ended up receiving a $1500 gift certificate for a men's clothing store, and through events I no longer clearly recall, two other individuals gave me their gift certificates as well. So I ended up with $4500 I could only spend in a particular men's clothing store by a certain expiration date.

I decided I could use a suit or two, since I don't really have one that really properly fits me or suits the most up-to-date styles (I seldom have occasion to wear them). Even with the gift certificates, I wasn't interested in owning an outlandishly expensive suit, so it would take quite a lot to use the money I had access to. My solution--which seemed brilliant in the dream--is that I'd buy $4500 worth of moderately priced suits, keep one or two of them, and then promptly return all the others for cash.

I remember walking through the clothing store, which seemed almost as big as a mall. The general decor was very peculiar, and the place did not seem as "nice" as one might expect a store that specialized in suits to be.

I discovered the entrance to a large bookstore at one end of the clothing store. Somehow, moments after I began browsing the bookstore, I ended up signed up for some type of art class, which the dream immediately began to focus on.

I was in a room with probably 15-20 other students, each of us standing behind our own easel. The teacher explained that she'd be assigning us each a different art "challenge". My challenge was to take a photograph of a grasshopper that she'd handed me and "draw an animal that isn't a grasshopper, but that bears traces of this grasshopper, as though it may have transformed from it"! I think I drew an elephant/grasshopper hybrid.

For some reason my friends' daughter, Cailey, was suddenly there with me as I worked on my art assignment. She pointed out to me a really nice watch featuring the Disney version of the Cheshire Cat. I really liked it, but it was a little pricey, so I decided I could buy it with part of my gift certificate money later on.

My last memory is at the end of the class period. Each student had to go to the front of the room and reveal what their finished piece of art looked like. One very cute girl was showcasing her painting, which has pretty overtly erotic themes.