Oneironautic Escapades

12/27/20

I am in a very crowded gymnasium like standing room only with tons of people all around. Everyone is having fun and there is water spraying everywhere. Even though it is super crowded it's still really happy and the mood is elevated. I joke that this ride is basically just a line, cause everyone is just waiting to get past everyone else while walking around in the gymnasium. I start to notice everyone has different costumes on.

As I am walking there is someone close to me who says that I have to leave the crowd and go to the edges, as the crowd is starting to thin out. She pulls at my overalls as if to mention my costume didn't win. I now notice there are groups of people in matching costumes all standing in circles together in the center of the room. They are doing the same dance, but each circle is different and they overlap like a venn diagram. This all feels like a well rehearsed ritual. Everyone seems to know what is going on besides me. I am enamoured by the choreography of it all. There is an Indian guy standing next to me who seems to know what is up, so I ask him if he knows the name of what's going on.

He tells me this is called the 'Sitar Aaahg Sango Oood'. I repeat it several times as I have trouble hearing him say it repeatedly. He tells me of it's ancient history as a ritual. It is performed as an act of communal purification and bonding. Everyone here seems to know exactly what is happening but I am still kind of clueless. I am beside myself, I talk to the indian guy for a while standing in the crowd watching people dance in the center of the room in unison. At the end of everything about a third of the crowd is nude just walking around going our different directions. No one seems to really be paying attention to each other. So I am nude as well and walk through the gymnasium to the exit/towards the showers to clean off.

It's the next day and I am still blown away by what I experienced the night before. But I have missing time between then and now and realize I don't know how I got home, and my car is missing. I remember the indian guy telling me about a restaurant he goes to so I venture out and take someone's minivan to get there.

It is a Thai restaurant in the upstairs of some small strip mall. It's quaint with just a few tables and counter sitting. Standard florescent tile lights in the ceiling and large windows with tan blinds at the end of the room. I see J there and tell him about my night and what I experienced. That I thought I was dreaming but now it seems so real, cause my car is now gone and I don't know how I got home. He is very interested to hear about the ritual and so is the smaller older thai lady who works there. I tell them the name the indian man told me and both of their eyes light up. They know this ritual very well, and we're impressed I was able to witness it.

While sitting at the counter top I realize J now works at this restaurant, he is preparing tea and doing some general busy work while I talk to him. I mention how nice that would be and how I would love to work at a Thai restaurant. The older lady notices my comment but doesn't say anything to me about a job. At a certain point I have to tell the story of the night before over and over again as new people show up and are interested in my situation. While talking I keep mentioning how I thought it was a dream, so I nosepinch and realize I am still dreaming, but it still feels so real so I continue to go along with it.

A man I see who looks like Hank from king of the hill, he works next door and brings over a bowl of special sauce he has made for the thai lady. It is a mango ghost pepper sauce or something similar. It looks like sweet and sour sauce with minced garlic and chilis in it. I mention it would probably be really good on wings. I accidentally spill some of it while moving one of my plates to the back of the counter. I tell my story again and he asks me if I have a small black car.
I say yes and he informs me he saw a black car crashed into the river on his way into work this morning. I am flabbergasted. I realize I haven't checked the parking lot of this place which is in the basement level of a parking garage beneath us. I go down there and see a car that looks like my car but it is the wrong colour.

Directly next to it is my car, with all the same junk in it as my real car. I am incredibly relieved. I realize I have two cars here now and wonder how I will get both of them back. So I drive the minivan home and come back to get my car. Then I realize I do not have my car keys on me. The thai lady at the restaurant tells me they should be hanging somewhere over here, and points to a corner where their employees put personal items. Without being too invasive I attempt to move papers around and others keys looking for my own. I don't recall ever finding them.


A fragment about being in one of my clients homes which is now kind of like an all white vogue apartment. They are on vacation and have tasked me to house sit for them. I know they are coming home soon. A girl called A I used to know is also there. She is manipulative and thoughtless with other people's possessions. She invites a few people over and I am not pleased at all because it isn't her home to begin with. They make a small mess and everyone leaves.

She cleans the apartment thoroughly and it looks sparkling again. I am relieved because I know that my client is coming home soon. She then invites 10 people over since it is clean now and they completely trash the place again. The dogs have completely soiled the white floor and there is food and crumbs everywhere. I am beyond livid with her decision. The dream fades as she attempts to clean the apartment once more.

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.