DREAMS ARCHIVE: MARCH 1999 -- PART III

"ELEMENTARY PRAISE"

I looked for a restroom inside of a library or school. The fluorescent lights were turned off, so the interior of the room was shadowy with sunlight shining through the many windows on the perimeter of this large room in which I stood. The beige linoleum floor shined where the sunlight struck it. I wondered if the glass doors and walls nearby led to the restroom. A teacher approached me -- she seemed eager to speak with me. Her dark hair was tied behind her head and she wore a dark blue dress with white trim. She spoke highly of my dream journal and told me she had her students do a similar exercise.

"FOURTH DEMON"

I saw a demon walking in some tall grass at night. There was minimal light, like a flashlight dancing in the dark. Apparently this scene was part of a television show, with the actor Jeffrey Jones -- the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off -- portraying God. He told another creature to dress up as the Devil for this television show. The creature put on a crimson cloak or sheet and played the part too well, going off on "God." Someone said that the networks had balked at the original "fire-and-brimstone" aspect of the show, opting for a more comical, light-hearted version.

The demon told the group I was standing with he preferred being a "Fourth Demon." When we asked it why, it pointed to the brightness off in the distance. Through the darkness, we could see fires buring and demons dancing about in some rubble that was once a city. They were the "First, Second, and Third Demons," the ones that wreaked havoc upon the earth with demonic glee. The classification of "Fourth Demon" for the demon that we were talking to meant it was a kindler, gentler demon. It showed us a parchment, documentation stating that it was indeed a demon. This parchment had writing in different places and a cut-out area at the bottom -- I believe the cut-out area was it's "signature." The signature somehow put meaning into the parchment; without it it would have been jumbled nonsense.

"THICK"

I was a member of an Mtv "Road Rules" team. I was with part of the team moving some scrap metal and putting it into a pile. Our group was supposed to hurry up so we could meet up with the others in our group -- they had finished a fun task and were now waiting for us. We piled into a van. A guy, perhaps a producer, asked if we could eat our lunch in five or ten minutes so we could make up some time.

We walked up to a house. Many other houses were crowded around in close proximity, with young people "hanging out." I walked up to the front door, which was open beyond the screen door, to announce that we had arrived; I did not want to announce that we were from "Road Rules" -- I felt silly about it.

We sat in a kitchen. A guy felt bad about saying to his mother recently that she was "thick." His attitude was quite moody and he stormed out of the room when we as a group tried to assure him that things would be fine. The group watched an alien invasion movie, with the "good guys" flying in spaceships that looked like immense pancakes. An alien space ship flew over the top of this slow-moving "space pancake" and shot a large scoop of butter off of the top of it.

The videotape was given to me because I missed the middle part of the movie and I was told that it was a good part and/or it was crucial to the story line. It seemed like I was leaving the "Road Rules" show because the videotape was given to me to take back to the video store as well -- I think the video store may have been close to where I lived. Someone asked if I knew how to put the tape in the clear plastic squeeze-opening containter. Without saying a word, I demonstarted that I indeed could put the tape in the plastic tape container.

The group walked by a room were moody guy was sleeping. It seemed like our team was falling apart. We walked into small auditorium. I went up to the stage and walked around, looking out into the empty seats and thought about what it would be like to perform before a crowd in this auditorium. The group sat in the seats talking with the producer. I sat behind the producer, who had a prominent red beard. He seemed crestfallen, informing the group that he felt that his job was now on the line. I leaned forward over the back of his chair and explained that this show needed responsible people for it to work smoothly but it also needed "conflicts" within the group for television ratings. I sympathized with his need for balance.

"NOVICE"

I remember being in a warmly lit room in the upper part of a house -- I could see the slant of the roof from the front and back part of the house. For some reason, I took up smoking. A friend stopped by and asked for some matches. I was still new to this "smoking thing" so I did not have any matches, let alone a lighter.

I looked out a dormer window. I could see a sunny snowscape outside of this window, with small hills, unfoliated trees, and a small road. For some reason I began to cry, uncontrollably. I went outside and walked around. The landscape had changed to an office complex. I walked down a sidewalk and thought about climbing up the side of a tall building, Spider Man-style -- I think I wanted to get back up to my room and this "method" seemed to be the quickest way.

"MANEUVERS"

I was with an uncle. His favorite NASCAR driver, Bill Elliott, was hit by another race car. The two cars were piled up in the infield. I remember looking at the ground and seeing two small 1:64 scale racing cars in similar pile-up in a shallow glass or plastic container with sand on the bottom. I joked to my uncle that now he would have to add this "crash scene" to his vast collection of Bill Elliott memorabilia.

I watched training simulations for a futuristic battle group, The Confederate Liberation Army, or CLA. It was dusk when a covering moved down on a square flat black building, revealing a control tower with small red lights -- the only items truly visible about it. Black helicopters swirled about the tower indicating the commencement of various simulations.

The soldiers wore black plastic armor, much like the armor in Starship Troopers. I saw a pilot and co-pilot sitting in an over-and-under configuration in some sort of vehicle or robot. I think the pilot and co-pilot hopped out of their seats and fell into some "tabs" within the body of this vehicle or robot -- the tabs reminded me of the spring-loaded slots on the back of a Star Wars "Taun Taun" toy, which allowed the legs of the action figure to "vanish" inside of the toy, giving the action figure the appearance of "riding" the animal. The area where the pilot and co-pilot once sat closed upon itself. I thought this vehicle or robot was transforming itself into a bomb.

The vehicle or robot made its way to a large case. I remember seeing faces of Japanese robots inside of the case and the vehicle or robot somehow sensed they dwelled within. However, the vehicle or robot did not sense that a person dwelled inside of this case with the robots. I watched this person's appearance change, including his facial shape and type and length of hair. His expression of shock remained constant through these changes, stating under his breath, "Why wouldn't they know?"

"DEFLECTIONS"

I watched a hockey game. There was a narrow opening down the middle of the ice and a hockey player was able to hit the puck past a hoard of hockey players around the goal. The puck was hit into the goal with seconds to go in the third period, winning the game ultimately. The goalie was caught completely off guard.

Next, I stood in the upper level of a house. This upper level was more akin to a loft, with the area open to the main room below -- like a grand room spanning two stories. The scene changed to a golf course. I watched a young kid play golf. I suggested that he take his time. A young woman was with the kid. I think she may have asked if I was a golfer because I laughed and responded that I was a "frustrated" golfer.

The scene changed to the upper level of the house again. A party was in progress. I watched the young woman golf. She hit the golf ball into a row of seats were some guys were sitting, drinking beer. The golf ball landed in a man's beer container, a "trash can" -- a small fifty-two ounce plastic trash can, used as a beer or mixed drink vessel at a college bar. I think I hit a golf ball as well, with a similar result.

The party wrapped up. One of the last people to leave said he thought the mood was bad. I thought the mood was fine but I think this was my first party at this place. I think this guy was a regular. I packed up some clothes about a large bed with a white knit cover sheet on the second level. I saw some Halloween decorations -- cardboard skeletons and cartoon-ish pictures for window displays -- under the bed so I grabbed them and packed them as well. I went down to the main level to lock up the house. I noticed the young golfing woman as I left the front door; she had returned. We entered the house and I showed her the side door -- it seemed to appear out of nowhere. The sun was bright and in our eyes as we passed through this side door. The sun was so bright that we did not see a beach ball falling from the sky until it was right above our heads. I deflected the beach ball so it would not hit the golf woman. She thought I had set this up as a joke because she had had something like this happen to her in the past. She said she should have caught the beach ball so she could bring about some legal precedent against such an incident.

"HYPOTHETICAL HYPOTENEUSE"

I was in a classroom looking at a book. This book dealt with aircraft and mathematical equations. At the head of the class stood a teacher, who was going over these equations on a blackboard. She drew a triangle, pointed to a side of the triangle, and asked what the name for it was. I correctly guessed hypotenuse. I do not think the book I was looking at was mine. I thought that I should get a book of my own -- it seemed really interesting.

The scene changed to a store. Someone asked me if I thought a long distance relationship could work. I could only think of her.

"CUMULUS COMPOSER"

I believe I was about to go on a date. Something was wrong with a woman's pair of earrings, so I sat at a kitchen table and worked on them. I made a few pithy jokes to lighten the mood -- along the lines of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist on Comedy Central. I got the earrings "to work," so we prepared to leave. I saw a man standing at the bottom of a small flight of stairs. He was standing in a small foyer area by the front door, dressed in a bright red suit. I wondered if it was the woman and he going out on this date, as opposed to the woman and I.

I walked down a busy school hallway, with many people milling to and from the classrooms. I walked with another guy. A question about smoking came up: I answered that I had never smoked; he stated that he had quit a year ago. Later we sat on a bench by a fence. We were atop a small hill, with a chain link fence at the apex. Our vantage point revealed that the open fields about us were used for various sporting activities. A small concrete walkway led up from the bottom of the hill to our bench area, and the walkway continued through an opening in the chainlink fence, which led to the next playing field. We talked about who would be picked for some sporting team. I assumed that the guy from the hallway and smoking question part of this dream would be an obvious choice, since he was a strong, tall guy -- I think he may have also been the coaches son. The skies were blue with puffy clouds, with a small breeze that made for a very pleasant day atop this small hill.

Next, I stood nude in a locker room with several other guys. We were hosed down with sudsy water -- I felt like a car at a carwash. The scene changed to me looking from the side of one house to the one next door. Two young girls played on the concrete walk. The concrete walk went from the front porch of this house down a small hill to the sidewalk. Next to the sidewalk I saw two cars parked on the street. The cars reminded me of old, small import cars. I looked back to the house. I realized that I was sitting in a bay window looking at this next door house. I heard some classical music being played, I believe from the next door house. I guessed that it was by the composer Sergei Prokofiev.