rshort1202

I’m in what feels like a casino restaurant. There are some others here, family?, and we’re eating what seems like dinner. The meal, every part of it - spaghetti, sausage, and something else - is delicious. I think we’re done now and get up. Nat, Kass, and Rob are here in the kitchen? We learn that they are the ones who have cooked this, each responsible for a different portion.

I’m at a casino - it sort of feels like Bordertown. I’m here for a pool tournament, I think with people from work. I’ve been parked for a moment and sure enough I see Ethan S. walk past. I notice he’s only wearing jeans and a t-shirt, one of the ones he always wears, even though it’s cold out. I decide to follow him because I don’t know exactly where I’m going, but he’s gone by the time I get out of my car because he’s walking so quickly. I’m inside now, and it’s a very nice casino. It has the feel of a hotel. I go upstairs, where I meet Dad. There is a buffet here and we get some food and then a table. At the table are Ethan S. and cousin Kassidy. I introduce Dad and Ethan S. doesn’t make eye contact while slapping his hands down on the table. I’m now at the pool table, which is in a small room that has a couple of doors around it. They are for each player to go into so the one currently playing can be alone. Julia is here now too. I end up being solids and make quite a few highly unlikely shots in a row.

I am in what feels like a casino, though one I don’t immediately recognize. Still, it has the typical dingy carpets, tinted windows, cigarette stench, and slot machines. It seems slightly less crowded than it should be, I think due to Covid (though I don’t notice any masks or think there is any concept of them in this dream. I enter the men’s bathroom that is in a wall that looks like it terminates on the outside of the building. This bathroom is long and narrow. There are multiple options of directions branching out, and I already like the privacy this affords. I take the first left and continue on, passing many urinals on the right side of the wall. I get to the end of this little hallway and turn to use the very last urinal. Now I hear noises and voices approaching l; I look and see a couple fumbling their way down here. It looks like they’re trying to fool around but are too drunk to do so. The masculine girl stumbles happily back into the wall. I am now outside of the bathroom and somewhat confused - it seems that the way I came through the bathroom should not be possible because, looking out through the window, it should be empty space outside of the building.

I am in what must be a casino with about two other guys (that I don’t really know, but seem to know in the dream). This casino seems fairly small. They are playing some slot machine against the wall - one where a button is pressed and the reel of options spins for a possible winning combination. They seem to come close but do not win anything. Against my better judgment, I insert some money (a low amount) to play. I haphazardly press the button and wait for the spin to finish. It lands on a winning combination, and we all excitedly exclaim. I ball a fist in exuberance. At first, I think the screen shows a winning of $1,000,000, but then I see that it actually says $2,000. Still, I can’t believe I’ve just casually won that much money.

I am in a casino with Mom. We’re on what seems to be a longer and slightly raised section. There are slot machines interspersed up here, and I’m not entirely sure what’s on the lower section. Mom is gambling, and I’m walking back and forth for some reason. I notice that I’m wearing a tie dye Grateful Dead shirt. I walk past a couple and notice that they both have GD shirts or at least tie dye. The woman has lightly tie dyed and flowing pants. They both have brown hair and are probably in their late 40s. When I walk past them again, ‘Might as Well’ is playing and I am singing along to it. I look to see if they are also, and I don’t think they are. I also wonder casually they’ve seen my shirt. They seem to be looking at something off in the distance. I meet up with Mom now, and she’s holding a voucher. She’s telling me how she was up but then lost some money right at the end.

I am at work, in the clearance section. Two or three guys are browsing together over here; one of them approaches me, holding a pure white men's jumpsuit, saying he’s looking for a different size. I quickly scan all of the hanging white items as well as the single rack that’s on the wall by the jeans. I come back over to tell him that I didn’t find any, when we see a folded, white dress shirt on the cream white and fairly empty shelf in front of us at shoulder height. I casually offer it as a possible substitute. He unfolds it to find out that it’s actually a tuxedo vest. He says something like ‘oh nice, a vest,’ like it would actually work for him. As he is unfamiliar and possessing of a sort of expressionless face, I can’t tell if he’s being serious or if he’s fucking with me. I now unfold another, and this one is actually a dress shirt. It’s close to a jumpsuit in only the material - it’s heavier, like a broadcloth, also a cream white. This guy is actually happy with it and is going to get it. After they have left, I end up putting some items in the clearance next to the kids shoes. The shoes are on a torso-high display and looking pretty disheveled. There are way more things in this section than in real life. I start walking somewhere else, and the whole place is different and much larger than in real life. It seems more open; there’s a sort of skywalk to another part of the mall (or casino? - it feels a little like a casino). Over by it, I briefly help a Hispanic man look for something before I go to do something else. I end up over by the suits fitting room. There’s a computer desk at the wall opposing the opening at which sits Evelyn. I have the impression that someone’s been trying to call me on this radio, but I’m not entirely sure. I ask Evelyn if they have, and she says yes. Someone (the lady at work with sort of darker skin and frizzy hair who I think is a supervisor and whose name I’m not sure of) starts walking over to me, saying that I didn’t really help my customer if I didn’t completely follow through (referencing the Hispanic man). She directs our attention to the man who is standing on the skywalk, arms crossed, but not in an unpleasant way. He’s wearing a plum colored long sleeve with a vest over it, blue jeans, and cowboy boots. He seems dependent on the help, not in a co-dependent way, but more like he is turning the trust over to the employee. I tell this supervisor sorry, I was helping someone else and so my radio was down, slowly adjusting the volume up as I speak. I do feel poorly for leaving him and for not hearing the radio. I tell her I know I was helping him, but I forget what for, and ask if she knows. I genuinely am trying to remember. There’s another employee too, and they look slightly incredulous. I can’t tell if they find it funny or think I’m stupid or both. At one point, someone was ridiculing me for something, and it irritated me enough that I considered bringing it up to someone higher up. Anyway, I attempt to make it right and start walking over to the man. There is a rush of people moving in both directions, causing me to lose sight of him. I reach the top of the incline on this skywalk so I can survey it all the way to the bottom, but he is nowhere to be found. I double back and still, nothing. I’m by an elevator now; it is closing, so I get the notion to jump into it while I can. Literally jumping forward into it, the doors brush me on each side before closing on my JCP key lanyard trailing behind me. I pull it out and turn around to be greeted by two Hispanic men. They both seem genial and good-natured, and they both seem to think my jumping into this elevator was somewhat funny if not unexpected. One of them is shorter and more portly; I think he has a mustache. I dryly say either “that was close” or “just barely made it.” They begin talking to me, slipping into Spanish. It is too fluent for me to understand most of it. I think on a different floor now, I see the door closing. It is closing on a chubby white family with a daughter. I don’t know why we haven’t let them on, so I am awkwardly diverting my glance. Doors closed now, we need to choose a floor. They tell me ‘tres’ and I go to press 3 but mistakenly press something else. I can’t entirely read the numbers on the round, silver buttons. For whatever reason, I end up just pressing all of them, the off white light illuminating behind each in succession downwards. I think the elevator is going to the highest floor first. It ascends, and part of the wall must be glass, because I can see what looks like the Atlantis casino outside the elevator. [As in looking into the Atlantis (from within) from the elevator, not as in looking out at the Atlantis]. I think the men now exit and I continue up one more floor. The doors open, revealing a floor that appears to be one huge hot tub. There’s a low ceiling and dim but colored (blue?) lighting that plays on what is either bubbles or an excess of foam. There’s an unassuming swim up bar, and I think a pool up above it. A young boy climbs up and over the bar counter to get to it. I don’t think I’m in the water, but I am conscious of its proximity to my clothes and my radio. I start to think about staying here and using the hot tub, imagining sneaking onto the hotel room floor to find a towel from a room being serviced or the service cart itself. I wonder if anyone at work would notice my prolonged absence, but figure it’s a large place so maybe not.

It is dark outside and I am downtown. I am entering one of the casinos along with some others coming off the street, with a sense of mild fervor. There is some type of show starting, and I think I’m meeting Mom (and possibly also Makayla) here, inside. Everyone is climbing stairs, dispersing at random intervals. I’m not entirely sure how high to go, so I keep going. I catch glimpse of the seating, auditorium-like, dim. The theater is much taller than it is wide or long, the seating seemingly defying logical proportions. The stage seems to be at least 50+ feet above the floor. I am now just above level with the stage and walk out into the seating. It is like a platform of what could be tan marble with raised (hexagonal?) sections that nicely dressed people are sitting on. I notice one couple in particular - darker skin that suggests an Asian ethnicity as well as darker hues - I’m pretty sure the girl is wearing a longer dress. It is sleek like her longer, dark hair. I continue out to the edge of this platform and take a seat at a corner edge so that my legs can dangle off the edge. Sitting here and looking down through the vast empty space below and around while some show is about to start gives me a sort of ethereal exuberant feeling.


I am outside, at a sport climbing granite wall that seems familiar. I’m with Dad and 1-2 other guys my age. I think they’ve been climbing, and now I’m going to go last. It seems that there are already too ropes set up here or something, and I comment on how you used to have to set up a top rope yourself if you wanted one. I start climbing, and I’ve been out of it for so long that this easier route becomes fatiguing for me. I do end up making it to the top though. I call down to take the slack and lower, which the belayer does right away. He then starts lowering me very quickly. I feel the sick jolt in my stomach and brace myself, but then relax and accept and enjoy the feeling. In a few moments I am back on the ground.

(fragment) I am somewhere with the cousins. It seems we are at a round table that is set with a white table cloth, yet are still trying to get into this place (somewhere in a large feeling casino?) There is a large cover charge that everyone starts pitching in cash for, almost begrudgingly it looks. I can't tell if their expression is betraying this emotion or that they've already had a little to drink. There is now $11 still owed, so I pull out a white credit card and hand it to the short and rotund woman with bushy brown hair, telling her to put the remaining $11 on it. She walks away with it and another card, as well as the small stack of cash.