The Decemberists induce murderous urges
January 23rd, 2007 by Jenny Crimp; no comments
I am a crime scene investigator working on the case of an old woman (possibly my grandmother) who was murdered in her apartment in a retired community. My job is to search the kitchen and living room for clues. My parents tell me we are late and must leave on vacation, so I conclude that the old woman was senile and hop on top of our truck, which is piled high with mattresses, bikes, and skis. As we pull out of the driveway and slowly cruise through the lanes of the quiet community I whistle the Mariner’s Revenge Song because it has been stuck in my head for quite a while. We pull out of the neighborhood and drive up a steep hill, parking at the top by Evergreen High School. Our vacation consists of making our way down the steep hill by rolling in zigzags. On the way down it strikes me that the reason I had the Mariner’s Revenge Song stuck in my head was because I heard it in the old woman’s home, on her answering machine. I become suspicious and go back to check when I reach the bottom.
Now I am holding a black CD, and I confront my dad who is dusting for fingerprints in another house in the retired community. I ask him if he knows what I am holding, and he breaks the CD.
I assume this means my dad killed the old woman by hypnotizing her with the Mariner’s Revenge Song every time her answering machine played… or something.
(I think this dream may have been inspired by the Avengers episode where the evil masterminds plotted to take over the world by hypnotizing all the cats to kill their owners.)
The heavy bear that goes with me
January 21st, 2007 by Alex Walton; no comments
I’m unsure about the order of these parts.
I am a large building with a lot of people and a lot of staircases. I wander around for a while looking for a broom, I think, and in a kind of panic. I find Ariana in one of the hallways and she is going somewhere else. I go with her for a ways. We end up on a terrace suspended about 30 feet up in the middle of an enormous (warehouse-sized) room. I see Ariana again sitting down with a bunch of people from Garfield Highschool– Maya, Amanda, Connor, Anthony. Down below our hanging terrace it is very dark and many people are milling around long tables, like a medieval banquet. There are very noisy. Beth appears and we talk about her mission for the evening. She is emotionally distraught and wearing strange orange clothes and maybe armor. The main riff from “Summertime in Oslo” plays and Ariana is dancing. I consider dancing and try but accidentally (?) just slide across the room to somewhere else. I talk to Ariana and she is eating popcorn. Deciding she wants to go somewhere else she pours the rest of the popcorn salt over the railing onto the multitudes below. I am shocked. On a stairway, I see the Garfield orchestra in their band outfits. Mindy is among them and I try to point her out to Ariana.
I walk through the dark multitudes and tables and get close to the hanging terrace. Beth goes walking past me in a pronounced and angry manner. Clearly she is pissed, and she is definitely wearing armor this time. I catch her by the arm and now it is less dark. “Beth! You have to tell me what’s wrong.” “I thought that you were very angry at me earlier.” I explain that I wasn’t. Beth’s armor is covered in salt and oil. I try and show Ariana what happened to that discarded salt but she isn’t around. Beth and I talk more, then she leaves. The room clears out with some sort of struggle.
At some camp I say good bye to my mentors/councilors. They are enormous people. Some are poetry grad students I know, and one seems to be Hagrid
from Harry Potter. Somehow they are all associated with the Military. I cry, and tell them that I’ve had such an amazing time at camp these last 9 years, how could next year be my last year? Eventually I depart, and take with me on floatable cannister. We all swim out (the camp is on the water) and I struggle to push my cannister. “Remember the first year, when I couldn’t swim?” I tell them. Eventually, I get my cannister going. I land and walk up a tall green hill. I sit in a booth or pod with many books, studying. On a screen, many possible computes are listed that I can by. All are G5 Powermacs, and I am interested in the one that says “8438 OFF!!!” but it turns out to be a Lindellmahkoff, meaning it only runs Windows. I return to studying. Some Japanese boys peer in the glass window at me, speaks in a language I don’t understand, then turns the light off in my booth. One is holding books. I assume this means that he needs to use the classroom. I thank him, gather my things and leave. But they are all running back down a white velodrome-like hill. At the bottom is a kind of arena or court that is very very dark. The thing that happened a moment ago replays. They were not telling me to move. They were catching an errant ball from the court. I inquire to someone about the game. It is apparently a father and son locked in a basketball death match to be played in the dark. Uninterested, I go on a roadtrip with my parents and brother. [If I can remember the roadtrip part, I'll add to this.]
Hitler got his start in Small Learning Communities
January 17th, 2007 by Jenny Crimp; no comments
Looking through a bookcase in someone’s attic I find a magazine from the 70s. I open it up see it is a promotion for the one of the candidates for high school dictator. He looks like a cross between Hitler and my creepy gym teacher from 7th grade. I laugh and ask my dad if it’s a joke, but he doesn’t hear.
Some kids from Mt. Rainier are visiting my house, hanging out in the living room. When I go into the kitchen they all say they have to leave. When I come back, Matt Kent is still on the couch, and he says decided to stay. I say that’s cool, but I’m a little confused why he wants to hang out. I pull out my iPod and ask if he wants to watch a movie. He says “Sure, what do you have?” I sit down next to him on the couch and start looking for the movies on my iPod but can’t find any, just a bunch of advertisments for Harry Potter. This starts getting ridiculous and I apologize for not understanding how an iPod works. He says, “No, it’s cool, here let me look…” I hand him the iPod and mention the hilarious dictator pamphlet I found in the attic. Fiddling with the iPod he says, “Maybe it’s this, oh there- JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, JENNY, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BRING ME INTO THIS?” Woah. I think, he’s joking, right? I laugh and say, “Well you didn’t have to stay if I’m that boring to be around.” Matt says, “I mean, come ON! This is a fucking JOKE, I never asked to be a part of this!” I finally look him in the eye and see that man, is he pissed. And I have no clue what he’s talking about, but I try to calm him down and he just keeps yelling. I tell him he should probably leave.
I guess Hitler/creepy gym teacher did get elected to be high school dictator, because I find myself standing in line in a dormitory for role next to Kathryn and Anna. We are dressed in a uniform of grey sheets styled like a toga with some sort of maroon crest on the chest. A severe woman calls out, “Crimp!” I stare at Kathryn in disbelief. Anna reaches around Kathryn and pokes me. “Here!” I respond. “Where are we?” I ask Kathryn.
“Culbert!”
“Here!” she replies. “It’s the new small learning communities, Bill Gates’ thing, you know?”
“Cunningham!”
“Here!” Anna replies. “You had better be quiet or you’ll get it!” she whispers from the other side of Kathryn.
We file out into the schoolyard where we meet the boys coming out of their dormitory for P.E. Hitler/gym teacher comes out with them and gives a rousing speech on sportsmanship. He then announces that we will be playing a game, for which the severe woman divides us up into teams, reminding each team menacingly of the consequences for non participation. It is obviously that the activity is really going to be hard labor disguised as a game, and we will be tortured if we don’t finish. I am in a group with Kathryn and Anna, which makes me worried that if there is an elimination round, one of us will have to go.
Hitler comes over to our group to give us instructions on how and when to start, but I still haven’t heard the rules of the game. Too scared to ask Hitler myself, I look at the group starting before us, who sprint to the edge of the flat yard, take a flying dive, and roll as fast as they can down the hill. I am so relieved! Kathryn, Anna, and I will totally win! We are second, so we all run and leap at the edge of the hill… and I land with a thud. I didn’t make it to the edge of the hill so I crawl over awkwardly and start rolling, but it’s really hard. I can’t gain any momentum or tell which direction i’m aimed in. At on point I sit up and all these people are rolling past me. I see one woman give her baby a shove so she’ll get to the bottom faster. At another point, I almost roll over the baby. Finally, I think I’m near the bottom, but it turns out I’m just rolling sideways on a plateau next to Anna.
Finally a whistle blows and we all walk back up and line up outside of the the schoolhouse. Severe woman comes around and hands me a rock with a german word carved into it. She tells me I’m on duty tonight and there’s no way I can get out of it. I don’t like the sound of that.
When we get inside the classroom I sit on the left side of the back semicircular row, next to Kathryn and Anna. It is time for art. The assignment of the day is to create a realistic portrait of Our Great Leader fit for display in all official venues. All the students sketch identical drawings on newsprint. I spot Matt in the row in front of me so I write a note to Kathryn asking if she has any idea why he might have been so angry earlier. She writes something back, but we have flip the pages to cover our notes as the severe woman walks behind us. She is making everyone pick stones out of a blue party sack. I draw another one with the same German word on it. I say, “I already have one of these.”
The woman says, “Well too bad, you’ll just have to do it again.”
“But if I have to of the stones, won’t you be short one person on duty tonight?”
“Of course n- yes. Give me that”
I go back to the note I had been writing. Looking around, I see other students have concealed sloppy alphabets on back pages of their sketchbooks. Learning to read and write are obviously forbidden in this small learning community.
When class is over it is time to go perform the task on the rock. Kathryn and Anna have also been selected. We go to the kitchen, and Hitler greets us and shows us our task is to- dun dun dun…do the dishes! As we wash the dishes, he talks about his great plan. He is obviously gay.
The Worst Hospital-Restaurant Ever
January 16th, 2007 by Alex Walton; one comment
I walk down Saind Point Way with Alexis’ family. Her dad has raspy breath. We have decided to go to a restaurant. The first place we pick out is too full, and I suggest another Italian restaurant I have only heard about. We arrive there. Inside it looks like a doctor’s office on one side and a convenience store on the other. A man lies in a hospital bed. The head waiter tends to him a bit. There is a suggestion of the hallway in my parents’ house. Then the waiter notices us and asks us what we like. We never order. A bowl of pasta with tons of parmesan appears in front of me with yellowy, plastic noodles. I am skeptical that my food is already ready, and cautiously eat it. I feel overwhelming guilt that this restaurant is so sketchy, and realize it is only a front for a sketchier business; probably drugs. I glance around. The “receptionist” at the front is smoking a cigarette next to one of those cardboard cutouts of a dark-haired Turkish woman which is an ad for Camel. The patient gets up, wearing a blue bathrobe, and he is shuffled over to the other side of the room into another bed. Many people rush around the old bed, and dramatic music plays (sort of– stinging chords that mean “Danger!”). I am mystified by what is going on. The patient flips between the two beds and the many people press close to him with coffee mugs. Again the hallway is suggested and I briefly do some mathematics. When finally the man is put in the new bed, the music plays again and someone dresses up like him, stashes about 3 knives in his bathrobe and in the mattress, then quickly lays down. More food arrives for Alexis’ dad and brother. I stir my worrisome pasta, and look around. The place is more and more nuts each time. I can see into a back room where there is definitely no food, only a number of plastic bags in rows on a table. I tug on the sleeve of Alexis to signal we should leave.
Our co-op owns a long white hearse; we drive it down the Ave at night, working out our personal differences.
Under filbert trees at the farm, I sit with a few friends. A man comes up and talks to me. I am unusually friendly and invite him to meet my family, though I suspect treachery. We walk to the top of an indistinct, unwalled tower. Colorful flags are around somewhere.
The Mystery of Alex’s Parents
January 15th, 2007 by Jenny Crimp; one comment
The first part of my dream involves the search for a young girl who has been missing. She is eventually found alive in an oil drum on a ship from Panama that was smuggling imitation oriental rugs. My brother, sister and I all stand facing south, balancing on some train tracks as the sun sets. I argue with Nick about the circumstances of the crime. My theory is that somehow the crows and powerlines at the time and location of her discovery imcriminate my ninth grade history teacher, Mr. Engberg, but Nick argues that he would still only be guilty of the carpet smuggling and not the kidnapping. I am surprised Nick is taking the the teacher’s side, since Mr. Engberg ruined Mount Rainier’s debate team when he took over and Nick never got to go to state or whatever.
But then as the light is leaving the sky I look up and make out an interesting pattern of crows and powerlines. The enemy approaches! I know I will be no match for him, and at first I try to run and get help from my neighbor up the street a bit, but then I remember that she left the organization after the last battle. The enemy is getting closer, and I remember finally that Hailey Mitsui, although we never really talked, once had very strong powers- telekinesis or something. She probably moved out to the UW, but I am desperate for her help, so I try to to fly down to her house to save time. My flying ability, however, is greatly diminished. All I can do now is jump very high, and I begin to fall. I grab onto a loose powerline dangling from the clowds and use it to swing in an arc to her street. When I let go of the line, however, I begin to fall very quickly, and I know that if I do not imagine some cushiony acrobatic powers for myself I will crash into the ground and break some bones. So I imagine a pretty lame roll at the last second, just preventing serious injury. I run up the street, looking over my shoulder, knowing I haven’t got a chance.
Unrelatedly, I am now shopping with my mom in a fancy boutique for pre-teens downtown, and for some reason there is a lot of really trashy lingerie, which disturbs me a bit. After a while it is 5:00 and the store begins converting into a restaurant. My mom helps them set up tables while I go out to the enclosed side patio. Kathryn and Alex are there and Kathryn decides it would be a really great joke if I were to take a photograph of George Bush out onto the stage in the restaurant and announce that I am going to masturbate to it. Alex laughs at the idea, while I laugh at Kathryn, but she takes this as agreement and grabs our arms and marches up out onto the stage. I tell Kathryn that she can be the one to make the joke, and I say in a loud voice from the stage, “Ladies and Gentlemen! Please direct your attention to this lovely young lady for some pre-dining entertainment!” But instead of announcing that she is going to masturbate to the photo of Bush, she takes my arm and we do a ballet waltz we had been practicing around the stage together, but very poorly because I hadn’t had enough time to figure out the right side. We eventually pull Alex onto the stage to waltz with us for even more embarassment, but I am actually relieved because I’d rather we all make fools of ourselves dancing than just Kathryn getting embarassed by telling a really bad joke.
When this is over we all laugh and go back to the patio. Alex leaves, and after a while Kathryn makes a remark on something Alex had said earlier, somehow implying that Alex’s parents really weren’t his parents at all, but rather Anne Bertuccio’s aunt and uncle. Kathryn and I argue about this for a while, but then it seems we will get the answer when we get to take Alex’s place in a memory of the day the parent arrangement was formed.
(Just a note: the details of the following scene make no sense at all.)
Kathryn and I, both acting Alex’s in the memory arrive at his house, where our friend Anne answers the door. We’re probably all about 10 years old. We had gotten bored, and decided to go around the neighborhood washing our neighbor’s dogs. We ask Anne if she as any dogs in her house that need washing, and she replies that her Aunt has a few that might be dirty. (Aha! is this where Alex’s mom comes in? No.) Anne brings back her aunt, who is not Alex’s mother, and several small dogs. The aunt indicates that we can wash the dog on her fancy chaise lounge with a purple silk cushion if we will just wait while she brings up a hose from the basement, which is actually the basement of my house. Kathryn and I exchange glances, wondering when we will get the answer to who Alex’s parents really are. The aunt returns with a heavy duty hose and stands in the corner talking to Anne’s mom. We roll the norfolk terrier up in the chaise cushion, partly to restrain it and partly to protect it from the powerful hose.
I get bored, so while Kathryn finishes washing the dog I find myself walking back into the house, which becomes an antique store/gun shop. I browse through the dresses, looking for something nice to wear when I get married, but they are all sequined or size 18. I go to talk to the man behind the gun display cases and inquire about a sword in a black laquer case, asking how much I might find it for on e-bay. He gives me an answer, and looking at the price tag I determine that it’s a pretty good deal. Next I see a really awesome fedora and coat behind the counter and ask how much they are. He tells me and hands me the hat and coat, and I realize that was the wrong question to ask because the coat would be really big on me. I hand the hat and coat back to the man behind the counter as another man comes to return a gun in an electric drill case. As I listen to their conversation someone hugs me from behind.
I switch identities into the person hugging me. I am now a man, and the girl I am hugging is the girl I am about to ask to marry me. Now it makes more sense to me (real me, not dream-me, man or woman) why I (dream me) was looking for something to get married in, but not why it didn’t occur to me that the coat would fit my boyfriend perfectly . I have a conversation with my girlfriend and she tells me I should take a look at the coat. Still from the point of view of the man, my girlfriend wanders off to the back of the store, looking somewhat confused (I mean, no wonder! At this point I’m probably trying to figure out why I have no memory of my boyfriend.). I know that this is the moment where I propose, so I grab the dress that I had ready and take it to her.
Switch back to the girl. I have no clue what is going on, why my boyfriend has brought me a light yellow chiffon dress with a bubble hem or asked me excitedly to take out my sewing kit and rip open the hem.
Switch back to guy. I have sewn the ring in the hem of the skirt and I know my girlfriend will be thrilled that I proposed to her this way because-
Switch back to girl. Extreme excitement! Exclamation! Kisses! How clever! I love you etc! (Note: I never did find out why the guy proposed to the girl by sewing the ring into the hem of that dress- I was just too excited, I guess). The store owner is really annoyed with us for making so much noise, but when he find out that we’re going to get married he cheers up an immediately tries to start selling us stuff. “You’ll need a new set of dishes! We have this wonderful avocado set…” Then our close friends Fred and Ethel (characters from I Love Lucy, but very young- I guess I am Lucy and Ricky) come bursting in through the back door, laughing and hugging each other- Fred has just proposed as well, which makes the store owner even happier.
The owner drags my fiance off to look at dishes, and I look through more racks of clothes for bridesmaids dresses. My role switches again. Now it is my sister who is getting married and I am helping her plan the wedding. The first dress I find in my size is a victorian-inspired bridesmaid dress from the sixties, which Laura likes, but there is only one matching dress in size huge. Next I show her something obviously from the seventies made of off-white polyester with chartreuse trim, but Laura points out that it is actually a tunic that goes with pants, which makes it look alot more like a marching band uniform.
I look out the front door of the shop and see that the Isuzu is parked out front. I get in the back seat and my dad drives down 153rd in Burien, having a conversation with my brother in the front seat. Kathryn calls me and before she can say anything I ask if she has broken up with Micaiah. She starts to respond, sounding a bit confused, but I am distracted by yelling from the sidewalk. Beth and Andrea stand there, yelling at me. I ask them what they are doing in Burien, but the look frightened, pointing to the roof of my car. As we drive off at a ridiculously high speed I just barely catch, “Courtney!… on top!” I feel the car rock a bit and think, “Oh my god! Courtney is riding in the roof of the car!” I try to look out the window to the roof to make sure she really is there, yelling to my dad to slow down and pull over. We swerve a bit and I see a shoe fly off. Kathryn is now yelling at me over the phone, “What is going on!?” I try to explain and hang up, still yelling at my dad to pull over. Finally he pulls into the alley behind the Chinese sportsbar on Ambaum, where there is a park beside a river, and I-5 is directly overhead. A woman runs up to the car, hysterically crying, “My daughter, my daughter!” and pulls a little girl, about four years old off the roof of our car. As the woman walks off with her daughter in her arms, I am completely astonished that Coutney was not the one on the roof, but I see that the girl’s tiny white sandal is missing from her right foot.
This is my first actual sex dream
January 14th, 2007 by Ariana Rose Taylor-Stanley; no comments
I was having sex with someone who I think was interested in becoming a Peace Camp counselor (who does not actually exist). It was really good but we had to stop short for some reason.
Later we were about to start again in my bed at school when he asked if there was that rule against having sex when your roommate was in the room at UW. I realized then that Emily was in the room and got really embarrassed.
I called Adrian and he was pretty drunk. He picked up the phone saying enthusiastically, “It’s Cam!” He explained when I asked that “cam” was a word he and Eric used, and that it had a very important meaning. Adrian was putting up a canopy, which I could see, until he turned into Ariadne. My mother teased Ari about having had some “special water” before trying to put up the canopy.
A bunch of people who were at first Adrian’s friends were preparing to sleep over in the six beds in my room. Leah was gone for the night, and someone would probably share Emily’s bed. The boy from Peace Camp would sleep in my bed. I wondered why Adrian wasn’t sleeping over, but realized that he was the only one of his friends not going back to Washington before school started.
Soon the people were Alex’s friends instead. Leaving my room briefly, I saw a note on the door to Leah from Emily that explained that her bed was taken by some of the many people staying in the room, and that she herself would like to leave to go visit a friend in a nearby city, but could not because we were already so far over our limit of guests per person. I told her it was fine with me if she left and she did.
We were almost ready to go to sleep but a bunch of adults kept stopping by to talk to us. One was Cheryl, from the Mountaineers, who explained that her job (which I think was being a custodian in McCarty) now paid her so much that she was able to give a ton of money to the Democrats, and had probably in some way helped to fund our sleep over. After she left I asked Jenny Estill, who had become one of my guests, if she had recognized her. Jenny and the next adult to stop by confirmed that she was totally insane.
I was worried about all the adults stopping by because someone was bound to notice how far over the limit of guests per person we were.
The Academy
January 9th, 2007 by Jenny Crimp; no comments
I have been selected to join the Academy, and I must bring all of my possesions to the first meeting. My mom and dad help me carry my sleeping bag and pillow through a mall several stories high. We ascend a spiral escalator, and on the floor before the trapdoor to the office, my mom gets distracted by a store that sells nothing but “little black dresses”. She tries to convince me to stop, because I am in desperate need of a little black dress, but I hurry her past because we are already late. Squeezing through the trapdoor, I say a final farewell to my parents and take a look around. I stand on solid dirt, this room is clearly at ground level and outdoors, but there are walls and it is very comfortably furnished. Some kids are sitting on the couch, and I decide to join their conversation. One girl says she is in the sixth grade, and I wonder if I have come to the right place. Then they start talking about their different powers. This is where the dream becomes suspiciously like X-Men. I am not terribly happy about coming to this place, because I will never be able to go back, and for quite a while I resist their instruction. Apparently my power will be teleportation, but I don’t want to learn it because it involves structured activitied and physical contact wit others. I am also upset because they took away all of my socks.
Later, I have completed my training and am on a mission by a river near a red and white-striped concessions tent. Either blossoms or leaves are falling from the trees. I find my contact, and must teleport him back to the Academy. There is very little time, so I quickly explain that he must give me a piggy-back ride, spin around very quickly, and I will take care of the teleportation. Apparently I did not explain everything, because when he spins around and I begin concentrating on no longer being in our current location, the world swirls around us in a colorful tornado, but then freezes. I have no idea what I have done, but I’m sure that because of me the world is about to end.
Cooking, Marriage.
January 6th, 2007 by Alex Walton; no comments
I charge an electrical device with my finger (inserting it where the plug would be). Gabriella stands behind me shaking what sounds like a maraca. I turn to look and she is pouring nutmeg all over the floor in a heap and laughing. Then we are laying on a dark blue rug with oscillating red and green bars. She has a head of garlic in each hand, and I am trying to pry back her fingers to take it from her. Steven Dold enters through a large door and is eating his own head of garlic. I understand he has written an epic poem and is here to drop it off. I am disappointed that he has to meet my wife this way, but introduce him to Gabriella. We get up and brush ourselves off. Steve asks if we would like a clove cigarette. She and I respond in unison (or, speak with one voice?) that only ghosts smoke shit like that. He is offended, leaves, and slams the door behind him. We return to the bathtub, which is boiling. (Retrospectively, I assume this is soup.)
Later I am walking through the apartment in Rome with a mouthful of water held in my cheeks, trying not to spill. There is sun, and also wind, coming through the window. The walls are very much like a castle. Below is a live concert attended by what appears to be many thin maple trees, which wave when the music is played.
Spontaneous Dance Parade
January 4th, 2007 by Jenny Crimp; no comments
Number 1
(I actually had this dream several months ago, but I feel like I should post it now because it fits with one I had a few nights ago.)
Word is going around campus that the parade is today at noon. I don’t know how I missed this, it was partially my idea. It is pouring rain but I know there is nothing I can do to stop it, now that everyone is excited about the Cause and is all dressed up. I wonder how so many people even found out about it; it was supposed to be a secret except to a select few.
I check my watch… It is almost noon! I run to the avenue that runs down campus right where Meany should be, hoping that someone is organizing the event. When I get there I almost decide that it will be too lame to participate in, but then there’s Alex with his inner tube, galoshes, and Mardi Gras beads! Andrea is enthusiastic too, so I blow up my puffin, put on my poncho, and line up at the start. The music plays… something terribly romantic like Edith Piaf, and we all slosh down the street, dancing. Soon the excessive wetness makes it necessary for us to make swimming motions, and finally we are all rolling and bobbing down the street, singing nonsense until we reach Pacific Avenue.
Number 2
There is a large cedar tree much like the one that used to be in my grandma’s backyard overhanging 40th where it goes in to campus. There is a family picnic or some such event that is scheduled to transpire in the near future under this tree. I am angry for some reason, but try to be polite to my cousin because I haven’t seen her in a while. I kind of lose it when she needs my help giving directions to her boyfriend over the phone so he can attend as well. I wander off into the street, intending to walk down 40th, but it’s blocked off just before 15th so I can’t get off campus. About a hundred or so people, all dressed in black are lined up in formation. One of them counts off “…5, 6, 7, 8!” with a megaphone and they all start a really well-choreographed dance routine to a pop song playing over the loudspeaker. I stand next to Sarah Malchody from sixth grade and some other guy, and comment how awesomely spontaneous the dance parade is. Just then the dancers make their way up the street and I am crowded onto the sidewalk. Now someone is counting the beats and calling out the sequences, so I am not quite as impressed- this part must still be a rehearsal. As I turn around Sarah disappears into the crowd with Random Guy.
I’m feeling really frustrated so I walk down to the stoplight and get into the first car in line. The driver is a middle aged man. He drives off and I have no idea what I am doing. We do not speak, and both of us look straight ahead. As we pass under the University Bridge I say hoarsely, “I should get out at the next light”. He mumbles something about taking me where I need to go, and for some reason I am not creeped out at all. We are going towards Fremont and I decide I’ll just go home (this is wierd- I do not live in Fremont yet, but I think of it as home in my dreams?).
We round a bend in the road and suddenly in front of us the late afternoon sun shines on a very large, glittering blue lake (Union, I suppose). We are on the floating bridge that crosses it, and I see that before we will get to the other side the freeway gets tied in knots with another road. It seems possible that we will either crash head on where the roads cross, or fall off where they go upside down, but I am not in control of the car. All the driver says is “Hang on.” So I do, and we accelerate. But we don’t crash! The car stays on the road like a roller coaster track and I scream with excitement as the car flips upside down and makes several upside-down loops.
I get out in Fremont where everything is pastel and colorful but not in the easter egg way, and slowly walk back to campus.
Jammed!
January 1st, 2007 by Alex Walton; no comments
Gabriella stands on the top back of my teal typewriter, somehow positioned such that pressing the keys does nothing to the page. She looks at me very seriously and shakes a finger at me. I feel overwhelming confusion, and look around for snakes. Luckily there are none.