I was at lab, and Steve told me that I had only "21 days" left to mate some mice to save one of my lines. I said "only 21 days?" which for some reason got a laugh from Tim. Anyways, Tim started to help me out, getting together the mice and mating them. However, they were clearly too young, and I said we should probably wean them first. My sister appeared in Tim's place and I said I'd go get some new cages. I couldn't find them anywhere on the floor, and didn't want to ask around since I really should know. So instead I got in the elevator to the mouse facility on the third floor.

In the elevator, even though I hit the 3 button, it went to the first floor. I was upset, but kept hitting the button. I felt something on my leg, as though someone had flicked me. I brushed it off, but started to wonder if the elevator was haunted as it shot up to the 10th floor. By then I had given up going to 3, so my mind wandered. I started to see a vision of the cosmos, a beautifully colored pantheon of planets and galaxies stretching away towards the doors. I said "that's so cool." But a sudden movement to my left distracted me. I saw that two coats had appeared in the corner, so I was sure there was a ghost now. It didn't seem to bother me though; instead of being scared, I was just upset at the delay and kicked the coats.

Then I was at a party at a nice little ranch home which my family owned. Just a few folks, including a large red-haired woman holding her newborn baby. As I ate some chicken wings, I hallucinated that she was stripping the meat off her baby with her teeth. I thought to myself "doesn't the kid need energy? That won't work if she's eating his meat." But then I snapped out of it (still in the dream) and saw the baby was okay.

I went to a bedroom and looked out the window. There were rotting branches or roots extending out from the house, and I could see little black mice running in and out of the roots in the snow. I had no idea they could survive in such temperatures. Then some golden squirrels came over and started eating the mice, head first. I called my sister over, and she watched with me in fascination. A baboon wandered over and broke one of the larger "roots." Several bear cubs came out, and I thought they were going to get killed, but then their mom followed after. Immediately behind her were dozens of wolves flowing out like a stream. They immediately attacked the baboon, who kept getting away despite being bitten all over. A swarm of gorillas followed by lions swept in from the right, clashing with the growing crowd of wolves. I thought "ah, so this is why we never explored our backyard." As the animals were all fighting, there was a sudden stampede from over the hill of bulls and longhorn steer that easily swept over the others. They seemed to be led by our cowboy neighbor. We suddenly realized they weren't going to stop, so we ran out of the room just before the house shook with the impact. We went again only to see another wave coming again (and again we ran). The third time, there was a row of large stuffed animal lions set up, that were knocked over by the stampede, bursting into feathers.

Finally, I dreamt that my cousin Daniel's church gave out fliers with a number on one of the panels. If you called it between 8am and 2:30pm on Saturday, you could make free calls to anywhere in the world. It was mainly used by the predominantly Chinese church crowd to call China for prayers. I recalled my sister mentioning (not in real life) that one time, Daniel needed to make a call and stopped in downtown Chicago to ask a cop for the flier. He did and had made the call for free. So I was finally looking at this flier. It was yellow and Daniel had cut out the little coupon-type card that came with all the info.

posted by Larry at 5:36 AM

My high school German teacher, Mrs. Betterman, organized a field trip to the moon. Besides her and several crew, I was accompanied by Bryan (from grad school) and one other friend (not from real life). We had one of those Aliens-type robot suits with us. As we were walking along one of the streets on the moon, we saw a stray dog. Apparently, our mission was to rescue it and bring it home. So we hatched a plan. We would draw several crosswalks so we could maintain an even pace towards the dog without alamring it. We'd be inconveniencing several cars, but hopefully it wouldn't take long. Then Bryan offered to play the part of a dog that I would be walking on a leash. He started walking on all fours and panting. As we crossed the streets, he did somersaults and other crazy tumbles as we neared the stray.

Suddenly, my parents called and told me to come to Mars. I was instantly transported and saw that my sister and my uncle's family (including 3 of my cousins) were there too. We entered a big white cave, and I was so excited to be exploring. As we sat down in front of a large inscribed stone notepad, my uncle started talking. He said we should spend our time discussing the similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam, and everyone else agreed enthusiastically. My heart sank, because I wanted to explore. So I sneaked out of the cave, and as I looked back, I saw a sign engraved into the front saying "Church, Inc." I sighed and stepped back a few into the grassy lawn and lay down. The sky, blue as ever, stretched out with rows of little clouds, overlooking a residential area thick with skyscraper-height houses. The one on the closest corner had a gorgeous display on its front, a diorama of sorts with two large trees flanking a golden light.

I realized with a start that the group on the moon didn't know I had left, and would be frantically searching for me... and that eventually they would have to leave thinking I was dead. I was able to find a monitor that showed them working on the moon, with Bryan in the robot suit. But I couldn't tell what they were doing or talk to them.

In a second dream, I was back home with my parents and had just pulled into the garage. I got out of the backseat reading the local sports page, and an article described the latest cut from the Chicago Bear's roster: the "fourth guy who blocks for punts." He was 64-years old and was cut during the season. I went to work at the family business, which was running a souvenier store. The guy who was cut from the team walked in and started complaining. He showed us several documents detailing why he was cut, saying it was so unfair. One sheet said that no one in the organization remembered his name, and that he had never won any awards. He said that's why he was cut, not because he was a bad player. He had white hair and definitely had an older man's body, but he was still pretty much in shape.

We went together across the street to watch the game at a diner. I saw a little of it, and one of the waitresses starts screaming that that's her on the screen. Apparently she and a friend had won a contest letting them be cheerleaders for a day. Suddenly, I was driving home with my parents, who lived in a huge mansion (not in real life!). As we pulled up to our circular driveway, my mom pointed out a big wooden box on a stand that my dad had built. It was divided down the middle; the right side held mail and the left side had a slatted door that held old newspapers. Then I woke up.

posted by Larry at 8:07 AM

I was high school age and heading to a cafeteria with some of my old church friends (Waiken, Andrew, and Sam, who were also young again). They were standing in line, and I walked ahead to see what they had. It turned into a mall food court and I continued looking at the different stalls. Some were very fancy like a French place (with its own tables) while others were dirt cheap like a fast burrito place. It all looked very familiar as I kept walking; when I got out to the mall area, I realized I was in Minnesota. It was one long, wide aisle with maybe a dozen shops and the food court, with a large Lord and Taylor's at the end (though I think it actually said Lird and Vein's).

As I sat on one of the benches, my dad joined me. He mentioned that he had been there before in 1999 for one of President Clinton's speeches. He said he had done that sort of thing multiple times, picking math conferences just so he could be close to the different presidents. I had no idea he was so political.

We walked outside to join my mom and sister, and we started walking back to our hotel. It turns out we're in Sweden for vacation. My parents start walking ahead really fast, so I joined my sister who was going slower. As we crossed a bridge, two police cars came up and stopped at either end, one right next to my parents. I panicked, wondering if we had lost our IDs or something worse. But after a word from a policeman to my parents, they kept on going. I was curious. He talked to me next, saying, "The humming is getting louder." That's when I finally noticed a deafening hum coming from the river below, straight up through the bridge. As I continued on, all the ground became a dark asphalt.

I suddenly realized I couldn't see my parents anymore, so I dashed ahead of my sister and just barely stopped at the edge of an asphalt cliff. I looked over the edge and saw only more asphalt deep below, and it appeared to be billowing. I backed away slowly, then faster as the cliff's edge started billowing as well. I knew I'd die if I didn't keep running, but it overtook me in no time. I fell with the ground, knowing it was over. But then I started floating in it, in the big chunks of asphalt mixing around like water. It was so bouyant that other people and cars were floating around me. I blacked out with relief.

I woke up in a small locked room with maybe 20 other tourists. No one said a word, so I assumed we were locked up by the Swedish authorities for our own safety. It was bright through the window. An amazing-looking girl next to me drew my attention, but I didn't look for more than a few seconds when an older woman said, "That's Barbie." What? I looked at the girl's shirt, and there it was embroidered, pink on pink, "Barbie." Hmm.

I was suddenly in a different cell, and I guessed we were being shuffled around. No good-looking girls in this one. Some people had their laptops out while others were passing the time idly. As "entertainment," the authorities were passing around a phone containing a recording of an army captain's story about his brother bleeding or something. I quickly passed the phone on. Everyone else was sitting or lying on the floor, so I stood up and examined the room. There was a pair of keys hanging on a hook, so I surreptitiously slid them into my pocket. I saw two keyholes on the door, but they didn't seem to fit. I didn't want to arouse too much suspicion in case they were monitoring us, so I sat back down. Then I woke up.

posted by Larry at 10:15 AM