Oneironautic Escapades

12/4/20

Joel is showing off Chiang Mai locations. There are fragments of food and countryside businesses as we hop around a map of Thailand. It is borderline cartoonish at times. Too many fragments.

I was dreaming then suddenly walking into a bar/poolhall/game center which happened to be close to my house. I was excited and full of energy to be there. There are fun lights and awesome smells, the place is packed with people. I was moving quickly through the crowd just exploring the entire place. It felt like a new well financed business which had everything entertainment you could imagine. People my age were just hanging out drinking, playing games and the mood was elevated. I begin singing at the top of my lungs like chester with a couple other guys. It sounds good and we rock out while people walk around us just causally listening and bobbing their heads.
At a certain point I find Nathan in there so we hang out some, I want a beer so we go to the bar in the center of the building. I don't remember arriving here so I ask the guy bartending like 3 times if this is really happening because I didn't think any of it was real. He laughs and assures me it's real, telling me I seem to be having a really good time. I felt like it was a dream the majority of the time.

I walk with Nathan down the street to go smoke or something, he is staying at a house which is close by.
It was like 12:50 when we left to go to the other house. When we finish we walk back and it is like 1:15 when we get there. All the lights are off and no one is there but the owners, they are still happy to have us in. They let us in and I am confused. It was so packed and now it is completely empty.
They inform us they do close at 1 due to it being a new business and having so many people in one place at once. It was only the second day they had been open and it was incredibly successful.
We all hang out with the owners for a while.
It is a sweet business. Diner food, arcade games, karaoke, pool hall, and a fancy bar in the center to boot. I ran multiple laps while they were open. Kept finding myself in the upstairs 'employees only' area. The woman owner saw me up there once and didn't seem to mind, just casually pointing out which way I should go.
Hang out with the owners talking about the business for a while, they are really cool and laid back.
While talking I gather there are now two couples or at least another guy and girl with the couple who own the place. The girl owner is sleeping on a cot face down and the new girl who looks like the brunette from Raised by Wolves makes a comment about how her friend always sleeps in super late because she gave her extra NyQuil. While giving me a knowing look. I gather she has killed her quietly somehow and is aiming to take her place. (This is what happened in the show, no spoilers). There is another guy I don't really recognize, he has a shaved head and bright grey eyes, he is in on it as well. I don't understand why any of this is happening so I just quietly excuse myself. In talking to them as I am leaving I must have filled out an application to work there as it is on the counter of the bar. I consider taking it with me so I am not connected to this thing which is obviously about to blow up. But decide that may look suspicious so I leave it where it was.

It's the next day and I am walking back again, I end up in a large complex which is a public space built to be a hangout spot. It is a large indoor dome structure with a water feature on top of a pile of boulders in the center. It is well landscaped and looks ritzy and well lit. Perfectly manicured little odd shapes of grass and perfectly fitted red brick paths all leading around the area. With concrete circular tables and benches scattered about.
I walk around and find a food court area with music coming from it. It is decorated like a 30's style speakeasy, brass rails, wooden carved accents, large tan fans, black and white tiles, the works. Just past a Starbucks there is a stage with a guy and a girl playing instruments singing. I feel like I've heard the song before, it sounds like some kind of folk music, they look like people from my old church. This whole thing has a very Sunday afternoon vibe. There is a large crowd of teenagers sitting in the audience watching. Only half paying attention because, you know, teenagers. I try to walk around the back of the crowd to get out the side door but there is just a mass of people mostly girls all sitting asses to elbows blocking the walking path with their stools and tables.
I walk around and in front of everyone to leave the building.

Walking back down the strip mall it is the next morning and I am super tired. I realize I have been barefoot and look for a pair of my shoes in the mass of pairs of shoes that have been left in front of the poolhall. I find several pairs that look like mine but none of them fit. Before laying down the 'other' guy shows up out front. He has a concerned look on his face but he attempts to make smalltalk with me. He mentions working for a launch provider which is close to here and they have a couple satellites to launch in the next few days. I am not really interested and don't want to talk to him much longer. I have a bed/my big winter sleeping bag rolled out and I try to get some sleep on the sidewalk while people are walking/driving by. While falling asleep I see a group of three cops standing on the sidewalk down the way from me. I pretend not to notice them and begin to fall asleep in the dream.

I wake up to a sort of middle aged hispanic woman getting my attention standing over me, I immediately tell her I was about to scuttle off, I am still fairly drowsy. But I notice she is a police officer, she asks if I am 'No-ha' I say yes and shake her hand from laying down. I ask her name and she says 'In-ki-ya' her friends call her. I already know exactly what all of this is about. But I play dumb and look around to notice there are now 6 or 7 police cruisers of various designs on the street now. I say 'Whooa, what's this all about?? I see a lot of cop cars, and one really messed up car' then I notice another car/van which looks like it has been completely stripped for parts, no doors or wheels or anything sitting in front of the shopping mall, (I have been sleeping in front of the pool hall where it all went down apparently).
I put on my best clueless face/attitude not wanting to get involved. I gather she's not buying it and already suspicious of me.

I am traveling to Doug's house with G, we've never visited him before so we're very excited. When we get there he is overwhelmed to see us. We are all hanging out around him in his living room. We're all nude and his hair is longer and comes down over his eyes. It's casual and I gather we're all kind of passively watching a ritual taking place in the corner of the room. It opens up into a rocky cave and in the distance I can see a burning monument of sorts. It kind of looks like a mini greek colosseum with life-sized figurines all holding hands around the border, like the Indian Circle of Friends sculpture. The flames are yellow and white but not consuming the structure. I understand what we are witnessing is very important and thousands of years old. Doug is talking about people he knows who have trouble understanding their own reality. I make a remark about 'how many people get to see a 5,000 year old ritual, in a cave, while nude?' it is comforting and reassuring to watch.
We are now in an oversized tub, almost like a hot tub mixed with an overly large Victorian footed porcelain tub. We're all sitting around the edges. There is a squid like octopus swimming around. Everytime it touches me it latches onto my hand, the suckers kind of hurt and it doesn't want to let go.

I am in Hollywood California as a tourist just wondering around seeing the sights taking it all in. I find myself at some kind of red carpet and there are many celebrities gathered for some reason. There aren't many people around so I figure this is a prime opportunity to hang out with some famous people. I see Ben Affleck with a few other people and I signal him to come over, he walks over a few seconds later with a couple girls apologizing that he was chatting with Milla Jovovich. I ask them if they want to hang out in the arcade next door and they happily take me up. We walk in and the two girls are fixated on an sort of skee-ball game that involves throwing lemons down an ally at specific targets for points. I walk around with Ben and we just chat about life as norm and how people react to them in general. When we come back to the skee-ball game he joins them and I decide to walk around some more there are bright colors and lights and all sorts of arcade sounds I am somewhat pleased by the environment. I return to the three of them and Milla is now in the group playing the lemon game. Ben is requisitioned by some fans and follows them out the door of the arcade. I step in on the game and ask the girls if I can join them, they are more than happy to play with me. I am overjoyed I am playing the lemon game with Milla and Bens date. As I throw the lemons down the alley it is slightly more difficult than it looks and I am embarrassed about wasting their lemons. Other fans have stepped into the game and were allowing themselves to be the targets for the girls to throw at, they are being cheeky and the girls giggle. So I allow them to play some more and then walk away out the door Ben went. He was posing for pictures on the sidewalk and sitting on some kind on wagon facing the street. I wave goodbye and continue down the road.
It is mostly tourists flocking the streets now. Like a sea of tourists, we are all headed to a good look out point to take photos of the Hollywood sign. I can barely see it from where I am, a local tells me the best place to shoot is from a hillside in the distance they point to and I see people filing that way. I am on the edge of the city and there is a small patch of woods between me and the hillside. I have to travel down a ravine of some sort and it is quite muddy. I notice there are very large pinkish orangy mushroom type trees littering the Forrest. They have large spines on them that bend easily to the touch. I am aware I have never seen anything like this and they seem either alien or prehistoric. I am following a man who has fairly certain footing though he begins to travel away from where we are going and I recommend we take the path of a fallen tree which is more direct he follows my advice and we advance together.
When I am finally approaching the open hillside I notice a man dressed in biblical attire singing a gospel, those around him chime in and suddenly the entire mass of a thousand people easy are all singing praises at the top of their lungs. It is breathtaking. As I am walking by the people who have stopped to sing I begin clapping the rhythm of the song, I begin jogging and I am suddenly in biblical clothes myself. The wind is blowing rather hard against my tunics and I hold the edges of my gown convinced I can glide on the wind. The singing picks up as I lift off the ground moving with speed in the air powered by the wind and my gown of flowing fabric. I glide forward and backward zig zagging the entire group moving down the hillside. I am overwhelmed by the experience the singing is magnificently heard from this height. The people see me and exclaim I must be the real one! I come closer to the ground towards the edge of the hillside which is more of a cliff. I turn and land though the wind is pulling me towards the cliffs edge. I am gripping the soil trying to maintain and three women who are African american offer me their hands to pull me up. I am eternally grateful, as I am walking back up there is another boy on the cliffs edge, I reach back and help him up as well the singing is dying down and all of the people seem focused on me.
The Hollywood sign is no where to be seen.