Dreams: By Tag: Climbing

Tuesday, August 10, 2010: The Doors

He walked with a friend on the sidewalk of Harrington Way. Ascending an incline near a bend in the road, they stopped at a pair of unattached doors placed flat on the ground. The doors were made out of rubber; one was light gray and the other was dark gray.

His friend dismissed them and wanted to move on.

But he picked up the pair of doors and spoke: "We should afford doors great respect. Think of their lives. Think of the knocks they have received. Think how they acquiesce to the comings and goings of others. Think how they have been spoken through; never speaking and having never been spoken to. They see and hear both what is inside and outside."

Sunday, June 13, 2010: Apocalypse

As the apocalypse unfolded, to the noisy distress of others inside the concrete bunker, he and a smaller band left.

The sky was dark with clouds and the ground was bare. The giant, squat metal vehicle was overloaded. He and the band climbed the scaffolding, and floor by floor, sifted through boxes, gathering valuables and discarding the dross.

Ash began to fall from the sky. He reached the top of the teetering scaffolding, throwing and pushing everything useless over the edge to the ground below. He opened the top drawer of a bureau. Inside were two jewelry boxes. One was filled with turquoise jewelry; the other was filled with amethyst jewelry. He took both boxes, pushed the bureau over the edge, and descended the scaffolding.

The ash fell heavier and deepened, and those in the compound grew restless, so they started the vehicle and departed.

Monday, January 11, 2010: Escaping the beast men

He descended the interior of a dark tower, pursued by goat men and wolf men. A wolf man met him on a stair and held him in its teeth. He wrestled himself from its grip and continued his descent.

He climbed down a ladder. A goat man ascended the ladder from the bottom, and another goat man descended the ladder from the top, trapping him. But he simply climbed down over the body of the lower goat man. He jumped from the ladder and stumbled to the floor, against a wall.

There was a crowd of Asian people and among them were goat men and wolf men. There was a camera, lights, and a man speaking behind a podium on the left, and the same on the right. The beast men snarled, waiting for the speakers to conclude before pouncing on him. They were counting on him not interrupting the conference. So he stood up and pushed his way across the lights and cameras and the podiums, and he found two doors.

He opened a door and closed it behind him. He could hear laughing. They were laughing at him because behind the door was a closet, full of junk, and to them he was trapped. He moved some of the junk and found another door, into the adjacent closet. Then he searched the walls of the adjacent closet and found a board high up on the wall. He removed the board and found a window. He climbed up and out the window and escaped into daylight.

Sunday, September 27, 2009: Fans, Mantis-Dogs

He was in the city at night with his wife, son, and daughter. They approached an array of cylindrical buildings topped with massive rotating fan blades. “I wonder what these look like from above,” he thought aloud. They made their way to a black mesh covered scaffolding. His wife found an opening in the mesh, and hanging from the scaffolding, dropped down to the floor below, then his daughter next, then he dropped; his son followed. The floor was smooth concrete.

He scrambled under the gray overhang of a cave riddled cliff that was covered with blankets. A giant tan-colored praying mantis dog was looking for him. He knew he had to face this threat, but he had no weapon in hand. He scrambled to the other side of the cliff-bed, and another mantis dog was waiting there as well, but as he delayed, the mantis dog grew smaller and he grew bigger until he could pat it and scratch it.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007: Monster under the floor, mountain top

Beyond a doorway, from a room on the right, I dragged out furniture and guns (check chambers and empty of bullets to be safe) and more clutter. Beneath the carpet was a grate, and beneath the grate was a monster, a green and black tentacled thing, lurking and lashing and caterwauling. With the last of our possessions removed, we closed the door behind us, and kept our guns at hand.

I climbed a cliff to a mountain top, but I was two persons: a boy who did the climbing, and a narrator, observer, or guide. The wind was cold, the sky slate gray. There were eagles perched on precipices. The height made me (us) feel afraid. We searched our backpack for... something. We found a parachute, and strapped it on for safety.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007: Beige Apartment, White Stairs

I had a dream that I was walking the halls of an apartment complex. The walls were brick uniformly painted beige. A couple called out to my friend William to join them, and I think he did join them. My remembrance of the dream at this point overlaps. I was living in an apartment here, a long narrow closet; I was no longer living in the apartment, and I was standing outside looking at the door.

In the second dream I had, I was outside, descending a steep white stair under the stars. I was surrounded by sophisticates on platforms along the stair, wearing ball gowns and tuxedos. The descent was so steep that I had to put down my possessions and climb down on my hands and knees. I met an old friend of mine, Garland, at the bottom of the stair.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006: Snow Drifts

I was climbing a steep embankment during a snowstorm. The wind was strong, and the snow drifted like ocean waves. Each wave grew higher and higher. I ran up cement steps, to escape, clinging to the railing as the snow grew deeper and deeper. A drift of snow washed over me and I was buried up to my waist, unable to pull myself free.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006: Vermont at Last

My wife and I wandered Church Street in Burlington, Vermont. We shopped, dined, drank coffee, and listened to street musicians, again and again. We had a wonderful time.

In a separate, brief dream, I tried to climb down from a twenty-foot tall stone pillar to the ground.

In real life, my wife and I drove to Burlington this weekend. We stayed at the Willard Street Inn. Each day, we walked to Church Street. While we were awake, we wandered Burlington; while we slept, we wandered Burlinton.

On a side note, I picked up Little Nemo 1905-1914, a collection of the surreal sunday comic by Winsor McCay.

Saturday, November 11, 2006: Depressed Neighborhood, Waterfront, and Finally, Vermont

I walked in an unfamiliar neighborhood at night. The apartment buildings around me were crumbling apart. The few people I saw wore shabby clothes. Numerous large dogs roamed the streets, and I imagined they converged upon me. I stood in a playground that was used as a dumping ground instead. I climbed between a jungle gym and a stack of miscellaneous construction debris, to escape the dogs. I was high above the ground.

In another dream, my wife and I were living in a house that was built next to the ocean. This made me very nervous. I moved from window to window, searching for any sign of weakness in the house. It was day, so I could see that the foundation was stone. The house was covered with white aluminum siding. The tide appeared to be rising, and the waves rolled into our foundation higher and higher, but never reached above the foundation.

There you have it, two of my phobias: deep bodies of water and large dogs.

The house itself, from the outside, resembles our own house, which has a gray stone foundation and white aluminum siding.

In my last dream, my wife and I had arrived in Vermont, on vacation. It was night. We were in downtown Burlington. We walked along Church Street and Main Street, and on the nearby college campus. The streets and shops were bustling with activity, people of all ages and walks of life. We wondered aloud what we should do first. Half-joking, half-seriously, we both replied that we should look for jobs.

My wife and I are going on a vacation to Vermont soon. Vermont is a dream to us.

Monday, October 23, 2006: Second Story Man

Under cover of night, I scaled a stone building. A rectangular reflecting pool was adjacent to the building. I wore loose dark clothing, and a scimitar on my belt. The stone had many crevasses and decorations to grip. I climbed up to a balcony, entered a room, and examined its contents by touch. What I searched for was not here. I climbed to another balcony, and continued my search.

Somehow, my brother appeared. He wanted to follow in my footsteps, but he was incompetent. He made too much noise. He couldn’t climb well. And he drew attention to us, so much that we were accosted by guards. I drove them back with my scimitar, while my brother hid behind me, clinging to my back. I couldn’t endure my brother’s interference any longer, so I climbed down and left.

I walked to my father’s house; he had moved. His house was on a corner. The road had a lot of noisy traffic, as it seemed to be a common shortcut. He wanted to borrow money, but I said no. My wife and daughter arrived, and I departed with them.

I was cuddling with my wife in bed. She asked me if I ever loved anybody else. I replied honestly, that yes I had, but that was years before I met her.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005: Nightmares

While lying in the middle of Plantation Street, I watched as a child hurled handfuls of sticks into the air from the back of a truck. I felt afraid that I would get hurt, and I felt angry that nobody was stopping him.

I started walking up Plantation Street. It was night. It was so dark, I could only see the headlights of cars. After crossing the street, there weren’t even any headlights. I stood in total darkness, wondering what was happening.

I realized that I was dreaming, and that I wanted to wake up. But instead, I found myself in a dream that I was lying in bed trying to wake up. In one part, the dog was climbing up the bedroom curtain. I was afraid he would get hurt. He was barking at something out the window.

In another part, I found myself floating out of bed, drawn to a window. In the darkness, outside the window, I could make out a man-like shape, and a face like a skull.

I tried to speak in my sleep to wake my wife, but she did not wake me. I did dream that she got out of bed. Later, I asked her if she got out of bed during that hour and she said that she did.

I woke up at 4 AM today and could not go back to sleep right away. After tossing and turning for an hour, I fell back to sleep.

I’ve been playing a lot of World of Warcraft lately. The WoW dreams have subsided; I’m having normal dreams again. But my newfound hobby leaves me with little spare time to log what I have dreamed. Not to worry, I’m catching up.

Dream-wise, I’d say that last night’s episodes stem from feelings of depression and thoughts of death.

Friday, November 05, 2004: Ghost, Zombies, Ice, Water

I was a ghost, in my old apartment. My family and friends were gathered there; I remember Matt, Josh, Will, Mandy, and Amber specifically. Nobody could see me. I played pranks on them. I stole a yellow baseball hat from Josh or Matt and hiding it from him. After a while, they started catching on. I thought, “If they find any of my possessions, they will be able to harm me.” So I gathered up my belongings in my arms and ran downstairs to hide. A large white shelf blocked the stairs, but I vaulted over it. As I was almost outside, I saw Will. He said, “Hi.” I exclaimed, “You can see me!” He responded, “Yes, we could see you all along. We were just pretending we couldn't.”

In another dream, I was floating away on an iceberg as it melted into the ocean. Fortunately, the iceberg reached the walls of a castle. I climbed onto the wall to discover that zombies and other undead monsters were invading the castle. I remember speaking to an evil entity, who sought to put a curse on me.

In the final dream, my wife and I were walking along a seaside path. Suddenly, the water grew rough and rose up. We climbed the cliff next to the sea. Climbing was difficult because the cliff was made out of sand. My wife climbed to the grassy top before I could reach it. Finally, I pulled myself up.

Thursday, August 26, 2004: Green Hills, Gold Rings, Marriage

I was climbing a green, grassy hill. As I ascended, I found a gold ring. As I continued, I found another gold ring.

In the other dream, I was in the rear seat of a car. My brother was driving, and my sister was in the front passenger seat. They were asking me questions about my relationship with my wife, with implications that I was only with her because of the church. I told them that I genuinely loved her, and besides, I was no longer with the church. This shocked them.