Vortexia's Secret

ok, another weird night for dreams. even though this one was very weird, i really liked it. i think because it had two very sweet guys in it and we were trying to do something good. let me try to explain it...

in my dream, there were several people over at my parents' house for what would look like a family and friends cook out and maybe even pool party. people were all dressed for the summer and the doors were wide open to let in the breeze. and yet it was supposed to be the day before my family left to visit relatives for christmas. oh, and just to throw in more seasonal confusion, mayhem and i were going to somehow sneak off to new orleans for mardi gras after the party and before christmas. don't ask me... i don't understand either. all of it seems so impossible.

anyway, mayhem wasn't there for some reason. i remember there was a reason why in the dream, but i don't remember what it was. but i had two guy friends over. they aren't really people i know in real life... one kind of looked like that martin kid from 7th heaven, so i called him martin. the other looked like a conglomeration of other guys i knew in college, but i called him john. so for some reason, martin and i got all worked up that we somehow had to save some kid from child abuse or something. we left before dinner, and as i passed john sitting in a chair in the living room, he pulled me over and said "you know, if we had dated instead, i would have already proposed and married you." i was obviously a little shocked and taken aback, but he didn't mean it as a jab at mayhem or to make me choose him. he just sounded a little wistful. he knew we were leaving to save the world, so he just told us good luck. i asked him to please go ahead and stay for dinner and the party even though we had to leave. i was facing him, perched backwards on the arm of the chair, so i gave him a solid peck on the lips and hugged his head (awkward angle for a real hug). i knew he was hurting emotionally, so i held the hug for a few seconds until i really had to run. i think he said something else sweet during the hug, but i don't remember. so i rushed back to my room, changed into a white long-sleeve button up shirt (thinking that i needed to be dressed nicely for christmas dinner and may not have enough time to pack for the trip. ew, i know). then i just ran out the front door to get into martin's car and off we went. when i got in and tried to close the door, i realized that there were no doors on his car. he said he was working on it and hadn't installed them yet. and he had lots of toys in his car. i had to hug a clear inflatable ball and rest my feet on another one. we drove up the street and nearly hit a little kid, and then almost got pulled over by a police officer because the car didn't have doors. after we passed the cop, i turned my head and saw that doors had somehow just appeared. we got a little way, and then as we were about to turn onto another street, this guy who had been driving a semi walked right up next to the car door and said something to him about not doing things with his 13 year old cousin or something. i told him i was way older than that and that we were friends, not relatives, and he said he knew. he kept trying to harass us for some reason, until we drove fast enough that he couldn't walk beside the car anymore. martin got a call from his parents and from what i could hear, he had called them while i was changing and he was waiting in the car. he had asked them to front him the money we would need to save the kid's life and he would pay them back as he got the money. they told him he couldn't go to new orleans anymore and probably not to visit my relatives so he could have some of that money to pay them back. he said that was fine. i kind of asked him what was up, and he explained a little. i told him i would help him pay back as much of the money as i could, and he said not to worry about it... it was his choice to make. then he tried distracting me with all the clutter in his car. i looked down at the console between the seats and saw that he had torn out a piece of the newspaper talking about how to spot child abuse. i thought that it might have been how this whole thing started... he read it in the paper, saw that some kid we knew had all the signs, and rushed over here so we could save the day. but i'm not really sure, and i stupidly didn't pick up the article and read it. he dug around and showed me one of those spongy feeling erasers that is colorful and in a fun shape, but really erases like crap. we were laughing about it for some reason, and then we were parked at a house. i thought it was probably his parents' house, but he told me to go in while he waited in the car. we started having a discussion about how much i appreciated him and i felt awkward because i didn't know if i should lean across the console to give him a hug (he suddenly seemed moody and upset about something) or not. and then we both got out of the car and faced the house. then the dream was over. bizarre. i have no idea what we thought we were going to do (i'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to just steal a kid away from the parents if you think they're being abused), where we were, really who these "friends" of mine were, nothing. so strange!

in other news, the saga with the upstairs neighbor continues. she woke me up at 5:30 this morning by walking quickly and repeatedly over those same squeaky floorboards. it was louder (and earlier in the morning) than the dump truck rattling down the street, picking up the dumpster, emptying it, and clanging it back down on the ground. freaking louder than that. and two hours before my alarm goes off. i was so frustrated and sleep deprived at that point that tears nearly started to well up. i smothered my head between two pillows, but then i couldn't breathe enough air that i was practically hyperventilating. and the pillow didn't provide enough sound insulation, so i had to throw my arm over the pillow directly over the part where my ear was. that muffled the sound enough that i could start drifting away... until my arm fell asleep. and then i started feeling nauseous. i was so close to finding anything and chucking it at the ceiling. but i stopped myself because what would it really accomplish? the sweet lady who lives above me wouldn't know what happened or why, and she's moving in like a week so i don't see much point in ending things on bad terms. but the second i see the moving van leave the complex, i will call the manager and ask them to please repair the squeaky floorboards as part of the repairs that they do before new people move in. i have never once heard floorboards squeak that loudly. something has to be done so i can maintain sanity. sheesh!

so that was my night. kind of felt like i was in the twilight zone. maybe i'll search for earplugs.