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ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 50 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | The most recent dream is of me and my fiancee getting out of a very nice car, dressed very nicely. We are walking together holding hands, laughing and smiling. We walk into the building, have a seat and the next thing I see is a young boy, on stage. He's cute... performing in the play. He looks as if he's age 6. We watch the play and video tape the play. The next thing I know, he's our son. I woke up as soon as I heard his name being called, the same as my fiancee's, but with the 'III' after it. | 1FKA, 1MSC | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 51 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | Me and my current housemates all moved into a new house together and we were walking around it. I was looking for which room was mine. Then some weird guy started attacking someone, but I don't remember who. I remember the room was really slanted. The only other person in my dream was my female housemate. | 2FKA, 1MSA, 1ISA | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 52 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | It occurred an unfamiliar waterfront which size seemed huge, yet was small. It was around evening time and involved myself and three friends (20-22). (There were other people but they were unimportant and unfamiliar.) At one point a friend of mine seemed to be in trouble with the law and took off in a boat (again size was both on a large/small scale) and crashed or it blew up somehow. At that point, it was strange because a good friend just died and it was almost as if I and my other friend were emotionless. I was trying to get everyone to be concerned as well as bring some emotions and make sense of it to myself. The funeral was in Chicago (don't know why). And as I was trying to make sense of the whole deal, why it happened and how I felt, I woke up. | 2IKA, 1IKA, 2JSA, 1IKA, 1ISA | AP 2JKA+D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 53 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | I remember coming to Santa Cruz with my best friend in her car. It was about 3 or 4 o'clock PM. We had been in the car for about three hours or so by now, when her car all of a sudden stopped. At first we thought, it doesn't have gas so we will have to walk the rest of the road until we get to Paso Robles. So, we did. We got there and I remember that I was using a pay phone talking to my boyfriend and telling him what had happened. Then I woke up. | 1FKA, 1MKA | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 54 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | The main setting was an unfamiliar hotel room. I vaguely remember my father walking around there, paying very little attention to me. I clearly remember leaving my new purse under the bed there. I accidentally left the room without the purse. Strangely enough, the path I was hurrying along when I left was the path from this room (Oakes 105) to the bus stop nearby, to leave campus. I hurried the same way I hurried when I finished a final in this room at the end of last quarter. I was so relieved in the dream that I didn't go back to get the purse. It seemed like too much hassle. I forget where I was in a rush to get to. When I opened my eyes I realized with relief that the purse was there on my dresser where I had left it. | 1MKA | HA D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 55 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | I was at my dorm here in Santa Cruz here with a bunch of people. These people were both from and my buddies from back home. We were all partying and drinking, and I remember that my ex-boyfriend was there. In my dream I kept worrying about my current boyfriend knowing that he'd get mad that he wasn't there but my ex was. Then it was a different day + my ex I bumped into + he was mad because I had given him accidentally a wrong number for my room. I told him I must have been drinking too much and got the number mixed up. That's all I can recall. | 2JKA, 1MKA, 1MKA | AP D, AN 1MKA |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 56 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | The dream was in a familiar classroom that I had class in that quarter. I remember the seat that I'm normally in was taken and I ended up sitting next to someone whom I thought was attractive in my class. We started talking and left the class together after it was over. He said he wanted to show me where he lived. We held hands. Then the surroundings changed to the beach, yet we were still on the way to his house. I remember feeling nervous because in real life I am committed to someone and would never do something like this, yet I was very interested in going. We went swimming and started to kiss, then we went into this building. I went to this bathroom that resembled a bathroom in a house (it was nicely decorated, more personal). Somehow I had a change of clothing. <br />      When we got to his house I met this roommate (a girl) who was sitting on the stairs. She seemed very unfriendly to me. At the top of the stairs two children were playing. I remember feeling angry because they were so young. The girl in the staircase was supposed to be watching them, yet wasn't. We went to his room. When I told him I had a boyfriend I woke up. | 1MKA, 1FKA, 2JSC, 1MSA | AP D, AN D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 57 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | I was staying over at a female friend of mine's house. I was dreaming that I was dreaming. I was in the same room that I was actually in. My friend was perpendicular to me in her bed. I saw this demon-like creatures with wings flying around me. There were 2 or 3, they were very scary looking, green and brown in color. They bagan pulling me by my ankles and my wrists., they were trying to pick me up off the bad. I struggled and screamed for my friend. I supposedly woke up. I couldn't see anyone around. My friend even answered to my call. But I could still feel the pull on my ankles. My friend said she couldn't see anybody, when I said I could feel something or someone pulling on me. I then woke up. | 1FKA, 2CZZ | AP D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 58 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | I was with a group of children, some of the YMCA children, two of them I knew, others I was familiar with, the two I knew were Bill and Gina. The children were both male and female. We were walking on a nature trail with another counselor that was leading us. We came to this area where we had to walk through sawdust that was up to my waste. There were things hanging down from the trees and there were many spiderwebs. At first I saw no spiders and I thought it was fine to go with the kids there. Then as we were walking further I started seeing spiders. I had been walking through some of the webs and moving very slowly due to the sawdust. Also where we were walking was in a U-shape, so we really didn't have to go that way. At first I was just talking to the kids and not paying much attention, then as I spotted the spiders I became worried and wondered if we should go on farther. I then saw a huge web with bright green and orange colors on it. At that point I said to the counselor (who had turned into my mom) that we should turn around and go back, which we did. | 2JKA, 1MKA, 1FOA, 2ANI | AP D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 59 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | I drove up to my ex-boyfriend's house (we're just friends now). He was smoking a cigarette with this girl Judy, who he liked back in Highschool. I asked him what they were doing. He said "We're working on competition # 1." I gave him a look like I didn't believe him. Then he said "We're just recording some songs together." I said "Yeah right Mike, what are you really doing with her?" I was really angry. And he said "We're just fu..ing." I was so angry that I kicked him where it really hurts and said "You won't be doing that for a while, will you!?" Then I had a baseball bat in my hand and started hitting Judy with it. I beat her up, then got back in my car, drove home and wrote my parents a note saying they would never see me again. I got in my car, drove 100 mph to NYC and sold my car. I bought a plane ticket to England. I took the bus to my host family's home in London, applied for citizenship, changed my name and colored my hair. I met a gorgeous man at a pub and lived with him. I got a good job and my own apartment and never spoke to anyone in America again. | 1MKA, 1FKA, 2JKA, 1MSA, 2JKA | AN D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 60 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | My dream occurred at my mother's house. I dreamed I was sleeping in her bed. Her and my brother were in the living room. I was looking at the morning light shining through the window and starting to wake up. I drifted to sleep, then opened my eyes. The room was dark and an eerie feeling permeated the room. Two actors were outside the window (Kiefer Sutherland and someone else, I have neutral feelings towards both of the actors.) The sky was cloudy looking. They were pointing guns toward the downstairs neighbor (who I don't know). I closed my eyes to pretend I didn't see them. I was nervous but wanted to remain calm. I heard a loud noise and opened up my eyes. The sky was red so I figured they killed the neighbor. I grew more fearful but decided to humor them hoping they wouldn't kill me. I leaped out of bed and yawned exaggeratedly . They looked over and laughed and I pretended to laugh with them as I exited the room to go to the bathroom. <br />      I have flashes of a blond lady dancing in a stars and stripes bikini on a boat, sailors were routing and cheering her on. There were other flashes of what was going on outside, but I don't remember them. My brother and mom were talking normally about the funny weather or something and I looked outside my mom's window. Instead of seeing the apartment across from her or the swimming pool below, I saw concrete business buildings, some crooked, some straight, some destroyed, and red waves crashing against the building. I assumed there was chaos and an apocalypse was going on outside. <br />      I stopped to think for a moment and looked at my brother and mom, who were staring at me. "Is this a Tarrantino film?" I asked my brother. "Yeah" he replied . The phone rang and I woke up. | 1FKA, 1MKA, 1FSA, 1MSA, 2MOA | AP D, AP D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 61 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | My partner and I were on a trip and stayed at a hotel. While on this trip, at first it started out for relaxation, but it turned out to be business, we ended up at a convention. The luxury hotel then changed to a scene somewhat like a prison, very dark and gray. That evening there was to be a dance. My partner and I were in our room having incredible sex. There was a knock on our door, I got up in the nude and opened it. The person at the door wanted my partner to help sell tickets from the room next door. He got up, dressed and left. I also got dressed and followed them. The one person told me to monitor the people walking in outside of the door. I got suspicious , so I walked in. Shockingly, I saw my partner, who is a man, kissing another man. I was so upset, not because he was a man but because he was cheating on me right after we had incredible sex. My partner did not say one word to me. Later that day we had a business meeting and he was sitting next to the one he kissed. All I said was "I really need to talk to you." | 1MKA, 1MSA, 2JSA, 1MSA, 1MSA | CO D, AP D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 62 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | My sister, my roommate and I all traveled to Germany together. We were in this very busy part of the country, like a downtown of a big city. We kept stopping at all the little stores. It was not a familiar place to me and I've never been to Germany, but I'm certain that that is where we were. We traveled through the city on some kind of vehicle that was kind of like a bike but it was very low to the ground and all three of us fit in it. The place where we sat in, it was more like a buggy or a big stroller. The places where we were going to were all very busy, but we never talked to anyone except for each other. Even between us though we were laughing more than we were talking. My roommate is a 20 year old female and is a very good friend of mine. My sister is 26 years old and we are also very close. Not much happened besides going to all of the shops and getting to each one from this vehicle. We did have some trouble getting up a hill one time and some young guys helped us out, but that was very vague. | 1FKA, 1FKA, 2MSA | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 63 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | My sister and I were at Madonna's mansion, but it was more like Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch, like an amusement park setting in her backyard. We were at the entrance and suddenly someone in a pale yellow convertible, but with the top up, bug drove up very recklessly and sped through the front gates (which happened to be open). As the person drove past, I recognized that it was Michael Jackson, wearing his trademark fly sunglasses and possibly the glove. As soon as he had made it in the gate, out of the woodwork appeared all these secret service kinds of guys. Within an instant out came another yellow vw bug. The secret service men preceded to rush to my sister and put a wig and sunglasses on her and put her in the car and off she drove. While it was happening I was thinking they were using her as an impostor Michael Jackson to make it seem like he was actually leaving when in fact he really was still there. | 1FKA, 1MPA, 1ISA, 2MOA | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 64 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | The only dream I can vaguely remember was one involving a lot of friends from Highschool. All I can remember it was action-oriented. I can't remember exactly who was in it and what they were doing. The setting was rural, but may have either been my small hometown or Santa Cruz or both. Neither pleasant nor unpleasant. | 2JKA | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 65 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | I was in a dark room, in the room I was sleeping in (in waking life). I was at a friend's cabin, I had been for a few days. I was with some people I was getting to know better, get more comfortable with. And in the group was also a guy, who I grew somewhat attracted to, wanted him to be. Anyhow, he appeared in my dream, it surprised me. I was lying down and he appeared. | 2JKA, 1MKA | CO D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 66 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | I was working in some sort of hotel, me and two other girls I know from Santa Cruz, both surfers, going to be lifeguards. We were in a room (dark, non-descript) that was lower then the pool so you had to climb over an edge to get into the pool. We were then in the water, but I more clearly remember them in the water, really blue with a few life preservers around (red & white). I think I was a little apprehensive about going into the water. We were all our age we are now and the building/hotel was unfamiliar. I know these girls know each other but the three of us have never all been together at the same time. In the dream we were not close to each other, not touching. | 2FKA | AP D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 67 | 1996 | 21/female | F | Y | Someone is trying to kill me. I was in my house and it actually looked like my house did about 7or 8 years ago. In the dream I wake up, realized there were people trying to break into my house. I ran around locking all the doors and windows. It was morning, I was alone. Suddenly I remember a door I had forgotten to lock, but as I went to lock it, the 'bad' guys were already coming in. They were male, ages 25-35, about 3 or 4 of them, dressed all in black with burglar masks on. I knew immediately that they were there to kill me, in particular, not to rob the house. I ran into my parents' room and locked the door, then tried to climb out the window, but there was a man standing guard outside, he didn't see me (it's on the 2nd story), so I edged along the trim of the house, jumped down around the corner from the ground and ran to my neighbors' house. I pounded on the door, they let me in, I told them to lock the door and call the police, but as the door was closing, the murderers burst in and started chasing me. I hid in a pile of clothes. They almost found me, but in the end didn't. | 2MSA, 2MSA, 1MOA, 2JKA | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 68 | 1996 | 22/female | F | Y | I had just moved into a new apartment with three guys and two girls. It was sort of a tree house and there were a lot of steps to get up to the apartment. My room fit only my bed but my closet was huge and L-shaped, if you walked straight through, it led to the dining room. In the end of the room there were lots of built in drawers for clothes and things. I was trying to convince my roommates that the dining room should be part of my room. Then I went to school, but all I knew were the names of my classes, not where they were, so I was running around from building to building, trying to find my classes by asking people outside what class they were waiting for. I woke up before I could find my class. | 2MKA, 2JSA | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 69 | 1996 | 22/female | F | Y | The dream took place in an unfamiliar setting. I was taking a shower and a friend walked in to hand me a towel. There were several showers, like a dorm. In the one next to mine, was the guy I was seeing. The funny part was that my friend did not know we were seeing each other, therefore I felt nervous. The three of us work together in the same place, but our friend is not aware of the relationship this guy and I have. Our friend is 21-female and the guy is 27. Basically, all I could recall is that actual feeling of fear. The details are not that clear. I could only remember the overall picture of it, the two of us taking showers separately, right next to each other, with the interruption of a friend. | 1MKA, 1FKA | AP D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 70 | 1996 | 22/female | F | Y | It was like a movie. I had seen 'Gremlins' the night before. I was in an apartment building and it was unfamiliar to me. There were Gremlins everywhere. I couldn't see them, but I knew they were there. One of the characters from 'Step by Step' was on the top of the roof screaming her head off, because a gremlin was attacking her. In the dream I saw her as my sister. A lot of my friends were around, just listening, not moving to help. I was thinking "Why doesn't anyone try to help her?" Then we get to her. She was in catatonic state. I was feeling relieved that she wasn't dead. Then the scene switched to the bathroom, and as I tried to sit down, a Gremlin popped up and then I woke up. | 2CZZ, 1FKA, 1FKA, 2JKA | HA D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 71 | 1996 | 22/female | F | Y | I remember my boyfriend and I getting in the back seat of a vw bug, but the bug was a limo bug. It was white and the interior was red cushy seats. Then I remember being in a building, like a warehouse with many floors and we were hiding from something scary. That's all I remember. It left me feeling very terrified during the dream. | 1MKA | AP D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 72 | 1996 | 22/female | F | Y | My dream is fuzzy, but I was back in my dad's old house that he lived in about 10 years ago. I was walking around where my old room was. My dad was there and his girlfriend, we were all close. I didn't live there, I was just visiting for the weekend. There was some sort of chaos, but I can't remember why. I think I was looking for something. Everything was as I remembered it. My dad's office was right next to my old room. I remember seeing both. It was in the afternoon. I remember also my friend Kay was there, she's my age. We used to hang out there at my dad's beach house. I had this dream a few days ago while I was visiting my dad in his new house, who I haven't seen in about a year. | 1MKA, 1FKA, 1FKA | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 73 | 1996 | 22/female | F | Y | I was walking with a friend, a feeling I have tells me that it was my housemate, he is male and 21 years old. We were walking along and I had my backpack over my shoulder. I couldn't see him but I knew he was there. I was dressed in dark pants and a dark shirt and I could only see myself. There wasn't any background in the image, at least none that I remember. My housemate asked me where my classes were and I told him one was at Porter room 206 and one was at Oakes 105. I told him that it was easy to remember since the number increased by one in both the front and third number. | 1MKA | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 74 | 1996 | 22/female | F | Y | I dreamt that one of my pet ferrets kept escaping. I was at 7/11 with my boyfriend and as we walked out we saw her splattered in the parking lot. We couldn't figure out how she had gotten there. Then she started moving and we realized that it wasn't her but a larger male and it was still alive. We took it home with us and he began playing with both the ferrets even though he was still slightly mangled and bloody. | 1ANI, 1MKA, 1ANI | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 75 | 1996 | 22/female | F | Y | It was at my good friend's house which I've never been to. But in the dream her house was so big that I didn't even get to see the end of the hall. She had an Olympic size pool with fountains flowing with clear water. The house was in tight wooden color. I was very nervous as my friend brought me around the house. The butler/housekeeper gave me a cup of tea which I spilled on the white new carpet. I never got to see her room. I was so nervous that I woke up from the dream. | 1FKA, 1MKA | AP D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 76 | 1996 | 23/female | F | Y | The dream took place in a social setting with some friends of mine. I don't recall the actual place but it was in a party-type environment with lots of people standing around and some even dancing. I recall being with the person I'm dating now. I remember him saying he didn't want to be with me anymore and him turning talking to another girl. I remember feeling enraged with anger that I tried to punch him. I remember struggling and pushing him around. When I woke up I was really upset about the dream. | 2JKA, 1MKA, 1FSA | AN D, AN D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 77 | 1996 | 23/female | F | Y | I was dreaming of returning to school for spring quarter. For some reason the entire class was floating in rafts and boats in a river down a stream like the school was the rocky steep cliffs on either side. I was trying to get down to the river but couldn't find a spot that was accessible, all the sides were to steep. I remember someone close to me died and I was trying to find a friend to tell them but no one could understand what I was saying. | 2JKA, 1ISA | null |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 78 | 1996 | 23/female | F | Y | The only part I remembered about the dream was when my roommate (22/female) was sitting down in the living room on the couch and she was telling me that she was pregnant. I immediately felt concerned about her situation and I asked her what she planned on doing about her studies. She then told me she was thinking of getting an abortion. I objected to her decision. I was trying to persuade her to change her mind. I don't know what happened next because this was when I woke up. During the dream I felt very unpleasant. I was very concerned with my roommate's situation. | 1FKA | AP D, AP D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 79 | 1996 | 24/female | F | Y | I was driving my car down a street in Santa Cruz trying to read a piece of paper. I saw two guys who I think were the members of the group 'The Red Hot Chili Peppers'. The windows were rolled down along with my sun roof. I heard them say something about their dog (white) being hit. I then remember bumping something with my car, but when I looked in the rear window I saw nothing, so I thought nothing of it. Later, I found my dog on the road. I had hit her and killed her. I felt so sad. My sister, who owns the dog was looking. When she found out she didn't seem distraught at all. I remember feeling so sad. Later she wobbled into the living room and I couldn't figure out where she came from. | 2MSA, 1ANI, 1FKA | SD D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 80 | 1996 | 24/female | F | Y | I dreamt that I walked past a house quite close to my house that I'm moving out off. It was a cute little house with flowers in pots outside. There was a wooden deck and it all faced the ocean. It was perfect and the cost to rent was $400 per month. The feelings I had were those of tremendous disappointment and sorrow for I have just put down first and last month rent as well as a deposit on another apartment. Of course I couldn't get out of that so the feeling was major disappointment. I recall the sun was shining. It was a perfect day in my favorite neighborhood. | null | SD D |
ucsc_women | UCSC women, 1996 | 81 | 1996 | 24/female | F | Y | I was living in a studio apartment but there was no carpet and one side of the room was filled with old furniture stacked up. There was a dusty fireplace and I started cleaning it out. Then I opened one of the doors and I was in someone else's house. It was a huge mansion. Outside was a swimming pool. The people who lived in the house saw me and I told them I was sorry I must be sleepwalking. Then I went back into my room and there was a white cat. I didn't want to throw the cat out but I wasn't allowed to have pets. I started calling all these people trying to find a home for the cat. | 2JSA, 1ANI | SD D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 001 | 2007- | 05/29/07 | M | A | I was part of a team searching for terrorists who were plotting to destroy a Portuguese replica of a great city. The plot I helped foil previously involved the Brandenburg gate type columns being blown up and falling onto a nationalist shrine. This next clue was much harder. Something to do with the beach. There were hostages who knew, but couldn't or wouldn't talk. They were being systematically killed. We guessed the wrong one who would be killed, but I saw the gunman walk up, take aim and shoot a dart into the neck of one of them. He was a tall, bald Asian man in a suit. Young, with purple accents. I was wearing my pumas, so I didn't make much noise. I saw he was heading to a run-down house in the Arab sector. I ran up to him, watching my shadow as I sprinted. Then I put him in a headlock and attempted to drag him into traffic. He was strong, and when cars were about to hit him, he bended and leapt away. The people inside the house, a family of freedom fighters, ran out. They didn't want to blow their cover. The dad ran out to help the comrade and was killed. Splattered. I was dragged inside. They were old and young, men and women. A regular extended family -- people who did not look at all like terrorists. The police came and they convinced the overly soft officers that it was just a domestic disturbance and the officers left their house. They would do anything to get the attention away from them. Instead of exacting revenge, they scooped me in on their plan. I assume the result ended up in my above condition. I remember bits from the shootout, including one of their badly injured having a gun near their heart to be blasted because they were not well liked. | 2MOA, 2JSA, 1MEA, 2JSA, 1MKA, 2MOA, 1MOA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 002 | 2007- | 05/29/07 | M | A | I dreamed that I had just woken up in a hospital room. I remember snippets of the surgery. I had been badly hurt. A bullet, perhaps. It was in the same place where my appendix scar is. It didn't hurt yet, but I knew and wanted and was looking forward to painkillers. At my bedside was my mother. And in my bed was a girl who was beautiful, who said she loved me and that her name was Kimmi. A tooth of mine was loose also. I looked around. All kinds of stuff was strewn about the room. Spoils of some kind. The thing is, I didn't remember a single thing. I knew who my mother was, and later, who my friends and brother were when they came in, but the past -- I don't know how long -- was gone. I told Kimmi that I didn't know who she was and if I loved her. We snuggled close. I put my hand on her pajama-clad leg. I felt bad that I couldn't remember her. My mother accepted her, so I assumed they had met previously. Marvin, Kareem (friends from college), someone I didn't know and my brother Gerald came in. They were congratulatory. They were also giddy and laughed the laugh of someone who knows something that you should know but don't. Apparently, I did something completely badass and somehow got away with it. Kimmi was having a hard time coming to terms with my memory loss. My friends were making sexist remarks. I didn't know her, but I felt strongly for her and sorry for her. Her parents had warned her to stay away from people like me who would break her heart. She went to the bathroom to freshen up. She was strong, though. And pushed through the crap. I also had a loose tooth. When it came out, it had a metal root, very futuristic. Like an implant. I yelled because I wanted to share this with Kimmi. "I feel like I am 10 or 12." I tried to remember when my teeth last came out. | 1FKA, 1FKA, 2JKA, 1FSA, 2JKA | SD D, SD D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 003 | 2007- | 10/22/07 | M | A | I was back on the island. There were trip leaders (an outdoor group from college) there instead. They were taking us on a mystery trip, but it turned out that they didn't plan well. We were chilling in the Starbucks before we learned of how/when we would depart. | 2MKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 004 | 2007- | 10/22/07 | M | A | Going through the Arab marketplace. The trowel debate. The sticky, $1500 worth of pot. I knocked some over. But rolled a blue putty joint and smoked it myself. I held it for a long time with my eyes closed. | null | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 005 | 2007- | 10/22/07 | M | A | Plane came down in a very fast water landing. It was supposed to be a crash, but somehow, we managed and came down in just the right spot for transport to the airport | null | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 006 | 2007- | 10/22/07 | M | A | I was on a Halo map (a video game) against some other island people with alligator people on my team. Most didn't last very long. But Sue, a co-worker I was attracted to, took up a position on a cliff of the map, which consisted of a crashed covenant ship in the middle surrounded by tall cliffs with a long ledge and a valley. After some killing -- after I established by head-shot dominance by killing the people around her and communicating with her through the headset -- we went back to base and lay down. We were tired. Like a game of paintball, we took off our helmets and sat down. Drew (a co-worker on the college newspaper) was there. I proved I could snipe him if I wanted. We got into a fistfight. I punched him a couple times and he needed to go to the bathroom. My co-worker Sue came back. I sat down. Instead of sitting nearby, she lay across my lap. Mixed signals. She changed positions twice, each one more sexual -- straddling me front, then back. My pants were off, as I was cooling down. My underwear wouldn't stay up revealing glimpses. She didn't seem to mind. | 2ISA, 1FKA, 2ISA, 1MKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 007 | 2007- | 10/22/07 | M | A | It was a big house that one sister had just bought. Not my sister, but a new family that had moved into a house where my family used to live. The visiting sister was pregnant. Very pregnant. She was helping the sister sand the floors in one bedroom. A lot of remodeling needed to be done. They were talking about how the place was had at a good price partially because someone died on the stairs years before. A roll of tape or something dropped and rolled out the door and went down the stairs and stopped halfway down. The pregnant sister went after it. For some reason, nails covered the stairs. Some were sticking up without explanation. The sister got a foreboding feeling and told her pregnant sister to hold onto the rail. The wood on the steps was scratched and had chunks missing from it. She reached for the door, but the seam was gone. It wouldn't open. But then she double took. The seam was back. She opened the door and let the light and outside air come in. She led her sister by the hand to the bottom and outside. She insisted the stay there for a while. The pregnant sister thought she was being silly. Then very sinister sounding rock music with a steady, deep drum and base picked up just inside normal hearing range. There were noises of sex and violence intertwined. She looked inside and felt death. The older sister ran with her younger sister to her old car parked out front, got in, and started driving. The younger sister was starting to get afraid after her initial reaction of skepticism. As they drove away and looked back, the house looked like it was burning, like a gothic building burning in a dim, ashy haze of fire and smoke. | 1FKA, 1FKA, 1ISA, 1FKA | AP 1FKA, AP D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 008 | 2007- | 10/22/07 | M | A | Dreamed that I was in pursuit of an injured bird-like alien. I had maimed it with the covenant carbine. It was like a little tweet bird. I imagined an owl taking me and it, a friend owl, off to a nest for interrogation. But the thing made me think, somehow, I could catch baby owls in my bowels. So it got away temporarily. It flew up slightly higher than a jump. I followed with a little more effort. It went down a tunnel into a larger room filled with broken munitions. I had the rifle and I was able to use several of it other settings. Just holding it, the trigger wasn't readily apparent. I kept making it to a soft targeting laser. I shot at it a few times and it died down on my radar. By the time I got in, it had been drug off by another combatant or skulked off somewhere to die. There were broken pieces of the laser and the sniper on the ground. I picked them up, but they wouldn't equip. Just like picking up an empty weapon. I tried putting them together, but they didn't magically "click." Next, I went outside and I was taken down into the belly of the pillar of autumn, which had been resurrected, but completely taken over by the flood. It was nasty. But when I awoke, I was at an outdoor camp with a lot of other guys, rednecks who were on my team, defending our base. This was Halo, the video game, but real. I had the sniper. It was dark, the enemy was far. I could barely see the flint of the enemy snipers' scope. It was closer to America's army. One guy was defending our base-proper down at the temple, where you had to ask quietly and then progressively get louder before toy made it inside to score. The enemy took our flag and made it most of the way back. One of our guys chased them and stopped the carrier right outside his base. I took out the two guys running for it with the sniper. The flag slid down the hill. Enemies were circling from behind to get it. I alerted my camp partially because I didn't want to deal with the mess. As a counter, the guy near their base took their flag, but dropped it just outside. One-handed, I grabbed a brute shot and took out a guy no-scope with the sniper. I grabbed the flag in the same hand as the brute shot and ran to the temple. I made it past spectators, across bridges and stairs, and spit my gum out at the doors. | 1ANI, 1ANI, 2MOA, 1ANI, 2MSA, 1MSA, 2MOA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 009 | 2007- | 10/22/07 [nap] | M | A | I'm chasing after an artifact in the islands. The small bead-string of land is somewhere remote in the Caribbean. They are pine islands, scrub forests and shanty settlements. Shallow sea and reef lay in between. Large companies have set up some mysterious operations on one of the larger islands, requiring copious amounts of power. The adventure begins when I hijack a twin-engine split-tail seaplane and fly into this island in pursuit of a bad guy. I'm with a close ally in the plane. Someone who I care about and trust. The bad guy has henchmen. They thwart our escape. We incapacitate or kill many of them, but they slow us down enough for the bad guy to escape in a small, single-engine plane. We've been in pursuit for months. I wasn't going to let him get away. In a mad, desperate, injured dash, I make it to my waiting plane. I can't really fly well. But I am co-pilot anyway. The bad guy has a smaller, more maneuverable plane. He takes off through the mess of power lines. At first I don't think it's an issue -- but we soon learn there's no way to blast skyward with the big plane's power with the lines overhead. Instead, we fly low under them and try to accelerate. The bad guy zips out and takes off toward another island. | 1MKA, 1MSA, 2MOA, 2MSA | AP D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 010 | 2007- | 10/28/07 | M | A | I was on an island. This place was fairly bare, but there was a local encampment funded by the island's far-off government on the mainland. That was the locus of control and commerce and entertainment for the whole island. Behind the field station, there was a bar that reminded me of a dockside bar I know. I went inside and was at first pitted against a redheaded crazy guy. The fight was completely voluntary, a weekend fight night or something similar. He looked crazy, and I underestimate my own abilities, so I was nervous going in. But when the fight started, I quickly capitalized. I kicked at him and he came in low, trying to grab my legs and take me down. What did I do? I got behind him and put him into a chokehold. There was some rule that forbade me from choking him at a specific angle, so when I was called out by the judge, I adjusted. It took a little longer, but he was on the verge of passing out after a few extra seconds. His face looked like it was going to pop. It turned red, then blue. Then he tapped out. I won. I was tired. I went and sat with my mother at a back table until the next match. We were all sort of refugees here. I was studying at a field station at the island. There are rebels in the nearby hills. They came down one day and decided to raid the station in two waves. The hills were green and rolling, but difficult to scale--and deeper in, there were ravines and forested ridges. The first was terror. I didn't know quite why. But they came in waving AK-47s and roughed us all up. It was almost as if it was a rogue band that went in ahead of the serious group to have a little fun. I ducked out of the back patio and behind one of the three-story house's pillars. They left, and I ran to notify the headmaster we were under attack. Just as I was getting her to understand -- she was saying we should just let them run their course -- there's not much we can do. Bull shit. The second wave came in. I went out to fight them. But the second wave was by far more serious. The point man had what I can only describe as a brute shot. It launched these explosive shells at low velocity. I dodged them. And when the dozen more marauders came over the hill, I evacuated. The second man in the bar I fought was a slightly pudgy, but muscular black guy. He was solid, and fast for his relative size. I told my mother he's stronger than me, but I was still faster. I went at it. My punches connected, and I swept him at the ankles. | 1MSA, 1MOA, 2MOA, 1FKA, 1FOA | AP D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 011 | 2007- | 10/29/07 | M | A | It was again a dream on the Bahama island of Andros. This time, though, it was a quasi-race, like the gumball rally, only on foot. It began like a 5k run. I began at the head of the pack, and challenged myself to stay that way. I always start that way. I have no patience. But because of the technical nature of the course, my head kept in the game. It was over streams and things, then it took a right turn. We went up a tree and into an abandoned mining house, like the kind at Disney world. We went across a synthetic board linking the roof to a rail system that had palm frond particleboard instead of ties. They did things that way here. The linking bridge -- I was certain the course organizers put them there -- they looked too new and custom-made, like tar-paper-covered boards on a mountain bike trail. Eventually, things began to get mythical. We needed to get onto the roof of an old woman's house -she had the ancient aura of Amelia Marshal, but she baked goods instead of made baskets. There was one runner guy who had lead the pack. I was behind him for most of the way, but still up at the front. When we got to the dead-end house part -- we didn't want to disturb her from sleeping. We had to get permission to go through. So we had to wait until she woke up. But I got a better idea. There was a tree next to her house and one in the yard. They had long branches. I climbed and pulled down one branch. Another competitor jumped for it. Grabbed it, and made it to the roof. Another did the same for me, but it was really far -- and I was in a different place. It was a skinny branch, and there was a chance of it breaking. Instead, I went inside and asked her nicely. She baked me a pastry. I ate it, but then things changed. | 1FSA, 1MSA, 1FSA, 1MSA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 012 | 2007- | 10/29/07 | M | A | There was a robot guard lady. She was big, and made of iron. She was going after a sleeping friend in the blue-light-covered colder upstairs part of her house. It was difficult to defeat, because of its mass. I hit it, dented it, and smashed at it on every joint and from every angle. Eventually, it fell. I dodged its blows because it was slow. I hit it. But then it turned into a more feminine robot. It was still muscular, but somewhat attractive, with blonde hair and a pierced nose. It got even softer as I began to talk to it. It looked like the hot Krishna girl. It opened its legs and I began having sexual intercourse it. She said it was very enjoyable, because I was passionate, not self-centered. | 5FSA, 1FSA, 7FKA | HA 1FKA |
van | Van: a video gamer | 013 | 2007- | 10/29/07 | M | A | There was going to be an opening to the next stage. I went to the roof, but everything turned cold. The robot froze. My companions, they gave in to the cold. The snowstorm was so ferocious, I gave my blue jacket to a companion, but he froze. I took it from him and put it on. He was gone. I figured with my fleece and that jacket, I'd be fine. The old woman walked out, then froze. I felt bad, but she went without complaint. Then, I walked to a portal and faced the final boss in a Halo (video game) multiplayer map-like arena. It was gray and had cube-like spires. I beat it and got my ranking. But it was real life. I was near the top, but not the best. I was yellow, the best was orange on the scale. Very aggressive amateur. About 1192 out of 1800. I was angry that I should have gotten a higher score. Only one or two was better than mine. | 1ANI, 2ISA, 1FSA, 1CZZ | AN D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 014 | 2007- | 11/13/07 | M | A | I was in my apartment. It was raining hard. People and strangers were all hanging around, waiting for some tremendous event, like a hurricane, to happen. We flitted around the restaurants nearby. I returned to wait. To play Halo, the video game, or rather, to consider playing it as I tried to get work done with the usual noise happening all around. I walked outside to the porch, reminded me of the porch in a house I once lived in, only it was the front parking lot of the apartment I lived in while a junior in college. I was just chilling--it was really late--so late, it was almost early. The college student newspaper I had worked for had gotten out. And then co-worker I was attracted to, Sue, appeared through the sliding glass door. She was wearing a blue nightgown, with a deep v between her breasts, which seemed much bigger than normal. She looked amazing. I told her that. She really was the most amazing thing I had ever seen, with her golden locks flowing down over her shoulders. She was trying to get reception on her Cingular phone. She had a booster. I told her there used to be a receiver or something on the roof. | 2JSA, 1FKA, 1FKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 015 | 2007- | 12/14/07 | M | A | Checked into a by-the-hour motel with the Hoffman sisters, whom I know as friends. The guy at the counter was busy, so he really didn't care about keeping track of the time. "Just get out by tomorrow," he said. I checked the place out, but Katrina Hoffman was tired and crashed on the sheets, which I warned were probably not clean. Rebecca Hoffman was being flirty, even though I was seeing her sister. A voice came on telling me my mud turtle buried itself in the mud under a rock and probably died. I was in denial, because the turtle burrowed under there itself and turtles can live in hibernation for months. When I lifted the rock in the muddy enclosure to find out, lots of other bright-eyed geckos and other animals came out, in addition to my gecko. | 2FKA, 1MKA, 1FKA, 1ISA, 1ANI, 2ANI | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 016 | 2007- | 01/16/08 | M | A | It was in another country or world, where the rules were suspended and the technology was like old-mob Chicago meets swords and scythes. There was a large complex -- a restaurant lounge next to a hardware/junk parts depot. I was coming in from the outside, from a more prosperous place, after being away for a long time. My family, though, had stayed behind. Well, what was left of it anyway. The locals scoffed at me for being too soft, too high cultured. I thought they could be right. To me, they were dirty and stupid. But quite rough. The owner of the complex, guess who, a scheming Persian, had slighted my mother in some nefarious way. I sought revenge. At first, he tried to appease me, bribe me off. I started to walk away, but then rage came over me. With a well-connected friend at my side, I grabbed up a pole with a reaper-like scythe, but with a more hook-like blade, and charged into the outdoor bar, which was assembled with makeshift barrels and bare, gray-aged plywood. The building it was attached to was a former postal facility. It was huge, like the building of the newspaper where I interned. The man saw me, and then darted away into a mail shoot. He had a pistol with him. As I moved to follow him, I hesitated -- my large weapon would be unwieldy inside. My friend opened his jacket and revealed a 6-shot revolver. I took it from him, and attacked. I could see his head just peering over the top of the maze-like aluminum dividers. I fired for his head. The bullets were bunk. The shots came out slow. They didn't penetrate all the way through. I fired, each shot whizzing inches by his head, diverted by the metal. I fired a close one. It must have grazed him. He stumbled near an exit. I had a clean shot. Click. I was out. He raised his weapon and came after me. I ducked behind a corner and ran. My friend had a hard time getting more bullets out of his pocket. He handed me three. I put one, two in. and fumbled with the third. Screw it. I hope they go in the correct rotation order. He appears over the top of a metal wall. I shoot him in the chest as he raises his gun to fire. He falls back, but is still alive. I move to kill him. His daughter appears. She helped him in the plan against my family. She is pretty, but looks kind of gypsy-like. I knock her to the floor. My friend says, let's rape her. He grabs her by the arms and holds her. This actually excites me. Yes, I want revenge. Yes, I very well could be within my rights. I move to her, and pull up her thin, tattered dress. I think about it. She could have a disease. I touch her. She's wet, sticky. I decide no. I can't do this. I go to her father and put a bullet in his head. She pulls a rat-shot makeshift gun from her side and shoots him in the chest. It's almost as if she wanted it. She could have used it on us to get away. I guess she didn't like him. | 2JKA, 1MEA, 1FKA, 1MKA | AN D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 017 | 2007- | 01/19/08 | M | A | Jordan, an ex-boyfriend of my former girlfriend Annie, invited me over to his house. He was far more docile and timid than I remember. He wasn't angry. Just told me to watch out--to be sure I really knew her before I got any deeper. That she was the type to lead guys on, and mess with them. Then I went to go check her out. She was staying back in her place in the north. In my head, it was a nearby university town, but more rural. I went around campus, checking around. I'd rented a minivan -- to carry all my stuff. For some reason, I brought all my essentials. Then I got an e-mail -- I just read it. It felt like it was beamed into my head or onto a sheet of paper right in my hands that I was reading. She said she wanted my sperm. And that if she were a sperm, she would want to be inside my warm body and then have it swim into hers. She's crazy like that, I admitted. I couldn't get a hold of her all day, like in real life. So I went to go pack up my mini van. But apparently, the one I loaded up with my stuff was the wrong one. It had been sketchily commandeered by a Chinese businessman and his associate and his driver. The driver was going to the airport. It felt like another country. It was like $50 a mile for rental and gas. I felt sick thinking of the miles rolling past -- and that I had left the minivan, the one I rented, back at the college part of town. We stopped to get gas at a Sunoco or something or a Shell on a busy strip filled with fast-food strip malls near the airport. I called Annie. I finally got through. There was laughing in the background. Her tone was like, "Hello? ohhh, Hi.... yeah, I'm having fun right now -- what do you want?" I asked her to pick me up. She sounded hesitant, like she couldn't. Then, I woke up. | 1MKA, 1FKA, 1MEA, 1MEA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 018 | 2007- | 01/19/08 [nap] | M | A | I am a reporting intern at a newspaper. I am assigned a case involving a soft-core porn star in a photo shoot gone bad. I was supposed to meet with her at a pre-arranged time, along with another reporter, Kat. I was waiting for the call from the source when something came in over the police scanner -- a 911 call came in from Kat. She was reported missing. I got a text message from an unknown number stating that she was in trouble, and that I was supposed to arrive at the location, a parking garage, ASAP. For plot purposes, I'll add that the source witnessed an uneasy actress get drugged to "calm her nerves." But somehow, through OD or allergic reaction, she died. The drugs were administered to her after she had already been plied with alcohol. And she took convincing to take it. The witness played dumb. Still, they threatened her. I rush to the parking garage. Another reporter had already been dispatched -- most of the editors hadn't known we would be there for the story, and the cops' reporter just heard of the situation from the police radio. The report stated that Kat had been struck over the head when she neared the pre-arranged meeting place. She found herself slumped in the bed of a truck a few moments later. She woke up -- they hadn't knocked her out for too long. She got up, and began to run in a staggered way away, down the ramp. She got down a level, and the people had noticed her escape. They chased after her. The brown ford pickup was right in front of her. Her back was to the railing. One of the guys ran at her, but tripped over a parking block. Kat started screaming. The other, who got spooked, opened the door. A Starbucks cup with my first name on it fell out. The guy got up and ran back to the truck. A pedestrian started to approach. The truck peeled out. It appears that I looked too eager to write the story. The editors criticized me for thinking it was in my station to cover something this big. And because of the cup, I was accused of even being complicit in the plans. Also, there was a report that came in that said four reporters had gone missing, but it was later amended. | 1FOA, 1FSA, 1MSA, 2IOA, 1MSA, 1ISA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 019 | 2007- | 01/20/08 | M | A | "Let's go. Hands behind your back. Let's go." The officer's voice was so calm, so soft and casual. The words entered my dream. (I woke up and found a man was actually being arrested outside my window.) | 1MOA, 1MSA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 020 | 2007- | 01/26/08 | M | A | I was with a fly-ins (journalism project) group on a Hawaiian island. We were studying something, but then our time was up -- and a terrifying natural phenomenon was occurring -- towering waves, taller than the mountains, were rising up out of the sea and slamming into the barrier islands. The spray washed for miles, and the huge, luxurious resort hotels were being rained on by the deluge, despite their distance. The water poured down the rocky ledges below the resorts. Many had watersides into the deep turquoise channel, which looked warm and welcoming, despite the darkness on the horizon, the area shaded by the rain and waves. The hotels were used to this, it appeared, because they had water channels. If I were a guest, I would be terrified. But the buildings looked to be built like bank vaults. Just before the hotel, I was running through an ancient aqueduct system, that was blue and sea green tile all over. The walls of water were rushing from every direction. Me and my accomplice ducked behind a pilaster to avoid the wall. When it passed, we ran some more, but couldn't run our fastest -- the floors were slippery. I pushed off columns with my hand for that much extra momentum. We made a right turn and entered the hotel level. | 2MKA, 1MKA | AP D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 021 | 2007- | 01/26/08 | M | A | I was going through level after level of ancient ruin. These weren't the deepest, darkest mazes, but more like gutted old stone houses, with doors and dungeons that lead to other realms. On one of the final levels, a vampiress came out of one door and was trying to escape into another. She was a spy. Hit her with my sticks. I had two sticks, strong, fighting sticks. She dropped a potion. When activated, poured out, I guess (didn't want to think what would happen if drank -- would the portal open inside you?) a portal opened. Me and my party went inside. Inside, my team was instantly assailed by a group of sadistic killers. One was holding hostage a daughter of one of the people. Only he had the key. We chased him around the top level of a penthouse suite. He was fond of knives. He was approaching one in a room alone, then I came in, grabbed him, and hurled him against a mirror, grabbing the back of his head and then slamming it into the glass, breaking it, then dragging his face down the splintered slivers, hoping the edges would grab on his skin. I then threw him down when he didn't reveal the location of the key. I held him on his stomach, then took out a couple pieces of glass from the mirror. I threatened to cut him more. He was silent. A fellow emptied his pockets and there were two sharp pocketknives. I got up to reach for one, but then the guy made his escape. I looked back, he was gone. He'd gone outside -- there were similar battles going on in every room and hallway - it was chaos. He shut the door... and the peephole had been reversed. I looked under. I could see his feet. I grabbed a knife, an old, but still shining and sharp cross-handled dagger, and slammed it through the door, hopefully to hit his body pressed up against it. His knife, the same model as mine, came through at the same time and jabbed me in the hand. I wanted to slam through the peephole and get him in the eye. The door was a tan color. There was carpet in the room. Then, the door flung open. He had taken one of our older guys, like Captain Picard, hostage. The knife was to his neck. I wanted to throw my knife, but I didn't think it would take him down before he could cut our friend. Then, an old assassin on our side came up behind him and cut his throat with a razor. He fell to the floor, releasing our guy. Then when we were happy, the guy got up. Or started to. The assassin hit him again in the chest. I threw my knife. It hit his chest with the hilt, but then bounced and jabbed his face. He didn't move. He was dead. Also, back at the hotel, after the fight, I had a lot of glass shards embedded in my bare feet. I kept having to pull them out, like three or four long shards. I remember hit hurting, but it hurt the people looking on more to see these long pieces coming out all bloody. | 1FSA, 2MOA, 1MSA, 1FSA, 1MSA, 1MSA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 022 | 2007- | 01/26/08 | M | A | Exploration of a ruin. Ancient evil stuff there. Another strong, beautiful female went into the submerged place... and then a curse came upon her. The air in her tank disappeared and she had to live for a day on the scant air in the dungeon, which had filled up with even more water. In the dungeon with no air, I went in to help. There were doors, inside were creatures -- venomous, toothy, dog-like beasts that were like hairless, slimy pit-bulls, but evil. I had a sort of map in my head of my abilities. Acid spray, fire bolt, disable, life drain -- that sort of thing. I selected some, and then blasted one of the creatures when it came out at me. It didn't do much. It was more powerful than my abilities. I beat it to death with my hands. The girl survived. She remained calm. Opened a passage, and used the air up in each one, slowly. | 1FSA, 2ANI, 1ANI | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 023 | 2007- | 01/26/08 | M | A | A co-worker I was attracted to, Sue, was chiding me about not following up to a porn story. I'd been researching it for a long time. I'd gotten in on the industry. The industry where we were was built on a shady dungeon... filled with water. She was working for the newspaper where I interned one summer while in college. She was writing a story in a cubicle across from me. I looked over and IM'd her. She laughed because I was right there. I looked into her eyes. I laughed. God, I wanted her. | 1FKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 024 | 2007- | 02/02/08 | M | A | I dreamed that I was working in the newsroom of the newspaper where I interned, after writing stories all day, and then Miriam and Heidi (editors) came up to me and said I was fired. Heidi, in her timid yet last-word way, told me they had to let me go. They didn't give any real reason, just that I wasn't doing my job up to standards and they had decided to fire me. I didn't see it coming. They handed me a check for $1000 and said I had to go. I was distraught. I didn't know why. I asked, why? Are you serious? Come on, I've done a great job every day, what reason do you have? Their response was still, we're sorry. We like you, but we need to let you go. I was afraid. Thoughts of the future ran through my head. What was I going to do? Where was I going to go? How will this affect my future at the newspaper that had just hired me? I was on the verge of tears. I was begging to let me stay, or at least give me an explanation. They wouldn't. I especially thought I could affect Heidi with my pleas. Didn't work. I left, and went home. I got in my car and just drove. When I arrived, I walked in all disappointed. I told my mother what happened. She tried to comfort me, but her words felt patronizing. They gave me an "I told you so" that it wasn't a real internship, that they were leading me on. I got mad at them. I showed them my paycheck. My father was there, and he said it was a fake thing and I should tear it up. I insisted that it wasn't - because it was real. I went downstairs to my room in the house we lived in when I was a young teenager. The walls were blue, and the desk was against the wall facing the Taylors' house. The desk was dark wooden particleboard. It was scratched, and smelled like spilt cereal and had snot on it. I sat down my new laptop on the old keyboard tray and began to play a sim-copter like game. My newspaper job, apparently, was parallel to flight school. My first helicopter was a small 2-seater. I took off and made a perfect landing. Shows them. Then, I got upgraded. It was fast, a heavy lifter. 4.5 stars. And priced reasonably as well. There were other options, like the fat, heavy birtha copter. It only got two stars. Why would anyone get that? Well, for heavy lifting, probably. I was on a mission against zombies. I wasn't sure exactly what I had to do, but knew it would become clear when I reached the combat zone. I arrived, and flew into a building, lightly bumping or just barely missing the ceiling. I flew inside, into the conference hall, realized nothing was there but Z and then flew out. I saw a green beacon. It was a person, being surrounded by zombies, up on a mesa-like patio. I flew in low and tried to hit the zombies. I missed. I swung around and took them out with the second pass. They started following me after the first pass. The glowing green female townsperson, I flew over her and she was rescued. There were two more. I rescued one not far, but time was running out to get the third. 3...2....1...0.021.... I hit pause, as I knew I wouldn't have enough time. I went upstairs to the kitchen and had dinner, mini-cupcakes and beef jerky. My sister gave me hers. I went down stairs and saw that I got a greeting card from Heidi. I ran upstairs to show my mother they actually cared and felt bad. Then when I went back down to open it, it was official-type documentation. It was a form offering me to attend seminars during the summer, and permission to use some of my articles in a contest. I thought about declining, but that'd probably hurt me in the long run. They have no gratitude. And it's one of those things where I don't know why I got fired, so when someone asks, it looks like I'm hiding something. | 2FKA, 1FKA, 1MKA, 1MKA | SD D, AN D, SD D, AN D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 025 | 2007- | 02/24/08 | M | A | I was working at the newspaper where I interned. I had gotten there early. But I was tired, and a little hungry. Everyone was there, the vets and all of the young people. Luckily someone brought cupcakes. Both white and chocolate frosting. I ate one vanilla. Then I went for another. Then I realized I was tired. The day was going by slowly. I put my head down on my desk and fell asleep. I thought I had only been passed out for a minute or so, but when I awoke, it was apparent I had been out for some time -- you know, that unknowing guy drooling and snoring in an inappropriate place, while everyone steps over him to do real work. I finally woke up and realized the time. I felt compelled to go out and do something. So, rain coming down, my car still musty from the sunroof incident, I started driving. I drove north, toward the bad part of town, but not quite there. I stopped at my bank to look for a story. Instead, I ended up driving around and then I realized something and needed to go back. The parking lot was a maze. I went around three or four times, cutting through the drive-thru banking center until I finally decided to turn into the bank's outdoor stairway leading inside. My car cleared the teller counters, hit the tile main floor and then I proceeded out the open front doors and down the main steps. I got out of my car, which may have been stuck, and picked up a modern, skinny skateboard. I saw another skateboard on the ground, it looked nice -- I could use it as a backup. But it was missing the front trucks and wheels. I began to try to skateboard. I felt unbalanced, but I got up and was able to cut and turn like I knew what I was doing. Two young skateboard guys were in front of me. They stopped and I fell as I ran into them. They said sorry indirectly. They looked at my board and said they once saw one you could kick and it would come up. I said yeah, a NASH skateboard. Everyone had one back in my day. We continued down the concrete path. They kept getting in my way. One pushed me, and I took a left path toward what doubled as the Reitz/building of the newspaper where I interned. I made the turn down a side path but then veered into the grass. I got up and went into the building. I went into the bathroom, and for some reason I put on a shirt and a thick coat and left my pants behind. I took the elevator up to the newsroom. Then I realized I had no pants on. It was night, so the office was dark. I dashed back into the elevator level. I hoped nobody saw me. I took the elevator back down to the safety of the bathroom. Once inside, I stepped into a stall and started to pee. It was the sort of after-sex pee. The stall door was broken. I was still wearing the heavy ski coat. Then the security guard came in. I ignored him and continued to pee. Then he came in and started watching me, under the guise of fixing the door and keeping watch. I said '"alright, nothing to see here. Everything's fine." He said ok, ok but didn't move. "I got angry and said, leave me the fuck alone, let me pee in peace, goddamn it." He finally moved. I finished and went to the sink. He followed me. I told him to leave me alone. But because he saw I had no pants on and he was a pervert, he stepped close to me and gave me an ultimatum. I nodded, ok, but instead, punched him and grabbed away the gun he was waving around. I also, somehow, had a makeshift grenade. I backed away and pointed the gun at him. It was a big gun -- it was big in my hand, black, with more stylized points than most. Like a slightly smaller desert eagle. I held the gun in my right and the grenade in my left. It was tough holding the grenade so tightly with one hand, so I changed hands. I told him he should have made his move then, and that he's too cowardly to even try anything. He stepped closer and said I wouldn't have shot. He sat down on a stool near the mirrors and laughed at me, said I wouldn't shoot if he made a move. He made a taunting false-move, and I pulled the trigger. The shot hit him in the face, right underneath his right eye. The hole was massive. It could have been a kill shot, but then again, people do survive shots to the face. I look at the gun. It has a clear clip that was so long it stuck out. I had a lot of shots left. I thought, man, I should have shot him in the kneecap or something. But he wasn't dead. He was talking. But burbling, and his right eye was turning bloody and yellow. Then, I decided to kill him. I fired all over his head and face, carefully, but he wasn't dying. Somehow things fast-forwarded to a future documentary. He was old and disfigured, like someone and sewn his face back together with rough stitches and frozen icicles. He was a mad scientist or something, with a secret mechanical lab. Next, I go back to the newsroom. Things get strange. I end up being a killer, contemplating killing a girl every night. I have the gun. And I go out and stalk a girl. I enjoy that more. So I don't do anything. One person is with me. Another wants to be killed. I throw rocks at her till one hits her and she goes down. Another just lays down and decomposes. I throw a rock at her, and hit makes an indent on her ghoulish body, her face is like a snakefish's head. Pointy teeth, round head. The rock unhinges her jaw and it flips up. I put my sandaled foot on it to put it back down. I think this is disgusting, as I got her decomposing flesh on my shoe. Cleaning solvents to fix it. | 2JSA, 1MOA, 1ISA, 2MSA | SD D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 026 | 2007- | 02/24/08 | M | A | I argue with a man at a zoo manatee exhibit. He is telling his wife and infant daughter they are carnivorous. I tell him they're not. They eat plants. He tells me, no, they eat meat. I say to him, look, they're eating water lettuce right now. They're larger than the usual kind of manatee. So I could be wrong. But that would be impossible. Look at them, slowly swimming around. He says they could eat fish. And I said to look at how slow they swim. They're like cows. They could be like whales and eat small stuff, but I know that's not true. I walk over to a tour guide and ask what they eat, are they carnivore or herbivorous? She says something about imported pigs, but then I clarify, "me and this guy are having an argument--do they eat meat or plants. The attractive black woman says "oh, plants," and I prove the guy wrong. She then says, "It's not like sand people trivia or anything." The 'comments' on the placard near the manatees has people talking about Star Wars. I flirt with her: "do they travel in twos or single file?" "Are they easily scared, or brave?" I think of more when I walk away. | 1MSA, 1FSA, 2ANI, 1FOA, 2ANI | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 027 | 2007- | 03/12/08 | M | A | I was covering an event at a zoo in a small village-like location. I was talking to someone who was eager to talk to me about how much he liked the zoo. I was off talking to someone, then I saw the guy I was talking to earlier being hosed down or something by the park manager. He was on all fours, getting decontaminated. He climbed the fence. I went over and the director didn't want to talk to me. I went over to the embarrassed guest and just started asking questions in a joking way. He responded, then, BOOM. Two p-51s collide in midair, sending wreckage flying across the area, setting fire to buildings. I said to him -- god, news -- I'll be right back. I ran out into the middle of the town square. I had my phone in my hand -- I was dialing the newspaper where I interned. Then a huge chunk of wreckage came down on the tower and a chunk flew off and fell on top of me. I thought "this is it -- it's finally caught up to me" but I was able to run free, although the falling chunk of airplane parts damaged my hearing a little. I ran off -- and saw the guy who climbed the fence taking pictures. I said -- can we use those later -- you will be in the newspaper where I interned. He said yeah and continued on. Nesmith came up and asked if I was ok. I said yeah, and she sniffed inside my ear -- she was a former military operative or something -- and could tell some ashes had hurt me. Next I come back and the place is being looted by vandals on brute choppers. I start shooting at them. I take one and swing it around by a chain like Mario. Then a helicopter comes in with their leaders. I attached the centripetally-risen bike to the helicopter and they fly off. The radio station. Magic sees this and announces, "whoever did that gets a magic wand" I consider calling in. but I go in and it's a party in someone's house. I shower in the bathroom with sightlines and the 1-way mirror in front. I wonder if anyone can see. | 1MSA, 1MOA, 1MOA, 1FKA, 2MOA, 1MKA | AP 1MKA |
van | Van: a video gamer | 028 | 2007- | 03/24/08 | M | A | It was a holiday, and to celebrate I entered a freestyle fighting competition down at the local park -- it reminded me of the soccer fields in a park I know. I'd made it through several rounds, and I was in the final bout. It was against a big, fat guy. He wasn't much taller than me, but could have weighed nearly twice as much. He had on a white shirt. I was wearing a pair of black cotton martial arts pants and a plain shirt. We traded blows and grapples. I felt strong, confident. He couldn't get me down. And despite the many blows I landed, they didn't seem to defeat his resolve at all. The judges called a break. A third fighter was introduced -- a wildcard. His job was just to intervene and mix things up. The fat guy backed away. I decided I had enough energy left just to deal with him quickly. I knocked him to the ground with a sweep and then felt I had the strength -- he was lighter than me -- to grab him by the legs and swing him out of the ring. It would have been faster than wearing him down with blows for a k.o. I succeeded. He got out of the ring and didn't return within the required three seconds. I then turned to the fat guy, but the judges called another break. This time for water. I talked to him and a fan base had gathered around me and my competition. Sides had been taken. I said, no matter who does win, it's good to know I made it this far -- into the final round. But money began to trade hands -- and someone stuffed a wad of 100s into my black belt. I took it all out and put it in my pockets. This was bet money. Thousands more was being traded under a tent with a limo under it. This is where the civility began to unravel. At the start of the next round, the competition bolted from the ring. He ran to the limo. I waited for three seconds to pass, so I would at least win on a technicality. Then I began pursuit. I ran, put the guy had jumped in. He was fleeing with all the bet money. I didn't care -- I didn't even think there was a prize. But I wanted closure. I wanted the satisfaction of knowing that I beat him. The limo tore of -- and mob-types in the crowd -- and some apparently paid-off policemen -- began shooting. The glass shattered around me. I ran back to the judges' tent and began talking to one of the refs or a journalist or someone. "I know I won, but I'd rather win the right way, not on a technical knock out. If he came back, I'd give him the chance to prove himself, if he agreed that I had won the competition by the rules. But then the cops started to break everything up. My trainer and a friend began to run -- when they were cut out of their money, they got pissy. My contingent ran to the police chief's command van. As the officers/thugs began to literally extort and steal people's money as "evidence," I told him he couldn't do this, and people in these parts had guns. But he said, "maybe, but we have these--" he raised a new, high-tech smg rifle. And I said, "yeah? So what?" and punched him in the face. He went down, but went for his radio, which had dropped. I picked it up and moved it away. I also took the smg, his automatic pistol handgun and an old-fashioned wood-stock soviet-looking sniper rifle, minus a scope, from the ground near him. I knew we had to move -- fast. My trainer had his own smg. My friend, I gave him the rifle and said to guard the police chief -- we could have held it, but we also needed to go and clear out the crooks. I wanted to leave him the automatic pistol, which looked strange, with a short barrel and clip storage on top, with some kind of extra grip brace. I wanted the range. But I thought I may need the pistol later. Plus, he'd be able to pick off anyone who approached the van (it was in the middle of the field) first with the rifle. We headed off. Also, I checked the guns for shoulder straps -- the smg and the rifle had them, so that couldn't factor into the decision. We rounded a corner in a residential neighborhood. An old, sagging wooden house stood there, and two thugs were in the alleyway, crouched down, guarding the entrance in the middle of the street. I hefted the smg, and depressed the trigger slightly. A green beam lanced out. I traced it on the thug's body. A red beam followed mine and trained on the second guy. My trainer knew what he was doing. As I saw them begin to notice the beams, I opened fire. The gun was on automatic. The bullets lanced out over the 30 yards and peppered his body. He went limp. My trainer fired fewer shots. I was worried his target might not be completely dead. But then I looked at the bodies in the dim alleyway light. We'd killed them so fast; they were slumped over where they stood. Then we got closer -- a dog had been crouched next to the guy my trainer killed. It was unharmed. It bolted. I raised my rifle and fired without aiming at it as it headed for a corner. The bullets flied all around it. I don't know why I was shooting -- it's not like the dog could warn anyone. But if it arrived bloodied and alone, the others would know something's wrong. I could feel its pace. and in its final bound before it rounded the corner, I hit it twice on its flank. It made it around the corner, but I doubted it would get much further. Then we entered the house. I had a glove on my left hand, but not my trigger hand. The trigger had grown hot. A downside to this high-tech weapon. I took the pistol out of my pocket. I knew the litting thing would spit fire like a dragon in these close quarters. It's snub-nose would make it even more versatile inside than the smg. Plus, I only had one clip inside each weapon -- the smg could run out at any moment. I decided to switch the fire mode -- it had four -- auto, four burst, three burst and a couple other modes. The pistol had auto, semi and safe. Inside was a disaster. Water was leaking, I don't remember any smells, but I remember thinking I'm glad I can't smell, it would be awful. The shower was dripping, and it looked like a person had been cut up into tiny chunks and was rotting inside. We cleared the house -- it was empty. Then I saw a bank tube, the kind used for drive through banks. Inside was a wad of cash wrapped in plastic. I took it out, showed my trainer, and stuffed it into the pocket I still had some of the fighting cash. I decided to exit via the window, jumping and using vines ripping from the wall to slow my descent. As I waited for my trainer to arrive, I listened to a downstairs apartment basement window -- I heard voices from a radio coming through there. I listened close -- and wanted to fire a few shots in -- no way to tell if someone was waiting inside with a shotgun. Then, an Asian man rode up on a bicycle, threw a brown paper bag, and then fled. The bag caught fire -- the blaze was large. I ran toward the edge of the flames to get past them before they got any larger. BOOM. The world became slow motion. The explosion shockwave flashed white. I jumped. And continued on the edge. I pulled the pistol and began firing at the guy. He was wearing a white shirt. I was waiting to see red spots. I kept missing, even though the little handgun sounded like a roar as it spat bullet after bullet. I expected my trainer to be following me. The bike guy rounded a corner outside a park -- and there was an entire Asian gang there. the connections were getting deeper -- cops, gamblers, organized crime. They didn't seem armed... except for a big guy in the middle. No quantity of guns, but quality, my god -- he had what looked like a SAW. But in the commotion, two of his own people ran in front of him as he opened fire at me. He was wearing a black, mandarin-collar suit. I opened fire when his two people went down. And my shots either hit or came close enough to cause him to fall back. I decided I was outnumbered -- and out of ammo -- and fled around the corner. This was not this world. There were a bunch of guys standing on the porch of this general store looking place. Inside, it was a gun shop. Even though both guns were 9mm, I asked for 5.56 ammo. The guy said he was out. All he had was 6.8 mm specialty ammo. Damn. He offered me the m4-like gun in the case -- I had enough cash to make a deal, but it would be tough to find that ammo elsewhere given the running state I'm in. I wanted to ask for a referral to a different place or to just buy a gun with compatible ammo. I got a 9mm pistol and went outside -- and the running began anew. It took me down stairs, and through an underground tunnel that took me to the edge of the city, where the world ended. It was a large lake that went off to infinity -- or rather -- a newly discovered realm that this place leads to. I went in with a group of trip-like people who I knew. It was a plateau surrounding a white sand, blue-water basin -- with a resort in the middle. There were dinosaur-like creatures, extinct mammals and even a unicorn. I waded across and was hungry. There was a girl who was naked. She talked to me. She was like an island native with a successful business. And inside, she ran a hot dog stand. | 1MSA, 2MOA, 1MSA, 1ISA, 1ISA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 029 | 2007- | 04/07/08 | M | A | Began with me and my brother Gerald slashing through new-era lugians (creatures in a video game called Asheron's Call we both played when we were younger) in a cave to get me a hollow axe (a weapon in that online multiplayer game). My current axe could swipe through each one in a single fall. After the hordes became too thick, we jumped out a tube with a yellow lift but many were inside. We met them outside and cut them down. They were beginning to turn into zombies. Legions of them. A bunch of young kids and rednecks began to arrive and slide down the tube that leads into the dungeon. I lead the way, others followed. A good group compiled. Including my little dog (a childhood pet) and someone to take care of her. The zombies were many. But I'd acquired a shotgun since. I was blowing them away. We were being pursued by the legion of doom, or whatever the big evil power was. The size and scope of their army was tremendous -- but they had not yet arrived here in full. We were just battling the natural wild beasts. It was a big stone building like the main city with the indoril guards in Morrowind. And it had canals. Many canals. (The dungeon had led us to an underground/outdoor type setting. I was supposed to meet my former girlfriend Annie , but she was at the end of our journey -- at the shore. In a fortress by the shore. I was to keep her safe. There was a preppy swimmer in need of help, so I used my powers to let him qualify for a race and claim his royalty position in the countryside so Annie could marry him and go off to be safe there. They here married before I was to see her again. I saw her see me. And then they were gone. I was left in a pet store like place on an upper floor of the large building. I held a little dog and was happy that she was finally clean and happy. Then I knew we must continue. I went outside, and the zombies were thicker than ever. There were stacks of industrial cargo -- we'd reached the shore area (this was the bay side). To avoid the zombies, we jumped (well, I jumped--the others had to knock stuff over to form bridges to get across... and ruined my stable jump/landing spots). A bag of special salt ripped and spilled down. And one zombie spoke to me. The salt cured or slowed the zombification process. "Kill me -- and it will be honorable" or something like that. I left him. And then the other bitten, but not-transformed zombie people gathered around. I threatened to shoot one of them if they tried anything funny. I stuffed salt into the barrel of the shotgun -- hopefully it would be more effective against the next zombie... and then. The sky turned red and any light turned red. a dust storm came from nowhere... and the legion of doom descended. The feeling was as if death had come to snatch the life out of everything everywhere, only it was worth -- that death would come only after all hope had been smashed out of you via torturous means. Thousands of lich warriors, brainwashed human minions serving a dark power. This was worse than Nazi Germany -- it was like the force from the chronicles of riddik. Only with undead and a giant seaborne army, with a giant command ship. I went into the town. I killed a few guards to get in unnoticed and quickly went inside an abandoned building with a few close warriors. "Should we wait until morning for the suicide mission to destroy their main ship?" Maybe. I had a hunch. I went inside the building and in a room met a member of the resistance who was hiding out. I felt confident with my weapon as I raided the place. He said there were more like him... and he would join us in our raid. I got a good feeling from him. Then, when we were supposed to be low and quiet, the younger brother of one of our companions started shining his flashlight through a darkened window at people dining on the sidewalk outside. He wanted them to think it was a ghost. One couple did and were shocked. Another old woman pulled a gun out of her purse... aimed... and I punched him in the face and took him down. The bullet missed him, but splintered off and hit McCoy (from Star Trek) in the leg. I told everyone to hide. The guards were on their way. I left the idiot who brought the roof down and ran. I ran into a building that looked like an outfitter store that was being forced to close. My character turned into a petite young girl. I saw someone who looked friendly on the steps... then I revealed myself -- these people looked good. They gave me some food... but then they wanted me to put on this control necklace/tag "for legal use only" it had on it. It was bright orange. The woman said, "this will hurt less if you do it now." she came toward me . I yelled, "I would rather die free than live in captivity!" I ran. I spat the food back as I made it to the window. I had River-like (from Firefly, a TV show) powers. I jumped backward and did a flip to the ground. Just then, the building next door -- the blue-suited rebel headquarters -- was being attacked. Green sidewinder-like missiles were launched inside. They launched a huge missile back the other way. it grabbed the two missiles and exited the other side right in the mass of oncoming enemy troops. but it didn't explode. it would have wiped them all out if it did. Then the psychic power enemy hero guy came in and tore out the minds of dozens of engineer-types as the poured out the front. the battle was over shortly. There were so many armed rebels... they were prepared... but when shit started flying, they went every which way. i watched as they were rounded up and stuffed into slave vans. I disabled a section of the fence to the camp from the outside -- so I could escape if I were put inside. I tied down the razor wire so I could exit over the pole. Then as I war pursued by the bad women who vowed to hunt me down, I went to a backwater Bahamas-type place with old septic trucks and porta-potties. I thought about hiding, but realized running -- getting distance on this place -- would be better. I lost my clothes, save for a shirt, in the escape. There were black guys on motorcycles and mopeds. I offered to buy one. They were trying not to make girl prostitute jokes. I knew I could probably beat them all up and steal their bikes, but I decided against it. I asked to test drive a moped (I couldn't reach the chopper pedals), plus it'd be easier to drive. He agreed... and then I took off, pedaling with the auxiliary. It was slower than I thought. They all came running after. they were running at super speed. I could barely get away. they grabbed my arms, but I peddled faster. I saw a big house at the end of the street -- I hoped I would find refuge there. But it was so far away... I awoke as the chase continued, and I was forced to do a circle maneuver. | 1MKA, 2JSA, 2JSA, 1ANI, 1FKA, 2MOA, 1ANI | HA D, HA 1MKA |
van | Van: a video gamer | 030 | 2007- | 04/09/08 | M | A | I traveled through a dimensional rift to a place and time where me, my friends and family (parents, brothers, some college friends) launched a successful pub/ice cream shop in the heart of a college-campus/trendy city place. Like a "lifestyle center". Business was booming and I was looking for a way to expand even more, without compromising our "core values" of ice cream and service. | 2JKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 031 | 2007- | 04/09/08 | M | A | I was in competition with another newspaper for a story. A big story broke, and I was sent to cover it. I was worried about when I should leave for it. It ended up getting dark and I just sort of hung around the parking lot of the newspaper where I interned. I was thirsty, and I went to find water or something. I went home and took a shower. It was one of the houses I lived in when growing up. There was a photojournalist from the newspaper where I work doing a story of Obama or someone like that living in the house. I stepped out of the shower and the photographer was sitting right there on the couch, with a clear view of the hallway. He took a shot of the candidate with me in the frame in a white towel. As I moved to quickly get into my room, I slipped. He took another shot. I grumbled about how they offer no privacy. The journalist, a young girl eager to get a good story, came in to talk to me. I offered some good quotes (I can't remember them) as I was trying to fall asleep. She put them in the story, along with pictures. One of the pictures she got was one of me with a skinny black girl, the daughter of someone famous. One was me with my arms wrapped around her. The other was of my chest on her breasts. I had a distressed expression, like I was confiding something to her. The reporter had painted versions of me from the shots. They made it into a "This American life" photo story that was up for sale. It contained shots of everyone with me in the family business. | 1FOA, 1MPA, 1MOA, 1FPA, 2JKA | AP D, SD D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 032 | 2007- | 04/09/08 | M | A | After a long day on the job I went to my small apartment to rest. It was set up like the apartment from the dream where the employees of the newspaper where I interned came to my place. Except this was darker, with no windows. It was built in to the side of a grassy, shaded hill in a residential-type neighborhood near the lifestyle center. Either a puppy or stepbrother was there -- I was worried that I'd need to take care of him. Then Sue, the co-worker at my college student newspaper I was attracted to, came in. I didn't know it was she. She was working on some sort of protest or big assignment -- to get these files that will prove a group of people or animals or something like that was being subjugated to a cruel rule or being bullied or their rights were being infringed on. She said, "I've been crying in there for 10 minutes," is how she came out. My hopes flew. Did she break up with him? I asked, "Oh, no-- how come?" "It's just wrong what they're doing to them -- I have to do something to stop it." I was disappointed, but jumped at the chance to help her with something. "No matter what, I'll help you get this done." She began the quest. She was the leader -- and a lot of liberal volunteers stepped in to help her. They began by running through the base -- there would only be one chance to stop it. There was a great robotic AI cyborg in there. Me, I moved along with the group -- unsure what the plan was -- but I was going to support them the whole way. I had more attack power and defense than any of them. I got too ahead and lost my way and fell down somewhere and had to re-spawn -- to join the group it required one of two crappy pistol-type weapons. I had them, but wondered why you needed loot to join. I thought, as I killed a creature, "is there xp sharing?" I thought, "no," the level range is too great. I found several of them, including the second in command in an elevator/puzzle room. There were tiles that supposedly had to be stepped on in a certain order. One of the people had been working and memorizing for hours. I stepped on the tiles and barely made it up to the centerpiece as the girl had her hand on my head. She was supposed to be helping, but she was preventing me from jumping. I knocked her hand off and jumped and stretched and made it up. She was nice enough... As it turned out, just as I thought, it was not an elaborate puzzle at all -- it was a lift system power coupling. I pulled the switch and the thing exploded. I jumped out of the way and everyone was ok. We then approached the main gate, where I knew the showdown would take place... we were about to get inside when I woke up. | 2FKA, 1ANI, 2JKA, 2JSA, 1CZZ, 2JSA, 1CZZ | AP D, SD D, CO D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 033 | 2007- | 04/26/08 | M | A | Sue, the co-worker from my college newspaper I was attracted to, lived with her parents in the town where we went to college even though she's really from another town. I went over there after class to then go out to lunch with her. We were about to leave, then her boyfriend came over. She made fun of him for being shorter than me. Put her arms around him, then put her arms around my neck to see which embrace felt more natural. She was having trouble in economics, with a new professor. I wondered to myself why she was doing this. | 1FKA, 2JKA, 1MKA, 1IOA | CO D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 034 | 2007- | 05/08/08 | M | A | On a big playing field in my home state (though it looked like a professional baseball stadium), completing on-field obstacles with two other martial artist guys. I was bigger, faster and stronger, but they were more skilled at flips, tricks and techniques. We were completing tasks... The field turned into a house on campus. Morning was creeping upon us. Girls were there watching. I swung from a bar on the ceiling to kick in a curtain/screen. It was quite a distance, but I managed to cover it and kick the target. But my damage was minimal. I was going to run to get something to improve my flight... then, though, morning came. People were running to run. I was running to get somewhere. It felt so good just to run and not get tired. Like driving really fast on an open road, only with the satisfaction of knowing its all you. There was a field to my left, with a construction curtain thing on stakes. It was filled with huge, colorful toads. Then I went on to school. | 2MOA, 2FSA, 2JSA, 2ANI | HA D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 035 | 2007- | 05/08/08 | M | A | I'm going back to college for a semester. It all seems so small, like I've risen above it. It is actually high school. I feel like a college student in high school. I don't want to meet with my friend Andrew because he is so depressed. His ego is so fragile it seems like the slightest thing will send him into a cycle of depression. The layout of the school is like my old high school and the nearby art center. I am near the town's lunch area. Andrew goes in to get some food. I start walking toward the arts center lunch area. Before this, I run into some old friends, the Kelly Gill crowd. I move around the corner, but it's empty. In my time away they've combined the lunches. But someone calls to me on the way. Off to the side, where I sat with lunch with my high school sweetheart Cindy that one day, as people saw us together as they walked on to lunch. They were in the grass. Like one girl I knew in high school and that sort of people. They mixed with my college friends. They all wanted to get up and go. We went somewhere. Before that, I showed them pictures of my painting on the wall. Peeling a fruit like it had layers, like it was a part of the wall. The fruit, which Andrew bought, looked like a large gourd. It turned into a tent. Most were very impressed with my work. But Andrew had painted a less-good slogan over my good friend Doug's famous words in darker colors. The fruit peeling, I found the layer that had been painted and then grown over. People wanted to go someplace... so we left. | 1MKA, 2JKA, 1FKA, 2JSA, 1FKA, 1MKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 036 | 2007- | 05/08/08 | M | A | We were driving, but then we had to stop. Cassie (A friend of mine who I am often concerned about, but attracted to. She fits that chronically distressed girl stereotype.) was tired. I had my car, and there was one other car in the bunch. We were at a rest area in a field. It felt like there were eucalyptus trees all around. There was a fancy restaurant nearby. It was a popular picnic/vacation area. My brother Gerald got into some trouble with the police and went somewhere. There was a mean professor-like boss controlling our every move. He was up to no good. Like an evil Professor Kreps (Pulitzer Prize winning professor who advised some of my work). I was on his good side. He had no sense of emotion. We both went into the bathroom. He said I was doing a great job on the class project with the graphic info boxes. I took that as trivial. The sinks each had small, exotic lake creatures living in them. Isn't that inhumane, I thought? The soap would hurt them. People started coming in, and the conversation ended. The cop decided to round all of us up for whatever my brother did. Instead of having our cars all arrayed, he had us line up so we couldn't approach him or get away so easily. I hadn't done anything, but he figured guilt by association. One of those old, Smokey Bear hat cops. One of my brother's friends left then came back in his white custom truck. He tried to get past by running it against a tree, but the tree fell on the cab, crushing it, hitting him on the head, breaking his neck, and causing him to fall out of the car. I ran there. I wasn't fond of him, but he was still a person in distress. I ran, and saw him in a gutter, neck broken. I didn't want to move him, but cars might hit him here. I couldn't just leave him. I slowly straightened his neck. I heard a silent scream; since he could have been paralyzed, his brain was talking louder. I lifted him, and he kept his neck straight. He could walk, but I said, don't move, keep your head absolutely still. You might be able to walk now, but the slightest movement could paralyze you for life. You don't want that. I'm going to get help. Don't move -- and don't worry, nothing will happen. As I ran to get help, I saw my friend Cassie semi-nude waddling toward the bathroom. Contemptuous. I went to the cluster of officers for help. They ran toward the scene. I told them what had happened and they immediately responded. Next... I was helping with a murder case near the civic center in the fantasy school where I ran to catch the bus that was shaped like a theme park. I got a parking pass, and parked on the edge of downtown behind a red phone booth in a tow yard owned by an Indian guy. | 1FKA, 1MOA, 1MOA, 1MOA, 1MKA, 1MKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 037 | 2007- | 05/11/08 | M | A | Sue, the co-worker from the college newspaper I was attracted to, was swimming with me. It was a pool party, and there were games. People jumping in, going for a ball, or something like that. I was melancholy about something, she offered advice. We were going camping next, and she helped me set up... Later, I drove to my high school sweetheart Cindy's house on mother's day. I opened the door, went inside, and prepared to be waiting there with some pastries. I chickened out. I left, with my dog in the car. Lauren (my high school sweetheart Cindy's sister) saw me drive away. She came out. She called me. I said I was "in the neighborhood" and wanted to say "hi." She was the first to wake up. I then went to a pool area where I found we'd got a lot of multi-colored geckos, snakes and turtles. My old turtle was hungry -- but the food had all been replaced with teeny tiny little turtles. A rainbow gecko had fallen into my turtle's tank; the turtle lunged and swallowed it nearly all the way. I expected the nippy snappy to have cut the thing in half, but it didn't. It swallowed it like a snake. But the gecko wriggled free, unscathed. I took it out and set it free. But it bit me multiple times, almost drawing blood. I touched a poison dart frog. Just brushed it. I began to feel strange almost immediately. I tried to feed crickets to some of the critters, but the bag was filled with tiny turtles. My mother came home and went out into the pool area where I was slumped down near a chair or mini bar. I said I'd been bitten by a mamba or something, but had taken the correct anti-venom; I had earlier and had the healing bite mark to prove it on my right arm. | 1FKA, 2JSA, 1FKA, 1ANI, 2ANI, 1ANI, 1FKA | SD D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 038 | 2007- | 05/11/08 | M | A | I was driving with my mother and a friend to Iraq. We were approaching through Saudi Arabia or another quasi-friendly country. I was tired, so my mother offered to drive. After a moment, I said I'd take over -- it would draw more attention if my mother was driving. I was worried they'd find the drugs in the glove compartment if we were stopped -- they could have search dogs at the checkpoint. We got in and I went to the beach with my friends Andrew and Nate (friends from college). We walked around, saw some cute international girls, and were making jokes about the pings and occasional zips of bullets that zinged past. Everyone started laughing. An Iraqi policeman was making gestures with his gun, like it was making the noises. He had just a small pistol. Then I saw a dark, shrouded terrorist-looking shape in a doorway near a cargo container. I yelled, Officer! Policia ! Look! Terrorist! I pointed, and ran across the fine, dirty sand. Then they all lined up, wearing revolutionary military olive uniforms with Arab squiggles. They charged, I ducked into an alley between shanties. One came sprinting, and I stood in a shadow. I jumped out, tripped him, and began pounding his face with my fists until he was still. As I made the initial lunge, I thought, he's just a punk kid recruited by this shitty demagogue. He's no soldier. That may or may not have been true. Bottom line, I surprised him, and here I was, bashing his face in. Once he was down and out, I had to be sure he'd stay that way. I took off his helmet and dispatched him with it with three blows to his head. I took his gun, and his bandolier. I sprinted down the road to where Barack Obama was doing a book signing with limited security. He wanted to make a statement. I ran up with my gun back and hand forward, palm out and fingers splayed, a gesture of, "I mean you no harm." The sage saw this, and told his lone security man to ignore the gun, that I meant them no harm. I told them to get down and take cover. They ducked into a shanty. I told them, and we went out. One was approaching. The gun had come unloaded. It was an M1Garrand, not an AK as I'd expected. I took a clip out of the bandolier and loaded it. It took a moment, but it was simple enough. I held it out and looked down the sights. It was simple enough. But the sights were a little bent. Oh well, I'd make due. I had to go back for Nate and Andrew -- before I ran for help, I stood for a moment and thought, god, I can't just leave them. I began to sprint back, with Barak and a couple of his men behind me. Then they walked toward me; hey! They were released. I let Andrew check out my M-1. | 1FKA, 1MKA, 1MOA, 2FSA, 1MOA, 1MPA | AP D, CO D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 039 | 2007- | 05/12/08 | M | A | I went back to the town where I went to college, surprising most there. I went to the college park office, and then back to my old building. I went inside. I saw that Ramy, behind my back, had rented the place out to one of the Joe-crowd rabblers. (Ramy is a former college roommate.) My room was being lived in by a timid, younger kid, the sensitive little indie type who cries when people bash him on xbox live. His name was like Corey or Derek or something like that. I told him he needed to pay $200 per month, and I'd throw in a free cordless phone, because that's what he said was "being in the future." Later, I visited Michelle and Neil (neighbors who were my friends). As always, they were happy to see me. They let me stay over. I watched Desperate Housewives, but the episode cut off at a really dramatic point. I had to go, but also really wanted to see the conclusion. Neil had put that, and a lot of other books in my backpack. Good guy. | 1MKA, 1MOA, 1MSA, 2FKA, 1MKA | CO D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 040 | 2007- | 05/12/08 | M | A | I woke up naked for some reason, and wrapped myself in a towel. I climbed out on the porch roof -- the house was similar to the summit view place. I looked down, like in call of duty, and prepared to snipe someone or something like that. | null | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 041 | 2007- | 05/16/08 | M | A | Going on a trip. Monkey that is really a cat that is really hairy. Inside a zoo along the way. It is hurricane-force winds. I get down. Everyone else follows suit as we walk down the mountain. My sister gets high on a spliff from Ali Mellis (someone I went hiking with). Everyone is tired, and I am constantly thinking about water supplies. I am on a road trip through some strange road area, where there are multiple water parks. We're looking for one, but it is terribly out of the way. The others look like a lot of fun, but we want to find this one. I have a good sense of map in my head. We come under attack from a call of duty helicopter. | 1ANI, 2JSA, 1FKA, 1FKA, 1ANI | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 042 | 2007- | 05/18/08 | M | A | I get a girl to come on to my friend Andrew. We throw them on the trunk of a car and take off. We being me and some of her girlfriends who think it would be funny. We tell Andrew she is all hot for him, and he makes his move. He gets confident, cocky in his advances, and eventually they kiss as the car races through town. He touches her leg, her breast, and they kiss. Andrew humps her lips with his face. I grimace, and yell, "you're doing it all wrong! That's disturbing, and disgusting and embarrassing!" There's his camera on the seat. I start taking pictures through the back seat glass. The car goes over a bump, and Andrew is thrown off. We lost him. I say to go back to look for him, but fear he's died. At least he died doing something he's never done before. | 1FSA, 2FSA, 1MKA | AP D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 043 | 2007- | 05/24/08 | M | A | Girl in the Starbucks/bar who I keep making eye contact with. She's gorgeous, caring, nice ... her dad is mean, doesn't want me anywhere near her. We go on a road trip somewhere. We sit together. I make Bruce (a half-brother, age 2) cry. She has straight dark brown hair, a long angelic face, and warm eyes. She's obviously hot, and everyone looks at her that way. And wants her, but think they can't have her. I see her eyes, and they tell me a lot. We are going somewhere, and she comes with me against her father's wishes. | 1FKA, 1MKA, 2JSA, 1MKC | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 044 | 2007- | 06/04/08 | M | A | I was working at a newspaper, and was sent out on a story. I wound up at a gas station. I needed to get gas, and some other stuff. But I was stressed about my job. I bought all kinds of useless stuff that I didn't need. I also bought some tobacco from a vending machine, and a packet of sugar that I'd already opened. I went to the counter to return them. The packet tobacco -- I couldn't use it, unless I chewed it or ate it... and who wants to do that? The lady behind the counter took the return in her hand in different pieces. "What sexual addiction do you want that will kill you?" she asked. I took American spirit cigarettes, the yellow organic pack. Then I went on to work. The roads were completely flooded, but I drove through anyway. I met A co-worker I was attracted to at the office. She was working on a big story. With her, my feelings come out as a mix of love, jealousy and respect. | 1FOA, 1FKA | AP D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 045 | 2007- | 06/12/08 | M | A | There was a competition going on. A battle in an old World War II European city. I had to complete several obstacles, like cross the beam, knock down the pins, and match up colored icons. There was a giant robot with a lot more xp and points than me. It had missiles and my attacks were fruitless... | 1CZZ | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 046 | 2007- | 06/12/08 | M | A | later, I was trying to stay awake. I was with a friend and Kristen Needles (a photograph friend) in an apartment. She was doing lines off a table. I wanted to try some, so I sniffed a line. I almost snorted into the big pile. She cut up more with a credit card, and dumped some liquid coke that turned into a powder from a benzoil peroxide-based facial cleanser bottle. I then ate a large amount. I felt buzzy. Then I woke up and kept coming back. When awake, I expected to still be buzzed... I used it as an excuse. "If I take this, I have no excuse to stay asleep." | 1IKA, 1FKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 047 | 2007- | 06/15/08 | M | A | I was in a theme park-type place. It's flat, lower budget. More like a historical old-time city, like what the city where I first worked would look like if the tourism industry took over. Sort of like if it became more like a nearby tourist city. | null | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 048 | 2007- | 06/16/08 | M | A | I am waiting for my mother outside Wal Mart. She is taking too long to pick me up because I suspect she is distracted. She's turned into an impertinent, rude, stupid person lately. When she finally does arrive, I call her on it. She is having long phone chats with someone. A dentist named Barry, an older guy who works near the old dentist place near Wal Mart. I demand to meet him, so I stay in the back seat of the mini van until she goes over there to see him. He seems like a nice enough guy. He gets out of his car and gets into the front seat. I shake his hand. He says something. I lean forward because I can't quite hear. "Nice to meet you" is all I say. I want to fight back tears at this betrayal. I don't let him notice. The exchange is brief. I get out and disappear into a dark space, then re-emerge deep underground. | 1FKA, 1MSA, 1MKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 049 | 2007- | 06/16/08 | M | A | It's a man-made labyrinth of windowless, doorless passages, the walls covered with a cushy material, like the padded carpet inside a cubicle. I run fast, barely able to see in the dark. I realize that this place is my new place of residence. I'm interning here. On this planet, people have been forced deep underground. It's safe, but endlessly dreary. I shudder at the thought of spending eternity wandering these halls, that seem to warp as I run. I don't know my way. I wonder, will I ever get used to this place, be able to pick out one gray, faceless turn after the other? I eventually come out into a chamber, where two short people are. They are stiff and talk in script like video game characters. They explain to me why their height is so small. I say, "Why am I so tall?" They are benevolent. The bald one in a dark suit was my boss, but also nice. I look out the "window", into a lighted cavern outside and a giant green toy story alien appeared. It reached in and was benevolent. I wondered, why does my university alma mater have a partnership with Disney so these characters wander around during games? Probably because the university is in a strange state. No other place has this. Visitors ought to be impressed. Next I was in a gameworks type place, but with a high tech laser tag game. I had an empty pistol holster and an automatic weapon, an smg with a large digital IR scope. I can turn it to see around corners. It was modified to shoot the special beams. This was like paintball -- bring your own gun. I was scanned at the door when I went in by a skinny, long-haired bouncer type.. It was like being welcomed to an exclusive club. For $10 I also got 100 tickets to buy gun upgrades and the like. | 2JSA, 1MOA, 1CZZ, 1MOA, 1MOA | AP D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 050 | 2007- | 06/25/08 | M | A | In a city where crime families run rampant. They rule by manipulation, influence and the perception of unchangeable tradition, "it's always been this way," more so than violence. To gain political clout, they kidnap people and interbreed with them. Like the one blonde woman who was captured years ago, made to marry a boss and who I interviewed in her front yard that looked like a house our family once lived in, with the salvia bed and impatiens under the palm. She had a slip of the tongue, where she said something like, "back when they took me to this house" or something that indicated that she wanted rescuing. I asked to confirm, did you just say ___? she said yes -- she uttered a code word. I arrested the guy. The case I was currently working on was like that. It involved a scion of the bunch setting up another young girl -- her daughter -- to be kidnapped in a similar way. Though this one may have gone awry. Remember, this place was more and more governed by violence. I was just a reporter -- but they quickly deputized me when I found myself in deeper than most of the clueless cops -- who had looked the other way for generations, because "that's the way it's been." But when the outside influence began creeping in, to clean things up, they were met with huge resistance--a limo full of thugs got into a gun fight. I took some out from a balcony window. I had a James Bond ppk, and also a fallen bad guy's magnum revolver. I joked about going in with both -- or even going in with two sawed-off shotguns, two over-under guns and a high-tech pump gun. We were low on weapons and heavy-duty ammo. we had a supply of Thompsons, but they were in pieces and disrepair. Standard-issue guns weren't quite enough. I wanted a new hk ump or something -- but they just weren't available. I also remember teaming up with the sister of one of the kidnapped people, who was in the station for questioning. She suggested I keep behaving the way I was -- it's why they gave her the add pills. Looking at all the mess of discarded half-empty clips, malfunctioning guns, obsolete revolvers on the floor of the hotel-turned police headquarters. Earlier, I was trying to track people down through phone records and calls made through a central node. They were in this lakeside residential neighborhood, around the constantly rain-soaked downtown area. It's as if the computer age met the age where lines were still connected by hand. I'd gotten a list from the phone girl. The pills are how the girl from the family keeps skinny. I was knocked out in a car. But I awoke and overheard the story of how something happened -- how the people fought each other, and how they were going to or did abduct the kid with the help from the kid in the family selling out his own cousin. It's about family betrayal and politics. | 2JKA, 1MKA, 1FOA, 2MOA, 1FSA, 1FKA, 1FKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 051 | 2007- | 06/30/08 | M | A | I was on a road trip, and stopped off at a Wal-Mart, with an RV-tailgate area in the parking lot. I was with a few friends... but we were really like bounty hunters or soldiers of fortune. It was an island kind of like the one in the video game Halo 1 ... long story short, I was inside the store, and people started shooting. I took that as a cue to use the diversion as an advantage. I went in and grabbed as many guns as possible. I looked for the flashy ones, the big ones and the expensive ones. Magnum revolvers. Old, big pistols. Cross-bow conversions. Long-range rifles. We had small arms in the Winnebago. I later went on the run, being chased and hiding in a canal. It was filled with algae. I climbed a fence. I came out later on a golf course and was running from a helicopter that had an easy time spotting me in the open. | 2IKA, 2JSA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 052 | 2007- | 07/22/08 | M | A | After going out into a mangrove bay for a midnight kayak trip off a large pleasure boat for nighttime navigation, the canoe overturned and was swamped. I was practicing with Stephanie Haroldson (a friend from college, and now a co-worker) how to turn it over and get the water out. We got moving once the guide showed up. We then tromped into the woods. Mosquitoes. And then came the swarm of horseflies around the endless carpet of low, spiky sticky lily type plants. and then we decided to go elsewhere... to a snow-covered mountain. Me and the weekend gang from where I went to college were barreling down without skis or sleds. I zoomed. Then skidded at the bottom. It was great. Then we went up again. The operator said we were lucky, that he only sent the huge gondola up three times per day. But once we came down again, sliding, still with clothes on (yeah, Vanessa, or was it Justin?) didn't want to go unless we did it naked -- both are friends from college with that kind of attitude). We went on again and because we didn't want to get naked, Justin didn't go. The guy said, get ready to freefall. Instead of falling, he joked, and lowered us down. I joked it was like tower of terror. We went up, and... | 1FKA, 1MOA, 2ANI, 1MKA, 1FKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 053 | 2007- | 07/22/08 | M | A | I dreamed of my former girlfriend Karen. It was a mix of lust, jealousy, want and affection. I was with her in an older house, hybrid of summit view and vista place. We went upstairs. She wanted to talk and was flirtatious. I left her briefly and when I returned it had rained and everyone was gathered in a high-school like hall lobby, where a dance party was taking place. I was looking very much forward to dancing with her. But she was dancing with some other guy, my polar opposite, the tall typical white fratty guy. It hurt, but I let her go without saying anything. She was the type who couldn't be cloistered. And I felt that her heart was true. If she really did care, it wouldn't mean a thing. I walked to the back of the room, into the theater area. It was dark. Safe. | 1FKA, 2JSA, 1MKA | SD D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 054 | 2007- | 07/31/08 | M | A | I was on assignment to cover both an amusement park something or the other (a race?) and a military homecoming/departure. I was just dropped into the setting -- unaware of where I was. But I saw a sign on the highway -- I was 13 miles from the city where I had my first newspaper job. It had the blue and red shield-shaped interstate markers. There were palm trees. The people there talked candidly. One was trying to get his two dogs, breeder dogs, into a pen in the back of his truck. He wore heavy sunglasses -- his vision was failing. But he was chipper. Many of the parents were somber, and one even said, "there are a lot fewer dead this time" I said, "really, is that so?", so I could get a response to speak to the fact that yeah, this was a good month -- only 5 dead instead of 20. | 2JSA, 1MSA, 2ANI, 1MSA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 055 | 2007- | 07/31/08 | M | A | I got sidetracked at a theme park type place where me and my brother Gerald were getting into this race around a track with three other super-fast go karts. The tracks crossed. We were in the lead for most of the time, even going the alternate passing way. But on the last lap, a car turned a corner faster than we did and jetted slightly ahead. But on the final turn, I took it on the inside, and cut just in front. The other car hit us, and we went skittering. It was unclear who won. But then the organizer, Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs, but with a strange name and more off persona like ChrisAangel, called up the replay -- we'd spun just across the line and won. I spoke with him, he gave background, etc. and his strange name. My brother Gerald got his phone number. When I got back to the office to write the story -- the office was in the downstairs of one of the houses we once lived in, it appeared, and I had two stories and very limited time. Somewhere earlier there was also a quest for Starbucks in a wet, rainy lifestyle center type place, with a cold ice cream store like the Hagen Daas we always went to in my home town with the wicker chairs. I forgot to ask him how he came to do what he did, he said "just trying to make a buck." But I wanted to know more. I called him with my brother Gerald's phone, but the number was not working because his carrier was overloaded. I wondered if he put in the number right, but figured he did. | 1MKA, 1MOA, 1MSA, 1MSA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 056 | 2007- | 07/31/08 | M | A | The part of the dream about my former girlfriend Karen is remarkable. It was as if I knew her-- her voice, words, quirks and comments --they all seemed like her, or at least how I imagine her to be. We are in the front yard of a 70s-style coral stone house. The landscaping is lush, and the deep green grass in front is thick. She and I roll around in it, and we play fight. Just earlier, I had been locked in the bathroom of a local pharmacy, and inside was an examining room where the patient had just left. I was accidentally locked inside. I pounded on the door without panic for someone to open it. I was more angry they could let such a hazard exist. There was a brown pair of old person's pants with the belt still attached in the examination chair. I then upped the ante, and kicked down the door after I saw the person outside wasn't responding-- a delivery guy in a blue short-sleeve button up, like a postman or mechanic. Once I got out and made it to the parking lot, Karen was there. She greeted me with a poster-board sized card, with a loving message written on it. Part of it was in regular writing, but the other part was in colorful marker or color pencil. I was so infatuated with her thoughtfulness and creativity. It was like a giant Facebook message, physically embodied. The word love was in there, but unclear in its meaning, like a "hey you". But back to the grass. We moved and played and laid there in the yard. And finally, I pinned her, and I looked down at her face. It was spry, playful, inviting, happy. We stood up, and we kissed. We kept on, and I hoped she enjoyed it. She kissed me back. | 1FKA, 1MOA | AN D, HA D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 057 | 2007- | 08/01/08 | M | A | I was in a cross between two big cities I have visited, visiting friends and meeting with family. I went off with my sister in search of vampire ribs. Apparently, they were an illegal food, but quite delicious. We didn't have a car, so we took a sky bus with a surprisingly friendly driver. We went around the couple miles -- too far to walk, since it was all gritty and confusing and car-centric city below. We arrived at weekend fair at the fair grounds -- it was only like this during the summer. It was run by gypsies. Long hair, weirdo gypsies. I saw all kinds of food, but realized I'd need to ask someone who knows someone and go into a dark thick tent in order to get to the ribs, which were likely dark and tempting, oh god so good, so bad for your body and soul. | 2JKA, 1FKA, 1ISA, 2JSA, 1ISA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 058 | 2007- | 08/02/08 | M | A | I'm in the jungle about to go off on an exploratory mission... | null | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 059 | 2007- | 11/19/08 | M | A | The aura of something dark, a creeping tingling infused with the grim persistence of inevitability, radiated from every wall, carpet fiber and chair. I'd just come in from outside. Out there, I could feel the oily mist of this impending fate thick in the air, on the sunlight as it filtered through haze and ozone, as it backlit the swathes of knuckled cumulus clouds floating like cotton-candy cattle in the sky. Billowy bovines oblivious to their coming dissipation. This wasn't my house I had stepped into. It was small and squat, on the edge of the sea in a town mired in history, but now sagging with the weight of Taco Bells and tourism. The house belonged to friends, though, so I felt safe entering unannounced. I had to get out from under that afflicted afternoon. Before whatever was about to happen happened, I had to have something. I wanted to take a shower. The forthcoming journey, I could sense, would be nigh impossible, let alone make allowance for bathing. And the sheen of fear and finality from the outside was still sticking fast to my skin. I went into the small, square, messy room of one of my friends and asked if I could use his bathroom. He said, "yes, of course, no problem" as he dressed himself while seated on an unmade bed, dirty clothes surrounding his feet on the floor. I went inside the door adjoining his room with the dim and musty bathroom. The small space was covered in scummy beige tile from floor to ceiling, and the shower curtain was supposed to be clear, but had grown opaque from uncounted months of accumulated mildew. I stripped and stepped inside. When I turned the squeaky and corroded chrome shower knobs to full and hot, only a gentle cascade of lukewarm water came down on my body. I began to shampoo anyway, using a bottle I found in the shower. <br /><br /> Then, as I began to rinse, a young woman came into the bathroom through the partially open door. She had a pretty face, and long auburn hair. Her locks looked artificially straightened, yet somehow remained silky and parallel despite the humidity permeating the atmosphere both in here and outside. Her shirt was dark and lacy like a tea-time doily. Her eyes were green, striking in their clarity, and when they met mine, unspoken words were telegraphed into my skull. She carried with her a malaise. She was sick with something beyond a normal ailment. She started coughing, and her throat clenched from the effort of restraining a gag. She had just come in from the outside. She'd breathed too much of the viscous air, and the stifling weather had siphoned her strength via now-clammy sheets of sweat from every pore. With her entrance, I knew the ethereal blanket now covering everything had changed in character from brooding and ominous to simply malevolent and frightening. The girl blurted an apology for entering unannounced, and in the same breath, bent over the claw-foot tub adjacent to the shower stall. She coughed and whimpered into the basin. When she stood up and hurried away, the water flowing over my shoulders slowed to a trickle and stopped. I felt angry that I still had shampoo in my hair. The anger quickly evaporated. A stench filled the wet little room. My nostrils spasmed, and I felt as if a tremendous flu had taken over my body. It was the bathtub. The porcelain vessel had somehow been filled in an instant, brimming with a morbid stew of something crimson and coagulated, as if a mess of blood and bile had risen from the drain. I leaped from the shower and clambered into the bedroom naked. Nobody was there. I picked up a towel from the floor and hastily gathered my clothes. I dressed, and with each garment I donned, the more surreal I felt. Logic, reality, sanity. They were beginning to wane. This was the last sign. It's one of those feelings where you don't want to believe what is going on, where your mind simply will not let you embrace reality for what it is. And then you get it. You comprehend. I felt it tight and hollow in my stomach and my chest, in my aching head and reverberating through my bones. The Armageddon was going to happen. | 1MKA, 2ISA | AP D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 060 | 2007- | 12/27/08 | M | A | I dreamt that my high school sweetheart Cindy came to visit me while I was staying at grandma's house. Only the room was a mix between the most cluttered of my college apartments and the sparingly decorated extra bedroom upstairs in the house my grandparents have lived for the past quarter-decade. Four monitors were there. Two double displays, a long, modern single display and a smaller computer monitor set aside for my xbox. I wondered at both the waste and the potential utility. But I was please to have such an array -- just think of the organization! She came in as a small bird, burrowing through the ground. When she emerged, she was a woman changed. Or trying to change. The magnetism was there like always, only now, there was little facade of reticence. We seized upon each other, and we fell on the bed, the thick blankets all around. We took off our clothes. It wasn't a ravenous mutual stripping, but more a slow, casual progress toward the inevitable. I could see tattoos on her body. I doubted many were real, but even if they were stick-ons, their placement on her nubile body, the intricate swirls and flowers and dragons, attracted me to her in a new way. There was a mirrored design in that flat space between each of her breasts and shoulders. Her abdomen was covered with more, in attractive, symmetrical columns. I told her I liked this. It was the way she was showing her change. I trusted her, and she trusted me. She lay down, and I lay on top of her, finding my way in. Just like I remembered. Not long after we had started, I felt a paranoia. What can happen, will happen. We should cover up, just in case someone comes in. I reached back and pulled the old white comforter over us. With renewed vigor, I re-attached myself to her. Then a moment later, the door swung open, with a column of relatives at the door. My grandmother and grandfather were there, even though grandpa is long dead. Before I could say a word, Cindy blurted: "Hello Mr. Grandpa!" I said something nonsensical, meant to be a rock onto which the sponges of their desire to make an excuse for themselves to grow. The door did not slam shut again as you would expect. Instead, everyone came in. I rolled over and brought the blankets back atop us. I jumped off the bed and put on pants. She covered up. They filed in. Sean (my 22 year old cousin), his friend, with a strange name, and perhaps others. We talked about miscellanea, and then, they urged us to go to church. I went along with the idea. Soon we were at a place with an exterior reminiscent of the library and art museum complex in the town where I went to high school. Inside was an auditorium, with a quiet, plexi-glass-covered press room and a tall crescent of seats, some of them doubles. Behind me, sat the church regulars. I walked in with my arm around Cindy, but she disappeared as I sat down. She was supposed to be right behind me. No matter. On a raised, square platform framed by a banister of dark-stained, glossy wood, an old woman with triangle-shaped, purple-dyed white hair spoke into a microphone, imploring questions about the scripture from the somewhat thin crowd. But this church was also synonymous with a performing arts center. It was as if the high school auditorium was transferred into a college auditorium near where I went to college, splashed with religious overtones. Grandma was occupied downstairs. She had somehow wanted to know what it was like to retrieve something from an oven herself. She'd shrunk down to an old, bird-like shape, like an owl with my grandma's face, her thinning hair turned into sparse and spotty down feathers. She was trying to carry a platter out from the oven (where the refrigerator is in her current kitchen setup) on her head, raised up with skinny, wing-like arms. How was she withstanding the heat? I said she needed to duck down a bit to make it out. Instead, she shrunk, turning into a tiny bird with an egg on her head, with curved, pin-like feathers sticking from the top, with pollen-like heads at the tips, like the stems inside a hibiscus flower. I washed her in the sink , careful not to knock off the intricate and endearing head display. But it fell into the garbage disposal. She was the size of a finch. In the middle of the question and answer sermon, a screen came down. Cindy had gone to do another performance. A voice from behind me, a peer-aged girl of hers, a sometimes friend, said "not this one again. It's overrated." But when the images flashed on the horizontal rectangular screen, with hues of indigo and white, edges rough like a blueprint, I saw that her dance was more a model strut than anything else. Her henna-tattooed body writhed around a pole that extended up and down to infinity. She floated throw the air, trails of black star fire and sparkle behind her. Her chest was bare. Her oval breasts tinted gray in the filter. And in her final pose, an angle that surveyed her body from high above, the bones in her pelvis stretched the band of her thong just far enough to see the bump of her clitoris emerge from the horizon of her flat and toned abdomen. I said to myself, "I hope all these people know I'm doing that." The show ended, and another woman with purple hair had taken to the platform, this time, shifted o the other side of the stage area. The original was now in the crowd. I raised my hand to ask a question, but put it down as the church women behind me chuckled to themselves that I should wait to see how things worked. I put my hand down, and some fat young man asked a stupid question. I wanted to ask about shellfish. The women asked what church I go to. I said non-denominational. I paused for a moment, and added, lying, Unitarianism . I waited to see their balk. Then the first purple-haired woman walked up the side-aisle, and an announced her name, followed by "denominational". | 1FKA, 1FKA, 2JKA | CO D, AP D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 061 | 2007- | 01/04/09 | M | A | My mind became the World of Warcraft. I saw that my former girlfriend Karen was logged in for some reason. I wanted to just casually jibe here -- her tree-like character had a nose that looked exactly like hers. It was like the face in the wood along the Rainbow River. She was a trunk, with branch-like arms that stretched up, with maple-shaped amber leafs hanging from the limbs. I was logged in with a cell phone-type device; like a Samsung, foreign cell phone/computer. It was small. I struggled with the keyboard. I wanted to send her a message: "Karen ! Your character's nose looks exactly like it does in real life!?" A little insult, but fun, playful. In a way, jibing her, I felt, would cause her to somehow like me more. I saw she was at the beach at first, under a pier near her house. I saw her there through the screen. But when I got there, I saw she had run into the woods, and was standing in the middle of a road. I ran to her, but then she took off. She disappeared . She was headed toward a soccer complex I know. I went after her, but when I got there, I found there were a few creatures there beyond my level. I was using just the player I only use occasionally, so I was still vulnerable. A boar, a red, blood-rage boar attacked me. It had jagged red markings on it. Bloodlust. It came at me, and I didn't think I could fight it. So I ran. And as I ran, I ran near the concrete wall that separated the hard area (soccer fields) from the tamer zone (near the bathroom/concession stand). I grabbed the board by the neck as it neared, and steered it into the wall. It collided, smashed its head, and died. Do I get experience for that?, I thought. I looked around for Karen, but instead, I only encountered more creatures. This time, in the easier area. A horse. A bull. A goat. The goat came at me, and I grabbed it by the horns. I had my Gerber pocket knife. I knew I could kill it, but I didn't want to. It was just a goat. I held it until it passed out. Next, a bull-like creature charged. Each time, I grabbed it, and threw it toward the ground. It got injured until it expired. Then, horses, dozens, came running. They were the riders of Rohan, fresh from a victory. It was like after a big college football game, when the people stream into the streets. And then Karen, with all of her girlfriends, came up. She seemed so happy to see me. I saw her, called her name, and then she turned to me. Her eyes lit up. She was drunk, but the sentiment meant something to me all the same. She ran toward me, and wrapped her arms around my neck. She kissed me. She kissed me hard. I kissed her back. I was surprised how she was this way in front of her friends. But I liked it. It made me happy, that she would take enough pride in me to launch such a display of affection. She said, "Eric, I missed you. It's you, I can't believe it. I've been waiting for this. You're so special to me." But, like always, she had to go. She had to get to Chicago. "But I want to stay and sleep," she said. I knew the "with you" was implied. I envisioned my room in my college apartment. The smell. The sheets. | 1FKA, 1ANI, 2ANI | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 062 | 2007- | 01/05/09 | M | A | I dreamed that I was back in the town where I went to college for another graduation party. Talked to Delaney (a roommate in my college apartment) in the back yard. Then I was taken in by a super-rich couple. The husband was gay and they were living a sham marriage. The wife wanted sex. Back in the hostel, Sarina (a British girl I met when visiting another country) from the top bunk tacitly offered sex. I wasn't sure what she was saying, so I replied tacitly as well. She climbed up, then looked my way, and climbed back down. The gulf of the little room was too great for me to cross. She came to me, and climbed into bed. I pulled the covers over us. I lifted her shirt up , touched her breasts. Put my leg between her bare legs. She said if she knew, she would have shaved. I came quickly, but shot it into her mouth, I was ready to go again immediately. First, I smeared my ejaculate all over her chest. | 1FKA, 1MSA, 1FKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 063 | 2007- | 01/05/09 | M | A | I'm with the group of girls from the hostel. I go with them and follow them around as they shop. It's like an elite discovery channel or national geographic store. Bored, I go off to the kids section and look at all the toy maps. I wish I could have had these as a kid. I would love to look off into "here be dragons." | 2FKA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 064 | 2007- | 01/25/09 | M | A | I dreamt I was pressured into robbing a Mexican bank. When I got caught, I was taken to the jail, but before they put me in handcuffs, I took $5,000 of the $100,000 I stole and put it in my back pocket. When one of my accomplices accidentally caused a distraction, I hid under the floor. Then I snuck out and stole a motor scooter. It didn't go very fast. So the bad Mexican cop on a motorcycle came up behind me. I turned into a suburb, parked outside of a house, and ran through a back yard where a family was eating dinner. The two Mexican policemen on the motorcycle jumped off and ran after me. I had run in a circle, came back, and stole their bigger motorcycle. I took off, but I found the clutch was broken, so I still couldn't go that fast. But I made it home... and still had $5000 in tattered bills in my pocket. Driving through the town where I went to high school, driving in front of a store in one of the malls, there was a ramp that I was forced to go up on the motorcycle. I almost crashed when I landed and had to dodge cars. | 1MKA, 1MOA, 2JSA, 2JSA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 065 | 2007- | 01/28/09 | M | A | There was a mass exodus. I was among them in the masses. We were running from something. From a war. From a storm. From a force more malevolent and powerful than we could handle. So we ran. We kept going. Past a stadium. We were being funneled, officially. But I threw those corrals out the window and just took a way around a little ravine. Then, finally, we were all settled into a sprawling field. Thousands and thousands, set in a field, in a neighborhood. Along and through the streets of a tree-lined residential neighborhood, the suburbs, now turned into a refugee camp. And the disorganization and the fear were palpable. Each group stayed to themselves. Nobody knew if their neighbor spoke the same language, or believed in the same things, or wanted the same result. I was among them. I felt isolated, alone. Then someone began an organization. He stood up, and began talking to the masses, teaching them, rallying them around a central cause. Why hadn't I thought of doing this? Teach them a common language. Launch a common ideal. Rally together despite our disparity. And so, I moved through the crowd, teaching them this ideal. I was one of the teachers. One of the ones with the power to change and move the people. It seemed like minutes, but really, I think months passed. Then, we were ready. The world again began stitching itself back to normal. Whatever force had us pressed down in these camps had been pushed back. But, still, I continued on -- not teaching this time, but learning. I found my way onto a massive Norwegian submarine or something of the sort. It was a quick journey, out and back, but in the brief time, I learned much. When I got back to the port, a pretty area with simple but elegant planted gazebos and long rectangular lawns with delicate, very green grass, I immediately knew I needed to go back out on one of these ships. But I needed a translator. I found a young woman. I knew her. She was mysteriously attractive. She was a lesser rival, or competing agent or something. But she coyly accompanied me when I had her board the ship with me. We ignored the "all non-men will be landsided " or something like that. This was an old-fashioned shipping vessel. As it were, we went out, and the views were fantastic. Purple and pink and fuschia sunrises from the clean-lines of the balcony. I had my cell phone with me the whole while. I kept getting strange messages. | 2JSA, 1MSA, 1FSA, 2JSA, 1FSA | AP D |
van | Van: a video gamer | 066 | 2007- | 01/28/09 | M | A | We went to a McDonald's. She paid. She had turned into my former girlfriend Karen. The guy behind the counter, a ghetto-type guy, knew me and said, "Thanks, E" or something, and gave me back the change in foreign coins. I wanted to do him a favor and impress Karen . So I saw that Mr. Hughes (a high school teacher, mentor) was working behind the counter. An opera-type song was playing in the restaurant. The employee began singing along. Interesting match -- the guy with cornrows behind his McVisor singing opera. I said, "You should really meet up with this guy," gesturing to Mr. Hughes, who was a theater aficionado. "He's the best opera singer around." And so, they met. And I went to a different counter. Karen went to another counter to the right. There, Mr. Hughes questioned her about what we were doing. "So, the two of you going somewhere to do things?" or something. She gave back a coy answer. He smirked. He assumed what I wanted him to assume. She was with me, in fact, but not "with" me. That's when I decided I wasn't going to play her game. I left and went off on my own, trying to catch a bus. She enjoyed my company, but didn't want to take things further. I wouldn't have that. But then I found that my shoes had gone missing. My black hiking shoes. Then I found them, wet and soaked. Inside, though, there was a cryptic message. It was like a fortune cookie valentine. I received two more. The last said something like, "go play the game with her, and play for t-bone steaks like tebow." Somehow, these were her way of telling me she liked me. Strange girl. I started setting up the game. There were these two douche bags playing the game, where, I think, you bowled or threw small wooden balls toward this target lined with cards and tokens with prizes or bonuses behind them. As I was pinning the cards into place, I tried to glance at what was behind some of them so I knew where to aim. But ultimately, I knew I would play with Karen on my team. We'd be a team. And she finally gave in to her feelings. | 1FKA, 1MSA, 1MKA, 1MOA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 067 | 2007- | 01/28/09 | M | A | The game was interrupted and I found myself walking down the road in front of one of the houses our family once lived in. Near the speedway. I've dreamt of walking or driving around here before. There was a big city show going on. It was like the downtown where I went to college is now. There was one display that was now underground. A friend of my father's was there, setting it up. He was like a building contractor. "The display was so popular last year, the people practically tore the thing apart hitting all the buttons." So now it's more secure in an underground bunker with CIA-level security. | 1MKA, 1MKA, 2JSA | null |
van | Van: a video gamer | 068 | 2007- | 01/28/09 | M | A | I kept going to a locker that was supposed to have been assigned to me in a swimming pool clubhouse, but the key didn't work. The place outside was like the downtown of the town where I went to high school, with the pier 1 imports and rooms to go and other places I don't like. I had people from work with me. I was trying to do work, but it was difficult. Some friends traveled with me as I tried to find a store that was selling the thing I needed then -- a computer or a car. | 2JKA, 2IKA | null |