Devin and Zombies

Another zombie dream that I can barely remember... damn.  I do recall that Devin McIntyre was there, as well as two other people whose faces have become too blurry for me to remember.  I remember the sky being constantly overcast and a deep violet at times.

A particular shape pattern comes to mind-- three dark gray rounded rectangles in a row.  I think they could've been plans for digging pits in the ground, for trapping zombies.

Playing Video Games at the Apartment

Just some minor details-- I haven't been remembering my dreams lately, probably because I've been sleeping less.

I can remember being in the living room of my apartment and sitting at the coffee table with three other people.  It was dark and we were ostensibly playing a video game-- the gameplay was something like a cross between League of Legends and World of Warcraft.  Perhaps I was projecting what Guild Wars 2 will be like.

The details of what the game looked like are no longer clear to me.  I do remember being pretty bad at it, though.  Also, there was someone important of note in the dream, but I can no longer remember who it is.

Chris Vanni and Ultimate Frisbee

My first dream about Ultimate Frisbee!

I was playing Ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of people on a grassy field, with trees in the distance on all sides.  There were two full sized fields set up with cones, with what I assume to be a game of 7v7 on each field, though I did not actually count.  I also assume that the games were pick-up since no one had any uniforms.  The field was getting sort of muddy from all of our running around, but we all just kept playing anyway.  The weather was on the colder side, but not unpleasant, and the sky was overcast.  I recall being a lot worse at throwing and catching in the dream than in real life.  Chris Vanni was there, coaching people on the other field as he played.  The only other person I clearly recall seeing was a short foreign boy whom I did not recognize.  He looked European, with short dark hair, a light complexion with freckles on his face and arms.  His sneer was nothing short of annoying.  I remember him giving me attitude when I tried to explain how the game works.

Multi-Monitor Set Up and Strange Video Game

Fragments of the tail-end of a dream... but it was pretty cool!

I found myself voice chatting with Devin McIntyre on Skype.  He was trying to convince me to do something (probably play Starcraft II) but I kept telling him I was in the middle of playing a game.  That's when I realized that I was sitting in front of a huge computer with many flat screen monitors.  The monitors were able to all work in conjunction with each other, but each of them were displaying something different at this point.  There were two sections of monitors adjacent to each other, both were four monitors high and three monitors wide.  I would say each monitor was only about 19" or 20", but the large quantity made up it.  I could see between each screen, too, and noticed that they were all held up by individual rotatable mechanical arms made of what must have been metal that was painted black.  Wires and cables snaked all over the background and made it seem sort of improvised.  I never saw what the computer looked like, or to what the monitors were hooked up. I don't remember every seeing keyboard or controller, either, which I thought was strange. The set up was not exactly practical, but it was certainly impressive.

After finding myself in front of this, I focused in on a monitor in the right section, on the bottom row in the middle.  Apparently, that was where I was playing my game.  I remember thinking that the game reminded me of a cross between Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Super Mario Galaxy. Unfortunately, the details have now become hazy and blurry.  I was just on the cusp of a boss fight when Devin tried to convince be to participate in some other activity, and now that I was focused on the game again, the boss fight began.  I'm not exactly sure what happened, but here is what I can recall:

The level was dark and either castle or graveyard themed, and I remember there being enemies that were reminiscent of Boos from Super Mario Galaxy.  The art style was also similar to that but was less cartoonish and more along the lines of something one would see in Zelda: Ocarina of Time. There was also a flair of Gauntlet Legends (N64) in there.  The camera angle was a constant third person, but it was definitely 3D and did not use sprites.  I can't recall what the actual boss was, but it was big, scary, and very well could've been a floating blob like the smaller "Boo" enemies.  I recall having no idea how to play except to try running away from the boss-- fortunately for me there was a timer, and it turned out to be a survival game.  I don't think I knew how to attack, defend, or use any special skill.  I came very close to dying and struggled jumping over and running around obstacles to keep away from the boss, who was damaging me just by touching me.  Seeing the timer count down to zero was a huge relief, and that is when I woke up.

My Mistaken Bride and the 1800s Tavern

I found myself walking on cobblestone streets in bright sunlight with Nat.  The buildings and decorations reminded me of a cross between Florence and Montreal.  It was very urban, but the buildings were only two or three stories tall.  Some people were dressed as if they were from the 1800s, but others were dressed in modern day clothing.  We walked until we reached a restaurant, where things got weird.

I had a gut feeling that the restaurant was Italian, but nothing visual confirmed this.  There was a big gruff host at the front with a crazy beard, but I never interacted with him as I found myself inside the restaurant without actually walking through the door.  It looked like a tavern out of an adventure book, with chandeliers instead of lights, ornate detailing in corners/columns/edges, and taxidermy here and there as well as other knickknacks adorning the walls.  A good comparison would be the tavern where Gaston sings his number in Disney's animated feature Beauty and the Beast.  The inside was dark and cool, a contrast to the bright sun which could still be observed through the open door.

I suddenly found myself proposing to a blonde girl, whose name I cannot remember.  Somehow I recognized her and knew her very well in my dream, but she has no real life counterpart.  I knew her name, but I actually forgot her name in my dream and it was still lost to me when I woke.  She was short, although my same age, and dressed like the other 1800s people.  She was pretty and her face almost child-like.  I recall her having two braids when I first saw her in the dream but never again after that.  My marriage proposition immediately sent the entire restaurant into a frenzy of what I assume was preparation for the wedding.  In the middle of all the excitement and congratulations I suddenly recalled that Nat was still with me.  I turned around to face her and she smiled at me-- I felt something like a boulder drop from my throat to my stomach.  I became frustrated with myself. "How on earth did I manage to propose to this girl while the one that I love is standing right next to me?" I thought as a blend of emotions surged through my head.  I immediately began searching for the girl to whom I mistakenly proposed (how does one even get into this situation?).

I searched desperately, running around and asking everyone where I could find my erroneous bride.  I felt horrible the whole time, thinking of how crestfallen and upset she would be when I told her that I did not mean to propose to her and that I loved another.  Day turned to night in an instant.  I remember poking around an outdoor seating area of the restaurant, with a trellised roof that had vines and christmas lights strung through-- it was quite beautiful, actually, but I did not have time to stop and admire the atmosphere.  As I ran back inside, night turned back to day.  I ran up a set of stairs into and was suddenly in an area that can best be described as a typical 90s high school.  Teal or aqua bricks lined the walls and a large window showered sunlight into the hallway, patterned by a layer of fence-like metal (the kind used in inner city schools to prevent people from breaking in).  I ran past a huge gymnasium (the structure I traversed through now defies physics, if you include the 1800s tavern that was just a staircase away) and looked into a couple of dark rooms which I later realized were class rooms.  I remember clearly two high school girls sitting in the dark, talking in the glow of what I think was a medium sized fish tank with no water in it (probably reptiles inside).  I asked them if they had seen my bride and they shrugged.  The rest of the dream was a blur consisting of me running around asking more people if they'd seen my bride.  I believe I did find her in the end and told her, because I can recall a deep sadness right before I woke up.  I wish that I had a more detailed recollection, but alas, all that remains is a feeling.

Little Joe and Pokemon

Yet another night where I dreamt that I remembered to remember the dream-- but despite how hard my dream self tried to remember the dream, on top of how hard my conscious self tried to remember the dream, it was lost in a matter of moments when I woke.  The only remnants are a couple fragmented details.

There were definitely at least three parts.  The first part is a complete mystery to me.

The second part started with me and Little Joe and one other person whose appearance and identity I can no longer recall.  In front of us was a large grassy field, with trees lining the distant horizon.  Joe had crazy poofy hair, almost like an afro but more like the hair he had when he was in high school.  We were very excited as we were going to catch pokemon.  Sadly, I never saw any actual pokemon before the next part of the dream.

There was someone important in part three, but the entirety of that section of dream has escaped me, leaving just a lingering feeling that the person that appeared to me was significant in some way.

Three Faceless Men

The only thing I can remember are three people standing in a large field of grass with trees in the distance and blue skies above.  The people are blurry and indistinguishable now, but I think they were wearing suits.  They remind me of the symbol for Anonymous because of their blank faces.  Also, I was able to discern that they were men, but only through a gut feeling.

Preparing for Zombies

I had an elaborate zombie apocalypse style dream, but to my dismay, I have forgotten most of it except for the very end, and it turned out to be unexciting.

I was in my apartment at Racine and Taylor and there were others with me, though I can't remember who anymore.  I suspect that Nat was there since we live together and the dream was relatively realistic.  I remember looking outside through the front windows and seeing zombies stumbling across the street in the sunlight. The apartment seemed bigger than it is in reality, but it might have been that all the furniture had either been removed or used to block up the doors and windows.  Despite the sunlight and the apathy of the zombies outside, there was still a feeling of dread looming over all of us in the apartment.  I have a feeling the the earlier parts of this dream had more blood, gore, deaths, and narrow escapes.

At some point, we all agreed that we needed to go somewhere.  I believe we were heading somewhere safer (away from the city).  I started gathering things and putting them in my backpack.  I packed plenty of water and snacks, and some extra clothes in case the temperature dropped.  I remember trying to find a weapon.  At first I had something like a staff-- a long wooden pole.  In the end, I switched to something like a metal baton that was more suited for close-range combat.

When we were all prepared, I unblocked the front doors and started out-- to my amazement, all the zombies were gone and everything seemed to have returned to normal.  Cars, buses, and people were going on with their day as if nothing had happened.  I was relieved that I no longer had to fight to survive, but at the same time disappointed as I was looking forward to a great zombie adventure.

Kohl's, Flower Shirt and Tie

Just fragments again:

I was milling around in a Kohl's looking for some specific clothing, but I can't remember what it was or what it was for.  I had to go outside to get picked up by my brother, and my friend (whose face and name I can no longer recall) was suddenly with me and getting into the car.  Going outside made me realize that this was the Kohl's that I often went to with my mom during my high school years.  Oddly, my brother drove up in a red station wagon (no one in my family has ever owned a station wagon).  When I got into the car, my view shifted to third person and I started driving the car as if playing a racing game.  I was not very good, no matter how I tried, and kept knocking down street lights on the right side of the street.  There were people and other cars, but never near me.  Eventually I got a "game over" when the car wouldn't work anymore I basically restarted from the beginning.  My brother then laughed at me, made fun of me, and took the wheel.

\\

I was in front of a mirror trying to put on an of-white button-down shirt with had a white flower design on it in the front.  There was only one flower, and it was a black outline with black detailing, the fill being the same color as the shirt.  The design crossed over the buttons, so that the flower was cut off in many places as it wound its way up the chest area.  I also put on a tie of the same color, with the same flower design, except it filled in all the parts that were cut off due to the button area!  It looked cool.  Now that I think about it, I may not have been the person in the mirror, as I never saw my face.  The focus was always on the shirt and the tie.  I do not remember tying the tie, although it seems like it happened at some point because I had the tie completely unraveled and suddenly it was already tied and being adjusted.  Perhaps this is what I purchased at the Kohl's?

Steph's Haunted Weed Mansion (which isn't really haunted)

Fragments again...

I knew where I was in the dream, but now I have no clue.  I remember I liked being there, but I was restless because I was not at home and I needed to be home.  I wish I knew why I needed to be home and why I was there.  The dream took place mostly in a large, dark house.  The images I can remember of the outside are not clear, but I remember that it was overall quite dark.  Everything was wooden, for sure, and it was at least three or four stories tall, and slightly leaning every which way, like a story-book haunted house, complete with lightning, bats, and half-broken shutters blowing in the wind.  Dead, black, leafless trees surrounded the area and I almost want to say that there was a cemetery nearby.

The interior had a completely different feeling-- it reminded me of a modern suburban house.  There was a beige carpeting which might have been white at some point, and clothes on the floor and sometimes on the furniture. It seemed like the home of a family, but the parents were away for the weekend.  The outside seemed dark from the inside because of the weather and all the trees.  Not many lights were on; in fact, the only light I remember being on was the bathroom light.

I sat with a group of people, led by Steph Sobieraj and there was a lot of smoke from weed going around, though I have no single memory of actually smoking or seeing anyone smoke anything.  It was clear that we were up to no good.  The whole setup was eerily reminiscent of my high school days, but we were clearly at the very least college-aged.  We sat around joking and laughing and somehow smoking without smoking.

...

At some point, someone mentioned something about "going to the statue".  I remember some people went ahead to go to 7-eleven or some other small convenience store to pick up snacks, and others went behind.  I was left behind to do something, but I can't remember what.  I do remember knowing where to go and finally meeting everyone there.  The statue was not very big-- probably  7 or 8 feet tall in the middle of a circular concrete/grass/brick area.  It was beautiful, actually, the concrete and brick alternating to create a nice pattern, then divided by small strips of grass.  The statue itself was metal, and it looked like a person jumping with one arm stretched upwards as if trying to catch something.  The metal was a dark brown and very rough and wrinkled.  I have a hazy memory of getting there and also seeing the surrounding area, but unfortunately nothing specific enough to write down.

Meta-dreaming and Dream Version of Left For Dead 2

Fragments again... but this time I dreamt something that I am sure I've never dreamt before-- I remember trying very hard to remember a large segment of my dream, and succeeding; I remember remembering my dream in my dream.  Unfortunately, this did not work so well after I woke up, although it gave me a sense of the enormity of my dreams, as the part that I am unable to remember seems to be more than 75% of the entire dream.  There was a whole part of the dream before the writings below that was realistic and strange, but try as I might, I am unable to recall those images.  It is sitting on the cusp of my consciousness and I feel that I am very close to remembering but am unable to.  All I remember is remembering that I tried to remember and was able to do so.

\\

I do remember being in my house in Wynnewood.  I rounded the corner from the kitchen, through the dining room, and into the TV room, where all the video games and TV are set up (I assume that they are still there as I have not been there in about 6 months).  I searched for a while for Left For Dead 2.  After perusing through mostly DVDs and some games (none of which I can remember, but I'm very curious about what was there now) I finally found what I was looking for.  The game case was not green as it usually is, but white.  I took the disc out of its case and put it in the Xbox 360 and began to play.

...

From this point forward I was in the game, no longer holding a controller or looking at a TV, but actually living the game (inside my dream).  Somehow I was in the middle of a campaign, which I did not recognize, and right where I had last left off (even though there are no save points in LFD2).  I did not recognize the setting, which is odd because I know all of the campaigns pretty well.  The characters and weapons seemed different as well.  I was holding a rifle and our 4-man team was in the foyer of some sort of church that attached to a larger building.  It seemed southern and old fashioned, based on the wall paper and carved wooden detailing in the walls and where they met the ceiling.  The doors were open and lots of people were inside, scattered throughout the pews.  One lady in the front was talking loudly.  She reminded me in appearance (hair, face shape and clothes, in a general sense as the graphics were not great) of the head of the church in the movie version of Silent Hill.  I cannot remember exactly what she was saying, but I remember it being bizarre and dangerous.  I noticed as I zoomed in on her using my rifle scope that her gestures were robotic and typical of older first person shooter video games.  I walked into the church, video-game style, and the lady teleported to my vicinity-- it seemed almost like a glitch, as she was walking towards me and got stuck somewhere, then after some lag time jumped to my location.  I zoomed in on her head with my rifle again.  Then I put it away, and for some reason I thought it would be funny if I melee'd her.  So I mentally pressed the melee button and for some reason, instead of punching her, I bit her-- video game style, where I did not actually make contact.  That made the church-goers become hostile to me and I started seeing the little red indicators for damage from all directions as they surrounded me and started clawing and kicking at me.  At this point I remember laughing both in-game and suddenly out of game sitting on the couch with a controller.  I was trying to do something specific before my character died but was unable to as I succumbed to the vicious beatings of the church folk.  At this point I was laughing so hard that I woke up. The whole bit is a lot funnier if you've ever played the game, and none of it was realistic-- in fact it seemed the graphics of the game were more like the first Left For Dead game, lacking a lot of texture and detail.

Family Trip to See Devin and the Space Shuttle

I can only remember fragments:

The clearest thing I can remember is that I was leading my family through a what seemed like a cross between Lower Merion High School and Lake Forest College.  I think there might've been one other person, an acquaintance or friend that was also present-- but the memory is mostly blurry now.  We were going to see Devin McIntyre, as he was working on a project involving a space shuttle.  I think we arrive by car, and started walking after we parked at the edge of the "campus".  The layout was different from both LM and LFC, but the aura felt like LM and the buildings were very similar to the ones on LFC middle campus.  It was a bright day with blue skies and clouds, but there was a invisible, foreboding undercurrent flowing throughout the area, like shadow that no one could see.  The buildings were red brick with gray cement, with touches of modernism via windows and structural shape here and there.  As we proceeded into the campus on a cement path by the side of one of these brick buildings, I could see in the distance, somewhat obscured by fog, a space shuttle!  It had all of its boosters and rockets still attached, but instead of a launch pad, it was adjacent to what looked to me like the LFC Library.  The whole vehicle was magnificent, glimmering in small cloud of fog.  The main rocket was red, and the auxiliary rockets where grey.  Even from a distance I could tell that this space shuttle was rendered with great detail in my dream.  I could see the small lines and windows on the white shuttle, and markings on the wings.  My greatest disappointment was that I did not get to go near it at all, although I knew that it was our final destination-- it would also be where we would find Devin.

...

We progressed through the campus, walking by the beautiful brick buildings and small fields of grass, until we reach a particular building that we had to pass through to get to the space shuttle.  The building was shorter than the others, at about 4 stories tall, and had long stretches of windows in the middle part where there was a lobby.  Other people, presumably staff or students, milled about or hurried on their way to wherever they were going.  I remember seeing many backpacks and college-aged people.  I announced something to my family (and the one other person in my group) at this point, but I cannot remember clearly what I said-- I think it may have been something like what a tour guide would say.  We continued through the building and exited the other side back into the open air and were closer to the space shuttle than ever before, but the dream ended there.  I remember a short clip of Devin in a lab, surrounded by computers, screens, and cables.  He wore glasses and a white lab coat and talked excitedly about something-- I may have been participating in a video chat with him somehow.

Fragments - Horse and Girl, Complex Structure

I could only remember fragments again:

a close up of a horse-- a girl was posing next to the horse. The horse was a beautiful deep brown and had kind eyes. This image was not still, like a photo, but it almost seemed as if I were taking a picture of the two.  There may have been some conversation between me and the posing girl.

Some sort of complex structure-- grey, smooth cement, and blocky on the outside with few windows.  The sky was blue with tufts of cloud and the structure was surrounded by grass and trees, but the grass was definitely cut and the area landscaped.  I remember seeing the inside, but not what it was like, except that there were many rooms and people everywhere, sitting, standing, and conversing. There were many goings on within the structure, but I was unable to capture any of it, despite my several attempts at re-entry into the dream world.

I remember seeing my friend Kelly Huang at some point, but we were in a different setting. It was more of a house, and we were talking about something that had to do with the plot line of the rest of the dream, but I can't remember what it was.

I remember walking around some empty streets with Nat, holding hands. I have no recollection of this setting either, except that the buildings, despite being out of focus, reminded me of how Japanese urban areas are portrayed in Anime, particularly His & Her Circumstances.