Relationship Confusion and Planned Wedding

I am in a class that is being taught in a very large bedroom. Most of the class is sitting on the floor but I get to spend at least part of the time on the bed. Zack is in the class with me along with several other students from his major. They will all be leaving on a field trip before class ends to someplace cold and are thus dressed for cold weather.

Apparently things have been awkward between Zack and me lately and I decide to leave him alone. But he starts talking to me like everything is fine.We have a pretty good conversation and I think we might be making progress in getting past what was wrong. After class, my teacher asks me how things have been going between me and Zack, which I think is strange and I wonder if she thinks we are dating or something. She says that she has noticed that sometimes we talk to each other very happily and other times we don't talk at all. I tell her that sometimes things are good between us and sometimes they aren't, and that I understand part of what changes things.

Mandy is apparently also a teacher who works closely with this other teacher, and I wonder if Mandy will learn from my teacher that I am dating Zack.

Everybody in the ward starts planning my wedding even though I am not engaged to anybody. I let them go on with it because I believe that Zack will get back from his trip and we will talk and agree to get married. I am extremely busy at this time with I don't know what and have no time to get involved in the planning myself.

Then it's the day before the wedding and I still haven't seen Zack. I am at the church and see Jenny, a sunbeam, carrying my wedding cake, which is decorated with real flowers. She turns the wrong way and I see that she is going to walk right into the door. I hesitate too long to correct her and she ends up smashing the cake, which falls to the floor. About half of it is completely ruined but the rest can be reassembled to make a smaller cake. I mention to the people there (Jenny, her mother Rebecca, and an older Relief Society woman) that I had seen the trouble and just hadn't reacted quickly enough. I then had to reassure them that I really liked the cake and that I want to have my future wedding cake to be decorated with flowers. In saying this, I revealed to myself that I did not see this wedding as my real wedding.

At some point a groom was chosen for me. I don't know who he was but have the impression that he is some sort of singer or rapper.

The morning of my wedding we have a breakfast party in the church multi-purpose room. Dad is supposed to give a speech introducing me. He tells me to sing the U's fight song. Instead, I stand up and sing the BYU fight song.

I run off for a while to work on whatever it is that has been keeping me so busy lately. The wedding is supposed to be starting now, but I guess what I had to do was very urgent. So they hold a talent show in the chapel to keep all the wedding guest occupied.

When I get back, I go up to the pulpit and thank everybody for coming in some humorous manner. I say a few other funny things and somebody who was on the stand for the talent show questions why I'm being so funny, and I say I have a hard time being serious. But then I do get serious. I tell all the ward members (the wedding guests) that I am actually not going to get married that day, but they are free to enjoy themselves at the wedding luncheon and reception and eat all the food. I am going to ask who it was they were going to have me marry since nobody ever told me, although I suspect he is a certain person seated on the stand for the talent show, but I wake up before I get to that part.

Job Interviews, Television, and Being Conned

Afternoon Nap

I am in the process of interviewing for a job. Between interviews, I mess around online - playing games, listening to words being pronounced, looking up information on minor interests, reading years-old forum threads - that sort of thing.

The last interview is a group interview in a sort of a classroom setting with somewhere between five and ten people there. It's going to last several hours so we have a couple breaks. During one break I wander into the small office where the previous interviews had taken place. I had my last interview either the day before or earlier that day and I notice that I had set down my house key and a quarter on a table and left them there. So I pick them up and put them in my pocket.

After I rejoin the other interviewees the conversation turns to the topic of some newish movie or television program. Another girl says that this show is a remake. I listen more closely to the conversation and realize that the plot of this show sounds very similar to an episode of 21 Jump Street (80s crime show), so I join the other girl in saying that it must be a remake. The boy we are talking to most refuses to believe it, and as he goes into detail I realize that there are some very telling differences. I eventually figure that the show he is talking about is actually a parody of the remake.

I remember that I had previously made arrangements through email to rent an apartment somewhere far away from here. Because this job is nearby, I do not need the apartment so I try to back out of the lease. But when I look through my emails, I realize that when I had clicked a link in one of the emails from the apartment managers, they had automatically deducted $30 from my bank account, even though we had agreed that I would not be paying them anything until I moved in. We realize that email was actually part of a phishing scam and not from the real apartment managers. I had received one other email claiming to be from the managers and we try to cancel my rental contract and figure out whether the other email had come from the real management and if more of my money had been stolen, and if so, we were going to try to get it back. Somehow we know that this second email would have taken more money - at least a couple hundred dollars - and that there was at least a chance we could get that money back if it had been stolen, but the scam from the first email would be impossible to fix.

Time Crime, Going on the Lam, and Hiding Out

I am time travelling with some youngish man who is obviously important to me, though I don't know in what manner. Then we learn that by travelling to the future, we have upset the balance of the universe and he will die if we don't set everything right. So we and another couple in the same situation get together and attempt to set everything back how it should be, except bringing back an invention that the guy I'm traveling with had come up with while in the future. Because we have a limited time to get back, the other couple attempts to leave without us, but we manage to stop them until we are ready.

Then I'm back home, where I learn that my dad and I are both being pursued by time police. I think Dad gets away somewhere, because he doesn't seem to be present after a few minutes, but I'm not sure. Then I find out that the time police are about to come to get me (from Grandma's house, where we seem to be living in the basement). My mom wants to have one last family gathering, but while she is getting Grandma, I sneak out of the house because I know that we don't have time for that and this way, my family won't know where I'm going and so will have nothing to hide.

As I'm running off, I try to think of somebody I know well enough to crash with for a while but who nobody would think I would stay with. I come up with the Johnson family. So I go to their house and ask if I can stay with them for a while. They give their permission. I live in their basement, along with their daughter Lisa and her son Josh. For some reason, Lisa's husband is not with them.

I stay for several days, just hanging out in the basement. At one point I am included in a family dinner at which their son Nick talks about Mary, a friend of mine who he liked in high school. I feel like I have a big secret just knowing Mary and keep waiting to be given an opportunity to share what I know about her and her feelings about Nick.

Around this time, it occurs to somebody that I might like to shower and get some clean clothes after wearing the same thing for days at a time.

The Johnsons' grandparents are now also living in the basement. The grandmother seems to really dislike me for some reason. Because I do not have a bed of my own, I nap on both of the grandparents' beds. Unfortunately, I bleed on the sheets. I try to rub it off. For some reason, after seeing me sleep on the grandfather's bed, the grandmother starts to like me a little.

Bus Trip and Harry Potter

I am married to Ted Banks, but we are estranged.

Max and I are going on a trip together. At the ticket counter in the airport, I discover that Ted's legal last name is  not actually Banks. His parents divorced and his father was not a presence in his life, so Ted socially goes by his mother's last name, Banks. His legal last name is something else that seems to have started with an O. This means that my last name is not Banks, as I had believed it to be, but that O name. But we are able to work things out without any problem.

Even though we are at an airport, our trip is on one of those fancy tour buses. I think Ted is actually on the bus with us, but we never interact with him. Max is a row or two behind me and Ted is behind him - maybe at the very back.

At some point during the trip, we get off at a supermarket. While there, I turn into an actress playing Hermione Granger, Max and Ted disappear from my consciousness, and the purpose of the trip has to do with our filming schedule and some sort of publicity tour. Before we get back on the bus, I use the bat bogey hex on somebody evil who is bothering me - apparently I am not just an actress playing Hermione, I am Hermione.

We get a school that is part of our publicity tour and Harry, Ron and I are taken inside to our dressing rooms. The school official in charge of the tour tries to take advantage of me or abuse me in some way. Now my consciousness transfers to either Harry or Ron, who casts Sectumsempra on the official. We get back on the bus and I rotate through being Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Farmville Romance

We all live inside a facebook farming game like Farmville.

I used to date Tony, but we have broken up. I still like him, though. We are both lying down somewhere, me in front of him, and he cuddles up to me and reaches for my hand. We get back together.

To help out and to show how helpful I can be and what a good worker I am, I go to Tony's farm and pick some plants of his that are ready to harvest so that they won't wither on the vines. Tony isn't as pleased as I expected him to be, having wanted to do his own work. And I later find out that if I had waited just a little bit longer before picking them, he would have gotten extra bonuses. I don't think Tony realizes this and I don't tell him.

While cuddling again later on, I notice that Tony's hands are very cracked and dry. When we pull apart a bit, Tony mentions that my arms look like they could use some attention. I look down and notice that they are scratched up a bit from the contact with Tony's arms. I say that I'll put some lotion on them later and point out to Tony the dryness of his own hands and arms.

At some point, we get married. There is never an actual wedding or even a proposal; in one scene we aren't married and in the next we are.

My brother and his wife own the farm next to ours. We feel free to take produce from each other's farms as we wish. One day, I decide to pick apples from their tree. The first one I pick doesn't seem very ripe, so Tony encourages me to go to their grocery store to find out if the apples really are ripe. So I go. While there, I start to load up on other produce there until I realize that I have to actually pay for it and everything is too expensive for me. I also then realize that I stole the apple from their tree and will have to pay for it if I get caught. I try to hide the apple so that nobody will find out, but then I notice that the apple is diseased and should be thrown away. As I am going to throw it away, I see that the apple isn't really diseased - it is alive. It's some sort of apple monster.

Time skips ahead and we are at a family party in a house that is set up a lot like my grandma's house. I am downstairs looking for something. Tony joins me. Nobody else knows where we are so somebody is sent to look for us.

Around this time I realize that I am pregnant.

We are found and brought upstairs to the party. I for some reason need to pretend that I am drunk. Our servant, who we have been trying to get to join the family for years, finally does so. He sits down at a place set for him next to me. Everybody is glad he finally joined us, but the real reason he sat there was to put some distance between me and Tony, who he does not approve of. There are now two or three people between us, including the servant. I am aware of his intentions but do not let them bother me because Tony and I are already married and I am pregnant with Tony's child.

Best Friend, Football, Refugees, and Aliens

I am high school age and I go to my best friend's house. I don't think this best friend is directly linked to any of my real life friends. To simplify storytelling, I will call her Anna. Anyway, Anna isn't around, but her dad greets me and turns on the heat for me, because it is very cold in the house. After a while, Anna comes out (she had apparently been in her bedroom) and we talk. Her dad comes back and turns the heat back on, even though it had never turned off that I was aware of - but it was cold again. Then I realize that the BYU football game was going on. I had forgotten that they were playing in the morning that day. So I go downstairs to watch some football with her brothers.

Downstairs, her brothers are playing pool. The game is playing on a flat-screen TV high up on one of the walls, like in a sports bar. I need to go to the bathroom, so I look for it. The house is laid out exactly like my house was before being remodeled, so I think I should be able to find the bathroom, but I don't know where it is right away. After a moment's thought I head off in what I think is the right direction, but one of Anna's brothers stops me and leads me off in the right direction. I had been headed for the girls' locker room.

On our way to the bathroom, we see a couple of strangers walk into the house off the street, I think through the garage. We stay out of sight while they pass and then turn back to the main part of the house to let the others know that strange people are just walking into the house. But when we get back there, the house has turned into a hardware store - think Lowes. It is now an unofficial refugee center. Nobody actually agreed to it, but people from all over are coming here because they have been evacuated from their homes. I find a lot of my friends from school, including some boy that I have apparently been flirting with a lot lately. Everybody expects us to get together, including me. Then I run into my brother - not one of my real brothers, but someone only existing in this dream. I believe his name is Travis.

We start looking for my sister, who we know is around here somewhere. Eventually we get the idea to start calling her name. She responds and we go over to her where she is bundled up in a sleeping bag and blankets to protect herself from the cold. The whole aisle is packed with similarly bundled people who are all being completely silent. Travis and I think that she must have left home because it was too cold there, but she says she left because it was too hot and it would be cheaper to keep the house cool without her.

 I now know that I am one of the mean, popular girls at our high school. Travis is less popular than I am, but the boy who is to become my boyfriend is more popular. Popularity at our school is very tied to how mean you are in some important, complicated manner.

I go to the parking lot with some new boy and we go off driving together. There was a very good reason for this, but I don't remember what it was. His car has a steering wheel in front of both the driver's seat and the front passenger seat, but only the driver's side wheel actually steers anything. The passenger wheel somehow keeps the passengers from complaining about the driving. I think this system is very cool and enjoy steering the car as the boy actually drives us. We end up at a pond where a couple of kids are swimming.  I think by this point I am aware that the boy is an alien. Anyway, I look at the pond through some sort of alien viewing technology and can't see the kids, and I know this is bad. It turns out that if I can't see someone through the glass, they are dead. So we rescue the kids and take to an alien-operated facility where humans can be resurrected and returned to their homes. Aliens who bring them in are allowed to claim prize money in any amount they desire, but my alien turns down the reward.

While there, I learn that we are on a huge space station and scientists and governments are trying to figure out how to get us off. There is a huge group of humans here now, and somebody suggests that we should try to get closer to the sun to study it. But the space station is so huge and located in such a position that if we manage to get through the atmosphere on the sun side of the space station, we will immediately be roasted. Then it changes so that even standing on the surface of the sun side would kill us. We are currently on the side of the space station facing the moon and are within jumping distance of moon, so a bunch of people hop on over. I eventually join them.

There are aliens living there, native to the moon. They look sort of like they were built from steel-colored Tinker toys. At some point we return from the moon to earth, along with all the moon people.The moon people demand our rocks, cement, and concrete for food. We give it to them. They then leave moon dust powder all over our communities, which are basically bunkers dug into the ground.

Recent Literacy and Violence

I am in high school. Josh joins my English class and I am immediately besotted with him, paying him an embarrassing amount of attention and basically not paying any attention to anything or anybody unconnected with him. I learn that he did not learn to read until last year, yet he is incredibly well-read for a 17-year-old. (Note: in real life, Josh is in his mid to late 20s. My subconscious is just aware that 17 is a much more realistic age for a highschooler.) I am impressed with how much reading he managed to fit into that one year of literacy.

My cousin bursts into the classroom and jumps Josh, pushing him onto the floor, pounding on him and accusing him of beating up another relative of ours - I can't remember who, but think it was either a cousin or an aunt. At this point, we are across the classroom from where we had been before, right in front of the door. Then my parents and one of our aunts are there.

I tell my cousin to stop hitting Josh and that I know Josh would never have done something like that. I repeat this over and over again, to assure Josh and my parents that I know he didn't really do it. I really want my parents to like Josh and know that they won't if they think he beat up a relative. I also tell Josh to let himself be arrested because then he will get a fair investigation and can clear his name.

Magical Little Girl Me

I am about 10 or 11 years old. A brown-haired gay guy named Ben is teaching me to see through enchantments. When I really focus, I am able to see that he is missing two fingers from his hand. The hand is enchanted so that most people see all the fingers there.

A little later on, he gives his hand to a witch to make some sort of magical amulet. This involves removing one or two more fingers. The hand still shows all fingers present due to the enchantment. Throughout the dream, I sometimes see him as still having his hand and sometimes don't - not due to an enchantment, but more because my subconscious forgets he is missing the hand. I see him as having both hands more and more frequently as the dream goes on.

Mandy, who had been our cook or some such thing, leaves to work elsewhere. We have a quick, sincere but not overly emotional goodbye.

Then I, still the same 10-11 year old girl, am an actress on a television show. In this show I have the ability to see the future of the people around me and am able to use that knowledge to change the course of events. I, the actress, also have the same ability and they often base things in the show on my experiences. At times I am not sure whether I am acting in the show or living in reality.

I see that Ben and a character played by Neil Patrick Harris are going to die. We are all bustling around to save the city from some huge threat. Then, when things have calmed down a bit, Ben goes off to his room. Soon I realize that this is when Ben dies so I run out into the living room and yell out for everybody to go give CPR. Neil Patrick Harris is the first to respond. As I run in with the rest of the cast, Neil Patrick Harris is lying on the floor, on his back, and Ben helps him up. This confuses me since Ben was supposed to be the one dying here. That is soon forgotten, and it is again Ben who has been saved. So I hug Ben, relieved to have saved his life. Then I hug Mandy, who says something about having enjoyed working with me. And then I hug Neil Patrick Harris, sad that he is going to die soon and hoping to see more of how he dies so that I can save him. Then I see in his future that he is not going to die soon - apparently when he saved Ben's life, he changed events enough so that he saved his own life as well. I make some sort of exclamation about how now he isn't going to die, which surprises everybody. They had all known Ben was going to die in the course of saving the city, but I had said nothing about Neil Patrick Harris's upcoming death.

Then I am in bed. I pick up my cellphone and I see that it is counting down to the time the alarm is set to go off -3... 2... 1. As it hits one, I turn off the alarm so it does not buzz. I just lay in bed for a while, enjoying the fact that I woke up myself and shut off the alarm before it went off. Then the real alarm starts beeping and I wake up.

Novel and Campus Visit

Nap

I am writing a book about restoring a family to nobility after 50 years or so of their position being hidden away from the world. I am at the same time a character in the novel who is in love with one of the nobles. My readers suggest that I am focusing on the wrong person - the grandpa - when I seem much more interested in the storyline following his grandson, the one I am in love with.

Later, I go with my extended family to tour the student union at the U, which has apparently had some remodeling done. Luke, who worked there when we were undergrads, is still there. I am disappointed to see that he has taken up smoking. He says that I can guide my family around, but I have to tell an employee where I am going. My dad requests that we go upstairs. Luke hears the request and we go up.

There are two swimming pools behind the union now. It is stormy outside, so we do not go swimming. But we do manage to find a wooden ice skating rink, where my sisters and I start figure skating - only without actual skates. There is a class going on that we somehow don't disrupt, even with half my family just sitting out in the middle of the rink and my sisters and I "skating" around through the class. At some point during this, the rink transports to BYU.

Chinese Marriage

Somebody is applying great pressure on me to get married. I think I am Chinese.

Desiree proposes marriage to a Chinese guy named Wanli (sounds similar to Juan Lee). We somehow get into a debate about the missionary discussions.

Up the Mountain

Afternoon nap

I am at a bus stop, waiting for a bus going up the mountains.

Dad has been going up the mountains by train on a regular basis to meet up with people for some sort of hobby-related thing. Possibly soccer. The railway is on a not very strong cliff. There has not been an accident yet, but we are all nervous about him every time.

We decide to go hiking and drive partway up the mountain. Dad parks the van with the front tires about halfway off a cliff, pointing down at about a 45 degree angle. He gets out of the car with no problem. When I put my feet down on the car floor to try to get out, the car falls off the cliff and we bounce down to a lower ledge. I am, miraculously, unhurt. I get out of the car and walk up the mountain to a cabin.

In this cabin is a party hosted by Jason. This is apparently why I came up the mountain in the first place. They get me a cup of hot chocolate.

Heartbreak and School Project

I am deeply heartbroken; so much so that I can't pay attention to anything that is going on around me. This leads to some problems with my schoolwork.

It is the end of the term, and there is a large project coming due that basically accounts for my entire grade in every class. My 9th-grade biology teacher is in charge of it. We work in groups.

Ian is in my group and is kind enough to help me out, telling me what it is I'm supposed to be doing and generally telling me everything I need to know that I missed because of my grief. He's fun to work with and talk to, and I think it might be nice to have him for a boyfriend. But that would be problematic because he is a cousin of the guy who initially broke my heart, who I know I am going to end up marrying someday.

Nameless Boyfriend and a Play

Later, after getting up and going back to bed

I am not myself. I do not know who I am, but I have the impression of blondeness. My parents are divorced and I live with a father-character, who is not my dad.

A friend takes me home from school. I read a divorced parents magazine that has been left on a coffee table. It suggests serving meals at regular times, even if the parent does not want to eat then.

Later, dad-character tells me to eat dinner, which has been cooking. He does not eat himself. I serve myself and let him know that I had read the suggestion in the magazine and know what he is doing.

 I have a boyfriend whose name I do not know, so I call him Dean Thomas because he reminds me of the Harry Potter character. We met at a party and started making out. So far that is all our relationship consists of, but we want to make it strong and fulfilling so plan on going on real dates starting very soon.

I am so excited about my relationship with "Dean" that I carry around a small bouquet of mylar balloons celebrating him. They get out of my grasp and float up to the ceiling, where I know they will pop, probably from the heat. There is some sort of chemical explanation. I exit the room quickly so I don't have to see and hear them pop.

I am now in a high school auditorium. We will be putting on a play. Somebody passes out papers listing the various capacities students can help in the play production. Included on the list are actors, people to care for the horses, hairdressers, makeup artists, lighting technicians, and "stage crew" - basically set builders in this context. There are other things listed as well, but I don't pay attention to them. I think about being a horse-carer (I find it strange that is an option at first, but then remember a previous play with live horses and accept it), then think that my sister would be good for that. I wonder why they need hairdressers and makeup artists when we did our own hair and makeup for The Sound of Music. And I decide I would like to help put together the sets because I didn't do my part in the previous play, even though all the cast was supposed to help out for at least an hour. And it sounds fun.

Divorce and a Kiss

My parents are having some sort of conflict. Mom says they are going to talk things over. I expect that it will all get worked out. Then Mom shows up at school and tells us that she and Dad are getting a divorce.

It's time for school to start, so Mom follows me to class. I am having a hard time keeping calm after that news and end up walking out of first period, leaving Mom behind. I decide to talk to Scott about it, so I head downstairs to the food court/commons area, where I remember having seen him earlier. He is there but is surrounded by a crowd of people. So I decide to buy some ice cream. There are two places selling ice cream. I get in the line for the cheaper kind - which costs about $30 for a cone. The girl behind me kicks me while walking. I ask her to be careful and she gets very offended and makes a big scene about it. So I get in the other line, where the ice cream or sherbet is about $70 for a cone.

I end up getting out of line without buying any ice cream. I go over by where Scott and company are. He wants to talk to me, so I say a sentence. My voice breaks because I am so upset. He imitates me, teasing. Then he kisses me - a quick peck on the lips. I just stare at him in shock. First that he kissed me at all, and then that he did so in such a public place. He is surprised that I am surprised.

Ride Home, Schoolyard Bully, and Emma Watson

I am at a big even of some sort. I had evidently been dropped off because I am looking for a ride home. I find Dan and Lucy and somehow manage to convince Dan to take me home, even though it is very far out of the way. We get into a van and start driving. Other friends are there, too, but I'm not sure who.

As we drive, I see familiar landmarks and realize that we actually will be passing very near to my house, so I decide to watch and ask to be let out once we get within easy walking distance of home. But I am having trouble staying awake to watch. It turns out I had stayed up all night and so am now very tired.

For some reason we stop at a local elementary school. Dan and I get out of the van and go into the school, where one little boy starts punching at Dan. I restrain him, holding his arms to his sides. Once in a while one arm gets free, but I am able to keep him mostly under control.

A teacher or administrator sees me holding this boy and decides to question us. She takes me and the boy into a small room and asks me what is going on. I explain to the best of my ability that this kid had attacked my friend, so I decided to restrain him. She is going to question Dan separately to see if our stories match up. During the questioning, she asks me if any Tiffanys were involved in any way, or if I had seen any around. I say that I do know a girl named Tiffany, but that as far as I know she is nowhere around. I start babbling a little, worried that I'm going to somehow get Tiffany in trouble.

When she finishes questioning me I go outside and see Tiffany at the side of the schoolyard. She really looks more like Jen, but I somehow know even while having this realization that she is Tiffany. A group of friends gathers around me and Tiffany/Jen and we just sit around talking and having a good time. Then Tiffany stops looking like Jen and starts looking like Emma Watson. I say, "I look at you and all I see is Hermione," but I have some trouble saying Hermione so I have to go through it a couple times. As I'm saying this, I know that Tiffany and Emma Watson are the same person.

Train Socialization and Grandfather Rescue

Afternoon nap

I get on a Trax train. Henry is there. I think that the best thing for me to do is ignore him, so I do so, passing by him as I go to the other side of the car.

After I get settled, a young child boards the train, alone. Henry talks with the kid and is very good with him or her. A while after that, the kid is gone and Henry and I are looking at each other. We begin to exchange small talk.

After I get off the train, I get involved in trying to save the life of my grandfather. That is to say, he is my grandfather in my dream, but does not correspond to either of my real-life grandpas. He is being chased by government agents who are trying to punish him for something he did a long time ago. Definitely before my parents were born. Possibly during World War II. They have learned where he is so we have to sneak him out of the retirement home where he is staying, which is difficult because he is old and feeble and possibly somewhat demented.

Miracle Baby Doll

I am pregnant. Then, before I tell baby's father, I miscarry. I feel that I have to tell him about the miscarriage, though. And for the record, I don't seem to have a loving relationship with Baby Daddy - it's more like he's a harsh and powerful business associate.

As I'm going to tell him about the pregnancy and miscarriage, the baby miraculously returns to life inside of me. So I rush to tell everybody (Mom, Baby Daddy) about the miracle. Then the baby is born - by working its way out through the front of my belly, without leaving any sort of wound or mark. Picture something rising out of a bowl of pudding - after it gets out, the pudding reforms without showing any signs of disturbance. Except this reforming happened instantly.

The baby is a Barbie-style doll.

Baby Daddy thinks I made the whole thing up - pregnancy, miscarriage, etc. - to get sympathy and special treatment. After all, the baby is just a doll.

Recording Artist and Wedding Plans

I am carrying a record to some sort of lodge building. I have already ripped the contents of the record to my iTunes and am looking for somebody to give the record to since I don't have a record player. I come across a caretaker or janitor and hand the record to him. He turns out to be the artist who recorded the record. I tell everybody I come across who he is. Nobody else is as impressed as I think they should be and a lot of people don't even recognize his name.

Stuart and I have made a deal that we will get married on Valentine's Day if we are both still single. Today is Valentine's Day and it is time to get ready for the wedding tonight. Mom and I go to the grocery store to shop for decorations. At this point I am starting to feel uncomfortable with the plan for the first time, wondering if I can and should really go through with it. Previously I had been excited about any chance to end up with Stuart. For some reason I can't bring myself to mention this discomfort to anybody, so I am worried that I'll end up going through with a marriage I don't think is a good idea.

We load up on pink and red Mylar balloons with a heart shape in the center, with enough helium escaped to make them float at about waist level. I try to get some that are still fully buoyant but that doesn't fit in with Mom's plan so she refuses to buy them.

Applications, Visits, and Date Prep

I am applying to Teach For America and am really stressed about finishing some aspect of the presentation.

It is a gift-giving holiday (Valentine's Day?) and my sister, not able to find a present she wants to give me, builds complex, Rube Goldberg type apology gifts out of cardboard boxes, promising to get me something better later.

I start helping Mark prepare for some sort of presentation by holding cards he is putting together as visual aids. I accidentally bend one with my thumb and apologize. He seems sort of irritated with me, but not because of the dent in his card. Then I notice that the cards I am helping with are actually rough drafts and he has another set almost completely prepared. I look through these cards and discover that his presentation is for a later stage in the Teach For America application.

I am at an apartment complex where I used to live. I go up to a friend's apartment for a drink of water, but there is some major remodeling going on and I can't find a sink or water fountain. My friend who lives in this apartment directs me to the water fountain, which is in the entryway to a bedroom with three queen-size beds in it. As I'm getting my drink, someone wakes up and jumps out of the far bed. She seems to be upset to see somebody invading her bedroom. I then recognize this girl as Amanda.

Amanda enlists me to help her get ready for her big date with Chandler, a boy who only exists in this dream. Chandler was apparently part of my main social circle when I lived there. Amanda is planning to wear a fancy dress. I ask if this date is to a dance, and although I don't remember being answered, I understand that it really is. Amanda appears to be very smitten with and in a serious relationship with Chandler, judging by the way she gushes about him, her level of excitement, and the fact that he calls her and she immediately falls into calling him by rather obnoxious and sickening pet names.

At some point during this, I get the sash of the dress I'm wearing (a black with blue flowers dress, appropriate for church) caught on something, which unties it.

When she gets off the phone, I look at the dress she plans to wear. It is cut a bit low in the front, and I don't like the color, but I feel that she loves the dress and is committed to wearing it, so I try to sound like I approve.

Then we get to talking about Chandler again, and I now know that he is best friends with Dan. Amanda starts questioning whether she really wants to be going with Chandler tonight, realizing that she might like Dan better. Then she says that's alright, because she has a date with Dan in a day or two.

Knowing that Dan lives in a different state now, I say, "Now I'm confused," about to question whether she was really talking about Dan, figuring that I had missed some turn in the conversation. Then Dan steps around the corner and into view. So I say, "Now I'm less confused," while wondering if I really am, because now I wonder why Dan is here. Then I notice I am laying on the floor in my bathing suit, and I say, "And now I'm wondering when I took off my dress. Is this a dream? Because this would make sense in a dream."

I open my eyes and wake up.

Nerf War, Fundraiser, and Cotton Soccer

I am in Africa, fighting on the wrong side of a war with Nerf weapons. I also have a Buzz Lightyear suit. The good guys win. And at some point, I turn into a black man.

I reform and join an African tribe that I was trying to oppress. They give me face paints and face studs that I hope will hide my identity so all the good guys won't see me and think of me as evil. We come across a group of the good guys, and one of them comments that I look familiar. So I'm disappointed that the decorations aren't working as well as I'd hoped and worried that he'll figure out where he recognizes me from.

Then I'm going to some sort of fundraiser dinner with my family. I am back to being myself, except that I am still the reformed oppressor of Africans. One of the good guys from the group we ran into earlier is there in line with us waiting to go in - it might be the one who thought I looked familiar. He is wearing a blue, green, and white plaid shirt - a small, conservative pattern. It looks really nice. Anyway, I fall deeply in like with him. But Rachel talks to him and they go aside to get their picture taken together. I am very jealous.

Inside the fundraiser, I know that I will end up with good guy in the end. But for the time being, I am still jealous of Rachel. I start playing soccer with a cotton ball, the goal being a garbage can. I kick the ball up and it isn't quite going to make it into the goal, but a teenage boy nearby nudges it a bit and it goes in. He cheers and I pump my fist in the air.

Unauthorized Trip

I get up a bit early one morning and decide to go to my cousins' house before school. So I steal the family car and drive to Kamas, where I start playing video games with Jake (not a cousin). After playing for a while - my mind says a couple hours, although it didn't feel that long - I realize that I won't be able to get the car back before Mom notices it's gone and I might not make it to school on time. So I try to make my excuses and say goodbye, but Jake doesn't want me to leave.

Then my aunt and uncle get home. I try to hurry out of the house before they realize I'm there, because I might be able to get away with everything if I hurry to school, but my aunt and uncle know I'm not supposed to be at their place and will be sure to punish me in some way. But they come in the front door right as I am putting on my shoes to leave. They are really mad about something - not about me being there in particular; something else. But their being mad makes them a bit more harsh with me. They don't do anything or even signal that they think I shouldn't be there, but I feel harsh disapproval.

Then my oldest cousin from that family comes in. He says that a cop, who the family does not get along with, has said there is a surprise outside. So we go out and there is a ticket on my car because I am not allowed to be parked where I am - in front of the house - because I am  not at the house. This is blatantly untrue and I want to appeal the ticket, but everybody from the family argues against me, because there is no way to prove it and they have appealed too many times before for similar matters, so won't be able to win this one, too. So I have to pay for a ticket I got because the cop doesn't like my cousins.

I start to drive home, but I don't remember the way and can barely manage to drive straight, and can't  brake fast enough, so I rear end a car at an intersection. And the roads randomly switch lanes, so that I have to go from driving on the left side of the street to driving on the right side. Even though I had actually started out driving on the right side, so it must have switched before and I didn't notice. And the whole time, I have no idea where I'm going and just choose where to turn through whimsy.

Then I stop somewhere and steal some dollar toys from a giant woven ball thing they are rooted to. It is definitely stealing and I shouldn't be doing it, but it feels like about as serious a crime as jaywalking is generally considered to be.

Different Grandma and Weird Church Dinner

My grandma is a glamorous blond who performs with her choir in a big Christmas program, broadcast on television. My family goes to see her in it, but we do not all sit together. After the program, we all go to a sacrament service - just the sacrament, not an entire sacrament meeting.

The sacrament bread is formed and arranged in the shape of Jesus. There are a few tables set up in this way. One of them, the one closest to me, is on a table that moves to show that Christ is being resurrected. Then all the bread goes into a large banquet-hall type place that is located underground, through some doors which, in a real church cultural hall, would be where the tables and chairs go under the stage. There are already several Jesus bread sculpture things under there. But when we go to eat, the bread has turned into a variety of other foods, like you would see at a more normal church dinner, and is no longer in any particular form - it is all arranged, once again, as a fairly normal dinner at a church function.

Mario TV and a Complicated Relationship

I am watching TV with Gwen and at least one other girl and a guy. The show is an early Mario game. None of us is playing, the game is just showing on the screen. Then Jason shows up. He has been in California and the sun burned him pretty badly and bleached his hair to a peroxide blond color - in the sort of highlighty pattern that real sunbleached hair would take. It is around either Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Gwen, the other girl, and I stand up to let Jason through to sit on the couch and watch with us. After a short break, I find myself looking for a good place to situate myself to watch something else on TV. All the seats are taken, so I decide to lay on the ground in front of the TV, trying to get in a position where I can see the screen clearly but not look very appealing to Jason, because we had dated previously but now we need to be just friends and I don't want to do anything to make that harder for him. Or something like that. There are also some slightly awkward conversations involved, where I want to speak to him as someone who I am close to but feel that would not really be appropriate.

Then it is shortly before the holiday and Jason and I are with my extended family. They treat Jason like one of the family, and for a while I think that he is either  my brother or cousin. Then I realize that he can't be, because we didn't know each other as children. We had actually met within the last year or so. And knowing that we aren't actually related, I can't figure out why it is that we aren't supposed to be dating.

Then somebody, or several somebodies, starts singing Learn to Fly by the Foo Fighters.