MORNING OF AUGUST 31, 2009
I was supposed to go out and eat with my parents and a family friend to celebrate my birthday (which actually happens in February). I met my parents at their house and were were going to leave from there.
For some reason I was wearing a watch that I used to wear several years ago--I haven't worn or even seen this particular watch in a long time. I looked at it in the dream and noticed that the glass that covered the face of the watch looked all warped and wrinkled. I wasn't sure how this could happen to the glass on a watch just because it hadn't been worn in ages. I wondered if maybe it was one of those little protective plastic films they place on top of glass and other easily scratched items when they're new, but it didn't seem to be that.
I became curious and began to check out several other old watches that I haven't worn in a long time (neither of the couple of watches that I usually rotate between in modern times were among them). Each one seemed to have some kind of distortion of the glass on the face.
Then my parents and I drove to the restaurant for dinner. It was a Wendy's! I don't do a whole lot of fast food anymore, and I can't remember the last time I was at a Wendy's, but here we were. Only this one looked like some hold-in-the-wall greasy spoon. And it was supposed to be my birthday dinner! Humph!
We had arrived early, and were waiting in the car in the parking lot for our family friend to arrive. I noticed a bank was nearby. This made me think about the fact that this month (or September, which is almost this month anyway) is my final car payment (that's a fact from real life). My papers say to contact the bank upon final payment, so I decided I could just walk over to this bank and handle the final payment right then and there.
The man I spoke to in the bank was the man who ran the comic store I used to go to back when I collected comics on a regular basis.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Taking Aim
MORNING OF AUGUST 30, 2009
Be forewarned. This dream has a bit of a bathroom topic. But it's so incredibly odd that I have to journal it anyway.
I was riding on a bus late at night with several other people. Apparently we were on some sort of lengthy journey. Richard and Jessica and Cailey were among the other passengers.
At one point the bust stopped at an old, run town truck stop. Richard said it was a bathroom break. At this point I realize I really needed to go myself, so I followed along the with others who had to. The restrooms in this facility were a series of stainless steel structures that looked sort of like glorified outhouses. There were also all kinds of posters covering each one that seemed to advertise carnival attractions and such.
I waited in line for my turn, and finally entered my stall. Suddenly all these animated signs and flashing lights began to go off around me! The signs were explaining that you could win prizes by hitting the target. Then, amidst the whirring of old machinery, random targets in various shapes (the traditional circular stripes, animals, etc.) began to rise and fall quickly in various locations within the stall. You were obviously supposed to...well, aim for them...in hopes of "winning" if you hit any/enough of them!
I played the game and woke up during the process...obviously having to go very badly.
I had another dream after going back to sleep in which I was staying with my parents in this very cool, but completely fictional, old house. It had sort of a 70's decor (including shag carpet and panel walls), and was rather large. I remember something about getting ready for bed and being at the computer typing something. I went downstairs at one point and resumed typing on a different computer.
Be forewarned. This dream has a bit of a bathroom topic. But it's so incredibly odd that I have to journal it anyway.
I was riding on a bus late at night with several other people. Apparently we were on some sort of lengthy journey. Richard and Jessica and Cailey were among the other passengers.
At one point the bust stopped at an old, run town truck stop. Richard said it was a bathroom break. At this point I realize I really needed to go myself, so I followed along the with others who had to. The restrooms in this facility were a series of stainless steel structures that looked sort of like glorified outhouses. There were also all kinds of posters covering each one that seemed to advertise carnival attractions and such.
I waited in line for my turn, and finally entered my stall. Suddenly all these animated signs and flashing lights began to go off around me! The signs were explaining that you could win prizes by hitting the target. Then, amidst the whirring of old machinery, random targets in various shapes (the traditional circular stripes, animals, etc.) began to rise and fall quickly in various locations within the stall. You were obviously supposed to...well, aim for them...in hopes of "winning" if you hit any/enough of them!
I played the game and woke up during the process...obviously having to go very badly.
I had another dream after going back to sleep in which I was staying with my parents in this very cool, but completely fictional, old house. It had sort of a 70's decor (including shag carpet and panel walls), and was rather large. I remember something about getting ready for bed and being at the computer typing something. I went downstairs at one point and resumed typing on a different computer.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The Old Man and the Henson
MORNING OF AUGUST 29, 2009
I had met some kindly old man and we'd apparently become friendly acquaintances. He was apparently an optometrist by trade, because my first clear memory is being in his office as he was performing an eye exam on me. I remember talking about my contacts, etc.
After the exam, he took me into a room in the back that looked like a huge bookstore, or perhaps it was even more specifically a comic store. It vaguely resembled a place I went to in Nashville, TN a few years ago called "The Great Escape". The old man was showing me around the place, pointing out different art books and such.
It turns out he was a famous cartoonist back in his heyday, and he was trying to encourage me and give me advice with my own cartooning. He reminded me of Charles Schulz, but I don't know whether or not he was necessarily supposed to be Charles Schulz.
Finally, I was in a back room of the store talking to my parents. They were thumbing through boxes of old record albums. My mom pulled out a Muppets album that had Jim Henson and Kermit on the cover. Upon seeing it, my dad casually mentioned that Jim Henson was scheduled to do a signing at this store in a couple of days.
I freaked out! The fact that he's dead didn't occur to me, I just thought it was great that Jim Henson was actually coming to the store, and I couldn't wait to go. My dad laughed, finding it ridiculous and for some reason surprising that I was so excited about meeting Jim Henson.
I had met some kindly old man and we'd apparently become friendly acquaintances. He was apparently an optometrist by trade, because my first clear memory is being in his office as he was performing an eye exam on me. I remember talking about my contacts, etc.
After the exam, he took me into a room in the back that looked like a huge bookstore, or perhaps it was even more specifically a comic store. It vaguely resembled a place I went to in Nashville, TN a few years ago called "The Great Escape". The old man was showing me around the place, pointing out different art books and such.
It turns out he was a famous cartoonist back in his heyday, and he was trying to encourage me and give me advice with my own cartooning. He reminded me of Charles Schulz, but I don't know whether or not he was necessarily supposed to be Charles Schulz.
Finally, I was in a back room of the store talking to my parents. They were thumbing through boxes of old record albums. My mom pulled out a Muppets album that had Jim Henson and Kermit on the cover. Upon seeing it, my dad casually mentioned that Jim Henson was scheduled to do a signing at this store in a couple of days.
I freaked out! The fact that he's dead didn't occur to me, I just thought it was great that Jim Henson was actually coming to the store, and I couldn't wait to go. My dad laughed, finding it ridiculous and for some reason surprising that I was so excited about meeting Jim Henson.
The Poorly Timed Storm
MORNING OF AUGUST 28, 2009
I was having this dream on a Friday morning. In the dream it was late Friday afternoon/early evening. Almost time to end my shift at work. However, a bad storm was coming. The rain hadn't yet begun, but the sky was incredibly dark and the wind was very violent. It was obvious that we were in for some severe weather.
Two coworkers and I were standing near the front entrance watching things develop. I was asking--half jokingly, half seriously--why the storm had to wait until it was finally time for me to go home to show up? Why couldn't it have come earlier in the day or later in the evening? Why did it have to trap me at work for longer?
Then I woke up. It's probably telling about my level of job satisfaction that my first emotion upon waking was not relief that there really was no tornado weather, but disappointment that it wasn't actually time to clock out and I still had the whole shift ahead of me.
I was having this dream on a Friday morning. In the dream it was late Friday afternoon/early evening. Almost time to end my shift at work. However, a bad storm was coming. The rain hadn't yet begun, but the sky was incredibly dark and the wind was very violent. It was obvious that we were in for some severe weather.
Two coworkers and I were standing near the front entrance watching things develop. I was asking--half jokingly, half seriously--why the storm had to wait until it was finally time for me to go home to show up? Why couldn't it have come earlier in the day or later in the evening? Why did it have to trap me at work for longer?
Then I woke up. It's probably telling about my level of job satisfaction that my first emotion upon waking was not relief that there really was no tornado weather, but disappointment that it wasn't actually time to clock out and I still had the whole shift ahead of me.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
A Dirty Hostage Situation
MORNING OF AUGUST 26, 2009
I was watching an episode of the Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs. Host Mike Rowe was in some secretive-looking, windowless facility with apparently only one man operating it. It soon became apparent that this man was holding Mike hostage in this place, though it all continued to play out like a regular episode. I couldn't figure out if it was real or scripted.
Most of the jobs that Mike had to perform in the strange facility were really more just tedious than dirty. He still cracked wise and joked all throughout, even though the other guy was obviously a little bit loopy and dangerous.
And that's about it.
I was watching an episode of the Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs. Host Mike Rowe was in some secretive-looking, windowless facility with apparently only one man operating it. It soon became apparent that this man was holding Mike hostage in this place, though it all continued to play out like a regular episode. I couldn't figure out if it was real or scripted.
Most of the jobs that Mike had to perform in the strange facility were really more just tedious than dirty. He still cracked wise and joked all throughout, even though the other guy was obviously a little bit loopy and dangerous.
And that's about it.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Black Rabbit
MORNING OF AUGUST 25, 2009
I was with a friend (I can't remember which one) and we were walking around someone's yard in the early evening. The property looked somewhat like my grandmother's house. A dark little blur of an animal darted past us, going around the side of the house.
I went to get a better look and found, huddled under a bush, a fairly large black rabbit. It was behaving as though it were tame, so I began to pet it and found it behaved more or less like a friendly cat. It rubbed against me affectionately, clearly enjoying the attention.
When I walked back to the front of the house to rejoin my friend, the rabbit followed closely and I tried to show it to them. This is pretty much the last thing I remember.
I was with a friend (I can't remember which one) and we were walking around someone's yard in the early evening. The property looked somewhat like my grandmother's house. A dark little blur of an animal darted past us, going around the side of the house.
I went to get a better look and found, huddled under a bush, a fairly large black rabbit. It was behaving as though it were tame, so I began to pet it and found it behaved more or less like a friendly cat. It rubbed against me affectionately, clearly enjoying the attention.
When I walked back to the front of the house to rejoin my friend, the rabbit followed closely and I tried to show it to them. This is pretty much the last thing I remember.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
The Comic Store, the Motorbike and the Disney Mall
MORNING OF AUGUST 23, 2009
I was with Richard in a comic book store. True to real life, he was giving me a hard time about the fact that I no longer collect monthly comics (haven't in ages now). I vaguely remember the one employee at this comic store was particularly rude (imagine that). There was one area with a lot of fine art prints from various cartoonists. Many of these caught my eye, though they were, I thought, quite overpriced.
There was a rack of clothes and Richard looked at a pair of jogging shorts. He told me he could wear these when he went to the hospital. I asked him why he had to go to the hospital, and he explained that it wasn't for himself, but to visit someone he knew. Apparently some girl he worked with (an entirely fictional character) was having a sex change, and he was going to stay by her side as she recovered.
Next we sat at a table in the comic store and ordered food. A waitress came out and served us, and the next thing I can remember we were already getting our checks. Richard couldn't find his wallet and realized he must have left it in his car, so he went out to look for it. The waitress saw him leaving the store and ran after him, angrily screaming! She thought he was trying to dine-and-dash!
Next I remember leaving the store and getting on a motorbike to ride home (I don't ride motorcycles/motorbikes in real life, so I have no idea what this was doing in the dream.) The weather was extremely overcast, and I was in a hurry to get home as quickly as possible, before the rain.
Apparently the comic store had been located at the intersection nearest to my apartment complex, because that's where I was. In the dream I knew of a shortcut that would get me home even more quickly than the main road, and I chose to take it to increase my chances of beating the rain. I quickly realized, however, that I had forgotten the way on the shortcut and I got lost. I remember what felt like several minutes of riding the bike around trails in the woods, trying to find my way back to the main road.
I finally did make it back to the main road, but somehow ended up going to a mall instead of going home. The inside of the mall was basically an indoor Disney World. I met Richard, along with Jessica and Cailey. Conan O'Brien was taping a show in the main area of the Disney World Mall, and I stopped and watched a few minutes of it before walking on to check out other things.
At one point I saw a girl who was dressed like Jasmine from Aladdin and we made eye contact. Assuming she was one of the characters roaming the park, I snapped a picture of her as she walked by. Then I walked on a bit, and suddenly this box-shaped white robot, about waist high, rolled up to me and kept bumping into my legs and repeating some unintelligible phrase over and over. I assumed it was some obscure character from WALL-E that I simply didn't remember.
After a few moments of the leg-bumping and garbled mumbling by this robot, I began to feel unsettled--I couldn't get away from it! Then I noticed there was a baby sitting in a seat in top of the robot, and the unintelligible phrase was coming from the baby. Then an eastern Indian woman in traditional garb ran up and made the baby's robo-chair stop "attacking" me.
The lady explained to me, in broken English, that the robo-chair was a special stroller they had rented from the Disney park for the day. I looked beside the mother and saw "Jasmine" from earlier standing there. Then I realized it was the woman's daughter and not a girl playing Jasmine at Disney! This made me feel really embarrassed that I'd so freely taken the picture before.
After this I rejoined Richard and Jessica. We walked into a store that looked like just a regular store in a mall. There was a kitchen table displayed at the front of the store, draped in a fancy tablecloth. A loose thread from the cloth stuck to Jessica's clothes as she passed. I tried to let her know, but before I could she'd already gotten terribly tangled in it (to an impossible degree) and damaged the cloth in the process.
Finally, I remember looking back out the entrance of the store and saw a display of the Hill Valley clock tower from Back to the Future. There was a robotic Marty McFly hanging from the hands of the clock, yelling for help. In the dream I just naturally accepted this as a representation of the scene from the movie where Doc is hanging on the clock tower.
Suddenly the Marty McFly robot fell from the clock and broke apart as it hit the floor. Conan O'Brien, still taping for his show, ran forward and picked up some of the parts. He explained, "Well, first they closed Back to the Future: The Ride (referring to the real-life closing of the Universal Studios BTTF ride a couple of years ago), and now this breaks! I guess that's the end of the Back to the Future exhibit for good!" He was laughing and making jokes about it, but I felt sad.
I was with Richard in a comic book store. True to real life, he was giving me a hard time about the fact that I no longer collect monthly comics (haven't in ages now). I vaguely remember the one employee at this comic store was particularly rude (imagine that). There was one area with a lot of fine art prints from various cartoonists. Many of these caught my eye, though they were, I thought, quite overpriced.
There was a rack of clothes and Richard looked at a pair of jogging shorts. He told me he could wear these when he went to the hospital. I asked him why he had to go to the hospital, and he explained that it wasn't for himself, but to visit someone he knew. Apparently some girl he worked with (an entirely fictional character) was having a sex change, and he was going to stay by her side as she recovered.
Next we sat at a table in the comic store and ordered food. A waitress came out and served us, and the next thing I can remember we were already getting our checks. Richard couldn't find his wallet and realized he must have left it in his car, so he went out to look for it. The waitress saw him leaving the store and ran after him, angrily screaming! She thought he was trying to dine-and-dash!
Next I remember leaving the store and getting on a motorbike to ride home (I don't ride motorcycles/motorbikes in real life, so I have no idea what this was doing in the dream.) The weather was extremely overcast, and I was in a hurry to get home as quickly as possible, before the rain.
Apparently the comic store had been located at the intersection nearest to my apartment complex, because that's where I was. In the dream I knew of a shortcut that would get me home even more quickly than the main road, and I chose to take it to increase my chances of beating the rain. I quickly realized, however, that I had forgotten the way on the shortcut and I got lost. I remember what felt like several minutes of riding the bike around trails in the woods, trying to find my way back to the main road.
I finally did make it back to the main road, but somehow ended up going to a mall instead of going home. The inside of the mall was basically an indoor Disney World. I met Richard, along with Jessica and Cailey. Conan O'Brien was taping a show in the main area of the Disney World Mall, and I stopped and watched a few minutes of it before walking on to check out other things.
At one point I saw a girl who was dressed like Jasmine from Aladdin and we made eye contact. Assuming she was one of the characters roaming the park, I snapped a picture of her as she walked by. Then I walked on a bit, and suddenly this box-shaped white robot, about waist high, rolled up to me and kept bumping into my legs and repeating some unintelligible phrase over and over. I assumed it was some obscure character from WALL-E that I simply didn't remember.
After a few moments of the leg-bumping and garbled mumbling by this robot, I began to feel unsettled--I couldn't get away from it! Then I noticed there was a baby sitting in a seat in top of the robot, and the unintelligible phrase was coming from the baby. Then an eastern Indian woman in traditional garb ran up and made the baby's robo-chair stop "attacking" me.
The lady explained to me, in broken English, that the robo-chair was a special stroller they had rented from the Disney park for the day. I looked beside the mother and saw "Jasmine" from earlier standing there. Then I realized it was the woman's daughter and not a girl playing Jasmine at Disney! This made me feel really embarrassed that I'd so freely taken the picture before.
After this I rejoined Richard and Jessica. We walked into a store that looked like just a regular store in a mall. There was a kitchen table displayed at the front of the store, draped in a fancy tablecloth. A loose thread from the cloth stuck to Jessica's clothes as she passed. I tried to let her know, but before I could she'd already gotten terribly tangled in it (to an impossible degree) and damaged the cloth in the process.
Finally, I remember looking back out the entrance of the store and saw a display of the Hill Valley clock tower from Back to the Future. There was a robotic Marty McFly hanging from the hands of the clock, yelling for help. In the dream I just naturally accepted this as a representation of the scene from the movie where Doc is hanging on the clock tower.
Suddenly the Marty McFly robot fell from the clock and broke apart as it hit the floor. Conan O'Brien, still taping for his show, ran forward and picked up some of the parts. He explained, "Well, first they closed Back to the Future: The Ride (referring to the real-life closing of the Universal Studios BTTF ride a couple of years ago), and now this breaks! I guess that's the end of the Back to the Future exhibit for good!" He was laughing and making jokes about it, but I felt sad.
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