Obstacle Course (Dream Diary #16)

There were about 4 of us in the red VW. We were in the ocean floating towards shore. There were other cars around us that were also floating, half submerged, heading the same way. I'm not sure how we got there, but we needed to make it to the left side of the rocks ahead. It didn't look like we were going to make it at the rate the waves were bringing us in. I told everyone to get in the water and help swim the car over to the left side. The car should be light enough for us to move it, as things are lighter in water. We were able to do it and climbed up the bank and out of the water. The car deflated as if it were a blow up floater and I put it in my pocket.

We continued on to where some people were gathered and discovered we had to make it through an obstacle course in order to leave. The course had us climbing some tall structures and maneauvering across, finding our hand and foot holds where we could. The guy I was dating let me go ahead so he could make sure people got across ok. He kept getting further and further behind as I continued traversing my way. I was getting frustrated that he was so far back because I was scared of heights and it was really frightening for me. I didn't think I was going to be able to make it and feared the fall. The course had you jumping from platform to platform, climbing, swinging and clinging on for dear life. I dared not to look down.

After much struggle and a few tears, I finally got across. I turned around and my date was no where to seen. Annoyed, I made my way back, walking under the area I had just come across. After much searching, I found him standing with a few people watching something I couldn't make out. He looked over and sensed my exasperation. I didn't know whether to cry or to be angry.

The President (Dream Diary #15)

I had set up Obama on a date with a friend of mine. I met up with him the next day to see how it went. We were both single and looking for that someone special.

He stepped away from his bodyguards to talk to me. He was a lot different when he didn't have to be "presidential". He was friendly, funny and full of smiles. He had an intimate way of talking to you as if he were flirting. Was he flirting with me?

He told me the date didn't work out. He said he really wanted to be with me, not that other woman. I was giddy. Wow, I'm going out with the president.

Falling (Dream Diary #14)

It was dark out and I was driving on the freeway with a friend. The lines defining the road were a little unclear. I approached a right hand turn with a little too much speed, went wide and almost went off the road.

"That was close," I said to her as I approached another turn and we gave each other a knowing glance.

Suddenly, the same thing happened. As I approached the turn the lines in the road became vague and sort of slipped away. We didn't make the turn and were falling through the air off a very large cliff heading straight for the ocean.

We looked at each other again and I said, "I'm sorry."

She looked back with a sad expression on her face that said, "I'm not ready to die."

We continued to fall, our stomachs in our throats. As the water approached, I thought to myself, I should have rolled down the windows during the fall to make it easier to get out once the car was submerged in water.

We finally hit the water and were able to climb out and swim to shore. We made it, but were in a strange place I had never been before. We wandered around looking for answers. Were we alive or were we dead?

The Power of Water (Dream Diary #13)

We had to stop by the bathrooms. I really had to pee. I approached a row of stalls, some with doors, some without. They were all being used. I had to walk up and down the row to see when someone left as you didn't want to just stand in one place looking into a stall. Finally I came upon an empty one, but the seat was covered with urine. I got some paper towels and wiped it clean, when I came back to the stall after throwing away the paper towels, it was in use again. Frustrated, I turned to start walking the row again when I notice a whole mob of people had shown up. "This is gonna take forever," I thought to myself.

I then noticed a couple stalls that were hidden behind a barrier and quickly entered one. As I sat here relieving myself a person who worked there peaked her head in and set down a cup of coffee with cream. She was young, had blond hair and wore a white work smock. Just as I was thinking about how I still needed to stand in line to get some coffee beans, she peaked her head in again. She said, "The coffee here is awful. I recommend going somewhere else." I appreciated the honesty.

I got back to the car and my dad drove me to the beach where I was to camp for the night. We walked down the path that lead to the shore and rounded the corner where the view opened up and we could see the length of the beach. There were lots of people there, but no tents. I could pitch my tent a little further up in a grassy area, but I wasn't so sure. I also noticed that it had been high tide recently as there wasn't a dry grain of sand, which seemed a little odd to me. "This must not be the right spot," I told him.

We looked up towards the cliff side and saw a fenced in camping area with fire pits and a couple campers setting up tents. It was located about a quarter mile up and looked down over where we were standing. We headed back in that direction.

Inside the small office where you check in, I noticed a flyer selling dog treats. The advertiser was the vet hospital I work at. What a coincidence to see that way out in this location, how far from the practice are we anyway? Just then my boss walked in and was saying hello to someone by the entrance. We exchanged pleasantries. I told her it was my birthday and I was camping by myself for the night. We then proceeded out to get my spot.

I stood there looking over my options, wondering about the two men camping next to a spot I was considering. It made me a little nervous as I was camping alone and wondered what might happen in the night.

Through a partially obstructed view I peered down below at the ocean waves, strong and fierce. They were dark blue and gray and seemed to be fighting with each other. They were bigger than they should be and suddenly they were crashing and flowing further and further up the beach taking people back with them. A large, pink hotel came into view and started to crumble and was washed away as well. A woman came over to me and said, "There haven't been any reports of fatalities, so that is good." I was relieved, but wondered how this could be true when I was watching people being washed away.

We weren't sure if we were far enough away to avoid danger ourselves, so we decided to leave. But before we left, I had to go pee again. As I sat on the toilet and enjoyed the warm rush leave my body, I woke up.

Good thing I didn't pee the bed!

Collections and Suspicion (Dream Diary #12)

It was late evening and a bunch of us were hanging out in a grassy tree lined park. We were minding our own business, yet the police showed up and started interrogating us and leading us away one by one. I was taken to a man seated behind a cluttered desk of paperwork and objects. He was overweight, had glasses, was balding and sat slouched behind his mess, but looked up with a smile. He asked to see what I had to show him. I fanned opened the left side of my black sweater and displayed a bunch of Anime style pens, papers, stickers, etc., tucked in neat rows of pockets that lined the inside of my sweater. He asked to see a couple of the pieces and started looking them up in his files to check their value and authenticity. He seemed genuinely impressed and applied stickers to them once they were cleared. He told me, "I had quite a collection."

The items I had did not bear great value as far as I was concerned. He was making such a fuss, "I just bought that stuff at CVS," I told him.

Robbery and Squirrels (Dream Diary #11)

As I approached my house, I sensed something was wrong. There were some people standing around the front entrance, dressed in black. I think they were going rob it. I kept walking past as if I didn't live there and continued down the block, trying to be as nonchalant as possible, with my heart beating hard in my chest.

As soon as they were out of sight I climbed someone's fence and entered their property. I found myself on the top of the roof and proceeded down precariously stacked furniture and boxes, hoping they wouldn't topple beneath my weight. As I made my way to the front, I notice some small holes cut in the fence and watched a squirrel jump through to make his way out of the yard. I thought to myself, "So that's what those holes are for." I started to peak out of a hole that was placed at eye level. I wanted to see if the intruders were still there, but right at that moment the home owner appeared on the other side of the fence and closed the flap right in front of my eye. I jumped back startled.

When the coast was clear, I made my way further down the block, continuing to keep a look out in the direction of my house. Dave was supposed to be getting home, but he was sure to see that he shouldn't enter with the robbery in progress. A minute later he rounded the corner. I tried to signal to him, but he wasn't looking in my direction. To my surprise, he continued on into the house. "What would happen now?" I wondered. "Would he be held hostage?"

I met up with Diana and Christopher. Diana asked me, "What is your favorite dessert?" I said, "Chocolate ice cream on a waffle cone."

She said, "Well, I don't know about the cone, but I'll go get you some ice cream to cheer you up." With that she turned and walked towards the store. I looked down in my hands and I had a box of waffle cones. I tried to call out to her, but she was too far away to hear.

She came back and tried to console my worry with ice cream and a compassionate look on her face. She said, "He hasn't been missing long enough to call the police, so everything should be ok." She then proceeded to pull her medication out of her bag. One of the plastic bottles was missing a lid and was opened as if it were a bag of chips, torn jaggedly down the middle. She said she had to take the medication when she got nervous.

Stolen Suitcase (Dream Diary #10)

Dinner was over, we were figuring out the bill and sorting our clothes. My sister and I had a few days worth of clothes we were leaving at the restaurant because we had to come back and wanted to make sure they had enough outfits to last until then. I sat there counting out a bunch of $1's. The bill was $92, plus the tip, split between a bunch of us. My aunt sitting next to me was trying to figure out how much tip to leave and how much each person owed. I showed her my method of moving the decimal point and doubling the first digits to leave a 20% tip. My sister was watching me explain and had a proud smile on her face.

I really didn't want to leave my clothes, which included some of my favorite outfits and my favorite little socks. Then my sister said, "We don't need to leave our clothes because when we come back, we'll be wearing different outfits anyway."

"Oh yeah, and they'll probably just throw them away as soon as we leave," I said and happily packed up my clothes into my suitcase and set it on the floor next to the table. I went over to my dad and handed him my money.

When I came back to the table, there were other people sitting there. I said, "Excuse me." They just looked up at me and didn't move. I made my way over to my bag, but before I got there a young blonde boy with big dimples grabbed it and ran out the door. He got into his van and started driving away through the plaza. He had one of those work vans with no door on the driver's side. It was plain and white with no logo. He had a big smile on his face as he weaved around people and objects in his path. I chased after him. He suddenly did a 180 and headed the other way. There was a young girl walking along and before he could swerve out of the way, he hit her. Her body slammed against the front of the van and she slid down to the pavement. Concerned, the boy got out of the van to check on her, his dimples faded as did his smile.

I ran up to the van to retrieve my suitcase, but before I got there another young man jumped in, grabbed it and took off. "Why did they want my stuff?" I thought to myself.

Train Tracks (Dream Diary #9)

We were on a train my father had made to go from one house to the other. It just had one wooden car. There were three of us traveling. My parents were separated and this was an easy way to visit one another. My brother and I sat contently.

It was a long journey as we looked out the open side door at the scenery passing us by. You could see the tracks winding ahead of us in the distance. We traveled through green rolling hills with trees and lush grasses. I asked him where we were and he said, “England.” We continued along and the landscape changed to dry prairies. I watched a herd of elephants running. They had bright white hair that resembled long shag carpet. It was glistening in the sun and blew in the wind as they ran. You could still see their wrinkled elephant skin beneath their fur and the outline of their bodies, so you knew they really were elephants. I liked the way they looked.

We came across a black bison grazing. I grew concerned, “Where is his herd? He’s not suppose to be traveling alone” As we continued, the prairie opened up again and they were all there in front of us. He wasn’t far behind, so he'll be ok.

Party Crasher (Dream Diary #8)

I had just left the party and was driving on the freeway thinking over what had just happened. I had asked him if he wanted me to stay, but he just kept trying to get Nicole's attention, "Nicole, Nicole."

"Do you want me to stay?" I must have repeated myself two or three times. It was like he couldn't hear me and I was getting frustrated. Either he wasn't answering because he didn't really want me to stay and go with them to the after-party or he just really wanted to tell Nicole something.

"Do you want me to stay or not?" He said, "Yea." It felt half-hearted and as he kept trying to get that girls attention, I decided to just leave. It was too bad because I had hurried through the crowds to get to him and at first he seemed excited to see me and I was excited too at the prospect of what might be happening between us. He had walked towards me with a smile, but then was so easily distracted and had something else on his mind, without even greeting me.

I continued down the five or six lane highway with a couple lanes heading one direction and the other lanes heading the other. I passed a police car who had pulled someone over. There were also guys on motorcycles who were also police, but they looked more like grungy skaters or dirt bikers who didn't have police uniforms on, but I guess they really had authority. The were weaving in and around cars, trying to find someone to pull over. It seemed reckless. One of them decided he had to tell his buddy something and came straight at him. I guess he didn't realize this would make them collide because as he approached his eyes widened when he realized what he had done. They head-on collided and were blown out of my line of sight in a massive accident. There was a woman on a motorcycle right where it happened. I couldn't tell if she had been on the back of one of their bikes when it happened or if she was on her own. She became suspended in air with her feet and arms stretched out in front of her as she came off her vehicle. I watched her as she floated, suspended in mid air.

I woke up with a start.

Missing my dog (Dream Diary #7)

My brother decided he would take my dog, Tater, home with him for a while. Just for a couple of weeks. They went off in his truck into the night.

Some time passed and my other brother and I were walking in the neighborhood where Tater was staying. As we were walking he decided to put on a pair of new shoes he had gotten. They were black sandals with red soles and a small heel. He immediately took them off again and said he'd wear them, "if they didn't have those red soles and the heel". I decided to try them on for myself. I looked up at him, laughed and said, "Check them out". My feet went into the sandal part and the heel was left with no foot visible because they were 2x too big for me.

We continued walking, me in the new sandals and I discovered I could see over the fences with these shoes on. Maybe I can find Tater, I thought to myself. "There she is!" I pointed to a Shepherd mix sitting close to the fence, but as we got closer, the dog lifted it's head to look at us and we realized it wasn't her. She was much bigger and had a wide, brown furry face like a wolf. She laid her head back down. Disappointed, I looked around and again exclaimed, "There she is!" The whole yard seemed to be filled with dogs here and there. The dog I thought to be Tater rolled over and had black spots on it's white face like freckles and I realized it wasn't her.

Then, off in the distance on the right side of the yard, I finally found her in a huddle of dogs. One of them had its paws latched onto her back as if humping her and she was looking at me with a worried expression as if to say, "Get me outta here."

Stuck singing (Dream Diary #6)

I was a little late to class. They had already started as I made my way to the couch and sat down. The classroom was informal. It looked like my grandmothers living room.

The next person was called forward. It was her turn to sing. She put up a little resistence at first, but then stood up, walked over by the person playing the keyboard and started her song. We used to be friends, but that was a long time ago.

"She can't make me sing," I thought to myself. As if hearing my thoughts and sensing my discomfort, the teacher explained that once you got your ten songs done, you didn't have to do any more that semester. I took this class because I thought she was cool. If I knew it was going to be like this I would never have signed up. I leaned back and knocked something off the table. I looked down at the spilled contents: a couple pens, scraps of paper, pennies and whatnot. I left it there in defiance.

Another girl walked in. She had on a white button up blouse with the first several buttons undone, so you could see her breasts, barely covered by her bra. She had on cutoff jean shorts. Her hair was long, brown, wavy and thick. It hung halfway down her back. She was smiling and had a carefree air about her. I was sitting next to the teacher and everyone including her, just watched her. She got into the shower, which was now right in front of us and started wetting down her hair, her chin lifted, face back, and her eyes closed, her mouth still poised with a smile. The teacher leaned over to me and said, "It looks like she's been partying." It looked like that was probably true. The girl looked a little dirty and tan, like she had spent all weekend in the sun with a beer in her hand. I used to be friends with her too. She had ended up figuring out she was gay and submerged herself in a new set of friends. It was too bad because we had really gotten along.

Intelligence (Dream Diary #5)

We were hanging out at a Carnival, which took place at school. I was with some of my eighth grade classmates from St. Pat's. She was sitting on the curb looking up at us and started telling us a fable, which related to the situation we were in, "It's like the story about..." I can't remember the names of the characters, but it sounded like a direct quote from a book with big words and specific names and dates. Words I couldn't even pronounce, let alone remember. I was intrigued and annoyed at the same time. I guess I was really just jealeous because I was never able to do that. The group was intently listening.

Then I remembered something my brother told me the other day. He said that, "Everything in a dream comes from your own mind." He would have a dream about something really insightful and realize he was the one that came up with it.

I smiled to myself.

Survival (Dream Diary #4)

We lived in a two story building and were upstairs. The upstairs room was fairly large and was more like a living room with lots of open space and few pieces of furniture. On one wall there were sliding glass doors that had a view of the houses and hill ascending above. Looking out of the glass doors is when I noticed the water rushing toward us. Huge waves consuming everything in their path. A rush of white water heading straight for us. It was a Tsunami. I ran to the doors and tried to hold them closed to keep the water from entering. There was a gap between the two doors and I couldn't keep the water from coming in.

Suddenly we felt the building leave its foundation and it felt as if we were floating, flowing with the water down the hill. We looked at each other as the room started to fill with water. A calm came over us as we said, "I love you" and gave each other a look as if to say "goodbye".

The calm quickly changed to panic and determination to survive. I hurried to the window, which was now a wall of water. I had to get out.

Secure (Dream Diary #3)

These blankets are impossible to fold. They run the length of a room and seem to be as thick as a mattress. Everyone was leaving the beach at this point, heading home. He slowly walked over and put his arms around me, holding me tight, his face in my hair. "I have to go clean up," I said. He kept holding me and replied, "I don't want to let you go." I gave in to his embrace and melted further into his arms.

On the Road (Dream Diary #2)

I tried on the black sweater even though I already knew I probably wasn't going to like it. It looked too bulky, but also too small. It was a button up with embroidered flowers running up one side. It was all black, which was a plus and theoretically, my style. I didn't want her to feel bad, so I took my time buttoning it up and looking it over. Why was it so bulky? I reached in the pocket and pulled out some jewelry and set it on the table next to her. It was a mix of earrings, necklaces, bracelets, you name it. It was all tangled together. I kept pulling out more and more and setting it there. She looked over, smiled and said,"Oh, I forgot I put all that in there." She was moving and trying to just pack things in where ever she could.

I looked around and more and more people kept showing up. We'll have to order a ton of pizza to feed everyone. That'll be expensive. Maybe we should make Mexican food or something. A kind of, put it together yourself meal, like tostadas.

I went back to the trailer and got inside to hide out for a while. I needed to see if they were going to show up. I can't believe they'd still be following me after I took that alternate route. I pulled out the map and tried to figure out where I was and which way I'd come. I guess it was possible we would just happen to end up in the same place. I had to keep moving and get back on the road.

The Last Day of School (Dream Diary #1)

"How is she going to pay for all that if she's going bankrupt?" I asked him as we walked back down the trail to the beach.

It all sunk in, in that moment and we both fell silent. She wasn't going to pay for it. She was just going to leave town. It made sense to us now, the big send off, the wine, the graduation. It was the perfect time for her to just go and hope nobody noticed.

I put my arm around his waist as we walked along and I remembered how good it felt. I looked up at him and watched his blonde hair blowing in the wind with the cloudy sky beyond. A little self conscious and wondering if he felt it too, I broke off and walked down the sloping path that lead to the shore. I let the water wash over my feet, the sand instantly attracted. I probably should have stayed up above, because now I'll have to wait for them to dry so I can get the sand off. But it was worth it as I walked back to the water's edge, enjoying the cold.

I found the little waste basket I was sent to fetch as my thoughts shifted to all of us sitting in that classroom. I got the desk without the table top and was disappointed as I looked around and noticed I was the only one. How was I supposed to work without somewhere to set my notebook? The girl next to me noticed and offered to share, but between our books and backpacks, I couldn't see how it would work. Without answering her, I looked away and leaned my chair back on two legs. Before I knew what was happening, my chair rolled all the way back and I was on the floor with everyone looking at me. A little embarrassed, I slowly got up, played it off with a laugh and announced, "I'm ok. I'm ok". I probably also did some lame bow or something as if it were all an act.