Once, a young woman was found murdered in her house along with a young man, of whom the papers said that "no bullets were found, but a pablano to the face." It turns out that the woman was Mike's aunt, so Mike, Tim, (both from high school), Kristen (from grad school), and I headed out to downtown Chicago to find her house and go through her things. We took local roads, and got quite lost in the affluent residential areas. We slowed down in a town that was packed with tourists - it was one of those old-timey towns filled with candy and ice cream shops, with a festival running down Main Street. We decided to stop off and check out one of the main festival/market buildings.

By now, my dad and his girlfriend (in real life my parents are still together) had joined us, and we were walking from stall to stall looking at the baked goods. Everything looked great, and I thought about how awesome it would be if a stall had Chinese egg tarts. I must have known by this point that this was a dream, because when the next stall magically had egg tarts, I rather cynically nodded my head. I split off to go to the bathroom, but got sidetracked by a sort of narrow curtained-off area. It was dark and mysterious, so it looked fun. It turned out to be filled with albums of old pictures of my family, and I got sad about my parent's separation (again, not in real life). I thought nostalgically about how good my parents were when I as young, and lamented about how hard things had gotten.

I walked back out to the checkout area and tried to hide and dry my face at the same time. The others didn't notice, as they were busy horsing around and paying for their food. Tim was trying to keep Mike from drawing with a marker on Kristen's shirt. Mike laughed and said something about how ridiculously long they've known each other. In real life, Mike and Tim have been friends for about 25 years (but they don't know Kristen). I thought about how I had managed to get into our wider circle of friends 7-8 years after they had first met each other. Very cool.

There was also something about an Excel sheet with a list of murder weapons, or maybe genes, but I don't remember it clearly any more.

posted by Larry at 10:31 AM

In the first dream, which I don't remember too well, I was in my college dorms where I joined some sort of improv group. They were putting on a small performance in someone's room. The audience was seated on 3-4 rows of plastic chairs, and I think it may have been a competition with judges sitting on the side. For some reason, I went into the adjoining room and fell asleep. Later, a girl walked in and asked me what I was doing there. It was pitch dark and I had trouble getting up. I tossed off a heavy blanket and blearily walked back into the first room, where they were having a midnight show. By then there were only a few people left in the audience, all from our troop. Kate Upton was one of us! But we were all suddenly distracted by something outside the window. Bulldozers were doing something, maybe knocking down the dorms, and everyone was all upset. There was also something about how my contacts could record things like a camera, but only for short intervals. I tried replaying the part where I saw Kate Upton, but it had got overwritten by someone else accidentally handling my contacts.

In the second dream, Merry and I had a son, and a month later we went to visit Hong Kong. She went first, a few days early, and left our son with me. I took him to the airport in a baby-blue carrying seat, very proud of people looking at him. At the boarding gate, as I was getting my ticket checked, for some reason the seat was stuck under the airline employee's booth, but it didn't bother me. I took him on board with me and watched him from my seat.

We had a layover in New York, and the boarding area was very confusing. It consisted of many heavy blast doors sealed off, and I couldn't find an employee to talk to. Eventually, I found a dock-like area and the woman working there wouldn't answer my questions, but instead just motioned me to follow. She started turning a huge wheel which slowly pushed a boarding ramp out over the water. As another passenger and I were about to get on, she abruptly started turning it other way, closing it again. She went back and forth several times as we started and stopped, until finally opening it the full way. I couldn't figure out if that was the protocol or if she was just messing with us.

Just before boarding, I suddenly realized I didn't have my son anymore. I quickly asked another worker if, since I checked him in with the baggage, that means I could just pick him up in Hong Kong. She thought it very strange that I checked him in, but said yes, they would deliver him if that was what I really did. As I sat on the 17 hour flight, on a very stark-looking white jet, I realized that I hadn't checked him in at all - I simply forgot to bring him to the second flight! I knew there was no way I had let him be checked in to be put in a cold cargo hold with the luggage. I went into full panic mode as we landed. At the airport, I fished out my tickets and other info, and looked for my friend Jason for advice, as he had been on the flight with me. He was playing a computer game at some internet booth, and was very annoyed that I interrupted him. He paused the game but didn't bother taking off his earphones, and simply said not to worry, the airline probably found him and it's not like some stranger took him. I thought about how Merry would never trust me again, and that this could mean the end of everything.

We were immediately on a monorail to our hotel, and I frantically asked the advice of someone next to me who was apparently my teacher. He was also annoyed by my questions and was busy looking out the window, as this was his first time to Hong Kong. (Side note: it was a magnificent view! We were really high up and could see the whole city to the ocean.) He just said to call the airline. I fervently said that there was no way Merry could ever know, and that I was glad my family didn't even know my flight dates. As soon as I said that, I saw my mom and sister in the seats in front of me and my dad next to me on my left, and I remembered that they were traveling with me. They turned and smiled at me, but hadn't heard my conversation.

The train became a cab with just me and my family in it. I briefly thought about telling my dad but decided not to at the last moment. Instead, I asked my mom how to call 1-800 numbers, and she said that she had United memorized - apparently because of all the problems she's had with them in real life - 24334. I dropped my tickets as I entered the hotel, and they got wet from earlier rain. I scrabbled to pick them up, but they broke apart from the wetness. I sighed and scooped up the fragments. Once inside, I let my family go on ahead upstairs to the room, and I paused in a kitchen-like area that had a touchtone phone. As the maids milled about and me still in a panic, I dialed the number but got a no connection tone. I sighed again and started to look for a phonebook. I can't describe the relief I had when I woke up.

posted by Larry at 6:33 AM

I was sitting in class when I noticed Adam standing at the window looking intently out. I saw a long streak of jet-black cloud, almost cartoonishly so. I jumped up over to the window, which took up most of the broad wall. More distinctly black clouds stretched out to the right, and I instantly recognized it as true tornado weather. The classroom started chattering as Adam and I looked nervously up and down the street. Suddenly, he pointed to the far right and shouted "Look, there!" There were four or five tornadoes touching down simultaneously! They looked like they were drawn in, like animated chalk lines superimposed over the scenery. I didn't panic yet because there was no destruction going on at any of the points of contact. I crossed my fingers, but just as I was starting to relax, I saw some funnels touch down on our side of the street and start breaking trees. Adam said, "Oh no, that's the Brook House!" as a tornado touched down on the building where I lived, and where my sister also had an apartment.

Panic started to grip me, and I instinctively turned, bent low, put my hands over my head, and ran for the doorway. It was just in time, as the window blew inward, shattering glass which cut my left hand at the knuckle. It even hurt for a couple seconds, but I just kept running. I saw a heavy red couch at the back of the room and scrambled behind it, now on all fours. All the while, wind and glass kept vortexing into the room, which was so swirling now with debris that I could barely see if other people were safe. All I could think about was the building collapsing under the force of the winds, so I knew I couldn't wait it out where I was. I grabbed the couch, which now became a light, unfolded futon, and ran out the door into the hallways.

I knew there must be a courtyard somewhere in the middle of the school without a roof, so I walked briskly up and down the hallways, still shielding myself with the futon just in case. Although it seemed like the threat of glass was over, it was still raining and blowing heavily so the building was still in danger. It seemed that the school also housed army training courses, and lots of uniformed young men were roaming the halls. I finally found an open area, but the rain was too much. I decided to find a way out for good. I reached a dead end in the hallway and turned around, when I ran into some of the classmates. One guy said, "Look around for anything with alternating steps, we need a makeshift ladder." They kept walking in the opposite direction. I intently scanned the walls as I headed towards what I hoped was the exit, but other than a few metal barrier pieces that were too short for ladders, I didn't see anything and felt like I was letting them down.

Finally, the hallway opened up to the downtown. The skyline seemed intact other than a few broken windows. Suddenly, I saw a large building tipped over and swaying dangerously back and forth, right across the street from me! I stepped back reflexively, but that's when I noticed it was swaying in increments, like a neon sign. Finally, I realized that it was only an animated display on the side of a large bus, advertising an amusement park that had a leaning building just like in the picture. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I considered heading to the subway entrance just to my right, when I remembered I should check on my sister first. I was still holding the futon.

In the next dream, Adam and I were part of a mafia outfit. We were in a barber shop waiting to perform a hit on one of our own guys who had become a dangerous loose cannon. We hid before the guy came in, and he looked like a young punk, maybe 20 or so, with a blonde bowl haircut. He was skinny and kind of goofy looking, but we knew he was a psychotic killer. When the barber put a hot towel over his face before shaving, Adam sneaked over and whispered in the barber's ear. He put a gun on the chair and told the barber to shoot the mark as soon as he took off the towel. I thought it was a terrible plan, but after a few moments, I realized it was probably just a distraction ploy. When the towel came off, the mark immediately saw the "gun," which was bright metallic blue and looked almost like a toy. He shouted for us to "come out" and walked angrily over to the window to look for snipers.

Adam jumped out from behind a doorway and threw a rubber ball at the mark, distracting him. When he turned around, Adam had a lighter and hairspray, and he let loose a flame directly onto the mark's face. He screamed and collapsed in the corner. I grabbed the blue gun, which now just looked like a long cylinder, and pushed a button on top. Hairspray came out. Adam said, "Yeah, I don't know where I got that from." By this time, the flames had gone out and the mark had recovered. He ran to for the door, but I grabbed him just as he was opening it. Suddenly, the barber rattled off a bunch of shots from a machine gun and the mark went down. I jumped back, screaming, "What the heck man?" I was just lucky not to get hit. Amazingly, the mark got up and, slumping slightly, managed to get his hand on the doorknob. A couple was outside, and we recognized the guy as a rival gang member who the mark had also worked for. The mark shouted, "No, please!" as the guy outside pulled out a machine gun. He shot the mark point blank in the face about half a dozen times, laughed, and walked off. I turned away, not wanting to see how horrible he must have looked after that. Somehow, he was still alive and Adam took the time to taunt him. Amazed at his resilience, I slowly turned back to look. His face was totally fine! It was then that I decided this must be a cheap TV show and they couldn't afford good special effects.

posted by Larry at 10:07 AM