Dream #530 (November 16, 2014) Houndmouth, Invisibility, Gypsies, Germans

Crazy/fun.


I was a gypsy.

My band of gypsies was unique (though I'm sure most are).  Each of us had a food truck that we lived in and occasionally sold food out of.  I sold gyros out of my truck, though it wasn't noticeable on the inside, because it had the interior of a comfortable living room.  The food trucks of my band of gypsies were constantly moving, but at an incredibly slow rate, never speeding up or slowing down.  We were somewhere in the middle of Ohio.

I was reading a book in my food truck, reclining in a chair for quite a while.  A knock on the window of my truck motivated me to get up and sell the customer a gyro.  I then left the truck and walked alongside it for a while.

After a few minutes, Houndmouth's tour van approached the gypsy line and parked near my truck.  I ran over and greeted Matt, Katie, Zak, Shane, and Jason as they stepped out of the van.  They told me how well their tour was going, and that they had been working on some special drug concoction that they wanted to show me.  I invited them into my truck and they brought along some of their experimental devices.

Inside my living room, Matt and Katie started pouring chemicals into a vile.  Then they had Jason (their manager) test the chemical.  He immediately became invisible.

We all celebrated the new discovery, then Zak injected Jason with some other chemical and he became visible again.  I was impressed.  Then Houndmouth had to leave so they could make their next show on time, so I bid them farewell.

Shortly after that, two violent Germans (one woman and one man) broke into my food truck and demanded that I share with them the secrets of invisibility so they could use it for some upcoming war they were plotting.  I acted as if they were lunatics and forced them out of my truck.  As my vehicle kept rolling, I noticed that they were following me in the woods that ran parallel to the road.  They thought they were sneaky.

When we neared the next town, I decided to get out of my truck and explore a bit.  I jogged to a place where a concert was being held.  As I got nearer, I realized that it was the Eels (one of my favorite bands).  As E was finishing his set, I walked up on stage to thank him for years of good music.  However, to my dismay, after finishing his encore, E walked up to me joined by the Germans.  He demanded that I tell him the key to invisibility, so I ran away.

When I returned to my truck, I found that it had been ransacked.  I was frustrated and infuriated, so I decided to take on the Germans head on, though I decided to warn Houndmouth first.  I hopped out of my truck and pulled a moped from the back of it and sputtered my way down the highway until I miraculously caught up with Houndmouth.  I signaled for Jason to roll down his window and I warned him of the Germans.  He gave me a 'thumbs up' and I pulled off the road into a graveyard to turn around.  However, my moped ran out of gas, so I was stuck there.   I walked toward the entrance of the graveyard and found the Germans there waiting for me.  I began to argue with them about their motives of war.  It actually seemed like I was beginning to persuade them.


Then I awoke.

Dream #529 (November 14, 2014) Large Wedding, Volcano, PooShower

Well.


I dreamt that I was shooting a wedding video at California Road Missionary Church (which is the church I attended in early elementary school).  The bridal party was unbelievably enormous.  I recorded the groomsmen (there were over fifty) as they put on their suits and ties and prepared for the groom's 'big day.'  Once they were all ready, they joined with the bridesmaids and formed a never-ending conga line and danced about for a long time.

At this point I was shooting with a Steadicam rig, running alongside the conga line trying to get some interesting shots.  I ran into my friend Shana Beers, and she asked if she could run along with me and watch me work.  I agreed, and soon after she asked if she could try operating the camera, so I took the heavy rig off and put it on her.  She did really well for a while, surprisingly, but she removed one of the pieces of the camera and threw the whole setup off balance.  She decided that after that it was a good time for me to take over.  I had a tough time rebalancing, but I figured it out in time to follow the conga line into the sanctuary.

The rest of the wedding was pretty typical.


After the ceremony, I returned to my home inside of a volcano.  I lived there with Kevin Chupp, Katie Weakland (former science professor at Bethel College), Seth Bartlette, and Alik Hall.  When I returned, Kevin told me that I needed to hurry up and shower because we were going to some fancy ball.  I got my towel and some clean clothes and headed to the bathroom, but the shower was being used by Alik.  I sat and waited for him, but then Seth jumped in the shower in front of me, so I had to wait some more.  I went over to Kaitie's desk (she didn't live there casually; it was part of some research she was doing, unlike the rest of us) and asked her how the volcano was doing.  She told me an eruption was bound to take place, but she didn't seem to be too worried.  I asked her why and she said we were in the safest place.

Finally Seth was out of the shower, but Kevin jumped in ahead of me, so I waited some more.

After a bit, I started to hear him yell, so I ran in to see what was wrong.

By the way, the layout of our home in the volcano was very cool.  The rooms were large with tall ceilings, and there were molten rivers running through most of them, as well as a few cool streams.  There were aqueducts in the 'basemen' and some other cool architecture.

Anyway, when I found Kevin, he was dumping out buckets of poop from the shower.  Apparently enormous turds were emerging from the drain at a frighteningly rapid pace, and Kevin couldn't dispose of them as quickly as he needed to.  I got in there and helped him out, calling for Seth and Alik to join us.  They came in and watched, but didn't lend a hand in the task.  Of course Kevin and I were filthy.

I went to one of the rivers and dipped my body in to clean off.  I looked over and saw that Katie had been joined by a man in a suit and hardhat.  He pulled a lever and all the lights went red and an alarm sounded.  The volcano began to erupt.

I crawled out of the river and ran about trying to gather a few of my belongings, but Katie told me it was of no use, so I settled down and found a chair to sit in as I witnessed the chaos under the mountain.


I soon awoke.

Dream #528 (October 30, 2014) -Weird School and Aziz Ansari

It's been a while.


I dreamt that I was in attending a school.  I often have dreams in which I get behind on homework or realize how much have have to do in a short amount of time, this dream included.  I sat through English, Math, and Science classes (visiting my locker between each one), and I was overwhelmed at the amount of homework I was going to have.

I don't remember much about the actual content of the classes.  I know I was assigned a bunch of Physics and Calculus homework, as well as a paper on "Julius Caesar."

After Math class, I returned to a large mansion that stood on the side of a mountain by an ocean.  It was a muted pink on the outside and inside, and this is where all the students lived and dined.  I lived in a room with dozens of bunk beds that housed other guys my age (which was ambiguous in my dream).  I soon went to sleep.

In the morning, I realized that I woke up late, so I rushed around so that I could still shower and eat breakfast before school.  I ran over to the dining area.  There were two separate eating areas; one for hot breakfast and one for a grab-and-go breakfast (some people treated it like a grab-and-stand-and-eat breakfast, which is why there was a whole room for those eaters).  I jumped into the short line of the grab-and-go, snagged a bag of Pop Tarts and ate them as I made my way up the winding stairs to the shower room.

The shower room I went to was enormous, but it only contained one shower.  Luckily (because of my tardiness perhaps) there was no line.  The shower had a floor-to-ceiling window looking out over the mountainside and ocean.  It was marvelous.

I tried to shower quickly, but my brain couldn't communicate correctly with my limbs, so I bumbled about, dropping the soap, very cumbersomely cleansing my body.  At last I was done, and I realized I had forgotten to put my towel near the shower.

Luckily a lady working nearby discovered of my need and brought me a towel.  I dried off and tried to find a ride to school.

Finding a ride to school, in this dream world, meant walking around a special room where car-owning men and women hung around until a student approached her/him and asked for a ride, which would then be given.  At this point, there was only one car owner remaining; Aziz Ansari.

I had heard bad things about Aziz.  He often drove recklessly and didn't seem to care much about his passengers, so I was a bit reluctant.  However, after asking him, he turned out to be a very thoughtful guy.  He even helped carry my backpack to the car.  He was really energetic, but not in an annoying way, and he kept me good company.  I at last arrived at the school and told him I would try to ride with him more often.


Then I awoke.

Dream #527 (September 6, 2014) Warehouse, Unintentional Kidnapping

Oh.


I began the dream driving a black car late at night.  I was listening to The National as I pulled up to Kyle Heffelfinger's house.  He came and sat in the passenger seat, then I proceeded to pick up Andrew DeSelm and Tim Johnson (they were living together in my dream).

We had a nice, chatty ride over to an enormous warehouse with a ceiling that must have been over one hundred feet high.  Tim then began to direct us in setting up a stage with lighting, microphones, amps, etc.  We worked efficiently.

After we were about 75% finished, a group of high school hooligans broke into the building and demanded that we give them all of our equipment.  We refused, and were suddenly joined by a bunch of middle-aged dudes in Tae Kwon Do uniforms.  They took care of the problem with ease.

I decided I needed to go for a ride after that, so I left the warehouse and got into my Buick LeSabre (the black car I drove to the warehouse had transformed into it at some point in my dream).  I drove down by the ocean front and looked out at all the different shops/attractions.  Every once in a while I was able to catch a glimpse of the actual beach, which was gorgeous (it was still nighttime by the way).

I was attracted to a mini-golf joint about a mile down the road, and I pulled into a drive-through/parking area.  There I saw Melissa Moyer and Erin Steele (two people I know from Prairie Camp) playing a round of putt-putt.  There were several other Bethel College students there that I recognize but don't actually know.  It looked pretty crowded, and I'm not too fond of putting for an audience, so I decided to leave.  I pulled out and drove down the road a ways.

I head a frightening giggle come from my back seat.  I turned around and realized that 3 young sisters (ages ranging from 5-13) had snuck into my car whilst I was watching the putt-putters.  I began to freak out, because if the parents were to see their girls with a bearded stranger such as myself, they would most likely freak out; I feared I would get arrested or something.  I quickly did a u-turn and drove back to the putt-putt place (what is the difference between putt-putt and mini-golf?).  Somehow in a few minutes the place had closed for the night and everybody was gone.

I drove around, telling the girls to point out their parents if they saw them.  We had no success for what felt like hours.

The girls were getting very tired and needed to find a place to sleep, so I took them down to the beach.  They were cold, so I buried them all in sand until they were comfortable (trust me; I wouldn't do this in real life).  Then I began to pace about, trying to figure out what to do with these sisters.  I walked down the beach a short ways and again ran into Melissa.  She was building a sand castle by herself (I assumed Erin was probably somewhere nearby).  I was about to ask her if she would help watch the kids so that if anyone were to find them, they wouldn't assume the worst.


But I awoke, thanks to Kody Heffelfinger.


I fell asleep again and had a quick dream that I was at a huge party at a fairly small house in the middle of the day.  I didn't know anybody there, and for some reason almost all of the guests were elementary school teachers from various schools in Indiana and Michigan.  I walked about eating my hotdog, trying to find somebody to talk to, but I had no luck for most of the dream.  After a while I did find an elderly gentleman who talked to me briefly, but he then tried to sell me insurance.


Then I awoke.

Dream #526 (August 2, 2014) David Bowie and Edible Action Figures

It happened last night.


I dreamt that I had traveled across the country to work as a videographer at some  big conference.  I brought my luggage (a large black duffle bag and a backpack) to the house at which I was assigned to stay.  I had been given a key, so I let myself in and set up my sleeping bag on one of the beds in the bedroom.

The house was modestly sized and had a consistent turquoise and white color scheme.  The bedroom had two single beds connected to opposite walls.  The kitchen was tiny, and the living room had a floor-to-ceiling window that looked out over some sort of Tron-esque game (I paid little attention to it).

After exploring the house a bit, I walked over to a large chalkboard in the living room and began writing poetry.  I was soon interrupted by the arrival of my roommate, David Bowie.

He instantly began talking to me about music and lyrics, and insisted that we sing his songs together.  I was rather intimidated by him (though I was equally weirded out by him), but he was persistent and persuasive.  We began singing songs off of his album Hunky Dory and I was nervous the entire time, though David seemed to be enjoying himself.  While we sang, he cooked up some eggs and made some cookies for us to enjoy.

Eventually I had to leave the house and head to the convention center.  There I met with Seth Bartlette and he told me about a time when I traded my videographer services for assault weapons, and I was embarrassed by that story because I am not a fan of assault weapons whatsoever.  Then Seth instructed me to create a large, "artistic" display on a white board.  I found a bunch of edible action figures sitting in a nearby basket, so I used those and created a sort of scene out of them.  I used dry erase markers to add to the decor.  As I was finishing, guests began to gather about the board, not to admire my work but to eat the action figures.

I quickly grew frustrated, so I walked out of the convention center into my real life neighbor's backyard.  There was an enormous basketball contraption set up on the basketball court in the yard.  I walked over to it and tried to figure out its function(s) but had no success.  Morgan (my neighbor) walked out and waved at me.  I asked her what the contraption was and she didn't respond, instead choosing to walk back inside.

I stood there in the dark for a long time, thinking about David Bowie, the convention, the edible action figures, and the basketball contraption.  I then realized that I was standing next to a large level, so I pulled it.  Suddenly, the basketball contraption lit up and various parts of it began to spin, whirl, tilt, bounce, and animate.  It was quite a spectacle.


Then I awoke.

Dream #525 (August 23, 2014) Justice League/Teen Camp/Train Gambling

This was an odd mashup of things.


I dreamt that I was a part of the Justice League.  Well, it wasn't quite the traditional DC Comics Justice League because there were a couple Marvel characters (some version of Spider-Man and Wolverine) and some nonexistent superheroes (including my character).  My power was that I had superhuman mind strength (it'll come into play later, but it was mostly useless).

All of the Justice Leaguers were sent to Prairie Camp to take a bunch of teens on a field trip.  When we arrive, we rounded them all up and led them into a crazy train (similar in look to the train in "Snow Piercer").  The train was unbelievable fast and we were able travel great distances over short periods of time.  We went to a zoo (and didn't stay there long), then to a baseball game (and watched a few hits), then got on the train again.

Every time we boarded the train, I joined in a game of poker.  I won every single game and made thousands of dollars.  I felt a bit guilty for taking everyone's money, but I was excited at the same time.  Some of the other Justice Leaguers were getting a bit upset with me.  On the last let of the journey, on our way to some volcanic island, I wind 6700 bucks in one hand.

At that moment, a bunch of boys without shirts on and with black headbands grabbed hold of every person on the train and they took over our minds.  They led us of the train and we began to slave away at various tasks they wanted us to do (hammering nails, smashing rocks [typical], and preparing food).  Finally my mental superiority began to kick in and I was able to fight off the mental control.  Furthermore, I reversed the brainwaves and discovered that if we were to jumped into water, the mind control would be broken.

I started grabbing my fellow Leaguers and some of the teen campers and throwing them off a small cliff into a nearby lake, breaking the mind control.  The problem was that if one of the shirtless boys touched the flesh of a person, they would take over that person's mind again, so we had to flee the island over the only bridge: the railroad tracks.

Finally everyone had made it into the water, so we were all running as fast as we could down the bridge.  Suddenly a fleet of yellow aliens wearing turquoise spacesuits swarmed about us and fired crazy lasers at us.  If any part of the body was hit with one of these lasers, it would disintegrate.  The weird Spider-Man guy lost two arms and a leg, and several other people suffer casualties.

I was soon hit in the chest.


Then I appeared, as the same character, behind my parents' house in Koontz Lake.  It was nighttime, and I was alone in the backyard.  I crawled up onto a pile of junk and looked about.  Finally, Morgan Ferch came over and started talking to me about her engagement.


Then I awoke.

Dream #524 (July 11, 2014) X-Men and Groceries for Matt and Andrew

Borrowing,

I dreamt that I was Wolverine from X-Men.  The weird thing was that I didn't look like Hugh Jackman; rather, I looked like James McAvoy (who plays the younger Charles Xavier in the film).  I was sent to the future where I was supposed to wipe out some water god.  The machine that sent me to the future looked like an Ikea bed with all white sheets and a soft white pillow.  Above me was a bright white light fixture that I think also played a role in sending me through time.

The world of the future was a monosaturated blue.  There were many impoverished people wandering about who were slaves of the water god.  As I walked about these poor people, I occasionally encountered and battled some of the water god's henchmen.  These fellas wore an armor that looked like a mix between that of a knight and a samurai.  They used longswords but I was much too quick and strong for them to take down.

I finally battled my way to the headquarters where a film was screening.  I believe it was "Scream" (or something very similar to that).  Instead of continuing my pursuit, I decided to sit down and watch the movie.  Not long after I got comfortable, a man walked around the small theater and handed the 8 or so people in the audience a wooden toy house with a flat roof.  I played around with it as I kind of watched the movie.  I soon discovered that the toy house's roof could be transformed into replicas of various classical art pieces (none of which I'm able to name).  When I discovered this secret, I shouted for joy and showed everyone else in the theater my discovery.

After this I decided to visit my friends Matt (Erdel) and Andrew (DeSelm) at their apartment.  In my dream, their apartment building was a 100 story fancy hotel.  The center of this cylindrical building was hollow, so the door of every room opened up to a balcony that had a view of all the rooms below and above it.  Andrew and Matt greeted me and asked if I could go grocery shopping for them.  I agreed and left.

I went to a weird gas station market that was eerily and dimly lit.  Surprisingly there were some really good deals there, especially on cereal (which was extremely exciting for me).  I bought several boxes of cereal, a couple tennis balls, and a few other random grocery items Matt and Andrew needed.

When I brought it back to them I told them about the cereal deal and they didn't care.  Then Andrew took one of my tennis balls and threw it out the door down into the core of the hotel (they lived up near the 70th floor, so it was quite a fall for the tennis ball).  I was upset with him, and I left their apartment in order to find the ball.

I took the stairs for some reason.  In one of the stair wells, which was painted all white, I discovered a group of teens eating pizza, smoking weed, and discussing Wes Anderson films.  I asked them if any of them had seen my tennis ball, and one of the girls told me she saw it just a couple floors down.

Then I awoke.

Dream #523 (July 10, 2014) Post Post Apocalyptic

So

I was walking around the post-post-apocolypic streets of Brooklyn.  Society had been more or less wiped out and rebuilt.  Basically there were fewer people and a lot of empty buildings, though the jobs and various lifestyles were roughly the same as they are now.  Also, a dark violet twilight leaking from the atmosphere was the only source of light.

I ran into an old friend of mine from college, Lenny Walsh (maybe he goes by Leonard to some).  He invited me to work on a feature film that was in the pre-production phase, and I accepted.  He lead me to an old building made of blueish-grey bricks.  Inside there was a meeting occurring around a large wooden table.  I sat down and listened to people talk about the film.

Things seemed to be going smoothly until somebody at the table spoke up (it was a woman I've never met in any life).  She said that the child actor (side note: the child actor in this scenario had not yet been born; he was going to be perfuming as the lead character as an infant) would most likely not work out.  According to the last ultrasound, he had a condition known as "bubble on the brain" (I highly doubt this is a 'thing' in real life).  This most likely would cause brain damage and other malfunctions that would be unfitting for a lead actor in this film.

Everyone was saddened by the news, because the mother and father had gone through the pregnancy in a way that was supposed to help assure the child would be a good actor (music, diet, exercises, etc. all played a role in this preparation).

However, the mood quickly changed when a young(ish) couple in the room (in real life they are Jonathan and Elizabeth) spoke up and said they would "create" the replacement actor.  I thought this was all quite ridiculous.

As these things were going on, a friend of mine from high school (Alik Hall) was joking about people with "bubble on the brain."  They were rather cruel jokes (I tried my best not to laugh, though it wasn't easy).

At last, I left the building and continued my solo walk from where it was interrupted.

Eventually I awoke.

Dream #522 (May 19, 2014) Pool Sermon

After a month of little sleep:

I was in a swimming pool and the water was cyan and not as transparent as water should be.  I dove down to the bottom, wearing my blue goggles that were only useful in keeping water out of my eyes since I could barely see anything underwater.  I felt around for the sinky baton (I'm not sure what those things are called) that some random pool person had thrown down for me to retrieve.  At last I found it (after being underwater for well over a minute).

When I came to the surface, I realized I could stay underwater as long as I wanted, for I had learned to absorb oxygen through the pores of my skin.  I immediately dove back down into the water and sat at the bottom of the pool for a long time, studying the shapes and alterations in light around and above me.

Finally, after a long and peaceful time alone, I decided to rejoin the pool party taking place above the surface.  When I came up, I discovered that my dad had gathered everyone together, including my cousins and a few old high school classmates, and was delivering a sermon from the diving board.  It was compelling, but most of the people chose to chat amongst themselves rather than listen.  It was difficult to hear my dad over the generic crowd noise, but I could hear him talk about how mankind was destroying the earth and how God didn't need to bring judgement upon us because we were bringing it upon ourselves.

After I heard this, Alik Hall (friend and former high school classmate) asked me if I still believed what I believed when I was younger (he was referring to belief in God).  I contemplated this question for a moment, then said I think I do.  I said that I feel as if I understand far less about who/what God is than ever before, but I also told him that I sense a rhythm to life that is far more complex than any man can comprehend.

After those words, I awoke.

Dream #521 (April 3, 2014) Student Film and NYC

Here is a dream.


In the first part of the dream, I entered a large bar with my brother Mike.  Bethel College was showing a film there that had been made my several students at Bethel and was funded by the college (it was an interesting venue choice since Bethel doesn't allow their students to go into bars or drink).  There was an open bar, and I grabbed a tea (yes, they served tea) before sitting down in a folding chair facing a projector screen.

The movie started, and I managed to sit through the entire thing.  It was well over an hour long, and it wanted to be hilarious, but it was horribly obvious and boring.  Somehow Bethel had tons of cameos, including Samuel L. Jackson, Adam Sandler, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman and more.  Some of these cameos were just stills animated with voices of Bethel students, but others were actually in it somehow.  I was perplexed and angry simultaneously.  There were some occasional special fx (there were a ton of explosions) that were impressive, but I couldn't stand most of the film.  The plot revolved around a game called 'Ambush' (created by Andrew DeSelm) where people had to target each other, eliminating them until there was only one last survivor (it's a bit more complicated than that, but I don't think I need to explain all the rules here).  Basically, there were many death scenes in this film.

When it was finally over, I was happy to leave.

The second part of the dream flowed seamlessly from the first.  I walked out of the bar and was in New York City.  I decided to go on a walk, and walk I did.  It was afternoon when I started, and I walked clear past sunset into the night.  Finally I decided that I should find a place to stay, so I knocked on a random door.  Gwyneth Paltrow answered the door and told me she didn't feel like hosting a guest, though she suggested I try an apartment across the street.  I walked over and found that the door was open.  I walked inside the dark apartment and found it to be empty.  So I wandered around through the kitchen and living room until I entered the bedroom.  There was a bunk bed in there, and I climbed up to the top bunk and wrapped myself up in the dinosaur sheets and blankets on the bed.  There was a Batman pillow case with the face of the Joker on it that I remembered from my childhood (I used to be terrified of that face), so I flipped the pillow over to the Batman-faced side.

Suddenly a light was turned on in the next room.  I cowered under the covers.  I saw the silhouette of a woman standing in the doorway.


Then I awoke.

Dream #520 (April 1, 2014) The Failed Film Shoot

I was at last directing a feature film.

I began the dream on a plane.  I was flying to somewhere in the Middle East to shoot a feature length film with a few friends of mine.  I was with Jon Andrew Castleberry, Dan Jeter (both friends of mine from college), Jon Andrew's wife Emily, TG (an acquaintance of mine), and a few other strangers.  The film was a drama about a Middle Eastern elementary school, and TG was the lead actress.

When we landed, Jon Andrew and Dan helped me haul all the lighting and camera equipment into a bombed out school house.  Though it was a bit eerie, it had a certain beauty to it that I liked very much.  We began to light the first scene on the shot list, in which TG was suppose to walk around the destroyed building trying to find hints of the past that was buried below the rubble.

In the first couple takes, TG had a pretty rough performance, so I brought her into another room and had her sit on the floor.  I instructed her to make up stories about her former students that her character would have had.  She sat and thought for a while, then I asked her to tell me about those students.  She did quite well making them up, and seemed to become the character in the process.  We went back to the scene and she had two excellent takes in a row.

Then we began shooting more similar shots in other areas of the school.  They all went very well.  We ran into a couple issues with lighting one of the rooms with a lot of windows because the sun we setting and changing the look drastically.  We eventually had to call it a day, and everyone was told to return the next morning.

Everyone except for me left the school.  I wanted to get to know it more, so I slept there.

The next morning I awoke and walked to the parking lot and waited for TG and the crew.  The crew all showed up on time, but TG was thirty minutes late.  When she parked her car, I walked up to her and asked her what had taken her so long, and she told me this crazy story about how her hotel had a few gunmen enter and rob the place.  She luckily was unharmed.

I then met with Jon Andrew and Dan outside the school.

All of a sudden, people began to run about in the streets.  Gunfire was heard in the distance, and it was getting closer.  Dan, Jon Andrew and ducked under a concrete structure and watched as a military parade walked down the road nearby.  People began to poke their heads out of there windows, and most were waving guns about.  It was rather scary.  Then, somebody in a 3rd story window spotted the three of us and began shouting at us.  He then fired a couple shots in our direction.  I wasn't sure if I should hide or show myself to be unarmed and not a threat.  My heart was pounding.

Finally I decided to stand up with my hands in the air.

Then I awoke.

Dream #519 (February 27, 2014) Castle Prison

An epic dream.


It was a snowy evening.  I was driving an old Studebaker with three other young men.  We had just finished visiting the museum of art and were trying to find a place to eat.  The roads were pretty bad, and visibility was low so I pulled off to the side of the road to gather my bearings.

As I was looking at a map another car pulled up and parked in front of mine.  A man in a pinstriped suit came out and, with a smooth confidence, persuaded us to follow him across a long bridge over to a castle on an island.

The bridge was a mile long, and the caste was grand.  The man in the pinstriped suit waved us down at the draw bridge and we all got out of the Studebaker there.  Suddenly he pulled out a tommy gun and he was joined by a couple other thugs with guns.  Together they led us into the castle and into a dungeon.

There we sat all night, not quite able to sleep.  We tried to talk about what was going on, but we were all a bit speechless.

In the morning, some older ladies came and instructed us about our chores for the day.  I was given a mop and bucket and I went to clean some of the endless hallways.  The stone was blue and grey, and emitted an overall dismal tone.  There were hollow echoes bouncing slowly off the walls, and it sounded like people crying out in pain.  I tried to determine where they were coming from, but it was impossible.

The dream went on slowly from this point.  I did more chores, day after day.  Eventually I met a few more of the slaves.  From what I gathered, I determined that there must have been about 100 of us enslaved altogether.  I began to realize that if we were to come together, we could possibly overthrow our captors and escape the castle.

I began to organize each prisoner into different groups with different purposes.  Some kept track of all supplies going in and out of the castle, and others had to intercept those packages and steal a few supplies here and there.  Others studied the layout of the castle, searching for the best ways to escape.  After several weeks of work, everything was coming together and a massive escape was imminent.

The evening before the great escape, I had lunch with a young woman who had started as a slave but worked her way up to becoming an actual employee.  I had fallen for her and revealed my plan of escape to her and welcome her to join in.  She told me that she enjoyed her life in the castle too much to leave.  I tried to tell her that she was still a slave there, no matter what they called it, but she was stubborn.  The meal ended with her boyfriend (who was a terribly cruel slave master) coming in and making her leave me.  He punched me in the gut before dragging her away from me.

I was depressed, but still determined to escape.  The next morning, everything went according to plan.  Several people, including me, snuck into the lift that lowered down into the basement of the castle.  From there we crawled through a tunnel we created to a river that ran underneath the castle.  We climbed out of the river at the entrance of the castle and forced it open, allowing the other hundred of slaves to leave.

We marched toward the bridge with determination.  Suddenly spotlights were shining on us and a loudspeaker informed us that we would be shot if we left.  Everyone froze, except for me.  I kept walking.  The loudspeaker continued to threaten me, but I kept on marching.  I arched the bridge.  I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned around and saw the young women who had refused to leave.  She begged me not to go.  I tried to get her to join me again, but she wouldn't.  Finally, I turned and started walking again, shouting for the rest of the prisoners to follow me.  They did.

Suddenly the bridge began to collapse as I walked onto it.  The prisoners jumped into the great lake and started swimming to the other side.  I was about to jump in, but I was hit suddenly by a bullet in the back.  I fell into the water.


Then I awoke.

Dream #518 (February 12, 2014) - The Tricycle

Ha!


I dreamt that my brother Mike, Kevin and I were living at my grandpa's house in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I had just returned from a shoot in the bitter cold out in Washington state (like in real life), but Fort Wayne was warm and sunny enough for me to wear shorts and a t-shirt.  I hopped out of my car (a blue Honda Civic for some reason; I've never owned that kind of car) and greeted Mike and Kevin.

It was lunch time, so we began preparing a meal together.  In the dream we were all quite talented: Kevin juggled tomatoes before chopping them up, I blew lettuce into the air before slicing it with one knife in each hand, and Mike kicked whole carrots into the air and quickly chopped them up.  Everything we cut up magically landed in a great bowl in the middle of the kitchen and thus a salad was formed.

We then made peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches for each other (I made Mike's, Mike made Kevin's, Kevin made mine) and sat down and ate a good meal.  After lunch I hit myself in the head with the palm of my hand as I realized Mike and I were supposed to pick up a rented camera from Indianapolis (over 2 hours south of Fort Wayne).  I began getting ready to leave.  As Mike and I walked to the car, he told me that he didn't want to drive on such a nice day.  Instead, he wanted to ride a bike (yes, just one bike for the two of us) down to Indy.

I laughed at the idea, but he insisted, so I put my things in a plastic bag and walked over behind the house where he kept his bike.  As it turns out, his bike was actually a tricycle with a large basket in the front.  I crawled into the basket and Mike began to pedal.

We went quite a ways, but then it dawned on both of us that it would take us days to bike as far as we were wanting to go at such a slow pace, so we turned back around.

Finally, we got into my car, which had transformed to a Buick LeSabre (the car I actually own) and we started driving.


Then I awoke.

Dream #517 (January 31, 2014)

This was fun.


I dreamt that I was working at the National Youth Worker's Convention in some weird city in Florida.  Emily De Araujo, Seth Bartlette, Andrew DeSelm, and Aaron Satterfield (who all worked at the convention in real life) were there with me.  Though we had a rather small set, we were shooting interviews in an enormous gymnasium that we had all to ourselves.

After a couple interviews Emily told me to run some errands, so I took a 15-passenger van and went into town.  For some reason I stopped at every bus stop and picked up passengers (I was only supposed to go to Lowe's to grab some screws and such).  Finally, I had a van-full.  It was only then that I realized I knew every passenger.  Most were guys from the Oregon-Davis High School basketball team I played with years ago, and one was a barista I barely know.

The dudes were having a jolly old time, singing, shouting, and dancing around (yes, dancing, even inside a van).  Finally Shaun Johnston made me stop so he could drive.  I gave into his request and soon enough we were barreling down the road into a weird subdivision.  Brandon Johnston (Shaun's brother) declared that we should all remove our shirts, which we did (except for the barista; she had somehow disappeared, though she reappears later).  I took it a step further and removed my pants so that I was down to my turtle boxers.  I shouted with excitement, then jumped from the car.  Shaun slammed on the breaks and everyone else got out and followed me as I sprinted about in random directions.

Finally, we all ended up on the doorstep of a house that looked identical to all the other houses around it.  I knocked on the door as I started clothing myself.  As soon as I was fully dressed, an elderly woman opened the door and handed me a box of donuts and a bag of hardware (the stuff I was supposed to pick up from Lowe's).  I thanked her and headed back to the van.  The basketball dudes thanked me for the ride and continued to run around as I started pulling out.

Then I heard a knock on the passenger door, so I stopped.  There was the barista again.  She asked if she could get a ride back to the convention, and I let her in.  We talked about Washington on our return journey.

Upon reentering the gymnasium, I began to tell Emily De about my experiences.


Then I awoke, or so I thought.


I walked out of the Prairie Camp cabin in which I had been sleeping and found that it was the middle of the night still.  I looked about and saw about 100 elementary school kids walking toward me, lead by my brother Mike.  I ran up to Mike and asked what was going on.  He told me we were getting ready to play capture the flag, which excited me.  Then he showed me a huge bag of Tootsie Rolls he was hiding underneath his coat.  He started counting down from 100.  I turned around and talked to some of the students about their camp experience and how much fun they were having.  Finally Mike reached 0 and he turned to the campers and threw all the candy in the air.  The kids went wild for it, and once they had some, they darted off into the woods.

Then more kids came and Mike threw out another bag of candy, this time they were Sprees.


Then I awoke, for real this time.

Dream #516 (January 20, 2014)

Well, then.

I dreamt that I was working in the vast parking lot of a supermarket.  I was pushing carts, picking up trash, wearing a shiny vest, shoveling snow, and feeding sea gulls.  I went though these tasks for quite some time until a black car with tinted windows rolled up beside me.  The back door on the driver's side opened up so, not knowing any other option, I entered the car.

There Gary Oldman, who in my dream was playing an FBI officer, told me some long story about a drug cartel and people smuggling cocaine inside of school buses.  I asked what it had to do with me and Gary told me that he wanted me to offer my vehicle washing services to the bus drivers, who were supposedly going to park in the supermarket parking lot for a bit of a break.  I was then supposed to find a way to snag some evidence while washing the vehicles so that the FBI could proceed with their raid of the buses.

I accepted to do the bus washing, and I left the black car and began getting the power washer prepared.  Sure enough, the buses rolled in just a few minutes later.  I walked up to the lead bus and talked to a rather large gentleman, who told me he would very much like my assistance because the buses were extra filthy (indeed they were, for there were layers of dirt caked onto all sides of every bus).

I proceeded to blast soapy water on to the first bus.  I was surprised at the great joy I had cleaning the buses.  It was so great that I forgot that I had another more important task to do.  Well, I didn't forget; I just didn't care anymore because cleaning was so much fun.

The head bus driver, after I'd made my way to the third of five buses, talked to me and told me how impressed he was with my washing ability.  He began asking me why I wanted to wash the buses and I told him that the FBI instructed me to do so.  He laughed and patted me on the back as I continued to cleanse the filth.  Then he offered me a very well paying job with the mafia out of gratitude for my honesty, but I really didn't care.  I just wanted to clean the buses.

Then Gary Oldman, dressed as a shopper, snuck his way over to me and asked me what I was doing and that he'd pay me a large sum of money to follow through with the evidence snatching.  I told him that I just wanted to clean!  Frustrated, he left.  The mafia guy again came up to me and commended me on how I'd turned away Gary and offered me even more money to join the mafia, but again I refused.

I just wanted to clean buses.

Then I awoke.

Dream #515 (January 15, 2014)

I seem to be getting more and more sporadic with these dream blogs.  Oh, well.


I was in an old Japanese temple, searching for a sacred scroll.  The place was made up mostly of gray and pale blue linens, ad the windows were arranged to allow natural light to create several diffused gradients of light to shadow areas.  I was wearing my hair in a bun, and I had a light blue robe wrapped about me.  I thought I was the only person there, but I found a priest inside one of the rooms.  When he saw me enter, he pulled out a beautiful, yet simple blade and presented it to me.  I accepted.

Then he opened up a barely saturated red chest and lifted from it the sacred scroll.  I bowed, then knelt before him as he handed the scroll over to me.

I left the temple and found myself in a thick woods bright green trees with red trunks.  I wandered about for quite some time until I finally came upon an American city.  I took a deep breath and descended down a great hill in order to enter it.  The streets were full of filthy people who all paid no attention to me.


I eventually awoke.