The School Burglary Festival

I have been gone for a week, and my dreams have been so nebulous and confusing in the meantime that I have kind of neglected to post anything. So here goes:

Last night, I dreamed I went back to my old high school. For some reason, after 3 years of college, I decided I needed to brush up on some old-timey learning fun. So I signed up for all my classes, and on the first day, I had classes pretty much straight through. It was really weird going back to seemingly archaic learning methods. However, I did. When the school day was over, I remembered that I had parked my car out back. For some reason, even though my school was just around the corner from my house, I had decided to drive. I realized that, since all the gates were locked, the only way back home was to drive out through the back field and a big hole in the fence. So I did.

The following day was more interesting still. I only had one class, and it was some religion/math hybrid that I really didn't understand, and I left before the quiz could be handed out. Then I checked the weekly schedule on the wall, and realized that my sister Bryn was going to perform an organ concerto that afternoon. I'm pretty sure I attended and it was great, but I can't remember too well.

Suddenly, I was at another school. This one was a confusing mix between my college and the boarding academy I attended for my senior year of high school. My latest real-world roommate (Josh) and I explored the campus and reminisced about times we had experienced. Then, I had a huge bouquet of strange flowers that I left in the women's dean's office. I don't know what I planned to accomplish, but they quickly wilted, and so I reclaimed them before any more damage could be done. Me and Josh walked over to the other wing.

The next thing I knew, we were in a car, looking for something to do. I think we were quite bored, and so when we pulled up next to some senior student housing, of course we decided to break in, just for fun. We both pledged to do nothing especially illegal (aside from the initial break-in), and instead took it upon ourselves to explore all the rooms, leaving the lights on and the doors open. I came to a bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. I decided it would be hilarious to pee in their toilet and on their toilet seat. I then did so.

Then, the residents (two young ladies) came back. I heard them walking up the stairs, and so I jumped in the corner of a room across the hall. They walked past, and I rand down to the tiny garage where my roommate had parked his car. Thinking only of my own safety, I noisily opened the garage door and ran out onto the street. By then, the residents had heard me, and they shouted out hate-filled phrases after me as I ran around their house, trying to get away. I guess I had stolen some possessions after all, because I was dragging along a big plastic box filled with their stuff. They kept shouting at me through the window, and I kept running along, until I decided to do away with their belongings so that I could really run. I opened the box, and as I poured the contents on the ground, they became a strange green slime. Thinking nothing of it, I ran through neighborhood after neighborhood. As I passed several newly-constructed homes and communities, I noticed strange signs denoting that the houses' driveways had previously been grass, and now were covered in some type of eco-friendly asphalt that was supposed to look better. I remember thinking about how strange it was that these signs were bragging about such a thing.

I had little time to contemplate, however, because I then came back to the campus. My life immediately became half about the chase I had just endured, and half about running through a stately building, trying to evade a separate group of people who wanted me dead for something else. Some random lady was there too, and she got shot in the chest several times. I ran outside and found my family there, doing a tribal dance of sorts. It seemed there was a year-end festival going on, and so I joined the festivities.

Before I knew it, the dance had broken up, and everyone in attendance had joined a long line. Someone started a chant, and we all followed along, turning this way and that to show letters on our back that spelled some larger message about the school. After, we all gathered together, looking up at a huge screen. The A/V guys began to play footage that students had shot throughout the year, including a large amount of my footage.

Before I knew it, I was transported into the screen, and I started living out the video. I was on a boat, drawing closer to a rocky outcropping. As the boat got near, I could hear a sappy love song being played by an unknown, unloved 90s band. We stayed on the boat for awhile, and the band played the rest of the song. When it was done, the lead singer jumped onto a waiting jetski with his guitar, and left. Then, I climbed up the rock to where one of the band members was playing an electric cello. I took it from him and started trying it out, and before I knew it, the rest of the band had started up, playing the Christian praise song "Eagles Wings." I came to the shocking realization that this praise song was really just a secular love song adapted for church use. I voiced my concerns to Erroll, the chaplain at my old school, and he assured me that it was no big deal.

And then I woke up.