Pigs and Veggie Bowls

Posted on February 27, 2020February 28, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m at a hair salon inside the mall; my hair is big and bushy, Hermione Granger style, and I desperately need a haircut. The place’s owner is a scrawny guy with an evil smirk, he shaves off a patch of hair in the back of my head, so it looks like I’m going bald, and then kicks me out. I’m desperate because I’ll have to shave everything off now.

I wake up in the morning to find my sister sitting on the living room floor, I’m enraged because she’s supposed to be at her own house, I tell her that she’s not gonna sleep in my room. She locks herself in the bathroom and I start banging on the door because I’m late for school. I don’t know if I went to school at all these past days, I can’t remember. Then I realize that’s because I went to work instead.

I arrive in my classroom and I’m greeting by the usual philosophy teacher, he announces we are going on a school trip. A moment later I’m sitting at lunch in a hotel dining room, so I wonder how I got there if I was at home with my sister in the morning. We are given free food samples, they come in small packages and one of them is pink and says “tuna for cats”.

We are brought bowls of veggie soup, I’m about to dig in mine when another girl opens one of her little packages and pours some truly nasty stuff in my bowl, so now I can’t eat anymore. As I wait for the others to finish I happen to fart; it’s just a little toot, but there’s no hiding it so I say “Sorry” out loud. One of the teachers says,

There are some people that never apologize, and that’s bad. But there are also people who apologize when it’s too late and the room already stinks.

We are shown a video taken from a security cam in the city of Venice, where we were apparently visiting that morning. I see myself on the screen as the chubby teen I used to be in high school, I’m reading a book and some bad guys steal it. I chase them down some tunnels, I cringe watching myself because I run so awkwardly.

Now we are led outside, where we see a beautiful pink sunset against the mountains. I take some pictures of the sky and of some local kids that are doing somersaults. A group of pigs are crossing a little fence, they are also pink and shiny and beautiful. They are led by a girl and her grandfather, who is a white haired detective Columbo. I take pictures of the pigs too and my teacher says I shouldn’t because it’s rude. Columbo says it’s all right, as long as I send him prints.

A Lonely Puppy and a Trip by the Sea

Posted on February 26, 2020March 12, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

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.

Pirate Ships and Washing Bins

Posted on February 10, 2020February 10, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

My brother and I are watching a special DVD edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with two whole disks of extra content.

There is a deleted scene with Harry and Ron on a pirate ship. It’s a red and gold steamer with three black funnels, it’s smaller than a regular ship and it belongs to Captain Hook. Harry and Ron have been kidnapped along with other children, at twelve they are taller than the others so they try their best to look scared and innocent. I think it’s great to see them both so young again, it’s like going back in time.

More deleted scenes are shown, one is just a storyboard, one is really bad CGI, in one we see Harry from afar but it’s clearly a body double with glasses and gray hair. One scene is preserved only thanks to a couple of Indian voice actors in their booth, Hermione is too high-pitched but the boy playing Harry sounds remarkably like him. My sister catches us watching and says she’ll want to watch all the extras too when she comes back home.

I’m now at work, from my desk I can see inside my boss’ office because there is a closet missing, and apparently there never was a wall behind it. A customer is inside, I’m supposed to transfer her mobile data from her old umbrella to a new one. I ask my cousin for help and she tells me to use a standard cable.

Boss Lady walks out, demands to know why Saturday’s files weren’t archived. I promise her I archived everything I was given that evening and somebody must have hidden some files from me. Cousin G. gives me a new task, to wash our uniforms in a bin outside. I set to work in a sunny garden, and I wash with such gusto that I somehow end up drying the clothes as well. Boss Lady is even more impressed when I kill a mosquito that was walking on her neck.

I go back home and my sister is sitting on the living room floor. I’m really heartbroken because I was hoping she’d be gone forever.

I wake up and fall asleep again for a few minutes before my alarm rings. I dream about having to carry an old dying man to Hell. His wife is asleep in their room, unaware of what is happening. I take the man by the hand and we fly away, stars and building zooming behind us.

Once arrived to Hell, a demon cuts the old man’s penis off. He won’t need it anymore, the demon explains.

Magical Night at the Lake

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

My boss is giving out birthday presents, I knew it, I knew she was generous! One of my coworkers unwraps a black console, and I gasp: is it… a Playstation 2? No, it’s a cheap Made in China rip-off. I unwrap mine, there is an old SNES inside. I already own one, though! Not to mention, the Super Mario cartridge in it is fake.

On my way home I stop at the local toy store, I’m planning to buy some toys to entertain bored children at work*. I choose a wooden truck, a white plushie and pink plastic goggles. The man at the register says it’s gonna be 18 bucks, I’m taken aback because I only have 20 in my wallet. It should be 12, max! The man points out I’ve taken two pair of goggles instead of one. I confess I can’t pay that much money and walk out the store.

At home my dad is opening some boxes that were just delivered. Inside there are black-covered Penguin books for my brother, we tease him but he insists he won them. I pick up one, Anne of Green Gables, and decide to enter a contest with it.

The night of the contest I present an essay on the book alongside a cake inspired by it: it’s lemon cream, honey and cookies. There is a big ceremony happening in a hotel on Lake Como, and all my family came along. It’s a summer night, the hotel garden is green and glistening, all the guests are dressed fancy and laughing pleasantly. I want pizza so I venture outside, order some from an intercom outside a big yellow gate. More of my family arrives and I find out they are serving pizza at the hotel, I wasted my money. A movie is being showed in the garden.

*(Photo by Patrick Schneider on Unsplash*)

I win the contest, alongside three more kids from around Europe. The morning after we are gathered for a photoshoot on the lake. I choose what to wear, gray pants and a gray waistcoat to go with it, I feel very elegant. My hair is red, short and unruly, it gets bushier and bushier with the humidity until I look like Annie Warbucks.

Each of us is given a sign saying our name, our age and the title of our essay. Mine says I’m 18, older than the other kids. We walk in the lake and are told to hold our signs up and smile the wildest, happiest smile. Our pictures are taken. I review them later and they are not bad, I’m jealous about the professional camera’s quality compared to my phone’s. There’s also a photo of the cake I baked perfectly framed against the lake.

I want to send some of these pictures to my penpal C., but I decide I look too bad. Not the ugliest, because with my puffy hair I look a bit like my Grandma, but I don’t want C. to think I’m anything else than gorgeous. Instead I write her about a chapter from Anne of Green Gables that I really liked.

In it Anne is sitting in a wooden train car with her mom and newborn brother. A black woman walks in with a little boy, who is crying because he was too late to enter the book contest. The woman is about to get mad, when Anne’s mom asks his name. “Chemical,” says the boy.

“Well, I’m not gonna call you that, it sounds like a pill.”

Anne’s mother tells him everyone is tired and sad sometimes, he just needs to take a deep breath. The boy’s mom is so moved hearing these words that she takes the baby from the other woman’s arms and start breastfeeding him.

*I actually want to do this IRL.

Useless Player, Useless Friend

Posted on February 4, 2020February 4, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

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!

Blood, Fire and Disappointment

Posted on February 2, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

Note: the man I’m gonna write about today is a rather famous person who I admire very much. I’d hate for him to accidentally find this dream where some terrible stuff happens to his actual family, I was even tempted to not record it at all. In the end I decided to leave his name out, just in case.

I’m watching a live stream. In it a man is driving a car and at the same time recording a vlog with his wife and children. A terrible accident happens, an explosion. We see the younger child, no more than a toddler, buried by rock and debris, his face burnt and bloody. The older brother is also badly burned. The father looks into the phone camera he’s recording with, his face covered in soot and deadly scared, and tells the audience he’s gonna run for help.

The day goes by slowly, I keep thinking about the accident, wondering what happened, checking Twitter for updates. Finally the man tweets something. A Christian prayer, and then a picture of his younger son with a heartbreaking epitaph. I’m not surprised, the child was badly hurt. But where is the brother?

The live stream starts again, we are showed the other child. His black t-shirt and jeans are burned, it’s night and he’s walking alone into a drive-in restaurant. Inside, standing under neon lights on the shiny floor tiles, there’s no other than Emperor Palpatine. He tries to turn the child to the dark side, but gets stabbed in return: the boy killed him!

People on the Internet rejoice at seeing the boy alive and well, but I’m growing suspicious. The car accident, the fight with Palpatine, it all looked kind of… staged, produced even. Was it all a lie? An excuse for this boy get away with murder? Did the father even got as far as sacrificing his own younger child to get the older one to succeed? I feel shaken.

Another quick dream, because I slept in this Sunday morning.

I notice at the supermarket colorful cardboard boxes on a shelf. I look closer and see pictured on the boxes a set of vintage 90s mugs, just like the ones I used to have breakfast in as a kid! I buy three, one with Chip ‘n Dale, one with Mickey and Donald, and one with Tony the Tiger.

I run home all excited, I want to show them to my sister. She’s sitting on the toilet but doesn’t seem to mind. We open a box and we are immediately overwhelmed by the smell of artificial chocolate, it’s really bad. There are no functional mugs inside, just three plastic replicas with Styrofoam cereal in it. They are cute and colorful, but quite useless.

An Heartwarming Tale Of Birth

Posted on January 29, 2020January 29, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m pregnant, what a magnificent excuse to not go to work! I avidly study the sonogram to find out what my baby will look like. I hope she has big eyes and angelic features.

The doctor says it’s time, we’re gonna induce contraptions in the morning. My mom argues it is not a good enough reason to skip my duties and I should still go to work; but I’m determined to take my chances. I pat my belly adoringly, it’s small and sits too high under my chest. I now know it’s twins.

When the time comes I give birth to, in order: a few yellow earplugs, some socks, and most importantly my twins, which are a couple of Pokémon, one white and fluffy and one blue and angry. They are so small they can sit on the palm of my hand. Mom rolls her eyes, I argue that at least some of the stuff I gave birth to is useful!

Choirs and Cows

Posted on January 27, 2020January 27, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m watching on TV a children’s choir, they are all little hams that can’t stand still and are swaying wildly to the music. Delighted, I go to YouTube to send some of their videos to my friend C. I find one where an entire cast of Bollywood dancers are performing to their songs, and another where the TV host and the choir conductor are doing ballet.

The Glee cast is sitting in the audience, I guess they used to be former choir members. The last performer is a little girl with bangs and brown curls that looks like Rachel Berry, she throws a tantrum and refuses to sing unless it’s a “power ballad”.

I’m sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, but I also work there as a training secretary. As I wait I’m writing on my notebook and listening to music; an old schoolmate walks on the table and leaves a muddy shoe print on my blank page, I yell at him. The doctor*, who is Chris Evans in a white coat, gives me the thumbs up from his office. I reply with a toothy smile from under my wool hat and massive white earphones.

Now Chris Evans is reading the news on TV. He chokes on his words and is quickly replaced by ads, I picture everyone laughing at him in the studio. Once back, he introduces an old Disney cartoon: it has been clearly ripped from YouTube, I find it very unprofessional. The cartoon depicts a polyamorous relationship between a blonde human woman, three anthropomorphic cows and one actual cow.

*not THE Doctor. A doctor, a medical professional.

Adventures in (fake) Baby Sitting

Posted on January 18, 2020January 19, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I need to leave the house in a hurry: I signed up for some classes and I’m late, but I keep forgetting something and having to come back. At one point I realize I even forgot my underwear, and there’s even a pretty girl laughing at me. My building is a maze (that’s another recurring dream of mine) and I can’t find my way back.

Eventually I’m ready and running through my town; the streets are more colorful somehow, people are wearing summer clothes and palm trees are greener, I feel like I’m in California. There’s a giant papier-maché head peeking out from a roof, it’s bright pink and I want to take a picture of it. But I’m late! And what’s worse, I suddenly remember I need to go to work, so I have no choice but text an excuse to my classes’ group chat. They all rage against my job, they say my boss is overworking me and paying too little.

Turns out I’m a baby sitter, my charge is a little boy named Marcus, son of a rich, somewhat bossy couple. I show his mother a painting on my notebook, tell her Marcus made it. She’s skeptical though, so I have to admit it’s actually by my friend F. But Marcus helped!

Little Bigot

Posted on January 12, 2020January 19, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

Aunt T., the one I hate, has a granddaughter. My sister knocks on the door to ask if I would like to meet this child, I say no, absolutely not, I can’t make exceptions. The little girl is already here though, peeking from behind the door, a blonde angel of ten. She’s so adorable I can’t help but letting her in, I tickle her and blow soap bubbles to make her laugh. The child asks to see my ID card and I think, strange, but why not? I send my sister to retrieve my wallet, and as soon as the she sees my ID the kid attacks me! She says she can’t allow mutants and modified humans to exist. Great, I think, she’s a racist like her aunt.

My sister and I are now on the run from the little girl. We escape through various international cities, I remember one has pyramids even though we are in the US. All around us mutants are being abducted and killed. You can’t tell them apart from regular humans unless you have X-Ray vision to check if their bones are made of metal. A man approaches us, promises he’ll lead us to safety. We’re wary at first, but an X-ray scan reveals he’s actually Frozone. Relieved, we follow him.

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