ZUDEMA

12008 August 01

I walked into the classroom from the north. The room seemed to be made of stone, and there was something old and formal about this place. The teacher seemed to be $A57, and she was wearing a white shirt and standing behind her desk on the western side of the room. All of the students had been handed white packets of paper, and i realized that there was a test. I had come into the class late, though no one seemed to notice. I was annoyed that i had already missed the first part of the test, so i walked over to my desk, which was a large square table in the southeastern side of the room. I sat down on the southern side of the desk and started looking at the exam papers. I soon realized that the papers were mostly puzzles rather than exam questions. $F4 was sitting on the northern side of my table, and i looked up at him as i sat down. He was working on a large chart. The chart had several lines where names would be filled in. The lines were broken into squares, and there were several names in each square already filled in. $F4 started writing some names in the second square from the right, on the top line of the paper. I realized that the puzzle was a relationship chart, where they tell you how each person is related to each other and you have to figure out the final configuration of the chart by grouping them and eliminating contradictions. I never really liked those games, and i felt that the test was not on topic for the class. I flipped through the white booklet in front of me. The center section was filled with mazes that were shaped like animals, and there were more intelligence questions at the end. This did not seem like a math exam at all. It was all just puzzles and games. I was annoyed and did not really want to answer them. I flipped through the book, answering a few questions here and there. I then realized that everyone else would be mostly finished by now. $F4 seemed to have many of the questions answered. He seemed to put his paper down as though he was finished, and i started to feel bad that i had only answered a few questions. I then realized that he was simply turning back to the beginning of the quiz to look things over. I did not want to be a part of this, so i started wandering to the northwest. I thought about the white papers as i walked, wondering why we would be doing puzzles as a quiz. I then realized that all of the students were starting to get up and move around. The class must have been over. The students were all wearing white shirts, and they all moved out of the classroom to the north. I was now in a stone corridor that ran east to west. I had moved to the west, and the classroom seemed to be on the northern side of the hall. I walked back to the east, realizing that the hall seemed empty of students. I turned to the north and entered the classroom, but few people seemed to be there. It must be lunch time, and all of the students must be heading to the cafeteria. I wondered what i should do. There were a few other students in the classroom, but they were all heading out the door. I walked back out into the hall and headed west, wondering if i would be caught between classes. I remembered that there would be people making sure i had a pass to be out in the hall. I did not care if they caught me. I moved to the southern wall of the hall and looked into one of the large classrooms. I thought that it was the art room. The other student was to the west of me, wandering down the hall. I felt uncertain and wandered around, wondering what i should do. I did not feel like dealing with the test, but i knew that i would have to take it eventually. I turned to the south and headed back into the classroom. Most of the people had already left, and i noticed that there was still a white paper on the desk where i had been sitting, and i thought that i should still go in to finish my test. I then started to wonder if the teacher had already collected my test or not. The paper on my desk did not seem to be the test. I then realized that the teacher was talking to one of the students who had stayed behind. They were talking near the desk that i was sitting at. There were several other adults standing around the student as they spoke, and i felt that this was a somewhat private conversation. The people were wearing dark suits, and the chubby child was in a dull-yellow pull-over shirt. I wandered around the northern side of the room, wondering if my test was still at the desk. I felt that i had to finish it. The people then started to wander away, some heading through the door in the southern wall, which seemed to be a section of wall that opened to the south. I walked up to the desk, aware that the teacher was to the west of me, at her desk. On the table in front of me was a manila folder with black printed words on it. The name “Guatemala” was printed across the top of the file, and i realized that the student was from Guatemala. He was having problems staying in this country and the people had come to talk about how to merge him into the school. I then noticed the large black and brown tarantula on the upper corner of the folder. I remembered that there were other large spiders in the room, and i noticed one on the eastern wall. The spiders must have been brought in on the report by accident from Central America. I backed away from the table. Everyone must know that the tarantulas will be all over the school by now. They were poisonous. I headed back to the north.

12008 August 03

I moved around in the small house with the other people. I seemed to be doing something with $G4 as i spoke to the others in the house. I was arranging things and trying to organize the people. I then stepped outside, on the southern side of the building. The house seemed to be a single story building with a garage attached to the eastern side. The man was working on his car in the driveway of the house. He did not seem to be paying much attention to his car as he worked on it, and i noticed that it was rolling backward slowly. The man was in the back of the car, trying to push it up the hill so that it would not roll. I thought that it would be more efficient if the brakes were simply applied. I sat in the driver’s seat of the car and pushed on the brakes. I could hear the brakes grinding roughly, but the car only slowed down a little. The brakes did not work that well, which was why the man was trying to stop it from behind. I tried the brakes again, but the car started rolling down the hill faster. I was in my parents’ driveway as the car rolled across the street and started down the grassy hill on the other side. $K1 and $K2 were sitting in the passenger’s seat of the large light-tan and brown american station wagon. The hill on the other side of the driveway was steep, and the nose of the car tipped almost vertical. I hoped that the car did not roll over and land on the roof. I knew that it would stop once it reached the bottom of the short hill and came into the field. I watched the hood of the car life over us, thinking that the car would flip onto its top, but it did not. The hood fell back down as we rolled into the field. I looked around, realizing that the car was still rolling through the yellow dry field glass, heading to the south. The field was mostly flat, so i thought that it should stop. I hoped that it stopped before it reached the far side of the field, because i knew that the hill on the other side of the field went down more steeply. I then realized that, if we kept heading to the south, we would eventually reach the cliffs that separated the upper part of town from the downtown area. We were moving faster now. I looked behind us, hoping that we would slow down, but we seemed to be on a slightly steeper slope than before. We were also in a cement trench. It was some kind of drainage canal. I had to stop the car, but the brakes would not work. I looked in the side mirror on my door, noticing that there was a culvert coming up behind us. I pushed open the driver’s door and left it open. I told my cousins to do the same. I then realized that $K2 was sitting near the door. He seemed to be quite young, so i told him to open the door but not to hold on to the door. He pushed the door open. I looked back into the mirror, seeing that the culvert was still behind us. I thought that it should have passed by now, since it seemed to be right behind us the last time i looked. When i looked now, it seemed to be no farther behind us, but it passed fairly quickly. I heard the narrower mouth of the tunnel hit against the open doors, but the car did not slow down significantly. I complained to my cousins that opening the doors did not work. I looked to my left to see what had happened to the door, but we were still in the tunnel, and everything was black. I could not tell what had happened. In a moment, we were back out into the light and i looked at the doors. The tops of the doors were crumpled, but the doors were still in tact. I was disappointed. I had to stop the car because i knew that we would be approaching the steep drop off near the cliffs and would not be able to save the car after that. I looked behind us, watching the boat trailer roll. I then decided to turn the car in to the walls of the cement channel. I thought that the trailer would pitch the other way and hopefully wedge the car against the walls. I turned the car suddenly to the west, and it skidded against the cement walls, coming to an abrupt halt. I climbed out of the car and onto the pavement to the north. We had come quite a way from my parents’ house, but we were really down the road. I felt that i should call them and tell them where we were. There was a house to the northeast of me, at the bottom of a driveway. It was covered with brown shingles and seemed familiar. There was a porch with a cement deck set into the southwestern corner of the house. A single white square pole held up the outer corner of the porch. I then noticed the small square object sitting in the driveway, which ran to the south of the house. The cement trench where the car was ran along the southern side of the paved driveway, heading a little more to the east-southeast than the driveway. I looked at the square object. It seemed to be covered with a wool blanket that had dark orange and red stripes across it. There were black oval designs in the stripes. I had seen this before. I was at this house within the last day, and i knew that $A459 lived here. I told $K1 that i knew where we were and that i would go inside to get help. I had to call my parents to let them know here we were. I walked up to the glass door, which was on the northern wall of the porch. I knocked, but was inside. $A459 was there, but he seemed to be hurriedly getting ready to go somewhere. I said that i did not want to disturb him, but told him that i needed to use the telephone. I then asked him what the address was here, knowing already that it was on $P109. He told me that he lived at 414. I had to remember that number so that i could tell my parents. I moved to the north, across the small crowded room of the house. $A459 was talking on the telephone, thought, so i would have to wait before i called. I concentrated on the numbers, thinking that i would have to tell my parents “414”. I then thought that i would have to dial 518 to reach my parents, which would be long distance from here. I hoped that $A459 did not mind if i made a long-distance call from here. I felt as though i was intruding a little. I saw $A459 dial the telephone, but i heard a strange tone on the other side. I then noticed the cat that was sitting on the bench along the northern wall. It was light tan and furry, and was sitting on the white plastic wall phone, which was resting on the bench. It had taken the telephone off of the wide plastic button of the base, which made it hard for $A459 to dial out. I pointed out the problem to him and walked over to take the telephone from the cat. The cat did not want me near it and reached out to bite me. I felt its teeth on my fingers. It bit, but did not bite hard enough to hurt. I pulled my hand back a little, noticing that the cat allowed its jaw to dislocate a little to hold on to my right thumb. The lower jaw of the cat looked like an insect mandible, with a single tooth sticking up from the end. It was covered with orange and white striped fur. I gently pulled it from around my fingers, noticing how strange it looked as it retracted into the cat’s mouth. I then hung up the telephone so that $A459 could continue with his call. My attention was then drawn to the south, were i noticed $K1 standing in the driveway. It was not the same $K1 who had been i the can with me, though. It was an older version, and i realized that she had come with my family to find the car. I walked outside and called her name. She looked concerned, and come toward me to find out what had happened. I told her that the children were fine. I then noticed that some of my other relatives had come as well. They must have come down the road to search the metal canal for us.

I looked at the four names on the sheet of paper. They were typed in black ink on the small square paper. The first name seemed to be Serge Nergal. I was not quite sure of the first name, but i recognized the last and pronounced it. I then noticed that the second name, which had a first name starting with an S and a last name that seemed like Sengal. There were two other names on the sheet. The importance of these names was that they could be contracted. The first name would become N’gal. It was a special change that signified a special rank in the person who had the name. I thought that it had to do with flying, as it did in a book that i had read. Once people made the rank of rider, their names were contracted to show their rank. I was standing in the forest as i thought about this. The forest around me was dense. I looked to the north, where there seemed to be a paved road running east-northeast to southwest in front of me. The land sloped up slightly to the northeast, and it was covered with thick forest, which reminded me of $P24. There seemed to be a small field to the south of me, in a small bowl-shaped valley on the north side of a stream. It was bright over the dry grass of the field, but the woods seemed dark, thought the sky shown brightly through them. I turned to the east and started down the dirt road. It ran along the slope on the northern side of the small valley, passing along the side of the crop grass and turning up hill into the forest. I moved over the road quickly, aware that there was a car ahead of me now. The car was already moving up the hill to the east as i continued down the long shallow slope of the road. I watched the road as i passed over it. It seemed like packed dirt, but there were dark patched on either side that seemed like areas of tarred pavement. I moved quickly over the road and caught up with the vehicle in front of me. As we started up the hill, though, the other car got tangled in a large root system, which had been overturned in the road. The other man climbed over it as i approached. The roots were already bleached white, so they had been upturned for a while. I started to climb over, but i thought about the names again. The contraction was special here, and i realized that it might be a special naming convention used for a social purpose. I thought that i would be good to use in my stories. I could use it as a social convention for one of the extraterrestrial species. It might be good for the main one in my book, but i then thought it might also be good for some of the other ones. I stepped back to the north as someone near me mentioned the mexican border. I seemed to be back at the point where the dirt trail came out onto the main road. This time, the road seemed to run almost due north from the trail. The trail came onto the road from the south, hitting the road at a curve, where the road turned south-southwest. I realized that this was a border crossing, and i looked into the forest ahead of me to see who was trying to sneak across the border. I thought that Mexico was on one side of the border and the United States was on the other. I noticed some people moving through the trees to the west, and i backed up a little and crouched down near a large tree, which was to the west of me. The trunk of the tree was smooth and pale, as though it had no bark. I watched the two men carefully approach the road, hunched over as if trying to stay hidden below something. They looked up and down the road, and then hurried across it, running into the forest on the other side. They must be on the main trail that runs through the woods. I then realized that these woods were the Adirondacks in northern New York. I felt a little confused, wondering why there would be a border with Mexico near New York State. I stepped out into the road. There must be a small part of Mexico to the west here, maybe embedded in part of Canada. This place seemed familiar, and i felt that i was a little to the west of $P26. I turned to the south and headed down the road. I quickly came into a developed area. This place seemed to be a marina, and there was a large pale-aqua building to the east. The building was facing the other way, but the dirt road that was on opened to the east into a wide gravel parking lot that bordered the building. There was water to the south of me, and the shore was covered with wooden docks and planking. The water seemed to be narrow river. There were many power boats docked along the river, most with their storage covers on. The land to the south of the river seemed more open, with grass or reeds and very few tall trees. I walked to the edge of the water and looked up and down the canal. This place was familiar, and i decided that it was the Eagle River. I then thought that the name did not seem quite right. It was the river that flowed out of Eagle Bay, connecting the two lakes. The lake to the east seemed to be $P26. I had been down this river before with my grandfather. It was the main passageway between the two lakes. I stepped out onto the docks, noticing an older man standing on the deck of his boat to the west. He seemed to be pulling the canvas from the top of his boat. He watched me suspiciously as i looked over the river. I felt that this area might be private property. I then noticed the man to the east, doing something with his boat, which was docked on the western side of a dock that extended from the southern side of the channel. I looked to the west, trying to figure out exactly where i was. I then heard a backfire from the boat to the east. To my surprise, a large wave rolled under the dock i was on, lifting the dock high into the air. I spread my feet to maintain my balance. The dock fell back down, sinking under the waves. I was annoyed that i had gotten wet, but i felt that it would not matter much if my clothes got wet. What annoyed me was that i was still carrying my bags with me. I did not want to get my items wet or they would be ruined. I now seemed to be on a dock that extended from the southern shore. I had to walk back to the northern shore to leave, and i started across the water. I then wondered how i had walked across the water to begin with.

I moved to the checkout counter in the old grocery store as the people talked about acting. The younger people were talking about which people should be acting as what, and i paced a little in the checkout line. The dull-green checkout counter was to the northwest of me, and it was cluttered with items and shelf displays. Everything here seemed old and run down. A large woman in a light shirt and white apron was ringing through the items. She had black hair and a wide face. She told me the times that things would happen, and then told me the prices of the minutes. She seemed to be telling me that things would happen at a certain time, and, if i was late, i would be charged a certain amount per minute. It did not make sense, and i could not understand the prices that she had stated. I tried to figure it out, but simply headed to the south instead. I did not want to be here.

12008 August 04

I moved through the snowy forest with the others, heading to the northeast. We had been on one of these trails before, and i felt that there was still someone out in the forest that we should find. I walked up to the man who was standing there. I did not feel concerned for the people that were still wandering in the woods. It seemed that it was intentional that they might be lost. I passed the man and continued down the corridor to the north. The old white hall seemed to be part of $P7, and i was aware of people to the east in some of the room. I turned to the west, heading through one of the larger rooms, and came to the door of the small cabin, which seemed to be entirely within the room. I waited at the door, feeling that it would be disrespectful to enter. The woman walked up to me from the south. I realized that she had brought another woman with her. The other woman had been saved from the forest, and i thought that this probably should not have been done. I knew that the man in charge would not approve of the new woman. I turned back to the east to face the old wooden door of the boat cabin. The boat was painted white, but seemed to be run down. The thin boards of the cabin walls seemed to have several coats of white paint on them, making them look maintained but out of date. Finally, an older woman opened the door for us. There were four of us now: the man, the woman, and myself, who had all been working for the man in charge before, plus the new woman. I followed the other man into the cabin, carrying a bottle of champagne in my hands. It was an offering for the man in charge. He seemed like a mob figure, and i had to show respect to him. The older woman, who had let us in the door, looked over the new woman as she walked in. She did not seem pleased to see her. The older woman then turned to the east and let the other man and i to the man in charge. The man in charge was sitting on the eastern end of a small empty room. The room had bare white walls and blue carpeting. He stood up as we entered and greeted us with a smile, looking over the bottles of alcohol that we had brought. As he looked that the other man’s bottle of red wine, i looked at the label on my bottle. It was a white label with red letters. The label was covered with text describing the champagne that was in it. I recognized part of the name of the champagne. I then looked at the top of the bottle, noticing the typical bulge of a champagne cork under the white plastic wrapping. The man in charge was to the northwest of me, talking to the other man, but he turned to me and looked at the bottle that i had brought. I remembered that i had brought the same bottle before, so it felt a little awkward bringing the same champagne again. The man in charge walked around me, saying that i should open the bottle that i had brought. He had chosen my gift as the better offering. I pulled the white plastic off of the bottle and looked at the red plastic top. It seemed to have a small short spout in the center, but i knew that it was part of the opening mechanism. I pointed the bottle to the east, but realized that there was a window there, so i turned it up to face the ceiling. I was trying to get the cork out, knowing that it would pop out from the pressure of the champagne, but i could not figure out how to open the red cap. I had not seen this kind of top on a bottle of champagne before. I fooled around with the bottle for a moment before turning back to the west and pacing to the center of the room. I realized that there was a woman sitting in a chair in the center of the western side of the room. The room was wide and bare of furnishings, except for the wide cushioned chair on which the woman sat. This must have been the new woman, and she was waiting to be judged by the man in charge. I moved to the western end of the room, just to the south of her. I then felt that i was the woman that had brought her here. I felt that i would be held accountable for the new woman’s actions, and i started to feel uneasy. I had to do something, so i looked up at the old ceiling. There were spots of chipped paint on the ceiling, and i was now very close to it. I lifted my feet and placed them on the ceiling. This was a hard trick to do, but i knew that i should be able to do it. I walked slowly to the west, toward the woman on the bench. I had to focus on the ceiling, trying to keep my feet pressed against it. It would appear that i was able to walk on the ceiling, and i knew that the man in charge would be impressed by this. I turned around, thinking that there was some mindset that i could take where i would simply be able to walk on the ceiling as if i was weighted to it. I could feel the lightness of my feet still on the white surface, so i lied down on the ceiling. It would look more amusing to the man in change, who seemed to be watching from the east. I rolled along the ceiling, acting as though i was doing some kind of dance. I then looked up at my feet again, noticing that they felt more weight on the ceiling. I must have been focusing correctly and allowing my weight to fall upward. The man would be amused with what i could do and want to keep me. I then walked to the east again, thinking about the man in charge. I did not feel comfortable with him, and felt that he was some kind of mobster or bad guy. I walked across the beach, which seemed to be on the top of a roof. The man in charge had buried the evidence of the dead bodies in the sand here, but no one really knew about them. I looked at the people who were playing in the waves. They all played along with the bad guy’s world, but i did not want to be a part of this. I then noticed the older woman standing in the middle of the sand, to the west of me. She was holding the leash of her small dog as the dog dug into the sand. I felt that she was the mother of the man in charge. She was digging in the sand, and i thought that she might actually find the evidence that was hidden here. I hoped that she did, because it would expose the bad things that the man had done. I walked around the older woman, heading to the southwest, to the edge of the water, which now seemed to be the edge of the roof. The dog continued to dig through the snow piled on the roof. I leaned in to the large snow pile that was against the southern edge of the roof. I knew that there was stuff buried here and that exposing it would cause the man in charge a lot of discredit. I dug my hands into the snow bank, trying to separate the top chunk of snow from the rest. I lifted the large snow bolder, noticing the square silver object inside. The older woman was looking over my left shoulder, and she pointed out the watch that was in the snow. She seemed confused, wondering why there would be something like that in the snow. She had thought that everything here was just garbage. I pulled the watch out of the snow and looked at some of the other things. I lifted the large snow boulder, letting the sun shine through it so that i could see what it contained. There were several other digital items in it. I then put it down and dug my hands into the bank. A large chunk of snow dislodged and fell over the edge of the roof. I was standing on the western part of the roof when it broke free. I watched it fall down the southern side of the building and land on the old black car that was parked below. The people on the roof gasped in distress as they saw the ice fall on the car. I knew that the debris in the snow would now be discovered, and the man in charge would have to explain some of the things that he had done.

12008 August 05

I moved a little to the west, down the corridor outside the classroom. The test scores had been posted on the wall, and i was trying to see what i had gotten. There was a list of names on the sheet, and i found my first name there. I then looked to the southeast, where a woman was walking back with a test paper in her hand. She was shorter than i and slightly fat, with long light-blond hair. She was obviously disappointed as she held her test paper close to her chest. I noticed the grade on the back of her paper. It was only average. I knew that she was one of the better students, so it was strange that she got such an average grade. I felt nervous about my test and looked at the piece of paper that was hanging on the wall to the south of me. It sayed that i had gotten an E on my paper. I felt concerned about this. I felt that i had done much better on my paper. I looked at the white paper again. It showed my name, but i wondered if i was the only person with that name on the list. The stack of papers to the left had grades on the back of them in large red letters that were circled with red ink. The stack was organized by grade, and the paper to the right had a list of students by name with their associated grade. I was supposed to look up my name on the list and find my grade so that i could search through the tests to find my paper. I felt a little confused as i looked through the paper. The grade i saw for myself did not seem right, and i thought that i must have been looking at someone else’s paper. People moved around me, getting their test papers. I started walking to the north. The corridor around me seemed to be open, as if part of it was a room. The walls and floor were made of polished wood. It seemed old, but well kept up. The eastern side of the room opened into an oddly shaped section, with multiple levels of floor, rising to the east. The corridor ran along the western wall, exiting the room to the north. I started to the north, saying something to $A119. He was hurrying out of the building, and i was following him. I felt as though i was back in this place after a very long time. It seemed strange to be here. He was already walking down the corridor to the north of me. I stepped down the dirt slope that was still in the room, but outside, between some of the small stone houses of the campus. I asked $A119 if he was heading back to the house. He sayed that he was going to the apartment, and i realized that he was staying in a room in a building that was owned by someone else. He was simply staying there while she was away. I knew that she was someone famous, like a movie star. It felt exciting to know that $A119 was secretly staying in her house. I hopped over the cement stairs that descended down the northern side of the hill, aware that i was wearing a long-sleeve black T-shirt under my wool peacoat. The jacket seemed to have short sleeves, so that i could see the ruffled sleeves of my shirt. There was something attractive in the way the shirt looked under the jacket, and i realized that many of my long-sleeve T-shirts looked good under my vests. I then wondered why all of them did not. I thought that the older ones, like my white one, must simply be dirty or out of style. I looked to the north to see $A119 hurrying down the stairs to the west. I hopped over the stairs and reached the sidewalk on the western side of the street. I started to the south, moving down the street. I knew that we were heading north overall, but we had to head south for a moment. $A119 turned to the west at the corner ahead. I could tell that there was a strong wind blowing around the corner. I thought that i should fly on the strong wind as i had done in the past. I stepped into the intersection suddenly, letting the wind blow on me. I opened my arms and lifted swiftly into the air. I was aware of the people watching me from the north, and i made a whoop of sudden excitement, unaware that the wind would lift me so high so quickly. I then descended, landing on the brick street. The street continued down the hill to the west of me, and i started after. The people to the north would be interested in how i had flown up in the wind, but i could not tell them. I thought about the wind at the corner. My mother printed out the document, but i had gotten in the way when i was floating in the wind. I looked at the white sheet of paper as it came out of the printer. The bottom part of the paper was fine, but the top part had a picture of the wizard’s hat on the left side. This had to do with the blowing wind. My mother put the white paper on top of the others, but i told her that she should print out the correct paper. The second page of the document also did not print out. My mother did not feel like dealing with the problem, but i told her to go back to the screen where the document was. I looked at the large computer monitor in front of me. As the page came up, i noticed the magic cone-shaped floppy hat on top of it. The page rippled suddenly as the wind blew from behind it. The wind flying i had done was trapped in the paper now. I looked at the long menu on the side of the screen, trying to figure out how to print the page again. I just had to print out the document without being in the way, and it should work. I could not figure out the menu, though, because i was not familiar with this type of computer. I asked my mother where the print function was.

12008 August 06

I stepped out the door of the small factory and started to the south, where my car was parked. There was a wooden ramp running to the south, along the face of the building, which originally seemed to have been an old house. It was dark out, and it seemed to be winter, even there did not seem to be any snow on the ground. I followed the ramp until it ended in the larger parking lot to the south. I looked down the rows of cars, but i did not see my car where i thought that it should be. I then remembered that i had driven my car around the parking lot and started back out before i had parked. I looked back to the north, noticing that there were cars parked all along the eastern side of the long driveway that went back to the road. I then looked to the south again, trying to find my car in the small lot. I thought that i recognized it in the center of the lot, facing west. I could only see the back of the black car. There were several other cars moving in and out of the lot because the factory workers were changing shifts. I turned back and started to the north. I was still on the walkway, so i ducked under the yellow metal railing that ran along the eastern side of the path. I was aware that there were two people watching me from the north, on the path, and i wondered whether they would mind that i was jumping over the railing to get to the parking lot. I then remembered that i had gotten onto the ramp this way when i came into the factory. I looked down the line of cars on the eastern side of the parking lot. There was a black car that had a back end i seemed to recognize, but i did not actually think it was mine. I felt confused, wondering where my car was. I turned back to the south and looked across the parking lot. I was standing near the cars on the eastern side of the lot. There was someone to the south of me, just getting out of his car on the eastern side of the yard. I then noticed the tan truck driving around the southern side of the lot. It looked rather beat up and seemed high off the ground. I could hear loud music coming from the cab, and i thought that the man driving it was rather rowdy. I felt cautious of the truck. The truck came around the corner on the eastern side of the lot and turned north, heading toward me. I wondered if he would run into the cars in the lot, and i suddenly hoped that he did not run into mine. The driver of the truck stopped near the man who had just gotten out of his car and said something to him in a loud voice. I tried to ignore the man in the truck, knowing that it would be best not to aggravate him. I walked cautiously to the south, approaching the truck as i looked for my car. I then stopped as the truck started moving again. I watched it roll past me, continuing to the north. There was something threatening about it. I now seemed to be under a parking garage, and there was a cement wall in front of the cars on the eastern side of the lot. I felt concerned about being here, as though i did not quite belong here. I turned back to the north and walked across the large open white room. The room was plain, with no furnishings. I felt as though i was in a dangerous place. There was a group running this place that i had to be very cautious of. The man in charge was sitting in a cushioned chair on the eastern side of the white room. He was speaking to the woman in the chair next to him. She seemed to be his daughter, and she looked middle aged. Both chairs were on the southern side of the room, facing the center. I thought about a friend of mine, who seemed to be related to the man in charge. The man then started talking about his wife, whom he had not seen in a very long time. He had lost track of her. He mentioned several details about his son’s life, and then said that they had gone away a long time ago. I knew that the details the man was describing were the same details that i had been told by my friend a few days earlier. I told the man that i knew someone who had gone through the same things as he was describing, and said that his name was Brian. The man recognized the name and took sudden interest in me. I said that Brian was a friend of mine and that he had been with his mother for a long time. The man seemed sentimental and interested in seeing his son again. I felt that this was a heart-warming moment in the plot, and i knew that the man now favoured me. I said that the Brian that i knew might not be the same Brian that he was looking for, but the details of his life were the same. I then thought about mentioning Brian’s jewish mother, but decided that those details were not necessary. I pictured her in her curly white hair and red shawl. I wandered to the north a little, wondering if the skinny young woman here might also be the man’s daughter. I then realized that he could not have another missing wife that no one knew about unless all of the siblings were not directly related. Maybe they only had the same father but different mothers. I walked to the south, across the next room of the house. I felt better now, thinking that the man valued my presence here. I still felt a little uncomfortable in this house, however, because i knew that the man in charge was very strict and ran everything closely. It felt dangerous here, but i did not feel that i could really go anywhere else at present.

The woman left my office through the door in the eastern end of the southern wall. I looked around at the white walls of the new clean office and wondered what i should do. I felt that i had worked here before, but now i had been rehired. This time, i was in charge. I moved around the office, but i was not quite sure what i was supposed to do. I did not want to just fool around in the office until i figured out what should be done. I was aware of a secretary sitting outside of my office, to the southwest. I could see her through the glass window near my door. I felt anxious and needed to do something. I did not want to sit at my computer and pretend to do busy work when i could be doing something for the job. I started to the west, but decided that i should go to the mailroom and see if i have any mail. It seemed like it had been a while since i had checked my mail in this building, so i thought that i must have some. I opened the door and started out of the office, but i remembered that $X14 was still in the room. I looked back, seeing that $X14 was still sitting on the floor. I then noticed that one of the windows in the northern wall was open. I wondered if the cat would jump up to the window and try to get out. I thought that it would be able to jump out the window and onto the roof of the lower level of the building, but i decided that i was not going to worry about it. I closed the door and headed down the hall to the east. The building looked very modern. I stopped at the eastern end of the hall and stepped into the narrower hall to the north. It led to the west, parallel to the main hallway, but it seemed to turn north after only a little way. It could have been a corridor to the bathroom, but i knew that it did not lead to the mailroom. I stepped out and moved a little to the east, stepping through the door to the north. I came into an office with off-white walls and many small cubicles scattered around the larger room. There was a woman cleaning up something from one of the desks in the office. I knew that she might ask me if i needed help finding anything, and i did not want to have to answer her. I turned around and walked back out into the hall. I then remembered being in the new offices of $G15. I wondered if the other corridor, which ran to the west from the main corridor, actually ran to the new $G15 office. I remembered that their offices were in the center of a building, in an open space with a high ceiling. There were skylights in the ceiling, and the walls seemed to be detailed with dull red. I remembered the offices, but could not remember when i had been there. It seemed to have been in a dream. I remembered wandering past the cubicles in the center of the room, chatting to some of the people that i used to work with.

12008 August 07

The others said something as i stood at the western end of the bedroom. They were from $G3. There were bunk beds along the eastern wall, and a few sticking out from the northern wall. Mine was the bottom bed of the second bunk bed from the eastern wall. It was covered with a green and yellow striped spread, with a stack of dull-yellow or off-white sheets on the eastern side, toward the northern end. Several other people were in the beds around the room. They were talking to each other. $A495 was lying on the northern most bed against the eastern wall. I noticed that the levels of the beds did not quite line up. The bed above him was shifted to the north slightly. The next bunk bed to the south also had the top shifted a little, so that the top bunk was almost over the edge of where $A495 was sleeping. The man on the top bunk, who seemed to be $A24, made a joke about pouring something over the side of the bed and onto $A495. $A495 sat up and smiled at the joke, talking back to the other man. It seemed strange to be back here again, and i wondered why i had come. I looked at the sheets on my bed again, thinking that i should set them up. My mother then said something from the southern wall. She was with some of the others of my family near the long table that ran along the southern wall. I was now in the kitchen of a house. I seemed to have left the place where i was to come back here for a moment. I thought about how i had packed the car to make the trip. A woman at the table then asked me how i could afford to go back to that place. I realized that i was not making much money. I realized that going back to $P19 would mean that i would have to pay rent for an entire year. I thought about the bed that i had left made in the dormitory. My mother was moving around in a small pantry in the southern wall. I told her that i would have to pay rent for the entire year. I then realized that i had not payed for it yet. I knew that $G3 would only charge me for the months that i stayed with them, but they had not yet charged me for the time that i had stayed. I knew that i would pay them, but it felt strange not to. I wandered to the east, out onto the rounded balcony of the building. It was night, and there seemed to be a lake to the east of the house, quite a way below. I looked at the thin shellacked boards on the deck of the balcony. They ran north to south and reflected the moonlight. It felt strange to be back in this place. I turned around and headed to the west, down the narrow corridor on the southern side of the building. This place had something to do with $P7. There were several young children moving around. I came to the end of the corridor. There was a doorway to the north, and i stepped through. Another man that was my age stood near the doorway. He was watching over the children as they got ready in the large room, which seemed like a locker room. I talked to him for a moment, joking about something. The children were fooling around, and i felt a little out of place here with them. I seemed to be too old to be here. I then realized that i had to use a toilet. There seemed to be one to the west, at the end of the corridor, but i knew that the younger children would be using it. The children were joking about something, and i knew that we should probably stop them, but it seemed like harmless fun, so i did not say anything. I then noticed a man coming from the east, down the corridor. He seemed to be $A105. I quickly stepped into the larger room, pretending that i did not see him. I did not feel like i belonged here, and did not want to talk to him. One of the younger boys saw him, though, and announced his presence to the room. The other older man with me called everyone to attention, and all the boys turned toward the door, their bodies stiff and their arms at their sides. I turned to the door too, thinking that we should be saluting, but i held my arms to my sides as all the others did.

12008 August 08

We walked to the north, across the dark parking lot. I was with my parents and a few other people. We were heading out to dinner, but i felt a little uncertain about it. I did not feel well, and thought that i might be sick. $F45 seemed to be with us as we paused in the middle of the parking lot. My mother asked me which restaurant i wanted to go to. I did not really want to choose between them. One of the restaurants was a small building on the northern side of the western end of the lot. It was lighted around the sides but still seemed dark. There seemed to be dark-red awnings around the width of the building, covering the long windows. Its name was a single word, starting with a T and having three or four syllables. I chose that restaurant over the other one, thought i did not really care. My mother mentioned that we were going out for my birthday dinner. I looked to the northeast, where the other restaurant was. My father had already started to walk toward it. My mother called to him, saying that we were going to the other restaurant, which she called by name. We could go to the restaurant to the east for desert. The restaurant to the east seemed to be in a bluish-gray house with wood siding. It was multiple stories, but the restaurant was only in the bottom story. The building was facing east, so i could only see the side of the house, which faced south. My father turned around and headed back toward us, and we turned and walked into the restaurant. I felt distant here, as though some thing was preoccupying me. I walked to the west, through the dimly lighted interior of the restaurant. There were red and wood booths along the northern wall, which was an interior wall in the center of the larger room. A man sat on the eastern side of the first booth, playing with some wood crafts on the table. Everyone here was doing arts and crafts. It was part of the reason that people came to this restaurant for special celebrations. To the southwest, in a booth against the southern wall, more people were building things on their table. I felt interested in doing these things, but i was not having fun here.

I woke up and looked to the north. There was a thunderstorm outside, and i could hear the rumbling. The bedroom seemed to be light bluish gray, with light-blue bedspreads on the two full beds that were against the western wall. The ceiling seemed rather high, but the top part of the northern wall slanted inward, as if in line with the roof. There was a window in the top part of the wall, and i could see dark clouds outside. $F14 was sitting on the southernmost bed. This seemed to be her house, and $F45 and i were visiting. We had been sleeping in the northernmost bed. $F14 seemed lost in a trance. I then saw a flash of lightning from the windows. I expected to hear the thunder in a moment, but i realized that the lightning kept flashing. I backed into the room so that i could get a better look at the storm. There was a bolt of lightning coming down from the gray clouds in the window. The bolt kept flashing in a continuous stream. I was surprised that a storm would do that. I then noticed that there were three thin tubes of clouds reaching down toward the ground from the cloud. They were all discharging lightning along the narrow tubes. I was amazed at the sight, and told the others in the room. $F14 now seemed to be $F18. I told her to come look at the storm, saying how unbelievable it was, but she just stared blankly at me, appearing more depressed or distressed than interested. I looked again an the lightning, watching the three flashing bolts slowly rotate around each other as they flashed to the ground. The bolts finally stopped, and i wondered if we should consider heading to the lower floor of the house. I thought that it might be dangerous to stay on the second floor. I turned to the west and headed toward the door on the southern end of the western wall. I came downstairs and looked to the north. The back door of the house was still open, so i moved to close it. There seemed to be another cement structure just outside the back door, and i could see the southeastern corner of it just to the north of the door. As i reached it, i noticed that the doors to the garage, which was attached to the western side of the house, were also open. I pulled the blue metal back door of the house closed, and then turned to the west and walked through the open doorway, into the large garage. The garage was cement and seemed to be stained with oil and grime. It looked as though it had been part of a service station. There were several blue metal doors in the northern wall, all of which were open. I went to pull a few of them closed, hoping to seal up the house. One of them seemed to be a roll-down door, so i left it for now as i walked along the northern side of the building, checking the rest of the doors. I stepped into a blue metal doorway to the west, realizing that there was no door in the doorway to close. Part of this building would always have to remain open. To the west, several other people were moving around on the northern side of what appeared to be a service station. A man looked up at me as i walked along the garage of the house. The large doorway near me did not have a door, and could not be secured. I looked to the south, into the room, noticing that it was a tall bare cement corridor that ran the length of the building. The southern end of the large room was also open to the outside, and i decided that this was simply an exterior corridor where stuff had been stored when this place was a service station. I started to the west, heading across the dirt, toward the busy shops. I tipped my toes down, floating faster over the dry dusty ground. I realized that it might look strange to the people from the shops, who seemed to be fearful country people. I stopped near the shops and turned around, flying back to the house, my feet under me and my toes pointed down toward the soil. I realized that it would seem that i had jets on the bottoms of my feet. I thought of Iron Man, who had jets in his hands and feet. I turned my hands behind me as i started moving faster to the east. There was an open area between the two buildings, and the area to the south of me seemed to be an empty yard with dry brown weeds in it. The men from the car shop to the west would know that i did not have jets in my hands and feet because they would have heard the rumbling of the thrust. They could see me flying and should know that i was doing it without the help of jets. I was aware of someone to the north of me, in the wide open field to the north. I then heard an announcement from the shops to the west. The announcer was talking about the shows that would be performed at the shops, which now seemed to be table shops at a fair or rodeo. The announcer talked about the man who would do pushups as part of his act. I turned around and flew to the west to see if i could see this man. I then thought that this was a silly idea and turned back to the house. I saw the man in the blue denim pants and white shirt standing near the shops as i turned around. As i landed near the house again, i remembered about the storm and looked to the north to see if there was any more lightning. The sky was quiet, but it was covered with dark-gray clouds. I wondered when the storm would reach us and whether the lightning would be dangerous. It was strange that the lightning came down in multiple bolts at the same time, lasting so long. I wondered if there was something not natural about the event. Maybe it was produced by a machine in the clouds.

12008 August 09

I rode my bicycle across the small parking lots on the southern side of the road. I was heading east, crossing from one lot to the next. As i reached the western end of the area, i looked to the north, noticing that there was a sidewalk running just down the slope of a short grassy hill from me. I remembered riding near the sidewalk a few lots to the east. I had not realized that it ran to the west and thought that i could have taken it, but realized that it went too far to the west. I was about to turn to the south and head across the main road. I was in a small parking lot just to the east of a small restaurant, which was shaped like a Pizza Hut, but which i thought was a McDonald’s. Normally, i would turn south and head down the parking lot to the road, but i was interested in where the sidewalk went. I rode to the northwestern corner of the parking lot to get a better look at where the path went. The cement sidewalk ran to the north of the building, ending on the small road, ran from the main road up the western side of the building. I moved to the north a little and noticed that there was actually a sidewalk running down the western side of the building, over a thin grassy lawn. It would be easier to have followed the sidewalk all the way from the east. I carefully rode my bicycle down the shallow grassy slope to the north of the building, heading northwest to the sidewalk. I got on the sidewalk and followed it to the south, to the edge of the busy road. To the south of me seemed to be the entrance to $P121. I crossed the road, but realized that there was a deep drainage trench on the other side that was filled with water and reeds. There did not seem to be a sidewalk there for me to ride on. I moved to the south a little, along the narrow drive, but only found more water canals running parallel to the first. I would have to get my feet went in order to take my bicycle across them to the strip of grass where i could ride. I paused for a moment, looking at the parallel trenches of water. They turned at a right angle at the northwestern corner of the area, which was near the top of a short grassy hill. There was a building on the inside of the canals. The building had open sides and a wide roof, looking very much like a public outdoor market. Many people crowed around the tables or water tanks inside. I felt that it was some kind of research center that people were touring. I walked into the pale-gray room on the western side of the building. This place seemed to be a research lab, with shelves on both the northern and southern walls, and a large metal door to the east, which seemed to be a walk-in freezer. Several people moved around on the eastern side of the room before leaving through a door in the eastern of end of the northern wall. This place seemed like a shed, and i was looking for something on the shelves here that would help me cross the water channels with my bicycle. I picked up a few things from the wooden shelves in the lab, backing to the west as i took them. I felt that i should not be taking these things, but i knew that no one from the lab would notice. I grabbed the old wooden loop-handle pitchfork and placed it near me, leaning it against the southern wall as i placed the rubber boots down on the ground in front of me. I was going to take the boots so that i could walk through the water. I had already taken my sneakers off, and i decided that i had done it when i reached the water channel outside. I would have to clip my sneakers to the bicycle so that i could wear the boots. I put down my heavy blue jacket, thinking that i would have to find a place to clip it to the bicycle as well. I then realized that i could not carry the rake with me, so i decided that i should forget about it. I looked at the green rubber boots, thinking that they were actually too small for me. I did not think that i would be able to wear them, so i put them back on the lower shelf, which was to the south of me. I was now standing on the porch of the old wooden shed, and there were shelves on the western wall of the building, under the overhanging roof of the shed. A woman was then standing in the room of the lab to the east of me. She was oriental, with long straight black hair. She was wearing a white lab coat. She seemed snotty with me and asked me where my identification was. She said that this building was $P52 property and wanted to know what i was doing here. I knew that i had an ID from $P52, so i acted casually as i reached into my pocket for my wallet. I was surprised to find that my pocket was empty, and i felt suddenly concerned. I told the woman that my wallet was not in my pocket. She was still stern with me. I hoped that it did not fall out while i was riding my bicycle. I told the woman that i had to check my things and crouched down to check through my backpack. I unzipped the front pocket of my backpack and started to sort through it. By thick blue winter jacket was stuffed into the backpack, but i looked around it. I found my red wallet and pulled it out. I handed the woman my ID card as i stood back up. I suddenly realized that i was wearing on of the green boots, and i wondered how it had gotten on my foot. I did not remember putting it on. The woman seemed satisfied with the ID, though she was still strict with me. Others from the lab had gathered in the room near the woman. I wondered why i had put the boots on, and i through about bicycling up the hill. I was heading to the southeast, up the steep slope of the city hill. I thought that if i headed to the south of the street that the lab was on, then i could turn east on the street that ran across and up the side of the hill. It would be a much shallower climb if i went this way. Other people would usually head straight up the road to the east, which went steeply up the face of the hill. Someone was discussing this street. They called it University Drive and said that the top of the road was actually much higher than most people thought. I turned to the east and started down the hallway of the hospital. The other man started talking to me. He was to the south of me, wearing green scrubs. He had long curly blond hair that hung over his shoulders. He held his head down as he spoke, wandering around nervously. I knew that he was my new roommate in the hospital. He was the nervous one. He said a few uncertain things as he wandered to the south of me and then to the west, walking into a room on the western side of a wide corridor that ran to the south from the main corridor we were on. I turned back to the east and headed toward our room. Another man appeared from the south. He walked to the east of me. He also seemed to be nervous and uneasy. He was my other roommate, but i felt that his personality was not correct. There was supposed to be only one flaky person in my room. I then realized that they had probably made him flaky as well because it would be funnier in the sitcom. I had seen a movie about the three people in this room, and they seemed more serious that the people i was running into, but i realized that this version i was in was a television comedy, so things were not as serious. The man in the white lab coat crossed to the north and walked into our room. The plot could be funnier if a serious man came into the room by accident and the man in white mistook him for our third roommate. The serious man should be very serious, and i thought that he should look like an ex-marine. It would make his interactions with the nervous man funnier when everyone realized that the real third roommate was the quirky man in the green scrubs. I thought about University Drive and how the top was much farther up the hill that people realized. Most people thought it stopped at the university, but i knew that it actually went farther up the tall hill. I looked out the window to the north, watching the hospital pass by. I was riding on the bus, and the women behind me were talking about the end of University Drive. They mentioned that the hospital had built a new administration building at the top of the hill. One of them described it as a decorative building, and i spotted the house-like wooden structure that seemed to be covered with brightly painted carved detailing on the peaks and porch railings, like a gingerbread house. I looked back at the women. They were both fat, with long frizzy blond hair. They seemed ugly as they commented to each other on the new area at the top of the hill. I looked back out the window, to the northeast. The bus was following the road as it wound counterclockwise around the top of the hill, climbing slightly as it went. I looked to the south, down the face of the tall hill. The valley below seemed to be hidden in smog, but i knew that we were in California and that i should be able to see the ocean far below. I could only see the slope of the hill running down into the valley, with a narrow conical mound on the western side of my view. The outcropping mount stuck up from the steep face of the hill. I looked back to the northeast, noticing the tall thin rock structures on the side of the hill. There seemed to be taller mountains surrounding us on the north and east, but we were on the top of a rounded mountain. The tall rock structures were made of dark rock, which seemed to be volcanic stone. The stones were held together with some kind of black mortar, and i could see periodic patches of lighter stone in the structures. The structures looked like thick fins sticking up around the eastern and northern sides of the hilltop, forming a quarter circle around the central administrative building. As i looked at the dark structures, i realized that they were buildings. They looked like tall thin row houses, but they stood with a lot of space around them. I pointed them out to the others on the bus, noting that i liked the design of them. I could not see them now because we were passing close to one and it was filling the window of the bus. The other person asked what buildings i was talking about, and i pointed out the tall thin buildings that circled the crest of the hill. We were turning to the north, passing along the western side of one of the tall buildings. The others looked at it, but my attention was drawn to the northeast. We had passed out of the circle of buildings and i noticed several other nice buildings in the area. There was a gothic mansion made of dark-red stone to the northeast. It seemed to be part of the hospital complex, but it was fairly new. The bus continued to the north, entering a narrow street between tall older city-like buildings. The neighbourhood seemed dirtier, but i noticed a fancy building to the east. It was between two larger buildings, but it had an intricately carved dragon on the roof. As we passed, i noticed that the dark-yellow and brown stone on the roof was carved into many east-asian designs. The bottom face of the building was plain and seemed to be made of bare cinderblock, and i realized that we were looking at the back of the building. The front was on the other street to the east. The bus continued up the hill, through the old neighbourhood, and i realized that this tour was taking us to more than just the hospital area. It was showing us the beauty of the area around it. I remembered that $K3 used to live in this area, and i though about her old house as i moved up the steep hill of the road, heading to the east. The old house was on the southern side of the road. I was actually heading to $K3’s new house, but i stopped at the old house, even thought other people were living here. I had to stop in this house for some reason. I remembered that i had not been here since $K1 had died. I remembered her in the room on the northern side of the hospital corridor. She had suddenly collapsed there, and then she was dead. I had gone to the old house then, even though $K1 had just moved to their new house. I was in the old house now, and i had just come out of the shower. I felt nervous here, knowing that someone else owned it. I quickly got my things together, but i could hear someone else in the house, and i realized that the owners were back. I quickly gathered my things on the eastern side of the bathroom. I picked several things up from the counters against the northern wall, which was just to the east of the exit door. I had to leave the house, so i carefully opened the door to the bathroom and started out. There was a woman to the north of me, across the wide hall of the house. The bedroom was to the north, open to the main hallway. The woman stopped when she saw me, and i apologized, saying that i thought that she would know that i was supposed to be her. I was going to say that her husband had known that i was here, but she said that it was all right. She said that she had forgotten that i would be here. I did not understand what she was talking about, but i quickly headed toward her so that i could head down the stairs that ran along the northern wall of the wide white hall. I headed down the stairs as the woman watched. I tried to act upset with her to give me an excuse to leave quickly, as though i was embarrassed. As i reached the bottom of the stairs on the eastern end of the hall, i turned around and started down the wide red stairs in the center of the hall. The hall was open to the upper floor, and the woman ran to the railing and called to me. I paused at the top of the lower set of stairs as she said something. She was hesitant in her words, but she asked me to say hello to mother. I realized that she though i was related to her and her mother. I nodded in acknowledgement and hurried down the stairs, looking down at the stairs as i went. I had to get out of here quickly. At the bottom of the stairs, i opened the door and ran into the kitchen, to the south of the hall. My father was waiting there. I told him that we had to go. He sayed okay, but started to the door on the north, heading out into he hall saying that he wanted to use the bathroom first. I grabbed him and pulled him back into kitchen, telling him that we could not go back into the house. We had to leave now. I grabbed the last of my things from the kitchen, but noticed that i did not have my denim jacket with me. I wondered if i had brought it here. I pushed my father to the west, toward the exit door, trying to get out before the woman came down. I hoped that i had everything because i knew that i could not come back to the house to get it.

12008 August 10

I followed my family to the east, across the road and down the walkway, toward the large cement building. We walked up the wooden stairs at the front of the old factory. The stairs inside the building ascended along the western wall of the cement room and then turned to head up the southern wall. We stopped in the large room at the center of the building. My grandmother was in a chair to the south of me. The room looked vacant, and the walls and floor were cement. I then noticed flames and smoke flickering past the window in the northern wall. I remembered that my father had started a fire with the stack of dry wood by the northwestern corner of the building. I looked at the crude stack on the bare ground near the building as i walked up the wooden stairs, which seemed to be painted yellow. As i approached the window in the room, i wondered if my father had created a larger fire than normal. From the size of the flames, i thought that he must have stacked a lot more wood on the pile before he started the fire. I went to the exit door on the western side of the building, the door that we had come in on, to see how big the fire really was. As i opened the door, i realized that the stairs that had led up to the door were now burned to charcoal. They had fallen to the ground, about four or five meters below. I could not see the fire to the north, but it seemed that it had burned away and started the grounds and building on fire. I backed into the building and closed the door. I knew that we would be safe from the fire in the cement building. I went to the east of the building to see if we could get out the back of the building. I opened the door and looked down the complicated set of stairs that led down the back of the building. We seemed to be a few stories from the ground here. There was another building just to the east, and the lot between the two buildings was filled with junk and weeds. There seemed to be a tall chain-link fence near the other building, and there seemed to be a few sumac trees growing through it. I noticed that some of the wood on the stairs below us was starting to burn. There were small yellow flames on the sides of the wood. We had to get out of the building before the stairs all burned away. I went back into the central room to tell my family what had happened. I wondered how safe we would be as the fire spread around the sides of the building. I looked out the window to the south now, noticing that the tree outside was bare, and the main truck seemed charred. I walked toward the window. There was a large knot in the center of the tree, where an old blanch had fallen off. The bark had started to grow around the knot, but the ring of growth was red on the western side. It must have been hot coals from the fire. I then noticed the black patch on the western edge of the old multi-pane glass window. The file was starting to come around the side of the building and was just reaching the window. I hoped that the glass did not crack from the heat stress. I told my relatives that we should leave, and i opened the back door of the building again to see how the stairs were. The top set of stairs had collapsed. I could see the yellow stairs at the bottom of the cement pit under me. We were now trapped in the building. The rest of the stair structure was still standing to the east, separate from the building, but we had no way to get to them. I turned around and headed back toward the building. I crossed the cement patio, which seemed crudely built on a balcony. I had to hurry before the fire came. I wondered what we should do.

I stopped on the northern side of the area as my family talked just to the south of me. My grandmother was ready to leave, but she mentioned the bus to me. I looked to the south, noticing that a large bus was pulling into the station. I confirmed with my parents that i would be taking the bus home while they stayed here, but then i realized that it would be a very long bus ride. I did not really want to go. I asked my parents why i would have to take the bus all the way back to $P3. My grandmother wanted to do something else, but my relatives did not seem to want her to. I felt suddenly bad for her. $K3 was there, and she seemed to be trying to get my grandmother to do something. My grandmother did not want to do it, and she was getting upset. I felt bad for her and wanted my relatives to stop bothering her.

12008 August 11

I walked into the large office of the building. This place seemed like my old office in $G6. I had not been here in a long time. I was uncomfortable here. I turned to the west and walked down the long corridor of the building. I had come from my cubical, which seemed to be in the center of the building, but i had wandered somewhere that i was unfamiliar with. I was trying to head back now, but i seemed to be confused about where i was. I knew that i had to get up to the second floor, but the corridors did not seem to lead to the right place. I had walked out the white metal fire door before without realizing that it would lock behind me. I reached a white metal fire door on the southern side of the wall and tried to open it, but i could not get it open. I did not yet have keys to open the correct doors in the building, since i just started here. People walked around me in the corridor of the old cinder-block building. I headed back to the east a little and then turned south down a narrower corridor, which seemed to pass just to the east of the stairwell. The western wall of the corridor widened near the center of the corridor, and there seemed to be kitchen racks standing in front of the wall, set into the recess made by the wider part of the corridor. I knew that there was a rarely used staircase at the back of the room. I walked over to the door, aware that people were watching me from the north. I reached the old metal door on the southern end of the eastern wall. The white paint on the door seemed old and discolored and was chipped near the round lock in the left-hand side of the door. The door was locked and would not open to the small elevator, which i knew would get me to the second floor. Frustrated, i turned back and came to the main corridor again. $A156 was standing in the corridor to the west, talking to someone else. I opened the door to the stairwell in the southern wall, but i knew that the stairwell did not lead to the second floor. It went past it to the roof. I wondered if i should simply go out of the building and walk around to the front door. I knew that if i came straight in the front door i could walk down the open office, between the cubicles, to my office. I moved around the building a little more, trying to figure out where i should go, but i was getting more and more frustrated.

I moved through the large white cement office building, which seemed like a factory. I was looking for my office here. This place seemed like $G6, and i was working for them again. I turned to the south and walked through the large open doors of the white cement building, which seem like garage doors. The room inside was wide and open, with very high ceilings. I walked over to the white cubical thing on the eastern side of the room. $A483 entered the room from the north, coming through the eastern-most garage door. I started to take some laundry from the washing machine that was to the north of me. I pulled out something olive-green, which seemed to be sheets. $A483 came up to me, as if she wanted to know what i was doing here. I sayed hello, and she told me that she had not recognized me. It had been a while since i worked here, and i told here that i was working here again. I unfolded the pale-green sheets, but the bear came from the west. I felt nervous of it, but it was part of the office environment. It started sniffing the left side of my face, and i tried to stay very still. $A483 ignored the bear as it nudged close to me. I started to feel nervous of the bear. I realized that being afraid of the bear might make the bear attack. I closed my eyes, waiting for the bear to move away from me, but it kept pressing its wet muzzle into the side of my neck. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to focus on something else. Something changed then, and i opened my eyes to see that i was standing in the middle of a field. The bear was still near me, but it was no longer threatening. Someone spoke to me as he walked to the east. I was facing north, looking out over the field. There seemed to be a low rounded mountain ridge across the northern horizon, and this place seemed like Canada or some other place far north. There were tall dense pine trees to the north. I spotted a small dark object in the sky to the north of me. I realized it was in a long line of spread out objects that were flying to the east. They were geese. I looked down at the grass of the field around me, noticing that it was flattened to the southwest, as if water had washed over it from the northeast. There was something pleasing about this place.

12008 August 12

I moved around in the grassy space between the small brown buildings, heading generally to the northeast. There were other people around me. This place seemed to be a campsite, with cabins all around. I turned to the south and walked to the edge of the field. There was a small open cabin or lean-to there where i had to get something. I had been staying here. The man behind me then said something, and i backed out of the cabin and looked up at the thick wooden log that ran across the top of the cabin. It was a horizontal beam running across the width of the small cabin, and there seemed to be bright blue and red lights flashing on it. I focused on the lights as someone announced that the laser display was starting. I sayed something to the man to the north of me, who might have been $Z, but could not see the lights on the cabin anymore. I backed away from the building, looking at the thick fog that was floating over our heads. It obscured the view of the top of the cabin, and i knew that we would be able to see the laser lights reflected in the cloud. I sayed this to $Z, but could not see any lights. It seemed to be some kind of special display. I moved to the north, into the center of the field, but i could not see where the lasers would be projected onto the fog over us. I knew that the fog was produced by machines especially for this show. To the west, i could see the lights of a projector scattering into the air around us, but, when i looked back up to the thick gray fog to the east of us, i could not see the laser display. I wondered if i was too far into the center of the cloud. The lights would only reflect off the front of the card. I felt that i had to get a good view of the lights, but became frustrated that i could not. I then started moving around in the center of the field. Something was happening to me. I started to feel strange, and realized that i was losing my vision. Everything was turning gray, and i felt that it was not because the fog that they were producing. I started to feel light and dizzy, and wondered if i was going into a trance caused by the mist in the air. I started to tingle all over, and i wondered if i was flying. It seemed that i was floating in the center of the field. I knew that this was a special thing to do, but i was unsure whether i was really floating or simply becoming entranced by the mist. I then woke up suddenly, and everything was very clear around me. I had been lying on a bed in the small bedroom. The spread on the bed was bright yellow, and there was someone standing to the west. I knew that i had not dreamed about the fog, and i wondered suddenly how i had gotten here. I must have passed out on the field, and i was suddenly concerned about how long i had been in this bedroom and how i had gotten here. I was then aware of music playing. It was “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights”, and i started singing to it.

12008 August 14

I moved to the south, along the eastern side of the long wooden table in the center of the room. This was a classroom, and i had come back here to study. I felt special here, and i knew that i was doing very well here. The teachers were on the western side of the room, and $A48 seemed to be standing just across the table from me. I knew that the teachers were proud of my performance here, and i felt good about being here. I looked down at the counter as i started to pass it. There were several old things on the counter, and i thought that i should probably throw some of them away. I looked through the fruit, noticing that some of the bananas were turning brown. I was going to throw them into the garbage, but then i realized that these were my grandmother’s things. I felt bad about throwing away things that were hers, so i thought that i should only throw out what was really bad. I hoped that she did not mind me throwing some things away. I looked at the fruit. The red round fruit seemed good, so i would keep that, but i would have to get rid of some of the old vegetation that was wilting in the center of the pile. There were also doughnuts in the pile. They were rippled and glazed. One of them looked like a cinnamon roll, and i wanted to take bite out of it before i threw it away. As i lifted it, i noticed that the side of the large doughnut had already been eaten. My grandmother must have eaten part of it. I turned it around to where it had not been eaten and took a bite out of it. I then threw the rest into the trash can.

I had just waked up and stepped out of the small orange tent. It was still misty out, and i was on a sandy beach near the large body of water. I felt refreshed here and looked around. The lake was to the south of me, and the sandy beach seemed to stretch east to west. The beach to the east seemed to curve to the north, around the side of the wide peninsula. $Z was with me. He walked to the north, up the slope of the wide beach. I turned to the north to follow him away from the foggy water. The fog seemed to be early-morning haze, though it did not seem to be very bright outside. The lake seemed to stretch out to the horizon, as if it was an ocean, but there were no waves rolling ashore. I started up the sandy hill, thinking that there was something special about this place. I thought that it would be possible to live forever by simply reappearing in the same place whenever the body died. When something happened to a person, they would simply reappear in a specified place and start their life over again. I wondered if this beach would be a good place to return to. I decided that it would not be a great idea to use this beach as a place to return to. This lake was inland, but i knew that the features of the land could change over time. The ocean would rise due to global warming, but this should not affect the lake level. However, in the distant future, the water levels could rise, and i would reappear under water. That would make it difficult to get out of the water and start living again, especially if ice had covered the surface of the water. I tried to think of someplace else i could always come back to. I thought that a city might be better, but i could not always trust development and decay in the area. I imagined that i could always reappear in my parents’ house. It was a place that would probably be maintained over the years. I would have to appear near the back door of the house, however, so that i could always leave quickly, without disturbing whoever was living in the house at the time. I then turned to the east, distracted by the water that was now pushing onto the land. A large wave had come in from the south and washed under the small orange pop tent. The tent had a blue bottom. The tent collapsed a little as the wave moved around it. I grabbed it and started to drag it farther up the sandy beach. The tide must have been coming in. I picked up my cell phone, which i had left on the sand in front of the tent. The wave washed over it, and i was annoyed that it was wet. I quickly dragged the tent up the sandy slope to the north, hoping that nothing got washed away. I started shaking out the cell phone, hoping that it still worked. At least the memory would not be lost if the battery were ruined. I shook it several times, watching small splashes of water drip out of it. I looked at the screen, but it was still black. The telephone was not working. I wondered why the waves were suddenly coming in from the lakeshore. I then realized that the water was still around my feet as i climbed up the hill. I turned back to the south, noticing that the water was following me up the slope. The water seemed glassy and thick as the wave started to ebb back down the hill. I noticed a hole in the sand to the southeast of me where a whirlpool was forming in the retreating water. I hoped that nothing got washed out of the tent. I did not want any of my clothing to go down the whirlpool. I would not be able to retrieve it from there like i could if it ended up on the beach. As the water drained entirely down the slope, i looked into the whirlpool, noticing that there were a few articles of clothing there. I leaned over, looking at the white underwear that was stuck at the top of the hole. It had black writing around the waistband and seemed to be more of a jockstrap than underwear. It was not mine. I stood back up and wondered where the holes in the sand had come from. They seemed strange. There was another indentation in the steep slope of sand to the west of me. It looked like a tube had been pressed into the soil. There was a hole near the western end of the indentation. I wondered suddenly whether someone had been buried here. It reminded me of the body cavities in Pompeii. I wondered if someone had been buried in the slope and had since decayed. The underwear might have been from the body. I did not remember the holes being here before. I looked around me at the various indentations and holes in the sand, wondering if they conformed to the shape of a human body. They seemed strange, and i felt concerned about them.

I walked up the steep bright-green grassy slope to the north. There seemed to be a large mansion at the top of the slope, to the north of me. The man in the formal dress, who seemed to be a servant, stood at the bottom of the hill. He spoke to $Z, who was still on the western side of the bottom of the narrow slope. The man then turned north and called to me, but i ignored him. I looked at the large round bush that was to the north of me. It was trimmed into a smooth dome shape so that its orange and red-tipped leaves stuck up like short flowers from a garden. I moved over the bush, noticing an indented seam running over the center of it, from north to south. My guitar was handing in the bushes on the western side of the crease. I reached for it, but then noticed the other guitar hanging on the eastern side of the bushes. The other guitar was an electric, and the head was painted the same colors as the bright orange bush. I grabbed the head of the guitar and pulled it out of the bushes. It was thin and had an elegant body design. I knew that the other one was a standard tan design. I was very interested in the new guitar, and tried to remember when i had bought it. I then noticed a black thing across the neck, right under the head. It seemed to be some kind of locking mechanism over the bridge, and there was a thin black pin sticking up in the center of it. I looked at the pin, deciding that it could be turned to tune something on the guitar. I picked up the guitar and started looking over its features. I was at the bottom of the grassy hill when i noticed that there were four large flat tuning knobs on the sides of the shiny red V-shaped guitar head. This was really a bass. I plucked the strings with my right hand, but noticed that they were very thin strings, like a guitar rather than a bass. I was disappointed, thinking that the instrument was really a four-string guitar and not a bass. Looking at the head again, though, i noticed that there were thick black frets just below the head. There also seemed to be shallow arching fins just under the strings right below the head. The neck of the guitar also seemed to be very long, like a bass. I played the lower strings of the guitar, noticing that they had a very low sound. I wondered if this was some combination of a guitar and a bass. I plucked the lower string, but could not figure out what octave it was. I then decided that i should pluck the lower string on the acoustic guitar which was now resting near my feet, on the floor, just to the west of me. I reached down to pluck the bass string on the acoustic guitar, noticing that it was a very thick bronze cable. There was a piece of the string that was frayed in the center, and i wondered if it would break. I plucked it, and it sounded rather low, but the strings on the red guitar sounded lower. I looked up, noticing that i was in a record store. There was a table to the west of me. I was then distracted by the man who walked into the room from the door in the southern wall. The door was wooden and had a glass window on the top half. The man was very important, and i was aware of him as he walked to the western side of the room, near the racks displaying phonographs. I stood up now, looking around the room at what was going on. Several other people walked through the door in the southern wall. The Beatles were coming out of the studio on the other side. They seemed much younger, and they had just finished a conference with someone in the other room. I fooled around with the bass as i watched the people walking by. I thought that i would take this instrument traveling with me because it was light and well designed. I then noticed John and Yoko coming out of the room and heading to the north. They were both dressed up in furs, and John was wearing a wide rimmed black hat. They turned to the west and continued down the length of the room. Paul and Linda then came out of the room to the south. They stopped in the middle of the empty room where i was and looked to the east, at the man who was taking their picture. They both laughed about something as they looked at the man to the east. They turned to the west and continued out of the building. The man to the east quickly followed them. This was an odd time, because all of these people were from different ages of time.

12008 August 15

My father was doing something in the western side of their house. I looked into the large bedroom on the northern side of the house. It was empty and had bare plasterboard walls and a bare plywood floor. It was still under construction. There was something exciting about this new place. I looked around the room from the doorway in the eastern wall. I then turned to the north to look into the new bathroom. This was actually the old bathroom, but everything had been removed from the room. The room was now rectangular and stretched to the north. I remembered that the sink used to be just to the west of the door and the toilet was on the eastern wall ahead of me. Nothing was in the room anymore, and my father said that the bathtub would be along the northern side of the western wall. Something suddenly seemed strange to me. The room used to be rather small, but it now seemed longer north to south. There was much more space in the room now, and i realized that my father had expanded the room to the north. I realized that the bedroom i had been looking at was also larger than it had been. I asked my father if he had actually expanded the house to the north. He sayed that he had. I pictured the back of the house, seeing a square tower on the back of the building now. The house was oddly shaped, with a wing running north from the western side. The new bulge in the side of the house was to the east of the wing, in a small area encircled by the rest of the house. I moved around the extension to the house, thinking that the roof above it must be pointed like a tower. I then pictured a very thin spire as if it was a steeple. I saw myself sitting on the ground near the base of the tower, putting red metal shingles around the side of a very narrow spire. They wrapped around each other, forming the peak. This seemed very strange.

12008 August 16

I walked to the west, across the back yard of my parents’ house, just to the north of the house. It was evening, and the sun seemed to have already set, but it was still very bright out. I had been talking with $A236 on the eastern side of the yard, but now i was talking to $A496. I was happy to be chatting with them. $A496 said something as he stood on the hill, in front of the garage, facing south. I was to the west of him, and i turned to the south, noticing him out the side of my eyes. He had sayed something that sounded curious to me. I asked him if he had AIDS as well. I knew that he was a friend of $A374, but i did not think that he had been infected the same way that $A374 had. I thought that $A496, $A236, and $A374 were all very close friends, so they might all have been exposed in the same way. This did not seem likely, though. A car then pulled up the driveway and turned to the west, following the dirt path across the back yard, toward the shed. $A496 and i had been heading toward the shed. The large green american car stopped in the middle of the yard and $F46 got out. She had brought something, and i was very happy to see her. I did not expect her to come here. She carried the items toward the shed, saying that she would not be able to stay for the party. She seemed cheerful, but sayed that she had to be somewhere. My father was near the shed as we approached, but then i heard $F46 talking about something near her car. I looked back to her car, which was to the southeast of the shed, and saw that the front hood of her car was open. The car was facing east. She was having trouble with the car and was trying to fix something. I approached the car as my father looked into the engine compartment with $F46. I walked up to the northern side of the car, having trouble seeing much but two people bending over into the engine, the large hood over their heads. My father pointed out the problem in the engine. I turned to the southeast and started flying over the lawn. There was a creek running to the south, along the eastern side of my parents’ property. Thin trees surrounded the small creekbed. I flew through the thin branches, heading to the southeast, toward the road. There were three or four people sitting on the rocks around the creek, just to the north of the road. $A236, who was sitting on the western side of the creek, looked back at me. He was wearing a tan shirt. I felt excited to see him and wanted to talk. I was then aware that i was flying through thick branches. I wondered if i would be able to land here, and i thought that i might run into something. I tried to glide in smoothly to the rocks and hoped that i did not crash.

12008 August 17

I arranged something on the bed that was against the western side of the northern wall of the room. This place was $P19, and i was moving in to the bedroom on the western side of the building. Several people were in the room, setting things up. It seemed that it was the beginning of a school year. I knew many of the people here. I then started to wonder why i was really here. It seemed to have been a long time since i was here before, and i knew that i was here again because i was taking classes again. It seemed normal to be here, but i knew that it had been a long time since i had been here. I shifted position on the bed, and i realized that i had disturbed the other person on the bed with me. I turned around to see the orange covers move and $A311 stuck his head up from the southern side of the bed. I had not realized that he was sleeping here. There must be too many people in the room already. I thought that i really should find another bed, but we were sharing because there was no place else for us to sleep. I then remembered killing someone when i was here a long time ago. It was the boy from next door. I knew that i had dreams of killing someone, and that those dreams felt very real, but this seemed to be something different. It was not like the dreams. The feeling of guilt was very strong in the dreams, but i remembered that it always seemed silly once i had awakened. This seemed different. I was awake now, and i still felt bad about the murder.

I turned $F45’s car to the north, heading up the other road. I had been on an east to west road, and i was now turning down a road that curved to the northeast as it traveled up hill. The wheels of the car squealed on the pavement as i drove it up the hill. I was annoyed that i was having such difficulty driving the car and hoped that i did not do any damage to the car. I knew that $F45 would have yelled at me for not driving his car correctly. I seemed to be in a commercial area, with shopping plazas and offices around me. There was a large parking lot between the road i had been on and the road that i was now traveling on. The road i was on curved more to the east as it leveled off. There were modern buildings to the north that seemed to be apartments. I looked at the front of the building. I was supposed to stop somewhere near here, but i was not exactly sure where. I felt as though i was going to meet people in an apartment here. I had the address with me, and i thought about it, but i did not see any addresses on the buildings. I started to wonder if i was traveling too far to the east. I then noticed the high-tension power lines to the north of the road. They were suspended by thick faded-green metal posts, and the power lines looked thick and heavy. Large white round fanned insulators held the wires to the posts. I became wary of the wires, knowing that they had a lot of power running through them. They seemed very close to the road, and i realized that, as the road rose in elevation, it rose above the level of the lines. I looked through the thin trees to the north as i drove, watching the power lines that were now below the level of the road. There was another higher set of lines at the top of the poles that was still above the level of the road. I was nervous, but i noticed that the green poles had vertical metal plaques attached to them. The plaques had addresses on them. I read the addresses, noting how the numbers rose as i traveled farther east. I had passed the address i was looking for, so i would have to turn around. I realized that the address was probably in one of the apartments i had seen as i turned onto the road. I turned my car off of the road and into a small parking lot that was to the south. I then turned back to the north and knocked on the door of the office. It was $A206’s office. The door was wooden, with a large frosted window in the upper half. I opened the door and walked in. $A206 was angry about something, and i felt that i might have done something wrong. I spoke to him, asking what had happened. He told me that the architecture stuff was not ready. I did not know what i could do about it.

12008 August 18

I followed the others up the long tunnel, which seemed to be an aqueduct. We were sneaking through this area, heading toward the water flume. The main corridor as relatively dark, and ran north to south. I was heading north, and i turned down a side tunnel to the west. This should have led to the outdoor water flume, but this was not the same as it used to be. There was a cement grating blocking the tunnel to the east. I was surprised to see it, and i felt worried that i would get trapped in the tunnel. The current on my legs seemed quite strong, and the water was flowing out of the channel that we were in, through the grate, and down the flume. I wondered what we were going to do now. I was worried about jumping into the main flume, because i knew that this place was now controlled. We had sneaked into the side tunnels rather than taking the normal way to the top of the flume. It seemed that this place might actually be closed for the night. I wondered what i should do as i looked down the short hall to the west. I floated a little in the water, thinking that i might not be able to make it all the way back down the tunnel against the current. The water was pushing me out toward the outdoor flume to the west. I looked up at the ridges in the white cement ceiling, pushing my hands against the rounded ridges to keep myself from floating to the west. I then realized that there was a small security camera in the ceiling. The first ridge on the eastern side of the tunnel lifted over the black dome of the camera. I was worried about being caught here and did not want to get arrested. I then heard the announcement over the speakers. Someone said something about a heart attack. I knew that the ride in the water flume was very stressful and people with heart conditions should not take the ride. I was worried about what might happen if i jumped into the flume with the others, but i jumped to the west, into the water of the flume. As i moved out of the tunnel to the east and jumped, i noticed that there were rooms around the flume. The side walls of the rounded tunnel stopped overhead before the bottom parts of the walls reached the flume, creating a sloped opening at the mouth of the tunnel. Thin cement walls that were only a half-meter high ran between the cement rooms, which all seemed to be part of a larger room. There were metal frames holding white curtains up between the rooms. Doctors seemed to be inspecting patients on white beds within each room, and i thought that this had something to do with the medical conditions that needed to be checked before someone jumped in to the flume. We had bypassed the official procedures to get into the flume. I rode the water down the narrow channel, passing through the small tan cement office and into the dark tunnel of the flume. The others were ahead of me as we road all the way to the bottom of the long ride. We walked to the south, across the office waiting area at the bottom. I felt nervous again, thinking that we should quickly leave here before we were noticed. The people in the office had to be inspected by the authorities before they left the flume, so we had to get out before anyone noticed that we were here. They would start asking questions if they noticed us, and would realized that we illegally used the flume. A woman with long blond hair was standing on the western side of the small crowded office. She was wearing a loose brown dress and had an oval face. She seemed middle aged. She noticed us and leaned over to me, hugging me warmly. I realized that she had figured out what we had done and was proud of us for doing it. She was hugging me to help disguise us in the crowd. If she knew us then we might not seem like people walking through the crowd randomly. It might now seem to many of the people there that we had been there before and that there was nothing unusual to us being there now. We hurried to the southeast, out of the building. I then realized that i was not wearing any pants. I was still in my swimming shorts. We came out into the parking lot to the east of me building. There was a blue mid-seventies car parked in the lot by itself. It was our car, and we hurried to it. I had left my suit behind in the tunnel where we had jumped into the flume. I did not want to take it down the flume with me. The other three were getting into the car, but i told them that i did not have my shoes or jacket. I felt worried again, realizing that it was a very long hike back up the tunnels to where we had started. I did not think that i would be able to run all the way back up the tunnels before someone discovered that we were here. I turned to the opening of the tunnel, which was a round cement opening in the wall to the northwest. As i faced the tunnel, we heard a man in the tunnel talking. He was calling to someone else, saying that he had found something. There were already people searching the tunnels for us. We would not be able to go back for my things, and i felt very bad. I then realized that the man had found my jacket, so i would never be able to get it back. I turned back to the car. The man who had opened the driver’s door asked me if i had left any identification in my jacket. He wanted to know if anyone could identify me from my jacket.

I walked to the west, starting across the wide flat parking lot. There seemed to be a building to the northwest. Just as i started across the pavement, i realized that there was a large construction vehicle blocking the way. It seemed to be a bucket truck with a long arm on top. It as facing south, and it was yellow. I walked to the north of the truck, starting across the green grassy area between the eastern lane of the lot and the main parking spaces. I thought that this was probably an emergency area and that we should not be crossing the parking lot at all, but i did not see any other way around. A fire fighter then stepped in front of us, blocking our way. He was wearing his fire gear. I noticed that the construction workers in the truck were digging a long trench to the south of me. I turned to the south as the fire fighter stopped some of the other people, pretending that i did not really notice him. I then pushed off of the ground and lifted into the air. He could stop us from crossing the pavement, but he could not stop me from going over it. The man watched me as i started to float over him. I could tell that he was angry. I had to get out of here. I flew to the south, across the pavement, aware that the fire fighter was following me across the lot. I hurried across the street, which was to the west of the parking lot. $P7 was just across the street from the parking lot, and i flew to the southern side of the building, where the other parking lot was. The man was still following me, so i ran into $P7 before he was close enough to spot me on the ground. I hoped that he would not know here i ran to. I hurried down the hall of $P7, heading to the north, to the center of the building. This place looked different than i remembered. The trimming in the halls seemed much more ornate, and i was confused by the difference. The students were coming back. I came into the central hall of the building, but it seemed different than i had remembered. It was darker than it should be, and there was a stairwell to the west. The stairs ascended counter-clockwise around the square walls of the well, heading to the balcony over my head. I walked up the first flight of stairs, stopping on the landing along the western wall, A boy was walking up the stairs behind me. He passed me on the landing and greeted me with a wide smile before continuing up the stairs along the southern wall. This open corridor was not familiar to me, and i wondered when it had put in. I was back at the bottom of the stairs, and i headed to the north, into the center of the main hall. I felt confused. There were some teachers in the corridor to the north, at the end of the hall. $F46 was standing with them, and she complained about the green booth that was in the lounge on the eastern side of the hall. As she talked about the green booth, i looked at the old wooden cabinet with two large doors on the front. The doors were made of thin vertical slats of wood and were painted green. I thought that this must be the toilet in the old wooden cabinet. The building originally did not have many female lavatories, so this must have been a crude installment to get more. I then thought that i must be a teacher here, and i wondered why i was here. Something seemed strange and out of place. I turned to the west and started up the stairs in the strange new stairwell. The stairwell seemed more gothic and stone than the rest of the building. There was no one around me, but i asked where i was, confused by the oddity of the place. I was then aware of the boy to the south of me. He was the same boy who had greeted me earlier. He was standing on the balcony of the second floor corridor. The corridor was open to the stairwell. I looked at the books that were on a thin shelf at the base of the large arching window in the western wall. The window was centered at the center of the landing between the two flights of stairs. I moved to the northern end of the landing, looking at the spines of the books. I was aware that the boy was starting down the second flight of stairs, approaching me. I tried to focus on the books, thinking that this corridor was very strange. It did not seem to fit in at this school at all. I then noticed that one of the books on the shelf was written by Ben Franklin. His name was on the bottom of the spine in gold letters. In large thin letters near the top, the title of the book sayed “ORATO”. It seemed strange that an original copy of Ben Franklin’s book would be here. At first, i thought that it was a Golden Book, from the same people who publish the children’s books, but, as i looked at the brown leather binding, i realized that it was a very old book. The boy was now on the landing to the south of me. The boy spoke to me, seeming very friendly. He asked me several questions, and i sat down on the bench that was along the western wall. The bench now seemed to be built into the wall, and the bookshelves ran along the top of it. The boy sat down next to me, asking me about this place and why i was here. He was very friendly to me and sat with his side against mine. I leaned into him as we spoke on the bench. There was something familiar in this situation. I enjoyed his company and continued talking to him.

12008 August 19

I walked to the north, through the empty dirty rooms of the building. The rooms might have been outdoors, because there seemed to be walls but no ceilings. I had been doing construction work with the others. I had not done construction in a long time, but i had started doing it again. It was now lunchtime, and i was heading to get my lunch. There was a group of workers to the north of me. They were wearing blue and green work shirts and blue jeans. I was going to join them for lunch, but i felt that they were a little envious of me. I did not have to work here because i had a much better job before. I was simply here again to make some quick money. I was uncomfortable near the workers, thinking that they did not like me because they felt that i was moving in on their jobs. The people moved away to do something. I continued through the large dining room, down the aisle between the long tables. I was nervous of this place, but i wanted to be here. I then started to feel confused, wondering why i had come back here. I never liked doing construction before. I had only done it because i had to. This was not were i should have been. Something seemed strange and out of place. I thought about this as i continued to the north. A telephone then rang. Something was wrong. I was on the telephone when my mother told me that my father’s mother had died. I was upset. I had to head back. I turned back to the south and left the area. I started to cry, sad that my grandmother had died. There was a dog walking with me as i continued to the south, down the city street.

12008 August 20

I drove the truck to the east, up the slight hill of the city street. I pulled over to the southern side of the road to park the truck. I was then standing behind the truck, noticing that i had not pulled it far enough off of the road. The truck was still in the middle of the narrow street. There were shrubs on the southern side of the road, but i thought that i could still pull the truck over more. The other person did not think that it was a good idea to leave the truck in the road where it was because it would block too much traffic. I looked to the southwest, noticing that we had stopped just past a dirt lane. I backed the truck up, letting roll down the short hill. I thought that i could back into the dirt road and then pull forward into the grassy area on the southern side of the road. I looked out the passenger’s side of the vehicle as i backed it up. There were two people who were standing on the side of the road to the south. The seemed English and were wearing typical British coats from the fifties. The area around us seemed more like a small town now, with more shrubs and grass around us. It seemed less developed. I turned the truck to the south, down the dirt road. I was originally going to make a U-turn at the road, but instead drove down the dirt road to the south to get out of the way of the main road. I would have to turn around somewhere. I turned into the gravel parking lot just a little way down the road, on the west. I started to turn the truck around, but got it stuck on the small set of cement steps at the edge of the lot. I drove slowly over the steps, hoping that the truck did not get stuck. I was now pulling the truck across the gravel lot, trying to get it in just the right position. It was hard to pull over the loose stone. I pulled the truck to the east, over the dirt floor. I then turned to the east and walked down the short corridor of the tunnel. I came into a large open cavern of a cave. We were on a ledge on the western wall of the cave, and the corridor seemed to continue to the northeast of us. The cavern seemed very deep and very long northeast to southwest. A road ran from above the ledge that we were on, heading into the darkness of the vast cavern, to the northeast. It led to the other tunnel where the corridor through the cave continued. There were other explorers on the ledge with me as we looked across the cave. One of them was Indiana Jones, and the other seemed to be his father. This was a mysterious place, and the bad guys had escaped to the northeast. I thought that we would have to follow the rope to go after them, but the rope seemed old, and i did not think that it would hold too much weight. I was wary about going into the caves. Something seemed dangerous about this place. I looked down at the sharp stalagmites on the ground under the ropes. There were equally sharp points coming down from the ceiling. The old spider webs that crossed between the points were filled with dust, and the bodies of dead bats were still on the floor. Nothing was alive here anymore. The man talked about the dead things as we moved slowly to the northeast. He pushed aside some spider webs and a bat fell to the ground. It had been so long since any explorers had been here that all of the animals that fed on the explorers had long since died. This place had been forgotten about. I looked at the rope again, realizing that it led to a special area. I did not feel safe following the rope into the darkness of the cave. I knew that it would be a long journey to the other side, and i was afraid of doing it. Someone then said that the tunnel with the rope in it followed the coast of the land to the southwest, to India. I thought that we must be in China. This was a secret ancient underground place that led to secret places. It was special, and i wanted to find out where it went.

12008 August 22

I stood with the other people at the starting line of the race. We were in a tight group on the western side of the area. We then started running to the east, down the long field, which seemed to be within a room. The official made a noise, and i realized that the race had a false start. We were being called back. I slowed down, thinking that this was only a mile run, and i felt pretty good about doing it. I turned back to the west and started down the length of the large ornate room. This place now seemed like a library corridor, with book stacks in the archways on the northern wall. The ceiling seemed to be arched, and the floor was polished stone. I stopped just in front of the starting line, realizing that my right shoes had come loose. As i bent over to retie it, the others started running the race. They headed off to the east, passing around me. I hurried after them, running down the white stone steps in the center of the room. There were people standing around in the room, talking to each other. They were in the way of the race course, so i jumped into the air and flew over them. As i passed them, i started to flip over in the air to land. I noticed the people at the starting line watching me. They seemed surprised that i could fly. I then realized that this was not a serious race. I flew around the room, swooping to the south on the eastern end of the room, where the room opened into a small reading room. I pretended that i was surfing on the air and walls of the room. I had to remember not to be serious here. This race was for fun, and i had to remember not to be stressed about it.

12008 August 25

I walked to the north, into the door of the new apartment. I found myself on a small porch at the front of the building. The building was cement, and the porch was a thin space between the inner window and the outer window. The main door to the apartment seemed to be to the west of me, but i had come in through the large outer window. It was steamy here, and the windows had fog on them. It was rather cold here, and i felt that i was still bundled up. I then realized that the shower vent was turned on, allowing steam to seep into the small room. I tried to turn the dial on the northern wall to stop the steam from coming in. The controls were touchy, though, and would not turn off completely. I tried adjusting the knob so that the steam would stop flowing into the room, but i could not get it quite right. I wanted to leave this room and head into the apartment, but i realized that the door into the apartment from here was blocked. There was something white pressed against the window in the door. I moved around the bedroom, realizing that the bed was pushed up against the door. I was disappointed, thinking that they should have fixed the room by now. I was then angry that i could not get into the apartment. I wondered how i was going to get in. I complained to $F45, telling him that the apartment was still not ready for us. He became angry at the news. He turned to the short round woman in the blue suit and started complaining. She was following the others to the south. She stopped at the sound of $F45’s complaints and turned around to look at him in surprise.

12008 August 26

I was in the kitchen of the small house, heading north. I looked into the canvas bag that i was carrying. There were three loafs of bread in the bag. I had bought them as souvenirs. I was in Deutschland, in the kitchen of the house of the people i was staying with. The long wooden counter was to the northwest of me, and i was walking along the eastern side of it. $A521 was in the northern side of the kitchen. I seemed to be staying with here family. I looked over the bread in the bag, thinking that it was a gift for my father. As i pulled on the plastic bags around the bread, however, i noticed that there were patches of mold on the bread. I pulled the top loaf out of the bag and threw it into the trash, which was near the southern edge of the table. I was upset that the bread had gone bad already, and i wondered what i should do for a souvenir. I moved around in the kitchen, angry and wondering what i should do. The people here were getting ready for something, but the young girl was being a brat. She was dressed in a skimpy dress that was made out of white threads. It looked like material that had been frayed across the entire surface. She argued with someone about the dress, but i turned my attention back to the bead. I was now standing on the western side of the wooden table. The bread was still moldy, and i was still upset about it. I would have to get new packages before i returned home. My mother was in the kitchen, to the east of me. The girl then said something and pulled her dress up above her waist, exposing her crotch. I turned away, not wanting to get involved in the argument. I had to get another present for my father, but i did not know what.

12008 August 27

I followed the other person to the north, through the office. We passed down a narrow hall formed by the outer walls of cubicles. We seemed to be in the center of a larger room. The cloth on the cubicle walls was orange. I was back at $G6, but it did not feel as though i was really working here. I was simply doing some work here. I then noticed the woman standing on the right side of the narrow corridor, standing just inside one of the cubicles. She sayed something to the person i was following, and i realized that she was $A261. She was wearing dark sun glasses and had her brown hair pulled back around her head. She smiled and leaned her head back against the cubicle wall as the other person past. I sayed hello to her as i passed, but did not stop to talk because i was busy with something. She turned to look at me, but i continued to the north, into the office at the end of the corridor. I turned to the west, following the other person to the desk in the southern wall of the cube on the western side of the end office. I felt suddenly concerned that i did not stop to say hello to $A261. It seemed impolite of me, but i felt that i had something else to do. I thought that i would say hello to her in a moment. I felt bad, but tried to ignore it.

I thought about the song that i had written. It seemed to be “?% of 2%”. I tried to focus on the music, and i suddenly realized that it would sound good if strings entered the song near the center. I listened to the music, wondering if there was a section that would sound good with strings. The solo bridge then started, and i hear electric guitars start a solo. I did not remember recording the guitars, but i thought that they sounded good here. I tried to imagine the strings, and then i heard them come in with horns in the background. They sounded very good, and i was excited about the song again.

12008 August 30

I looked to the west, noticing the waves coming over the mountains in the distance. The mountains were the Rockies, and they stretched across the western horizon. There was a low section on the southern side where the waves were pouring over the ridges and into the valleys. Something had happened to California. I talked about this to the others as i moved to the west, across the atrium of the large building. The others were gathered there. There was a tall wall to the west, which was an interior wall of the atrium. It seemed to be a dark-gray stone wall, with darker-gray horizontal stripes between the floors. The square windows had no trim. I spoke about the flood waters as i moved through the crowd. Something very bad had happened to California, and i wondered if it had to do with a comet. I squinted my eyes as i looked to the east. I could see a sandy ocean beach with a dune rising to the north. The water had receded, leaving bare ground. I moved over the sand, looking at the twisted leafless trees that spotted the sand. They grew in small twisted patches, and i thought that they looked nice. The strong current of the water must have stripped the leaves from the trees. I wandered to the east, across the sand, passing around several of the large trees. I noticed a bunch of trees to the south of me that still had leaves on it. Everything felt dreamlike.

12008 August 31

I moved over the land where the shallow rivers were. I was upset because i knew that the large snakes had come up the rivers from down south. I worked about the cats because the snakes were pythons, and i was worried that they would kill the cats. I knew they had not, but i was worried about the cat. I moved over the grassy area, along the swampy creek. The pythons were coming up from the south.

I stood to the east of the bus, near the back of the bus. People were gathered on the bus. I suddenly noticed the woman to the west as she moved across the front of the bus. I could see her through the front window of the bus. She spotted me and waved. I was unsure who she was, though, so i did not wave back. I thought that she might be $A497, but i was not certain. I lost sight of her as she walked to the north of the bus. I had only seen her before because i was looking down the central aisle of the bus, but now she was blocked by the people sitting on the northern side of the bus. I turned my head to the north, spotting the woman in the doorway of the small building. She was carrying a baby now in her left arm. She was wearing a pink or light-red parka and had long frizzy blond hair. She waved at me again, but it did not wave back. I stood still, as though i had not seen her. I was more certain now that she was $A497, but i felt too uncomfortable to wave back to her. I closed my eyes a little, trying to pretend that i had them closed and did not see the woman wave. There was another woman standing in the doorway of the small red building, near $A497. There seemed to be two doors on the front of the building, next to each other in a wide recess in the wall. The women were standing near the door on the eastern side of the alcove. I closed my eyes mostly, hoping that $A497 would not notice that they were open before and closed now. I hoped that she would see that i had my eyes closed and would think that i was not ignoring her. I then realized that my head was facing north now, but when she had first waved to me from the west of the bus, i was facing west. I shook my head, as if waking up, and looked back down the length of the bus. $A497 was gone now. I headed to the north, across the corridor and into the door on the western side of the alcove. I had come here with the others for a conference, and this room was my hotel room. I put my things down on the bed on the western side of the room. There were three other beds to the east with their heads against the northern wall. Someone had put bags on the beds. I would be sharing my room with several other people, and i wondered if they were here for the school function as well. I wondered if they were people i had gone to high school with. I was interested in who they were, and i felt excited about who they might be. I glanced into the leather bag that was on the eastern-most bed, noticing that the papers inside said something about the U.S. Army on them. I thought that these people must have been from ROTC, and i felt more interested in them. I wondered if they were interesting people. I reached the western-most bed and the people returned to the room. They went to their beds and started looking through things in the bags. The man nearest me was wearing a dark-blue uniform. He was short, with a young face and black hair. He seemed rather attractive. I walked back to the east, heading to my own bed. I thought that there were several conferences in this hotel now, so i would have to share my room with several other people. The last time i was here, i had this room all to myself. I started digging through my bad, which was sitting on my bed. I still felt interested in the people on the other beds, but i shuffled through the things in my bag, wondering what i should do for the conference.