The Dream Journal

I'm at my friends place, he's playing a board game. We're in a laundry room in the basement, there is a window at the edge of the far wall where grey daylight comes in. The board games has something to do with whales. After rolling some red dice a few times and getting predictable results my friend talks about getting new dice. I tell him of some new dice I've seen that look very futuristic and we go into an in-depth discussion on how they might be off-balanced. I suggest 3D printing a tester die just in case.

There is some confusion about how the game is supposed to progress, I forget what the situation is and what I should be doing. After my friend informs me, a bit annoyed, where I should be on the board (I have a whale piece by the shore that is attacking another piece) I roll and see if I am able to proceed. Another person I know is there as well.

I turn and see two old women sitting on a wooden bench through a large window on the wall behind me. They are just sitting there, being old women. I turn around and see the game has turned into a kind of Jenga-type thing, there is a cube of made of bricks. I try to pull one out and the whole thing collapses, I feel a rush of shame.

As we are packing I talk to my friend about playing Magic: the Gathering at some point, enthusiastically expressing how much I want to play it. I remember that I might have ruined the surprise of his surprise party.

I take my bike back, I'm walking through the place where my friend's sister lives, it is pretty foggy. I talk to my friend Micheal for a bit before going off on my bike. In the middle of the road I see two hedgehogs on tip of each other. I break quickly and look at them. Are they fighting or having sex? In any case, it's dangerous for them to do that in the middle of the road. I try to scare them back into the bushes but they seem pretty unafraid of me, still totally connected. I go to their other side and start to wave at them, they slowly head into the bushes, still together.

I walk down the path a bit and see two more hedgehogs sleeping by the side of the road. I look at them with great interest, I admire their quills, so long and sharp. I hear someone coming up behind me. Two people pass me and startle the animals, one of them is Ron Burgundy from the Anchorman movie.

I walk away between two concrete apartment buildings. It's night now and I drive through the unfamiliar streets. Am I deep in the east side of the city? I drive my bike down narrow pathways in an industrial area, not sure where to go. I enter a building, still on my bike, looking for a way out of this maze. It's even more cramped here, tables and chairs, stumbling in the dark.

I decide this was a bad idea and head outside again. Biking, I see another person walking toward me, I'm alarmed at first, what is he doing here? He passes me by with no incident. I continue to make my way.

I'm in an inky blackness, can't sense anything. There is only a realization. This is a dream, this is a dream.
A familiar excitement rises in me from my toes to my stomach. I know I can't get too excited. Suddenly in front of me a school appears. It's a red, brick school, a wing of it stretches to my left. It is a foggy day. I walk toward it, looking at everything, studying and examining, everything is hyper-real. Bricks, windows, the asphalt. I look into the window to my left and see my reflection, it is as I would expect, even my hair looks dopey as usual. Walking down I see a woman teaching a class of children, their faces as distinct as the "real" world. I enter the school, dazed, I don't know what to make of this, what should I do?

The hall is lit with a yellowish light familiar from childhood. I turn right and walk down the hall. Things get fuzzy, I feel things slipping away. I know I must take action and I begin spinning in a circle to stabilize the dream. I see the lockers on the sides of the walls. The dream begins to feel stable again. I turn to see a balding man with glasses, a teacher, walking out. I look into the room he left, it is a small room with a window at the top edge of the far wall. Something like a bathroom, but there is a bed there. It has a 70's style quilt on it.

I leave the room and go down the hall in the other direction. I meet two teenage girls sitting on a bench to the left. I hear them talking. The dream destabilizes......