yes, it's been a couple of weeks since i last posted... work started. i'll tell you about it later.
in the meantime...
i had a nice dream. i was attending williams yet again, this time as a "fifth year student." i remember the sidewalks, the fields of green. i was in some snack store or something (it turns out, with my son aiden). it was strange; the stock was actually whatever was in some refrigerator (it was packed with food and juice, in a random and haphazard way, as though it were a suitcase, and things were placed in just to take advantage of every available space). so aiden picked something out. then, there was another line where you had to pay. i realized i had no cash, and was worrying that that would be a problem. while i was in this line, i saw one of the workers. he had been one of my "managers" at the baxter dining hall. he looked a bit more grizzled (unshaven), and i could see part of some tattoo on his back, like the outstretched wing of an eagle. in any case, we recognized each other. i told him that i had taken a year off, and how was he? he said he was in the real world now, paying bills and such. i remember looking at him, and imagining what sort of life he had. if this was the best job he could get... i wondered what he did in his free time. the eagle tattoo, the trace of a tan... it made me imagine that strange period where you are just trying to figure your life out... that's the impression i got.
in any case, when it was time to pay- and this was the really weird part- it turns out that this guy was wearing some kind of penis extender or something. it was actually visible from below (it almost seemed as though he were wearing some kind of kilt, instead of shorts). and when it came time to pay, well, it seemed as though, in order to avoid contact (i guess it was in the pandemic in my dream too, at least in this respect), i had to place my card in the "tip" of this thing that honestly looked like a penis. there was a compartment in the top. it seemed as though it wrapped a rubber or something around my card as it processed it. and then, when it was done, the compartment opened up, and there was this ring of the rubber on top (pinkish). and he instructed me to remove it, but not with my fingers- i had to use a pen or something- and then i could take my card... it seemed elaborate, and, well, disgusting...
the next part of the dream, i was walking on the sidewalk, along with a lot of other people. i kept recognizing people around me, and they kept recognizing me, in their own way. and i felt mildly excited. like maybe i would actually have more friends, or relationships, this time around. there was that feeling in the air that always accompanies the beginning of the year, this air of possibility. i like to call it the "hope chest" feeling (after a 10,000 maniacs album i had bought my freshman year). it is a feeling like anything (good) could happen.
so i was waiting at this stoplight... or perhaps i had already crossed... and there were a bunch of people also waiting. and i happened to see ed lau, one of my classmates from elementary and middle school (he had gone on to iolani for high school; he had always been a brilliantly "logical" mind). i asked him what he was doing there, because i don't recall him ever attending williams. he told me that he had joined some missionary group and was doing some outreach work through a church on campus. i was so happy to see him! and then, it turns out that greg fastabend, another friend from the same time period, was there. he was also doing missions work for his church. i then saw brian mahoney (also from the same time period)... and then it seemed that most of the crowd assembled on that sidewalk were old acquaintances of mine. it seemed as though the entire crew was there. i remember saying that: "it's so- wild- that you guys are all here!" i remember looking at the eaves of some red-stoned building in the distance. i think i sometimes do that- trach the edge of some piece of floorwork or architecture- in order to place myself in unreal situations...
i introduced my son to all of my friends... and then this large black student, whom i wasn't familiar with, but who seemed to remember me... he said in a friendly way: "this guy, he could take anything apart!" and he bent in to give me a hug. i know i didn't quite reciprocate, because i didn't really know him. but i added on to his comment: "you mean, i could break anything. literally anything!" and he laughed at that...
...and i guess that was about it.
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