I dreamed I was Sansa Stark in a sort of Game of Thrones/Dune mashup. My father Ned/Leto had been killed. My mother and oldest brother were off being Bene Gesserit and Kwisatz Haderach in the desert somewhere, no idea where Arya/Alia was, and I was stuck taking care of my brother Bran in our spectacular imperial palace.
All of a sudden, everyone began to panic, and I could see a news program on the television, so I carried Bran over to watch. Apparently dinosaurs from our enemy house were going to invade our planet at any minute.
The rest of the dream was my scurrying up and down stairs and escalators and elevators into different wings, trying to find a place for us to hide. Bran got heavier and heavier, and needed a change of underclothes after a bit, but somehow I'd ended up in a part of the complex I'd never seen. You see, I'd always had someone with me, telling me where to go, and I'd only been allowed in certain parts of the palace.
I started out in a large amphitheater, that was partially open air. There were pine woods and snow behind me as I watched the news program, and campers were running about screaming. I found a door to get inside the palace, and found myself in a sort of shopping arcade. It was like a mall, but it only ran along one side of a huge convention center lobby.
I could see the stairwells and elevators and such were all numbered, and I knew that to get to the royal chambers, I needed stair 30 in the east wing. I kept finding every stair *but* stair 30, and I wasn't sure which wing I was in, anyhow.
Bran got heavier and heavier, as I ran up escalators to hallways carpeted in plush, dark blue, with dark blue walls and dark oak doors. There was a wing of elementary school classrooms, completely deserted. I thought about hiding here, because who would expect that, right? But none of the doors would lock.
I came out into a courtyard, and we had guests there. They were young men from a noble family who had been visiting to discuss marriage with me and my sister. They offered to help hide me, but I just didn't trust them, and I ran and ran and ran and ran, hoping to lose them, hoping they weren't following me.
There was a deep, forest green hall, and a hall of blinding, antiseptic white and glistening steel and frosted glass. Finally, I found stair 30, and I bolted up it and into the royal wing of cream walls and golden wood and garnet carpets. I locked us in the King's Suite, because I'd heard my brother had died, and Bran would now being king. And then I woke up.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Saturday, March 10, 2018
LEGO, Ship Building, and Proper Cups of Tea ~ 3/10/2018
I dreamed I was wandering through a world built from LEGO. I was staying in a French mountain town, and I had to wait while they rebuilt my room, since a prince had just stayed there, and they needed to remove his exclusive specifications. So I wandered up the street, past a pastry shop and a dress shop, along a small stream, down out of the mountains and onto a desert plain.
There I found an oasis palace, the court of an Arabian nobleman, mosques, markets, small homes, all built of LEGO. To the north I found a jungle temple, then more sand and an ancient Nubian fortress town. Lots of gold LEGO used there. I headed east, through a rocky canyon, and at the other side I found a charming Bavarian village, which lay to the north of a Jewish enclave with a temple more beautiful than any of the ones I saw in Prague, all, of course, built from LEGO.
Eventually I found the end of the LEGO world, and entered the back halls of the home of its creator. Draped in sheets and dust, I found huge sections of the Taj Mahal under construction, and I made a mental note to encourage her to finish it. But I never did find her, and my mom called and wanted me to meet her in Paris, so I left for France.
In Paris I found that my mom was staying in a hostel where her room was a small wooden clipper ship. She needed my help because she was going to sail the ship home, but first she needed to disassemble it and rebuild it at the port. They’d told her all the pieces were interchangeable, so she’d started a quick but haphazard disassembly. But I took a closer look, and, in fact, every piece was unique, and would need to be fitted back in the exact same place, so the first thing we had to do was put it all back together.
An older English gentleman came to help us, which was good because it had started raining. The wood was getting a bit damp, and became harder to take apart. I looked closely at one of the ends and found an intricate series of notches where the pieces fit together. It was really ingenious. As long as the wood was quite dry, the pieces came apart and went together easily. But once the wood got damp, like it would at sea, it would swell and the pieces would lock together and be waterproof.
The problem was, of course, that it was raining, so the wood was getting all wet. Me and Mom and the Englishman worked hard to keep things dry, and I began disassembling at the prow, making sure to keep all the pieces stacked in exactly the order I'd removed them in. I'm not at all clear on how we managed it, but somehow we did. We picked up a crew and some paying passengers in the port, and the Englishman agreed to come along and run the gift shop counter.
I had become very fond of him, and I thought he might also be quite fond of me. I was the only person on board whom he'd trust to make him tea while he was working, because he said I was the only person who knew what a proper cup of tea was. Somehow, though, I never noticed if he took milk or sugar, though I pretty well assumed he did NOT take sugar. But instead of asking, I'd always just bring them, and bring enough tea for me, too, so I could use whatever he didn't.
I was in the galley, and I was having a horrible day. I poured the water into the teapot instead of the kettle by mistake. I thought of just microwaving the whole mess and calling it tea, but I knew it wouldn't turn out to his standards, so I dumped the whole thing, and a friend came in and put the kettle on the boil for me while I tried to reconstitute some powdered milk, because we'd run out of fresh that morning. I wasn't as worried about that, since I was pretty sure that was just for me, but I kept getting the proportions wrong, and filled a tiny pitcher with sludge that wouldn't dissolve. I was so tied up with the milk that I let the tea leaves steep for too long, so it was all bitter, and I just couldn't seem to do anything right, and I knew I was going to let my Englishman down, but then I woke up.
There I found an oasis palace, the court of an Arabian nobleman, mosques, markets, small homes, all built of LEGO. To the north I found a jungle temple, then more sand and an ancient Nubian fortress town. Lots of gold LEGO used there. I headed east, through a rocky canyon, and at the other side I found a charming Bavarian village, which lay to the north of a Jewish enclave with a temple more beautiful than any of the ones I saw in Prague, all, of course, built from LEGO.
Eventually I found the end of the LEGO world, and entered the back halls of the home of its creator. Draped in sheets and dust, I found huge sections of the Taj Mahal under construction, and I made a mental note to encourage her to finish it. But I never did find her, and my mom called and wanted me to meet her in Paris, so I left for France.
In Paris I found that my mom was staying in a hostel where her room was a small wooden clipper ship. She needed my help because she was going to sail the ship home, but first she needed to disassemble it and rebuild it at the port. They’d told her all the pieces were interchangeable, so she’d started a quick but haphazard disassembly. But I took a closer look, and, in fact, every piece was unique, and would need to be fitted back in the exact same place, so the first thing we had to do was put it all back together.
An older English gentleman came to help us, which was good because it had started raining. The wood was getting a bit damp, and became harder to take apart. I looked closely at one of the ends and found an intricate series of notches where the pieces fit together. It was really ingenious. As long as the wood was quite dry, the pieces came apart and went together easily. But once the wood got damp, like it would at sea, it would swell and the pieces would lock together and be waterproof.
The problem was, of course, that it was raining, so the wood was getting all wet. Me and Mom and the Englishman worked hard to keep things dry, and I began disassembling at the prow, making sure to keep all the pieces stacked in exactly the order I'd removed them in. I'm not at all clear on how we managed it, but somehow we did. We picked up a crew and some paying passengers in the port, and the Englishman agreed to come along and run the gift shop counter.
I had become very fond of him, and I thought he might also be quite fond of me. I was the only person on board whom he'd trust to make him tea while he was working, because he said I was the only person who knew what a proper cup of tea was. Somehow, though, I never noticed if he took milk or sugar, though I pretty well assumed he did NOT take sugar. But instead of asking, I'd always just bring them, and bring enough tea for me, too, so I could use whatever he didn't.
I was in the galley, and I was having a horrible day. I poured the water into the teapot instead of the kettle by mistake. I thought of just microwaving the whole mess and calling it tea, but I knew it wouldn't turn out to his standards, so I dumped the whole thing, and a friend came in and put the kettle on the boil for me while I tried to reconstitute some powdered milk, because we'd run out of fresh that morning. I wasn't as worried about that, since I was pretty sure that was just for me, but I kept getting the proportions wrong, and filled a tiny pitcher with sludge that wouldn't dissolve. I was so tied up with the milk that I let the tea leaves steep for too long, so it was all bitter, and I just couldn't seem to do anything right, and I knew I was going to let my Englishman down, but then I woke up.
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Mine World Craft War Game Thing ~ 1/21/2018
I dreamed there was this Minecraft style game that could be played as a community effort. The game system was controlled by these machines that were about twice as big as a microwave, had a piano style keyboard and accordion bellows beneath a shiny, crinkly cover, kind of like a windshield sunscreen, in silver, magenta, light blue, and red. I was shopping for a system for my game group, and of course I wanted to get a red one.
The game itself involves spawning microorganisms, then helping them evolve into humans. Like, you spawned your small critters, and once they reached a certain level of health, you could trigger them to spawn into fish, then dolphins, then mice, then humans. The humans were all identical male people called "Hessians".
The Hessians were dressed as Phrygian warriors, with helmets shaped like Smurf hats, breast plates, swords, spears, and VERY short leather kilts. Once the Hessians reached a certain level of health, they would... er... mature... and then procreate/replicate. Similar to how Minecraft animals do.
The next stage of development for the Hessians was that they could begin travelling to other teams' worlds, as long as they either conquered or colonized systems in a geographically realistic way. At this stage, you could play either looking at a screen, or, through virtual reality, actually enter the game world. In that mode the Hessians finally differentiated, because they looked like the actual people controlling them.
As a system administrator, I could individually pop into any game in progress, though I couldn't affect any world my team didn't have an official presence in. I popped into one realm where a battle over an office building was going on, and I hid among rows of seating in a training amphitheater. I watched as players took each other out. Or snuck off into corners to, erm... help each other mature...
But most of the time I played the game in console mode, so the graphics were mercifully unrealistic. There was also a creative mode I could enter as an admin, to set up challenges for my team. At one point, though, my team was all so scattered and unfocused that I decided to just start spawning thousands of dolphins, just cuz. And then I woke up.
The game itself involves spawning microorganisms, then helping them evolve into humans. Like, you spawned your small critters, and once they reached a certain level of health, you could trigger them to spawn into fish, then dolphins, then mice, then humans. The humans were all identical male people called "Hessians".
The Hessians were dressed as Phrygian warriors, with helmets shaped like Smurf hats, breast plates, swords, spears, and VERY short leather kilts. Once the Hessians reached a certain level of health, they would... er... mature... and then procreate/replicate. Similar to how Minecraft animals do.
The next stage of development for the Hessians was that they could begin travelling to other teams' worlds, as long as they either conquered or colonized systems in a geographically realistic way. At this stage, you could play either looking at a screen, or, through virtual reality, actually enter the game world. In that mode the Hessians finally differentiated, because they looked like the actual people controlling them.
As a system administrator, I could individually pop into any game in progress, though I couldn't affect any world my team didn't have an official presence in. I popped into one realm where a battle over an office building was going on, and I hid among rows of seating in a training amphitheater. I watched as players took each other out. Or snuck off into corners to, erm... help each other mature...
But most of the time I played the game in console mode, so the graphics were mercifully unrealistic. There was also a creative mode I could enter as an admin, to set up challenges for my team. At one point, though, my team was all so scattered and unfocused that I decided to just start spawning thousands of dolphins, just cuz. And then I woke up.
Thursday, January 18, 2018
TBTT#33 Sartorial Splendor ~ 11/9/2013
I dreamed I was a slender, Indian American teenager, with dark skin and eyes, going to a school dance dressed in a gorgeous dark green and black silk brockade dress over a black lace under dress with star-like points of gold, a sort of medieval style outfit. My wrap was black netting with gold as well.
I loaned my cousin a hooded black velvet cloak because her dress was sleeveless, and mine had long bell sleeves and I was warm enough. This elegance contrasts quite a bit with my dream the night before, where my mother packed my clothes for a three day wedding, but only packed me dresses for the first and second day.
She suggested I borrow a beautiful retro red, dark green, cream, and black patterned dress that actually belonged to Emma Watson, until I explained that there was no way it would fit me. My cousins Sam and Stevie were in suits, and I ended up having to wear slacks that were a strange color, somewhere between magenta and purple (puce maybe?) and a hot pink tank, with a sort of spaghetti strap camisole of black netting over it, that was woven through with the thick yarn hair ties I used to have as a kid, in red, green, orange, and pale pink.
It was a super-awkward outfit. Then I woke up.
I loaned my cousin a hooded black velvet cloak because her dress was sleeveless, and mine had long bell sleeves and I was warm enough. This elegance contrasts quite a bit with my dream the night before, where my mother packed my clothes for a three day wedding, but only packed me dresses for the first and second day.
She suggested I borrow a beautiful retro red, dark green, cream, and black patterned dress that actually belonged to Emma Watson, until I explained that there was no way it would fit me. My cousins Sam and Stevie were in suits, and I ended up having to wear slacks that were a strange color, somewhere between magenta and purple (puce maybe?) and a hot pink tank, with a sort of spaghetti strap camisole of black netting over it, that was woven through with the thick yarn hair ties I used to have as a kid, in red, green, orange, and pale pink.
It was a super-awkward outfit. Then I woke up.
Thursday, December 21, 2017
TBTT#32 As if Spiders Weren’t Bad Enough ~ 6/29/2013
I dreamed my New Orleans game night group and I were walking down near the Walmart on Tchoupitoulas, which was nearby, when some convicts, most of whom were murderers, were lead down the street with people who were claiming that the convicts had repented, were born again, and needed to be forgiven, and we should donate money to help raise awareness for them. An old paunchy silver haired man who looked like a football coach put his hand on my shoulder and said, “You NEED to do something for them!” I glared at him and said I pray for them all every day, now get your hands OFF of me. Then we joined up with Greg Sanders and Warrick Brown from CSI, and they were trying to solve some mystery. The killings involved a new species of tiny, black, bioengineered spiders that scatter in the light, but in darkness gather by the hundreds and thousands, begin to vibrate up and down in chorus like daddy longlegs, and then, with sparks and flashes of tiny blue lightning, shoot forth suffocating grey masses of sticky cobwebs to engulf a person. The spiders had infested my hill country home, and we were trying to both get rid of them and study them, and they kept massing in the TV room, in the deep corner recesses of the built-in book shelves. At some point Adam and Jamie from the Mythbusters teamed up to help us. As long as we kept our flashlights and cellphone lights trained on the corners, the spiders stayed hidden, but the lights kept going out, and we’d see the little blue sparking arcs start up, and scramble to get the lights back on. Then I woke up.
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
A Nautical Theme ~ 11/28/2017
I dreamed I was visiting the school I had kindergarten in, in Corpus Christi, Texas. It was white sided Victorian building nestled in medieval stone cloisters. Slate roofs had been added to form halls where there had been yards, and one of the roofs had collapsed. I could remember walking there as a child.
In my pocket I found a letter I had written as an assignment to the person I admired most. It contained the word "adulation," which of course I used as a five year old. Who wouldn't? I had written it, not to anyone famous or family, but a girl who was two years ahead of me at the school. She was attending the same reunion I was, so I gave her the letter, and we became Facebook friends.
The reunion committee had collected a bunch of home videos, and they were on a loop in the cafeteria. I saw my kindergarten self, and there was a man's hand resting on my head, patting my curls. His fingers were covered with enormous, flashing rings. One was a rectangular cut red stone almost as long as his finger. But I knew it was my dad, because on another finger I could see his Aggie ring.
I went fishing with my mother and sister. We were sitting on the steps of the seawall, and I could see large fish swimming just beneath the surface. I cast out my line with a hunk of chicken meat on it, right in front of a 3-foot drum. I was just using a bamboo cane pole, so I couldn't reel my line in, but I tugged it around in the water to entice the fish. Then I realized I'd actually got the attention of a nine-foot shark. I yanked my line back to shore, but unfortunately the shark followed it, and we all fled up the steps as it flopped around out of water below us.
Since further fishing was clearly out, I went to the mall to pick up a few things. I realized I was running late, and needed to board the boat to Antarctica. I jumped on my bike, and sped to the embarkation terminal on the ground floor of the mall. But I couldn't take my bike aboard, so I needed to lock it up, but I didn't have a lock.
The school groups were all boarding, so I figured I had time. The embarkation host helping me kept telling me things, but she was whispering from four feet away, so I couldn't hear her. I ran to a few shops, but finally found a bike lock in a vending machine. It took me a while to figure out how to work it, though. By the time my bike was locked up and I'd dug out my passport, I could only stand and watch my Antarctica cruise ship sail out of port. And then I woke up.
In my pocket I found a letter I had written as an assignment to the person I admired most. It contained the word "adulation," which of course I used as a five year old. Who wouldn't? I had written it, not to anyone famous or family, but a girl who was two years ahead of me at the school. She was attending the same reunion I was, so I gave her the letter, and we became Facebook friends.
The reunion committee had collected a bunch of home videos, and they were on a loop in the cafeteria. I saw my kindergarten self, and there was a man's hand resting on my head, patting my curls. His fingers were covered with enormous, flashing rings. One was a rectangular cut red stone almost as long as his finger. But I knew it was my dad, because on another finger I could see his Aggie ring.
I went fishing with my mother and sister. We were sitting on the steps of the seawall, and I could see large fish swimming just beneath the surface. I cast out my line with a hunk of chicken meat on it, right in front of a 3-foot drum. I was just using a bamboo cane pole, so I couldn't reel my line in, but I tugged it around in the water to entice the fish. Then I realized I'd actually got the attention of a nine-foot shark. I yanked my line back to shore, but unfortunately the shark followed it, and we all fled up the steps as it flopped around out of water below us.
Since further fishing was clearly out, I went to the mall to pick up a few things. I realized I was running late, and needed to board the boat to Antarctica. I jumped on my bike, and sped to the embarkation terminal on the ground floor of the mall. But I couldn't take my bike aboard, so I needed to lock it up, but I didn't have a lock.
The school groups were all boarding, so I figured I had time. The embarkation host helping me kept telling me things, but she was whispering from four feet away, so I couldn't hear her. I ran to a few shops, but finally found a bike lock in a vending machine. It took me a while to figure out how to work it, though. By the time my bike was locked up and I'd dug out my passport, I could only stand and watch my Antarctica cruise ship sail out of port. And then I woke up.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Snowbound ~ 9/30/2017
I dreamed I was traveling to a national park in Missouri with my boys and their Nanny. We were on our way home, and needed to catch a fight in Little Rock. Dylan was driving, and the rest of us were in the back seat, when Debbie noticed the road ahead was white. I got into the passenger seat, which also had pedals and a steering wheel, and sent Dylan to the back.
There was snow on the road, and I decided to get off the highway. I pulled over to a left hand exit, and was stopped in a line of cars. I turned left into a narrow lane that led off the highway, and began to drive along a row of warehouses. The lane turned into a gravel road, then just a gravelly field, but I could see a paved street up ahead, and along it an empty paved lot for semis, with long, diagonal parking spaces, behind what looked like a garden store.
I pulled into one of the spaces and we got out. We needed to figure out how to return our rental car and how to get to the airport. I pulled out my phone and went to Google Maps to figure out where we were, so the rental car people could just come get the car. The little street was Ivyshield, and we were actually behind a tiny, old hospital. Debbie left to confirm when our flights were and how best to get to the airport. The boys stayed with me, and kept talking about the snow and asking so many questions, that I couldn't focus on my phone long enough to figure out where we were.
We walked down a ramp, along a parking area beneath the hospital second floor, where the ambulances could turn in as drop people at the emergency room. Everything in the hospital was quiet, but people were starting to gather along the bigger road out in front. We walked out so I could find a street sign. There were streetcar tracks, and I stopped and confirmed with a police officer that we could take the streetcar straight to the airport.
I continued to try to pinpoint our location for the rental car company. We were on Irene St., and the elevated boulevard overhead was Sageshields, one man told us. He said we were in the Shields district, and the big cross street I could see over to the right was Braeshields. We were parked behind the Ivyshields Charity Hospital.
I pulled my phone out to call the rental car company, when suddenly we were surrounded by five very old Chinese women, all talking at once, to the boys, not me. The boys could understand just enough Mandarin to answer them, and they seemed so pleased. Kieran told me they were wishing each boy good fortune, individually, and the boys were saying thank you.
They finally walked away, and I couldn't find the hospital anywhere! We were still on Irene St., with Sageshields overhead, but the street was lined with very old apartment buildings. Each had obviously once been luxurious, but the were now faded and dingy, though still dignified. There were old Chinese people at the windows and doors here and there. There was The Grand Ivyshields, and The Sage, and then a small neon sign above an old public library, then, oh thank goodness, the hospital.
More people had parked in the back lot, and an orderly was telling everyone we couldn't park there for more than 30 minutes or we'd be towed, by then another orderly called down to her that the mayor had suspended restrictions at city buildings and hospitals because of the snow, as long as we weren't blocking essential services.
I finally got in touch with the rental car company and told them where we were leaving the car. They said they'd send someone to get it. When he arrived, he'd brought us a big pepperoni pizza. Debbie came back then, and said she'd gotten in touch with the mayor's office, and we could catch the streetcar on Irene and take it straight to the airport.
She helped us finish the pizza, then went to the hospital desk to talk to the intake nurse to confirm the mayor's name, so she could donate to his campaign website, because he'd been that helpful. I decided to use the restroom and get the boys to go, too, before we set off for the airport. I asked another nurse where we could find it, and he told me to go through the doors to the library, and the women's room would be down the stairs to the right. The boys and I had just found it when I woke up.
There was snow on the road, and I decided to get off the highway. I pulled over to a left hand exit, and was stopped in a line of cars. I turned left into a narrow lane that led off the highway, and began to drive along a row of warehouses. The lane turned into a gravel road, then just a gravelly field, but I could see a paved street up ahead, and along it an empty paved lot for semis, with long, diagonal parking spaces, behind what looked like a garden store.
I pulled into one of the spaces and we got out. We needed to figure out how to return our rental car and how to get to the airport. I pulled out my phone and went to Google Maps to figure out where we were, so the rental car people could just come get the car. The little street was Ivyshield, and we were actually behind a tiny, old hospital. Debbie left to confirm when our flights were and how best to get to the airport. The boys stayed with me, and kept talking about the snow and asking so many questions, that I couldn't focus on my phone long enough to figure out where we were.
We walked down a ramp, along a parking area beneath the hospital second floor, where the ambulances could turn in as drop people at the emergency room. Everything in the hospital was quiet, but people were starting to gather along the bigger road out in front. We walked out so I could find a street sign. There were streetcar tracks, and I stopped and confirmed with a police officer that we could take the streetcar straight to the airport.
I continued to try to pinpoint our location for the rental car company. We were on Irene St., and the elevated boulevard overhead was Sageshields, one man told us. He said we were in the Shields district, and the big cross street I could see over to the right was Braeshields. We were parked behind the Ivyshields Charity Hospital.
I pulled my phone out to call the rental car company, when suddenly we were surrounded by five very old Chinese women, all talking at once, to the boys, not me. The boys could understand just enough Mandarin to answer them, and they seemed so pleased. Kieran told me they were wishing each boy good fortune, individually, and the boys were saying thank you.
They finally walked away, and I couldn't find the hospital anywhere! We were still on Irene St., with Sageshields overhead, but the street was lined with very old apartment buildings. Each had obviously once been luxurious, but the were now faded and dingy, though still dignified. There were old Chinese people at the windows and doors here and there. There was The Grand Ivyshields, and The Sage, and then a small neon sign above an old public library, then, oh thank goodness, the hospital.
More people had parked in the back lot, and an orderly was telling everyone we couldn't park there for more than 30 minutes or we'd be towed, by then another orderly called down to her that the mayor had suspended restrictions at city buildings and hospitals because of the snow, as long as we weren't blocking essential services.
I finally got in touch with the rental car company and told them where we were leaving the car. They said they'd send someone to get it. When he arrived, he'd brought us a big pepperoni pizza. Debbie came back then, and said she'd gotten in touch with the mayor's office, and we could catch the streetcar on Irene and take it straight to the airport.
She helped us finish the pizza, then went to the hospital desk to talk to the intake nurse to confirm the mayor's name, so she could donate to his campaign website, because he'd been that helpful. I decided to use the restroom and get the boys to go, too, before we set off for the airport. I asked another nurse where we could find it, and he told me to go through the doors to the library, and the women's room would be down the stairs to the right. The boys and I had just found it when I woke up.
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