Category Archives: Male Friends

Conference

I’m at a conference (aren’t I always) and everyone I know from high school and work is giving a speech. The room is set up like a conference with chairs but the stage looks like a stage in a grade school gym, with a red curtain and a flag. The speaker is wearing a navy blue suit and a red tie.

I’m miffed that I haven’t been asked to give a speech. I get up to walk out of the room and the speaker calls down to me and asks if I’d like to speak. I act condescending and say that I’m too busy. Later, as I’m watching people talk, I wonder why I said that. I should have just admitted that I wanted to talk. But it seems like it’s too late.

I set out boxes of thank you cards on a table at the side of the conference. They have the Bond logo on them. I encourage people to take a card and write a thank-you note to someone they want to give thanks to.

Later, I am working on a project with Friedman. I want to make changes to something on a website but I can’t figure out how. He comes over and shows me the edit link. It’s too small to see.

Face Powder and Hand Weight

I’m on a train and I’m standing near the end of a train car. At the opposite end I notice several of the guys from my high school debate team. I walk down and greet them all, and I give hugs to Steve S. and Joe C.

When I get off the train I go home. I’m supposed to attend an event or a party and it’s important that I arrive on time. I’m running late and I realize I don’t have any makeup on. In a hurry, I go to the bathroom and dump powder on my face. I wind up with huge white splotches all over my face, and I try to wipe them off. This process doesn’t save me any time. I look at the clock and see that I’m 20 minutes late already, and resign myself to the fact that I won’t arrive on time.

When I get there, I’m walking around a strange event space, it’s sort of like a store and sort of like an amusement part. I am carrying a silver metal hand weight (shake weight?) I realize that one of the metal end pieces has fallen off. My immediate concern is that something from inside the weight will now fall out.

Wedding in London

I’m in a city like London because I’m going to get married. My family and many of the people I know are there to see the ceremony and wish me well.

My mother says that Jeff is the doctor who delivered me when I was born. She says we was a very good doctor and he did a fine job. When we see Jeff and try to talk to him about it, he says he doesn’t remember being a doctor and doesn’t think he ever did that.

I meet up with my faceless groom and he’s wearing khaki pants and a polo shirt. Evan asks him “you couldn’t even wear a real shirt?” We look around a store trying to find him some better pants and a button-down white shirt.

Once I’ve gotten him settled trying on clothes, I run across the street to another store to try on some makeup. I realize that in all the excitement around finding clothes for my groom that I haven’t put any makeup on.

Speech Team

I’m supposed to give a speech at a tournament. I’m on the speech team and the contest is being held in a hotel ballroom, with a lectern at the front and round tables for seating. But I can’t remember my speech.

Afterwards, Diana comes up to me and says that Michael wants to talk to me, but she really means Ryan. When I go over to say hello to him, he’s bald.

Then a group of us go out to eat at a diner. It’s an old-fashioned diner restaurant that serves burgers and shakes. The menu is printed on a sign on the wall, and they don’t have printed menus. I try to place my order with the waitress, but while I’m doing so they start changing the signs, like it’s a McDonald’s changing from breakfast to lunch. I tell her what I want from what I remember. My dining companions place their orders and make a point of saying they want to order items from the Dollar Menu. I ask them to clarify what’s on the Dollar Menu, because I didn’t see that.

Email on a t-shirt

I’m really proud of my new t-shirt that has a picture on it. (In my dream I couldn’t see the picture, but for the purposes of this discussion just assume it was a picture of some wolves howling at the moon.) I email a copy of the picture to Friedman so he can appreciate how awesome my new t-shirt is.

He decides he likes the picture as well and wants it put on a t-shirt of his own. He sends it off to have a t-shirt printed. When he gets the shirt back they have not simply printed the picture on it, but rather have printed the entire email on the shirt.

A representative from the t-shirt company shows up to give him a demo of his new shirt. While he’s wearing it she points out some of its key features, including the email text and then the picture he asked to be printed on it, which unfortunately was cut off at the bottom of the shirt.

(In response to hearing this dream, Friedman says “your dream was basically the whole premise of Cakewrecks.”)

Time Travel Technology

Friedman and I working on a project involving time travel. We have developed technology that enables us to send people back in time. However, once they’re in the past, they have no way to communicate with us. To get them back to the current day we have to go and find them in the past, which is difficult.

As a result, we are concerned about rogue agents going back into the past, getting lost or feeling isolated, and then taking actions that would damage the timelne. We are trying to develop a way for people in the past to communicate with us in the present. We’re exploring options like having them carve messages into stones in caves.

I test out the system by going short distances back in time and sending messages to the future. When I’m in the past I run into past-Friedman who has no idea what’s going on and keeps asking what I’m doing. I tell him I’m from the future but that isn’t a satisfactory explanation to him.

Bumped off a flight going to visit Joe

My dad drives me to the airport where I plan to take a flight to D.C. to visit Joe. When I’m checking in I realize that I don’t have any luggage. I’m holding a disorganized sheaf of papers, and I shove them into my empty backpack. (Where is my laptop?)

When I get to the ticket counter to check in, the gate attendant tells me that the flight is oversold. She checks my reservation and tells me that because I used frequent flyer miles to purchase the ticket, I will be bumped off the flight in favor of paying customers. At this point I notice that my ticket is to Atlanta, and I really want to go to D.C. I ask her what sort of compensation they will provide if I am bumped, and if they will arrange for me to get to D.C. instead. I think that this could work out well for me, as I obviously made a mistake in booking my travel.

I go down a flight of stairs at the airport to go back outside and meet my dad. Walking down the stairs, I pass by Maya Angelou and her entourage. I realize that they are on the flight to Atlanta.

I get into the back seat of my dad’s minivan because my mother is in the front seat. They both drive me home so I can pick up my suitcase.

The New Bond Website

I am in a large lecture hall with a number of younger students. The room has long black writing tables and an area at the front for the teacher to lecture. I am sitting at one of the classroom tables, drawing sketches for the new Bond website. I have a clear idea of how I want the site to work, but I am having trouble getting it down on paper. It seems like every drawing I do has something wrong with it.

Josh is up at the front of the room, discussing ideas for the site with the rest of the students. At a certain point I become alarmed because people are talking about ideas that I don’t agree with and aren’t what I’m envisioning for the site. I decide to go up to the front and share what I’ve been working on. When I review my sketches I try to find the one that is closest to what I’m imagining, but they’re all not quite right.

At the front of the room, Josh and I are seated behind a black panel with windows cut into it. From the perspective of the students, it looks like the teacher is talking to them directly, but behind the scrim we can talk privately, consult our notes, and even have snacks. Josh has a nearly full bottle of vodka and some sandwiches back there, and I help myself.

The students are getting quite agitated about our plans for the website. I can’t quite tell if they’re in junior high, college, or even if they’re young employees of Bond. They are shouting and arguing with both me and Josh. He’s pretty calm but I get increasingly frustrated. I yell back at them that their ideas are too boring an ordinary. I tell them that if they don’t understand why our vision is right for Bond, then maybe the problem is that they are not a good fit.

This makes them very upset and they decide to protest. The entire third row stands up and lights cigarettes. While they smoke, I call down to the main office to ask for help from security. The secretary in the office sounds bored and tells me they can’t really help solve this problem.

Friedman’s gifts

Friedman likes a girl with short brown hair. He decides to buy her some gifts to show how much he likes her.

He buys her nine different presents. Instead of wrapping each one up and watching her open them, he makes a video of the gifts and posts it on YouTube. When I ask him why he didn’t just give her the presents, he says that isn’t necessary anymore, and this new way is better.

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.

Jai and his new relationships

I go to visit Jai at his new apartment. It’s a Thursday evening. He has a new boyfriend and they’re all over each other. He tells me that this is the most important relationship in his life. I’m put out by the fact that he’s ignoring me and I try to make him understand that he’s being rude to me.

I go back and visit him on Sunday. This time he has a different boyfriend. He claims this boyfriend is really the one for him and he will be with him forever. I tell him point blank that there is no way this can be true, since he just broke up with someone else. He ignores me and I can tell he doesn’t want to listen to me.

They adopt a baby girl from Korea. I am shocked and disturbed that they would expect to care for a baby when they are obviously not that stable. Jai tells me that having a baby will confer legitimacy on his relationship. They ignore the baby once she arrives and go out to eat at restaurants.

San Francisco

I am visiting Friedman in San Francisco. We attend a movie in a theater together. Part way through the movie the projector breaks or something goes wrong, and so they turn all the lights on in the theater and everyone has to leave.

I go and gather up a bunch of my stuff like some books and a bag. I’m standing around outside while Friedman goes and gets a refund for our tickets. While I’m waiting a bus pulls up and I get on.

The bus starts driving toward the airport and the bus driver announces that they have a new direct flight to MInneapolis. I become very anxious because I think that the bus is going to Minneapolis and I have no way to tell Friedman where I am. I ask the man in a suit sitting next to me if this is really an airplane and he says no, this is just a bus that is going to a different neighborhood. While I’m talking to him the bottom of my shoe brushes his pant leg and gets dirt on him, and he yells at me to be more careful as he brushes it off.

I’m still worried that I don’t have any way to tell Friedman where I am. I start digging through my bag trying to find a cell phone. There are two phones in there but neither of them work, and anyway I don’t know his number. Both of the phones are cheap gray plastic, like old Startacs.

Later, Evan, Josh and I decide to have a party. I walk around saying hi to everyone I know. I go downstairs to the bar, and the Indian woman who lives on my floor is working as the bartender. I ask her if she has rosé and she gives me a glass. I go back upstairs and I see that the drink machine isn’t working. It’s supposed to be making frozen margaritas but there isn’t any ice. I start dumping ice into the machine, but it’s incredibly loud and gets ice all over everything, like handfuls of crushed ice are coming out in clumps from the back of the machine. When Evan comes over I tell him that since we’re in San Francisco we should have invited Shane to the party, and he just laughs.

Family reunion at Elliott’s

I plan to take the PATH train to see Elliott’s new apartment in Long Island City. Jenny tells me that it can take 15 minutes to get down to the platform because the trains are so deep underground.

When I arrive at Elliott’s he gives me a tour of the new apartment. We start in the kitchen which opens onto a small room with two loveseats in it. The couches are old and kind of beat up, and even without a coffee table they fill the room. Now I know what Alex meant when he said the living room was in the kitchen. To get to the next room we have to crawl through a small door in the wall. Elliott says that this is a holdover from when the building was a grain mill.

The next room is large and open with very high ceilings and views out onto the city. The room is so large that there is a small wading pool in the middle of it. Two large dining tables provide an enormous amount of seating, I hang out there for a while and eventually a few other people, including Kevin, show up. Kevin doesn’t talk to anyone and just texts the whole time, and I wonder why he even bothered to come.

I return to Elliott’s apartment later and my entire family shows up too. It’s all my aunts and uncles from both sides of the family, and we take over the entire apartment. On this visit there is a door cut between the main room and the kitchen (much better) and the sofas have been taken out so the small room next to the kitchen can function as an entry foyer/mud room.

Gram is there and says she is taking care of new baby Max. The baby has dark hair and dark eyes and I can’t tell who he belongs to. I want to ask if we don’t already have another kid named Max in the family, but I am embarrassed to ask because I think I should know who his parents are.

At the end of the party everyone comes over to say goodbye to me and thank me for inviting them all. I tell Elliott he is a real saint for agreeing to have my entire family over, and I give him a hug.

Hair ornament

I’m at a party or an event and I put my feet up on the table to relax. I take my shoes and socks off and scratch my feet. Tim sees me with my bare feet on the table and I’m embarrassed.

Tim brings me an elaborate sculpture that is black and red and gold. I think it’s a hair ornament or a belt buckle but it’s really too large to be either. I hold the sculpted metal up against myself to show that it is too large for my hair.

The subway is never the way it is in real life

I meet Josh at an office where we’re supposed to do some work. I’m planning to take the train home but he lets me share a black car with him.

The next day I go back and meet some other people in the office. There is a tall Scandinavian man working in the office and I flirt with him. He flirts back and says he thinks he might want to marry me. Turns out he is already married to an Asian woman and they have an infant. I sit with them in the cafeteria and hold the baby for her.

When I’m ready to go home I go over to the subway. The station is attached to a shopping mall and is served by a couple of different lines. I get on the N train but it is going the wrong direction, and I wind up at the end of the line. I go to look at the map and realize how far out I am. I try to plan my trip but I can’t figure out if the N/R/Q or the B/D/F will get me home faster.

The company is supposed to provide transportation but my Metrocard either isn’t working or they’re expecting me to use my personal card. I call someone in customer service and she’s rude to me and then hangs up on me. I stare at the time on my phone, shocked that she just hung up. When I call back she is angry with me in return. She says I should just use the Metrocard that I have and it won’t be a problem.

Working at a Law Firm

I take a position in a law firm because I am unemployed, possibly out of work due to a recession. My boss is crazy and it seems that we’re all slightly afraid of him. My first task is to dole out some kind of gloppy paste-like substance onto plates in a particular S-shaped pattern. The paste is hard to work with and I don’t do a very good job.

Next I’m supposed to file an affidavit about a car being stolen. It seems like Sherri has asked me to help with this or it’s her car that is missing. As I am going through the files I come across a statement from Neil implicating me in the car theft. I look around to try and staple the documents together but none of the staplers are working and I have to use a paperclip.

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.

Premature aging

I go over to Stephen’s house and he tells me about his two sons. The older son is in college but is very irresponsible. He was supposed to pick Stephen up from a coffee shop but forgot and left him waiting there for a long time. The younger boy is a senior in high school.

I cannot believe that the boys have grown up so fast. It seems like it hardly took any time at all for them to leave home. I think that raising children maybe isn’t so difficult after all. I also think I’m going crazy because there’s no way those boys can be so old.

Taking the subway home from a party

I’m at a party with Josh. They are handing out sheets of stickers as swag, and we make fun of them because they are sort of dumb-looking and useless.

We decide to get manicures at the party. There is a whole outdoor area that is set up like a spa, with places to sit in hot tubs and have your nails done. There is also a table where some gaudy looking earrings are for sale. We learn that the earrings were made by Swedish people, and I comment that they aren’t worth what they’re charging but the labor costs are high.

We leave to take the train home. When I get to the turnstile I realize I don’t have my wallet, so I ask to borrow Josh’s Metrocard. The subway station is huge and cavernous, more like the hallways in a sports arena. I look at the signs and realize I can take the 7 train to the east side instead of taking the 1 downtown and then walking over.

The 7 is deep underground, and to take the stairs down seems like it would take forever. I notice an elevator with two rough-looking workmen in it. The door is closing and I race to catch it, but I miss it. I push on the elevator button to see if I can get it to open again, but they’re gone. In retrospect I am relieved because I would have felt unsafe riding the elevator with them. When the elevator returns I take it down to the platform level.

When the train comes I get on the same car with the workmen from the elevator. I strike up a conversation with them and rest my foot on the seat suggestively. The subway cars are ancient, like from the early 20th century.

There is a large group of people from the Middle East or East Asia on the train. One of them appears to be a king or a man of high status. A handler comes over and asks us politely if we will move because the car we’re in is reserved for the king. I get very angry and shout at her that this is a public conveyance, open to all.

When I get home my father is very angry about the fact that they house is dirty. He is mopping the floor furiously. I take the mop away from him and take over the cleaning job. He tells me I need to accept that I know better, that I know how to do better than this.

Eating at a restaurant with friends and family

Marcelo has moved to a new apartment on the outskirts of town, in a more suburban environment that is close to some water. It also seems to be near an amusement park. I don’t understand why he would want to live all the way out there. but he seems to really like it. In fact, he is buying another apartment in the same building so he can combine them.

I go to visit him out there and we go to dinner in a restaurant. There seem to be a number of restaurants on the ground floor of the building, like a hotel. My mother and grandmother join us for dinner.

My mother and grandmother point out that another guest of the restaurant is my cousin. He is standing in line with a few other people, including a woman that seems to be his girlfriend. I go over to introduce myself and we give hugs hello. We have a friendly and animated conversation and agree that we should meet again soon. I give him a hug goodbye that goes on a bit too long, and then a kiss on the cheek which seems somehow inappropriate because he’s my cousin. I give a hug goodbye to his girlfriend and she seems nonplussed.

I return to the table so we can order. I look at the menu and choose a salad that is quite inexpensive, like $4, and I wonder if it will be enough to eat. My mother suggests that we share an order of beef rolls. These seem to be a specialty of the restaurant and they have all different kinds. They have one that is like a beef and cabbage roll, and another that is Moroccan style with raisins. I want to order the “pizza style” roll, which is basically a piece of beef that has been dressed with toppings and cheese like a pizza and then rolled up. I am pretty sure my mother won’t want to order this, but I ask her anyway. While she is reviewing the choices the lights in the restaurant go out so she can’t see the menu.

Working at Apple

Evan and I are working in-house at Apple. Toby and Anne L. work in the same building as we do and I’m trying to network with them to get advice.

Toby is really helpful to me so I want to send him a token gift. I decide to send one of the Chinese Christmas ornaments I bought last winter. I pull the top off of the globe and wonder if I could stick a joint in there for him as well. But I decide not to and just send the package via interoffice mail.

To mail the gift I go and sit at my “real” desk; I don’t usually sit there because I’m always in meetings. While I’m there I decide to clean up some papers and generally organize things. I find a document about designing Macs that I think is terrible. I try to complain about it to HR but the bureaucrats there don’t understand what I’m talking about.

Michael Eisner (who has some connection to Apple via Disney) takes me to Disneyland to ride on the rides. But they aren’t really Disney theme park rides, they’re more like old-fashioned county fair rides.

I call Anne L and ask her for help with recruiting. We start discussing the recent rise in the stock price, and she makes it sound like she really made a lot of money. While I am on the phone with her, I can also omnisciently see her stock trades. She made about $2800, which is a nice dividend but it’s not like she’s rich.

I put on lipstick so I look nice before one of my meetings. I’m too fat and I can’t squeeze by someone in the hallway and I’m embarrassed.

We have lunch in Steve Jobs’ office. I’m very nervous about meeting him, but no one else is. Lunch is set up on a table in his office, and I am unsure about where to sit. I change places and accidentally drink someone else’s water.

Riding a bicycle

I am supposed to ride a bicycle from a lunch spot to my mother’s apartment behind the Walker Art Center. There is a bike path that goes through Worth Park and then onto city streets. My mother gives me a map and tells me I’ll be fine.

I am nervous about biking through the city and especially about riding in traffic. But after a while I get the hang of it and am able to get through the traffic. It’s a beautiful fall day and it is exhilarating to move so quickly down the streets on my own power.

I meet Vincent for lunch at a little cafe. I encourage him to eat something but he seems uneasy, like he needs to get out of there. He says he has to get back to his kids.

False credit card charges

I’m out to dinner with Jai and another man and woman. The meal is friendly but I have a feeling like something is going on behind my back. It seems like Jai is cheating on me or has a relationship with these other people that I don’t know about. I feel uneasy because I don’t know what’s going on.

I leave the restaurant and walk through a series of hallways until I get to a large room that seems to be part of a research center. I find myself on top of a mountain made of office supplies, like file folders and paper products. I try to get down the mountain but I wind up on a ledge made of folders and I can’t get off. I lose my shoes along the way. I have to ask a man working there for help getting out of my predicament, and he just comes over and plucks me off. My handbag is left behind.

It turns out that I have been a victim of identity theft and credit cards have been opened in my name. Jai has opened an American Express account and has put several hundred thousand dollars of charges on it. He’s done this with his new boyfriend. I’m furious, absolutely filled with rage that he would do this to me. I scream at him but he doesn’t seem to care.

Someone at the research institution has also opened a credit card in my name and has put some charges on it. I cancel the cards and get Amex to reverse the charges, which apparently causes some problems for the researchers. They come and accuse me of messing up their plans, which seems ironic and backwards to me.

Hotel Stationery

I’m taking the subway with Alex and Kim to a a family reunion to see my father’s side of the family. I have a bicycle and start to ride it once we get off the train, and I ride it all the way, even inside the buildings.

The family reunion is taking place in a conference center and I walk down a number of hallways to find it. My uncle Fred says he saw my mother downtown recently and she had a booger on her shirt. Fred and Eleanor seem to believe that it came from my father, as he was prodigious in this department.

I go to the hotel (on the bicycle) and sit down to write a letter. I want to write a letter to Hopkins High School asking for some help with an environmental issue in Russia. I hope that they will read the letter and remember me. I choose a piece of hotel stationery and start to write, but I don’t get very far before realizing that I should type the letter instead of handwriting it. I go to take another sheet of stationery and I realize that all the pages are different. Some are at least 50 years old, and some are brightly colored, like origami papers. I choose the most professional looking paper and feed it into an ancient manual typewriter.

Crimes and misdemeanors

Friedman is on the lam. He’s skipped out on a rap in Vegas. He goes from restaurant to restaurant, pursued by the FBI.

My father stole a car. He’s driving an old 1940s Ford. We’re driving along the edge of an embankment trying to jump the car over to a bridge on the other side. We almost miss but pull up just in time.

Alex if you really love me then turn your head to the side you’re getting away.

Jinx Vampire

I’m walking along a country road trying to get back to a lodge or a retreat center.

The line to get into a restaurant is very long but my group somehow lies to the hostess and she is very accommodating. She tries to get us a table. I feel guilty that we lied to her to get preferential treatment.

Jai’s jinx turns out to be dangerous. He has a way to transmit it to me by giving me a hug, like he’s some kind of jinx vampire. As he’s hugging me I can feel it attacking me and I’m scared because I know it’s too late to do anything about it.

A Christmas Story

I’m playing Sorry with Jai and he is cheating. Harry and Helen join us later. I am upset.

I have a smoothie maker. I mix up a chocolate shake and it overflows the machine and gets all over the counter.

Jai has a baby, he is pregnant and the baby is due in December, around Christmas. He makes Helen the godmother. I’m jealous. I think neither of them knows how to raise a baby.

Thanksgiving

I  am remembering something from Jai’s past
I want him to point to something meaningful
I can select the side of the circle that describes him
Ceramic Christmastree lights

Family reunion photo

Jai and I are on vacation
Turns into an ad agency
A fat girl is unhappy that they changed her copy by mobile phone
Turns into a family reunion
Someone else’s family
Seeing old photos of me from the 70s
Go into the next room for photos
Lots of ancient royalty there
We are all wearing crowns, but they’re fake
British guy says he descends from the line of "Mr. Bean."

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.

Trying on dresses

I am trying on dresses in an expensive boutique. They have a sale rack where things have been marked down. I try on what’s there but nothing is very attractive or fits very well.

I keep checking back and finally find a trove of items that I like. They have a whole series of skirts and dresses that are embroidered silk in bright jewel tones.

Zachary sends me a message at the store or tells the store something about me.

Goodbye drinks and lost cell phones

We are going to goodbye drinks for RI. I am trying to see everyone.

Vincent and Julie are there but they have other partners.

Vincent is angry with me for making him tardy

Lost cell phones, no chargers, looking for old ones.

The Great Dane and the Elephant

I’m vacationing at a resort in South Carolina with Evan and Josh. We picked this resort because it’s dog-friendly.

We’re hanging out by the pool. There’s a commotion because we think one of the dogs had an accident in the pool. I’m apprehensive about who’s responsible.

It turns out it was the fault of a Great Dane and an elephant that somehow got into the pool. We all laugh about that.

Hotel Room Party

I’m having a big party in an expensive hotel room with Jai. Security keeps coming up to the room and I’m afraid that they’ll bust us for smoking pot. An enormous black security guard storms into the room and I look over to the counter where the pot is located, but he doesn’t see it.

We call to reorder drinks. There are bottles of scotch and vodka on a shelf. Toby arrives with a poor family.

I use the toilet and I am afraid that I haven’t flushed. Jai goes in after me and the toilet overflows and I’m mortified. We have to call a plumber to come up and fix it.

Onset Object Model

I’m in Minneapolis working a on a project with David F. The girl I met at MIMA is there to help us.

The room is set up like a party, there’s refrigerated cases with beer and wine. She doesn’t want anyone to drink. I open up some white wine anyway.

She keeps asking about an "Onset Object Model" and whether we have one or not. I don’t really understand what she means.

I’m rearranging the stuff in the office, moving people’s personal belongings and things they will want to take home with them to a different table. I want some more wine.

Jennifer Aniston is there complaining that her hair looks like shit. I tell her that she was Rachel and had the iconic hairstyle of the 90s, in an effort to make her feel better.

Eating lunch on the job

I’m working on a project with David F. He’s fast and good at his work. I want to check his work over when he’s done but I don’t know how. They’re trying to teach me how to review it.

I need lunch but I’m afraid to go get it. I tell my boss I’m not going to go and he laughs and tells me to go eat.

I print out a menu. The place I go has a line of people waiting. My boss tells me I’ll be fighting a line at 3pm.

There’s a family in front of me that is taking forever to place their order. I yell at them to just order.

I listen to the advice and just have a salad.

When my boss calls I say I can’t come back yet.

Riding the bus

It’s winter and the streets are all cold and snowy. I’m riding a bus with Marcelo. The bus has a fare meter like a taxi. Marcelo tells me that in the winter, near Christmas, you can just pay the driver whatever you want, you don’t have to pay what’s on the meter. I am anxious because I don’t have any money and I tell Marcelo I’ll have to borrow from him.

Marcelo hops off the bus and disappears, but he leaves his bag so I assume he’s coming back. Elliott gets on the bus and I talk with him for a while. I am working up the nerve to ask him to lend me money so I can pay the driver. The fare meter keeps going up and it’s already at $77.00. I’m trying to figure out how much is reasonable to give him, I think $60.00 seems about right.

Marcelo comes back and we get off the bus and go to a restaurant. We’re looking at the menu but we’re also trying to decide if we want to buy the restaurant. I’m looking for food that doesnt have wheat in it, but most of the desserts do. I settle on a dessert that is like a spicy Mexican pigs-in-blankets with a hot sausage.

Garages converted to apartments

I’m looking inside my old garage on Prescott Drive. It’s been converted into three separate apartments. The back of the garage will be one apartment, with the door that leads into the backyard. The front of the garage will be two apartments that can be accessed through the garage door itself. The garage is being converted this way because the real estate is so valuable.

Andy and Sarah are going to live in the apartment in the back. I am happy for them because I think it’s a good deal.

The garage at the house in Chanhassen is also being converted into apartments.

I try to tell my father that the garages have become really valuable, but then I realize I can’t talk to my father about anything from the past.

Kitchen Burner

I’m in a kitchen with Jai. I turn on a burner but there is a stack of pots and pans on top of it. I may have intended to turn on a different one. The pots and pans start to get hot and smoke and I quickly turn the burner off.

I feel guilty because I eat more than everyone else, I snack more.

The Black Plastic Garbage Bags Dream

I’m talking to Alex S. I’m trying to set up time to meet with Vincent so I can tell him that I’m leaving Razorfish. I’m anxious about telling him.

I read a column in Wired magazine that’s like a press release describing what different people are doing professionally.

I’m living in a 1 BR apartment that is dark and dirty. My uncle Ed needs a place to stay and I offer to let him stay at my place, but I warn him that it’s filthy.

There are two big rooms in the apartment. They are both filled up to the ceiling with shelves that are stacked with old computer monitors and black plastic garbage bags. When I look up they seem to go on infinitely, stacks and stacks of garbage.

I find myself thinking that I should not move out of this apartment, there is no reason to leave. I tell myself the apartment is perfectly fine, it’s a nice place, and it’s inexpensive.