rshort1202

I am at work while the Vegas-Florida Stanley Cup game is on. It feels like midday to early afternoon. Zoe is here, but she leaves to go do something. I go into the office and write the current score on the board, 3-2 Vegas. I use orange for Vegas and can’t think of Florida’s colors. I think it’s subtle but that someone who knows what’s going on would understand it. I notice that there are a couple of folding chairs (the ones we have that my mom gave us) throughout the store, some open and some not. I think people might be watching the game here? Now, I’m ringing up some girl who awkwardly offers to buy the table out front and the chairs for $15. She says it with a lisp as she holds the money folded up in front of her. I don’t know how much the table is going for, so I call Zoe. she answers and starts speaking so quickly that it sounds like it went straight to voicemail. She asks if I’m Bruce, sounding paranoid, then asks if it’s me. She says the table can go for $100 and the chairs for $15 each. I tell the girl this. Stella is here, on the counter, and ever so gently steps down, towards the girl who holds her hand out to her.

I’m inside a Total Wine. The store is very large (and it seems familiar to another dream). I walk down a main aisle on my way to the beer section when an employee steps in front of me and hands me a small stack of cash. I wasn’t sure at first if he was an employee - he’s wearing nice but plain clothes and a very subtle nametag. I ask “for me?”, not really sure what to think. He says yes, it’s for me. I take it, two 50s and a couple smaller bills, and move on. I’m now in the beer section, which looks like a corner of the store. There is a pallet of six packs in an aisle, and I see they’re completely out of the only one I was specifically looking for. I keep looking on the shelves; many look good, but I always think there could be a better one yet. Most are dark beers, which is the type I’m after. There is one with a graphic of a pine tree trunk? and a bear print; I think I go for this one, as I’m at the end of my options.

I think I am in New York City. I am outside of a somewhat smaller building that has at least two climbing walls attached to the exterior. There is a line (I think mostly of kids) for each. There are a few police officers that seem to be letting people in. I think I don’t really need to climb one, but end up doing so. I think everyone is trying for speed and I know that I could beat them due to my age and experience, so I just climb it regularly. I think I only have socks on. I also think there’s something about not thinking I’m on a rope, but then discovering I’m on an auto belay. Now, I am walking around the corner to deposit a check (or make a withdrawal or something similar). The building has older columns and a white stone staircase. I pass by a few sketchy people, then enter into a tiny room. There’s one other in here, a girl who seems to be friendly with the female bank teller. I have to sort of make my presence known. I now give her the slip and think I get it and a receipt back. I also think I did something wrong, since it’s been so long since I’ve done something like this, and have to go back.

I’m on a walk. I get to the edge of a driveway, where a Black man has met and is talking to a white, male police officer. I get the impression he has come down here so the officer won’t go on his property. Now, another Black man comes out and does the same thing. The officer leaves amicably and then the first man turns to me and starts handing me some cash, a few crisp bills. He has short hair and seems very genuine. I think it’s a few 20s and I don’t even know what it’s for, so I say no, I can’t take it. The second man, with shoulder length dreads and baggier clothes, tries doing the same, and I think I give in. I think at the beginning of this, I put on headphones to listen to a Tedeschi Trucks Band show (the song was ‘Laugh About It’ into a drum segment). The weather was cooler - I had pants and a long sleeve. I was walking on the right side of the roads [sic] as two girls were coming towards me. I noticed a car coming from behind them and from behind me as I had to go around them to the left, thinking it would leave very little room for the cars.




I’m walking into a store with Sage. I think it’s a reptile or animal store. On the left, I notice three tanks on stands that’ve been covered with a black film or cover. Two older ladies working here say hi and then I think profile or customer service me. This irritates me as we walk into a larger back room, Sage way ahead of me.




I’m on a walk and have ended up on what looks like a sandy hillside that overlooks a beach and the ocean? It is sunset and the thick and vivid layers of deep reds and oranges are absolutely beautiful. There is some kind of electronic trance music playing and it makes for a very ethereal moment. I’m now down on the beach and there are a bunch of people dancing to the music. The sunset is the background, but there are also strobe lights. I think I start dancing.





Granny has died, but I feel comforted knowing that she had the opportunity to say bye to everyone and also that she came to me in a dream (*this seemed very real, and I was recalling pretty much exactly our visit with her yesterday).

I am ascending some type of rock formation. It seems to be a tall (hundreds of feet?) spire of sedimentary rock. It is probably only ten feet or so wide. It definitely feels very vertical, yet there is a dirt path that leads up the thing. I hear voices nearing a pause. A group of two or so is coming down. The first is a paunchy older middle aged white man with shorts, maroon t-shirt, a mustache, and what looks like a safari hat. He is nonchalantly sliding down on his ass, bracing with hands and feet. He stops and begins telling us (I think there are about two others with me) a story. I think he is Doc Watson. He’s slightly below me, and I rest my left arm on a rocky protrusion jutting out from under some sand. Some displaced sand begins to fall off, taking more and more with it, falling down close to his face. I tell him to watch out, telling him it was my mistake for doing that. Now, enough sand has fallen away that the spot I needed to continue on has vanished. There is a large cavity now, encased by only stone, beyond which I see the ground vertiginously and frighteningly far below. It seems that the only routes left are to climb this cave roof (brave and perilous) or to mantle this stone above me. I test the holds, a slight edge, and a slight block, and they do not give me much confidence. I keep gripping and re-gripping until my hands sweat, causing me to slightly panic. I am acutely aware of the fact that if I fall I will die and so the only way to survive this is to not fall at any cost. There is now a girl, slightly younger than me and wearing black leggings and a grey shirt, on the rock slightly above me. She might have a harness on? Her underwear, a thin, black thong with thicker straps, is sticking up above the leggings, and I grab onto them like a hold. She has me go first, probably aware that this is going to expose her. Finally, we have summited this spire. The top of it is flat and maybe 20 or so feet across. There are a few artificial climbing walls. I think we’re about to start on them, but her grandma is here now and putting some cash in my left pocket for a gift card. I already have a similar amount of cash in there and wonder about it. There is a very slabby wall, a vertical one with a lot of crimps, and one with large, circular, inflated holds that must be for grip strength. They all seem easy and the walls are just barely taller than bouldering height. Looking past them, there seems to be no background, just an empty space/void. I now realize and dread that I have to go back down. I think of any other way, like getting picked up by a helicopter.




I am outside somewhere by or on a two lane asphalt highway. Suddenly the earth shakes - an earthquake, I realize. It’s steady in intensity, not enough to knock us off our feet, but enough to seemingly keep us magnetized down. It ruptures the highway in a fairly clean split.

I am in the Jewelry department at work. I think I was just passing through, but a customer stopped me as if I worked there. It’s an Indian? couple with two kids. The man hands me two 100 dollar bills to first make a payment. Upon checking them, the first looks like a legitimate, newer 100 and the second looks different and questionable. I’m really not sure about it, so I call for Laynie on the radio, saying ‘Laynie, can you come to the jewelry department, by the down escalator?’ I think that might sound stupid to some, but I’m just trying to be specific. The more I look at it, the more I think the second one is fake. Everything looks fine and there’s even a good watermark, but it looks like it’s been unevenly cut out from a sheet. I put them in my pocket for now, hoping they might think I’ve done the payment over on this far side of the counter. I go back over and now they want to see items in a spinning case. I see there’s already a key in the lock, and think that it should not have been left there. The items are not jewelry, but earbuds and things like that. I can nearly show them one thing before they are wanting to see another. I’m trying to show them what they want and keep everything else locked up and it’s getting annoying. I see Laynie on the far side of the counter, in a grey shirt and walking away. Assuming she didn’t see me, I call out for her. The bills feel wet? and folded up in my pocket; I take them out to show her. I discover there is no texture on the number and it feels like the texture was added poorly to the background areas. It’s also very worn as if they added that to disguise the faux texture. She sees the uneven edges and agrees that it’s fake. I think it weird that only one is fake and also genuinely don’t think he looks like the type. I’m thinking that if he asks I’ll have to tell him that I have to keep it; he never does ask, though. I see an employee dealing with a lady asking questions. The employee doesn’t know when we close and the lady seems irritated. I tell her 9 o’clock.

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 with Melissa, in her room. It seems like it is night time, though not super late - probably a little after everyone’s started to go to bed. I hear what sounds like her dad getting home and coming into the house. Inside now, I hear him calling for me specifically. I’m a little taken aback at him calling me directly, and I look to Melissa. She shakes her head no. I think we’re both undressed, probably post-coital. I decide to go out anyway, putting on a shirt and pajama pants. I don’t think I’ve put underwear on, and I look down to see if there’s a noticeable bulge. I go out to the kitchen or the hallway right before it. He has brought back chocolate and wants me to try it. The ‘chocolate’ looks like a plate of rice and beans, and if it’s really chocolate it looks pretty convincing. I try it and can’t tell which it tastes like. As I raise a spoonful to my mouth, I see something on my hand catch Carlos’s attention. He asks if I had a bloody nose. Using this perfect excuse, I say yes, I must’ve missed a spot cleaning up after it.




I’m in the backseat of a taxi with Melissa, Brittney, and Katie. on the back of the seats there is a screen for gambling, along with buttons to press and a place to insert money. I watch Katie try it and lose $20 right away. For some reason, I try it out too. At first, I think I’ve lost $20 also, but then I see I have a $60 payout. I take the money, but then Brittney starts using some of it to play. I think she loses some of it. I’m kind of irritated, but I still come out with more than I started with. I think the taxi has been in some drive through this whole time?

I am at a castle on a hill. The hill is small yet steep and very green. The castle is also rather small yet still imposing and impressive. It is in two parts, with a pool between the two. The pool actually looks more like turquoise ocean water gently lapping up against a thin strip of sugar-fine white sand. I think that someone lives here as I look up to a window in the dark brown stone. I imagine looking out the window as the person that has to live in this place that seems so secluded without all the tourists that visit. I think I (and Makayla?) might be staying here. I’m in the pool now, and it seems more like a regular in ground swimming pool. There is also a circular hot tub that looks just big enough for literally one person to sit in. I think about going in it, but am not sure because of how small it is.




I am walking through what seems to be an outdoor shopping center. The buildings are sort of laid out awkwardly and at weird angles in relation to one another, and this is not helped by the trees all around as well as all the cars, parking spots, and people walking around. It also seems to be on a slight hill. I am looking for a certain bookstore and think I have spotted it, the building furthest from me, tucked in amongst some trees and other stores. I walk up to it, but stop and set my huge Forever 21 bag on the sidewalk. I also take off my small backpack and put it into the bag, not wanting them to think I’m going to steal when I go in. I then realize I don’t want to just leave them out here, so I leave the backpack in the bag and carry it in. Inside, this place looks more like a house. I notice a large staircase to my left. It all seems to be decorated for Christmas. There is also some sort of (Girl Scout?) event going on; there is a sign in sheet on a long end table (the one at Mom’s?). I see Mom at the far end of the long room.




I am on a pretty full school bus. I think we are stopped and about to disembark. There is some guy with foreign currency, and I see another guy calling me about it (like I’m at work). I find it humorous that he’s trying to call when I’m right here, but then announce myself and say I’ll check it out. I grab the little maroon drawstring bag. It feels like it contains coins as well as paper bills. I have no idea how I’d check a coin, and I’m not even sure how to verify if this foreign money is real or not. I’m not even sure what it is or where it’s from. The bill is about two times the size of a credit card and feels somewhere between paper and a credit card. It is an off white and has different numbers all over it. I check another one, and it has a few words on it that are indented (I feel it first). One word is ‘receipt’ and the others must say when it was purchased. I get the idea to go up to him (he looks familiar) and ask how he got these, holding my finger slyly over the ‘receipt’ part. I ask if he bought them with another currency, hoping that will just validate that these are real. He says almost what I want to hear, but it’s good enough.

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 when I discover a huge rack of clothes that need to go back. (This place doesn’t look like work, but more like a store’s vestibule for shopping carts crossed with, now that I think about it, the women’s fitting room that I brought clothes to yesterday. Their rack was very full). Upon closer inspection, the myriad pants? look new, like they’ve just gotten here and are ready to be put on the floor. So I instead enter one of the fitting rooms, instantly disappointed that I do, finding a small sea of tried-on pants left on the ground. I notice a lot of their tags - Levis? As I filter through them, I think I find evidence of shoplifting. I end up finding quite a few fake bills (20s and 50s I think). I hold them up to the light, making the ink on them appear to have been drawn on. This and the crude renditions of the faces on the bills is quite humorous.




I am at work? (it seems to be the area above the escalators that is still near the clothes but is mostly now the area for appliances). I seem to be in a large kitchen model. I think there is an island counter surrounded by a large L of counter space and a plethora of cabinets. A middle aged couple and the mom of one of them come over now. The wife tells me she is looking for a cookie cutter. I start looking for her, genuinely trying, searching every single drawer and cabinet, left to right. I come across a total of three circular apple slicers, one of which I offer as the closest thing we have to a cookie cutter. She politely declines, but genuinely thanks me for looking, then tells me to have a nice day and leaves. I consider bringing one of the apple slicers to Dad’s. I now look in a drawer very close to the ground and find a bunch of newspaper clippings. They are ads or sales. One is offering a pizza for a certain price contingent upon you reviewing some place. I see a 13 near the top, leading me to believe that it is from 2013. I also discover a few black shirts - Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails band shirts. They are marked down with turquoise clearance stickers on their tags. I think that Mom is keeping them in here so she can give them to me as (Christmas?) gifts later. I think about how I don’t even really know NIN and how the prices will probably be expired by now. There is also a soft looking, navy blue Grateful Dead shirt that I think is going to be for Dad. Makayla is here now, on the phone, and she asks what we should get for Dad. I tell her I don’t know.

I am working at Dillard’s, and it seems like I’m working the fitting room in men’s. A middle aged man comes in and is looking for something, a suit coat I think. I think I help him find one. He tries some on and finds one fairly quick. Before he leaves the dim fitting room, he asks me if domestic? or something else is okay, sort of discreetly. I hesitate and tell him ‘domestic’. He nonchalantly thanks me while holding out a wad of bills. After he’s gone, I see a receipt for $100? and a tip of $40 - what he gave to me.

I have gone into Beer NV and Dad is here too, seated. The bar counter is shorter (in length and, I think, height), and the tap handles seem closer. Overall, it feels slightly different. As I approach the counter, a friendly girl comes up and asks what I want. I’m not really ready yet, but don’t want to pass up the service while I have it, so I ask her what dark beers they have right now. She starts describing some and pours a sample of one. Dad tries it and likes it. I try it now too. It is very chocolatey. There also seems to be dark residue at the bottom, like a cup of coffee. I ask for this one, and she pours a glass. Dad now gets up to go to the bathroom and seems either off or drunk or both. The lady looks at me, mouthing ‘is he okay?’, to which I nod coolly and confidently and give a thumbs up. I now have another beer - a wheat beer? I talk with Dad a bit, before he leaves. The lady is now pouring me a small glass of Golden Ale, just because. I end up not having time to have any because I leave shortly after Dad. I feel a little bad about leaving it completely full and untouched. I also remember that I didn’t even tip, when I should’ve tipped her well. It then occurs to me that I didn’t even pay. I think about calling them to see if either of us paid. The time is about 11pm.

(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.