DREAMS ARCHIVE: AUGUST 1999

"SISYPHUS, IN RODENT FORM"

A rat approached me as I reclined on a small couch. I pushed it away. This "struggle" went on for some time, with it approaching and me pushing it away. In its persistence, it become more and more upset with each subsequent charge and bit my hand when I swatted it away from me. We were both trapped: it would not cease attacking; I would not cease halting its attack. I wondered how long this escalation of attack and reciprocal self-defense could persist.

"INTERMARRIAGE"

I was the best man at a wedding. The wedding party wore royal blue uniforms, some more ornate than others -- they reminded me of Muskateer uniforms in the movies. A young man -- who resembled Prince William -- was marrying Queen Elizabeth II. This marriage was arranged and based solely on economics. I saw the queen walk in and stand next to the very nervous groom. He was so nervous that he was barely able to utter his marriage vows; at one point, his father -- Prince Charles-esc -- stepped forward and finished the remaining vows when his son became inaudible. The young man fainted, falling back into the arms of his father. I felt I should have anticipated his fainting and been there to catch him but it happened too suddenly for me to react.

While we waited for the marriage ceremony to resume, a friend's father approached me and invited me to a gathering in the rear parking lot. As I walked toward the rear parking lot, I saw the groom board a bus. He waved to me as the bus left. I looked down and noticed my shirt was wrinkled; I had forgotten to iron it. It did not matter since the wedding was over. I continued my walk with another person. We discussed the aforementioned sham marriage. I stated it was for a 4.4 billion -- not million, but billion -- dollar estate.

We entered a small pub and ordered drinks. We looked over small menus but I did not recognize any beers on the list. I overheard someone order a Rolling Rock beer so I ordered one of those. A girl walked up to our table. She resembled a "club kid," complete with flaming red hair, sparkle make-up, and long faux eyelashes. She was likened to a prodigal daughter within this group, with everyone welcoming her back after an extended absense. We opened the flaps of some tents next to our table and showed her that we had organized her clothes. In another tent, we had done likewise with thousands of multi-colored 3 1/2 inch floppy disks, organized in stacks on a small table within a tent.

I walked down a gravel road. People were parking vehicles in the fields about this road. There were recreational vehicle groups, motorcycle groups, etc. I saw a group of people riding concrete block pavers and doing "wheelies" as they laid out the concrete blocks. They had completed a concrete block floor and a few walls when I realized that I did not see two friends I intended to see at the wedding.

"CHIP SHOT"

I played golf in a front yard with a cousin and a few others. Our shot was a chip shot from around the right front corner to a green near the left front side of a house -- it was an "L-shaped" shot, with the corner of the house providing a bit of an obstruction for the shot. We used a Wiffle practice golf ball.

I took the last shot. Because we were using a wiffle ball, my strategy was to chip it with some spin so it would curve back toward the house and onto the green. I began my swing, accidentally touching the top of the ball. It rolled back about an inch. Some grumbled, like I was taking an illegal shot. I continued my swing and struck the ball, chipping it up and onto the green. To my chagrin, the ball rolled off of the green. It continued to roll down a front walkway toward our "tee area." When its momentum stopped, it rolled in the opposite direction. It returned to the green and dropped into the hole.

My cousin had missed my incredible shot. He asked if I had some food, in particular Oreo cookies. Dusk had set and he said that the cookies would enhance our vision at night. I entered the house and found some Oreo's on the top of the refrigerator in the kitchen, as well as other cookies and snacks on the countertops.

"IMPROMPTU SONG"

I played guitar with another man sitting on the tailgate of a station wagon. I tried to play his acoustic guitar in vain but it was a left-handed guitar. We played an impromptu song.

"JE TE CRACHE AVEC UN BAISER"

In a department store, I walked over to a blonde woman relaxing in a jet spa. There was some animosity between us -- our paths likely had crossed in the past. I leaned over and kissed the woman. She had a coy smirk on her face but seemed willing to accept my kiss. I blew some spittle into her mouth and walked away.

Still in the department store, I followed a woman through a door to a backroom area. I put a mat against the jamb to keep the door from closing shut. It seemed necessary that I or others would need to evacuate this place in a hurry and I considered this a good escape.

I walked down a corridor and onto a platform. I needed to get down to the main floor, which was several stories below. The platform consisted of folding tables stacked atop one-another, with the legs of the tables folded down and upright -- it all reminded me of scaffolding. The only way down were chairs stacked at the end of the tables. I looked down and asked in a disgruntled manner if this was the only way down. A woman looked up and answered in a dismissive affirmative. I was afraid I would fall but I remembered I was in a dream so I knew I could not get hurt. I made my way to the main floor and walked out of a garage bay and into the sunny parking lot.

"TRICYCLE ABLAZE"

I was in a race. I felt trapped standing on a street between a truck and a tractor-trailer at a stoplight. The light changed and they started off -- I was afraid I would be crushed. The vehicles passed and I started on the race again.

I tried kicking a ball to the finish line but it fell apart. Along the way I saw a tricycle ablaze, its front wheel buried in the ground. I made my way into a house and down to the basement, winning the race. I hid in another room and waited to surprise the second place finisher.

"CONTRABAND"

I confiscated a brown paper bag containing drugs. I ventured into room with police officers standing about, reading reports, etc. I did not know whom to take the contraband to -- I was nervous holding this bag in their midst. I sat at a desk with a police officer, like it was a matter-of-fact routine for me.

The police officer asked for my badge. I dug it out of my front pocket; it seemed an odd place for it to be. Next he asked for my credit card number. As I gave him the first numbers, he was able to guess the digits that followed. He said it was designed in such a manner so that it would be easier to take them down when someone read the numbers aloud.

"IMMOLATION"

I re-edited a web page, deleting a few lines from a faux interview that did not make a lot of sense.

Next, I saw some rats huddled together on a street. Some were "standing" -- complete with twitching noses -- and wearing simple orange cloth vests. A man became deathly ill and contagious after associating with the rats. Engulfed by flames, he fell to his knees, the result of being set ablaze to stop the contagion from spreading.

"UNYIELDING"

There was an icy inclined road, with people in cars attempting to get to the top. There was not sufficient enough traction for their cars to make the climb. A man on a horse made the attempt and succeeded where the cars had failed. He dismounted his horse. The horse turned around and went down the icy inclined road. It did not get far before its hooves slid on the ice. The horse stayed upright and did not fall; rather, it slid into a metal median on an adjacent road.

A police officer rode a motorcycle up a sidewalk that ran parallel with the icy road. I followed the police officer down a dirt road to a large power box. He turned around and left. I watched rockets being launched out in a field beyond this dirt road. One landed harmlessly in the open field; another flew into a wooded area. I believed the wooded area contained homes, which made it possible the rocket did some damage.

I saw my parents on a porch. I stood in a very narrow street -- the houses seemed to sit atop one-another. In the distance, I saw a small tornado. It drew close, its blackness and size intensified. I fled the street, following a group of people into a basement shelter area. People sat in plastic chairs and watched news coverage of the tornado. There was a couch behind me and off-set from the couch next to me. It only had a back and arm rests, with no seat to sit upon. I sat on the floor with the seat-less couch behind me, nestled between it and the normal couch to my right.

An investigator went to a small parking area -- it reminded me of a drive-in restaurant parking lot. He walked about, picking up debris. A caption -- like a television chyron -- stated that the location was somewhere in Illinois. The investigator spoke on a telephone with another man, who spoke Russian. The investigator was agitated, telling the other man: "You mock our music, yet you buy tons and tons of it." He ended the conversation by saying, "One more thing and you will hang up -- you get your own culture."

"CRATER"

I saw a construction project near an abandoned K-Mart and adjoining Little Caesar's. A huge, deep crater had been dug into the ground, with a incredibly tall boom crane in the background.

"SABOTEURS IN VAIN"

I entered a basement corridor with a para-military group. We jogged toward a room in two side-by-side columns. From another perspective, I watched our group run past a window with clear plastic on the adjacent walls. Someone said we ran in two columns to obscure our numbers -- it looked like only one column from the window.

We entered the lab area and wreaked our mild-mannered havoc -- I think we wrote signs on colored construction paper and the like. Time was running out and I felt an urgency to leave as soon as possible. With great haste, everyone finished their projects and left the building. We were not caught.

Later, we watched a news program dealing with our sabotage. The event was portrayed by the news media as "no big deal." The government's spin control made it appear as though our sabotage was what they wanted to happen.

"SHELTERED REPOSSESSION / PRESIDENTIAL"

A man stood on my door -- this door was located on the ceiling. I believe he was attempting to repossess my stuff for unpaid bills. He stomped on the door and attempted to enter my domicile. I felt trapped: I could not leave my dwelling to earn a wage to pay my bills; nor could I stay and allow him entrance to take my stuff.

I walked into a building with former President George Bush. We spoke about his son running for president but it seemed like I was conducting an interview with him as we walked through a large hallway.