I was living on the top floor of a little run-down old apartment building, in a tiny studio. Although it was past midnight, I was really hungry and decided to head out to Burger King. The elevator was just big enough for one person, and it rattled and shook as it crawled its way down eight flights. I was getting worried that it would fall, even as it slowed down further and further. Just as it was about to hit the first floor, it bounced back up and headed up to the fourth. I quickly hit the button for five, and took the stairs down from there. It turns out I had to crawl through a cramped tunnel in the basement to get outside; looking back at the front door, I saw it was completely blocked by a pile of unhealthy-looking gray powder. I got in my car from the garage to the left, but never made it to Burger King.

Next thing I know, I'm pacing back and forth on a street several blocks away, considering whether to walk home or take a cab (as my car had disappeared). By the time I decided on a taxi, there were several other people already hailing for one. I quickly stepped out and waved my hand as well, but the others kept crowding me out. I felt like I was losing the battle, so I ran back up the street further to catch an early cab. For a while, all the ones that went by had their light off. Finally, a whole crowd of lit cabs came on down, and I hurriedly ran up to the first one and asked if she was free. She said, "if you think you can fit." It was then that I realized that they were little girls in Mickey Mouse hats with a taxi light on top, and that their "cab" was a small glass drum strapped to their backs. I was bewildered, but noticed that it looked like they were part of a parade. I finally decided to just walk home.

Instantly, I was in my bed trying to load up Starcraft on my laptop. There wasn't anyone else on the local network, so I called Toan and Seol, my college buddies who played the game with me back then, and asked if they wanted to move in with me. They appeared immediately with their laptops, all settled in, and I shared my game on the network for them to download. Toan got it right away, but Seol was doing something else, and we were getting impatient with him. I went over to download it for him, but soon our laptops turned into large desktops with 40-inch monitors like we were at a workstation. In fact, we were seated in a row like in an office, and I saw my boss coming over out of the corner of my eye. I quickly exited the game and started up Powerpoint. Unfortunately, that's all she saw, as she left, disappointed in me, before I could load up any data. I was more than a little worried about that. Toan had already gone to his beautiful 3-D display of some chemistry reactions or something like that. With nothing else to do, I sighed and walked down the aisle. It turns out that our stations were all part of a high school science fair, one in which all students' families were to help out. Just to my left was an enormous aquarium that reached to the ceiling and was a couple dozen feet wide and deep. Inside were these huge, fat seahorses swimming around, with thick, cannister-like bodies. I boggled at how much work the family had to do to construct the aquarium, fill it up, and transport the seahorses. Amazing.

posted by Larry at 8:56 AM

For the first time in a long time, I had a dream continuation. Back at the camp, I was wandering up and down the residence halls, looking for something to do. The end of the hall opened up into a small dance room with a stage, and it was clearly single's night. I left immediately. As I was strolling through the parking lot, I saw that my labmate Katherine had been duct-taped to the hood of a car. I stopped to help, but noticed that the tape near her mouth didn't actually cover it, so she could talk. Seemed suspicious. As I neared, I saw a glimpse of a pair of sandals disappear under the passenger door as it closed. I immediately knew it was an elaborate prank to scare people trying to help. The car suddenly peeled out, with everyone inside and Katherine laughing. I stood there stone-faced, trying to make sure they knew they hadn't "got me." Inside, I saw a bunch of C-list celebrities, and I yelled out "I saw those sandals. I knew it was you, Saget."

Back in my room, I looked over the schedule again and sighed. It had already been almost a week, and the camp didn't end until June 20, another two weeks away. I had been away from my experiments for too long and didn't want to miss any more work. I made up my mind to leave the following night and started to pack up my backpack. The room was much nicer than before, more along the lines of a four-star hotel, with a canopied bed, attached bathroom, and elegant furnishings. Steve and Lynn came in, and I asked them if they were leaving soon too. They said they'd stay another few days and that would be it.

posted by Larry at 9:23 AM

My parents dropped me off for a week-long summer camp at the local college; I wasn't a little kid though. I went straight to my dorm room, which was a nice clean, white affair with just two beds and a couple desks. Turns out my labmate Steve was my roommate, though he only stopped by to drop off his stuff before he hurried out to the first day's activities. I took out my laptop and booted it up; in the meantime I took out my iPod touch and tried to get wireless. No luck. It was going to be a long week. I took out the schedule sheet, which had talks, fun stuff, and classes, though I have no idea what any of them were anymore. I headed out to the buses up front, which would take us to the various areas.

Next thing I know, I'm sneaking out of the camp along with Steve and Tim to a wedding reception nearby. It was Tyler Jack's (a cancer research bigshot), and the reception was taking place outdoors overlooking a beautifully manicured hill. We saw from the bottom of it that several other big-time researchers were chatting on top of the hill. We soon took our places on metal folding chairs just to the left of the bride and groom's table, and I saw some of my old lab members there as well. By this time, we were in a little church-like area, with two walls that was otherwise open to the air. Tyler gave a little speech thanking everyone, and I was surprised that he knew all of our names. After that, we headed over to the food, which was spread out over four enormous tables containing platter after platter of crispy, soft, buttery danishes of all flavors. I greedily piled my plate full of one of each kind, from raspberry to strawberry to cheese. I even took a bite which melted directly in my mouth. I smiled, even while thinking how awful this was for my cholesterol. As usual though, I didn't get to eat any more than that.

We hurried back to the buses, but missed ours by just a few seconds as it pulled out in front of us. We were stuck for a few more minutes, so I decided to do some window-gazing. The area looked a lot like O'Hare airport, with giant windows and seating areas abutting the bus lanes. My window looked out over a sea or ocean, and I suddenly noticed that scuba divers were coming up in a circle, holding an enourmous rope net. I quickly realized I would be seeing something unusual, and pulled out my iPod (which for some reason had a camera) and started recording. As they pulled up, it seemed that our depot was sinking down, and I could see the fish that were being caught in the net. There were gigantic fish swimming about, and I could even see them on my little camera screen at the same time. We soon reached the sea floor, and I saw an octopus and a manta ray, both larger than me. It was awe-inspiring. In the split second that I turned around to check on the buses, the view outside shot right back up to ground level, which I could tell because it bounced a bit after hitting the final layer. I frantically tried to replay the video, but I just couldn't find it. I guessed that I didn't hit the record button right.

Instead of boarding the next bus, I noticed that people from our camp were crowding around a small, but long booth that sat just to our right. It seemed that the camp leaders were giving a speech, so I squeezed into the crowd somewhere. But that's all I got to do before I woke up.

posted by Larry at 9:07 AM