February 22, 2013

Driving with a friend in a parking lot at a large strip mall.

The lot in front of the store we want to visit has only handicap parking: row after row of blue-lined spaces. I grow frustrated and am tempted to park in one, but decide against it thinking I'd get a ticket.

We park in the adjacent lot in front of Target. This lot is filled with rows of good for sale--reminds me of a flea market. Elderly folks are picking up linens, marveling at them.

---

Driving with the husband of a friend and his three small children. He sits in the front passenger seat, a small toddler on his lap, two children to his left (both a bit bigger than the one on his lap). He wears a white T-shirt. I've never met him before.

We drive over a bridge from Philly to NJ. As we approach the town where I live, we see two teens, on opposite sides of the street, pointing guns at each other. At first, this makes no sense to me and I continue driving, but suddenly we find ourselves in the middle of a gun fight. I become terrified as bullets whiz past the car, just missing us. The man next to me tells me to back up. I do and we simply drive down a parallel street.

I'm now in the back seat. No idea who is driving, but the man is still in the front passenger seat surrounded by his children. We discuss the gun fight. I lean way over the seat so I an look at him and his children with complete seriousness, "You will raise good children, and that is how we'll have hope for the future."

February 5th, 2013

Mary Todd was cheating on her husband, Mr. Lincoln. I saw her kissing another man and I grew very worried for her safety. I thought about how Lincoln would kick her ass. And I was mad at her. Who would cheat on Lincoln?

February 1st, 2013

I am standing in a field. I walk forward and suddenly fall into a pool I hadn't seen. It's an in-ground pool with cement sides. I fall like a stone and watch the sides of the pool slip past me. 

Panic. 

Fearful I will drown, I try to stop my rapid descent, but nothing I do slows the pace.

The cement sides of the pool are now gone; replaced by earth and stone. I'm in a subterranean pool that seems to have no bottom. I try to breathe and discover I can in a limited way.

I realized I'm dreaming and try to awaken. My body shakes violently. I've had sleep paralysis in the past. I feel like an etherized patient awakening in the middle of surgery. I sense a force or presence more powerful than me holding me down, preventing me from awakening--which is typical of sleep paralysis.

~~~

In college, I fell asleep after a morning class. I opened my eyes about half an hour later, but couldn't move my body. I could only move my eyes. As I scanned the room, I could see the sun on the carpet, my desk and computer, my roommate's desk. I heard the sound of a TV with no reception--often described as "snow" (but I've never heard snow in this way, only the soft flap as it piles up on the ground). I hear sinister laughing and sense an evil presence holding me down. This experience terrified me, but I later learned about sleep paralysis and that these are typical symptoms / experiences. I also learned that such episodes are thought to be the source of reports of alien abduction. Turns out folks who think they were abducted by aliens and probed or operated upon, may have merely been suffering from this sleep disorder. I completely understand how such a mistake could be made. I certainly have never been abducted by aliens (a fact I find quite sad).

January 30th, 2013

1

found a sock I had been missing 
a Wigwam
so pleased

2

Old man teaches me how to punch properly.
"Make a triangle with your knuckles, like this," he arranges the knuckles of my fist into a triangle.
"Then, when you punch, flick them like this at the last moment," this he demonstrates with his own fist.

3

Driving in the dark through an old city--probably Philly. Three-story row homes line the streets, with taller apartment buildings interspersed. I pass a row home fire on my right. Firefighters are already attacking the blaze. I turn right and a ball of fire explodes from the top floor of another row home. The concussive force of the blast shakes me. I drive further along and a third row home bursts into flames. This one prevents me from continuing on the same road. I turn left and find more fires and wonder how many fires the fire department can handle. I realize they'll need to call in fighters from other towns.

I'm frustrated because I cannot continue on my journey. I always drive the same route and now I am disoriented.

January 26th, 2013

I'm in an old building with many people. We're hot, thirsty, and hungry. We've been vacationing nearby and visited this location which seems to be an amusement park of some kind. The power has gone out, which is why we're so hot (no A/C) and cannot escape (electric locks on the gates will not open). The sun is bright and one positive is that we can go outside. However, we must be cautious because there are many dangers in this park, which reminds me of Jurassic Park (except that we do not see any dinosaurs--there just seem to be many hidden dangers).

We're growing restless. Everyone seems to have a plan that, we quickly discover, will not work. One person suggests that we try scaling the walls (which are made of stone, and are about twenty feet high with electrified wires at the top--power still seems to be running through them).

We travel to the entrance of the park, which is a long, narrow, enclosed bridge with windows on either side. We seem to have avoided traveling through the center of the park (which is the most dangerous) and made our way to the entrance safely (it wasn't far from the building where we were sweltering). The bridge connects the outside world to the park. When we reach the end of the bridge (we're traveling away from the outside world for some reason), we are greeted by FBI agents who only reveal that they are in the FBI because of the dire situation. They wear mirrored sunglasses. A middle-aged FBI agent tells us we cannot continue on into the park. "You shouldn't be here without special glasses...you're not supposed to see this place." We're lead to understand that the government has been hiding the true purpose of this park and that the special glasses visitors are required to wear prevent them from seeing what is actually in the park.

Realizing the peril we're all in, the agent allows us to continue into the park without glasses.

January 17th, 2013

At a large, open-air stadium with friends from Delaware and my wife. We're there to see Springsteen or someone like him. The stadium is packed. The North Korean army marches in and takes a seat in the center of the stadium. They face us. I'm suddenly worried about being publicly beaten. I flash back to a vivid memory of my last public beating in this very place. I'm standing on a stage in the center of the stadium. I'm a bloody mess. North Korean soldiers surrounded me. It was apparent to me that the audience did not approve of my beating, but they remained silent and watched.

The memory fades and I am growing increasingly more anxious about my impending beating. I tell my wife and friends I am going to get something to eat--I really intend to escape. For some reason they (my wife and friends) do not recall my former beating, or, it's possible they just refuse to mention it. I walk down the cement steps, past the concession, and into the parking lot. There, a North Korean soldier approaches me and says, "Bryan?" I just look at him and he adds, "There's no escape." He smiles and gently leads me to a room where other soldiers are present. They shove me around a bit and laugh, relishing the knowledge that they'll have a chance to beat me very shortly. 

I am ushered out of the room and onto the field in the center of the stadium. I see that President Obama and Michelle Obama are in the audience, sitting in the second row. I now look forward to being beaten because I'm certain Obama will intervene. But then I recall that a former president (couldn't remember which one) was in the audience the last time I was beaten. When the pummeling began, the secret service swiftly surrounded the president and pulled him to safety before he could help me.

And now I realize the same will happen again--Obama will be pulled to safety and I will face the merciless fists of North Korean soldiers.

January 16th, 2013

I am standing on my 18 foot Precision sailboat. The river I'm sailing through is narrow and murky: brown, churning waters filled with debris. Up ahead a broken airplane wing (full-size) floats atop the water on the right; the tail of an airplane floats on the left. They leave only a one foot gap through which I must sail. I grow incredibly nervous as I near the objects and the impossibly small passage between them. The river pulls the boat forward rapidly. I have no choice but to make an attempt. When the bow is just a few feet from the wing and tail, I hold tight to the lifelines, bracing myself for the worst. I try to steer as carefully as possible, aiming for the narrow break--the tumultuous water thwarts my efforts. At the last moment, the boat glides smoothly between the two metal objects.