Dream Log Archive

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  • January 23, 2025

    (temple path exploration / hidden children / dentist lunch expectation)

    I’m on vacation. The others go back to the hotel, but I decide to go on an adventure. The place feels like Okinawa, with similar architecture and statues.I go down a narrow path that doesn’t look made for cars, though I saw one go down it. I follow it as it continues to narrow and eventually enters a pitch-black tunnel. I use my phone to light the way.

    After the tunnel, the path turns to gravel and goes uphill past a building that might have been the car’s destination. The path is clearly too narrow for a vehicle. I continue up the hill, around a bend, and up some stairs toward what looks like a temple.

    At the top platform, my way is blocked by a fallen statue of a two-headed creature. It’s large and heavy. I try to push it but can only shift it slightly. There are other fallen decorations along the path, and I pick them up and lean them back into place. Looking out over the temple, it seems like a storm has knocked everything over. Broken statue pieces are scattered everywhere.

    The temple area consists of the platform I’m on with a few statues and small hut-like buildings, and then the main grounds below, with a single building in the center. The ground is gravel, with stone slab paths cutting through the middle and along the edges.

    At first I see movement and wonder if the area is a playground for neighborhood kids. I go forward toward the main building and down some stone steps, and then the kids appear. They initially think I don’t understand Japanese. I do, but I respond in English.They’re a little disappointed that I cleaned up the path, since it means adults can get here more easily, but they also think it’s strange that one statue is still toppled, so they work together to put it back. I’m impressed because it was very heavy, but they move it easily.

    The kids are curious about me but not direct. They follow me, tap me, and run away. When I ask them direct questions, they hesitate to respond.

    I go into the building. Inside, it looks like a small gym room with mats on the floor and lockers around the edges. The layout shifts between an open space and a more structured locker room with rows of lockers and a small bench.Two kids, a boy and a girl, follow me in. I comment on how worn the lockers look, and the girl explains that the tall lockers are still used for gym class, while the smaller cubbies are used when they come to change.

    On the other side of the room, there’s a display of books like a small library. I point out One Piece. The girl says that the series in front isn’t actually One Piece, but a spin-off where a side character transitions into a man and that’s his story, with book seven on display.

    Next to it is a thick book labeled as a One Piece Guide. I open it and find something completely different. It’s about the Millennium Earl versus Mickey Mouse, written in English. Mickey goes on vacation and leaves his empire to the Earl. The Earl quickly takes over, rebrands everything, and starts putting out videos with things like Cool Ranch Doritos as a background because that’s something Americans like. Someone watches one of the videos and says they don’t know what it is about him, but he seems cool. Soon, the Earl is brainwashing America.

    I find it interesting that the Earl, who is a manga character, is drawn in a Western comic style, even though it’s still black and white.

    I’m the adult son of a dentist. My dad is youthful and wants a good relationship, but I’m grown and feel jaded and find him cringey. One day I offer to bring lunch and eat with him.

    He gets very excited and tells all his morning clients that his son is bringing lunch to eat with him. But we have different expectations. I plan to bring convenience store bread and eat quietly on a park bench. He expects something I made, or at least a proper bento, and that we’ll eat at his office and talk.

    I’m also late, and as it gets closer to one, he becomes nervous waiting for me.

  • January 17, 2025

    (ireland arrival / palace vision / crowded japan transit)

    I land in Ireland, not Dublin, and meet up with Dad and Sister. They say they’re going to the hotel to drop off their things and then wander around. I remind them that I came last minute and still need to find a hotel. Dad wonders if I’ll be okay, and I tell him it shouldn’t be an issue, though I worry about Baobao.

    I look up nearby hotels on an app. While I’m searching, we sit outside on large stone steps and look around. In front of us is a large park, and on the other side of the park is an old hospital. Around the park are old European buildings. To the left is a road going up a hill.

    Dad points out that under one of the building steps on the hill there is a statue of Woody and Jessie and what look like their parents, huddled together and holding up the landing. They are half buried. He says the hill had to be re-landscaped because it was slowly eroding, and when they did that it covered the bottom of the statue. A lot of people were upset because they had to reconstruct their houses to match the new level of the road. He also points out a painted sign on the building next to us. He says it reads “war makes money” in Latin and shows a man holding a gun against a red warfront background. It faces the old hospital and signifies people’s anger at wars the government participated in.

    The building whose steps we’re sitting on is a palace. Inside, we go up a spiral staircase to an exhibit room displaying dishware, including an entire wall of tea sets. The tea sets aren’t the thin fine china I expect. Either the family wasn’t wealthy enough to own fine china, or it hadn’t become popular yet. The cups are bulky and dyed primarily one color, sometimes with gold around the rim or a second color inside.

    I see a vision of the ladies of the court having tea when the king comes in to see his queen. They seem to have a good relationship, and he appears to love her very much. She has white hair, possibly a wig or dye though she’s young, curled around her head with a small curl down the back. He has orangey-brown hair stacked high like a beehive. He consults her about information she gave him that was confirmed true, and she tells him what to do next.

    In a cutaway scene, her father speaks with someone about her gift. She has foresight, or has come back in time, and can tell the future. Her father listened to her and gained a great deal. Then she asked him to send her to marry the king. Shortly after, a call went out among the aristocracy that the king was looking for a wife. She passed every test smoothly and became queen. Now she is expecting her second child and seems to anticipate future trouble that she is trying to prevent.

    Back on vacation, I’m in a museum. It has many separate dark rooms with yellow lights illuminating artifacts that look Western in origin, possibly Greek or Roman. Between rooms is a hallway that occasionally passes doors opening to a courtyard. It almost feels like a movie theater. Someone, maybe a group, comes to tell me we’re moving to another location.

    Still on vacation, I’m now in Japan. I’m in a suburb of Yokohama, and it’s extremely crowded around the train station. I try to stay with my group, but we get separated. They shout that I should just keep going and get off at the last station. I look at the train map and see that one end in a direction is Gifu, which doesn’t feel right, so I choose the other direction. It’s crowded down the stairs and onto the platform, and I’m carried along with the flow of people.

    In a new town, I stop for lunch with a friend, possibly UK Friend K or High School Friend L. I like the place but don’t feel very hungry, so I order something light. She orders a large portion of spicy shrimp tempura and a side salad with full slices of cucumber and carrot, and she eats almost none of it.

    I try to help two elementary schoolers pay at a touchscreen machine, but one insists on pressing the buttons herself and, because she can’t quite reach, selects the wrong dish. They’re on a sponsored trip and need receipts for reimbursement, but the dish she chose costs 300 yen more than what she bought. I try to change it, but the system won’t allow it. I ask the staff, but she says she can’t change it either.

    The child explains why she needs the receipt, and the staff seems conflicted because the transaction is already recorded in the system. I think privately that it’s a flawed system. I notice an elderly woman behind the counter working the machine and assume this can’t be the first time someone has entered their order incorrectly.

  • January 7, 2025

    (rural academy / lion father / mountain farm)

    I’m in a rural town at an academy with potential dating candidates. One of them is a tall, dark-haired boy who lives in the mountains.

    We hike up through the snow. As we get close to the top, he points ahead and says that’s his father. He’s pointing to a pride of lions led by Simba.

    His mother is human.

    We go to the next hilltop, where she has a farm. I greet her nervously and tell her I’m in a relationship with her son and intend to marry him. She is gentle and says she feels blessed to be able to do what she wants in life.

    They produce milk, cheese, and other goods. There isn’t a proper cheese press—I see the barn and there’s only a cheese roller—but it’s still their most popular product.

    The lions help with shipping.

  • October 30, 2024

    (hotel reception / disaster ethics / bianca’s escape plan)

    I’m in an open, windowed hotel reception area. Long tables covered in white sheets are set up with food and drinks, and people stand around talking in small groups.

    I’m standing with a female friend of mine, though I can’t remember who it is, and Bianca Del Rio.

    We’re talking about what would happen if there were suddenly a terrorist threat in the room. My friend suggests that the most generous thing would be to try to get everyone out.

    Bianca says she wouldn’t bother trying to save everyone. It would be a fraught situation, there wouldn’t be time, and people would panic. Instead, she says she would just dive for the window and maybe grab the two of us along with her, since we’re already nearby.

    We roll our eyes and thank her jokingly, but privately I think that’s rather generous of her, considering she could just save herself.

  • October 16, 2024

    (survival game / haircut disguise / mansion defense)

    I’m in a game with Witcher-style mechanics. Three streetrats are thrown into it. They’re tossed out and sprayed with rancid trash, then told to survive. The game is run by Bitro.

    Geralt joins up with others, including Motomi and a thin, energetic guy. Motomi is suspicious of Geralt. He meets Bitro in secret, but the other two follow him and witness the meeting. Motomi and Bitro seem like odd friends. Bitro asks about the newcomer and where he came from, and Motomi tells him it’s none of his concern.

    Bitro leaves quickly, and we explore the area. It looks like a tent camp, possibly where Bitro had been staying. I interact with highlighted objects and get bits of dialogue. After picking up a set of Bitro’s clothes, including a wig of his hair, a cutscene plays.

    A barber comments that the look doesn’t suit me and cuts Geralt’s hair, shaving it and combing it back. The thin guy is enthusiastic about the new style. He also complains about how Geralt rides a horse. Motomi says that’s just how witchers are trained and not to worry about it. I check the animation, and Geralt really does ride in a choppy, staccato way. It seems like he can only ride a horse that was trained the same way.

    In a mansion, a lord is kind to his servants and protects them, so they are very loyal. The lord may also be Geralt. His enemies learn this and send operatives to capture the maids as leverage.

    The servants are prepared. When the operatives enter, they throw down quick fire in the hallways and scatter. They aren’t fighters, but they don’t want to cause trouble for their lord by being captured.

  • September 22, 2024

    (racetrack event / waiting for pickup / suspension explanation)

    I’m at the My Company racetrack in Hometown, near the library parking lot, for an event. Sister and Sister’s Husband go home, and I stay for a while before calling to get picked up.

    As I leave, HS Chinese Teacher’s son from my school trip to China comes to pick me up. We cross the street toward the Belfry, and he runs down toward the park to get his car. I move closer to the racetrack parking lot so he doesn’t have to come as far.

    He gets stuck in a line trying to get his car out. I end up waiting in a different line where people are getting rental cars. Near the back of a large group, people are dressed vaguely as Mario and Luigi. I pass by a pair talking about using a AAA card to rent. Apparently the card will be wrapped by the service. The rentals are only for use around the racetrack and have to be returned if you go farther. This is meant to prevent pollution by keeping the cars within the same climate area.

    I’m near a group with a dad and a girl dressed as Mario, a man dressed loosely as Luigi, and another man in a black hoodie. The man in the hoodie is confused about the racetrack and keeps talking about suspension. He jokes that they must be proud of creating a little ball, clearly not understanding what suspension is.

    I interrupt and try to explain. I say that suspension involves the front forks and rear cushions, using springs and oil. The man tries to cut in, but I keep going. I explain that the oil has a property where its mass doesn’t change when compressed, and when it’s forced through a small hole, it resists compression and maintains its volume, which reduces how much you feel bumps.

  • September 18, 2024

    (dockside festival / cruise escape / haunted one piece)

    I’m on a cruise ship and step off into a large city. There’s a festival being set up by the docks. One of the acts uses fire tricks. Two men setting it up talk about it. There had been a large terrorist explosion earlier in the center of the city, so they thought the act would be banned, but instead the city wants it as a distraction, just redirected elsewhere.

    I go over to move the fuses. Something goes wrong and there’s some kind of attack, or the trick goes off too early. All the cruise passengers quickly return to the ship. We had gotten off without specific paperwork and don’t want to get stuck in the city and not be allowed to leave.

    The cruise ship circles around the water and heads toward Dubai.

    There’s a new or changed version of One Piece. Monkey D. Luffy, Nami, Nico Robin, and Sanji are there. In the first boat, Brook appears briefly. Luffy invites him to join jokingly, but Brook is searching for the pirates who killed his crew and says he’ll join later.

    Sanji initially only falls for Nami. I think this is to prevent early changes to the story, but soon after he also starts liking Robin.

    The ship becomes haunted. Luffy sends everyone to their rooms and confronts the ghosts. There are three pirate ghosts escorting two child ghosts. One of the children needed a glass of water, so they stopped.

    Most people get scared and attack, but the ghosts don’t harm anyone unless they need to protect the children. Luffy stays calm. Nami comes in and turns on the lights, and Sanji gives the ghosts food. Everyone understands the situation.

    One pirate ghost stays behind and haunts Luffy’s right arm. It takes a lot of energy, but it significantly increases his power. The ghost looks somewhat unintelligent, with a large body, like a homunculus.

    They land on an island so Luffy can practice using the new power. Sanji fights him because Zoro isn’t there. Luffy is initially worried about hurting Sanji, but Sanji deflects all of his punches into the ground before they can land. There’s also a sense that Sanji might be a twin.

  • September 15, 2024

    (drag queen battle / flight in NH / late to flight)

    I’m in a big city in an abandoned dance studio, trying to find something left there. There are drag queens with a condition where they have to freeze in a pose, and they can only be released under a specific condition. If the condition is too strict, they die, like gargoyles.

    I find Eureka and Kennedy and others. We’re also fighting against evil drag queens and corrupted security systems. I had originally been brought here by spirits—a giant whale mother and a red dragon puppet. I had just gained the ability to communicate with them when the whale asked for help here, and I was flown in through the sky.

    The whale disrupted the security, so we have to deal with that as well. I find a room with a computer system that explains what’s going on.

    I learn that RuPaul used to do interviews here in the early days, possibly early seasons of Drag Race. I see Bendela, Shangela, and others. The interviews take place in an underground room with steel beams overhead, like a construction area. Nearby, they also performed dances. In one scene, performers are getting ready with makeup. Blair complains about not being good at it and having to practice a lot. Ru points out that she applied blush too far on one cheek and says she’ll show her how to do it properly later.

    I get separated from the others on the way out and get attacked by an enemy drag queen. I shout “Catwoman” to signal who it is. Dax ExclamationPoint arrives in a mercenary uniform with knives everywhere and saves me.

    Later, I’m talking with Sister about flights. I’m going back separately. They’re going to Boston, and I’m going to a town called something like Ridelplaz on the Massachusetts–New Hampshire border. John Oliver is also going there, joking about when he’ll ever get another chance to visit a place with such a similar name to his.

    He has a layover there. It’s a very small town. He films the mountains and says that a woman in the park below is really playing music loudly, and the sound carries into his video.

    Heading back toward the village, I pass through a carved rock formation where I can see the sun setting on one side and the moon rising on the other. I take a video as I walk through. The moon is also reflected over a pond in the center of the village.

    I rush back to the airport. Another man is rushing too, and we’re on the same flight. He checks the status and slows down, saying we’ve missed it. I say it’s scheduled for 7:22, so we still have time, but he argues that boarding has already started. I tell him that if we arrive during boarding and have assigned seats, we can still get on.

    We run with our luggage. The airport is surprisingly large. He meets up with his dad and stops at the bathroom, while I continue running with another girl we met inside the airport.

    We reach gate 10-3 and line up for the elevator. At the front, I see the man and his dad have made it there after stopping. The elevator pauses partway, and we worry, but I feel confident that since so many people in the elevator are going to the same flight, they’ll wait for us.

  • September 10, 2024

    (interactive mystery event / swimmer travel / shower rescue)

    I put on an event at what looks like a converted house or old barn. Inside, it feels like a colonial-era space with rustic wood and varied furniture. It’s set up for people to have drinks and watch a show.

    The hostess, a shorter woman with a cropped blue pixie cut, has seats reserved for her family and friends. They aren’t seated near each other—her family in one area, her friends in another—and she sits with a table of guests. Everyone is chattering excitedly. The show is highly recommended, but we ask participants not to talk about the content with anyone who hasn’t attended, to keep the mystery. They only know that it’s interactive. The lights dim and the show starts with a projection.

    The video shows a colonial town. A witch lives in a cottage outside of town and is being pestered by townspeople for being a witch. They point to parts of her attire as clearly witchy. She refutes them and they eventually leave, but as they go she remarks on how they knew about all that, since she is actually a witch and those are things witches use.

    The first audience segment is introduced. An audience member walks around the tables while a recorded dialogue explains her character, an old woman from town, and her perspective. The show is a mystery adventure where all participants are characters who use clues and their positions in the story to reach a conclusion.

    There is a knocked-over tunnel near the witch’s house, like a TARDIS. A middle-aged man in a brown suit wanders too close and gets sucked into another time. When the others find him, they look through the tunnel and see him walking on a beach. Someone asks if time moves differently on each side, since it really is him, and even though he’s been missing for days, it hasn’t been long for him.

    HS Classmate C is at the event and brags about a Halloween comedy show she put on as a child, saying it was like this one. She did two shows a day for four days leading up to Halloween and charged three dollars per person. She considers it a proud success, even though her parents had to advertise to fill the room. I think to myself that it’s not comparable to this proper, adult, paid event that is sold out in advance.

    Olympic swimmer Mirco Rembrant, or something like that, swims at the same place Friend A and I do. We’re coming back from a meet and end up on the same flight as him. He’s alone in first class and we’re in the back. It takes him an hour to get from his last Instagram location to our pool for his publicized practice. He gets picked up in a racecar from the airport while Friend A and I walk.

    As we walk, we complain about how stuck up he is and how the public doesn’t even know. The team sends a car so he doesn’t waste time. On a map, it looks like we traveled from somewhere in Southeast Asia to the Middle East near India on a thirty-minute flight. He only adds another thirty minutes for local transport, while we wait much longer because of commercial flying rules.

    We pass the main pool, where spectators are crowded around and he’s showboating again. At the member entrance, we’re blocked. They try to stop us, but we push through since we’re part of the team. They say they’re blocking his fans and that it will be harder to stop them if they see other women entering. It doesn’t make sense to us.

    Friend A wants to shower. At first I plan to wait, but the locker room gets crowded and people are searching for his locker room. I don’t want to be left alone, so I go in with her. The girls’ showers are separate but still part of the same larger room the boys use.

    Friend A takes the end shower near the doors on the second row in. I take the one next to her. I still have shorts and a white T-shirt on when I turn on the shower and wash. Friend A offers to tell me stories about what she’s been doing in the past months we haven’t seen each other, so I sit on the floor and listen.

    I notice the curtain next to me is lifted slightly. At first I worry about peeking, but then I realize the man there is a swim member and he looks unconscious. I crawl over and check his wrist through the opening. Just then, the stall is opened by fans chasing Mirco. They accuse me of being lewd, even though the man is unconscious. I try to explain, but they don’t listen.

    The others look at me in disgust. I refuse to let him drown because no one else seems to recognize how serious it is. I keep holding him up and checking his vitals. Eventually Friend A comes to disperse the situation and help me.

  • July 7, 2024

    (tokyo meetup / driver’s license / tv show over dinner)

    I live in Japan, somewhere somewhat rural but still close to Tokyo. Friend K is visiting Japan, and since I have some days off, I decide to meet her in Tokyo.

    We meet up and spend time together. It was recently my birthday, and I had posted online asking people to message me. Akira had messaged asking if I wanted to meet at “dept Machada.” I’m unsure if that means a tea shop in a department store or if it’s a typo for Machida in Tokyo, and I briefly wonder if he’s following my updates too closely.

    In the early afternoon, Friend K and I talk about what to do next. I mention something my host family has for me that I never picked up. Friend K feels responsible and offers to go get it. She has a train pass, so it won’t cost much.

    There’s a special express train leaving soon, so we go to the station and she takes it. I wait with her for about twenty minutes, then stay behind to catch a regular train into Tokyo. We plan to meet again later.

    As I’m on the train, I realize I didn’t think the timing through. We both left around 3:30 or 4:00pm, which doesn’t give her enough time to go to my host family and come back. I also realize I never told my host family she was coming, and she’s going to Sapporo, not Kushiro. I scroll through my LINE messages trying to find Okaa-san, but there are lots of recent messages from people I don’t know well, along with ads from businesses, especially home goods.

    I arrive at a building that looks very American, with an entrance like a dentist office. There’s a front parking lot reserved for certain people. A friend parks there, and when I ask why, she says it’s because her small truck doesn’t fit in the regular parking spaces.

    I think about getting my license. Instead of retaking a test, I go to reception and they reprint it for me based on past data. There’s another window that looks like it can print passports too. I answer a few simple questions, and they print my card, and now I can drive.

    There’s a car outside that I can take, though I realize I don’t actually have permission to park there. I take it out anyway and drive around the streets for a bit. Dad is also there at the building when I get my license.

    I’m at a very fancy house, possibly In-laws’. I talk with someone about a show I’ve been watching and put on the first episode while I make dinner—pasta and salad.

    The show is about a girl who is treated very badly by her family. Her brother and sister treat her like a dog, and the father is cold and doesn’t stop them. At some point, the father brings her for experiments. The siblings realize what they were doing isn’t just a game but actually harmful.

    The sister tries to stand up for her but has no power against the father. He forces the daughter to watch the experiments even when she refuses to help him call the girl over. He drags them both instead.

    The girl understands vaguely that the siblings are trying to help, but she’s powerless, and the way she’s been treated has become ingrained in her. She behaves like a dog even as she’s strapped to a table for experiments, while the sister is tied up nearby and forced to watch.

    The house itself is bright and grand, with a pool in the garden and grass and flowers everywhere.