Category Archives: College Campus

Navigating a city park

I walk over to the window across the hallway from my apartment. I want to go out onto the roof. The window turns into a door so I can to outside. When I’m out there, it isn’t a flat roof that overlooks the tops of shorter buildings, the way I’d expect. Instead, it’s a grassy hill that slopes down into an outdoor park. When I look to the other apartments, I see that instead of windows, they all have sliding glass doors, like we’re in an apartment complex in the suburbs.

I walk down the hill past picnic tables. It’s warm and sunny out. I walk for a ways through a park, then decide it’s time to head back home.

I see that I can cut through a path across a college campus to get home. As I’m walking, I come across a staircase that will take me up to a skyway. I start to climb the stairs but discover that they’re folded up as a security measure, and I slide back down. As I’m standing there looking at them (and marveling that they close up) the steps fold down so I can climb them. I take this as an invitation and begin to ascend.

As soon as I make it to the top of the stairs, an alarm sounds and the stairs close up again. A gate comes down from the ceiling and I am trapped inside the skyway.

Shopping for Aprons

I’m in an industrial type building, kind of like a warehouse and kind of like a school. The rooms all have old doors on them, like in a classroom or a library.

I’m talking to Kristina about how I first became an IA. I feel a sense of urgency, like I need her to understand how and when I started working, but I’m also embarrassed, as if I think it’s unseemly to call too much attention to myself.

We have stacks of books that we have to take back to the library. I ask Susie, Jake, and Randy for help. They are annoyed at the inconvenience. They make fun of Kristina’s enthusiasm for what she’s doing.

Then I’m in a grocery store, it’s like a Dean and Deluca, with prepared foods and kitchen supplies for sale, but very large. I head to the back of the store because I want to buy an apron. I pick out a red apron that has racist iconongraphy, like cartoon representations of black people, but they’re so tiny as to be invisible to the naked eye. I also pick out a blue apron. The rack that holds the aprons is long, like the entire width of the store, and there must be hundreds of aprons to choose from.

When I try to remove them from the rack and take them to the register, an alarm sounds. The rack has an electionic sensor with a screen, and it shows me that I’ve done something wrong and security is on the way. I wait around for the security officers to come, but I’m bored and not worried because I know I didn’t do anything wrong.

My mother comes to meet up with me and we browse around while we wait. Finally the security guards arrive and they confirm that I can take the aprons to the register.

Back to College

I’m taking college classes, but the classes all take place in a lavish, gilded, hotel ballroom and event space. The classes I’m taking include:

  • A class with Lee O. that takes place outside. I walk across the lawn with him, and we’re joined by Chad and Andy P.
  • A lingerie class. We only study pieces made of silk.
  • A course in rugs which I take with my mother. We study pieces of fabrics in different colors to learn more about patterns and weaves.
  • A Weight Watchers class which is at the wrong time.

No Apology is Forthcoming

I’m back at the University of Minnesota for the fall semester. It’s beautiful and the weather is absolutely perfect. I joke that they plan it that way, to get people hooked on Minnesota before the winter begins.

I’m having lunch in the cafeteria with an asian woman. Her boyfriend is a strapping Minnesota blonde. He proposes to her with a ring of small pale blue stones. I’m really happy for them but she’s not happy about the proposal. I take the ring and put it on my own finger. I’m wearing my wedding band and another ring that is a larger diamond. I experiment with how they should be positioned on my finger and decide that the new ring looks best on the inside, even though I should technically wear my wedding band on the inside, closest to my heart.

I find an ancient manual typewriter that prints in an elaborate cursive script. I want to use it to communicate with Jai. I think that if I can type what I want to say to him, he will listen.

Jai and I are driving in a car around campus, looking for a place to park. I ask him what is wrong and why I haven’t heard from him in so long. He gives me a number of lame excuses and I don’t really accept any of them. I finally tell him that I think what he did was wrong and I’m really hurt, and I think I deserve an apology. After a while he yells at me and says that no apology is forthcoming. I get really angry and get out of the car, slam the door, and storm off.

I have to walk around to find a way to get home. I see a sign directing me to the “Steppe” stop on the New Jersey PATH train.

The Young Dean

I’m at a college and I am talking to the dean (an older man) about information architecture and tagging. I tell him the term used now is “folksonomy.” While I am talking to him he turns into a younger man who starts flirting with me. He tells me he went to Harvard in a tone that implies I should be impressed.

I am staying in a dorm that is not unlike a hotel, with a large grand lobby and security that checks your ID before you get to the elevators. I go back to my room and I fear I have lost my keys. I go to the college bookstore and start looking around for them. I am reorganizing the book bags and backpacks when a salesclerk comes over to help me. I tell her I am looking for my keys.

I get a small knife for my keychain. It is just like the Cryovac penknives my father used to have, but it’s only about an inch long. I get it because they will let me take it through airport security.

I run into the young dean at the bookstore and he takes me back to my dorm in his car. He’s not quite sure where to go and he makes a wrong turn. We drive down a residential street with tiny houses on it. They are shaped like normal houses with shutters and a roof, but they appear to be only one small room. He says he doesn’t understand why students would live in a dorm room when they could have their own home.

I tell him I keep a blog on the internet where I write down all my dreams. He seems surprised and interested so I give him the address.

Taking a college class as an adult

I have a new client that I am pitching or beginning work on. The client is with RF and it seems to be a collaboration between several offices, like maybe the Austin office is involved.

There is a class at the U of M that somehow deals with this client or covers a related subject, and so it is decided that I should take the class. The class is very large and takes place in a big lecture hall. The instructor is a middle-aged woman with dark hair and glasses.

I turn in my final paper and receive a grade of "D." I’m very upset by this, and embarrassed that my work colleagues will see that I got a bad grade. I speak to the instructor and try to explain that the work I was doing for my client was different from what she expected from the final paper. What I want is for her to let me submit one of my presentation decks as additional work and maybe that will raise my grade.

Afterwards, a party for the whole class has been planned. We walk outside to go check it out. As we walk I bump into a college girl who’s walking in a pack, and we have words about the incident. I ask her "if it would be possible to walk through here without getting rudely bumped into." She accuses me of being a stupid college kid. When I respond that I’m not in college, I’m 35, she and her friends jeer at me.

I get to the restaurant where the party is taking place. When I arrive, only a blonde-haired guy and Susie are there with me. The restaurant has set a long table for us to sit at. Susie and the guy sit down next to each other, and I want to sit in the middle between them, but instead I take my place at Susie’s left.

Another student from class arrives, an older Asian man. He’s drunk and yelling at the entrance. I go over to try and get him to leave. He grabs me and kisses me, and as we stand there he tries to force himself on me. I struggle to cry out for help but I cannot make my voice work.

Diet Coke

I’m in the ladies room at a club or a gym, like a locker room at a university student center.

I want to buy a Diet Coke. Despite the fact that there are lots of stacks of Diet Coke everywhere I can’t seem to buy one. I don’t have the proper coupon and they’re not cold.

I’m driving with a woman and Jonathan. Jonathan is talking about his new girlfriend. I’m very angry and I tell him I don’t need to hear about her.

I describe something called "Minder Living."

I take his documents and start cutting the edges in a paper cutter.

College Campus with iPod

I’m walking through a series of rooms and hallways on a college campus, while listening to my iPod.

Jane’s husband is cheating on her, and I think to myself "at least they don’t have kids." He leaves for eight weeks to go on a "job hunt" that I think is suspicious.

I stop to look through a sale rack of cheap formalwear. The dresses are all ugly.

I see a posterboard with a sign talking about a homemaker in Minneapolis that killed herself very young but her family did not understand.

I can’t find my way back to the room where Kevin is. Kevin is condescending and dismissive. So I just walk the hallways with my iPod.

Campus Job

I am a student and I have a new job on campus. I go into the cafeteria where people have set out some cookies and coffee for snacks. Paying for these is on the honor system, so the cafeteria has set out plastic tubs where you’re supposed to put your money. I put $1.25 into a tub for a biscuit. Then I decide that I want a different cookie that only costs $1.00. I go back to the plastic tub to get my quarter back, but I look around while I’m doing it, worried that someone will see me and think I am stealing.

Above the snacks there is a big signboard. It’s like an old-fashioned chalkboard, with two long legs connecting a large area for notices. I accidentally bump the sign but I catch it before it falls over. I try to steady the sign but I can’t do it. The signboard doesn’t have any horizontal supports on the legs, so I am trying to balance the whole thing on the vertical bars of wood, which aren’t very wide. When I look up at the board, I realize that the sign itself isn’t solid. The board is rippling with movement, so as I am trying to steady the bottom, the top is still in motion, almost like a flag. A gruff older man comes over and shows me that I have to push a small button at the bottom of one of the legs to make the sign steady itself. The button is like a tiny metal pushbutton, not much bigger than a pencil lead. Once that button is pushed the sign becomes rigid and I can balance it on the legs. The man says that steadying that sign is something I’ll need to be able to do on my own if I want to keep working there.

I’m waiting with four friends by the elevator. One of them is getting married to Suzanne Vega. The elevator isn’t working so we discuss some alternate routes. We’re trying to make our way through the space, but there’s a sense that it’s dangerous. One of the boys I’m with falls down a hole, and I think he’s dead.

I’m driving around in a van with a couple of people. We’re talking about negotiating a contract. There is one section that we keep reviewing over and over that doesn’t make sense. It has something to do with candy bars and french fries. The driver pulls into a parking lot and I tell her to try and hide the van where we won’t be seen. I think that if we can wait for other people to leave, then we’ll be able to figure out what the contract says.

Test Taking Anxiety Dream

I’m scheduled to take an essay test. The test is in three parts and I have two hours to complete the whole thing. The third part of the test is a group session where I am supposed to meet with a couple of other students and work together.

The two girls I am supposed to work with are mean to me and I don’t like them. I have a sinking feeling when I find out I’m supposed to work with them.

The instructions for the essay test are given to me on an ornate, old-style vase of flowers. The vase has writing on it ad there are a number of misspelled words. I think the vase might be a gift from my father.

To answer one of the sections on the test I need to go back to my home. One of the girls I’m supposed to be working with says she’ll give me a ride there. When she drops me off she waves and says she’ll be right back, but I know she’s abandoning me and I’m screwed because I can’t get back to school.

As I’m stranded I think about whether I can walk and decide it will take too long. So I take a van back to campus with a bunch of other students. I keep looking at my watch and I realize I don’t have enough time to finish my essays, and I’m really anxious.

There’s a guy I’m afraid to run into sitting next to me in the van, but when I look more closely at him, he turns into a cute guy I’d like to meet.

Philadelphia University

I am arranging a visit to a design department at a university in Philadelphia. Some people from Boston want to come but they say traffic is terrible. I ask if they can fly. They talk about expanding the highway to 8 lanes.

When we arrive the head of the department is cold and imperious and tells us to come back later.

The staircases and escalators are like an Escher painting. I see my mother go down a staircase that’s between two escalators. I try to follow but my leg gets stuck. I cry for help. When I try to extricate myself I wind up hanging by my hands, sort of upside down. I ask a stranger if he will catch me and he says he will, but it turns out I can just drop safely to the floor.

We go back to the design department office. We’re playing Yahtzee to pass the time. Except it’s different, it’s not called Yahtzee and you want to get a series of 8. The dice still have 6 sides, though. I roll once and get some 6s, and roll again and get four 6s and a 5. I’m trying to decide what to do with that, where to put it.

There is a bathroom in the office that has been decorated by Sony Playstation. I remember seeing a similar one on campus and I assume Sony is branding bathrooms now. The decor is kind of ridiculous, all red, hanging mobiles of the Sony logo. I think about calling to see if they would do ours.

The department head comes back and we are all discussing what we’re going to ask her. I decide to ask about designing computer games. Do the principles of design remain the same? How do you account for game play and screen displays? I note that it used to be heresy to talk about screen "design."