At The Show; Reading On The Rooftop; Sweet Gum Tree

12/30/09

I was on my way to see Saturday Night Live with O and was complaining that there weren't enough women in the cast.

I was seated at a big round table with my mother. Someone who was a stand in for JM was there and kept talking. I told him to shut up.

I go to meet P at his apartment, in a twisty, confusing series of streets. It reminds me of Providence. Clouds of colored smoke vent onto the street. P comes out of his apartment looking freshly scrubbed. We go to a nearby rooftop to read through his latest play. He starts reading it to me in a really hammy way and I start laughing when someone appears behind him on the roof. More and more people come out, a whole junior high school class.

On the rooftop are also a whole collection of Gossip Girl books. I pick one up and read the back. It's a bout a teenager's problem when she finds out her mom is having an affair with three generations of men.

Walking under a sweet gum tree. My boss is there and I identify the tree for her by the pom poms it grows. They're huge and exaggerated and soft instead of spiny.

I continue to enjoy mental fights with my ex JM. What a dick.

Face Bite; Subway

12/25/09

At a crowded party. I talk to two guys in passing. One of them in a velveteen sweater follows me and says he's in love with me. I let him kiss me, but suddenly he bites my face. I shout indignantly and hit him until he retreats. I leave the party.

Subway almost nightmare. I get on in an area I recognize as Manhattan, even though it's not really. Lots of gray and elevated rather than underground. It's very crowded and I realize that I've missed my stop. I decide to stay on and let it loop, but it keeps taking me in unexpected directions. I want to go to Brooklyn, but it keeps taking me South until we're not even on the island anymore, just a metal cobweb over icy water and rubble.

I dreamed this two nights ago and didn't have a chance to write it down. I know there was something pleasant after the subway dream. When I was half awake, I told myself that I was re-dreaming the party dream and revising it. There were similar details and I think the outcome was happier, but I can't remember it vividly. I just remember the sweater guy who went from sweet to feral. He had glasses too. That part wasn't really a bad dream because I triumphed over someone who had publicly done me wrong. The subway dream was pretty anxious, though. I am usually pretty comfortably navigating the subway. I've had dreams of being lost in my home cities, and it usually features construction and highways.

Belt and Well; Gas Station Bogeyman; Brooklyn Bridge; Mirror Play

12/20/09

I do a reading but demur on reading my own book and read from M's instead. It's a comic book and I feel like a dork for backing out of reading of my own work. It's awkward describing the drawings in the story to the audience.

M, J and I go to the drugstore for toothpaste. I'm suddenly drunk and lurching around, trying to get to the fancy flavored stuff. There's a loutish man in my way and we get into an argument. I challenge him to fight. M and J are worried but I pin the man on the ground and use his belt to tie him up. His belt is very short and I have to try several configurations before I can secure all his limbs. I stuff a cube of maggotty butter in his mouth and throw him down a well. I worry a little that I'll get into trouble but forget about it.

I'm watching P's staged reading of his screenplay. It's a romantic farce at a gas station. Everyone is kissing. Suddenly from a box in the back a character bursts out. It's the guy I threw in the well, who I now see is someone everyone knows about, a bogeyman. The monster is supposed to be missing his right arm and I see the actor has put a black tube sock on his arm to make it invisible against the black curtain. I am relieved. Big applause.

Walking home over the Brooklyn Bridge in a huge crowd of people. I'm climbing over fragile wooden framework when someone behind me shouts "Hey, you gave me the fake name Emily and the wrong phone number when we met in the Beauty Bar." He catches up and I feel slightly bad for tricking him. I agree to take him to a party. It's at M and J's place. It's green, blue and white, and there are floor to ceiling bookshelves in all the rooms. A stoned guy talks to us and he holds up a mirror. Instead of seeing myself in the mirror, I see a play about a pasha and his harem.

This was a very enjoyable dream. I love dreams where I have super strength. Throughout the rest of the dream, I felt like I had power over everything that happened. I was arrogant with the guy who was trying to pick me up. It was also very beautiful. Again with the fragile dark wood and the books.

P actually did do a staged reading of his screenplay. It was about a rock star and was quite funny.