Dreams: By Tag: Driving

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.

Sunday, May 02, 2010: Station Wagon

He was driving on a highway in a green station wagon. He did not own the station wagon; he was taking it for a test drive. The exterior of the station wagon was worn, but the interior was immaculate and upholstered in white. He told his wife, over a hands-free mobile phone, that he was seriously considering buying it, and they reminisced over the old green station wagon they had during the first couple years of their marriage.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009: Truck driving, white apartment

He was driving a UPS truck at night on very narrow streets. The brakes did not work. He downshifted and turned and turned, until he made a safe crash into a post.

He was living in an apartment with his friends. Everything was white: white furniture, white drapes, white floors, white walls.

Thursday, August 21, 2008: A kiss

The dreamer found himself sitting in the passenger seat of a dusty powder blue classic pickup truck. The driver was a beautiful woman. Together they drove slowly down a long country road between green grassy fields under a cloudless blue sky.

She pulled the truck into a gravel clearing and turned the engine off. She leaned forward, he leaned forward, reaching with gentle hands touching neck and shoulders, with eyes closed, for a few seconds they kissed, then looked into each others eyes, brow to brow, and then the dreamer woke up.

Monday, June 23, 2008: Night travel, morning dog walk

He was riding on a bus at night, seated near the driver. The driver was a familiar black man with white hair and moustache. The bus skidded on a patch of ice, but the driver kept control. They were heading down Lincoln Street.

Yet somehow, he found himself walking up Hamilton Street.

In the morning, he got out of bed to walk his dog. As he attached the leash to his collar, he noticed that the small silkie terrier was warm and had white gums. He thought that he was having a reaction to the shots he received at the vets office; he thought that he should return to the vets office right away.

Friday, May 30, 2008: Teachers, Traveling

He sat in the back of a lecture hall. A swarthy, bald man with an upturned moustache was giving a lecture. A man wearing glasses and a suit sat in the front row. A jovial man, also in a suit, sat behind him. There were others, too, between him and the back of the class.

In a different dream, he sat in the left back seat of an SUV, his father driving along a street at night. They were to meet his aunt at a restaurant for dinner in a strange city. Why this city? They did not know. As they closed upon the destination, they were no longer driving. His father walked along the sidewalk, and he rode a bicycle.

Saturday, April 05, 2008: Lost while driving in a box with my brother

I had a dream that I was driving down a road at night. I was driving in a rectangular black plastic bucket (we use them for trash receptacles). I do not know how I was steering or accelerating or braking, but I drove it somehow. My brother was on the passenger side. Once, he stood up to look over the side, and I told him to move his big rear end out of the way; he was blocking my view of the road. We were lost, so we decided to pull over to ask for directions.

Finally, without bucket or brother, dawn rose, and I found myself walking on the side of a familiar road, not too far from home. There was a bucket of food in the gutter. I was hungry and they were all wrapped in plastic. It did not seem like trash to me, rather, it seemed like somebody knew I would be stopping by that part of the road and left supplies for me along the way.

Saturday, February 02, 2008: Car on fire

I had a dream that I was sitting in the backseat of a blue Chevy Malibu [my first car] at night, while a coworker drove the car, and her daughter sat in the front passenger seat. We dropped off her daughter, but as we were driving by, I could see flames licking from under the hood. I told her to stop the car and get out; it was on fire!

Sunday, January 27, 2008: Trip to the country

Matt, his older brother and I drove in a white car to a rural town. After parking the car, we parted ways.

I met a girl. She seemed to know me, or at least, she was interested in me, and friendly. She had long wavy brown hair, dark brown eyes, a light coffee complexion, full lips; her blouse and jeans fit her curvy figure. As we walked, she put her arm around me, hugged me, and kissed me. She brought me to her workplace, a home goods store, and introduced me to her coworkers. I jokingly put a square of plastic turf on my head before we departed; it was her day off.

We walked to a county fair. We looked around, and ate some food. A small swarm of beetles, joined by a long strand of material, flew at me and wrapped itself from my arm. It felt very irritating. She said that they were called bracelet beetles. I carefully peeled these bracelet beetles from my arm and tossed them away.

We drove back in her black sports car to the parking lot where Matt and his brother were waiting. His brother backed the car dangerously close to the edge of a cliff. I swore at him. He got mad. Matt calmed us down. We drove home.

Monday, January 21, 2008: Driving circles around Vermont, bagel shop

I was driving in a counterclockwise circle around the outskirts of a city in Vermont. To my right were snowy mountains. To my left were buildings. One building was topped with a giant inflatable crab.

I walked into a bagel shop. There were bakers and servers behind the counter. I spied through a doorway on the right metal racks of bagels. I walked over to a rack of bagels on the left. I looked over the fresh bagels. I saw a salt bagel. I reached for it with my right hand. I noticed my right hand. I thought to myself, I am asleep. I tried to feel the right hand of my waking self, and I moved my fingers in my sleep. Then I woke up.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008: Car accident, Scrubs, round table discussion

While pulling out of my driveway, I nudged the car of my neighbor under one of his trucks. I felt terrible, and apologized profusely. I could not figure out how we were going to get his car out from under his truck.

Before this dream, I can only recall a bit of another dream: Dr. John Dorian (Zach Braff) and Dr. Kim Briggs (Elizabeth Banks), from the television show Scrubs, take handfuls of cocaine, snort them, and have sex.

We were seated at a round table having a discussion. Seated around the table, I saw different versions of myself wearing elaborate masks. Some said that all of this was nonsense; others said to give it more time.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007: Infiltration, trashscape, driving up a cliff

We infiltrated a dimly lit building, running down corridors and hiding briefly in rooms. We stole a square blue elevator car robot. We posed as students in a classroom, and traded illicit pencils.

I climbed carefully across a landscape of trash, a dump that stretched to the horizon.

I drove a car along a steep road. The incline rose until it the road became a cliff. Some cars tried to ascend the cliff, but they rolled back or came crashing down. Some cars tried to descend, but came crashing down as well. A police man tried to descend in his car and stuck half way. He attached a winch to the car and told me to grab the other end of a rope. I refused. I fell into a dumpster. I climbed out of the dumpster. I pulled clinging pieces of trash from me. I picked a small round black beetle off of my leg.

Thursday, December 20, 2007: Planning a trip to a strip club

To our surprise, our wives suggested that we go to a strip club. So Will and Jeremy put together a list of strip clubs names; glyphs representing them hung upon the air for our review. We were standing between doorways into the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom of a strange house. I thought to myself that I would be the designated driver, since I do not drink much.

My wife and I were discussing a calendar of girls our son has hanging on his wall. Her comment was that she did not find it distasteful. I wondered if she would find it distasteful if I hung a similar calendar on the wall.

The location where we were standing has a reverse correspondence to the actual location where our conversation took place, in our own house, in an intersection of doorways between the kitchen, bathroom, and his bedroom.

Saturday, December 15, 2007: Sleep paralysis and seven other dreams

After falling asleep, I dreamed that I was lying in bed. The room was dark. The bedsheets were white. I could feel the dog lying on the bed at my feet, and my wife was lying to my left; I was turned on my side facing her. I could not move! I could not speak! I tried to wake up but I could not wake up. I could feel shapes sliding past me, shadows, nightmare thoughts, slipping past me, trying to emerge: a mouth, lips and teeth, fingertips. With great concentration, I moved my right hand over myself. I could feel it tingling, as if it were waking up. I tried to speak to my wife. Shelby, help me wake up! I repeated this over and over.

Finally, in real life, she woke me up. She said that she heard me while she was sleeping, asking her to help me. After sitting up with the lamp on for a few minutes, I returned to sleep.

I had a dream that I was investigating a cellar with my aunts Florence and Jeanne. It was dark, and made of old poured concrete. There was a door which we entered from the ground level. The cellar was cluttered with objects so covered with dust and cobwebs, I could not distinguish them. There were spiders and other insects crawling about. I kicked a piece of something, and silverfish crawled from under it. One spider was at least three feet across! At the other end of the cellar was a door, and stairs up to another door. Below the first door was a rectangular drop, without stairs, a ten foot cubic hollow with another door! I asked my aunts about it and they said they did not know where the door leads to. I considered how I would climb down to investigate

I had a dream that I was on a tour bus. The bus was full of people of all kinds. A group of children were sitting together. I told them the story of Jesus. When I concluded, one of them asked with astonishment if it was true. I laughed and said, no, it was not true.

I had a dream that my silky terrier was chasing rats around and bringing them back to me in his mouth. I felt worried that he would catch a disease from them. The rats he brought back had big teeth.

I had a dream that I was chewing something, and the teeth on the left side of my mouth crumbled to pieces. After, I inspected them, and they were all still intact.

I had a dream that I was walking up my street. An old high school friend, Brian, pulled over in a convertible and offered me a ride. I got in the car, and began to tell him everything that had happened since I saw him last.

I had a dream that I walked the dog outside, and it was warm. When I went back inside the house, the house felt cold. I mentioned this to my wife, and suggested we open the windows of the house to let in the warm air.

The last dream left me with only vague impressions of being at a party, and meeting a celebrity, but I can remember no details.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007: Chain Vendor, TV Overboard

While Mambo No. 5 boomed through the dark club, I put money into a vending machine that dispensed jewelry. I acquired three gold chains, but there were supposed to be four. One of the chains had a small gold scythe attached to it.

I have been reading Dhalgren by Samuel R Delany. Many of the characters in the book wear chains.

In another dream, my wife and I were being driven on a highway by an old friend of mine (Matt or Gaf). We were passed by a dangerously speeding SUV, filled with shouting uniformed high-school football players, holding a large television in the back. As we drove on, we encountered the same SUV again, this time pulled over to the side of the highway. Apparently, the TV fell off the back of the SUV and smashed in the road.

My wife and I decided to get rid of our TV.

Thursday, October 04, 2007: On Hamilton Street

I had a dream that I was standing on Hamilton Street, observing an elderly gay couple with a penchant for pranks. One of them had fallen asleep behind the wheel of his parked car. The other started the car and put it in drive. The car drove slowly down the street, the driver still asleep.

I walked down Hamilton Street and encountered a genetic giant couple, a blond woman and a dark haired man. I asked them questions, but I do not remember what the questions were, or the answers.

I entered the rear passenger side door of a futuristic-looking silver car and sat down. The car started by itself and steered down the street, apparently on autopilot.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007: Autumn, Old Friend, Party, Faulty Brakes

I was walking up a street in my neighborhood. In an instant, autumn fell. The leaves on the trees turned orange and yellow; already many leaves had dropped to the ground.

In another dream, I was hanging out at the house of an old friend, Matt. He had his Intellivision game system, still working. He was showing me a new game that somebody had made. I remarked on how they achieved such a stunning 3D effect on such a limited game platform.

In another dream, I found myself at a party in a strange house. It was crowded and noisy. There were lots of ice cream bars in the freezer.

In the last dream I had, I was in the car of my sister. She had parked the car in a parking lot, and had already exited the vehicle. I was climbing out of the back seat, when the vehicle began to roll. I jumped into the driver seat and tried to stop it. I told her that the brakes were very spongy and she should get them looked at.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007: Tresspassing in Vermont

I had a dream that my wife and I were driving to Vermont at night. She was driving; I was in the passenger seat. We made a left turn, and the silver mid-sized car went up on two wheels along a paved embankment. My wife managed to get the car under control and parked. When we stepped out of the car, we found ourselves on the rooftop of a building. As we descended multiple staircases, the police arrived. They fined us $50 for trespassing.

The dream repeated itself, starting again as we descended the steps, only more people were with us. The police came and fined us again.

After leaving the scene, we visited a Vermont historical museum.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007: Mansion, Good Driver

My wife and I were driving with Ray and Johnny, two old friends. It was night, and there was a hurricane-like storm approaching. Ray was an excellent driver, which he demonstrated by driving backwards at high speed in a movie theater parking lot.

In another dream, my wife and I had a guest arrive at night. We were living in a mansion. We showed him to a guest room, a suite with many windows, blue walls, and a peaked roof. I asked my wife why he had the better room. Then we remembered that the room grew cold in winter.

Saturday, May 05, 2007: Cellar, Buddha, Flying Things, Weird Wedding, and Car Accident

I descended stairs to a long dark basement. I pulled open two metal drawers, brimming with water. Slowly, what low lighting there was dimmed to darkness. I could only feel my way back upstairs.

My sister told me that my room was to the right. I took a right at the stairs. The stairs forked and spiraled off in all directions. I climbed a high step to the right into a room. The room was small. The walls were painted orange. Against the walls were pieces of lacquered furniture. I could make out a fuzzy reflection of myself in one tall piece. I step out of the room.

Suddenly, everything is dark again. A huge smiling face made of terracotta fills my left field of vision. It speaks, “I am the Buddha.” I reply, “You are not the Buddha. You pretend to be the Buddha.” Suddenly, I have a vision of a crying child made of the same orange clay, pinned to the ground by a single large hand.

In another dream, I am in my driveway, holding a stick, swatting at small red flying creatures. They are a cross between pterodactyls and insects. I hit both of them, and they fall dead.

In another dream, I am at the wedding of my cousin. It is colorful, and juvenile, and we sing children’s songs.

In my final dream, I am driving with an acquaintance in an SUV. She steers poorly, and we end up backing over another car while parking.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007: Driving a Truck

I was sitting in an armchair. Next to me was a side table, a lamp, and a book. I stood up and walked to the driving cabin of an 18-wheel truck. I sat down and drove the truck. The roads were snowy and slippery. Steering became difficult, so I pulled over to avoid jack-knifing.

Thursday, November 16, 2006: Vermont Trip Preparations

My wife and I were outside, preparing for a trip to Vermont. As we packed our luggage into the car, I realized that I did not recognize the car. I examined the unfamiliar vehicle: it was a brown station wagon with a sunroof. On the back seat were several large bags of M&M candies. I asked, “Is this our car?” She replied, “Of course. We’ve had this car for a long time.”

We went back into our house. The interior of the house was a pastiche of all of the houses I have lived in before.

My wife sat down for a moment in the living room. A voice in my head said, “What is missing from this picture?” My daughter appeared, dressed for ballet, in white tights and slippers, dancing around my wife. I thought it was a riddle, but I could not discern the answer.

We said our farewells to our children. I hugged my daughter. Then, I hugged my son. After hugging him, I realized that he wasn’t my son; he was my daughter’s boyfriend: tall, with spiky bleach-blond hair.

As we were driving out of a parking garage, a white car appeared in front of our car. The driver looked like Tracy Morgan with wild hair. He looked angry. He pushed our car backwards with his car. After a brief car tug-of-war, we managed to get our car around his car and drove off.

Suddenly, I found myself inside a old workshop, with off-white walls and a white tin ceiling. There were small desks with sewing machines and old typewriters on them. My wife was not with me. I realized that I was dreaming, and that I needed to get back to my wife so that we could go on our trip.

In a separate dream, a friend and I were getting a tour of a haunted house. We doused any lights we came across during the tour, until the house was completely dark. As I began to wake, I saw circles of blue light.

Saturday, October 28, 2006: Road Trips, Pet Injured

A co-worker and I were driving down a long well-paved two-lane road. It was windy and raining. Apparently, the car was a convertible, but the top was so flimsy, I had to hold it down to keep it from flying off.

In another dream, I was in a chartered bus full of passengers. We were driving down the same road as the previous dream, but in the opposite direction. There were many obstacles on the road, some frighteningly difficult to navigate, including large patch of eroded road that threatened to swallow up the bus.

As we neared the end of our trip, we pulled over for a stretch. A passenger and I went for a walk with our dogs. We climbed down the embankment into a wooded area. We let our dogs wander far, but still on leashes. Suddenly, a blue car rolled down the embankment and struck our dogs. I don't know the condition of the other dog. My dog returned very slowly, as if he were injured. Indeed, when he approached me, his face appeared to be swollen. I immediately returned home, to take my dog to the vet. Before I left for the vet, I took my dog in our fenced-in back yard for a walk.

Sunday, October 22, 2006: Church Intrusions, Fatherly Extortion, Demonic Seduction

I stood next to a long heavy wood dining room table. Seated around the table were members of the church I left years ago in real life. The phone in the middle of the table began to ring. Those seated at the table looked to me expectantly. So I answered the phone. It was Malcolm David Kelley. He spoke to me about church-related things. I stopped him after a minute or so, saying that I no longer attended this church, and that I don't even know why I am here, then I hung up.

My dad, my sister, and I were driving at night. My sister dropped me off at a mall. I was going to see a movie in the theater that was in the mall. But when I got to the theater, it was full of members from the church I left years ago. This annoyed me, so I waited outside for my father and sister to return.

After my father and sister returned, my father was telling me that he needed to borrow money. He had two sheets of paper. One was a list of items totaling the money he needed to borrow. The second sheet was a list of insignificant things that he believed he had done for me that entitled him to money from me.

In a different dream, I was being seduced by three demons, and I let them seduce me.

In a dream I cannot place chronologically among the other dreams, I was coding my website. I added a CSS effect to title text to make it look blurry.

Thursday, October 19, 2006: Bedside Visitations

While napping in an out-of-the-way room, I felt a presence enter. I opened my eyes. An old friend, Josh, entered the room and sat down at a computer. I sat up and said, “Hello.” He said, “Hello.” He apologized for waking me, and said that he was just going to be a moment; he was checking his email. The room got brighter, and another old friend, Bob, suddenly appeared. “You old hippie,” I joked. He laughed and hugged me.

These visitors departed, and I continued to nap. My wife wandered into the room with a basket of laundry. I showed her the book I had cut and taped together into two strips, joined, and twisted, to form a Möbius loop.

I napped more. My son came into the room and left.

Still I napped more. My daughter came into the room. She sat at the foot of the bed and asked what I was reading. I opened the book, and began to read from it.

As I read, my own voice became the voice of a narrator, and I was in the story, guiding a white sports car along snowy hills, simultaneously a passenger inside the car, driving, and outside the car, holding in my hand a small replica of the car. The car skidded off the road, crashed, and drove on.

I have been reading Mark Z Danielewski's Only Revolutions. This is the source of the Möbius loop and the driving narrative.

In the dream, I felt as if I was more than napping; I was convalescing. I felt at peace, but I was resting because of illness or age.

Thursday, September 30, 2004: White SUV

I sat in the front passenger seat of a massive white SUV. A burly black man was driving, and a skinny white man was in the back seat. The SUV was so big, we couldn’t see over the front end of the vehicle to drive. I take a turn trying to drive it and we all laugh.

Saturday, July 31, 2004: Vehicles, Haunted House, Fiestaware

I was outside, during the day, looking at dusty, old automobiles. Only one of them could start, but the other couldn’t start.

In another dream, I was outside at night with friends. An attack was mounting. I jumped into a jeep, but the jeep was under remote control. The doors and windows closed and locked, and the jeep began to drive away with me. My friends shouted to get out. I unlocked the door and jumped out.

In the next dream, I was at a carnival. I got on a haunted house ride. The walls were painted black, and the monsters were day-glo colors. I seem to remember a tall man with a drill.

In the final dream, my wife and I were in a store looking at Fiestaware, in all its different colors.