a group of us were going to London, but we were going at different times and using different means of travel. prior to anyone leaving, we were meeting in some hall and having a big dinner together to discuss our plans. the hall had shiny shiny hardwood floors; the room we were in was on the 2nd floor, and had lots of west-facing windows. so the westering sun came in. I guess it was late summer/early fall. we were eating at a folding table.

I had a dog recently adopted from a shelter. it was maybe 9-10 months old. of course it could not go to London with me. it was some black&tan mutt. I was staying with some Afghani family beofre leaving for London. they were at the dinner too. the mom didn't like the dog and was not about to take care of it once I left. I think she thought it was improper or something like that.

people left singly and as small groups as we were done with the dinner. it was mostly dark before I left; I was one of the last ones left. I still didn't know what to do with the dog.

now it's not clear to me what the temporal relationship is between the next part and the previous part.

the hall was also used for some religious/spiritual study group that met on a weekly basis. I had goten involved with that. it had a vaguely new agey feel to it but was a little more grounded than that. these meetings were in a different room than the dinner. this room had east (street-) facing windows. there was a bookshelf in the wall opposite the windows. one of the books was some thing that could take youto the next level I guess. next level of what, I couldn't say. enlightenment? involvement in a cult? who knows.

when we met we could look out the windows and across the street was another hall with a differnt group meeting. the leader of that group, a woman, was the author of the book. there was this feeling that of course we all wanted to get over there. I wasn't so sure. the woman who was leading the group looked over at me at one point. our eyes met and there was some sort of understanding.

after the meetings broke up I guess we were all going to go dancing. or maybe there was some dancing in one of the halls. anyhow the groups were mingling. the woman came over and started talking to me as if I had already switched to her group. I tried to explain that I had not but it was like talking to jelly, the words were either misinterpreted or deliberately ignored. I started thinking that maybe immersing myself in this thing wouldn't be such a bad thing afterall, since it would simplify some things that I feel need to be simpler.