NYC: 10-24-07
....okay, had the most WEIRD-ass dream last night... um, here's what I wrote about a half-hour after I woke up:
Okay, wanted to get this down before I forgot it entirely, because I know that dreams are like that; what I remember in a few hours won’t be what I recall right now, or what I knew an hour ago.
Just had the first *really* lucid dream I’ve ever had-I found myself in my family’s old house; it was still our house (same old furnishings as before my dad died) and felt very comfortable. Seemed roomier somehow, though, as if space had expanded a bit. My mom, my older sister Donna, and my younger sister Denise were there; other people would just sort of wander in and leave, but we four stayed. I never saw my dad, though I kept looking for him.
A little ways into the dream I very abruptly had this thought: how could I be in Florida when I was in the middle of a vacation to New York? And I said what I realized out loud: “Oh, this is a DREAM.” And I just stood there and waited for it to end, because that’s what always happens in books and movies-as soon as you realize it, it’s over. I even remember being rather proud of myself for finally having a real honest-to-gods lucid dream, since they’ve been far and few between…. Only it didn’t end. So I waited some more, and some more, and my mom (who looked to be in her late 50’s, not 80 like she really is) asked me what was wrong, was I okay, and I got kind of impatient and demanded: Hey mom, where am I supposed to be right now? And she started to answer automatically, but stopped and looked startled. “New York.” Uh huh; I told her that this was a dream, she shrugged and said not to worry about it, and wandered off to talk to Donna in the living-room. I did the same thing with Denise, who looked a little worried.
See, that was the oddest thing: I treated the other people in the dream as if THEY had also been dragged from sleep into *my* dream, like we were all real and it wasn’t just me plus a cast of dream-characters. Will have to ask them what they dreamed on Tuesday, 10/23/07…. And I kept trying to wake up; didn’t work. I got godsdamn impatient about it too, but I kept trying. After enough tries I got really frustrated about that, because dammit I was supposed to be in NEW YORK, for crying out loud!
Another odd thing: appearances. My mom looked younger; so did both my sisters and the random family members that would occasionally wander through. Me? I don’t know. I keep thinking that I was built differently, much thinner, younger… my hands were longer and paler-skinned, I think. But I was still me.
The other odd thing: the phone kept ringing. I picked it up and couldn’t understand whoever was on the other end, they almost seemed to be whispering in another language. Eventually something about it sounded familiar, and I asked if it was Bill, my brother; it was terribly staticky and hard to understand, but he told me he was sorry, and I asked him rather sharply if he was drunk; he said “….sorry…” again, and I realized that I was going to have to go pick him up from somewhere (don’t ask me why, I had it in mind he was drunk at a night-club, maybe out on the beach)… but then I realized again that this was a dream and that I couldn’t leave the house. I could see out the windows to outside, but I just couldn’t go anywhere. Maybe he was apologizing for not being able to make it? Dunno.... I'm not even sure it was him, it sounded so weird-- if a noise could qualify as 'dark grey and black', then it did. I did not, repeat, NOT like it. Eventually the connection fell through and I hung up on a dial tone and went back to very grumpily trying to wake myself up.
Soooo, after trying repeatedly (including lying down on the couch or bed-my old room was still there, books and all--, closing my eyes and even shouting 'WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!', I suddenly felt like I was sort of falling asleep… and I distinctly felt my eyes open, and I was lying in bed in my hotel room, very perfectly aware that Hey, this time I really WAS awake.
You can @#$%!! have your lucid dreams. They BITE. Didn't enjoy that one much at all. **grumpgrouchgrowl**
Today I went on the Threeeeeeee-hooouuuuur-tooooooour, otherwise known as the Greenwich Village/Soho Food Tour, and oh was it ever worth it! Mmmmmmmm, Israeli food and Indian food and Jamaican food and handmade smoked mozzarella and something weird called a Potato Peta and fresh yoghurt with carmelized-apple topping and..... I think I'm in love with Greenwich Village. I don't care how commercialized it is, I freaking LOVED it. Everything felt like it was going 'alive, alive, alive' and there was so much to look at-- weird little head shops and tattoo-parlors and jazz clubs and swing clubs and comedy cellars and odd little dives and beautiful balconies and seedy buildings stained with soot and Washington Square (we were warned not to take photos of the chess-players, as they often are on parole and Intensly Dislike having their pics taken) and so! much! stuff! I took 17 shots... and my battery crapped out. And guess what I forgot to bring? The charger. So tomorrow morning Yours Truely will take a little jaunt up to Rainbow Cameras on 6th and 31st to buy a new charger, because I have GOT to take pics. Was gonna go on the boat tour tonight but as it rained on and off all day, I put it off 'til next week.
But! here are the pics I did take... And tomorrow I have plans to hit the Kinokuya, Book-off, possibly the New York Aquarium and then the Merchant's House Ghost Tour at 7 p.m. Can't wait; that one'll be fun. And then at a horriffically early hour (2 a.m. or so) I'll catch a cab to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and head to Pittsburgh for a couple of days. Dunno if I'll be posting then; will if I can, and if not I'll post when I get back.
And now they're getting ready to close and I gotta go. **waves and zooms**
Okay, wanted to get this down before I forgot it entirely, because I know that dreams are like that; what I remember in a few hours won’t be what I recall right now, or what I knew an hour ago.
Just had the first *really* lucid dream I’ve ever had-I found myself in my family’s old house; it was still our house (same old furnishings as before my dad died) and felt very comfortable. Seemed roomier somehow, though, as if space had expanded a bit. My mom, my older sister Donna, and my younger sister Denise were there; other people would just sort of wander in and leave, but we four stayed. I never saw my dad, though I kept looking for him.
A little ways into the dream I very abruptly had this thought: how could I be in Florida when I was in the middle of a vacation to New York? And I said what I realized out loud: “Oh, this is a DREAM.” And I just stood there and waited for it to end, because that’s what always happens in books and movies-as soon as you realize it, it’s over. I even remember being rather proud of myself for finally having a real honest-to-gods lucid dream, since they’ve been far and few between…. Only it didn’t end. So I waited some more, and some more, and my mom (who looked to be in her late 50’s, not 80 like she really is) asked me what was wrong, was I okay, and I got kind of impatient and demanded: Hey mom, where am I supposed to be right now? And she started to answer automatically, but stopped and looked startled. “New York.” Uh huh; I told her that this was a dream, she shrugged and said not to worry about it, and wandered off to talk to Donna in the living-room. I did the same thing with Denise, who looked a little worried.
See, that was the oddest thing: I treated the other people in the dream as if THEY had also been dragged from sleep into *my* dream, like we were all real and it wasn’t just me plus a cast of dream-characters. Will have to ask them what they dreamed on Tuesday, 10/23/07…. And I kept trying to wake up; didn’t work. I got godsdamn impatient about it too, but I kept trying. After enough tries I got really frustrated about that, because dammit I was supposed to be in NEW YORK, for crying out loud!
Another odd thing: appearances. My mom looked younger; so did both my sisters and the random family members that would occasionally wander through. Me? I don’t know. I keep thinking that I was built differently, much thinner, younger… my hands were longer and paler-skinned, I think. But I was still me.
The other odd thing: the phone kept ringing. I picked it up and couldn’t understand whoever was on the other end, they almost seemed to be whispering in another language. Eventually something about it sounded familiar, and I asked if it was Bill, my brother; it was terribly staticky and hard to understand, but he told me he was sorry, and I asked him rather sharply if he was drunk; he said “….sorry…” again, and I realized that I was going to have to go pick him up from somewhere (don’t ask me why, I had it in mind he was drunk at a night-club, maybe out on the beach)… but then I realized again that this was a dream and that I couldn’t leave the house. I could see out the windows to outside, but I just couldn’t go anywhere. Maybe he was apologizing for not being able to make it? Dunno.... I'm not even sure it was him, it sounded so weird-- if a noise could qualify as 'dark grey and black', then it did. I did not, repeat, NOT like it. Eventually the connection fell through and I hung up on a dial tone and went back to very grumpily trying to wake myself up.
Soooo, after trying repeatedly (including lying down on the couch or bed-my old room was still there, books and all--, closing my eyes and even shouting 'WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!', I suddenly felt like I was sort of falling asleep… and I distinctly felt my eyes open, and I was lying in bed in my hotel room, very perfectly aware that Hey, this time I really WAS awake.
You can @#$%!! have your lucid dreams. They BITE. Didn't enjoy that one much at all. **grumpgrouchgrowl**
Today I went on the Threeeeeeee-hooouuuuur-tooooooour, otherwise known as the Greenwich Village/Soho Food Tour, and oh was it ever worth it! Mmmmmmmm, Israeli food and Indian food and Jamaican food and handmade smoked mozzarella and something weird called a Potato Peta and fresh yoghurt with carmelized-apple topping and..... I think I'm in love with Greenwich Village. I don't care how commercialized it is, I freaking LOVED it. Everything felt like it was going 'alive, alive, alive' and there was so much to look at-- weird little head shops and tattoo-parlors and jazz clubs and swing clubs and comedy cellars and odd little dives and beautiful balconies and seedy buildings stained with soot and Washington Square (we were warned not to take photos of the chess-players, as they often are on parole and Intensly Dislike having their pics taken) and so! much! stuff! I took 17 shots... and my battery crapped out. And guess what I forgot to bring? The charger. So tomorrow morning Yours Truely will take a little jaunt up to Rainbow Cameras on 6th and 31st to buy a new charger, because I have GOT to take pics. Was gonna go on the boat tour tonight but as it rained on and off all day, I put it off 'til next week.
But! here are the pics I did take... And tomorrow I have plans to hit the Kinokuya, Book-off, possibly the New York Aquarium and then the Merchant's House Ghost Tour at 7 p.m. Can't wait; that one'll be fun. And then at a horriffically early hour (2 a.m. or so) I'll catch a cab to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and head to Pittsburgh for a couple of days. Dunno if I'll be posting then; will if I can, and if not I'll post when I get back.
And now they're getting ready to close and I gotta go. **waves and zooms**