sanity is relative

The earliest part of this dream had me stuck on an island somewhere with one or two other people. There was a large fort that had to do with the dream plot I can't remember anymore. But at the end part of this dream the other people seemed to think we'd get rescued, yet I knew the odds of that weren't good. In fact I seemed to know we might be there indefinitely.

I found some blackberry bushes and blueberry trees and started planting berries in paper cups of dirt. My idea was to start a sort of mini-farm out of this stuff. (Mind you, blueberry bushes aren't the easiest things to nurture and take years before they will produce berries... and to my knowledge they don't become trees... but it made sense in the dream). Then it seemed like the other people had found a raft, so we all got on it and went out in the water. But I ended up by myself in the water for some reason. The current was very strong, and I thought it might take me to another island or the mainland. I saw some land coming up that didn't look familiar, but as soon as I was on it I realized it was the same island.

The next bit is unclear, but the dream changed to me going to visit a halfling (hobbit) friend in a series of underground caves where other halflings lived. But she wasn't there, and it looked like the place had been trashed. I realized she'd been kidnapped, and wondered if there was some message she'd left behind that would help me know where she'd been taken. I found her sewing basket and started taking it apart. I figure if she'd had the time, she would have had to hide the message very well so that her captors didn't destroy it. After taking apart a lot of the sewing basket components down to the box inside all the fabric and foam, I put it down to see if there were clues anywhere else.

Then her phone rang (yeah, a halfling with a phone, and a video phone no less). It was her! But it looked like she was being held somewhere and this call was a sort of asking-for-ransom-money deal or something. She couldn't directly tell me where the clue was that I was sure she'd left, because the bad guys would surely hurt her and cut her off before she could finish telling me, but what she did say was, "You are an artist, after all." The phone call ended, and I don't really remember what else had been said. I was thinking about the artist thing, and wondering if she meant the sewing basket (or well, what was left of it) was really where she'd hidden the clue. Part of the inside box had a simple painting on it. Had she had time to hide something under the paint? It was dry and looked like it belonged on the box.

Either I've forgotten what happened next or the dream changed again. Now I was talking to Mom about going on a trip. It was one that my brother Jamie was supposed to be going on too and meeting us at the destination and I told her I didn't want to see him so I wasn't going. In the end it turned out he wasn't going to go so I think I went. There was a dinner scene, at the destination of the trip (wherever it was) and I said I had to use the restroom as we were all being seated. For some reason I really I didn't want to sit next to my kid brother Peter and I said something about that as I walked off (the only seat left had been next to him, and Mom said something about switching seats real quick and Peter started whining).

Then I think I decided that I wasn't going back. I found myself in a sort of weird shopping mall, and for some reason I was pretending I had a foot problem. I was limping really badly. A couple of ladies looked at me funny as I was looking for the restroom (this was still on my mind, even though I knew I wouldn't be returning to the family after I found it). I found a stand nobody was watching, and I realized somewhere in my mind that I was dreaming, so I knew if I could get away with it in the dream it would be okay to steal something. The object in question was actually icecream, it was kinda like those little ones you can get in paper cups. I picked it up and held it under my shirt, which was really big and baggy.

Then a black guy showed up who was probably supposed to be watching the stand, and he asked me if I needed anything. I asked him where the restroom was, the entire time nervous that he'd somehow catch me with the icecream (which was very cold). But he told me it was upstairs, and pointed across the lobby/hallway thing that comprised most of the mall. Where he was pointing, there were these odd elevators that went up to the next floor, and there were a bunch of them in a row. They had glass walls so people could see out while the elevators went up and down.

I went over there trying to find an empty elevator, but when I thought I was going into a sort of holding area just before one elevator, it turned out to be something else, maybe machinery that ran the elevators. I knew I wasn't supposed to be in that area, so I went back out. I gave up on the elevators and thought about stairs, then I looked around to see if there were actually any restroom signs anywhere. I did see one... but thinking about it now it didn't make much sense and it had no arrow. I was standing by the sign thinking it meant I should go up some stairs right near me, and then I noticed the mall exit doors.

I decided to go out them, and it was night time outside. For some reason I felt like I should hide, and dropped low to the ground and almost crawled over to this bush by the doors. A car went by and I remember being worried about the light from the headlights. By this time I managed to eat some of the icecream, and then someone who was my friend met me behind the weird bush thing. (I have no clue who the guy was supposed to be now, but in the dream he was a real friend). I might have said something to this person, but then this other guy showed up and started saying who I was. I had no idea who he was but he was dead right on all the stuff he said about me. He looked at my friend and said all kinds of true stuff about my friend too. The stranger said that we'd been destined to go on a quest, an adventure of the greatest proportions, and that he had a contract for us to sign. It seems like the quest would be a fantasy sort of thing in another world.

My friend said he didn't think signing the contract was a good idea. Meanwhile the stranger had handed it to me, and I had intended to sign it (what the hell, eh? I was running away after all and had no real plans, I'd definitely sign up for an adventure since it seemed like I knew this was going to be something like what I've been waiting for my whole life). But as I was looking at the contract, the words and lines to sign and stuff kept changing, moving around somehow (probably because reading in dreams is often a very difficult task). I had to ask the stranger where I was supposed to sign it even though he'd already showed me before the words and lines started moving around.

Then I woke up.

( dream symbol analysis and thoughts )