Mouka's Mind Palace

(This is from September 9.)

I woke up into a dream, but I was in my old bedroom at the house we had in Arab when I was a kid. Nothing was really happening except I was sitting on the bed, so I had time to ponder over my situation. I realized I didn't live here anymore and that I must be dreaming, so I attempted the palm reality check, and sure enough my finger went right through my hand. I flew up into the air and hovered around the room a few times to gauge how much control I had. Then I remembered I wanted to practice calling Afiel into my lucid dreams, and I got excited because normally when I LD I get caught up in the moment and totally forget and Afiel and my's little experiment. So I call his name and attempt to visualize him, but nothing happens. I close my eyes and try to will him there, but still nothing. So I left the room and went to the door leading outside next to the pool table, constantly looking behind me hoping he would randomly show up there. Thinking I'd have a better shot at it if I were outdoors in a large open area, I opened the door and was just about to head outside when I saw a big bear wandering around right outside the door! I totally freaked out and suddenly I heard a vicious barking behind me, and next to the pool table was a rabid Rottweiler dog, so I slid in between the outer door and the screen door to keep them both away from me and tried my hardest to will them away. Unfortunately the bear had freaked me out enough that I lost control of my surroundings so I was stuck. Suddenly I couldn't hear the bear anymore, so I looked outside and saw the bear had turned to stone, and Rina was standing there looking all smug and laughing at me for being afraid. He pushed past me and walked into the house, the rabid dog now gone, and heads to the kitchen. At this point I am completely lost, because I have no idea how I'd summoned up Rina of all people when I was attempting Afiel. So I followed him into the kitchen and he tells me since he's my guest that I should pour him a glass of water. I tell him "Are you kidding me? I'm not wasting a lucid dream pouring you a glass of water, you prima donna." and he got all huffy and poured himself some water. Then I heard my phone ringing from outside the dream, and the whole scene broke apart because apparently my brain thinks telemarketers are more important than bugging the crap out of Rina.

I was visiting some spoiled rich kid's home and I noticed my old DDR pad in the closet. It's for the PS2 and they said I couldn't have it back because I only have an XBox 360 and the pad wouldn't be compatible. The kid is talking about all the games he owns and heads downstairs into a basement area. When I looked down there, I saw the kid and two girls laying down on a futon playing console games.

Cory and I had a routine where we would visit this small locally-owned candy store each time we went on a trip to that area of the country, which was often. The owner of the store was the lady who owns the food truck near our apartment. She'd always recognize us when we came into the store, and I remember once telling her my zip code and she got all excited and said her zip code started with the same two numbers as mine, which I thought was a strange thing to get excited about. We bought a bunch of interesting looking chocolates and I also got a red and white striped peppermint that was shaped like a shoe. The owner said the shoe had to be eaten a certain way so the middle doesn't melt and become raw. We noticed that they also sold cherries, and rights to pick as many cherries as you wanted from the trees outside. As we left, I saw rows of newly planted cherry trees growing next to the road. After we got home from the trip, I followed Cory from the parking lot and through a crowd of people all sitting on picnic tables under a sheltered patio. One of the people mentioned the ASVAB so I went over curiously to help him study, but my social anxiety kicked in and I just stood there awkwardly not saying anything.

I went into Walmart and decided to work there. Apparently I thought since I used to work there when I was younger, I was allowed to just jump behind a register and start working whenever. But when I got behind the register, I noticed they looked different and had touch screens and stuff, so I got nervous. I couldn't figure out how to start, so the bagger told me I had to scan my badge to start every transaction. I annoyed lots of customers because I took so long to figure it out. One of the other cashiers took pity on me and took over my register and I opened a new line. An old guy with lots of TVs and inflatable pool toys came through and I had to lift each heavy TV to scan it and deflate the pool toys, but then I accidentally dropped a box and freaked out thinking it was a TV I'd broken, but it turned out to be a box of Capri-Sun drinks. After a while, I was called to the back and confronted by the manager asking why I was there since I left years ago. I lied and told her that I was still employed there, I was just working at another store in a place called Alphrettia, Georgia. She didn't believe me and looked up the store there on her computer, but I was desperate not to get yelled at so I sprinted off through the garden center and into the parking lot. As I ran, I passed Will Smith who was sitting in a car, and I waved at him and he waved back. I remember thinking he must drive around a lot because I see him in that car almost everywhere. Then I jumped into my car where Cory was waiting. After I pulled out, I realized my brakes weren't working, so I drift along in the parking lot trying to avoid small children and stuff. The car finally came to a halt when it lightly hit the bumper of a big white truck, and a lady got out and immediately recognized us because she's was regular at Cory's store. She said we were lucky she's such a nice person and said she'll forget that it ever happened.