On a Boat

Of a series of varied and complicated dreams the other night, the one scene that stands out relatively vividly is this one:

I was on a boat--some sort of covered, but otherwise open, deck--with a bunch of other people. A thunderstorm came up suddenly and the lightning was beautiful against the dark clouds. The waves picked up and tossed us around a bit, but it wasn't a problem. What was a problem was that when a particularly big wave receded, it revealed that we were about to tumble over a narrow ledge that hadn't been visible under the large waves, and were going to fall maybe 60 feet to the surf below.

I crouched down into what I thought of as an emergency impact kind of pose, with my head between my knees, as we went over the ledge. We fell for several seconds--longer than I'd anticipated--and landed a bit jarringly, but safely, in the waves below. Then I woke up.

border adventure!

I had the most exhausting and ridiculous dream last night. I dreamed that, with Curly Sue and another real-life friend, I was going to try to sneak across the U.S.-Mexico border by rafting across the river. At no point was it clear whether we were trying to get from Mexico to the U.S. or from the U.S. to Mexico, or even why we were crossing clandestinely (a lot of things in this dream weren't clear).

At the beginning, I was trying to pack my things to go. I had it in my head that I needed to fit everything necessary for 8 months or so into a small backpack, besides my share of the necessary stuff for the trip itself--tent, blow-up raft, life jacket, food, etc. All my possessions were disorganized and all over the floor of a room in my parents' house (different than my parents' house in real life). I was preparing for an academic year in a dorm atmosphere, so I was thinking about what I would need in that situation and including all kinds of not-strictly-necessary things like a tin of colored drawing pencils. I was also concerned about the mess I would be leaving behind, all the disorganized stuff that I wouldn't be taking with me.

After this packing stress went on for a while (forever, seemingly), I finally realized that this was just a trip to Establish a Presence, and that I was going to be able to retrieve more belongings later (what?), not to mention that wherever I was going was bound to have stores to buy things in. So this threw off my whole strategy and I had to start all over. By this time my traveling companions were pretty much ready to go, so knowing that I was holding them up added to the stress.

I ended up finally just throwing a change of clothes and what I thought was my share of the supplies into my bag, and we got ready to go through the security checkpoint (what? again). This was manned by U.S. agents, although, again, I'm not sure where we were leaving and where we were entering, or why (even better question) we were going through security and THEN sneaking over the border. The security procedure was onerous and there were lots of annoying, noisy kids running around underfoot.

We finally made it through, and then I realized that the river looked pretty wide, deep, and fast, and that I hadn't actually packed my life jacket. At this point, I think my companions' patience was running quite thin, especially after the whole security-checkpoint experience, so I decided to get a life jacket at the first opportunity instead of being picky.

The first opportunity turned out to be a ramshackle taco/life jacket/whatever else stand. They wanted $40 to rent a worn-out orange clip-in-the-front life jacket, to be returned the next day. I tried to find out what would happen if I didn't return it, but they were evasive on that point. Then I bought a taco, which turned out to be one somewhat undersized tortilla and one seriously undersized tortilla (silver dollar-sized), with about 6 bits of ground beef and a smear of vile-looking sauce (all this warmed up in a microwave). I was indignant and tried to protest to the seller, but my Spanish came out all wrong in my indignation (even including some French words), and the guy just laughed at me scornfully. (The guy manning this shady operation was a stout middle-aged Mexican guy with a distinct air of doing business with the wrong people, so I didn't rant for too long.)

After that, my companions revealed that they had been looking at the map to plan our route and had decided that the best strategy to avoid detection was to circle around--waaay around. The proposed route would include a trip through Big Bend, and we were going to take our giant SUV, so at least we could sleep inside it.

On that note, I think we decided we needed a real meal before undertaking the next leg of the trip, because the last thing I remember was a plate with some kind of chicken-fried-steak type meat atop a small mound of mashed potatoes. I was disconcerted because it wasn't the type of meal that fit in with the whole Texas/Mexico border theme, but I was also happy for something more substantial than the so-called "taco" from the stand.

Mel Gibson Movie

I dreamed that I was alternately watching and participating in a Mel Gibson action movie. He was sporting the long-ish mullet from the Lethal Weapon years, pulled back in a "The Patriot" kind of ponytail.

In one of the scenes in which I was *in* the movie, Mel, another person, and I were involved in a boat chase in which our boat either sunk or was blown up. We ended up in the water, diving deep to avoid the bullets shooting into the water from the bad guys' boat.

Later, we were doing some kind of stakeout in a warehouse. We knew that the bad guys would be returning soon so we were disguising our little spot in the loft. I think that there was art smuggling involved. We were going to record their conversation.

One of the bad guys had wispy blond hair. He was the one shooting at us.

At no point was I afraid...somehow I knew it was a movie all along, even though my dream awareness of that came and went.

Ocean

I was alone in a strange coastal city and I was looking for a place to spend the night. At some point it occurred to me that I should head for the beach, as maybe I could camp there. When I would catch glimpses of the ocean, though, it was through chain fences, so I kept walking.

When I encountered an elementary school, I entered to see if there was anything promising there (and maybe the beach on the other side?). As I crossed a glassed-in skyway of sorts that bridged a channel, I noticed that it was raining and that the waves were right up against the bottom of the skyway, making it actually sway or at least feel like it was swaying. I got to the end of the school and turned around, only to discover that now the bridge that crossed the channel was composed of wooden slats and was partially submerged. Kids were walking across it, but it looked like they were walking on water. I was very nervous about crossing, because I felt like I would lose my balance, the way it was pitching and swaying. Finally I decided to try, even though I was wearing leather shoes and didn't really want them in the saltwater. Some other faculty were going to cross, so I decided to go with them. Almost immediately as we started to cross, I dropped to my knees and held the sides of the bridge because I couldn't balance. And then, whether because there were too many heavy adults or because the moorings just broke, we started to sink and had to swim the rest of the way.

And that part was actually okay. The water was warm and felt fine, and I realized that the clouds had gone away and that it was beautifully sunny. I climbed up on the other side and realized that my clothes were folded neatly on the side I had just come from--although I was still, apparently, wearing my black fleece with my digital camera in the right pocket. (Also, I didn't have any sensation of being naked, so I was wearing something else, although I'm not sure what.)

By this time someone had a little kayak/canoe and was using that to ferry across the gap. A nice young man helped me get my clothes back from the other side, and that was that.

it felt like i was in a movie

maybe something like james bond? only i was not the hero. i was the weird person that left you wondering "why is SHE in the movie?" i was the tag along 'scaredy' cat that didn't want to be there.

anyways, i don't remember a whole lot. i do know that i was with some strange Indiana Jones type of man who talked someone into letting him borrow a boat which resembled a pirate ship. there were 2 of us navigating, although i wasn't helping too much as i was the one sitting in the back of the boat wishing i was there. the only other thing i really remember is that there were cars driving on the water. i remember some type of red audi. and we were trying to chase someone. in a foreign country.

Baby Gifts

One of my mom's friends was pregnant, so my mom bought her some baby gifts, like 2 entire dressers full. We called her to tell her to come over, but she never showed up. Finally my mom left and The Boyfriend and I were hanging out with the gifts. I held up a brightly colored boat and asked why they would buy that. He laughed and said that I'd have to play with it to see. It was some sort of magically contraption that used magnets to pull the boat through the water so the baby could follow it.
He then informed me that you could stack broccoli between the boat and the magnet, or any veggie really, and it would still work. He was really excited, but I didn't understand why you would put broccoli in a toy that went underwater.
Finally my mom's friend arrived. The Boyfriend thought we should hide. I thought that was rude and that we should open the door, but not let her see the gifts. But she busted through anyway and walked into my bedroom to see the gifts.
She was like a movie version of a high powered executive. Ordering us around, talking on her cell phone, power suit, all of that instead of the nice suburban mom I remembered.
And then the alarm went off.

Speed Skating

Last night's dream was so strange that I had to repeat it aloud to myself so I'd remember it. I was a Tibetan Buddhist monk (male, apparently) and I, along with another Tibetan Buddhist monk, had been captured by the slightly crazy driver of a speedboat. There was some prelude to the capture, but I can't remember it. The speedboat was one of those really long, sleek boats that rise up out of the water when they're going really fast. At some point, the boat stopped (we were on a river) for a break, and my fellow monk and I slipped overboard. The captain and crew (a couple of guys and a couple of scantily-clad women with huge breasts) were looking for us at the riverbanks all around, while we were really clinging to the hull on the right side of the boat. While they were distracted, we decided to make our escape by speed skating over the surface of the water, heading upriver. It was quite exhilarating, going so fast over the water. The boat began to chase us, of course, but all was going well until we ran into the rest of our water speed skating team (apparently this was the goal all along). I was dismayed to learn that my partner this time would be Halle Berry (???), who I thought was pretty, but not a professional water speed skater. I was afraid she'd ruin my chance for escape, whereas the other girls on the team were stronger and faster. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, though, so we started skating in formation with all the others.