Date of dream: Sunday, January 25, 2004
Level of Lucidity: N/A
Level of Cohesiveness: 
Lucid Intent? No
This dream has been viewed 4369 times.
A confusing and messy dream which I didn't take notes for, but the imagery stuck with me for the most part.
I seemed to be involved in some sort of class trip, even though at first I think my brother Eric might have been with me. We might have been outside (green and overcast?), but then we went inside. There was this gift shop-type area. I knew I had some money with me, and I wanted to buy some things, but I didn't want to go overboard. So I started looking around to see what I might like the most. By now the only thing I can remember from the gift shop proper was this little pewter (?) figurine which I think was supposed to be Hiawatha or Manabozho (figures from northeastern Native American mythology) rowing a canoe. At least, it was an Indian chief-type person. This piqued my interest because while I'm not very interested in Hiawatha, I AM interested in Manabozho, and thanks to Longfellow the two have been hopelessly confused in literature. (In short, that person he refers to in his poem The Song Of Hiawatha is MUCH more closely based on Manabozho, the Ojibwa hero, rather than on the actual Hiawatha, the Iroquois hero.) I rather get the feeling the man in the canoe was supposed to be Hiawatha, but the two are so confused nowadays that it didn't matter much, I knew it could go either way. This sat on a shelf upon which was a stand and some other items for sale. There were windows behind it, to my right (I think the entrance was ahead of me and to my left, meaning I had turned around to see this). I was tempted, but decided not to buy it. It was just a pewter figurine. There must be some much more interesting things around here.
I started walking toward the back of the gift shop; it was light and airy in here, not huge, but not all cluttered like it could have been. It got a little more rundown looking back here as they were selling used goods. I'm not sure if it was in the gift shop proper or in a back area which came out of it, but I started looking at used CDs and books which were now available. There were other students with me (I was in school, I guess) and they too were looking at everything, and every time I wanted to browse it seems like they got there first. :( I felt very shy in the dream, like in real life, and if I can avoid contact with people I will. Meaning, even though I had seen the CDs first and wanted to go look at them, now that there were OTHER people there, I didn't do so. I decided to wait until they were done, which meant they would get all the good choices.
Well, they pretty much did...*sigh* There was this one stand near the same wall as the Hiawatha figurine and it had a case with some CDs and cassettes in it. They were all pretty old, like from the Eighties, and I noticed that a lot of the CDs featured metal "hair bands" from back then. I'd seen this stand first and there might've been something I wanted to get but the other students moved in and I had to wait. As they started to disperse I nudged my way forward and saw that most of the hair band CDs remained, but I wasn't very interested in them as they didn't have bands I liked. It looked as if most of the cassettes hadn't been touched--they were below the CDs--but lately I've switched to CDs so I was not interested in those. The other CDs which had looked mildly interesting were gone. Taken by the other students, obviously. *sigh*
Feeling a bit crestfallen, I continued looking around. Now I seemed to enter another, much bigger room like that at the K of C, where they hold bingo on certain nights. It was big and open with a kind of low ceiling, tannish carpeting, kind of cream-colored walls maybe which looked as if they could be taken out to make the room bigger or smaller (I'm just guessing, not certain about all of this), and bright fluorescent lighting. There was a big bookshelf or two in the very back lefthand corner of the room and I went over there with great interest. Books! My favorite! Maybe I'd find something worth spending my money on after all.
By now, I can't even remember what was on the shelf! >_< But I do know that I was interested. Oh yes, now I remember a little. There were likely books but there was also this little stand to the left of them (if they were there) and it had some CD collections on it. Probably used, but they were in these boxes, like sets of two or three. There were some instrumental/easy listening-type CDs, but most were of the nature sounds and music/therapeutic music variety--you know, New Agey stuff. I believe one three-CD boxed set had a light blue box with pastel designs, like clouds or birds or something, and some of the sets were supposed to be music that could help you relax, get rid of stress, deal with mild physical ailments, etc. In real life I don't find this to be the BEST music in the world, but I was still interested in the dream, some New Agey music can be pretty good, and I had some money to spend so why not take a look.
But then these OTHER students got in my way again! I especially remember one, Shawna M., who was always a goodie-goodie at school and then for the city newspaper. She was a nice person, but a perfectionist, and what's more she wasn't a perfect one; I read one of her articles in the newspaper and it left much to be desired. >_< She's not a bad person but for some reason she irritated me. Well, in my dream I believe she got to the CD stand before I did and selected from these New Age sets and probably took one I wanted to look at. I didn't even get to read what was on the box! I was so upset. I think there were still some CDs--and probably some books on the other shelf--remaining, but before I could look at them a woman who had appeared called us to go sit at some tables that had been put out. Apparently class or whatever had started.
I gave a heavy sigh and trudged back to the tables. I would never get to find something interesting to buy. What a ripoff this trip had been. I sat down at one of the long tables and stared at the floor sadly. The woman was a teacher or instructor of some sort, thin and mildly pretty, though her nose or mouth or something might have been a little too big. She had black hair, I believe, long and curly/wavy; her looks might have been Jewish. All I'm almost positive of is her hair. I knew she was wise and a good person, maybe a little strict, but I still resented that she had called us away from the stands just as I was about to look for something to buy. I didn't want to leave this trip emptyhanded! Why couldn't she have let us look a little bit longer? I knew that if I got the chance to return, the others would of course beat me to it and there would be nothing good left. I felt very frustrated, and angry with her in particular.
I'm not sure what she was talking about, but apparently it was a lesson or something. She then got this smallish cardboard box and started to come around to us with it. She held it out and said something like, "Take only one, so there should be enough for everybody."
I lifted my head to look at the box as she approached. I sat on the far left end of the table, nearer the wall and facing the (back of the) room (I was sitting on the seat backwards--they were those long folding tables with the seats attached to them, like in cafeterias), so I was the very first person she came to. And I noticed that this little box was filled with...orbs of all sizes and colors. I stared at them in surprise. Although they were all small, they ranged from slightly bigger than a golf ball to maybe marble sized. All of those on top appeared to be golden or gold tinged with other colors, but I knew there were all sorts of them. They were made of meshed wire/metal and maybe some other materials like glass; the ones on top were the former. There was a whole box of them!
I stared at them briefly before stretching out my hand. I had the urge to dig around, sort through the box until I had found the PERFECT globe, but I knew that would irritate all the other students. So I just managed to grab the one on top. It was about as big as a golf ball or a tangerine. I pulled my hand back and inspected it as the person to my right--maybe Shawna?--selected another. Hers was smaller than mine, but it was of a similar make--like wire mesh, gold colored, hollow (light entered through it, but it was a dense mesh). It might have been the size of a large marble. It had some other color or pattern on it, like metallic teal or something--I think it had the shapes of the continents of Earth on it--and for a moment I was again incredibly jealous. She had gotten a better ball than I had. Of course! Today, EVERYBODY was getting all the good things, while I was left with the junk and the leftovers.
But...I hadn't even given my own ball a good looking over yet, had I? I turned to look at my own little globe. It, too, was that gold wire mesh...so very plain...but as I turned it around in my hand I looked it over more closely. Was that a pattern I saw there...? I frowned and held it up to my face to get a better look. At first I noticed just a bit of shimmering of metallic teal--my favorite color! Wasn't that nice? My orb had some coloration on it too, and it was my favorite color. It couldn't be that bad! Then I noticed that there were denser areas on it where the gold mesh seemed either thicker or solid, I believe, and these patterns formed...the shapes of the continents. They were hard to make out at first, and didn't really resemble the real continents, but I knew that's what they were. This thing was a tiny globe of Earth! Surprised and delighted, I turned the ball around to see more. Yes...there was North America and the United States...right there! I started seeking Michigan, my home state. At first I could not see it--it was like they had just made the whole continent solid like there was no Michigan, as the globe was too small to permit tiny details...but I looked even MORE closely...and there it was! It was somewhat misshapen, more like a projection than a mitt, but I could make out the Great Lakes, Michigan and Huron, surrounding it! My home state, on my own little globe! The water glittered around it in teal. (I don't remember seeing Superior, Ontario, or Erie, or the Upper Peninsula for that matter--just the Lower Peninsula, where I live.) I gave a huge grin. This little orb wasn't so bad after all! Sure, it probably wasn't the best in the box, but at the moment it was the best for me. We were being given these by the instructor as part of our course, so I didn't pay for it, but I didn't care. This was MUCH better than a pewter figure or an old CD!
As we sat here I think I realized I could smush the orb somewhat, since it was mesh and hollow. (In real life I have this little gold metal wire thing...all I can compare it to is a cat's cradle...you stretch it out and it can form like a flower or an orb, depending on how you bend its sides, or you can flatten it into a donut shape. I think this reminded me of that.) I did this, flattening the globe, but then puffed it back out. I noticed that I had damaged it just slightly. :/ It had like a hole at both poles now (they hadn't been there before, to my knowledge, but I hadn't created them--it's like they were supposed to be there), which allowed the orb to be flattened, but I had maybe bent a tiny bit of the mesh, and I distinctly remember a tiny prick or puckering in the side which wouldn't entirely smooth out, almost like a little hole poked in something. I decided not to do that again, just to avoid damaging my precious globe further. Despite my earlier reservations, I was very happy to have this.
Well, I would like to say the dream ended happily, but there was more to it and it grew unpleasant. Apparently I took the globe home with me and set it somewhere, temporarily forgetting about it. When I later came back Cosmas, the cat, had gotten hold of it and was chewing it and batting it around the house like it was one of his toys. I grabbed it from him in dismay and looked it over. The globe itself was okay, but...all the golden shimmer of the mesh, and the metallic teal sparkle, had practically been rubbed off so it was now a dull, tarnished, uniform brassy color. And the little shapes of the continents, which I had marveled over before, were gone as well. To summarize, it was just a drab, boring, wire-mesh globe.
I believe I started crying, I was so upset. I sat there and held this dull little orb in my hands and rubbed it and turned it over and over, hoping to restore some of its former beauty, but it had all been worn off. I was angry with Cosmas and wanted to punish him, but I didn't. I was the one who'd neglected the thing and so this was my fault. But I wasn't so much angry as grieved. The little globe had been so beautiful before, I'd felt like it was special, like it had been meant for me alone--I had found it boring and disappointing at first, but then it had become beautiful, and I just KNEW I had been meant to pick that particular ball. Now it was just this dull thing that anyone could have picked out and I was so upset that it had come to this. :(
Add Comment |
Add Interpretation
Date of dream: Thursday, January 22, 2004
Level of Lucidity: N/A
Level of Cohesiveness:
Lucid Intent? No
This dream has been viewed 4331 times.
This dream was rather convoluted. I think it was all the same one so that's how I'll share it...
My memory picked up with myself and my parents and the cat, Cosmas, in the living room at night. We seemed to be doing various things. I believe I was trying to get ready to record something on the VCR. At some point Dad threw some sort of Smurf toy at the cat, and it scared him so I think he jumped up on the couch. There were then two Smurf toys (like stuffed toys, plush), maybe one smaller than the other; I had an urge to toss the other one at the cat, but refrained.
I noticed that on one of my tapes I had apparently recorded over the end of one of the previous episodes of some cartoon (probably an anime); can't remember clearly. That can happen on accident sometimes, though in real life it's usually the beginning of the NEXT episode. Anyway, I wasn't hugely upset, but I was looking around for the right tape because I was going to record the episode again (it was about to air), though it seemed I never found what I needed and the show was already starting. In real life this would get me VERY upset. In the dream I seemed to be more flustered than anything; I guess I didn't like the cartoon much. I can't remember this very well but it was all quite hectic, with me checking the tapes and checking the TV and shuffling them around and everything. At some point my uncle Rocky was suddenly sitting in Dad's spot on the couch, watching something on TV. I had to view just a second or so of a tape to make sure it was at the right spot so I put it in, looked at him, and said, "I'll just use this for only a second." I didn't want to interrupt him, but I was kind of miffed that he'd settled down to watch when I was obviously busy with the TV. What was he even doing there, anyway? I checked the tape, then put it back on the channel he'd been watching. Then I briefly went to my bedroom for some reason. (The order of this might be off, but this is how I wrote it down.)
In my room, I had my radio/CD/cassette player (boombox) and was listening to the radio. Only I think it was supposed to be a new boombox. I held it in front of me on my bed and fiddled with the tuning dial because for some reason the only station I could seem to pick up in the higher digits was 106.7 KPK, the Peak (a local station I usually listen to). Maybe they were playing a song I didn't like, or maybe I just wanted to find the other station I listen to, 107.7, the Bay (don't know their call letters as they never say them). But all I could get, no matter how far I turned the dial to the right, was KPK! "What the heck...?" I murmured in confusion. Rather than having a bad radio, I distinctly felt that somehow KPK had "hogged" all the frequencies or whatever on that end of the dial, and so they were the only station I could receive. How annoying!
Anyway, I believe I went back out into the living room. Now I went back and worried about how tall my towers of videocassette tapes were getting (in real life I stack them haphazardly in tower formations, and they are VERY tall and worrisome :/ ). I decided to at least shorten the towers so they would be less likely to fall over, and started moving some stacks onto the window shelf and off of a little wooden basket-type thing that they're currently sitting on (in real life). I noticed there was some space in the window that wasn't there in real life, as well as a cleared spot on the basket top. There was also a metal rack hanging up to the right of the window and it held what were supposed to be videocassettes, but in fact looked more like CDs in their cases. The slots in the rack (it was just metal bars, no solid back or sides) were in maybe two or more rows--on the front at first, but then one on the side facing me, I believe; and they were tilted, either up or down--it seemed to be down, which means the tapes/CDs would slide right out. And sliding they were--I stood here trying to take them out and catch them before they could fall, at the same time. There was a whole stack of them slipping out! I think I just barely averted disaster, but it was bothersome. I noticed also that the tape towers weren't as tall as I'd thought they were, but I had to find a place to settle the sliding tapes/CDs. Frustrating! All of this while I was still trying to figure out what I was supposed to be recording!
I think I finally settled the tapes/CDs down somewhere, and turned toward the VCR, still holding a videotape in my right hand. I think I saw a flash and/or heard a click or two, and turned to see Ma standing near the hallway, holding the digital camera and grinning. She'd just snapped a couple of pictures of me!!
I HATE having my picture taken! I turned to her and demanded to know what she was doing. I was quite upset, but she was cheery throughout the whole incident, and that upset me even more! Like she couldn't take me seriously! I asked her to delete the pictures but she refused. I just KNEW she was going to show them to family, or upload them into her family tree program--and they were full-body shots from the side, so my fat butt and EVERYTHING would show up! :(
"Why do you even WANT those?" I demanded.
"I want to see what you'll look like in such-and-such and such-and-such a resolution," she said, listing two sets of numbers (like 800x600 and 1024x768 pixels, only I think both numbers were higher than 800x600, and I don't remember specifically what they were). Yes, for some weird reason she was just testing the camera to see how a picture of me would come out in two different resolutions. How stupid! And as soon as she said this, she lifted the camera to her eye again. I held up the videotape to my behind so she wouldn't get a good shot of my butt, and I expected her to be annoyed and to delete the picture or else not take it, but she smiled when she brought the camera down and I knew she had taken yet ANOTHER picture--one with me holding a videotape up to block my butt!! I was so pissed off! >_<
"STOP TAKING MY PICTURE!" I yelled. "You'd BETTER erase those! Or I will!"
My threats went over her head. She took the camera with her and I got the feeling she and Dad were now going somewhere, leaving me behind. Maybe they were heading out for dinner or something. Part of me was still so mad at Ma that I did not want to go with her, but part of me was also upset at being left alone. I kind of wanted to eat out, too. :(
The dream shifted somewhat here as I went to the window to watch Ma and Dad leave. At first I think they were heading south--oddly enough, as town is to the north--but then everything changed drastically. The ENTIRE layout of things, for example, was different--now I was in some kind of really big room with this HUGE, curving glass window instead of our picture window. I can't remember the right side of it as it seemed to lead outside into a street which passed by the front of the house, but I know that on the left side it curved inward to form a bit of a leftside window. I don't know if they can make windows like that in real life but that's how it was in my dream. I stood by this corner to watch Ma and Dad leave, but then they were caught up in...getting into a horse buggy. This huge window overlooked an old street running by, and on the other side were old houses and buildings, like from Victorian times or something. There were people walking back and forth, many of them children, dressed up--I knew suddenly that it was Halloween (it was dark out, but the street was lit probably with lamps), but most of them wore rather cheap costumes, for example one boy dressed like a tramp or something, in brown clothing. There were horse carriages going by; though not crowded, the street was just bustling with activity. I remember seeing one carriage waiting at a corner to turn right (or maybe it was ON the right, my right--not sure--perhaps it was even Ma's and Dad's carriage?), almost like a car at a stop sign. I realized this WAS olden times--for some reason I keep thinking of the Charles Dickens era, but I don't know where exactly this was taking place, England or here. Everything was just different. I was standing right in this huge window, crying and upset, and for a moment I worried that I would be seen and maybe mocked or something, but then I got too caught up in watching what was going on.
Ma and Dad were further to my right at the side of the street (near or far?--can't remember); there seemed to be a set of wide steps leading down from a big doorway which was either in or beside this window, to my right. They were busy getting into a horse-drawn buggy or carriage. I glanced up and hanging either above the street, the steps, or over the door--most likely above the steps as it was easily visible--was this big sign made from two pieces of what appeared to be heavy-pile carpeting. (It was two tall poles on both sides of the steps or wherever, with the carpeting suspended between them somehow.) Though the signs on the carpeting were facing away from me, toward the street, it's still like I could read or else just knew what they said. Closer to me, on my left facing the back of the sign (the sign's right), was a smaller piece of carpeting, maybe square, and I think it was cream colored with brick-red embroidery. This signified Ma's name and/or title. Further away from me, on the right side (the sign's left), was a bigger, more rectangular piece of carpeting, this one in brick red, maybe with cream-colored embroidery, though I can't be sure of the latter (I'm just assuming the two were opposites in terms of color). I knew this one signified Dad's name and/or title...and I now remembered that Ma was the QUEEN and Dad was the KING in this place, and I was of course the PRINCESS. These two signs up here were telling that they lived in this house/mansion/palace/whatever. I realized that this was MA'S house/mansion, and knew that Dad had one of his own, which might have been bigger (as, since he was the king, his sign was somewhat bigger as well). I briefly wondered why I/we were staying at Ma's place and if I'd be happier staying at Dad's place, almost like it was a divorce settlement or something...odd. As I looked at the backs of these signs (the plush, piled side was facing away from me), I noticed a small whitish stain on the back of Dad's, maybe from bleach or something. Even now I find it very weird how I managed to make out such a minute detail in a dream.
Anyway...I now knew that Ma and Dad were the queen and king, and they were busy getting into this waiting carriage (which appeared to have no roof/bonnet). I still stood in the window, though my view of the steps and their carriage was such that there was no window or wall or door or anything in my way; it was like I could see through things. *shrug* I had worried that the commoners in the street would see me and mock me, either for crying or for being the princess, but now I grew more interested in everything that was going on outside. So, Ma and Dad were leaving me behind, were they? Then I would go out and find some entertainment of my own, too.
(I also started to wonder if I was wearing really ornate clothing as I stood in the window, like a fancy shiny dress, though I'm not sure if I was.)
I went outside, into the street. If I had been dressed fancily before, I must not have been now, for hardly anyone paid me any mind--or maybe they assumed I was dressed for trick-or-treating? I made my way to one of the carriages which was filling up with people. It was open (no roof/bonnet) and smallish, but people were just piling into it. My persona changed so that now I was more adventurous and confident; at points I even felt like Chihiro in Spirited Away, only without the anxiety. I started clambering into this carriage only to feel something pull violently on my hair, and I was dragged back out to the ground.
An old man appeared, leaning over the carriage. "You'll get in when I pull you in!" he snapped.
I stood outside the carriage, apologizing profusely as others, men and children (I don't precisely remember women), continued climbing in. There was just a tiny space on the floorboards (?) left (it looked like creamy white wood, kind of dirty/soiled), not enough for me to sit safely, but I got on anyway. I think the carriage started to move away from the house/palace (it would have been going left ("south") if I had still been looking out the window), and now it seemed to be daytime and winter, kind of sunny with some snow in the road; but I was seated such that the old man driving the carriage couldn't properly see where we were going. (I guess we were piled in there oddly and he wasn't in the front seat. Not sure.) He started complaining about this and said, "I can't pull the crank!" or something like that--apparently I was blocking him from that, too.
There was a big lever thing on the right side of the carriage, close to the back, and I knew that in order to move, this crank had to be pushed over and over again, almost like pushing the handle on one of those carts that travel down railroad tracks. "I'll do it!" I volunteered cheerily, leaning down and pushing on the lever, once, and again, and again (one had to do it continuously to keep in motion--I have no clue what happened to the horses). Pushing it was like using a paper cutter. "I'm good at cranking!" I exclaimed. I knew that even though I was a princess, I occasionally engaged in more tomboyish pursuits, and pushing cranks was one of them. O_o In other words, pushing a carriage crank was not something royalty was expected to do--but then again, these guys didn't know I was royalty.
I seemed to be sitting high up, so maybe that was why I blocked the old driver's view. He seemed reluctant to let me propel the carriage at first, but he couldn't do it, and I seemed to be doing okay, so he said, "Well, all right, just be careful!" We were going REALLY fast by now up this street, just speeding past everything--it was crowded and it was almost like riding a snowmobile, as it would have been very easy to fall off and we had to keep swerving to avoid things, but I was doing pretty well. I can't remember what any of the others in the carriage with us were doing or saying. The old man quailed a little bit at how fast I was going despite my supposed inexperience, but I think he eventually said, "Go faster, just make sure to be careful!" I think he wanted to reach our destination sooner, and I was a faster cranker than he was.
We somehow ended up on a long dock going out over a huge body of water, no land in sight (except for where we'd come from) that I can remember. The sky was maybe pale blue or slightly overcast and this water was reflecting light blue and just stretched on and on, little wavelets lining its surface. I guess we stopped the carriage and everybody, including me, got off on this dock. I milled around while everybody else went their separate ways, and wondered what I would do now. My feeling of being like Chihiro grew here, and I finally sat down on the right edge of the dock (with land to my right) and started digging in my pockets and such to see what important things I had brought with me. I know I had several small objects, maybe figurines and tiny pet animals, like a toad/frog and/or a mouse. I knew I would have to use these at some point in the plot, like Chihiro using the little ball given to her by the river spirit in Spirited Away; the little animal(s) reminded me of the mouse/baby and the bird/fly which accompanied her near the end of the movie. For a moment I was going to take out a cat--maybe Cosmas--and set it on the dock alongside me, so I wouldn't be alone, but then I thought, a cat is a pretty big thing to just be carrying around; did I bring one with me after all? It's almost like I realized this was a story and decided to "change" it, by deciding that no, I would not have a cat with me. I was setting these little objects on the dock to consider what to do with them, and thinking about not having a cat, when I woke up.
Add Comment |
Add Interpretation
Date of dream: Friday, January 16, 2004
Level of Lucidity: N/A
Level of Cohesiveness:
Lucid Intent? No
This dream has been viewed 4428 times.
How weird, a World Trade Center dream! O_o Well, here it is.
There might have been more before this but my memory picked up with me walking along a strange elevated sidewalk. It wasn't so much a sidewalk as a series of interconnected balconies above a sidewalk, like on the second story of a set of buildings fronting a city street. They were narrow and had iron grates on the front of them (to my right--the street and grates were to my right, the buildings to my left), and seemed to be paved with some sort of brick-red stone, maybe cobblestone. Each one was semicircular, I think--a whole series of them, half circle after half circle after half circle. I looked down at these as I walked across them--it was bright and sunny out, dry, maybe spring or autumn--and noticed empty circular spaces in the middle of each, where a bit of earth showed through, as if something had been removed from each balcony. I knew that potted plants were supposed to sit on every balcony--some sort of flowers, like chrysanthemums or something--but they were all missing. I thought it would look nicer if some sort of plant were put on each one to replace these, or if the potted plants would be returned. Then I thought, "It would be nice if they had an elevated sidewalk along the second story, so people could walk along and get a nice view of everything without having to watch out for traffic!" Which was a very weird thing to think, considering that these balconies formed exactly what I was thinking about! o_O
(Also please note an odd similarity between this second-story "sidewalk" and the elevated path in my earlier dream "Pirates Of Mackinac Island," which the redheaded girl walked along. The two were much similar, though I feel that what I was walking on here was meant to be balconies and not a path, whereas the one in that dream WAS a path.)
I looked down at the street, then I was down on it somehow. No memory of how I got down there. It was a paved street leading way up a hill, and ahead something went over it to make it like a tunnel--an overpass, an enclosed footbridge, two buildings meeting over the road, I don't know. All I know is it was big and it was dark. There was light on the other side where the street continued uncovered, but the buildings beyond rose high on both sides so it was still enclosed in that manner, just open to the sky. I set foot on the lefthand sidewalk and then paused. There were two sidewalks I could take, the left (the one I was on) and the right. The left one was regular concrete, whereas the right sidewalk, across the street, was reddish cobblestone, very pretty. I love cobblestone as it's so quaint. I wondered which sidewalk I should take; I liked the cobblestone one better, but I was already standing on the concrete one; I'd have to cross if I wanted to get to the one I wanted. I seem to remember that as I stood here debating with myself a blond businesswoman type walked by; not sure why I noticed that.
I believe I finally decided to cross the street and take the cobblestone path. I did so. I started walking up it, but instead of continuing along the street it led up into whatever this darkish thing overlooking the street was. Like there was a stairway inside it. I went up this and it got darker around me, then it turned abruptly to the right and narrowed into this little tunnel face. It was so small! Could I even fit through there?? For some reason I was quite intent on continuing, so despite my anxiety I put my hands in the little aperture and climbed up and crawled inside. I remember I went for a little bit but then stopped so there was still light visible from the street outside, and I looked at a digital watch or clock I had with me. It was like I had been in this tunnel before, or at least had heard of it; I think it took like two hours or something to traverse it. (It reminded me of the walks I used to take down the road in real life--I would give myself two hours, tops, to walk there and back home again, meaning that after an hour out I would have to head back home--two hours is about as long as I can go without having to use the bathroom.) I can't remember what time it was though I seem to think of the number ten. Maybe ten after something? I knew I had a schedule to keep and I had to be somewhere or do something soon; so did I even have time to go climbing up this tunnel? I hesitated a bit, but then I think I convinced myself to go. Maybe I wouldn't go all the way if I didn't feel I could make it, or maybe I would make it in time if I hurried. I'm not sure which, but I went on my way.
By now I can't recall all the twists and turns there were, but the tunnel(s) varied so much and went every which way. At one point I think I came to a part that was too small and I worried that I could not make it, but I widened it with my hands somehow and kept going. In lots of places it was dark. I think in a few the tunnel might have been spacious, but most of the time it was so cramped that in real life I would NEVER have been able to make it through. I even remember thinking when I looked at one opening that my hands and head could certainly fit, but not my shoulders, and CERTAINLY not my hips! But I somehow made it, despite all that.
At one point the tunnel consisted of a cloth or canvas tube--it's like I could see it from the outside, and it was a dirty grayish-tannish color and seemed to be suspended between two openings VERY high up in the walls of a seemingly bottomless, dingy, yellowish-white room with pale white lighting, maybe coming in hidden windows. Very filthy looking and desolate. No idea how I envisioned this as I was inside the tunnel, not outside it. But it's like I could see it from slightly above and to the tunnel's left (my right). I kept crawling through. I got dust and cobwebs on me at points and that disgusted me, though it never seemed to be nearly as dirty as I'd thought it would be. At some points it was quite dark (as I said), though it's still like I could see myself, at least.
I can't remember how or when, but at some point I crawled out into a big apartment flat. I went walking from one room into another and stopped and looked around. It was well lit, and seemed to have at least one or two windows opposite me (overlooking what, I can't tell); it was more than one room, but the other room(s) were behind me and I never really saw them. I think it had pukey greenish carpeting (maybe like olive colored, yucky), maybe bright blue walls, or maybe the carpeting was brownish and the walls were pukey green? Either way, it was all mismatched and very ugly. It was also quite spacious, with lots of empty floor room; I seem to remember perhaps a picture or two hanging on the walls (maybe a portrait of a hillbilly-looking man, the owner of the place?) and a bit of furniture, like an old couch and a TV set and maybe a little lamp table or something, but it had a lot more floor room than you'd expect. It wasn't incredibly dingy, but being in here gave me a feeling of dirtiness and disuse, and I immediately felt anxious, like I should not be here. I think I had thoughts of maybe getting something to eat from the fridge or of watching a TV show while I was here, but decided against it, as if I feared being trapped here for good.
I looked at myself now and noticed I was wearing a shirt (probably my regular blouse) and light blue shorts which looked like the ones I wear in real life. But in the dream they were not mine--I knew I had picked them up in this apartment and had put them on. I started taking them off but then hesitated. I knew that when I came out of the tunnel in public again people would be there to see me--and I would be half naked!! So even though the shorts were not mine (although they looked just like them), I decided I'd keep them, even though wearing them made me feel uncomfortable, since they had come from this eerie place.
I can't quite put my finger on what about the place spooked me so, but I think it was a combination of the ugly scenery, the dirty feeling it gave me, and the loneliness of the place. It was obvious it was in use, yet at the same time it was just absolutely deserted. I gradually came to believe that this apartment flat had been left here for the people who got lost in the tunnel along the way; it was a sort of "safe house" for them to stay in and keep themselves preoccupied, until they should find their way out again. That was how long this tunnel trip could take (even though before it had been only like two hours or so). Just something about how this place was mysteriously kept stocked and ready for lonely people who would not know when or for how long they'd end up here gave me a creepy feeling. Maybe I didn't want to be one of those lost people? It was just a feeling of like being the last person on Earth. I shivered and decided to leave before I had stayed too long.
Somehow I got into a tunnel again and kept going, and eventually found a way out. The dream gets foggy and fragments into several parts here which I'll just have to describe in any random order.
At one point I was watching a "movie" of the history of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, though it wasn't like a real movie; it was like I looked at a hologram on something and it was animated, and kept repeating itself. Maybe Gary Sinise (the actor) was in it? It was like it was showing the history of the WTC from its construction, I believe, to its collapse in 2001, and it seemed to be presented in time-lapse photography. Like the buildings shot way up from nothing, then burst into flames, then crumbled, all very quickly, right as you watched. I think the date/year was running across the bottom of the "screen" as this happened. Maybe all of this was taking place on the face of a special tribute coin or something, and maybe I had looked at this out on the street near the tunnel face; not sure. I just know I didn't pay much attention to it the first time, then I watched it more carefully and had it repeat itself so I could see it better. Up the Towers went, then fire, then down. And I knew that the North Tower had not entirely collapsed--I think only part of its top was gone--and that was in fact what I had been tunneling up through! This tunnel was like some sort of tourist thing up through the remaining part of the North Tower. For some reason in my dream I got the feeling that this tower remained up to the 110th floor, even though I'm pretty sure that was the ENTIRE height of the building in real life, whereas in the dream, at least several stories had been lost. *shrug* Can't explain it. I should further add that it wasn't like the remains of the North Tower were in shambles or were abandoned or anything, though it's not like it was being used for businesses either. Maybe it had just been preserved as a tourist attraction or something?
The dream shifted again and now I was in an art class somewhere in some crowded little room; it was almost like a supply room, though that might have just been the cramped structure of it. I think of warm lighting and maybe yellowish walls. I believe the teacher was Ms. Kolaski, my real-life high school art teacher. There was a guy my age with me (maybe I was younger, as we were students). I can't remember what he looked like; he wasn't an incredible hunk, but he wasn't ugly, either. Maybe a tiny bit nerdy (glasses?), but not in a gawky way. He seemed quite confident of himself, so whatever his looks might have been they weren't a problem. I found that I liked his attitude, even if he was a little overbearing toward me at first.
For some reason he seemed to be paired with me, whether on purpose or just because we were standing in the same area, I don't know. We seemed to be standing waiting for the teacher's attention or something and he was beside me. He started talking with me and I would nod and such, though he did the great majority of the talking. I felt awkward as I do in real life when somebody I don't know tries to talk to me, but I must have been in a good mood for I wasn't OVERLY anxious or irritated, just puzzled about why he would want to talk to me. I was also amused because in real life the high school art class usually put me in a good mood, and he seemed to be a funny guy. Maybe he was just talking to me to get a positive reaction, like laughter. *shrug* Who knows.
At some point we seemed to be working on projects involving stamping and/or painting things on certain objects, and he leaned over and took a shirt or sweater of mine--it seemed to be a pink sweatshirt or something--and stamped/wrote my name on it in paint. I watched him do it and was CERTAIN he'd misspell my name--just about everybody spells it "Rachael" or some such, even people in my own family, which I find VERY irritating!--but no, he wrote it out RACHEL, and that immediately impressed me. Just that one act of him somehow knowing the correct spelling of my name, without even having to ask, made me like him more. I'm not sure if I even WANTED my name on my shirt--I think I had been a little offended at first that he'd done that without asking my permission-- O_o --but at least he'd spelled it right! I can't remember what I wrote or stamped on what.
Now Ms. Kolaski (or whoever she was) announced that students would get extra credit for having participated in certain extracurricular activities. It didn't matter, really, what these were, just as long as they were things we didn't normally do. A few students hurried forward--maybe Karrie H. (elementary school student) was among them?--and exclaimed that they had done something, something rather trivial in my opinion, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with art or school, but Ms. Kolaski gave them extra credit anyway. It was that easy. I kind of stood off to the side watching this with an amused air when the guy with me stepped forward and exclaimed, "Rachel and I took that tunnel together through the World Trade Center, and we became friends!"
I gawked at him in disbelief. Not because he hadn't taken the tunnel with me (for I felt that he probably HAD gone through--maybe he'd been with me when I was first consulting my clock, and maybe he'd gone through at his own pace), but because number one, I did not feel that activity warranted extra credit, no matter how generous Ms. Kolaski was being--I just felt that NOTHING I did would be worth it!--and number two, what was this stuff about us being friends?? HE had been doing all the talking--I'd just been standing there nodding the whole time! How on Earth were we now FRIENDS all of a sudden--??
I believe Ms. Kolaski agreed to grant us extra credit. I suddenly let out a derisive-sounding laugh, almost like a snort. The guy gave me a questioning look, as if to ask, "What, you find it funny that I think we're friends?" I made certain to say, "I'm not laughing at you," and it was true, I wasn't. I think I just found the whole situation funny--I really did not feel I deserved extra credit--and I was probably laughing more at myself for being so pathetic while he was taking charge and doing all these nice things for me. Truth to tell, I was FLATTERED that he considered me his friend, with how uncommunicative I'd been--most people take my shyness, in real life, as a sign of snobbery, thus I often miss out on potential friendships right off the bat. This guy had put up with all of that and had even gained me extra credit AND had called me his friend! How nice was that? I'm pretty sure he believed me when I told him I hadn't been laughing at him--he hadn't really been offended, just curious--though I apologized more to relieve my own guilt than to make him feel better. I really hadn't meant to sound so rude to him when he'd been so thoughtful.
I didn't even know this guy's name, but I felt a connection to him already. Weird!
There was one final dream shift, and now I was with Ma and maybe Dad, and I was telling them about the tunnel. I think it was still as if the tunnel thing had happened in real life and I described how I'd had to widen one part, and crawl through, thinking I wouldn't fit. Ma said sarcastically, "There's no WAY I'd go through it!" And she seemed to find it amusing that I myself had done so, like I should have found some better way to get where I was going.
I started to brush off what she said, then half-jokingly retorted, "If you'd wanted to eventually get out of that tunnel, you certainly WOULD have gone through it!" For she had been insinuating that she wouldn't have taken a particular turn in the tunnel, I believe, to which I replied that if she wanted to ever get out of it, she would have HAD to take that turn, or else go backwards all the way to the beginning. I guess I was saying that the main reason I'd gone all the way through the tunnel was because that was the only way I could come out the other side! ^_^
Immediately upon awakening, what struck me most about this dream was the oddity of tunneling UPWARDS through the World Trade Center. In the dream, even though I started at street level and must have ended up on the top remaining floor, I still seemed to be on the ground--as if I had gone in a loop or a U-turn or something--and I had seemed to be tunneling from a DEPTH to the SURFACE, not from the SURFACE to a HEIGHT. I really got the feeling of being below something vast and of going up, even though there was light coming in at points, and the apartment flat even had windows. I thought, why would I have been tunneling UP into the North Tower, instead of DOWN? Even Dad questioned this dream logic when I described it to him--"You were going UP a tunnel--?" Quite, quite weird.
Add Comment |
Add Interpretation
