Fragments

The weirdest part about last night's dreams was dreaming I had awakened and was writing them down in bed, only to have my alarm go off in the middle of it. I was still in bed, but sleeping rather than writing anything, and that was rather disorienting.

I'm pretty sure I dreamed all night, but all I can remember are vivid fragments, which even in the dream world I thought merited writing down. In the dream, I found a notebook by the side of my bed, in which I found a free page to start writing notes. The notes I ended up writing, though, were about an epically long voicemail message my mom had left about food. Then the notebook turned into the menu she was looking at, complete with glossy pictures. We were supposed to eat Thai food, but she had found another restaurant and was telling me about things like the "Germaphobe Plate with Eggs," which she thought "you and I would both like." Although my mom doesn't drink at all in real life, in the dream she also suggested some cocktails, one made with 120 proof vodka and something she pronounced as "shtoot." Stout, I wondered?

Before that, there had been:

• A store stocked with Halloween costumes, now 50-70% off. A mom was shopping with her two boys for next year's costumes, in adult sizes as the younger one could have grown several inches by next Halloween. Another family of three was dressed in matching costumes that covered them entirely and seemed to be made out of a light foam with gray decoration to simulate depth. At the time I didn't know if they were supposed to be skeletons or mummies or what; now I think they may have been tombstones!
• Some sort of celebration, in which a bunch of us were thanked with packages of snacks. I busted mine open, and thought they were absolutely delicious. I was oohing and aahing over them. They were sort of like Frosted Flakes, but thicker, and more like mini pastry flakes with powdered topping. Mine were golden with white topping, but other people had chocolate with powdered sugar, or even apple with cinnamon. I was so impressed!
• My ex and me in my apartment. Suddenly he started what I guess could be called a gas leak; a pipe in the floor by my door suddenly started spewing clear amber liquid, which I understood to be gasoline, all over the place. He said, "Is there a watch here? There must be a watch here somewhere!" He threw open the window, and there was a small digital watch face in the sill. He hit something and the spewing stopped. I cleaned up the mess with paper towels, and then started to sweep. It was difficult, because the wind was blowing in my apartment and autumn leaves were swirling everywhere and turned to dust when I touched them with the broom.
• My sister and me trying to go to church. The church building was empty, but as we wandered, we found a little chapel. It was filled with African Americans having Sabbath school, and they were clearly not happy to be interrupted, although they let us sit and join anyway, for the last few minutes.
• A movie theater with outlets in the seats. I plugged something in. Speakers? My cell phone?
• A huge tunnel where the snow passable to snowmobiles ended. There was an evening train at 9, but we had missed it.
• A dentist's appointment for me. As we were getting ready to leave (my mom was driving), I realized I hadn't brushed my teeth and that they were seriously scuzzy. I went into the bathroom (from my grandma's old apartment in Portland) and started brushing. I could see red stuff around my teeth; at first I thought it was blood, but then realized it was Swedish fish (which I'd been eating in real life last night). I figured I was in for some blood at the dentist's, though, since I'd forgotten to be flossing in advance of the appointment.