contradictory messages from my subconscious

I had a weird variation on the choosing-clothes dream last night. I dreamed that I was in a church boarding school environment* and there was going to be one of those "banquets" that happens every so often at schools that don't condone dancing and thus can't have a school dance. I was more or less my actual age, so I'm not sure what I was doing at the school--I think everyone else was more or less my actual age too, so logistically that was weird.

The really weird part, though, was that I actually had an appropriate outfit picked out, it fit fine, and I was completely relaxed and even kind of looking forward to the event, if for nothing else because I really liked the outfit. It was a floor-length, vaguely 70s dress--maybe strapless--with interesting construction. The cloth was very thin black silk with large, bright-colored slightly abstract watercolor flowers (mostly various shades of red and orange, with some gold and green). There were several layers of fabric, with slightly ruffly pieces sticking out here and there, and it fit me really well. I'm not sure what shoes I was going to wear (I remember rejecting a pair of red eelskin boots I actually own as being too wintry), but the shoes went great with the dress, and I was going to carry a red eelskin clutch (also an item that I actually own).

I was feeling pretty satisfied and slightly surprised that my outfit had come together, when I heard that the event had been postponed because of a tragedy that had befallen a girl's family (someone I actually went to school with). A building that the family ran a business in had burned down recently, and now their house had burned down too, so the banquet was being postponed as a gesture of respect for their loss.

The next I can remember, I was driving a big truck, very much like a huge SUV we actually used to have**. I needed to park it at some business, and on arriving I was a little dismayed at the lack of sufficiently capacious parking. I drove around to the back and found that there were more empty spaces back there. I aimed for a space marked "SUV" that was wider than the others, but instead found myself headed into one marked "small car". I thought, "well, maybe I can at least center it in here since the spaces on both sides are empty. I started to brake, and was alarmed to find that although it was slowing down it was definitely not stopping; in fact, it kept going and I eased right off the edge of the lot and landed (rather gently) on a lower parking area. To add insult to injry, while this lack of braking control was going on, I was also experiencing a lack of bowel control!

I can't believe my subconscious is this sadistic; first it teases me with an "I'm-in-control-and-not-having-a-wardrobe-crisis" plotline, then it throws an out-of-control car AND bowels at me.


*What's with these constant school-flashback dreams?
**This SUV has figured in my dreams at least once before, in a similar role--I'm having a hard time driving it/stopping it.

Parking, Calling home, Dialing the wrong number

I was somewhere killing time. I drive in and out of the parking garage of this building two or three times and then would go to a cafe. The last time I went into the garage, I hit the garage door opener, but the rolling steel door did not go up all the way. I thought my SUV could fit, and it barely got through the opening. I went to park, but stopped so I could decide which parking stall to choose. There were a few spaces open in front of me, but I didn't want to other people to park in front of me because I thought I would need to move for them to get out. But when I pulled closer to the space, I could see there was another way to get out. I saw cars come down a ramp from higher floors, drive around the corner to exit on another street. So I parked, got out and went into the cafe.

I saw a clock - the time was 6:47. Suddenly I remembered my writing group was meeting at 6:30. I was already late. I started to call the workshop leader on my cellphone, but then I got a call from home. I answered the phone and heard my brother say, "Where is it?" I didn't know what he was talking about. I was frantic about getting to the workshop since I was already late and asked if I could call him back. I called the workshop leader's number. It took three or four rings to her answer. I feared she might not because the group was probably working on the first prompt. When she did answer, I apologized for being late. I didn't introduce myself and wasn't sure she recognized my voice, but she said in a low voice, "Hello PT". She said I could come for the second part.

I tried to call my brother back on the cell phone, but I didn't get through. When I looked at the phone, I realized I had dialed the wrong number. I tried dialing on a land line and still kept dialing the wrong number. The key pad was sticky - so I would press a number once and the same digit would appear on the screen two or three times. My friend came to help me, but the numbers still came out wrong or transposed - too many 7s or 8s. I finally decided to use the voice command on my cell phone.

Tango eye exam

I was with a friend, JH, from tango. We were going to this hotel. She was going to the dance, but I was going for an eye exam upstairs in the hotel. I got to the exam room, and it was actually our tango teacher, JL. Instead of testing my eyes, he was testing me with these esoteric riddles and weird facts that only he knew. I felt stupid and realized I didn't have to be there. So I told him I wanted to take the eye exam with my opthamologist. I ran out of the room and down the hall to the elevator. On the elevator I saw my friend, JH, as she was leaving. I called to her. She said hi. I asked her for a ride home. The elevator took me to the first floor, which was past where I needed to go to meet her. It went to the first floor and then straight out the doors (as if I were on a people mover). I saw my friend outside, coming up from the stairs. It was raining hard outside, so we made a mad dash to her car. A woman coming from the direction of the parking lot told us that it was flooded. I could see large muddy puddles all around. My friend and I weren't worried because she had a 4x4, so we knew we could get out. We went down the incline to the parking lot - which had two section. The first section was where I usually parked, which was really muddy. Cars were stuck in certain spots and would have difficulty gettting out. I said aloud, "I know not to park there again". We walked to the back part of the lot - passed by the front grill of a silver Mercedes Benz that had been torn off the car - and walked to the far end to her car. She was parked near the valet office, behind a motorcycle. Two people got on the motorcycle and drove off. We pulled forward and made a right turn into a place where they were fixing trains.