These Dreams

Two separate dreams last night.

In the first, I was e-mailing some online friends, proposing a sf writing challenge, instead of just posting to the list (stupid me) I accidentally included, in that list, a research group from college. After sending out one e-mail explaining the challenge was to write something tonight, and then we'd all vote on the best something that got written, I sent out another three to clarify. One clarified that it could be anything written, or about a specific fandom. Then there was one entitled PS- reminding about something else I don't remember know. ANd there was a PPS- explaining yet something else I don't remember. Then (actual online friend) VATERGrrl replied to us all with two different pieces. I was overjoyed. But before I could read them, I got an e-mail from a guy named Ryan from my college research group saying he didn't understand these e-mails I was sending. I was terrified and embarrassed! Then I got a similar e-mail from Aaron (both of whom were actually in my research group). I was in the middle of composing a careful apology and hiding under the bed when I woke up.

In my second dream, there was some sort of contest where people were in round three of elimination (I was a contestant). I knew at the time what the first two rounds were about, and what it was for... and I'd even been through it before and made it to a final round at least. But I can't remember any of that now. Round three was "new" according to the instructor. The idea was to get eleven other people to sign cards for you. The people who got the most would go on to the next round. Well, most of the other contestants were all snobs, like the stuck up, too-good-for-you people in grade school. Everyone was assigned a three-letter title. And we were required to at least get the card signed (by making an X- which I realize now could easily have been forged! LOL!) by one particular person. I had to get mine signed by DEA. But we didn't know who everyone was, and the hand-written chart up on the blackboard was crap to follow, and the guy in charge didn't give us cards (there were some paper towels stacked on the far side of the table- two long school cafeteria-type tables- that had folds so that they were the right size for the cards used in the demonstration. Only the "cool" people had access to them at first, putting me at a disadvantage, and then people just started working on the challenge and the guy didn't even announce it was time to start. So I went around asking, unable to find a person with DEA designation. I made X's for people on two cards, and got my piece of paper towel ready for DEA to sign. But no one would listen to me. THey were all in a big group, signing each other's, but I wasn't allowed to get others' signatures until I got DEA's first. I started yelling over their noise for DEA, and some guy tried to help me out calling out "Hey, this girl's looking for a DEA?" but to no avail. I finally found this guy named Casey (who was in my 3rd grade class) sitting at the other table with some other people who weren't even trying. I got Casey's X under my DEA header (blue marker, kind of sloppy, but readable!) and I tried to get the signatures of the other people sitting there, uncaring. But none were stupid enough to do it. Then time was up and I returned to my seat, dreading elimination. And I woke up.

I had one of my "can't find the class" dreams last night. I really hate those. I was supposed to be going to my history class at school after gym class. But I couldn't remember the room (instead of "forgot to study for tests" dreams, I always have "forgot the room number" dreams). I opened up my planner to the front where I always write in the class times and room numbers, but it wasn't there and I was so worried and annoyed. I was walking up and down the history hallway of my old high school, looking in every doorway to see if I recognized people. But I couldn't find the right room and I was sooooooooooo worried because this was going to show up on my attendance record as skipping a class and I've NEVER done that and wouldn't dream of doing that. At one point I was so angry with friends for leaving me while I was in the bathroom so I couldn't follow them to class, and the next moment I was thinking maybe I should just skip. But I couldn't allow myself to do that and I kept looking. Finally I heard a familiar sound- the CSI theme song and I popped in with hope... but I didn't recognize anyone there either and they all looked at me strange. The teacher was a substitute so she couldn't help, but she was fiddling with some gadget and I took it from her and put it back together for her. Then I headed back into the hallway, desperate to find the room. But I woke up before anything more could happen.

I had two separate dreams last night. One was about me being asked by several different people/families to provide dog walking/dog sitting services all at once. So I was going back and forth from place to place doing that. There was one house with a bunch of dogs and not a lot of light. There was the poodle I usually sit for (and walked last night) as well.

In another dream I was some sort of magical sci fi wizard who could create balls of energy and control space ships and all sorts of weird things. Anyway, there was a small group of my friends at college (some of whom were friends of mine in real life, like the guy I went to prom with in high school) and others I don't know but who were friends in my dream. And then there was a group of family members of one of the friends. They both wanted to meet in a certain location and couldn't work it out so they came to me. The place was Sharky's an eating establishment I frequented in college, and solutions included going to an ice cream store on the other side of campus (which didn't exist in real life) instead. I listened to them argue for a while and they all drew up points of possibilities. We only had time for the family group to draw up points but I let me friends e-mail me their points. Then I thought of putting together this system using magic, of racecars around a circular, vertical track. The backing was a piece of paper with the solutions typed up on it and wherever the cars ended up would be the solution.
I went through this huge presentation to the whole student body (outside, on the main field/center of campus- I was yelling so they could all hear me, and I was loved and respected by everyone, as a wizard) about this, and how we of all people should be able to solve disputes (in real life my current focus at work is alternative dispute resolution services). And I showed the magical track with the race cars and everyone cheered. They everyone was dismissed to go to class and the two groups decided they didn't like some of the possibilities they'd thought up so were pairing down- I assume they would have just come up with the solution without the track/car's help but I woke up before it could be reached.

I was doing some report on Winnie the Pooh (?) and was around some people while working. I recalled a joke my ex-boyfriend always said (which is neither a joke nor like anything he ever said) about how a den becomes a spare bedroom by removing the books and bookshelves. The two girls I was doing the paper with thought that was just hilarious.

This is the first dream I had last night. I woke up and grabbed my writing notebook and wrote it all down before going back to sleep (when I had the one I just posted). Just as a reference, the big event this weekend is my sister coming home from college today (she just got home a few minutes ago) so that's probably what inspired this in part.

I was in some sort of large class at, possibly, college. There was a trivia game of sorts.

Then a few of us went out to a party at night. I went with a Sweedish exchange student (? my sister was friends with an exchange student in high school) and we went to DC or Georgetown or something. It was a busy/rockin' party and the cast of The L Word was there, posing for pictures in one room. I went up and told the actress who played the tennis chica that she looked too gay or something. (I think this was in reference to a Hal Sparks interview with Wayne Brady I watched just before bed in which there was a spread of gay TV characters and they stuck him in the back because he wasn't really gay enough-looking- LOL) There was also something about people wearing fur coats and me standing from above and pointing with disapproval at each person who was.

I was looking for my sister at the party and unable to find her. I ended up outside, walking up and down the streets with the poodle from down the street that I sometimes walk. Parts of the town resembled my neighborhood and I was told to let him off leash and that he would stop at the curb but I didn't want to because if he didn't stop he'd get run over. I ended up finding my sister in the Museum of Art, which I had to pay and get a ticket to get into (which is weird as it's free in real life).

Then I went home (to my real home) with sister and spoke with my parents. My mother told me they could all hear me masturbating last night and I was suddenly terrified because of fetish-related sounds they might have heard. But apparently it was just me breathing that they heard over the air cleaner, fan, and tv and they somehow knew what I was doing. I was still shocked. And I'm terribly glad that was only a dream!

Then for some reason we convinced my dad to go to the art museum with me since it was late at night and tickets would be free from then until 10pm (even though it felt like 2 in the morning at that point). So we went. There was some huge golden seal (the giant circular type with an eagle in the center and latin written on it) in the main hall of the museum that was important. And then there was something about me setting a travel clock to match it but not wanting to do so because the clock was already set to something and I didn't want to change that. Then I said "What the hell, I changed it when I went to California on the trip" and ended up changing it. The museum also connected underground to others. And I remember some art piece that looked like a snowscape with penguins (I saw a penguin on tv a few hours before bed).