DREAMS ARCHIVE: JANUARY 1999

"BELLY UP TO THE BARRED"

I walked down a set of alleys with a cousin. The sky was overcast and the streets were wet from a recent rain. Our journey ended at a dojo for martial arts.

I followed my cousin into a room. Someone seated by an open staging area held up his hand, preventing me from entering. I went over to a bar on the other side of the room and took a seat. As I watched various people practice their arts, a young woman sat on the bar stool to my right. She seemed quite comfortable with me, eventually throwing her leg over my leg. I did not mind the attention but it seemed odd to me that she would be so familiar with me.

"NEOCCLESIASTIC"

I walked into a side door of a church with some friends. A short set of steps led upward to the doorway. Once inside, I walked up a short flight of steps immediately inside of the door entrance, turned ninety degrees to my left, and proceeded down several flights of steps that continued to turn left at ninety degrees as they descended.

I was in the lowest level looking for the church area. I walked into a cafeteria. As I looked around, a group of people assembled and began a prayer session. I knew this was not the right area and continued my search.

I realized I needed to go to the next upper level. I found the church area and sat down. The service began; it had a very modern feel about it -- very theatrical with a laser light show and loud, amplified music. The priest appeared on a centralized stage, rolling on rollerblades. He addressed his congregation and made a quip about one of the altar boys "borrowing" his rollerblades.

"SILK STALKINGS"

I walked by a drug store building housed within a large warehouse building. I noticed two people working on the second floor in something akin to an air traffic control tower. I made a note to myself that I should try visit the inside sometime because it looked like an interesting building.

I continued my walk. I observed supermodel Carmen Kass browsing through clothes in a clothing area within this large warehouse complex. A man stood in close proximity to her. It seemed like he was following her, watching her movements. In a bold moment, I walked up to her and acted like someone she knew, stating: "Ms. Kass, 'so-and-so' needs to see you." I directed her out the store and away from the man.

"ARCHITECTUAL ASSESSMENT"

I stood in the rafter area of a delapidated house. Parts of the walls were bare, with the insulation exposed. Debris littered the floor. My brother-in-law stood across from me. We worked on the center beam in the apex of the roof. I noticed a layer of bricks between the beam and the roof. I stated that we could not proceed further. We ducked under a large piece of clear plastic and walked to another part of the house.

"DAMNATION BY PROXY / VÉLO: PART II"

A family awaited a verdict in a court house waiting room. Their daughter had been accosted by a crazed man. Surrounded by flames and churning magma, a man stood upon a large rock. I viewed him from above as he looked up, his arms held open in rapture -- I believe this was the crazed man. A bellowing thud echoed through the court house. It caught the family off guard; they had waited for an inordinate amount of time. The judge had rendered a verdict and banged her gavel as an announcement that a judgment had been reached.

Another man was held by an organic machine, made of flesh, membranes, and metal -- it reminded me of the giant robot in The Iron Giant. He was an innocent man taking the place of the crazed man in a hellish environ remininscent of a scrap yard. The organic machine held the frightened man before its mouth, a mouth like a steel trap without the serrated edge. It practically licked its lips as it toyed with its victim, pulling it close and tilting its head as the man screamed.

I fled this place with a young man and a young woman. We ran through a corridor reminiscent of an old ship. On the white walls was a poster for the movie Titanic. Following the directions on the poster, we proceeded down the corridor to the aft part of the ship; others ran in complete panic.

We were in the aft section of the ship. This part of the ship was a room with an open area to the aft deck. A night sky with the ocean illuminated by moonlight was visible beyond the aft deck. In the dream, I thought this scenario seemed to be too close to the ending of the movie Titanic -- I wanted the dream to move onto something else.

I parked a car in front of a house on a snowy road -- I may have wanted to park it in a remote area. Opposite the house was an open field. The area appearted to be somewhat rural, with only a few other houses in the vicinity. Since I would have to walk quite a distance in morning, I decided not to park my car there.

From that point, I rode a bicycle up the road to an drive leading into an apartment complex. I rode around the entrance area, making a u-turn. When I left, I squealed my tireds, "laying some rubber" on the paved road. A young woman leaned out of her car and yelled at me for my impetuous act.

Continuing on the bicycle, I rode through another apartment complex. From an open apartment doorway, a woman said something complimentary about my stomach. I sucked it in as I rode past her.

"RESTAURANTEURS"

I drove out of parking garage in a red convertible because I wanted to follow some people. Since the car was past the particular exit and the direction was one-way, I had to exit the parking garage and re-enter to utilize the exit. When I re-entered the garage, I was caught in traffic. People parked their cars and entered a restaurant adjacent to the parking garage.