Sweet Tooth

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

My mother tells me I cannot go to work because it’s snowing outside. I start to get dressed anyway, I know a little snow won’t be a good enough excuse. I call my cousin to ask how it’s looking, and suddenly I’m in her car and she’s driving me to the store. I’m mad because I still had to brush my teeth and wash my hair.

We stop to get breakfast at the bar near the store: now it’s a dark and golden, decadent pastry shop. I sneak in the bathroom to finish washing myself, it’s so small I get claustrophobic. My cousin has bought a slice of cake, I also go to take a good look at the pastries. They are magnificent, they have rococo name tags that make the place feel like Versailles.

I approach the ice cream counter and ask if they’ve got anything caramel. A man shows me green ice cream with a layer of thick caramel on top, he says it’s prehistoric mango and starts scooping it on top of a cone, then adds strawberry. I tell him,

You’re not gonna make me eat fruit when it’s snowing outside!

He looks embarrassed and puts the cone away. I go back to the pastries and ask again if there’s anything with caramel. The girl behind the counter shows me a truly enormous pastry, it’s shaped a bit like a lamp and covered in purple icing. I decide what the hell, I deserve a little pick-me-up, if it’s too expensive I can always pay with my credit card. My cousin tells me my pastry is embarrassing to look at and I will have to eat it in the back of the store, away from out customers.

We go to the cashier, who is Emma Pillsbury from Glee. She sees my big paper bag and wants to see the lamp pastry inside. When I show it to her she cries because it’s so beautiful. The pastry costs 4.15, so I don’t have to use my credit card after all.

(I did buy myself some caramel ice cream this afternoon. It was too salty)

Work Dilemmas

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I go to the store as usual in the morning, but there are new coworkers I’ve never seen and all the desks are occupied. I sit on a small chair on the side, my boss sits next to me, opens her planner to scribble something, and I see she’s been testing fountain pens on a page. Enthusiastically I whip out my own journal and show her the pens I’ve been testing myself.

Then I remember I’m supposed to go to the job center and I’m already forty-five minutes late*. I sprint over and the building has been turned into an oriental garden. The employee I was supposed to meet invites me into his bamboo house and tells me it’s his birthday.

I’m at work again. I’m sorting out files when I noticed we’ve been selling bombs and missiles to our customers. I’m anxious about it, but they tell me it’s okay, that’s how life works and there’s nothing I can do about it.

*I did have an appointment IRL this morning.

Last Episode Again

Posted on February 23, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m watching the last episode ever of The Good Place, the plot is so complicated I’m not even gonna try to write it down.

Last Episode

Posted on February 22, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

We are watching on TV the last episode ever of Steven Universe, it’s 70 minutes long. The plot is about Steven splitting in two: one is a scary evil giant, the other is just a little child.

There are people hiding in a basement (or possibly a warehouse), all huddled in brown blankets. They are playing a game where they have to improv songs. A guy is called on stage, his song’s subject is “Pension”. He sings

Pension! I want my pension!

In that moment, giant scary Steven appears at the window. Everybody screams.

An Unlucky Trip

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

There’s a young woman walking on a frozen river. She is holding a wrapped box, inside there is a chocolate heart. A group of guys have ruined the heart, walked over it and left a big footprint. Now they’re sitting in their car, which is also on the frozen river, and mocking her.

The woman smiles at them, open the box and eats a piece of the chocolate heart with the footprint on it. She offers them a bite too, and there’s an evil glint in her eyes. They look scared now.

A customer at the store has refused to pay me 15 bucks. I go to her house, sit in her living room, drink a tea with her and explain that she’s stealing those money from my paycheck. She’s very sorry about it, she doesn’t have any money but offers me a tube of toothpaste and a big honey jar instead. Later that night, my boss sees the honey on her desk and is very impressed: it’s apparently super expensive.

I’m at home but it’s not my IRL home, the tiles in the bathroom are dark and the toilet is bright yellow, with a big splash of water coming from the side and landing gracefully inside the hole.

I leave for work, drive for a bit but then remember I don’t have a license and switch to a bicycle. Once arrived, my cousin invites me to come along for a trip with her friends. I accept, but not very enthusiastically.

We visit a city in Tuscany where it’s pouring rain, I have a big umbrella with me but it’s broken. We go to the train station in the evening, but we’ve already ran out of money and all the trains have been cancelled. We have to wait for someone to collect us, and eventually end up in front of a police captain: she’s sitting behind her desk sipping a glass of red wine, has Jessica Fletcher hair and a really rude attitude.

One of the girls in the group asks me if I slept at all, because we (platonically) shared a bed and she says I elbowed her all night. I say I definitely slept, and to prove it I tell her what I dreamed about:

Rebel Wilson gave me some toothpaste and a jar of honey.

I decide to go back home, because I don’t want to miss any more work. And just like that I’m sitting on my parents’ living room floor; they haven’t noticed me yet.

My uncle D. rings the doorbell, I open the door and see him in the hallway, standing next to a short man with glasses. He’s our trip organizer, I’m furious with him because we finished all the money on our first day! He promises his math was sound, takes out a beautiful artbook and start scribbling numbers on the illustrated pages with two brush pens, one black and one white, but he’s pressing too hard and ruining the nips. I get even angrier because he’s spending money on expensive stationary without even knowing how to use it.

My alarm rings as I’m still yelling at him.

I Can Only Remember Images

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

But I can’t interpret them.

That Time My Dad Died

Posted on February 19, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m writing a school essay about that time my dad died. It happened on a rainy day, I was very small and it was so hard on me. Luckily, he got better and came back to me.

I go home and casually ask my mother if she remembers that time Dad died. She looks at me funny, says she’s surprised I still believe that old tale. This is how I learn that my biological father was a chubby Indian man, and when he died his best friend wrapped himself in fake bandages, to make me believe he was my dad who had survived a terrible accident.

I’m still not convinced, I can’t accept I have no biological link to half of my family. I ask about Dad’s scars*. Mom explains she gave birth when she was fifteen, to triplets no less, and that’s when he got the scars. I see a flashback: in it my mother is giving birth in a classroom, next to her there are my Indian bio dad and their best friend, AKA my current Dad. For some reason the whole scene looks like a Ghibli movie.

*My father (who is my biological father, I have no idea where this dream came from) burned himself shielding my mother from a pot of boiling oil, and has scars on his arm to this day. My mother was pregnant with me at the time.

Encounters On the Way Home

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m with my siblings at a strange woman’s house. She’s maybe a friend of Gran’s, or a relative? I’m reading a shonen manga, a super long series that is never gonna end. We collect flowers from around the apartment for the woman’s dead husband, then we go down a narrow spiral staircase to leave the building. I’m not wearing any socks.

Walking home I come across an old schoolmate, M., who used to be a runner. I haven’t seen her in 15 years but she’s still running with a group of friends. I show her my fitness bracelet and say I’m also exercising, but we both know it’s a lie. We have stopped near a farm, there are cats and mice and a black and white horse behind a fence.

Three high school kids walk past us: they are the classic mean girls, very trendy and with heavy make up. They mock me as they walk by. I yell back that they are ugly, but realize it’s a lame retort: so I grab two of them, obviously the two sidekicks walking one step behind their queen bee, and force them to walk with me for a while instead. I improv a funny story about Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

…and then God said, “What the f**k?!”

They are laughing at my story, and hopefully they will have a better opinion of me now. I let them go.

It’s Autumn, and I have my high school Nokia with me instead of a new smartphone. I try to take pictures and they are surprisingly good quality. Then I realize somebody is following me: it’s a kid, fourteen or so, thin with blond hair and glasses. He’s a stalker in love with me. I take pictures of him following me and yell that I’m gonna call the police. He doesn’t care, follows me all the way back home. I call for my dad to come beat him up.

This is a “My Alarm is About to Go Off” Dream

Posted on February 17, 2020March 27, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m late for school. Did I even go to school at all this past week?! I can’t remember, but I have the awful feeling the answer is no.

I’m running through town, it’s April but I’m wearing a t-shirt that says “Happy Summer!”, decorated with lemons. The sky is heavy and gray, like it’s about to rain. There’s a market in town, I think it’s odd because it’s not a Tuesday. Even though I’m late, I stop at a stand that sells notebooks to take a look; they are all a bit wrinkled, like they’ve been rained upon.

I suddenly realize I’m an adult and not in school anymore, I need to go to the vet clinic instead!* I can’t remember when my shift starts though, I rush back home and ask my dad. He doesn’t remember either. I missed work for the past two days, I can’t miss today too! Maybe if I told them I was at school instead. It’s an easy mistake to make, I’m sure they’ll understand.

No, I realize with even more panic, I don’t work at the clinic anymore, I need to go to the phone store instead!! But I don’t know the way, and it’s so late, and I don’t even have my coworker’s number.

And I wake up, just in time for work.

*My old job.

Brief TV Misfortunes

Posted on February 16, 2020March 28, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m watching some sort of TV reality contest, but I can’t tell if it’s a cooking show or a talent show. Maybe both.

There’s a young singer/dancer/cook with bleached hair, stuff keeps happening to him. He has to have brain surgery because there’s a child in there: yes, he gives birth from his skull. Then there is an insect in his crotch, they need X-rays to locate it. It’s a silverfish.

In the end, he doesn’t win the contest.

DECADE DREAM JOURNAL