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.