Lili Khanmalek - The Hill and Kissing Booth

Me and Brirod were spending a Saturday together and having a wonderful time. We hung out all day and in the evening we drove out to a venue where Kissing Booth would be having a concert. The concert was being held at a plot of land that belonged to Jasmin. It was sort of like a blog – a 3-D blog kind of thing – in  that one could get a free piece of land and trick it out, make it look creepy.  It was an empty, roofed piece of land, outdoors, which felt like a parking garage – only one wall and a ceiling. Jasmin was really successful in making it look weird. There was a street light in one corner, a hill that reached the ceiling toward the wall, and huge velvet puppets in the other corner. At the top of the hill was a curtain. Behind the curtain was a room or backstage-type area with a rack of clothes. It wasn’t a functional rack of clothes, though; everything on the plot of land was placed for design purposes only. No one lived there; it was just meant to be looked at. Jasmin had made it years ago along with her other blog ventures, but had cast it off when the trend lost popularity. Now, as it was being used for the Kissing Booth show, everyone was marveling at it as if it was an art installation. I thought it was a beautiful display of 3-D design. I heard her mom laugh about it and say, “So this is what she spends all her pocket money on.” It had a name like The Cozy Castle or something.

Me and Brirod drove up in a van and set up. He was worried the show would go bad but it was amazing. Everyone was singing along and mouthing every word. A lot of people came and everyone agreed it was a beautiful evening and the music was brilliant. Afterward, he was so paranoid that it had gone badly but I was so adamant that he eventually agreed. We had a moment of appreciating our friendship and then I woke up.

Lili Khanmalek

This is my dream from late October, 2010. I dreamed it in Long Beach, CA, USA. 

Anonymous - Driving a Mattress in the Desert

I am living with S in some neutral location. We’re living like a couple, but we’re not having sex. He’s been texting his wife (he must have told her he’s on a business trip or something) and I realize I haven’t called T in days. I feel awful about this and worried that I’ll get found out. It’s very unusual for me not to call. Then I am with J. We’re driving around the desert on a bed. The bed tilts up at the head and we’re leaning back. There are no sheets or pillows on the bed, just a simple white covering on the mattress. We’re driving on a smoothish dirt road, but we realize we’re facing the wrong way and can’t figure out how to steer or stop. We finally stick our feet down on the sides and manage to slow the bed to a stop and turn it around, just before the end of the road.  It simply ends and the desert shrubs begin. Then I am visiting J at college. She has not come out to greet me. I am talking with a friend of hers. I call H, but a friend of her answers and refuses to tell me if J is there and won’t let me talk to H. I’m giving a presentation of some kind at this school and leave my things in the lecture hall. They’ve cleared the desk where my things were to make room for their materials, messily stuffing my things under the table. I retrieve them, but I’m not sure I have everything.

J’s friend brings me into the dorm. The rooms are shaped like an oval, with only a cloth curtain for a door. The girl who’s showing me around seems to have no furniture and no belongings, just a mostly empty room with wax relief sculptures on the walls – organic shapes. It turns out, each room is artistic in some way. She didn’t make the sculptures. These are left from the previous students. J shows me her room.

I’m distressed because I figure I’ve left my belongings in J’s room. I find myself wandering the halls without my phone, my purse, anything, and I can’t remember her room number. Nothing has been explained to me in any way. I’m feeling sorry for myself and abandoned by J who is very unavailable.

We peek into a classroom from which a thrumming, singing sound emanates. Many students in blue body suits with swimcaps that match are all attached to a boat-like shape (scaffold) by a string that leads into their mouths. They are moving rhythmically and slowly like an ocean and singing the humming notes. It’s very haunting.

Anonymous

August, 2010

Anonymous - Three Dream Figures

Rather than a specific dream, I am trying to interpret three dream figures: a veiled woman, a young boy playing at the edge of an expansive ocean, and a policeman. 

The veiled woman first appeared in a dream months ago. I don’t remember the context. Aloof, mysterious, removed. I assume she is a composite. My mother, steadfast in her love of her son, guiding in a maternal way. My sister, accomplished, perhaps even driven, a constant sound board. My maternal grandmother. A bit coy, a beauty in her own right. A quiet presence, always at family gatherings, silently judging. My paternal grandmother, dead long before I was born but a presence nonetheless. Deep sorrow tinged with mystery. Who was she? All of these qualities blend to form the veiled woman – both an enigma and an attraction – the woman I haven’t met yet.

The boy appeared in my dreams as a figure against an expansive but tranquil ocean. Playful and edenic are his traits. The young child I once was. A reflection seen when I smile.

And then the policeman. A guileful presence. The stern authority of my father manifested in a dream symbol. Haunting, reprimanding. Mindful of limits.

I chose the Rodin sculpture, the Age of Bronze, as a symbol of my selfhood. This was not a dream image but a symbol nevertheless. The man shaped by the veiled woman, the playful boy, and the authoritarian policeman. What does it mean, these dream images, jewels of the subconscious?

I honestly haven’t a clue...

- Anonymous

Anonymous - Talking with Barack Obama

I was sitting in a small auditorium waiting for Barack Obama to speak.  He was on the other side of the aisle --- on a light diagonal ---  from me without the company of a Secret Service detail, just next to a rather old civilian gentleman.  He and I were talking about what he was going to say, and I urged him to address gun control.  Then I spent a long time trying to suggest a word for him to use in place of control, regulation, restriction, collaboration, limitation --- something friendlier which might pass muster with the NRA.  I came up with cooperation.  Gun cooperation.  Not likely, I suspect.  Too chummy.  Too soft.  Poor Barack, I decided, he just can't win.  I did find that he looked exactly like his photographs and was very soft spoken and pleasant.  It was a lovely experience.

Anonymous

Trisha Drew -- Tsunami

I am on an unfamiliar beach just sitting in the sand reading.  The tide comes up fast and the beach is covered in water.  At first it is just a little surprising but then loud horns start going off, and the wave and water begins to take over the whole beach area.  Suddenly it looks like a tsunami approaching – this huge amount of water is taking over everything.  People are beginning to try and run but it is impossible in the heavy water and sand....

Trisha Drew

October 23, 2010

Drew Lohrer - Three Dreams

1.   This was a recurring dream that I had when I was probably in elementary school.  I was at "Gramma's" house, which in fact was located where my friend Benny lived.  I know this because I suddenly had to get out of there, and I remember running down the hill and around the corner through Avon square from Benny's house to my house on Chelsea Road.  The weird part was that I was watching myself run (rather than looking out of my own eye sockets).  When I got inside my house, I ran down a spiral staircase (no such thing exists in our house) where each stair was carpeted with a different type of carpet (thick plush and shag carpets with bold colors and patterns...each stair completely different to the others).  Then I got down to the bottom stair, which was our laundry area.  I remember this because of the brick colored, brick patterned linoleum that we used to have down there.  I was still trying to get away from whatever was chasing me, but my feet were stuck to the floor and I couldn't get free.  Then, at the last minute, I woke up.

2.  I can't recall when I had this dream, but I imagine the dream occurred between 1984 and 1988 (my high school years).  I remember being on the cliffs that sit just below our house, and I got on my surfboard, which was sitting at the top of a dark tunnel.  The tunnel had a single rut or track running down the length of it...this was a slot where the skeg of my surfboard would go. I jumped on the board and plunged down through the tunnel gaining speed until I shot out the end of the tunnel and starting skimming across the surface of a wave at Upper Indicators (the surf break down below where I surfed regularly at the time).  I had such speed that I surfed the wave all the way along the shore down to its terminus in Bluff Cove.

3.  This next dream was associated with the most peaceful, restful morning time sleep I can ever remember having.  I think this also occurred during my high school years. The dream consisted of a flat, white, completely unwrinkled sheet and a smooth, round, white pea or marble.  The marble was not shiny or cold...it seemed to have the same texture as the featureless white background material upon which it sat.  Then, the sheet would spontaneously wrinkle itself slightly near its center, causing the pea to meander.  The sheet would partially smooth itself out before transforming into a new wrinkle formation, pushing the pea in perpetually new directions.  This seemed to go on and on, but it never became boring; a peacefulness and satisfaction came from this dreaming experience.  I remember waking up gently from the dream, without regretting that the dream was over, but just thinking what a restful and wonderful sleep it had been.

Drew Lohrer

Dara Brady -- Treasures Pushed to the Surface

Erika and I figured out we could buy a house, a huge house, for $500,000, because it had multiple rental spaces. My old boss from Chicago, Shanna, lived in the one apartment. The house was in St. Louis in the city with every building made with bricks. Next thing I know, I'm patting fires out. The whole house and rental spaces are burnt to the ground except the wooden corner posts (8 x8's) which I'm furiously trying to save. The location is no longer in the city; I’m on the bluff by my parents’ house. Erika comes up and asks why I'm bothering to save the bit of the house that's left. I explain that we can use it to rebuild. As I'm talking to Erika a huge round orange circle emerges from a tree off in the distance behind her. She's still talking, but I'm no longer listening. I'm focused on the circle trying to figure out if it's the sun. She stops talking and turns to see what I'm looking at. She says, “Wow, look at the sun!" It then falls from the sky through the trees and out of sight below. Then it bounces back up with a splash of golden heat. I realize it is a volcano erupting in the river. I get on snorkeling gear and jump in the creek, which leads to the river. When I get under the water I begin to gather golden leaves. They're leaves from the trees, covered in gold leaf. They're coming from down stream. I collect a bunch and then decide I want to scuba dive near the eruption because all of the secrets, treasures of past times, are being pushed up to the surface and being caught instantly by other people. I get dressed and go to this building which has a dock off the back leading to the source. In the building are jewelry booths.  I head towards the dock and a man refuses to let me go in because only men are allowed to dive. 

That's all I remember...

Dara Brady

December 10, 2010 in our house in Altadena, CA