I'm not sure how my dreamscape got here, but I dreamt that we were floating in the Arctic waters. Clara and I had to get from one flotation device onto another, using only a thing that sort of looked like an inflatable pool lounge. I'm not sure if others were there.

for some reason I wasn't even sure of in the dream, I jumped on the pool lounge in such a way that I was pretty immersed. as a result we all ended up in the water trying to hang on to it to stay upright and afloat. I was worried about the temp of the water.

perhaps I passed out. perhaps not. but a very brief time passed and I realized o shit I am still in the water! and, it feels warm. that was how I knew I was chilled through. I got to the other thing and somehow, through sheer force of will, dragged myself out. this was scary becuase now I was wet and cold as the water started to dry off. it took some doing to get Clara to agree.

we were out of the water, and I felt in danger, and suddenly in my parents' bedroom. not as it is now, but as it use to be with the giant bed, and the electric blankets on the bed. it took some convincing to get Clara to climb under the electric blanket, but it was the only hope I had of not dying from the hypothermia.

it's been a while since I wrote up any dreams. however it seems time to resume.

I dreamed I was packing up my camp for burning man. we were doing to fit everything into the van/ambulance and drive back with the people very cramped. the people going back like this were me, Bob, Raj, Mike, and maybe a couple others. right when they were about to leave I realized I'd misplaced something. my cel phone maybe? it was imperative I get it, and I took off on foot to go look for it.

I crossed desert, and camps, and saw some fields. I came to another place, where people were celebrating. fireworks, and a bandm, and possibly a military display, with rich people in semiformal attire walking around with champagne. there was a big screen and projecting lights. it seemed weird.

I started to worry that they had left without me, but I did not have a way of calling them. I kept walking, and it got later and later. finally it turned out I was in an urban area, and it was getting light. worried, I located a terminal or strange all-night Metreon-like mall. I found a phone and called Mike.

he was surprised I'd even bothered. of course they had left, it had been hours upon hours and I hadn't even said I was going anywhere or asking them to stay. I realized, sadly, I'd have to get a flight back. resigned, I chatted with him more. turns out I was in Denver, and he was in Paris. not France, but maybe in western Colorado.

I hung up the phone and felt weary and abandoned in a relatively strange city. but then I woke up.

I don't remember any plot or story, but the image dominating my dream was that of a christmas tree, possibly 5' or 6' tall. it had lots of glass ornaments, on it, but no tinsel. it had no 'top' ornament either.

I would look at it, and be sad. the needles were dull, becuase it was not healthy; this was the christmas tree after christmas was over.

the backdrop for this dream was very hard to describe. also, events of the waking morning have conspired to fade this out considerably. anyhow I guess it was standard modern fantasy - there was a war of magic going on behind the modern world that most people were unaware of. I was on one side...

there were three of us that I knew of, and the person we counted on most was sick? anyhow, to face what was going to happen, I had to become a paladin. the guy explaining this to me explained; being a paladin is not, actually, a question of faith, holiness, etc. it was a question of having an ability already, something to do with your own electric field, and drinking this little vial to activate or amplify it. the vial was about the size of a 4" test tube. we were having this discussion in a dark room in a building, lit by various electronics. it takes about a night, he said, for it to activate.

so I took the vial, and slept on a cot. I had fevers and dreams, but I don't remember the dream-in-a-dream. I woke up, and found it was not just a cakewalk, I had to learn to use my brain differently. I also found as a side effect, the digital time display on the control panels sort of shorted out and flickered the number 1.