In which I move an object in to and out of dreams

I distinctly remember waking up this morning with three dreams I wanted to record. As I consult my mental notes, I can only come up with two. These are they…

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Before I can start in on my first dream, I have to describe a particular pillow I own. It is very unique in that it is oddly shaped (squat and long — I believe it is technically a neck pillow or throw pillow), full of actual feathers, with a cover that looks somewhat like a Turkish carpet with light fringe. On the few occasions I sleep on my side, this is my “knee pillow.” On my side, my bony knees either end up hurting (sometimes bruising) each other or hitting pressure points that cut off circulation to my legs. That, plus a pillow in that position tends to help with posture and whatnot. Going back to my original point: unique pillow. Check.

As the dream started, I was carrying this pillow and following a group of people around a place that started out as a supermarket. The supermarket gradually progressed into a warehouse, like a Costco-style big-box store warehouse. The group kept changing direction, going to different sections, and I was annoyed at having to drag this pillow around everywhere. I did not want to carry it, but I also did not want to lose it in this place. At that point, I half woke up and put the pillow in its spot between bed and side-table. Returning to the dream, I was no longer carrying it!

The group eventually went deeper into this supermarket/warehouse until it started looking more like a storage facility. Put in your head the image of the final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and you will have a good idea of where I was.

The group located something similar to a steamer trunk, but about twice as big. They were calling it something like a “Spanish Box” or “Spanish Trunk” and proceeded to demonstrate how it operated. Opening the trunk revealed that, even though the outside was about twice as big as a regular trunk, the inside was only regular trunk sized. It was partitioned into four section. Initially, each one had random bits and bobs, mainly papers. They also showed four hidden and recessed keyholes, two on the front and two on the back, close to the corners of the box. Closing the box, unlocking one keyhole, then reopening the box revealed that that one quadrant of content changed. It was no longer papers, but whatever else, instead. You could do this to each of the four keyholes, re-locking the previously unlocked on, then unlocking another, and the corresponding section inside would be replaced by something else. The net result being that the trunk had twice its capacity, which was not too surprising considering it really was about twice the size of a regular trunk with only a regular-trunk-sized compartment accessible. A false bottom and/or moving sections might have accounted for what I saw.

Things really got interesting when you started unlocking two adjacent keys simultaneously. For instance, unlocking the two front keyholes, then opening revealed that the two front interior sections combined to form a new section with new stuff in it, in this case, rifles. Unlocking the left front and left back keyholes combined those corresponding sections to reveal a bunch of ammunition. Unlocking all four at the same time revealed a huge interior, without partitions, in this case holding what looked like ancient artifacts. As you can see, the net sum of all the contents — although you could not access them all at the same time — vastly surpassed the actual volume of the chest. I had no idea what the weight was, as nobody demonstrated lifting it, but assumed the weight worked in the same way.

Later on in the dream, I learned that the group of people demonstrating this to me was some kind of secret branch of the government that investigated such oddities, like the X-Files but a bit more insidious. The point here was to carry lots of guns and lots of ammunition in this bigger-on-the-inside-than-the-outside chest. Opening it (while locked) at border inspections should just reveal the stacks of paper.

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The next dream I have a more fuzzy memory of. Some friends and I were going to “The Diggnation Compound.” For those that do not know, Diggnation is a weekly video podcast that covers some of the more interesting and popular submissions to Digg. The stories they cover are a little tech heavy and the show is low budget, but in a good grassroots sort of way. Anyway, it is a little odd that I dreamed about this, as the episode have been queuing up on the TV for a month or two because I just have not had the time to watch. As far as I know, there is no actual Diggnation Compound; it is filmed in the apartments of the two hosts.

So this Diggnation Compound was one part Disneyland, one part nightclub, one part castle, and one part private mansion (with secret passages, of course.) It was the only thing on a rocky island in the middle of a lake. Once across the water and inside the lower section of the castle, there were long lines to get in. This was not a big deal because the friends I was with happened to know Kevin Rose (the founder of Digg, one of the stars of Diggnation, and the financier of the compound) who would let us cut right in. They got in, but I somehow got left behind, hanging out in line. The people there were crazy-fanatical, but fun, and there was good music playing. Everything was clean and white and futuristic-looking (in direct opposition to the look of the outside of this castle-like place). The line had lots of switchbacks and even had railings, like Disneyland lines.

Eventually, Kevin Rose himself (but in disguise so nobody would recognize him) came down to get me. Instead of trying to cut through to the front of the line, he use a secret entrance. He pulled on a little white cube sticking out of a shiny white wall and a ladder, previously flush to the wall and absolutely seamless, emerged. We climbed that to the top, and I asked him why other people hadn’t found the ladder and used it to sneak in. He casually replied as he unlocked something, that once you got to the top, if you did not have the right key you’d be vaporized. Oh.

Once inside, it was very definitely a nightclub. With an open bar.

So that was dream number 2. Again, I have no idea why Diggnation was featured in it, as it has been off my radar for a while. Maybe it’s a sign I should catch up on episodes. For all I know, they’ve bought a compound in the past month or two.

Posted in: Dreams

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