I dream that I board a train that is just one cart with no rails. It’s a school trip and we travel and travel until we reach the Philippines and people are waving us welcome from the windows. One of my schoolmates is half Pinoy, she has a severe degenerative illness but she’s super sweet, has me try strawberry milk. At night she takes us to a beach, it’s snowing and the sky is blue and purple, everything is glistening, it’s the most beautiful sight. I take photos to text my dad, but he never receives them. Why didn’t he receive them? I try to fix my phone texts, try and try but it’s all useless.
Tag: beach
My Cat Is Sick And I’m Projecting
I dream that I’m randomly messaged by a nice older girl on a forum. We decide to meet up on the beach, she asks about art, what are my favorite paintings? I show her a kiosk selling street art: my favorite painting is all of them, combined, all the nuanced colors they create together. We sit together on a rock, cuddling. I think I’m in love.
The next day I’m at school, not interested at all in the literature class I’m attending. We’re reading the first book of a trilogy (His Dark Materials, maybe?), I didn’t even bring my copy with me. What’s the point, I read it so many times already. The teacher is annoyed by my attitude, the other kids are astounded. I’m so glad I’m an adult with better priorities.
Beach girl invites me over to her place so I can meet her roommates. Wait, roommates? Maybe I totally misunderstood her and she’s straight after all. Suddenly shy, I refuse to go and send my cat instead. I have to go to school and sit through a Harry Potter movie with dozens of TV ads. I’m again pretty annoyed and yelling my displeasure at the big screen. In the movie, the actors are digitally de-aged to look like children, it’s rather uncanny valley.
My cat gets lost on the way home. She finally arrives chased by five other cats, black and white like her. She’s so scared, and I love her so much and feel so guilty. The five cats are rattling the balcony window, we can see their silhouettes behind the white curtain, they’re terrifying.
We Visit Each Other Pretty Often In My Dreams, Never Met IRL
I dream that my beloved long time penpal, C. is visiting me. She looks exactly like A., my childhood best friend, and that seems totally normal in dreamland. I feel bad for always making her fly here, instead of the other way round. It’s time for her to go back, and I promised I’d go on a trip with my grandparents, but no, seeing her off is much more important. We drive past the beach, the sun is setting, I say, how about it? Doesn’t it look a bit like California? Not really, but I could never imagine living far away from the sea like she does. (note: I HATE THE BEACH IRL!). For some reason instead of an airport we get to a train station. In London. I hug her goodbye.
I dream that I’m watching a cheerleading live show, the music is all by Spice Girls, and the real Spices, all five of them, are sitting on the bleachers, clapping. They look older, with crow’s feet and all, and utterly beautiful. The cheer captain is also gorgeous, I feel a bit guilty about trying to impress her because she’s so much younger than me. I tell her, you chose Spice Girls because you think they’re vintage, but to me they’re a very real, very fond childhood memory.
When You Wake Up Suddenly And It’s Like You Were Just There
I dream that the whole family is at a beach village, one of those Greek sea places with white houses and blue roofs. The sun is shining and it’s clearly summer, still groups of children are coming down stairs and alleys singing a Christmas song, I know it’s Greek because I recognize the world “aletheia”. Another group is singing in… Hebrew? That can’t be right, they don’t celebrate Christmas. Maybe they’re Copts.
As more and more relatives arrive I yearn to go back home and avoid them all, I beg my dad to drive me and he refuses. I walk instead, looking behind my back to see if he changed his mind. I fall asleep on a bench and when I wake up Dad has brought me home on his bicycle.
I want to take a shower but there’s a tray of burned cheese burgers in the bathroom, the smell is foul. My mom sits next to me on my bed and puts some sort of rust colored lotion on my face. Meanwhile, my brother is telling me that Dad is gonna take down our shower panels, that upsets me so much I throw a little, pathetic tantrum.
We sit around the table to eat dinner, both my grandmothers are here. My late grandma G. is slouching back on her chair, she looks like she has no bones and is about to plop on the floor any minute, like she’s made of jelly. I’m explaining to the both of them what 3D glasses are, isn’t it marvelous, I say, how everyone can now see holograms? They don’t really understand the concept. I say, imagine a big red billboard with the name of your favorite supermarket. With my glasses I also can see… I fish around for an actress they would recognize,
I can also see Sofia Loren projected on the billboard, waving at me.
After dinner, my brother attempts to hack into my phone to see if I ever visited a certain city. He’s not gonna find anything, I say confidently. He finds a panoramic photo that looks more like a painting. It’s from my point of view, it looks like I’m sitting in a shabby room. He changes the prospective and we gasp: on my lap there’s a dirty rat with a syringe stuck in its neck. It’s a terrifying close up.
Next I go to the store because it’s my old coworker S.’s birthday and we are planning a surprise party. I buy birthday cards and balloons from him, he doesn’t suspect a thing. I really need to pee though, and I’ll have to hold it because it’s not hygienic to use a public bathroom, Coronavirus and all. I can’t remember my credit card pin, I look it up on my phone, it’s the old Motorola my mom owned in 1997. It’s broken and I can’t seem to fix it and I really need to run home and pee. S. tries to fix it as well, he hands back something that is not my phone, I really don’t care, I grab it and…
I wake up and run to the bathroom.
I Just Want To Go Out And Take Pictures, Man
I dream that I’m watching a TV show, it’s a love story between a model and a producer. He’s got nice eyes but ugly teeth, he’s old and bony, but surprisingly I’m into it. He looks sweet and melanchonic. In the scene I’m watching they’re talking about Hamilton, specifically praising Renée Elise Goldsberry’s performance, I wholeheartedly agree with them. I want to watch the whole scene again, but I wake up.
Now I’m on a school trip, we walk on a long, white bridge. In front of us there’s a beach, behind us a rocky, misty hill. I take pictures to send my dad, even though he’s also here with me. I explain I’m sending them to the version of him that is sitting home on the couch. Eventually he’ll join bodies with that version.
We climb the hill, there’s an equally misty village on top. We spot a comic book store but it’s closed, maybe they’re on a lunch break? No, someone reads out loud the sign on the door, they’re on vacation on November 1st, 2nd and 3th. All my schoolmates grumble, just our luck.
The sun is setting, now we’re all sitting on the beach around a fire. I take more pictures of my friends, they turn out pretty but too bright.
Area Woman Decides To Wake Up Early And Shower, Has All Night Anxiety About It
I dream that it’s Christmas and I’m typically upset about not receiving any presents. I storm in my room and brood a bit, yell a bit at my neighbors for blasting far-right propaganda from their windows. I know I need to go shower, yet I waste hours playing Pokémon on an old Game Boy Advance. I feel so bad for procrastinating. My brain is like mush.
I finally get up and step in the shower box, I struggle not to just sit down and brood some more. No, I need to concentrate on the task ahead. My grandma is there too (now the shower is the size of a large room with black marble walls), she’s standing on a stool and trying to take a picture from a slit window, she says she wishes her phone had a better camera. Well, I have a better camera!
The ocean is on the other side of the window, blue and shiny and I start taking pictures. Now the shower is an open space on the beach and the walls are bamboo. I feel guilty about leaving the water running, but the sun is setting and I need these pics for my Instagram. Beach goers try to shower and I shoo them away. Two men are painting the wall of a building with Michelangelo’s frescoes, I take picture after beautiful picture. The beach employees are trying to stop me. The water is still running.
Eventful Holiday
I dream that I’m interning at a tobacco store but nobody seems to pay attention to me. The next day is a holiday, I’m at the beach wearing a bikini, with my feet in the water. My parents come pick me up, there are four starving kids on the beach and my mom buys them ice cream pops. I go home and up some stairs, hiding inside an incredibly tiny outdoor toilet. I place an old TV (the kind with antennas and a big butt) on the toilet seat, sit on the floor in front of it and proceed to watch Glee as I eat my lunch.
A Lonely Puppy and a Trip by the Sea
From my room’s window I see an older woman speaking to her grandson. The child has a puppy with him, small and gray and furry, and the woman is trying to convince him to abandon it. The puppy’s name is George.
Later that day I’m talking to a group of friends in my house, who also happen to be veterinarians. I tell them about poor George and how worried I am about him. Couldn’t they take him to the vet clinic with them? He’s so small it wouldn’t be too much of a bother! No, they tell me, they already have too many dogs as it is.
I look out of the window again and see George running in the park, he’s all alone. I go downstairs and there are more vets in the parking lot, washing dogs with a water hose. I call George and he runs to me waggling his tail, I notice he’s not a puppy after all, but a big pit bull with gray and brown fur and the sweetest eyes.
While I’m walking in town a man approaches me. He explains he’s a phone technician and he’s looking for a certain local village. I realize he’s going the wrong direction, so I invite him to follow me.
As we walk I show him the town’s churches and squares and explain their history. We eventually reach a cliff by the sea, and I don’t know how to proceed beyond that. My black shoes get all sandy. I find a lost, old-fashioned cell phone on the ground, I go through the contacts to find out who it belongs to, but a red-haired boy arrives to claim it.
I start chatting with two black girls. I tell them I’m an independent woman who can support herself with her work, my gran is listening from the phone in my pocket and she says out loud that I’m lying. One of the girls stop at a restaurant on the beach because she’s a waitress there. I stop at the soap store, I look for disinfectant but it’s all gone because of the new Coronavirus. I buy banana toothpaste instead.
Useless Player, Useless Friend
I’m part of the Critical Role cast, but during the show all I do is smile and sit in silence. Who did I play again, Beauregard? No, that’s not right. I feel guilty, I’m sure I could never live to my character’s full potential, so I write to Dani Carr that I want to quit. She’s vehemently opposed to it, she points out that I look like I’m having a lot of fun during every game,
and that’s all that matters.
I suddenly remember, I’m not part of the regular cast at all, I just guest starred in a few episodes*! I’m playing a little girl with a brown bush of hair and ice blue eyes, who is really an adult under a curse.
My penpal C. has come to visit once again, I feel guilty because I never exchange the favor. In my defense, I’m afraid of planes! We share a pizza in the park, but I’m afraid it’s not glamorous enough and she’ll get bored of me.
C. now looks like my cousin and speaks my language perfectly, but she’s still herself. I’m supposed to go to school but I also want to do something fun with her; besides, I’m an adult with a job and it’s not like I need school anymore, right?
Dad suggests we could drive to the beach. Sure, it’s getting dark outside, but we could still get an ice cream and take a stroll by the water under the moonlight. I run to get dressed but my shoes are missing once again. I look through the shoe rack and find a pair of Nike Air worn out like mine except they are olive green. I guess they’ll have to do.
*I actually dreamed about guest starring a couple months ago. Dreamception!
One-Two Chicken
I’m with my sister on the beach. We’ve been fighting lately, but we apparently made peace in my dreams. She puts on her sunglasses, slathers herself with cream and proceeds to sunbathe like a lizard; meanwhile I stay fully clothed because I’m shy.
Times flies and it’s soon time to go back home, she has to pay for our train tickets because I only have five bucks on me. On the train I’m reading a Mickey Mouse comic strip, my sister reads from over my shoulder and chatters on about the artist, apparently a favorite of hers. “See how Goofy really moves like a dog,” she says enthusiastically. Horace is buff, like veins bulging ripped for who knows what reason.
I keep on reading, there’s a two pages interview with a Spanish-speaking comic book writer named Ricardo Pollo. I start chuckling uncontrollably, my sister asks why so I explain: the guy has a son who was born on January the second, and thus he named the poor kid “One Two Pollo.” In the dream, I find that utterly hysterical.
DECADE DREAM JOURNAL 