dream fragment

I know from memory that these dreams were longer than I can actually remember. I'm sure all of you know this feeling as it is one of the many frustrations that accompany dream recall. At any rate, I had to distinct dreams last night and here they are:

Trip to Chicago:

My family decides to go to Chicago on a family trip. My mom, dad, sister, and friend pile into our family truck and we put all of our baggage in the bed of the truck. It is night when we leave. We were suddenly pulling up to a lavish hotel in the middle of Chicago. We go in the front door and ascend a grand staircase covered in red carpet. The interior of the hotel is extremely colorfully decorated with lots of greens and reds. We find our room and it was spacious and very nice. (I know there was some activity in Chicago we did but I just can't remember it as hard as I try) The next thing I know I'm walking up stairs outside onto the balcony of our hotel room. I get my bags and descend the staircase. Suddenly, I am back home.

Pick up Rugby Game:

For some reason my sister is taking me to school in her car. I "know" it's my school and it looks like an enlarged version of my junior high school. I enter the main gym and start playing a weird game with my classmates. We are all lined up in two parallel lines that form a tunnel. Then one person runs down the tunnel and low fives everyone. Then the "runner" ball taps a random person in line. That person is the new "runner". I thought it was a lame game and wanted to leave. I saw my sister leaving but I couldn't catch up to her. For some reason she left with my dad instead of the car she came in and she had my wallet and keys with her. So I was stuck at the school with a car but no wallet or keys. I call my dad and ask him where he is and tell him I need my wallet and keys. He tells me he is north of Nora (an area by Indianapolis) and I proceed to walk there. I trek along the highway and get off at the Nora exit. I can't find my dad but I do end up in some sort of ghetto area. It is very shady and I'm getting nervous when I see some older guys throwing around a rugby ball on an old beat up basketball court. I go over and start passing the ball with them. They tell me they want to play basketball so I grab the basketball and kick it into a forest. Then the basketball court turns into a rugby field and my whole high school rugby team is there playing rugby. We play a game against another team. (I don't remember if we win or not I really vividly remember a kickoff I caught though).

After reading through the website last night I decided to try some of the techniques to recall my dreams. I laid in my bed and remembered the following:

I have a false awakening and wake up in my bed at my old house. I moved out of that house 3 years ago but everything was clear and detailed as it had been when I lived there. I get up from bed, move downstairs into the basement, and find my friend and his girlfriend sitting there on the couch. They look angry at each other. Then, my friend's girlfriend comes over and sits by me instead of my friend. My friend leaves and his girlfriend says that she wants to be with me but I won't allow it. Suddenly, I am in a grocery store that is very bright. I am walking with my friend (same friend in the basement) looking for something. I don't know what we are looking for but we can't find it. Then, I am at my old high school walking with the senior class through the main gym singing a song about freshmen. I have never heard or sang a song about freshmen but this song was clear as day in the dream with clear lyrics and music in the background. As we walked out of the gym, I was suddenly in a chemistry lab looking at a circular metallic blob floating in a glass tube. I am wearing a lab coat and studying this substance for a while and then another man in a lab coat walks in and talks to me. The language is not my own but I seem to understand it. Finally, I have another false awakening in the same bed at my old house and I walk into the playroom upstairs. My friend (same friend that has been in all the other sections of the dream) is sitting at the computer playing Halo 3 and the TV is on. I ask him if he's mad about his girlfriend and he says no and that I should find her and date her. I watch him play Halo 3 for a while and when he dies in the game I go downstairs to search for her. I look all over the house and can't find her.

I felt pretty excited to remember so many fragments of my dreams last night considering I normally do not recall my dreams well. Although each dream were short snippets they all seemed to be connected somehow. I can't wait to sleep tonight to see what new dreams I can recall!