Christmas party on an aircraft carrier

I was with a large, somewhat familiar crowd on the top deck of a cargo ship or small aircraft carrier, presumably on the water far from land. People had gathered there for a Christmas celebration.

One smallish propeller plane had just landed on deck, and the airplane's crew was coming out and joining the crowd. They hailed from the Netherlands, and there were about 12 of them, mostly middle-aged men. They had some weird tradition where they had large ropes (such as would be used to secure a boat to a dock, or slightly narrower than that) hanging all over them, so that they could still move about but they hobbled in weird ways, leaning to one side, hunched over, or crabwalking.

The crowd cheered as they came off the plane one by one and walked over -- reminiscent of a sports team's introduction at an important game. Nancy M was amongst the crew, too.

My part of the crowd started moving off toward a covered area on the deck, where tables had been set up. On my way over, I noticed someone who looked a lot like Sarah O from high school, except she looked taller, and was wearing a deep purple dress; and the irises of her eyes were the same deep purple as her dress. Quite striking.

I sat at a table with four other guys, the two at the opposite end seemed familiar but I don't remember who they were; in the middle was a guy who reminded me of Moe W. Music was playing: Happy Xmas (War Is Over). Where they were singing "A very merry Christmas", everyone raised their... goblets?, and said "Happy Christmas!" And when they sang "and a happy new year", everyone toasted again right away, saying "Happy New Year!"

I clinked goblets with the two guys closest to me, then we started passing our cups around the table to clink with people we couldn't reach.

Batman and the aliens

I was Batman. I had just been playing around with Robin and the Batplane (like, leaving him on the ladder below while flying, hee hee). Now I was on my way to meet with aliens who I'd traded with in the past for technology and toys.

However, today, the entire police force in Gotham had gathered intelligence on the aliens' various locations throughout the city. At this very moment, tens of aliens across the city were being confronted by police.

So I started flying the Batplane north, scanning my map for a good location, saw a big stadium or field across the border in Canada, and signaled for the aliens to meet me there. They would all beam over there simultaneously, leaving the police scratching their heads with no trace to work from.

Dude! Jet trails!

In a restaurant with a group of friends (guys and girls). One friend comes in from outside the restaurant, saying "Dude! Jet trails!" It seemed like he really wanted someone to take pictures. A couple of us (including Greg) come out to see what is going on. Outside the restaurant was an interesting little area. Despite being outdoors it was almost completely surrounded by urban-relic type walls and most of a ceiling, so that there wasn't much way to see beyond the enclosed area. But in front of us, where most of the people crowded around were staring, was a long opening revealing something of an alley or passageway with another wall behind it.

I heard a droning noise, figuring it must be the plane my friend was talking about. I trained my camera on the only possible place we would see anything (the passageway), and a few seconds later, it looked like two planes, one chasing the other, passed through from right to left. I was taking as many pictures as I could (multiple exposure setting) but I only caught a glimpse of part of the pursuing plane. It was a lustrous muddy greenish brown color. Someone mentioned that it must be a "commando unit", which got them pretty excited.

We waited, and a little while later the droning came back and so did that second plane, passing through the passageway again. I didn't catch much more on the camera the second time — I was having a hard time positioning the shot through the viewscreen. But very soon after, a motorcycle came through the alley and stopped right in front of us. A military guy jumped off the bike, threw (or launched) something that looked like a grenade towards the crowd, said something cryptic, and said we had "two minutes".

My group ran back into the restaurant to say what had happened. I was going to show my pictures, when I noticed that: a) the latest batch of pictures came out in sepia for some reason, and b) even though Greg and I agreed that the military guy had come in on a motorcycle, the pictures on the camera showed him getting out of his airplane (which was smallish, and had propellers in interesting places).

We got ready to evacuate down to the basement of the restaurant where hopefully the explosion wouldn't hurt us. But we had some leftover pizza in boxes on the table from some other occasion, which we had been dragging around with us (it was mixed slices of pizza from two or three different places). I grabbed a slice of onion-studded pizza and we went off toward the basement. Unfortunately there was a bit of a line. Before we even got to the basement door, we heard voices from various places around (even some still outside) counting down... 3... 2... 1... But there was no explosion.

After giving a few more seconds for good measure, the crowd started coming back outside again. Now the military guy was standing by a bus, telling everyone to board. Two guys (the equivalent of Fred and George Weasley) were tossing rocks at the explosive, and it did actually ... barely.. explode. It went off with a low thud. I thought I saw the military guy chuckle a little.

On top of the bus, surrounded by low guard rails, were a bunch of horses (actually, I think they were Przewalski's Horses). I had a feeling we would be needing those horses wherever we were being taken. I also still felt suspicious of the military guy, and wanted to make sure he wasn't trying to get us all killed (again). So as I passed by the right side of the bus, I quickly peeked underneath and check for bombs attached the bottom of the bus. Instead, I saw a family of very vicious looking dogs. They didn't attack me, thankfully. I thought to myself something like, "Note to self: Circumprescription counterproductive. Stick to the club house."

As we were about to get on the bus, a friend of mine noted that the crowd was being organized into groups and people needed to take positions. He thought I should consider "first bass" or "second bass". I was pretty sure we already had a first bass guy, and I didn't think I was yet talented enough with bass to take that position.

Peculiar air show in the city

Sitting at the right side window seat (mid-back) of a bus, which is stopped somewhere in the middle of a big city. The other passengers and I are surprised to see what looks like an air show a mile or two away: aircraft (and even what looked like spacecraft — one reminded me of a bigger version of SpaceShipOne) were soaring up and out from behind tall buildings, then quickly arching back down to disappear behind them again.

The sheer volume of different aircraft, the uniqueness of their designs, and their size (they seemed much too big, like, almost as big as the buildings they were flying behind)... Something seemed strange about it, though I couldn't put my finger on it at first. Finally, our bus pulled up to a convention center, and there were a few people standing outside who had organized this event. They explained to us that all the aircraft we had seen were actually inflatable! To me, that was actually really impressive.

Forgetting stuff and missing the plane

I was going to catch a plane, but I kept managing to forget a few important items back at my place (seemed like it was a third story apartment or dorm room in a large building, with one or two roommates). I kept getting outside and down the street, or even all the way to the departure place and realizing I'd forgotten something. So I would rush back to my place, which wasn't terribly far away, but after twice or three times of this, it appeared that I had missed the departure time.

Dad's lost (and rediscovered) Valentine's Day cake

At the Cantilever house, I am in the study, reading or hearing on the radio about holiday traditions and thinking to myself that it would be easier to stay in the United States where tradition is less strict than in Europe (Germany, for example). Meanwhile, Dad had just discovered a cake that he had made for Mom for Valentine's Day 1992, which had gotten lost behind junk in the closet and never given or consumed.

The cake was frosted roughly with a thick, uneven pastel yellow color frosting. On top of the cake was a rust red frosted helicopter, somewhat crude and thin, but large enough that its tail hung off the cake. Next to the cake was an even larger jumbo jet, also covered with frosting. All were sitting on a large grey lego platform. Dad, amazed at his discovery, wanted us to see it, since he was proud of his creation, yet embarrassed that it had gotten lost and never presented. I muttered to myself about hating Valentine's Day and not really caring to see it, but I got up and went into the family room where he was to see it anyway.

Dad asked if I wanted some pizza (there were about eight boxes on the kitchen table, and Neil was unloading some himself).

Prior to that, in the study, I was on the computer playing some mp3s for myself and Greg. Some were ones I had composed and others were random ones that I had recently downloaded. At least one was a song by a female singer-songwriter which I was now second guessing why I had downloaded it in the first place. I was listening carefully to one of the ones I had made and was realizing how derivative it was of another song I knew well. The flow of the melody for the section I was listening to was almost identical (even in the same key), but the chords behind it were different.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (or something)

Some kind of weird alternate plot for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I play a black guy with medium-high roundish hair -- I know this because I finally found a mirror in an elevator later on. Anyway, I guess I just got back from college for summer and I'm visiting with friends and stuff. A little earlier, I'm on an airplane (with stadium theatre seating?) and an old lady with some relation to me is causing a little ruckus for whatever reason. Eventually she becomes unpopular and people start clapping in rhythm as this one guy pushes her out of the room. I was still at that time pondering whether to clap along but wasn't sure who it would have encouraged.

And then I'm walking down the street, and I'm having some outer inner monologue talking about how attractive this certain woman I know is while I'm walking by. She, acting a little offended, tries to give me a soft round-house kick to the rear but I catch her leg and put it back down, and continue on. She's apparently a little impressed. We're clearly destined to be together. Onward to a laid-back restaurant where I talk with some of my friends. They're a little less impressed about something or other but I order up a round of marijuana cigarettes and this cheers them up.

Next day I'm walking down the street again and I see a random door open on a brick building and go in. I don't know what I'm looking for but I wander around. I cut through an elevator with a mirror in it, see myself, smirk, and walk out the side of the elevator into another room. I continue to wander around for a bit, find something (gosh, I don't remember what), and I go back outside. The sky is getting darker but not the same way it gets dark when night falls or an eclipse starts. A wise man next to me mentions that the darkness will start resolving into squarish shapes eventually. Perhaps these are the Vogons, come to clear a path for a hyperspace lane.

Anticlimactic secret mission

Some kind of secret mission biz, I and my friend/family member/associate/co-pilot/whatever make our way out to the airport to fly a message somewhere, but we can't get to/on the plane for whatever reason and we make it back as far as the parking lot before I wake up.