The Lake Washington Current

I found myself on an innertube (a actual black innertube, like for a truck tire) floating in Lake Washington. But everything looked a bit like Minecraft's landscape, with random hills and cliffs and cliffy hilly islands. But lots of trees. And not as blocky. But definitely narrower than the real Lake Washington. Anyway.

Floating along I find myself pulled south by a current, a strong current that I can fight but not wholly successfully. It feels okay though, I was concerned but not scared. Kind of like a lazy river. It was strong and smooth and kind of nice. I was only worried about possible undertow, because the landscape above the water was really varied.

I floated past islands and cliffs, trying to get my bearings. I saw Bill Gates's house, and then I realized that must be Mercer Island. Which meant I was reallllly south. And I had no way to get back, because the cliffs were high and I couldn't fight the current. Not that far. I got a little worried then, and paddled back to shore. I tried to figure out where I started... I figured around Bellevue. Suddenly Dubois, Caroline, and Nothard were with me, and we'd left Hammerstein and Sarah in Bellevue! And it was going to be two days' trek at least on foot. We found a pile of flashlights outside a house at the foot of a large hill (it was getting to be dusk) and took two- one maglight for Caroline, a small and dim incandescent box flashlight for me, and a laser pointer for Nothard (who refused it). We circled around and actually found the owner, an army guy, who said it was totally cool and we could have them.

We waded through shallow tidepools and cold streams, up over hill after hill, finally coming to a bar with a patio and a small beach. Next door was a camping supply store, we picked up a tent and some sleeping bags. The tide was going out(?) and the lake was retreating from the beach, giving us space to camp which the proprietor said was totally cool. But the tide was going to come back in at 7:25 AM, so we'd need to get up before the sun and pack up. We didn't find this likely so we kept trekking.

At some point here I called Dubois "Hammerstein" by mistake, and then Hammerstein showed up. I was like "WTF", but he was very cryptic and basically said he was here for a reason, and we'd find out in good time.

Eventually we came across a community center homeless shelter type place. I remember several signs telling viewers that prostitution wasn't the way, and a few homeless black people. We stepped out the back and it was snowing outside... I was confused until someone tried to catch a snowflake on their tongue and it was bitter and gritty. Hammerstein hinted that this was why he was here, then spilled the beans with some prompting- a volcano was erupting, and this was the ash fall. We stood on what was now a hill, overlooking the ash dropping and a dim glow in the distance. It was slightly post-apocalyptically romantic.

We returned to the community center at one point. We still wanted to camp out back but we got there there was suddenly steps down to a walkway to the street. On the two or three concrete steps were a number of laptops alarmed with pins and wires that led back inside. Only minimal ash fall now, and we needed the laptops. We had to steal them. So I looked at the alarms. There was a pin holding the wires in so I pulled it; an alarm sounded and a guy came out. He looked at us and said "You be stealin' anythin'? Or you seen anybody?" We replied in the negative, and he popped back inside. So I examined the alarm circuitry and realized it was just a high-low alarm- pulling the pin cut the circuit, dropping the line voltage to zero, triggering the alarm. So I spliced power directly to the alarm output, and we grabbed some laptops.

Then I woke up. I guess I never made it to Bellevue, but I guess it was for the better.

Codebreaking for Voldemort, Bizarro-CSH

Started out with Voldemort... my sister was getting in deep, and I was sent in as a double agent. We were in a small room across from something like the county clerk's office, and we were cracking codes. Somehow we ended up outside near my old high school, with some fields of weird flowers... some of which were three large feathers in random red/pink/white arrainged in a fan, bursting forth from the tip of thin waist-high pale green stalks.

But then it was like Photohunt, but a historical Photohunt with tons and tons of alumni, run by an old alumni. It was the Welcome Back of Photohunts. Some of them I knew- Sissel, Bushey, Lucas, Heise- from CSH of Old. We took pictures and I had bought a Sprint phone back when I worked for the Dark Lord, it was black and "rugged" yellow rubber... but I kept dropping that and my DS into various bodies of water. Lawton was on my team, because at one point he yelled at me for having to go back to get my phone, class ring (I don't have one), the ring my grandpa gave me, and my glasses. They were half-buried in sand at about 8-10 ft depth just off the left of a dock on stilts. Oh, the things we do for History-Hunt!

We came back to CSH with a day and a half left in the Hunt (it lasted like 5 days or something)... but it was a bizarro CSH. Layout was identical to a real capital L, with the vaders at the bottom of the L and the L-well near the top. Across from the Research room though, leaving two rooms on the far side of it. (The long stem was still the "L".) I started getting all History on everyone, telling stories of who lived where back when I was a freshman. (Bob lived in one room past the L-well with Heise, etc).

Then there was an intelude where some of my highschool friends and I (Bri and Heather, mostly) threw snowalls at people's doors, and the hallways was a) as wide as a street and b) outside. Don' worry about it.

Then I was back on CSH, but the halls were decorated all for Christmas. It was my freshman year now. Kids were packing up for break... I wandered over to my old room, third from the bizarro-L across from the Bizarro-vader. NOTE: Bizarro-CSH's main hall had six rooms facing the vader, and two rooms on either side. Also, all the doors were Dutch doors, and the Open Door Policy referred to the top part. I found my room, as all the other rooms, with the top door open but there was no sign of my roommate. At this point the dream became lucid-ish... I knew I was in a dream, and I knew I was from the future, but I didn't realize I was in a Bizarro-CSH and not the real one. Anyway.

I started talking to all the old CSHers of my class, some of them kids I never saw around again. Orange, Jesus, Katarina... In a reverse of last year's role as History, I started telling them all how CSH was in the future- in 2006, for example, Housing had replaced all the Dutch doors with solid ones- and about the future CSHers, and the cool projects we were doing, and which of them stuck around and which of them didn't, and which of them I missed, and things about the outside world. One of them asked if I should be telling them this, because won't it fuck up the future? To which I replied "This is a dream, it doesn't matter, don't worry."

Then Wiki showed up and I was like, "Wiki!" and he said "Please, say it Viki, it's a District 9 thing." I assume because Wikus's name is pronounced "Vick-us". But District 9 just came out a coupe weeks ago (from this time), so I knew he was from the future too. I pointed this out and he said "Yeah, but it's really cool to see CSH as it was when you first came here. I like the doors."

We then talked about the doors while we walked back down to the L, where there were parents all around helping their kids move out for Christmas break again, but it was Christmas 2006. I spoke with somebody's mom, to whom I had to explain I was from the future. But at this point I started to wake up.

There was also an interlude somewhere where we were trying to make something with a lot of pins... We're talking like 8x20 per component, with like 10 components... and all the pins kept getting bent as we tried to insert them into the holders. I think we were assembling docks for that phone from earlier.

Sabriel, plus COGs raiding Ayleid ruins

An interesting one last night... may have actually been two dreams, with the middle bit as hazy as it was.

Started out with a gray cat, who it turns out was Mogget. Mogget was injured and desperately needed to get to Sabriel, who was across the wall (we were presumably in Ancelstierre). Sabriel was at RIT, which was presumably in the Old Kingdom. I put Mogget into a handbag and boarded a bus about 60 miles from the Wall, but being a source of Free Magic in himself, I couldn't get him too close to the bus engine or it would stall. So we sat near the front. We crossed at the Crossing Point, which was a crumbly hole in a gray-concrete brick Wall staffed by around 4 police officers. Night was approaching and cars (? don' worry about it) were fleeing the old kingdom like swine flu had been spotted there. I inquired why to the policewoman checking my crossing papers and Charter Mark (oh BTW I was a Charter Mage, didn't seem relevant for the dream to inform me of this until now, though I wasn't surprised so I guess I always had been). She informed me that nobody went out in the Old Kingdom at night, and I was crazy for even going and was going to be accosted by the Dead. I told her I was going to the Abhorsen's, so she let me through finally.

Then we were back on the bus? Which, when we were attacked by missiles and possibly lasers from above, turned into a plane exactly like the bus but with wings and a propeller on the front. So we were flying, but we weren't going to make it to RIT/Sabriel, the plane was too damaged. So a small cargo plane provided by the Belisaere Air Guard (?) came alongside and we were trying to transfer passengers to that. Mogget at this time was in a glass bottle which I handed off to a young soldier on the other plane in preparation for my jump to it. But as soon as Mogget entered the plane the engine stalled, and it went down. And the bus-plane went down too, but it wasn't very high so there were no casualties... but we did land in a tree next to a fence and sign I recognized as within the London Zoo (to which I have never been, nor seen pictures of. It just was. Is there even a London Zoo?)

So we went looking for the cargo plane's wreckage, hoping similarly the others (esp. Mogget) had survived. But we stumbled across RIT, where it was raining and dark and mostly flooded. And I think Potter was having a party for the CSHers left overnight in the Old Kingdom at his apartment, which was somewhere in the vicinity of Gracies... but everything was dark, damp, and there was wood paneling everywhere.

Eventually I found myself dressed like a COG from Gears of War, fighting Locust to get into an Ayleid ruin (which would be from Oblivion). The Locust AI was mostly dumb, which my fellow COGs and I commented on. We finally got into the ruin and fought off an onslaught of Nether Lichs and Greater Wraiths (which were Wraiths with graduation hats) and there was something about an asian chick... I'm not sure if she was a ghost or a fellow COG, everything got kind of hazy. If I remember, I'll update.

Clarissa Explains The Legends of the Hidden Temple

Okay, you all remember Legends of the Hidden Temple, right? No? Well then, you might not understand this dream. Or maybe you will. I dunno.

So basically, Clarissa from Clarissa Explains It All was my partner, and we had to go through the Temple to find the artifact. Only they didn't tell us what it was, or what room it was in, we just had to go find it. Also, because we were 'big kids', we only got 30 seconds each and no Pendants to get away from the Temple Guards. Also, there was another team, boy and girl, both like eleven or whatever. And they were such brats, I swear... anyway, it went down like this- alternating (the kids first) one member of each team would go in, scramble around for their time limit, and try to find the artifact thing.

Well, because of our small time limit and large size compared to the holes we were supposed to fit though, Clarissa and I didn't find it. And DESPITE the kids' extra time, they were stupid idiots and got lost or whatever and they didn't find it either. So they decided to let all four of us in at once, and the first person to find it won for their team. Well, like I said before, these kids were BRATS. They were taunting us and like swearing at us and junk, and I tried to ignore it, but finally I snapped. I yelled, "You know, I can totally kick your ass right here, right now." The girl snottily responded, "Yeah? Like to see you TRY."

That was it. I roundhouse-kicked the girl in the face, and I pushed the boy down an orange tube slide. "Yeah, bitch, how do you like that??" I yelled. The slide was a y-shape, actually, two rooms' slides merging into one to gain access to another, lower room- but that room was under repairs so the slide was blocked off at the neck of the Y. The kids were stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered. The boy ran back up the slide (I could see his silouette) and the girl readied herself for a fight. "Yeah, bitch, bring it! I'm gonna fuck you up so bad..."

I want to know why I hurt little children in my dreams. And where Clarissa went, man! She was supposed to back me up on this shit!

Latest Dreams == Lame

So, as soon as I decide to make a blog about how cracked-out my dreams are, the only dreams I have are really short and few and far between. The best I've got so far is that last night my mother married into the British Line of Succession without realizing it, we had to look up on Wikipedia what her new husband's rank in the Line was (4th). That was all of a three minute dream this morning. So there you go... hopefully more actually crazy things to come.