Dream Journal

I’m at a college that I often go to in my dreams. It’s mixed in with Oberlin. It’s dim, early-morning light. There’s a celebratory atmosphere, and I’m interested in this girl. Joshua is there, and he’s trying to get directions from her — he brings it up a few times. There’s this concert, like an open-mike night but larger scale, and the girl is part of it. When her turn comes up, there are these cars parked in front of the performance area, which is on the green between some buildings. It begins with the cars lighting up in different colors and making sounds. Then the music starts.

I don’t pay much attention to it, and I don’t see her performing. Instead I’m giving more attention to a bunch of kids on these trampolines strung out between different points, some higher and some lower. I have a large ring . . . and when you jump on the ring on a trampoline, it jumps you much higher. The kids see this and want to jump on it. They take turns. One of them jumps on it and flies up over a point where he’d miss the trampoline, but he freezes in mid-air, slides to the side, then continues his fall to land on the trampoline. I’m stunned. I tell someone near me. As I keep watching, I see it happen again.

I find the girl and talk to her after the concert. She’s on her way somewhere and has to go. She isn’t very interested in me, and I grow bored in my pursuit. At one point I was composing some message to her on a tablet computer, made up of a bunch of sub-messages. One of them is funny — it says ”something something my wife” (referring to Rebecca). I put it in there, but then hesitate. Oh yeah, I think, I shouldn’t mention my wife from the waking world to the girl I’m pursuing in the dream world. So I remove it. My dream self is clearly aware of my waking self and the agreement we have that I am free to pursue romantic connections in the dream world. When my waking self is in charge and unaware that I’m dreaming, I always put a stop to it.

I notice people gathering along the street behind us. There’s a parade starting. I see Jamie in one pack of kids. The light around them is different — possibly a different dream setting. The parade doesn’t seem to move for a while, then eventually comes from the opposite direction I’m expecting.