Dream Update: Week 7

February 26:

I was walking along a busy sidewalk in the springtime. Out of nowhere comes one of my old roommates Melissa on roller blades with her dog dragging her. I moved to side and crouched down to get out of the way of their rampage, but at last second she decided to jump over me instead of passing by me. I ended up getting kicked in the face by her roller blades.

Later, I was feel so sick that I didn't go to Christmas with either side of the family's grandparents. Zack did go though, and he brought me back candy coated sunflower seed "cashews" from his grandparents (the jar said cashews, but they were sunflower seeds...neither of which I like) and a devotional from my grandparents (one side) but I didn't get anything from my grandma on the other side.

Then I discovered a hoard of weevils on top of the cupboard–which was a little too close to reality for comfort because a couple weeks ago I did actually discover a hoard of weevils in the (new, unopened) bag of flour I had. Apparently I am still scarred from that little encounter.

February 27: 

A sort of jumpy dream where I was either in a fantasy world or I was running a D&D game (and it flipped back and forth a lot). I attended/ran a dwarf wedding, which, in the world, consisted of the couple putting Chapstick or lipstick on each other and then kissing to seal their marriage. Jenna and Zack both attended the wedding. 

Later Jenna and I ran this mud race together and, at the end, had the chance to do it again. We were going to, but the line was way too long. While we walked back to the car amid fields of mud, we fought some sort of large creature, though I don't recall what it looked like now.

February 28:

Apparently this is my dream game mash-up

I was playing a board game that was sort of like Sentinels of the Multiverse meets Betrayal at House on the Hill. The game was played on a board but only outside squares were filled in while the inside squares remained blank for players to populate. Each player assumed the role of  a notorious villain and had a hand of cards. They could play cards on people or on the board depending on the card type and would win the game by being the last villain alive. There was a GM there as well, but I'm not sure why since the game ran without his input just fine.

Later, my friend Anna and I were at this large, wooden table in a restaurant chatting. Matt (another friend from high school) suddenly appeared a little further down the table sketching in a notebook. The lights suddenly became very bright, but he assured us that he needed the light for his sketching. He told us he was working here at this restaurant for the time being while his art career got off the ground.

February 29: 

I was a red-haired teenager in a future world where women couldn't get pregnant naturally. Somehow, though, I ended up getting pregnant, and everyone was just fawning over me. My best friend in the dream was upset and felt ignored because of all the attention on me until I told her I wanted her to do the delivery rather than the best of the best nurse they'd assigned to me.

March 2: 

I was at my old house with the quartet I sang in in high school. We were singing "All I Want for Christmas is You" in G. Alyssa commented that, "At least we got past B".

I was riding in a car and realized there was a spider under the seat. There was some panic going on and all of a sudden the car on fire (maybe I decided it was a small price to pay to kill the spider? I'm not sure). There was also a prince there who was fat and spoiled. After I helped put out fire for him, he stopped acting like such a brat though.
 
I was going to take a shower in a public restroom and was excited because the big shower in handicapped stall was open and no one else was around. Then some random guy tried to take I from me (which wasn't at all weird in the dream, but now that I think about it...) In any case, I said no and he went away.

March 3:
 
I was at my friend Anna's grandma's wedding where I spent a lot time just trying to get through the crowd. I wore hot pink tank top and a sweatshirt and white shorts. As I escaped the crowds, I ended up exploring an underground dungeon and realized that I was a warlock. I never actually ran into any monsters in the dungeon, but sensed them all over. Still, I chose the creepy dank dungeon over the pressing, small-talking crowd upstairs.

Then I was on a game show that was supposedly The Price is Right, but was also sort of Jeopardy, but also you could just make stuff up to try to one up your opponents. Things like: "I can curl my tongue." And the whole audience would go, "Ooh!" Yeah. Burn.

Dream Update: Week 6

February 19:

I had a dream that I dreamed about being at the cafe at Northwestern with Star (friend from high school), Zack and a voice actress with purple hair.

Later in real life (in the dream), Zack and I met the actress. We went to Northwestern where she and Star greeted each other like old friends. I freaked out because "Guys! I dreamed this! I dreamed this exact situation!"

I got some sweet treats and pretzels.

Tyler was driving me to work, and I was providing turn by turn instructions. I took a large bite of some food and was unable to tell him he had a turn. I pounded on the windows to indicate that he should turn, but he missed it. We ended up on this long, narrow one-way road behind a bunch of bicyclists who were going super slow, and I was panicking because I was going to be late to work.

Later, I lived in a world half-flooded by gorgeous crystalline water because zombies had overtaken and the only way to survive was to live under the water, so humanity had adapted into these vast underwater cities.

Then I dreamed that Zack and I had two apartments--our current apartment and our old apartment. Suddenly, I realized that we never moved out of old and we were paying rent twice, and all our stuff was randomly split between the two.

February 20:

I wore a giant mech suit that had come from aliens. It used to scare me, but I had learned to control it. Wearing the suit, I led an army of skeletons who obeyed my every command. A bevy of police came to "rescue" me, so me, Kevin Hart (yes, the comedian) and his grandma made them think we were completely insane--driven mad by being around these skeletons for so long--then we sicced our skeleton army on them.

Later I was wandering in a post-apocalyptic world trying to survive. I found a Popsicle on the sidewalk at night in Duluth and ate it crouched down, huddled in the snow. Red juice dropped from it, and when threatening gangs approached, I used it to convince them that I'd killed someone here so they kept their distance. Eventually this kid came up and threatened to beat me up if I didn't give him my DMG book. I said no, so he got his big brother--much taller and meaner, wearing a rabbit fur hat. Big brother also threatened me, but I stood my ground and they left. I traded the book at a seedy pawn shop and got some money for it instead.
 
February 21:

Zack and I were at Matt and Jenna's apartment (but it looked more like the Arden dorms). I was working on some craft while they all watched a movie, and I put pins in my mouth to hold them. Jenna and Zack kept talking to me, and I kept almost swallowing the pins. Then as we were wrapping up, I spit all the leftover pins out but some got so far back on my throat I couldn't get them out. I was panicking and not able to speak and trying not to swallow at all. Eventually they realized that I had pins in my mouth so Zack got a turkey baster and tried to suck them out but it didn't work. I swallowed and all the pins went down, which was terrifying but didn't actually end up hurting me.

Later I was walking on the trails through the woods at my old house. I saw a black bear but managed to scare him away, which was good because at that point I realized I was stuck in the snow on the trail and unable to move.

February 22:

I drove my dad's awesome giant truck to the gas station on County Rd D and Cleveland. I had to circle twice to get to pump because I was so unused to driving such a large vehicle. I filled up the tank only to realize at last second that I should have been at the diesel pump. Sorry, dad!

I was back at my high school and trapped in a really boring Bible class. The teacher started taking suggestions on what our next project should be. One boy suggested writing our own version of the Bible, and I wholly supported that. We spent the rest of the class talking about interpretation of Scripture and making it have a "Lakeview" voice.

February 23:

This dream started set at a swimming pool/skate park. Everyone there was showing off. Carter, Hunter, Zack and I were super excited about this. Later we attended a life-or-death performance for the king. The guy performing in the arena didn't impress the king, so was executed. One guard drew a line across the man's throat before slitting it with his dagger in a gurgling mass. I shot an arrow from the stands to finish him off, despite the fact that I knew it would land the king and his guard's after me.
 
February 24:

I dreamed I went back to my old job. Sandy, my old boss, was super happy to have me back, but I kept saying it was only temporary and demanding various things if I were to stay (my own office with window, a raise, an hour for lunch, etc). Then I dreamed I was at my current job and that I eEnt outside to hang with the smokers so I could better bond with people. I didn't smoke, but for some reason I pretended too (with an invisible cigarette) and hoped no one would notice.

My sister Nicole was going to have surgery and I took one of her kids (not sure which....it was a baby but was really more like Tinzely, my cousin's daughter). Nicole was super nervous and asked me why I didn't have a letter or poem written for her to give her before the operation. I said that since it was an emergency procedure and I'd just restarted a new job I didn't have time. But I felt bad. We cried together before she went in.

Later I dreamed I was with Matt and Will (high school friends) in a van and learned I was going to be in a parade and this van was our float. I was completely unprepared but made them pull over so I could use the stuff I had in the car to do some last minute decorating.

February 25:

I dreamed I was my D&D character, but that I was disguised as a gnome. Our party arrived at this village just as it was being attacked. We ended up separated from one another in the chaos of the battle. I escaped the battle and found a dark, back-alley shop where people were selling ancient books and scrolls to smugglers who, upon successful smuggling, could resell the books/scrolls to the king who wanted them and turn a profit. The more ancient the book/scroll, the more costly it was to buy up front but the higher the reward upon successful delivery.

I waited in line and when I got to the front started chatting with the girl handing out the books. She gave the more rare books and scrolls to those she deemed worthy and more likely to make a successful delivery. Once I'd gained her trust, I prodded her about where the really good stuff was kept and, after some persuading, she consented to show me later when other customers weren't around. I hung out until the end of the day, waiting until she and her sister closed the shop. I went back with them to their home where they lived with a mish-mash of others people in this very communal setting. Next door was a creepy tower owned by the town's cosmetologist. There was a skeleton in upper tower.

At first I wasn't accepted by the group, but I ingratiated myself by joining in on their fireside stories with a few of my own (all lies that I was very convincing about) and by helping the kids with chores. Finally, they conceded an old, old scroll to me at no cost. At this point it was quite late, and they started to lock up the house for the night, but I protested. I had arrived in this town with my party and needed to go find them--I didn't even know if they had survived the battle that split us up at the beginning!

Someone pointed out that they had put a gold coin on the porch and it was now gone.
"That's no big deal," I said. "Any good pickpocket would see that."
They all became very suspicious of me then (rightly so), eyes narrowing.
I quickly amended, "I mean anyone would see that." And I gave them a coy wink.

After more convincing, I got a small group of them to risk going out at night with me to find my companions. The group started searching for my friends but they were all pretty lazy and started resting all the time by the beach area.

 I was getting upset at them and kept asking, "How are we ever going to find them like this?"

That's when I noticed Zack/Malazar (his D&D character) hanging out in the same beach. I called his name and ran to him, but rather than greeting me with a hug, he just quickly pulled me aside toward the water. I noticed then that he had a girl with him on the beach. I got mad and shoved him into the water where he was knocked unconscious. Not actually wanting to hurt him, I dragged him out and started CPR. After resuscitation, he told me to leave him alone.

I was crushed and began to wander off when I found the giant in our party (Grog, a character from Critical Role) and gnome cleric (Pike, also from Critical Role). They were very happy to see me and Grog gave me a big hug, picking me up off the ground. He and I went on this carnival ride together, which was scary because he was way over the weight limit, but we made it through okay.

The cast of Critical Role -- Grog is in the back...drinking, of course.

Dream Update: Week 5

February 12: 

I was a princess and wanted to marry this non-prince but my father wouldn't let me. I sneaked out and was kissing this handsome nonprice boy in a field when the king found me. He took me home and forbade me to see him again. The boy and I secretly planned to run away. I packed a bag with the essentials (including some pretzel bites) and left the castle at night to meet up with the boy. We ran across a field that had been recently re-planted so ran over grass seeds on soil instead of grass itself.

We eventually made it to a campground where we joined with some new friends having fun and drinking lemonade. A woman camping nearby had 6 white fluffy dogs that yipped at anything that moved. They gave us away, and my dad found me, making me get into the limo so he could take me home. I escaped the limo and ran away again. He drove his limo right into the grocery store through the aisles to catch me again (in the produce section, by the way).

I dreamed that I walked into a Walmart and was selling a rifle. This led to a long discussion about the potential dangers of private gun sales as I grabbed random strangers and offered to sell them the gun.

I was DMing for some friends and one of their friends walked in. He thought it was super cool that I DM'd and asked if I would for him and his friends.

February 13:

You know that commercial where there's a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies and a woman goes to a gas station and starts accidentally calling them all there over the gas station's speaker system? I dreamed that I was that lady.

Tyler and Kyra needed a ride somewhere but didn't tell us. Zack had been planning to make the trip on his own, but I got a call from Kyra's dad and Zack ended up giving them a ride.

There were these very small people--like the borrowers--(myself included) who were fated to live with assigned big-people families until they did enough deeds to be freed. However, we soon realized that there was no system in place to keep track of good deeds and we were doing and that the big people were really just looking for a way to keep us imprisoned forever. Us little folks planned secret meetings at this giant old barn to determine our deeds and tracking. As I went to this meeting, it was pouring rain and I arrived drenched, but with piles and piles of papers to go through.

Me, Matt, Jenna and Felicity were on a wooden bench swing but it was too crazy for Felicity, so I took her over to the grass to pick dandelions. I put her down and the second I did she bent down and chomped up a big mouthful of grass. I got it out of her mouth and put her down again, but this time she got a big mouthful of dirt (from the spot she'd already picked all the grass from earlier).

Matt and I talked about Matt Mercer before going to play this game where you're all gold fish. The rules made NO sense. For example, the more timid your fish was, the higher your initiative. We played in this caveish feeling area and had an iPad at the table with little fish and bubbles floating up from their mouths.

I made a pie, but the crust was all piecey and didn't turn out. Which is sad cuz I make a mean pie crust.

February 14:

I was driving a small two-door red car home from work, but I couldn't stop no matter how hard I stepped on the brakes. I was continually narrowly missing accidents and missing turns etc. While on this fiasco of a drive, I heard a commercial on radio that Texas Roadhouse had donuts, so I went there (somehow managing to stop my car in the parking lot). I went inside and grabbed a shopping cart, but then couldn't find a place to park it. By the time I did, I went up to the register, only to find that they didn't have any donuts and only had sheet cakes. The girl behind register told me she had s tattoo of a belt with holsters and pistols, but I only saw top of it above her jeans. It was metallic gold and silver. I told her I had the same tattoo but with a smaller belt buckle.

Kurt J (relative of mine) started working at my work's at front desk. We had an awkward conversation every time I got in in the morning.

There was a party at work, but there wasn't enough food for everyone and (somehow) too many kids appeared out of nowhere, completely hyper and unruly.

I was at a high school class party and all the girls were swimming in the river. I chose to go hang out with the guys playing soccer instead.

February 15:

I was playing volleyball at a large gym with my high school team, but all our balls were super flat. No one on team would really listen to me as I tried to take control as captain. No one would partner with me for warm ups either. Ended up in chat room and also underwater sort of. Then team trusted me. (I have literally NO idea what that bit about the chat room and underwater is all about. I write my notes down the second I wake up so I think I was still half-asleep when I wrote that one).

I had been camping with parents and we just got home, but not everything in the camper had been put away properly, so it had flown everywhere in transit. I didn't have time to clean it up though because I had to get to school, and I going to be late. This was complicated by the fact that I was wearing shorts but had unshaven legs and needed to either take the time to shave or change.

Once I got to school, Mr. O (teacher) sat down and had and heart to heart with me and it was really nice.

Papa Tony was working on fixing up an old red motorcycle in the shed.

February 16:

The room I was in had angled, wood-paneled ceilings with skylights built in to allow light to the rain forest plants throughout the space. My parents and siblings were there hanging out with only one other group there (a couple man and college-aged boys). We were trying to get this giant foam remote control plane to fly but it kept crashing. Eventually I finagled with the mechanics enough so that it would fly, but by that time the motor was so worn out that the entire craft began to smoke.

I was in the basement of my old church where they were serving food to the VBS volunteers. Abby, one of the girls who went there, handed me a baby girl to hold. She was wearing pink pants with a pattern on them. Zack and I got food even though we didn't volunteer since there was a ton leftover. They served burritos and wraps, but I opted for the eggs and sausages.  Zack had been planning to leave for New York for friend's Bachelor party, but they postponed at last minute. Then he saw a menu from the restaurant they were going to be, and it had their group's name printed in it. He was upset, thinking the guys had gone to the party without him, until I pointed out that they probably printed the menus before the party was canceled.

February 17:

I was at a hotel with Zack, Ben, Tiana, and her dad. We were eating pizza (pepperoni and Hawaiian, to be specific), but her dad didn't want any. I wanted to cut a piece in half but couldn't find a pizza wheel.

Zack and I were in a tropical rain forest running from something/one.

I was at a small church with my family and after the service, they were having a pasta dinner fundraiser for a coupe whose house had burned down. I went down to the basement for the lunch, but only found this old rocking chair (which, according to my mother, was "the perfect rocking chair" because of how it moved) and noodles boiling to death on the stove with no one attending them.

February 18:

My mother-in-law got candy canes for everyone, but Tucker, Hunter and Carter (brothers-in-law) fought over them and broke a bunch. Zack and I were left to pick of all the broken ones left.

I watched an old black and white history video where one guy started boldly quoting a poem and soon everyone around him joined in. Inspired, one of my friends and I tried it. Fail. Everyone just started like we were crazy.

On Tuesday night, I realized I'd made plans with both Anna and Alyssa for Wednesday morning. I planned to text one and cancel but forgot. When morning came I was getting ready in a panic and trying to figure out how to back out on one of them at the last minute without being a jerk.

Dream Update: Week 4

February 6:
 There was a wedding going on and pterodactyls flying above. Attending the wedding was Victor (one of my brother's childhood friends) and his girlfriend with their baby along with Lina (one of my oldest sister's high school friends). After the ceremony, everyone was hanging out at the reception. I sat at a picnic table with Tyler, Zack and I. We were surrounded by a forest and bit of open lawn where the ceremony had occurred. In addition to the standard pterodactyls flying above, there were also giant angry birds whose call was painfully piercing. I ran away from their calls and cowered by a tree with hands over my ears. While crouching there, I saw a tiny yellow jacket whose body was completely transparent. I knew that their stings were very painful, so I risked the wrath of the angry bird calls and ran.

Later, I visited my friend Anna at her new home and discovered that her living room entirely decorated with safari themed objects...literally everywhere. There were knickknacks on every imaginable surface, including all over the keys of the piano in the corner. I mean, I like zebras and giraffes as much as the next person but...

Later I was at my old house and driving the 4-wheeler around with dad. My socks got wet...I hate wet socks.

Then, I was an assassin but my benefactor turned on me and sent guys after me. I climb up into this pine tree (very similar to the ones I used to climb as a kid) but the assassins found me and started to climb up after me. We had an epic fight in trees where I killed them all silently by swooping down from above to break their necks or by sending branches down to them that were covered in honey (to attract bees) or poison from the pine needles. I managed to keep all the bodies up in the branches with me so as not to give away my position, but then one body fell to ground. I jumped down so I could hide it, but snow I landed in was too deep and every time I moved in it, I sunk a little lower. So I was left with the option of moving to escape and being suffocated in the snow, or remaining still and letting the impending second group of assassins find me.

February 7:  
It was graduation day. I was running late to get to Northwestern on time, so I ran into the auditorium just a minute before the ceremony started. All the students were seated in alphabetical order, caps and gowns in pristine condition, and most of the audience was already there as well. As I made my way to my seat, I stopped to say hello to a friend. The dean of the college came out on the stage and patronizingly told me where to find my seat. He then made a joke about how I managed to get through college without knowing how to alphabetize. The entire auditorium laughed. I told the dean  that he was rude and inconsiderate and demanded an apology. Everyone laughed at me again, so I ran away crying. Eventually I did come back and walked across the stage to get my diploma. After that, though, I couldn't find a job. In desperation, I took part-time one at TJ Maxx, but my first shift came and I decided not to go.

I dreamed that Tyler and Kyra were pregnant and looking to buy a house because they needed another bedroom. Anna was shocked.

There was a play (set in the 50s) about racial tension being done on a dirt road. I offered to stop traffic so no one would get hurt but they all refused.

For a brief time in my dream, I was dating Matt (from high school) again. We ran into this guy with video game that he was convinced was real. When he started showing it to Zack and I (because at this point I had stopped dating Matt and was with Zack again), we were we sucked into the game. At first it was like stepping onto the pages of a coloring book, but the colors constantly changed in shades of neon. As the colors settled, we found ourselves at this log cabin fortress fighting dragon on the edge of a cliff. We weren't doing well, despite the fact that we'd managed to get it near the edge of the cliff, when suddenly it fell off cliff. Although we were relieved, we couldn't figure out why it fell until rock monster who had been hiding just below the edge of the cliff came out. He almost fell as he climbed out because he was so exhausted from pulling the dragon down. As he climbed up to us, we saw the dragon flying away. We headed inside log cabin fortress to recover. Zack and I headed outside then singing a duet of "Baby It's Cold Outside". Matt pointed out that it, in fact, was 40 degrees out and therefore not cold. Oh for 40 degree weather again!

February 8:
A very piecemealed dream on this day. I remember being at Northwestern, but every single studen there had multiple tattoos and piercings. We played volleyball on the island and were offered a time share. Then I was Harry Potter in hospital bed recovering (from something) and also trying to solve a crime from the hospital.

February 9:
I was the Dread Pirate Roberts (awesome!) and was engaged in an epic sword fight with the six-fingered man. I was winning and man was badly wounded. I pushed his face against a wall, and he tried to stab through himself to get me but I dodged to the side. From this self-inflicted wound, he shrank to the ground and I thought he was dead, but at the last second he sprung up with a dagger and stabbed me in the stomach. Then he really did die, and I staggered to  the ground knowing I couldn't remove the blade fear of bleeding out. So I had to live with feeling the dagger in my body.

Then I dreamed I was in Victorian era and had been promised to marry this guy, but Zack was there and we secretly loved each other. I was pregnant with Zack's child but miscarried. I tried to hide that and mourn alone so no one would find out about our secret, but Zack came and found me and told me he wasn't going to let me go through that alone.

I was hanging out at Coffee Lake (the lake my grandpa's house used to be on). Floating out in the lake was a giant floaty in the shape of a hand that had the Coke logo on it. It was really difficult to get onto, but at least had an anchor to keep it in the general area, which was on the far side of the lake in between the spot where the cows would drink water and the spot where the rusty ghost chair sits in the trees. Later this floaty was joined by similar Pepsi floaty. I grabbed both ropes and pulled both around the lake. Despite there being lots of seaweed, I never actually touched any of it.

Jenna and I were playing chess with pieces made of stacked chocolate-covered candies and sweets. The rules were that if you eat a piece, it's gone. There were delicious marshmallow pieces and Jenna was eating them all so I had to as well so I could get one. While we played she told me about one of her nerdy student's named Marlin who wore big glasses and had adorable freckles.

Dreamed I was Christian (the lead male from Moulin Rouge) and was going through this house trying to survive because my allies had turned on me.

February 10:
I only remember one thing from this dream: Eat fresh fruit, not dried, because the sugars in them are different.

February 11:
I was hanging out in the woods with Tyler. There were lots of beasts, but we managed to avoid them. After that, I was and kid again and playing with Nicole at awesome playground.

Later I was in space on mission to destroy enemy's transponder ships. I took bottom four while the rest of the team took the top three. It was down to the wire, but we did it!

After this, there was a small snippet of being in the girl's bathroom at my high school getting ready for track practice.

Dream Update: Week 3

January 29:
Despite the fact that I've never seen the movie, I dreamed that I was Elsa from Frozen (side bar: last year I also had a dream about the song “Let It Go” before I’d heard the song). The dream started, though, with this beautiful depiction of Elsa's mom, who was this sort of ethereal wind person, desperately trying to chase away the clouds. She ran to the edges of the world to grab the corners of the clouds and pull them back like large silk sheets exposing the sky. It was gorgeous. After years of this chasing though, she pulled back an exceptionally large cloud and collapsed on a stone cliff by the sea in exhaustion. Clouds spilled over the cliff from behind her, climbing to the sky and covering all the work she's just done. Anna (Elsa sister) was there, as a young toddler, crawling around on the rocks. I meanwhile wandered away and pondered whether the clouds coming was my doing. I was feeling quite bad until the dad--a woodsman with long hair a scruffy beard and a thick accent and a big fur vest, found me. He reminded me that I shouldn't be ashamed of who I am and that each one of us is a light, no matter what the clouds do.

For some reason, me, Zack and some friends decided to have a movie night at my old boss's house. We arrived and Zack parked in the driveway by I told him to move to the street because my boss thought it was rude to park in people's driveways (true story). So we did. We went inside where it was pretty awkward. Boss's husband got me a drink and then I visited with their dog which was great. Out of nowhere, Daniel P. showed up and I freaked out that he was taller than me (despite the fact that this has been the case for years now).

I was at the office and decide that our clients should send us apparel from their companies to wear, since we spend so much time in their data. Everyone agreed. We all got cool performance polos.

January 30:
On a mission to adopt a kitten, Zack and I visited this shelter, which was actually this awesome old house full of cats. With the feel of creepy haunted mansion crossed with Victorian-era sensibility, the house seemed perfectly comfortable with cats crawling all over it. But we weren’t looking for a cat, we were looking for a kitten. After searching all three floors of the house and the chain-link fenced yard outside, we still had no luck. Until I was crawling around on the floor checking under the furniture. I found the cutest, fluffiest kitten in the world under the couch, but it was $250 to adopt which was sadly outside of our budget.

We left house only to find a rope laying on the ground outside. It trailed off into the forest and somehow we just knew that this rope would lead us to treasure. With that we could buy our kitten! We took off running into the trees, following the rope as it snaked along the ground. Twice we tumbled into pit traps along the trail, but eventually we ended up at the neighboring crazy school where the kinds had taken over and gone tribal a la Lord of the Flies. They were decked out in war paint and carried makeshift weapons primarily constructed from school supplies. After watching them from a safe distance, we decided it was safest to leave them be.

Later we were at a football game with Anna. Afterwards we were chilling in Canal Park, sitting on the sidewalk outside a bar. Out of nowhere, a ballerina in teal shoes appeared and began to dance on the sidewalk.

Becca got kicked off the bachelor via greeting card written in orange magic marker.

I tried to dye my hair red but instead it was half blonde and half sorta red and looked terrible. I resigned myself to staying a home until it grew out because I couldn't bear the idea of coming somewhere to have it fixed. I kept on thinking, “I should have had Kyra do this for me.”

January 31:
A twisting gravel road bisected fields of corn until it came to stop at a lovely country home with a large front porch and adorably shuttered windows. The woman who owned the home was quiet overweight and wore her scraggly hair up in an exhausted scrunchie. I had arrived early for my friend Tahni’s birthday party. The woman (apparently her mom, though she looked nothing like her mom) asked me to help wrap some final presents. There were already SO many, all in a messy pile. The woman sucked at wrapping—she just wound wrapping paper around and around each box like a blanket and then taped down any edges that stuck up too far for her liking. The whole time we wrapped, she complained about spending too much on the gifts. Her lament was interrupted by the doorbell ringing—Amazon delivering yet another gift.

Later, I was with a group of women and we were all headed out to go skydiving. Like a neighborhood gang, we rode our bikes to the airport in a tangled V formation. One woman had a pink chopper-esque bike. Another with a broken leg showed up pushing a shopping cart. I tried to convince her to get in the cart and ride it down the hill but she refused.

I was at a giant computer lab area in a warehouse setting. Cords ran along the floor and everything was gray. I headed into the backroom, which was essentially where computers go to die. When I came out, my feet were covered in nasty dust, leaving a trail of footprints everywhere, which Will showed up to point it out (thanks for that).

For a while, I was at Lakeview in Mrs. W’s class (funny how your teachers are always Mr/Ms/Mrs-whatever, no matter how old you get!). I didn't have my homework or my lunch. Sad day. Also, I wonder when I will STOP dreaming about forgetting my homework? Does it ever end?!

My parents were gone, so Zack and I slept in their bed because it’s ridiculously comfortable. We were trying to change the sheets so it was all fresh and clean for them before they got home but didn't get done on time. They didn't care.

February 1:
Zack and I had just gotten married and were both finishing college, so we were living at the NWC dorms at Arden (which I realize to current Northwestern student’s is such an archaic phrase since both those names are gone now.) And what could be better than starting married life in a dorm room with bunk beds? Roommates! Chuck and Tyler were also living with us, BUT we were on an all-girls floor, so all the guys had to sneak in and out any time they wanted to go somewhere. Second semester was about to start and I realized my class schedule was going to be changing but I couldn't log in to The Rock to see new schedule (side bar: This has been a recurring dream for YEARS). It was late and everyone else had gone to sleep but I was up trying to log on trying every possible combination of maiden, married, and middle name I could think of. Eventually I got in only to find that I didn't have a class until noon but still had to wake up early for chapel. Dumb.

Later, I had spent the night at my grandma and grandpas old house and school bus didn't come to pick up Nicole and I. It was raining pretty hard and walking to school was going to suck, so Dad came to get us in his truck. The next door neighbor said that there was a short cut through cow fields, but everyone avoided it because their cars can't handle the terrain. Dad took the challenge, naturally. We tore off through the short cut, diving down steep inclines and throwing mud up behind us. The truck handled it all just fine, even though we had to keep dodging dead cows who had been struck by lightning during the storm.

After that, we were at my old church where they were giving away and bunch of free things. I got two sets of tickets—one to a magic show and one to the zoo.

Finally, characters from "A Bug's Life" had to show us what a circus was because no one knew.

February 2:
I was trying to escape a bad relationship (the man in this dream was not Zack) with my daughter who was very ill and would have spasms and seizures. We planned to run to Jamaica together. We had all our things packed and arrangements made for a week in a small two bedroom apartment and then I hoped I’d be able to figure things out.

The day came to run, but then the man turned into Zack who told me how much he loved me and how grateful he was for me. But I still ran.

Later, a large gorilla (also not Zack, just to be clear) was chasing me through my old church’s parking lot. I ran to my car to run but hands were shaking so badly I couldn't get the key in the door.

The only other thing I remember is that there were lumpy pillows at some point, which was a big disappointment. Then me and a friend went to this closed down mall but found a few stores open. While one friend helped the other pick out clothes, I sat and waited, mostly bored. This feels a lot like shopping in real life.

February 3:
I was working at a fair booth selling t-shirts to all the carnival goers. There were other booths all around mine and we had a good rapport gone. The kid next to my booth had this awesome air powered marshmallow shooter gun that could shoot rapid fire mallows in a deadly stream of fluff. My parents showed up, so we all went on walk together by the river. My mom was notably dressed like a super hero. Later, Tyler and I at were at my old church in the veggie tale room hanging out. After a while, Pat (my manager) and I were building monsters and discussing Challenge Rating for D&D. We’d managed to create a physical prop (just the head) of one that was essentially a cyberman from Dr. Who meets Darth Vader).

Dream Update: Week 2

January 22:
It was the fourth of July and we were celebrating at my grandpa's house in Moose Lake (as was our tradition for many years growing up). There was an art place going out of business that was giving away free mystery pieces in their parking lot. Because it had just rained and because most of the pieces were in large, wooden crates, there weren't many people taking them. A yellow fork lift scuttled around the parking lot moving the crates around and dropping them at the few cars that stopped to get their free paintings. Mom made us all take off our shoes in the parking lot, but Dad didn't want to because his socks were going to get wet. We pointed to one of the mystery crates and the forklift moved it toward the car, but before it got there, it fell off and the crate broke open revealing this ugly, giant advertisement print inside. We opted to get a different mystery crate.

Afterwards, my cousin Jamie and I looked at an old photo album containing pictures of us dressed up as the ugly stepsisters from Cinderella. There was a greeting card on her fridge from a friend of hers in which virtually every word was misspelled, but the handwriting was really nice.

January 23: 
I was trying to play a game with Adam and a friend of his, but I couldn't find the pieces I needed in order to play fully. They told me I could just make due with what I had. As we dove into playing, I just couldn't wrap my brain around what we were trying to do. It was a long game, feeling rather confused and "behind." Eventually, Liz, Ashley, Felicity and Mira came home from shopping and joined us. It was at this point I found out Adam had been recording our whole session and animated it (somehow) so we all went to the basement and watched it. I had to relive the whole miserable event.

Later, Zack and I were enjoying a sunny day at the zoo. We started playing volleyball with the bears (though we had to use a basketball so the bears wouldn't pop it). Soon, everyone joined in so it was like 100 people vs. a couple bears. The bears were winning. Overwhelmed by all the people, I crept to the back of the crowd, but Zack came and found me. "You're great at volleyball," he said. "You should go up front where you can make some plays and help us win!" So I did. And it was so much fun! But the bears still won.

January 25:
Rachel (from Friends) and I were trying desperately to set Monica up on a date, so we were hanging out at swanky bar waiting for right guy and the right time. Eric made a guest appearance as the chef. While we were waiting, Ross called the bar phone to talk to Chandler. He asked how it was going and if the "bimbo" with us was distracting (we'd brought an acquaintance with to help be "bad cop" so Monica could be the good cop. Bad cop was pretty, but dumb.) The problem was that when Ross called, the phone malfunctioned and turned to speaker phone, so the whole bar heard the conversation go down. Bimbo friend understandably got mad and left with first guy who'd give her a ride (yucky mustache blond mullet guy with 80s band t-shirt.)

Later, I was in Moose Lake again at my grandpa's old house. Out of nowhere, this ambulance shows up at the house. As the paramedics were walking toward the door, I asked my grandpa if he'd called them.
He responded with, "Oh yeah the guy is down by the wood pile."
"What guy?"
"I don't know. The guy."
"Is he alive?"
"Oh no. He's been dead for a while. I dragged him over there this morning."
By this point, the EMTs (a black guy with shaved head and red head chick with short hair in a pony tail) had arrived at the door and I was left with the awkward task of explaining that there was apparently a dead body by the wood pile.

January 26:
I was at my friend Lauren's house by Island Lake. I wanted to shower but the tub was on a rock outcropping in the open, so I didn't. Emily and Gene were there playing football with Tyler until the football got away from them, rolling in the scummy water at the edge of the pond.
I was staying at a guest house nearby, but there was this man who kept getting inside. Like, we'd come back to the house, and he'd be in there watching TV or vacuuming. Finally, I'd had enough. We came back and he was in the kitchen cooking. I yelled at him, so he got really sarcastic back, "punishing" himself by pulling a strip of flesh off his arm to expose the bone there in a very grotesque way. He said he'd cook it up for us as restitution. I ran away and threw up in a waste basket.

Later, my parents were amazed by hinged lamps that let you direct where the light faces. I don't know why this was earth shattering for them, but it was. Technology these days.

We climbed some giant cliffs above the lake, which turned from Island Lake into Lake Superior at this time. Lauren joined me on top of the cliffs and we talked about her recent marriage. Far below us, a huge, huge fish swam by. I asked if it ate meat and she informed me that no, this fish was definitely vegetarian...despite the fact that it had crazy sharp teeth. I'm not sure I believed her entirely. Later, we got picked up by this ship that bends in the middle (like the lamps from earlier now that I think about it. Apparently I was having a fascination with things that bend) in order to make really sharp turns. This ship was captained by a slightly crazy woman who we decided it was best to avoid.

Finally, I dreamed about work and creating test groups in a bunch of client accounts to see if they would respond differently to the HTML uploaded to them.

Also, I really wanted to go running but hadn't shaved my legs and felt like I couldn't leave until I did. Sad day.

January 27:
I arrived at work, but my computer was broken and no one would help me fix it. Also, one of the monitors from my desk was missing. No one cared though because the company was serving us all breakfast. Alyssa appeared on the breakfast crew, but she didn't see me at first because another of her friends was also there and they were greeting each other. As breakfast was wrapping up, this guy who I thought was from work asked me to come outside with him. I obliged only to realize he was trying to kidnap me. I ran away through the parking lot to a little red car that this Hispanic woman and her son were getting into. I grabbed onto the door handle (to give myself an anchor so the man couldn't steal me away) and yelled for her to call for help but she refused. The guy came back and yanked me from the car, my hand slipped off the handle and I pulled off the side mirror in my attempt to keep him from stealing me.

Somehow I got away from him but later saw him trying to steal a young boy. I got him to stop by throwing frozen lunches at him with Will's help. Afterwards, back at the work breakfast, Alyssa and I got a chance to catch up and she told me she was pregnant.
The company hadn't ordered enough food, and all we ended up with were a couple cubes of fruit and these itty bitty sandwich buns. My coworker Kate was really excited about getting a whole apple.

January 28: 
I was at a self defense class in this super cool old building with wood floors and marble beams and ornate crown moldings along the ceilings.  The teacher was this huge awesome guy who taught us all sorts of kick butt stuff. It was so cool that I had to bring my mom and dad to the class too. During that class though, a super flexible girl with short blonde hair volunteered to help the teacher with an example. He spread out this big mat on the floor and explained that if she followed his instructions exactly, it would all be okay. He ended up kicking her on accident, and she flew forward, missing the mat and skidding across the floor instead. Class ended rather abruptly. Some southern guys were chatting with the teacher after class.

While we were leaving someone I don't know called my name and came up to me to tell me all about her missions trip coming up. Clearly I was supposed to know who she was but I was clueless. I just kept hoping she couldn't make me introduce her to my parents.

Later, Anna and I were driving to a cabin for a sleepover with some friends. We arrived late and it was dark but as we gathered up our things to walk inside I reminded her that it was okay because I'd taken self defense. We still hurried inside anyway.

Also dreamed about being at the house I grew up at playing in the yard with bikes and sidewalk chalk with Tyler. It was just a fun in the dream as it was in real life.

Dreams Update: Week 1

I made it my resolution that for year 26 of my life, I would write down every dream I had. Below is the chronicle of my dreams (usually blearily typed on my phone before I get out of bed, otherwise I forget them). As is pretty apparent, I very often have dreams and very often remember at least parts of them when I wake up.
 

January 14:
I was trying to check out this enormous black library book--a fantasy novel with something about witches in the title, larger than a dictionary. I also wanted to get a book about 1970s spies that had a lime green cover, but the librarian informed me that I could only get one book. The black one was for Zack, so I opted to get that one (see? I'm thoughtful even in my dreams). Then I had to use my debit card to check the book out and had to pay a small fee (in cash) to get it. Jenna appeared there with me as well. We went to my car and drove across the street to park the car and take the bus, but I couldn't seem to get my car parked right--always too crooked, always not in the ideal spot. Then realized I needed gas and thought "Where am I going to find a gas station?!" whereupon a gas station conveniently appeared in the parking lot. I tried to pull up to a pump, but either I overshot it or when I got out of the car, the pump had turned to not face me anymore. I never got gas.

January 15:
I was trying to get ready for my high school's prom, but I didn't know what to wear--the formal prom dress? Jeans and a t-shirt? The struggle was real. The dream took place at my old house, in my old room. The whole time I kept calling my friend Anna asking her for advice on what to wear and what she was wearing. Meanwhile, I was also trying to eat before I had to leave. I ended up burning the pizza. Later, at the prom, which was also (apparently) a pool party, I saw my brother Tyler. He and some friends were swimming in the pool and Tyler (very un-tattooed in real life) had this giant tattoo across chest. Sadly, I don't recall what it said.

January 16:
Kelsey had us, Matt, Jenna and some others over for a party, but no one could agree on if we should stay in or go out.
Later, I was near this ancient, crumbling bell tower surrounded by lower stone walls. Some large fantasy-like creatures walked along the walls. They were also stoneish and shadowy but with glowing eyes.
 Then my mom and I were shopping in Canada. She told me she's seen some pewter Lord of the Rings miniature statues that might be good for my D&D game at the Hallmark store (of all places). We then went to a boutique where I found a cream sweater with Sherpa inside I wanted to try on. There was only one fitting room available though so my mom went first. The shirt was either $12.99 or $21.99 (it kept changing), and I was concerned about how to pay for it without Canadian currency. While waiting for the fitting room, the store owner gave me this giant gun that was hinged in the middle. The stock end was this giant box with all sorts of switches and buttons. The owner pointed out to me that this whole contraption was actually a giant lighter/blow torch, and that the box on the end controlled the settings for the flames.

January 17:
A kidnapper had been chasing me for some time through this palm-tree dotted neighborhood. Somehow I found his gun in the grass as I was circling the neighborhood trying to lose him. I picked it up and thought, "Enough with this running thing. This guy is going down." Knowing that he was chasing behind me, I ducked behind the line up of 1970s pastel-colored cars parked for sale along the roadside and waited. When the kidnapper came past looking for me, I shot at him. My shot missed though, and the gun kept sticking. I had to use both hands to force the slide back into position after each shot. He started approaching me slowly and I kept firing as I could, but even the shots that hit didn't seem to hurt him.
I distinctly recall shouting at him, "Your gun sucks!"
He pulled out his other (nicer) gun and shot me three times in the stomach. While I was laying on the ground in pain, he came up to me and said, "Don't die yet."

January 18:
I was in this room filled with tables of food—all kinds of food, from meats to sides to desserts. There were a few other people there as well as a camera crew. They explained that we were in some sort of competition filling up plastic containers with food. So I was going around filling up my container. I remember there was some fish (breaded and golden brown) and I decided to try it (I don’t like fish). This long string of fishy yuckiness got stuck in my mouth. It was disgusting. At the end of the tables, my container was full of food, but super gross because it was all just piled in there in a heap. Then Gordon Ramsey showed up and started going through our containers and judging whether the food we picked was good or not. Terrifying. He said I picked a great piece of fish, but that the triple layer hamburger I'd picked wasn't stacked properly.
Later, I was going to meet up with this guy I’d been chatting online with so we could chat in real life. For some reason in my dream this felt completely non-sketchy. To get to where we were meeting, I had to go on this long hike through the woods. Eventually I realized that hiking was dumb, so I ended up riding this sort of mountain bike but with a trunk and four wheels contraption. I met the guy on the top of a giant dirt pile where he'd been riding his mountain bike. We chatted a bit and he invited me back to his house (again, this was all super non-sketchy in my dream). It was this super rustic place and his family knew all the different roots and plants from the forest you could eat. His younger sister—in this dirty dress and apron—was outside pulling what looked like weeds out of the ground, but were actually going to make soup for us later. We also killed a squirrel or bird or other small forest animal to add to the soup too. Sometimes we were by the ocean, but mostly we were in the forest.

January 19:
The cat woke me up before my alarm. I remembered my dream at that time, but didn't write it down (because my rule is that I only write things down when I actually wake up in the morning). By the time I my alarm went off, I only remembered that it had been quite a combative dream.

January 21:
I was trying to teach a young girl how to multiple by using dice, but I couldn't find my d10s anywhere. Also, I was in a play loft at the Halverson's house along with Alyssa, a cat, and a bunch of giant pillows. There was a rope ladder going down from the loft into a play set area. Then I went to church at this giant mega church. Jericho greeted me at the door and Tyler joined us shortly thereafter. I gave them both hugs, and they both returned them with "T-rex arm" hugs. Typical.