Dream Journal
I was in a fellow photographer’s basement. I was staying in his spare room and the next day we would be doing a joint photo shoot. I was getting creepy vibes from him and his basement. I heard him turn on the modem in the other room. I took his computer out of sleep and found pornography on the screen. He came into the room and, seeing the computer on, became embarrassed and apologized.
He was a very hairy man in his late 50s, and I was very uncomfortable being around him. I excused myself to take Lacey outside. When I came back inside he asked when we would be getting started the next day, he was thinking 7 or 7:30. I asked if it could be any later so I could sleep in more, but he said that every hour wasted is an hour of extra work later. I agreed to 7:30.
He stood there staring at me and I occupied myself with my camera and flash equipment. He said that he wanted to find some way to sync both of our cameras. I told him that we could sync flashes, but probably not cameras.
He pulled out a green optical slave trigger and stuck it into a ceiling panel. I went into the other room to get my optical slave trigger, and also to put more space between the two of us. I realized that I had been here before.
The next morning I had breakfast with the man, a woman, and two kids at a table on the beach. The woman and kids were not his family. He stood off to the back, not participating in the meal. The woman divided coasters between everyone; we were to toss them into a pile and I was to go first. I did very well tossing my coaster and could feel him watching over my shoulder.
I excused myself from the table and found a group of three women in bikinis at the beach for a bachelorette party. I gave them ideas of fun things to do.
Then I was swimming up a channel. The man stood on shore watching me, telling me to go the other way back towards his home because that way would be easier. I told him that I had almost made it and would be just fine going the way I was.
I had to go back into his basement to get my equipment. He was asleep on the couch; I tip-toed around him and slipped out the patio door. There was snow all over outside. I trudged through the snow and saw my parents’ car in the church driveway. I jumped in just before they left and Melissa gave me a concerned look, but didn’t say anything.
The car is cramped but I am happy to be away from that man. My dad reached behind his seat and squeezed my knee so that it would tickle. I was so upset that he was touching me that I started screaming at him, which amused him so much that he squeezed my knee more. I bit his hand really hard, but he just laughed. I wanted to cry.
Steve and I had a long argument in the parking lot outside of a bookstore. Steve said something hurtful and I didn’t want to let him get away with it, but he turned around and walked into the bookstore. I followed him in and silently fumed as he selected a book to rent, presumably for me.
The woman behind the counter recognized him. He grabbed his frequent-purchase punch card and stamped it repeatedly with a $5 stamp for all of the purchases he had made at the fair.
Themes: Steve
I was running through the snow using my hands for balance and speed because the snow was very deep. It was a race and there were prizes for the fastest person with dogs, and the fastest without. I didn’t have any dogs.
As I got closer to the finish and the sky started lightening into dawn, the snow was full of footprints. All of the footprints slowed me down. I stood up straight because my hands were no longer helping, and continued running into town. I came across Ryan and his assistant, who were acting in some official capacity. They decided they would run with me, but the assistant dropped out soon.
I was surprised that I was able to keep up with Ryan and wondered if he was going slower for me. We pushed to the finish line, a hotel desk staffed by a very pregnant woman. I jokingly asked her what her time was for the race, and she looked at me not amused as she entered our information into the computer. I wondered if she had been asked that question by every other racer.
I wanted to know how we did and what place we finished, but didn’t ask. I knew it would be announced at the award ceremony.
Steve and I went to our new vacation apartment at the far end of the lake. We walked into the upstairs apartment because the door was open. It was very nice and done in all white: the walls, carpet, furniture were all white. I wondered if we were supposed to have the downstairs apartment instead, because the upstairs one was too nice. I went downstairs to see if I could look into that apartment, and met its occupant, my neighbor.
I asked her if she had a key to the upstairs apartment, and she walked me back upstairs and then just walked in. I glanced over at Steve, sitting at the computer naked. I tried to tell him to get dressed without alerting my neighbor that he was naked.
She looked out the window and said that we were he third house from the end of the lake, with one of the best views, and it was quiet out there. I just wanted her to go and stop being nosy.
Then I was at the grocery store looking for Pantene conditioner but I couldn’t find it. I went up and down all of the aisles and thought about asking where it was, but decided they probably didn’t carry it.
Then I was back at the vacation apartment with a few other people, and one of the guys was flirting pretty heavily with me. He was funny and cute and charming. He was leaning one elbow onto the kitchen counter while I was laughing, and I realized that he was Steve. His face didn’t look like steve, and even though Steve was standing behind him talking to some other people, he was Steve too. I had a crush on this new Steve.