(8/13/06) amphorimast; different kinds of tequila drinks; a new job opportunity; i have a place that's all mine

(Entered in paper journal at 9:02 AM at Starbucks on 17th and Broadway in Manhattan.)

Dream 1

A car race. The star of the race, an attractive, clean-faced, long-haired white man, kept falling behind. Everybody (in the stadium?) was surprised. Some were glad. I felt that, and I tried to understand what was wrong.

(At the end of one of the laps?) the star's car slowed to a stop. The crew -- a ton of people -- swarmed around the car to pull the man out. The man was limp. He looked exhausted but also somehow happy. He was sick.

There was a cutaway like on TV. The race went on for a while. I thought, It's been a long time since they've said anything about the man.

An announcer came on as "the view" drifted toward beautiful mountains. The announcer said the star had been diagnosed with AMPHORIMAST -- a disease that corroded the skin like a rock-hard bruise.

I saw the bruise on the man's forearm. I thought, They must care about him -- they diagnosed him so quickly and let all of us know what was happening.

I now saw a steep slope covered in snow -- which is odd, because it was almost a cliff.

The announcer said the disease comes from a strong trauma to the skin -- something like a high fall. This is exactly what had happened to the racing star on a ski trip he'd recently taken.

I saw a person (probably the man) on a ski vehicle, going down the cliff. He fell off the vehicle and tumbled down the cliff.

Dream 2

I was in a park with a family. We were walking back to the car from a "mountain" (more like a hill) that was at the other end of a field. A little girl or boy ran past me and back toward the "mountain." The father called gently to the child.

The girl (?) turned around and plead with the father (happily), "Couldn't we go to the mountain one more time?"

I said, "I'll go with her," even though I'm pretty sure I worried that helping the girl would take a lot of time out of my day.

The father said, "We'll all three go."

It was night. My boss EB was driving up a mountain road. I and a woman were with him. I felt that EB and the woman thought of me as a kid.

I looked out and saw a beautiful city of orange lights. I shouted out how easy it was to see the city, and one building in particular -- possibly where "we worked." But as soon as I said how easy it was to see that one building, everything became somehow swirled together.

We were at the mountaintop. There was a small but very modern town, centered by a futuristic-looking, plastic-looking, grey hotel that looked like a church, a government building, and an airport. I thought, That's a lot of expense to put into a place like this, where people only come a few months out of the year.

We drove on a bridge to the front door, over a (restaurant?) that looked like a parking garage. Only one person, a pretty girl in a grey dress, was there. I thought, This is the perfect example: one person in that whole nice restaurant.

We were walking in a hallway by a poster of liquor. A few guys who looked like frat boys stood and sat by a little niche with a table. They were talking about tequila. I scanned the poster from top to bottom (the poster black with widely spaced pictures of glasses full of colorful drinks) as the guys' conversation continued. Some people said they liked tequila with beer. That might have been the most popular way to have it. Others mixed it into drinks. That was mostly for women.

"But," one guy said, "I'm sick of the tequila drink I have right now. I'm going to try something else. But I certainly won't try tequila straight up. There's no trashier thing than to drink straight up tequila!"

I felt bad. I love tequila straight up. But I also wondered how else you could have tequila, if you don't like it straight up, in a mixed drink, or in beer.

The man "had" the other drink already and was stirring it in a glass cup with a small foot and a small handle. The liquid was clar and red, like flat, red cream soda. I thought, Well, that's just a different kind of straight up tequila!

Dream 3

I was in a room with a few "coworkers." We were taking something out of boxes and putting it into other boxes. I was too eager to do it, and I seemed to mess it up somehow.

Our boss talked about a job offer she had made me and how it had accidentally gotten put into one of the boxes. I thought to search for it. But then I thought, No, nevermind. I already have a job.

But this really would have been work I'd enjoy. The salary would have been ($33K or $38K), which is less than I get in waking life. But I could have figured a way to make things work. Nevertheless I wasn't too disappointed that I'd missed the new job opportunity.

Dream 4

A woman sat before me in a nice, suburban house. She sat by a window overlooking a nice lawn and told me how a male friend of her, perhaps her brother, was having a hard time finding a place to live.

I told her, "Well, tell him to look hard and only take something that's really good. You can find it, though. For instance, I have a place that's all mine. It's not the biggest place in the world. But it's good. I like it."

(At this point I was awakened by what sounded like my bedroom door clicking shut.)

(2/9/10) flying to the intrepid; long, diseased lives

(Entered in paper journal at 6:20 AM, on B-train to work from Brooklyn.)

Dream #1

I walked down through a park like Madison Square Park. It was a sunny day. I saw two gardeners working on a ground-level flower bed at the south side of the park. One was a man; the other, a woman. The man stood while he worked on the flowers. The woman lay on her left side, possibly digging in the soil. The soil was dark and rich.

The man told me, "She's here, KB (an old friend of mine) is here." I now saw that the woman working the flower bed was KB. I may have bent over her to wave hello. She sat up and greeted me. We started talking. I had told her at some point that I was going to go to the Intrepid Museum. We walked away from the flower bed and now faced a wide river.

It may have been like I had now come back from the museum. KB spoke as if I had invited her to come with me, though she had declined. She now said she was sorry she hadn't come, since she'd always wanted to go there. I may have said it had been fun. But I didn't want to talk about it too much -- I felt like I was starting to sound obsessed.

As I spoke, I watched the river, which seemed to be moderately active. I now saw the Intrepid, which was partly like an aircraft carrier and partly like a gigantic pier. I pointed it out excitedly to KB, even though I was again afraid that my being so excited would make me sound obsessed, or like a know-it-all (against which KB would react by saying a lot of things she knew).

But KB said, "Oh! How great!" in almost a motherly tone of approval. I pointed out one jet, which looked a little like a Falcon jet. I pointed out how the plane was propped up on a ramp that seemed to lean against the control tower.

I said, "That jet hadn't been that way before." But then I thought about it and said, "Well, maybe it had." KB seemed interested in my statements.

We were now moving across the river, as if we were floating in the river up to our chests, but moving as quickly as if we were flying over the river. We saw the SR-71 Blackbird, which was enormously long, and which I also didn't quite feel was in the right place.

We now stood on a walkway of wooden planks and metal just a couple of feet above the surface of the water. The sides of the aircraft carrier towered (straight up, not curved over) over us. There was some series of metal walkways over us as well. We were alone.

At some point KB may have put her arms around the underside of the nose of an older plane, clapping her hands against the surface for a moment. We spoke a little more. Then KB told me, "I'm broke." She said this as if she were also a little bit panicked about her future.

I said, "Do you need money? If you need money, we can go get you some right now. I'll lend it to you, no problem." KB looked at me with a stunned expression, her pale eyes blank. KB was unable to say anything. Finally she accepted.

Dream #2

I was in a small living room which was dim, with only natural light flowing into it from behind thick curtains. The room was narrow and slightly long. I sat on a couch on the right side of one end of the room. My mom and my aunt B sat on either a couch or chairs on the left side and other end of the room.

My aunt spoke with my mom and me about how people live to a certain age even with certain diseases or health problems. My aunt said something to the effect that my great grandmother lived with her disease until she was 80 years old -- and that was an old age to live to with that specific disease.