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