Patient, Ex Co-Worker, Game

I was at work and dealing with a couple of different patients. One that I’d been seeing for a long time was there, LH, and she was talking to me. I guess we had finished our appointment. The office (unfamiliar) was busy with other people seeing patients, as we stood around talking. I don’t know what we were saying, but all of the sudden, LH lost her temper and shot me a pretty scathing comment. I took it in stride, as I’m apt to do at work, and said something neutral in return. Her hand immediately flew to her mouth and without replying to me, turned and left the office. I was left confused for a moment, then what happened processed in my mind. I ran to the door and shouted down the staircase at LH’s retreating back that I wished her a great summer and that we’d see her again soon. Back in the office, I sought out my coworker with whom I’d just been discussing this patient and was super excited to tell her that I finally found that inexplicable undercurrent that usually ran underneath the surface when dealing with LH. In a way, I felt that her outburst was the real her and that in the future, our relationship as patient and clinician would be stronger, even. She always tried to appear super calm and happy, but there’s always something under that.

Then I was visiting a house that turned out to be the home of my old ex-coworker who had moved to Texas. She looked quite a bit different, bundled up in a robe and looking rather stressed out. Her son was running around and being a bit of a pain. Normally, she’d be pretty strict, but it seemed that she was going through some sort of depression. I tried to make things as warm and casual as possible to try and cheer her up. The house seemed extra messy and cluttered. As we sat around in some blankets on the couch talking, there was a big bag of termite bug killer on top of another bag of some sort. I watched with fascination and amusement that the top bag, full of termites, were busy picking up the opposing ant faction and dropping them off the side of the bag cliff. Then there was a large green spider trying to get in on the action (usually, spiders don’t like either termites or ants due to formic acid) that kept spinning webs that would break every time I’d move. We ended up on the deck outside which was also extremely cluttered. My family was with me at the point sitting around a grill. I was still trying to cheer up H, and was drawing some images in my sketchbook. A convulted set of events started and ended up with me sharing the images with the others while starting the grill so that we could eat something good.

Then, I was with 2 other people, and we were escaping a building that looked like either a school or an old office building. I ran to a stairwell with a window and quickly pulled it open enough for us to squeeze out. When the last person came out, I closed the window, and we jogged over across the street. The male I was with was tasked with dealing with the puzzle that was there. I’d already attempted it in the past and was not eager to do it again. It was nice to be the observer and not the doer for once. I knew what was going to happen, so I walked around taking in the scene from a different vantage point. On the other side of the wall was a busy electronics store housing a convention with famous people. I walked around taking it all in and ended up in front of display. In a short time, there was going to be a very famous person holding a class and everyone was abuzz with anticipation. I thought about what I was supposed to be paying attention to and then-

–I woke up just in time to get up. So sleepy…

Wife, Arcade, Work, Computer

A few nights’ worth

The world was a bit destitute, like post-calamity. I was a wandering merchant or something similar. People treated me with respect and only a little caution. I came upon a town that looked something like out of a Western. One house in particular caught my eye and I came to visit them. They felt very honored to have me there, a young wife and a husband. Their trade seemed to be that of a cobbler or tailor. My view bounced from 3rd person to 1st a few times. I’d just come back from speaking with the young man. We’d been outside maybe 15-20 minutes. When we entered a few customers had just left. I noticed right away that the wife seemed nervous and wouldn’t look either of us in the eye. Immediately, I understood what had happened, though the husband did not. As a little test, I came up to her with her husband at her side and gave her a big big side hug. If my station had not been so important, he would have thrown me out right away, but he wasn’t concerned about me, more about why she was upset. While I rubbed her back, her nervousness turned into shame and tears formed in her eyes. My suspicions confirmed, I began to look around their house. It was a very humble place with only a single bed to share stuffed into the back behind the shop. Even their waste situation was meager. She was so desperate to produce a child that she’d turned to any stranger willing to help. It seemed her husband was infertile. That’s what happened in the little time that the husband and I were talking to each other. There was not much I could do, so I left.

Then I was in an arcade — something so rare in this day and age. It was a small place, rather dusty and not well known. The machines were ancient and only in fair condition, but it still made me excited to play. I tried a few machines while the attendant/owner looked on hopefully. My presence drew in a few kids and teenagers. While I was there, they took delivery of 2 new machines in similar condition as the others, but working! I left, but was definitely coming back

Something about Christmas lights.

Then I was at work. It was getting close to closing, but I had a 2 more patients to go. Why work never has lights on in my dreams I have no idea. I’d finished my patient, seen a child and was cleaning up to go home when my boss showed me a patient on the screen and told me to tell him if I see any caries. Confused because Idiot Hygienist had already seen him the other day, I went to the back where my other boss started talking to me in the sterilization area. She had a funny look on her face while I asked her about the patient that had just been seen. While I talked, it dawned on me that she wanted me to do another cleaning. I glanced over to the restorative op to see the family sitting there again. Considering I technically still had an hour left in the work day, I told her I guess I could do it so they didn’t have to come back again, and she was extremely happy. Ugh. I started setting stuff back up while people I don’t recognize ran around laughing in the halls. When I got back to my op, the entire family was there to say hi. My patient was already out of his wheelchair and into my chair, ready to go. The others were speaking to each other and I was prepared not to understand, but half of their words were understandable! What? Then they asked me about my familial origins and they seemed to be able to speak some! Oh boy. I don’t advertise that, ever. My doc must have said something…

Then I was in a car with some people. I didn’t want to be there at all and didn’t really fit in. I’d already witnessed their group installing CPUs to a building. I think I was their prisoner because during the crew’s installation, I was lifted up multiple times by my neck into the air as I tried to oppose the installations. They had a female sitting next to me in the back. On the other side of me was the last computer module that the master, himself was going to install. As the driver drove, the machine started making noises. I was thinking about whether I should tell them, when images started projecting onto the master’s back (in the front passenger seat). I watched, confused until I saw the enemy’s icon show up. I whacked the images in alarm. They asked what I was doing. I explained that I think the enemy (the enemy of my captors) was hacking into their systems and bragging about it with the projections. As much as I was a prisoner, the enemy might blow the machine up next to me and that made my captors my colleagues in that moment in time. The driver started driving even faster, but we all knew he wouldn’t make it in time. Fear gripped us all, unable to do anything at all as we raced through the city streets to try and make it in time.

Work, Cooking, Coworker

I was at work and for once it wasn’t dark. I was working on a patient I thought I’d just seen just a few days prior. He seemed much more like a normal person (the patient lives in a group home) and sat well throughout the appointment. I was able to complete the appointment and the exam was completely normal, too. My boss was pleased. I cleaned up my op and brought everything back to the sterilization room. The office was super busy and as usual filled with people I don’t recognize. My old coworker was there and some young girl I didn’t recognize was there, too. Q took my tray and set it aside while setting up a new tray for me. In the meantime, I went back to grab the flower comforter that looked suspiciously like my dog’s blanket to set it in the back with the other pile of dirty things. It smelled weird back there but I didn’t want to say anything just assuming that it was the pile of laundry.

I took my stuff back to my op only to find that my work had changed to cooking. And I was behind! I started up the induction plate and set some water up, before scrambling to construct something from the ingredients I had available to me. I kept glancing at the other workstations to see everyone else working seemingly calmly and confidently and wondering how I even got into this to begin with. The judges took my meal away after the timer went off and I was directed to clean up and work on the next assignment. I rushed my things to the back, filled with stress and worry. As I walked down the hall, I realized that things were a bit drafty because I was totally topless. A part of me was extremely self-conscious until I realized I’d been like the whole time and no one else seemed to care in the least. At least it helped with the heat! I made it back to the sterilization area. Q took my things again and once more set up a tray for my next task. She was also topless, and I was busy trying not to notice and thinking about that little kid that was walking around. In the corner of my eye I saw my boss holding the comforter I’d thrown back there. She had cleaned up the rest of it and went out the door, I assume to go to the laundry room. I took something from the cabinet and took my tray. I expressed my worry for the next examination, so Q gave me a carafe with cream in it and also some other ingredient. I hurried back to my workstation to find that yet again I was late!! The other contestants were well into their food making and I only had half the time left! I did my best trying to make a dessert out of gelatin. It looked like a clear pancake stack slightly charred on top surrounded by foam and topped with syrup, cream, and some fruit/mint. It looked good. It was at that moment I decided I was hungry, so I went ahead and ate some. A monitor was walking around. They stared at me eating, shrugged, and walked away. I guess it was allowed after all. And also, it tasted really badly. Extra sweet, no flavor, too much vanilla. Given that it’d taken very little time to whip up, I decided to make another attempt at it except this time I’d give it a fruity flavor and use soda to give it bubbles.

That’s when things got weird. There was something about a Japanese app that needed to be used to get special ingredients. I couldn’t read any of it, though the pictures were cute. Then it hit me that if we could use an app, then I could use the internet to try and look up and idea about my dish. I kept trying and trying, but the search engine just wouldn’t work! I was forced to use the app after all. Somehow, I managed to get some rice and something else from poking things on the app.

Then it swapped to me driving around sundown. On that part of the map, I needed to find a certain item. What I found instead were the unhappy spirits of a male and a female. I picked up the item on the ground. A big, creepy old man directed me a few yards over where I saw the glowing bodies of a male and female except, they had been somehow impaled to the hill there. The old man startled to laugh menacingly, and I realized he’d killed them. They must have trespassed there, and he’d run them with his car up against the hill and they died. While he laughed, I snuck away. Then there was something about a locker with tactical gear, a bunch of people, and then me driving over to a parking lot near a church except I wasn’t very good at parking and was worried that I’d get towed.

Jet Li, 90s, Patient

2 nights

Some stuff that I now forget

I was/watching Jet Li. He was very young and I assume acting in a movie? Anyways, he was a young man in his 20s trying to live his young life. It was a tight city in China and after doing a job, was guided towards a particular woman where he would be able to sleep, eat, and recover his wounds. When he wound up at her house, she immediately knew who he was. Her house wasn’t an eatery nor an inn like Jet Li thought… It was simply her house. She fed him at their small, humble table, and gave him a bundle of bedclothes. He followed her over to a double-sized bed that was clearly being used by her and her family. He felt weird, but she directed him to use it, helping him change the bedclothing. He shrugged and utilized it because he was very tired. Some time later, it was night. I was now seeing through the eyes of an unknown person who somehow knew where to find Jet Li. There was a Chinese window directly behind the bed where he slept, and it was slightly ajar. The person reached in and started taking his belongings from right beside him while he snored gently, deep in sleep. I, still seeing from the eyes of the robber, was indignant and alarmed that someone would do this to Jet Li, but I needn’t have worried. When the robber reached in a third time to take the last item, they were met with Jet Li’s open, scowling eyes. It probably turned into a fighting scene, but I didn’t get to watch that part.

It was the 90s! I was outside/ watching a scene outside. The sky was yellowish the way the 90s were in the summer for some reason (maybe tv? or maybe just the sun beat differently where I lived?). Something about Spongebob and Squidward with butt-head (literally), then there was some gag about the “world” being manipulated by the “bad guy” character pulling up and down the layers of the ground. There was a big group of kids who might have been characters from old 90s TV shows/movies. They were of the knowledge that this was no longer the 90s, and were recreating and trying out things that we used to do and use and eat back then. Wearing clothes from that era, and such. Eventually, they decided that wearing clothes from back then was not feasible given how small such articles are now that everyone is so much older. I, too, started going through a dresser drawer full of old shirts of mine. Some of them would not fit even my hand through the sleeve it was so small. I found a shirt that was size 12 kids. I tried to put it on, but then got it stuck and had a terrible time getting it off. I decided to leave the 90s in the 90s because we were all way too old now.

Then I was in my room and the people from work were wandering in an out… working?? In my house. They were making a huge racket while I lay half on my bed and half on Cora’s bed. At one point, my boss had a question about something and came down to sit next to me on the bed while I answered and I didn’t even bother to move, still lying on both the bed and Cora’s bed. She got up again, then J mentioned that someone had died on Saturday. I immediately perked up and asked who it was. She said the name SP, and I wailed in anguish. Not him! Of all the people! His wife seemed to be in a worse position than he, why did he have to go first! I went online to confirm and see if there was an obituary, and all I could find was a weird blurb from someone in a blog or a forum claiming that some other people and SP had died from toxicity from some mediation or other chemical. Oh. It was one of those hogwash people sites. I was still super upset about it and no one could console me.

Bathroom, Work, Stairs

I was driving and my mom was with me. It was rainy outside, and we drove down several roads to a small town. We decided to stop at a convenience store/gas station though I didn’t need any gas. There were a bunch of people there we knew, so we stood around a bit. I watched the people, thinking about how I both needed to go to the bathroom and was hungry. There was this unfamiliar guy who was taking orders for the people there. My mom started walking across the street, so I ran after her. She wanted to see what was on the other side and it wasn’t a big deal with me because I wanted to stretch my legs, too. I did make her wait for the crosswalk light despite the other people down the way jaywalking. The motel across the street was not only empty but possibly abandoned. Done with that, we came back over on a crosswalk that had 224 seconds of time!! For some reason we made it just in time for the countdown. By that time, my sister was carefully looking over the food order. The guy then jaywalked across the street to the Little Cesar’s. I really needed to go to the bathroom at that point, AND there was this drunk/high lady who was teeter tottering along with him, so I ran after her, wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her in safety to the Little Cesars. The restaurant was like none I’d ever seen. We waded through the massive crowd of what appeared to be junkies and other low-lifes. Neither of the people I was with seemed bothered at all by them. I was extremely aware of my different race, but the junkies didn’t care about that. Inside the place was not a pizza place, but a department store! Jewelry counter, nice clothing, hardware… there were 2 floors. The only crowded place was the front with all the junkies. The lady disappeared somewhere and the pizza ordering guy quickly headed off to the back of the store. I walked all around looking for the bathroom. The first one I found saw one lady bawling on the phone while wiping down the floor and the door exclaiming that she hadn’t meant for it to happen at all! I didn’t want to use that one, so I kept going and eventually found the lady I’d been with. She seemed happier because she had just finished using the bathroom herself. I asked her where it was and she showed me a shell looking device, I tried to get in but couldn’t and she cackled and pushed me saying that only the chosen ones could.

I woke up for real to use the bathroom, then back to sleep.

Then I was at work. As usual, it was dark, and crazy with the schedule. The version of me doing work was doodling on and making lists for patients. Then I left because I didn’t want to be there anymore. I stopped to talk to my coworker on the way out (in a different office), and then proceeded to use the elevator. The way it was acting looked like it was going to break, but I used it anyways. There was a sign at the bottom of the door saying that it was programmed to bypass the first floor because it was going to malfunction, so it would let out on the basement level which still had outdoor access. That was annoying, but I remembered that I had already done this before in a previous dream where I’d managed to acquire or make a map of the convoluted maze. As I exited into the basement, a pretty-looking lady was frustrated and scared. Immediately, I recognized that she was lost, so I had her come with me as I searched for the exit. Although I pretty much remembered the map from the last time, I tried to pull it up on my phone anyways just in case and to inspire confidence in the frazzled lady. We went around turns and bends not following any of the other lost people until I saw that familiar part. Took a right which led us down a long hallway, another sharp turn and BAM. Outside was the grocery store which meant that we just had to go around the outside of the building to the parking lot. She had pulled up her car locator on her phone and was so relieved that we were close. We broke off from each other and I headed towards my car.

All of the sudden, I realized that I needed to get back to work, so I entered a door near my car, knowing that there was a staircase nearby. Inside, however, things were not as I remembered. There was a long line of people standing. I asked if they were waiting for the bathroom, and they were, so I cut through them to where the stairs used to be. Someone else wanted to use the stairs, too, but I couldn’t figure out where it was. I was just about to travel a good distance down the hall to use the other stairs, when someone gave me a spatula with something on top of it. They smiled at me with what initially seemed innocent. It changed and I got a bad feeling, but it was too late. The “stairs” required floating and traveling through the walls and building like a ghost. There was no time to think about anything, but I knew I was super scared. You can’t be scared when you’re dealing with spirits. I could not help it. A spirit met me inside of the wall and I could see “stairs” all around me leading here, there, nowhere, and upways, sideways, diagonal-ways. It seemed to be a rather bothersome, irritable spirit. I tried my best to at least exude calm even though I felt nothing close to that. It kept saying things to me that I didn’t understand, then get angry at me. It forced me to “fly” through a videogame-like flying obstacle course still holding the spatula thing. I knew if I lost that or let go, that I’d be stuck in the place forever. It tried multiple times to trick me into giving the thing up or letting go or whatever other ploy it had. I came close a few times. However, I made it and it was so angry I thought I’d be sent to a different dimension and imprisoned there.

Nope. I made it to my workplace. I hurried into my operatory where my patient was still waiting (apparently time moved differently in that realm). The list I’d started before I’d left was still there, so I finished it up, adding stickers and other things to it. The patient was really happy.

Field Trip, Driving, Bridge

I was in school again… sort of. I think I was supposed to be young in grade school, but physically, I wasn’t. Or is it mentally. Anyways, I was supposed to go to a mountain, like cold, straight up mountain with my class. It was a special trip, so I remember thinking that even though I had other assignments and tests I was responsible for, that I would be getting some leeway because of the trip I needed to take. Lots of preparation, planning for the project due afterwards, but then it was time to go and I was almost late for it. I’d need to pack lightly but thoroughly as it would be cold and tough.

Then I was in a van with my extended relatives. I was sitting in the far back driver side seat, crammed in there. My cousins were young again, and wanted to go exciting places which was putting a damper on the trip we were on. My uncle and great uncles were there, too. I didn’t know what was happening.

Then I driving around myself through an unfamiliar neighborhood. Perhaps I was trying to buy a property or going to see it. There was an older lady driving crazy around, and a younger couple driving, too. I got back on the highway to head home, perhaps. It was either dawn or dusk. As I drove, I witnessed a big dump truck drop the hopper while it drove, making something fall off altogether, while a small car attempted to drive up into the hopper! The car ended up stuck farther up the truck which morphed into a flatbed hauler. I replayed it again because someone in the car missed it, and it happened just like it did the first time.

Then I was on a cruise ship. It was smaller and not heavily populated. I was seated at a table, not sure what I was doing on there, and never having been on one, not sure what to do exactly. It was evening and everyone was quietly keeping themselves busy. I recognized one of my patients sitting at a table behind me. She looked like she was teaching bridge, so I decided to go over and ask her how to play. She was delighted to have something to do, and so we played (I have no idea what bridge is or how to play it). Turns out we took turns laying out strips of colored cardboard on a grid. Then a server brought her a drink and then asked me (“sir”) what I’d like. I guess I looked like a high school kid again because he was looking at me with disdain. I asked for a water, and then later realized that I should have asked for tea or hot water. I set the worry of stomach issues aside and focused on the game. All of the sudden, a different lady recognized my patient (the lady running the game), and jealous that she was playing with me, decided to sit down and play, too. She was possessively talking to my patient and sitting really close to her, when I think I won! My patient asked to see my board, but then the ship became turbulent, and all the pieces went everywhere. There was mild panic, and I stood up to return to my table where my things were.

Work, Guy

I was at this great big house–a mansion, really–and this man who was clearly the bad guy was doing bad guy things. In the lull between gaming events (sports, I think), he set up a device that was going to do something awful! I managed to distract him. When he ran off to investigate, I quickly grabbed the tray of white things that was the root of his evil plan and ran outside with it. Unfamiliar with the area, I looked around frantically for a place to hide the things. There was a drainage culvert and grate, so I dumped them all in there. I heard him behind me with a henchman and ran for it. Hiding behind a large bush (it was early evening, so I wasn’t afraid of being seen) I saw to my dismay that they easily picked up the grate and gathered the small weapons. Everything reset and I tried again. This time I ran farther, but that meant that they saw me running with the weapons before I could dump them, so I threw them somewhere harder and ran even further away, using the darkness to my advantage. It was thrilling to be so close to capture! As I hid inside of a big fir tree to watch, I saw that I had crossed a public path. No longer was I on the property. Lots of dogs and people were walking the trail…included Cora! A part of me feared the dogs would give away my position (especially Cora!), so I made my way to a different hiding spot a distance away. It was so far that I was near some cliffs! There, I encountered an optional boss fairy, so I called upon my 3-monster team to take on this threat. We ended up having to attempt the fight 2 times before I was successful.

Before that I was driving around to get to a house. I took a highway in my BEV and was watching from a top-down view and then a map view and then a first-person view. All kinds of views of myself driving this route. The reason it was so significant was that I never drive highway, but every major road was turned into a highway, so I had to. I’d amazed myself by understanding the route despite the massive changes they’d made to the system. Feeling super proud of myself, I made it to the house which was more of a dental office than my house. My sister and mom were there.

Then we were driving with them in the car with me. I had pulled up to a parking spot and was annoyed by the older lady on the other side. I went out to charge my car at the charger but had to wait for her because she’d used the wrong charger. Instead of using the one on her side, she used the one that belonged to my parking spot. Just as I was staring about to complain, she put it back and so I took it and started charging my car.

Then I was at work. It was still morning, and I was listening to the 2 practitioners in the 2 rooms by me. One was my usual coworker, the other was a new person. I was chilling on my stool, leaning up lazily against the counter and playing on my phone. I was so totally engrossed in what I was doing when all of the sudden, my boss ran into the room and asked me what was going on. I was disoriented because I was so into my phone, when panic struck me, because there was no patient in the chair! I’d only assumed that I was waiting for an exam when I hadn’t even seen a patient, yet! What time was it? 8:40am!? I was 40 minutes into an appointment I hadn’t even called the patient back, for!? Trying to deal with crisis, I calmly answered my doctor’s question about a patient. She advised me to write something in the notes. While she was saying that, to my dismay, I heard the front desk tell a patient that someone would come out to get them soon and that she was sorry we were delayed. I then quickly set up my room (of course it wasn’t even set up yet) and went through his chart which had the word “snob” and “30” written in by someone. Clearly someone the front desk had a run-in with before. I quickly deleted those words and called back my patient who turned out to be a high maintenance guy that only wanted to see me. Typically, patients like that are extremely obnoxious to deal with…and I was 40 minutes late pulling him back with no good excuse. I sat him in the chair, and he immediately complained about how dark it was. Confused, I turned towards the window to find the shades fully down. He was right it was extremely dark in the room. I’m pretty sure it was just sunny and super bright…but whatever. Even as I raised the blinds, the outside weather was very dark, heavy clouds having rolled in within the time it took me to call him to the operatory. The next few minutes were the most clumsy and awkward minutes I’ve had as a practitioner since I was in school. Nothing was set up properly, my pack was missing key instruments, I hadn’t washed my hands, the computer screen wasn’t showing the proper chart, I wasn’t wearing a mask or gloves, and I kept digging into a duffle bag for the other instruments I needed. He didn’t seem bothered by any of this thank GOD, but then I wasn’t paying attention and managed to swipe my instruments on the inside of his lips by accident. To try and cover it up, I grabbed his lip with my fingers and palpated a large mass of some sort while noting the laceration I’d created next t to it. He truly did have an abnormality there! I asked if he’d had that a while (to distract him. It worked). He garbled yes, it had been there a while.

It was going so poorly that I woke up.

Blind Patient

I tried to make it a point to remember my dreams in order to record them, but alas…

At work, it was busy. The office was nowhere familiar to me, but at least it wasn’t dim like usual. The schedule was really hopping, and I was looking through it before getting patients back. I had a new patient on the schedule with the last name Grigg. It sounded familiar to me, and then when she showed up she looked familiar, too. There were other patients, too, but she really jumped out to me. I asked my coworker to look her up in the computer for me, and sure enough she was in the system already. She’s seen the dentist for many years with no cleaning on record. The first name was different, though. I went out to get her, determined to figure out if it was the same person or not. I called her back and she went in, but then I noticed that a man was wandering around in the hallway. I walked up to him, and he immediately grabbed my hand. For a split second I was afraid, but soon realized that he was blind. Ah. I asked if he was looking for the restroom, and he said yes. Very nice man, older, very tall. His hands were rough in my own. I gently led him down the hallway and through a smaller hallway. The bathroom was in a weird place in the office. Down the hall, I had to take a right turn and then we were facing the toilet which was enclosed only by a curtain. I pulled it aside for him and explained that he needed to step over the large room transition on the floor. Right outside the toilet and down a bit in the dark was the pooping toilet, so I laughingly explained this to him. He seemed very capable and maneuvered himself into the space. I guessed that I needed to stand around and wait as he wouldn’t be able to make his way back by himself. The thought crossed my mind that it would be gross if he wasn’t someone who was good about washing his hands.

There was some stuff with spiders maybe? Some fun dreams that is a shame I can’t remember them now.

Townhouse, family, shopping, haircut, trash, work, balloon, patient

I was sneaking? around at nighttime. There was a car I was talking to and lots of people around. Workers, I believe around a street of townhouse units. I was supposed to be either hiding from or gathering intel or something like that. No one was supposed to see me.

Then night ended and it was morning. I walked towards my townhouse (not familiar) and saw to my utter surprise that the worker crew that had been there changed EVERYTHING. Instead of the normal pathway from the street to the houses, my next-door neighbor had somehow and for some reason paid for the crew to pave one “sidewalk” smack in front of everyone’s houses leading to the street in a perpendicular fashion instead of the original pathway through the properties we owned (the townhouses had front yards not backyards). I was too surprised to be mad, just a bit irritated. The pervading thought was how the HOA was going to take all of this. There was no way they’d stand for it. As I inspected everything, I realized that the pavers making up the path were those from everyone’s houses. They hadn’t gone out and bought new ones, they just used the ones from people’s properties. Not only that, but the more I looked, the more annoyed I got: My house which sat on the highest elevation had been dug out to make the path and now the path/stairs to the physical house itself was super-duper steep. WTF. Furthermore, since they cut through all the yards, they’d moved all the trees I’d planted into the newly proportioned property lines. They had replanted 3 of my trees, but other people received the other trees I’d just planted.

I didn’t really have time to deal with things because not only was it still early in the morning, but my relatives were there, too. The townhome units suddenly became a series connected homes/apartments/rooms and we were at the shore. There were wrap-around balconies/porches that while at first didn’t connect all together, suddenly did. I crawled around with the excitement of a young person all around the place. In each room were my relatives. My cousins were small again and everyone was in great humor and spirits. It was so fun and nice.

Then I was in a grocery store, shopping with my mom. It was dark and crowded and small. As I wandered around looking for items to get, a man asked me where to find a certain cereal. I directed him back a few aisles because the later aisles we were in had been super combed through. My mom and I reunited and were concerned because there just weren’t a lot of things to buy. As my mom looked around, I watched the cashiers checking people out.

That’s when I walked down an aisle and realized I was at a convention for healthcare providers. It was bright and crowded now. I went into one of the showrooms along with some others of different healthcare fields. We were all nurses of some sort. That particular room had sphygmomanometers–new types. It was all there for us to try, so another guy and I were busy trying them all out. I got an urgent message that I was needed, so I rushed away.

Some stuff happened

Then I was wandering around the shopping area near where I live. Walking, driving, roller blading…I was doing it all as I traversed the area. There was some commotion near the entrance, so I made my way there. As I made my way through the sidewalk system, I heard an alarm, and a bald man stalking towards the entrance of a building saying, ” I will NOT be responsible for taking care of the alarm again!! If they disrupt my proceedings (court, I assume), then they will hear from me! I might have to call S to deal with it (my coworker)!” And then he disappeared into his courtroom. I went over to see what was going on with the next door building and the alarm. There was a group of us, actually. At first, I thought it was supposed to be a martial arts dojo that had just opened. The group actually consisted of people who wanted a haircut. We all went in and saw, to our surprise, that there were unwanted people eating food at the tables inside. They clearly weren’t supposed to be there. Perhaps they were homeless? It was tense! I didn’t know what was going to happen, as it felt like sitting on the cusp of getting violent. The men went to confront the people to get them out. I could tell they needed some help, so I stood up from what I was sitting on and walked over to support the effort. For some reason I was much taller and brawnier than anyone there. As soon as I showed myself, I could feel the energy in the room shift. The interlopers begrudgingly left.

Done with that, we had to then clean up the place. I went to the back to investigate the trash situation and found that the building had never ordered any trash receptacles! Some people had already tried to throw stuff in other people’s trashcans, only to draw ire from those establishments. I decided that the people would just have to take the trash and recycles home to our own homes and dispose of them there.

Then I was outside, and it was dark. I was at work, but work was outside? I made my way down the scenic path to get my next patient and looked up in the sky to see the clothes that an old patient who had passed away fly up. I was getting emotional when I looked down to see the man’s wife! She looked up, too, and was starting to cry. I gave her some comforting words and set off some fireworks in his honor.

Cora, Basement, Patient

This is the only portion I remember. The rest of it was rather dull.

I was in a basement. It exuded old-school 80’s vibes (think brown everything and carpet), and aside from that was rather dusty. Cora was running up and down the stairs. I was under the impression that there was as storm outside, but it didn’t matter because I was just a kid. I was sit-crawling on the dark brown, worn carpet. There was a room behind me that I wasn’t supposed to go into, and I knew was off-limits, but this is my dream and I get to do what I want. Everything was quiet, so I went into the room which was kind of spooky. The rest of the 80’s basement was already darkly furnished, but this room was really dark with what appeared to be cobwebs on things? Like a dusty old attic. There were things stacked everywhere, though there was order even with all the junk. I was looking at some things near the ground (since I was a kid, I was short). Cora ran to the doorway but refused to go in, running back upstairs. That’s when my dad came home from a business trip, and I understood that it was his room. No wonder it was kind of spooky. Now uncomfortable, I worked my way back out to the rest of the basement but didn’t want to do it too fast as to appear too eager to exit. He wasn’t mean at all, though I was super wary about it. My mom was upstairs and came down to see what I was doing and then went back upstairs when my dad came out. I retreated back into his room, almost to get away from what was going to happen next.

Then, the room changed to an open area where I could see up to the next level like a mall, and there in the skylights, you could see the gale that was blowing out there. Hear it, too. It didn’t matter much, because I was cleaning a patient’s teeth at the point. He was on the ground with his head in my lap. It was my patient Dr. MC. He kept saying things to me and I couldn’t understand what he was saying, so I had to keep stopping and asking, “what?” That’s when my dad came back through the doorway and disappeared into where his bathroom was. My patient and I looked at each other, but it wasn’t our business, so we kept out of it. That’s when I heard commotion above me and looked up to see my mom holding a rifle and aiming it down towards where my dad had disappeared to. She looked super pissed off. I was worried because I was within the danger zone, so I scooted both myself and my patient off to the far edge of the room. Then I tried to get my mom’s attention to tell her that we were there, but she seemed hell-bent on capping my dad. There was also a brown dog with her I didn’t recognize.

Grocery Store, Patients, Kill

The setting was at a wholesale club, and then moved over to a grocery store. There were students and instructors. I was neither, yet still working? Somewhere between a student and a teacher/boss. Things were starting to get busy, so I was sent by my very pregnant boss (Indian, perhaps) to see what was going on. In the frozen section, I found that the waiting area, denoted by the line of chairs and people sitting, filling out things on tablets, was very full. Above each person was a holographic symbol of why they were there. I returned to my boss to report the busy state and that most of them were pregnant. She threw up her hands in exasperation. We both hurried down a different aisle to get to the front of the store. I was calling for any available nurses to attend to those in the waiting area. We needed triage!

When I got to the front, it seemed the waiting area was being taken care of, so I jumped in to help with whatever needed helping. One person was using a long, white, sticky tape to tape something, so I helped with that. Then other stuff. I headed over to help someone who seemed familiar. The older man she was attending to had his head in a device of some sort. I was exhausted, so I just did what was asked of me. I pulled a lever like the lady told me to and kept it there, my eyes taking in the state of the rest of the area to see who needed me next. What I didn’t register was that we were helping the older man commit suicide. In fact, the lever I was holding down with all my strength (along with the lady on the other side of the device) was operating a crusher that was crushing the man’s neck. In horror, I saw that the enclosed clear plastic that covered his head was filling with blood! He seemed happy and smiled before he died. I was blown away at what I’d just done. The lady moved on to the next thing she needed to do, but I was just reeling from that incident! Horrified, I wondered if the tape lady was trying to commit suicide, too, and I’d helped!

There wasn’t any time to wonder about it, though, because I heard my boss/teacher’s voice raise in level and intensity. She was talking strongly to a person in the waiting room, a younger man, and pointing in our general direction. She told the man that so-and-so had large boobs! Some other person had medium boobs. And then she pointed at me and told him that I also had large boobs. What? What was happening? I looked around at the fellow nurses/workers around me. They were all wearing really tight white, revealing clothes. One was holding her hands and arms to cover herself up, while others were just staring at what was happening. I was simply in scrubs.

Volunteer Work, Bathroom

I was volunteering my time at a free clinic. I hadn’t worked at one in years and was a little bit nervous going because it had been so long. At the same time, I was curious because it had been so long and I was much more experienced than when I first did it. My patient was someone familiar…he looked a lot like one of the patients in my office. It was not my business, so I went ahead with my work. Cut to some really detailed footage to my using the ultrasonic around some 3rds subg and blasting crud out.

All of the sudden there was a commotion and my coworkers and bosses arrived. I was confused as to why they were even there, but everyone was happy and jovial. They and the staff there happily engaged in conversation while I hung around feeling like the odd one out. My bosses decided they wanted to use the restroom. A little while after they left, I needed to use it, too. Down the hall I went and found that the bathroom was actually just a bunch of really long stalls set in an area off the clinic. Male, female…it didn’t matter. I chose one and went to use it, though not much came out. It was for the best, though, because the place didn’t seem super clean and there was something happening outside the stalls. I quickly exited to find a man standing there in motorcycle rider clothing i guess waiting for a stall.

Then some stuff about driving cars in the dark and rain in unfamiliar territory.

Driving, Work

There was some stuff about driving around town, but town was a series of windy roads that were actually vertical? It was extremely confusing, and I kept getting lost in the twists and turns only to end up opposite of where I was trying to go. Eventually, I got to my destination which started out in a small town/city where it was Christmas. I was walking by some houses and through the windows could see what everyone was doing. One house in particular had about 20 people sitting around in Santa hats singing carols together. Other homes were simpler.

Then I was in a camp? Like a summer camp kind of place where I was at odds with the director of the program. I was hanging out in the office doorway probably in trouble again and plotting my escape from the place. I did manage to leave and turned around to see that I had somehow become the director, myself. There was a large event, and I was needed to run it. Like right then and there. Completely unprepared and overwhelmed, I tried my best despite the rain.

Then I was at work. At first it was just me wandering around the unfamiliar office. The place was a square, with the operatories ringing the middle where the waiting room/labs sat. It all seemed really cozy and spacious. My boss and I were worried about our next patients. He was seeing one of the two partners, but his was a patient I had seen the time before and, man, she had been a doozy. Unfortunately for me, I was tasked with seeing her partner who seemed to be a…challenge to say the least. Time came and I brought my patient back. She was extremely nervous. I talked to her like any new patient, getting her history, going over medical stuff, sizing her up, etc. I was getting agitated because she seemed excessively fearful and obnoxious. I stepped away for a bit to get some air and clear my head before coming back. I ended up walking by my boss who was seeing the other patient. She waved happily at me, and I caught a little bit of what they were talking about. I mentioned to my doc that if he wanted to know more about Ursala that he should just check my notes from before because I had it all written down and through there. He gave me a weird look and waved me off, which left me needing to head back to my patient. At that point I only had about 35 minutes left to do anything. I returned to her and let her know that we’d go ahead and get started. I turned to put on my gloves and by the time I turned back around, I saw, to my horror, that there was line of yellow liquid trailing from where she’d been standing at the window onto the couch where she perched like a bird. She shrieked that the liquid had been there already, but I knew better and could actually see from how she was squatting that the underside of her pants were wet. No doubt she was still peeing. I picked up a bath towel, folded it, and gently asked her to sit on it while I did the examination. She screamed that I was being incredibly demeaning to her, so, no, she wouldn’t sit down. Instead, she got up and started trying to sit on any place but where she’d soiled. I told her I needed her to get back on the couch because that was the only chair in the room where she could recline so that I could work properly. While rambling, she walked out of the room and eventually made her way to my original operatory which I had been saving for the next patient because I knew I’d be going over the time with her. OKAY then, I guess the operatory chairs are a ton easier to clean off. She plopped herself down on it eventhough it was set really high up, so I just went with it. I adjusted the seat, went to get my mask, my clinic jacket, and by the time I returned, another clinician was there seeing her. I think it might have been another doctor–a tall female with straight brown hair I didn’t recognize, but the office was large enough for several doctors. The annoying lady was quiet and acquiescing, so I didn’t sweat it and turned away to go do something else. Let someone else break their hands. That’s the type of patient I don’t want liking me, anyways.

Music, female, traffic, church, patient, hiding

I had been talking to a female musician. She was white with long, straight dark hair. I seemed to think she was awesome. She played both the violin and viola. There was one song I’d been listening to of hers called Encore which was just beautiful. I opened up my songbook to find the sheet music for it, which also included all the parts because it was an ensemble piece. My mind drifted back to my school years when I played in an ensemble, myself. Then I was at home and came down the stairs to find that she and another female (one part of the group) were sitting on my couch. I came up to them and sat in between them. I asked her about her upcoming concert, and she seemed a little uncomfortable with me there, but hey, it was my house. I then asked her if she was going to be playing the violin or the viola. She told me the viola with a funny expression on her face. I replied that it was really cool that she was going with the viola because you don’t see too many violists. She was silent for a bit before ranting about how it was because she was a woman that people think this and that, and that if she was a man, then blah blah blah. It was my turn to feel uncomfortable and irritated on top of it because that was not at all what I intended. She was clearly overreacting.

Then we were in a van with them and some other females, probably of the group. I was with my mom in the middle row. We were sitting in traffic about to go up a hill, when the females saw another car of people they knew and immediately jumped out at the intersection to start talking to them. In the road. During traffic. I was getting really annoyed at their lack of consideration for others. I started yelling at them to GET OUT OF THE ROAD. I said it a few times before they begrudgingly complied and allowed the other traffic to move.

I decided I’d had enough and hopped out with my mom to walk. It was raining and cold at the point, but it was okay. We walked by some horses in their enclosure and one of the mini ones was super cute, stomping its feet to the music playing nearby (or in my head, I guess).

We ended up in a church and I promptly lost my mom. I wandered around a bit and then went into a room in the back trying to dodge one of my patients. By the time I came out, the entire place was transformed into…a college cafeteria? Inside the church? It was really very nice. Quality food abound, fresh. They were prepping because the students were about to start the term. I was admiring things and it was getting late. I went into a side room where they had ice cream and a trove of high-quality prizes for contests and events, I guess.

Before I knew it, the place was closed, and I hadn’t left yet. I saw the patient I’d been trying to dodge and hopped into a pile of clothes to hide, but she’d already seen me. She did keep my presence a secret from the higher-ups, but there was a pit of dread in my gut. She left the room, and I hopped out to hide behind the door and see if I could find a moment to escape, but then a man came into the room, took one look at me and rushed out. Uh oh. I decided to get on the bed that was in the room and just pretend that I was asleep and was meant to be there. The patient climbed into the small bed with me and stared at me while I tried to “sleep.” At that point, it became one of those choose-your-story type of things where I had to decide my fate through the 3 options. I wracked my brain, trying to figure out the consequences of each choice (try to escape, pretend to sleep/ignore her, or kiss her and pretend to start a relationship to get her on my side).

Then I woke up. Thankfully.

Work

I was at work and as usual in dreams it’s dim in there. I was wandering around the office talking to people and it came up with my boss that one portion of the office used to be a place that sold retail items like jewelry, clothing, etc. I had completely forgotten that when I first worked there, it was a thing! I made my way back to my operatory because I needed to see a patient. My other boss was in there and I mentioned that I’d forgotten about the retail operation all the years prior. She laughed and then mentioned that she wants to start that back up because they had a lot of random items at their house to sell. I thought about it and recommended that she maybe try selling them online. That way they wouldn’t need physical space or someone working to fulfill orders and customer service. She thought about it and then disappeared to loudly ask the other workers if someone wanted to make more money by helping her with the retail part. I made a face and went to get my patient because they’d been waiting for a while. The dark waiting room was very crowded and spilling into the hallway. I’d forgotten my patient’s name, but I remembered his profile picture which were 2 moose antlers. I came out and called “Rack” or something similar. No one stood up until a young man sitting with his dad and sister jumped up. Then I suddenly remembered his name was Vergil Moose. D’oh!

He got to my chair and sat down, and I was overwhelmed because his back was really long! II started the back cleaning, fuming that I even had to do this, dodging the hair and pimples and such. As I was covering his back with the stain/polish, I picked up the bucket of prophy paste for easier access to the solution and was gooping it on, when my coworker came over to ask about something regarding my patient’s sister. She told me that we needed to order a better tool to help the process go more smoothly. I would have been interested if I wasn’t busy.

Then some stuff about a school involving paying vending money for charging of phones, lots of people, cars. I can’t remember any of it now.

Work

I hate work dreams. Why do I always dream about work even when I’m on vacation?

Work was situated near mountains and, honestly, rather far from civilization. Apparently, that wasn’t enough to deter people because we were not only hiring but had way too many patients. I kept recognizing people that were coming into the office, all old workers that we were taking back. There was L, and some others. I thought it was a terrible idea given they hadn’t wanted to work in the office, but the bosses kept hiring them. I wandered around the office looking for a quiet place to sit, but there were so many new employees that I didn’t want anything to do with (even my cousin L who looked upon me with repulsion) that I grew frustrated and annoyed, to the point where I was seriously considering quitting. I returned to my op to see if I could have some peace and quiet, but both of the chairs were occupied. I was double booked on the schedule (2x that day!!) and decided to bring in the double that was booked. I knew she’d be hard because she was a special needs patient. Unfortunately, my exam had not been done yet, so there was a lot of standing around awkwardly, while I seethed on the inside about how sucky everything was. The very old lady in the chair slowly (and painfully) got up and went to wait in the waiting room while I seated my patient. The special needs patient was trying to show me that her #15 was rotted out and very painful. I looked in really quickly to see that wasn’t the only tooth messed up, just the only one that hurt apparently. I needed to take x-rays, but I wasn’t sure how it was going to go with the patient’s condition. I bumbled around, trying to set everything up, but everything was going wrong. The dental chairs disappeared altogether, so I had her sit on the roll-y office chair. She had trouble keeping it still, so I tried to calmly put down the wheel stoppers like this happened all the time, all the while screaming on the inside. However, none of them would take, so I gave up on that and just went ahead and tried to take the BW. The ring on the holder fell off altogether. OKAY, it’s fine. I placed the sensor in there and she spit out the rest of holder. OKAY, it’s FINE. I took the image anyways. It was too far forward. When I returned to remove the sensor, the plastic sleeve was missing. I moved it forward to do another image and had to keep returning to the mouse because it wouldn’t stay on the “ready” menu. I was contaminating everything. But we kept going because DAMN IT I was going to succeed. Moved on the next side and that’s when I realized I had no gloves on. My own hands were covered in spit. AAAAAND I kept having to return to set up the damn menu on the computer. Finally, the last gaggy one was needed, and I went to take it. My patient was a male at that point, and I remember smelling his breath, and that’s when I knew I wasn’t wearing a mask, either. BUT WE GOT IT. And to the patient’s credit, they both were very cooperative despite everything, meaning that the images came out well.

UGH. What a nightmare!

Work, Commute train, classroom, wrong patient, gate

This is a few days’ worth.

I was at work and my coworker was so busy that she couldn’t handle the load. I tried to help out by taking a male patient for her since I wasn’t doing anything in particular. As he walked to the op with me (unfamiliar man) he seemed kind of off. In my chair, I took some x-rays and was very surprised because the radiolucency at the apices of his teeth indicated a heart attack! I ran to get my doctor, but we started yakking about other stuff and then I mentioned casually that I needed him to come do an exam for me. As I was briefing him about the x-ray, he exclaimed, “THIS IS VERY SERIOUS” and literally ran from the office. I had simply gotten distracted and forgotten. Ooops.

With a large group of people, I would regularly commute on his train/subway/metro. There was one regular whom I disliked greatly and would often fight with for seats and queue place. It wasn’t that I cared to be first, or to have the best seats or anything like that, I just wanted to annoy them because they annoyed me. This went on for a bit until one day the commuters had to travel a distance down a road to get to a new train or location for a train because something out of our control had occurred. As I was one of the first to board, I went to look for seats. The car was different from the usual one without the usual seats. I decided to sit in a nice armchair, when I saw the annoying regular huffily changing seats (looking for the nice ones, no doubt) and then rudely demanding stuff of the attendant. I watched the person with disdain for a bit before asking the attendant if he recognized the person. He told me he did not, and I proceeded to explain the situation. A nearby regular confirmed this and the attendant shook his head. I didn’t feel like being obnoxious that particular time, but if the person pushed me into it, I wasn’t opposed to it.

I was in a classroom with a bunch of other people, all adults. The class could be outside or inside, it just depended on what the teacher wanted. There was a project the instructor had us do where she passed around a sheet with a person’s face on it. Mine had the face of a particular male, a decent-looking guy around my age. I’m not sure what we were supposed to do with it, maybe stitch around the face to make some sort of craft. I wasn’t really paying that much attention because one of our projects involved our patients and there was something quite wrong with one of mine. The next day we returned to the class where I was still mulling over my dilemma with the patient. The instructor, a male that day, was going over the pictures from the day prior and that’s when I realized that I had been the only student to have received a picture of the male. Everyone had the same female face on theirs. Not only that, but mine looked quite a bit like the male instructor. I was suddenly very aware of this and wondered why the female instructor (an older, middling lady) had given it to me. The male instructor saw that I was struggling with something, so he came over to help. I tried to keep my face from turning red, but he made it easy because he asked me about my patient. I confirmed my suspicion with him that I had the wrong chart. He helped me fix it because my patient’s information was under his mother’s for some reason (a Korean guy). On top of it, I needed to tell my patient that the periodontal prognosis for his posterior teeth was not good given the very deep pocketing. I was annoyed by that part simply because he hadn’t been under my care for a few years.

Earlier than that were a few dreams involving running through levels with a group of people I needed to get to a certain part of the map without getting them captured. It was very dark, and I had to try and sneak them through enemy lands without being detected or getting anyone killed. They were all fellow operatives that had been taken prisoner and each had their own special abilities that I needed to utilize.

EV, Girls, Amusement Park

I was in the neighborhood I left before coming here, and things were much more grown as it should be since it’s been several years. I had just gotten my EV, a smaller, very sporty sedan a bit larger than a Miata and similar to a BRZ. I was super excited and drove it to work. The speed was indeed very nice, and it actually had an engine sound which was a higher pitched kind of whine that may or may not have been fake sounds. While it was fun to drive, I found myself feeling a bit disappointed and missing my Maverick. I got home and was telling my brother that I might not like it as much as I thought and think that I’d like a plug-in hybrid a lot more given the circumstances. My brother started excitedly telling me that he told me so and that he’d been looking at plug-in Legacys. I wanted to submit an order for a plug-in hybrid Outback but clarified to him that I’d only had the EV one day so far and would continue to give it a chance, to feel it out. Another really big reason for my disappointment was that I passed the same car at least once every 5-10 minutes of driving and I hate having a car that everyone has. It just bothers me. Plus, what was I doing with such a low-lying sporty car when I don’t even like sporty cars, rather rugged cars???

Then things moved on and I was at this brick building. I was sitting inside a studio office that appeared to be a library or small museum, or an office within one of those. There were small displays and books everywhere. The young female that worked there, who couldn’t have been more than a few years younger than me, was very friendly and instantly made me feel at home. We chatted about this and that while I waited (for what, I’m not sure). I wandered over to look at her displays when the chatting ended. Then she looked at the time and led me over to the next room which looked more like a lounge room. There was a round table with multiple chairs in the middle, one of them taken by another young woman. Soon, a few more joined in, and I started to feel a little uncomfortable because I don’t like being in larger groups. Small, intimate numbers is more my thing. As it turns out, these women were a group of not only friends, but roommates with professional ties. Everyone had their own unique ability and knowledge and field (with looks to match). It was a very well-balanced set of skills sitting there. They invited me to sit with them when I was very much thinking about leaving, and even though there were some awkward moments where I knew not what they were speaking of, it seemed that they wanted me to either join the group or at least enjoy the company. All of the sudden there was a flurry of activity, and an extremely exuberant dog raced into the room. I immediately recognized, despite never having met him, that it was my uncle’s new dog. Not wanting him to be a general nuisance because some people aren’t comfortable around dogs and now here was the unbridled excitement of big puppy, I stood up and ushered him out into the hall and into another room. While playfully pushing him out, I was vaguely aware of my uncle yelling at him. Both the dog and I ignored it, and when we got into the next room over, I managed to push down and hold (playfully) this many-pound dog, giving him belly rubs while more importantly calming him down to prevent his excitement from growing worse.

Then I was driving on a highway and excited because I had rented a hotel room so that I could spend 2 days at an amusement park! Sadly, the sky was cloudy, but I didn’t care and was eagerly looking at the water slides. It was very early when the park had just opened, and I was determined to take advantage of the low crowds. The water ride I was eyeing turned out to be a kid’s ride, so I decided to venture away, but then it turned into me looking through several old albums while noting who was in each picture throughout the album. I was writing down and tallying the score, then it was me working in a very poorly lit place with dark brick and wood interior of the practice. I was working on a patient in a wheelchair. Then I went to go get something in another room when the person who came with the wheelchair patient followed me. The end of the hall room was a large, long one usually there for either lab work or large cases. The person ran in and started going off about how the wheelchair patient needed to be seen there next time because it would be easier to maneuver them around. I tried to play interference, noting that it just seemed bigger, but it really wasn’t once you factor in the wheelchair. Plus, it wasn’t set up for seeing regular patients. The person didn’t seem happy with the answer and seemed ready to take it up with the doctor. I left the room, because it was not my problem.

Work, Diagnosis, Clothes

I was at work though the location was unfamiliar. I was running behind as usual, and I had a new patient. I ran out to the dim waiting room to get him. There was some guarded relief to see that he was young. He gathered up his many coats and came back to the room with me which looked more like a medical office than a dental office. Sitting on the examination bed/chair, I took some x-rays and then started asking him questions and looking at his chart. Although he claimed that his medical history was unremarkable, I sensed the opposite, and after a bit of prodding, he finally came clean that he had been diagnosed at his previous office with something complex that I can’t remember now. He wrote the name down for me, and I told him that I’d be right back because I needed to speak to the doctor. He did not seem happy. I made my way to the doctors’ office and saw my male doctor, but then saw a female doctor I was not familiar with. She had dark long hair and darker skin, and I immediately knew she was a medical doctor. I walked up to both of them, though I was really aiming for her and read out the name of the condition. They both started conferring and explained to me what that was. Basically, it was bad news for the young patient, and I rushed back to take a chest x-ray. When I got there, he was gone. I went up front to confirm that he had left. He had. However, he had forgotten his water bottle. I had just finished saying he might return for it when lo and behold who showed up? My man! The color drained out of his face when he saw me, and I asked him to come back with me, not expecting him to. He did! Shoulders sagging, he trudged back to the examination room with me. I set up to take the x-ray.

And then it moved to something else. I was then traveling along the gravel/dirt road near some woods. Along the way I met a young, athletic dark-skinned female. She was stressing out and I wanted to help. She told me she was supposed to be down the road at an athletic event, but she forgot/lost her clothes! The ones she had on then were definitely inappropriate for something like that. I set down my duffel bag and immediately started rummaging around in it. Delighted, she stepped off the road into some thick vegetation. I pushed my things in with her and to my surprise she immediately stripped her clothes off. I picked out the 2 sports bras I had with me but warned that my clothes were a bit large since I’m not the smallest person around. Her boobs were not visible in my dream despite her being stark naked, so I guess my bra fit her well? She seemed happy, at least. I shrugged and returned to rummaging. For some reason all of my clothing seemed to have the American Flag on them. She grabbed a shirt and some pants, seeming to skip the underwear which was relieved to see because sharing undies seemed very weird. I never thought my clothes would fit her, but she didn’t complain. The only thing left were shoes which I did not have another pair, but before I could voice my concerns, she was already running down the road towards the event. I worried that I wouldn’t get my stuff back, so I followed her.

Work, Patients, Cavitron, Dog, Grocery

I was in a wholesale club shopping when I came upon an aisle where open dental units were set up. I went ahead and saw a patient. There were a few other hygienists there. I got up because my shift was over, but one of my coworkers was there so I hung around to chat a bit. Just as I was about to leave, I noticed that guy I had gone to college with was sitting in one of the chairs. The hygienist, I didn’t recognize, but we all looked at the radiographs and DAMN the guy not only had some serious boneloss, but the calculus was out of this world! They looked almost like small teeth growing off the side of the normal teeth! I warned her not to use the green ultrasonic insert and ran to try and find the blue insert, though I was also looking for the beavertail because that kind of calculus usually means an anterior bridge of it.

It was nighttime and I suddenly wanted to go to the grocery store for some fresh produce. There was one place in particular I wanted to go to, because surely it would be open, but when I arrived, it had just closed. I was appalled that the place wasn’t open past 8pm! Instead, I ended up going to a different store that had grocery as well other merchandise. I walked in and it was fairly busy for the nighttime. I went straight over to the freestanding produce display to look at the tomatoes, when a strange-looking item caught my eye. It was purple and white and looked like a spherical thing with tons of spikes on it. I bent down to inspect it when all of the sudden, a dog sits up one tier above the spiky thing. A dog! It was little, like a little bigger than a chihuahua with a half-wiry, half-furry gray/white coat, and wearing a red coat. I picked it up as it was very friendly and exclaimed loudly around me asking whose dog this was. People glanced at me but ignored this development. I asked repeatedly, thinking they hadn’t heard me, but nobody stepped forward. I heard mumblings of “dog” so they acknowledged the event. I saw my uncle nearby who told me rather uncaringly that it was his youngest sister’s new dog. No one cared whatsoever about this poor little dog. Well, I cared, and I was definitely bringing it home with me though the thought crossed my mind that Cora might not appreciate him. I’d cross that bridge later. Shopping forgotten, I decided to bring the pup outside as I figured he hadn’t been able to relieve himself all day. He was wearing a plastic martingale collar, so I hung on to it while letting him walk around. He really did need to pee, having held it in all day. What a good boy. He also seemed to have grown a bit. I walked with him back into the store which didn’t seem to mind me having him there in order to search for a leash. I wandered around looking for the pet section, and had trouble finding it. When I finally got there, 3 men were standing in front of it milling around and talking loudly. Eventually, they moved and I was able to look through the leashes. Nothing seemed appealing so I looked through the end cap which had a bunch of bags and backpacks. I figure I could just set him inside one and carry it on my back. A random young lady was standing next to me and helped me look through the bags. We decided on a large bluish backpack fhat looked like a bag and had a drawstring top. The material felt thick and so I set the pup inside the bag. He squirmed a little, but sat still like a good boy. The tag warned against loads over 10lbs. He seemed to weigh closer to 15 or 20, but the bag held, so I hoisted everything onto my back and went to go pay for it.

Then I was at work itself. The day was winding down and I went to the other side of the office to ask for an exam. I smiled at the female (about my age, brown hair in a pony tail, taller, average build) that the doc was examining, though I didn’t recognize her. While I waited, I decided to lay down in a bed that happened to be where one of the operatories usually is. I waited so long that I half fell asleep and just got super comfortable. I woke up a little when the doctor finished and headed down to do my exam. She looked in my room at me and laughed a little, though it was only half a “funny” laugh and half “let’s talk about this later” laugh. I started to get up, but the reason I don’t take naps is because I have trouble getting up after I take them. The patient that had just gotten her exam peered into the room with an excited smile and said, “I remember you!” My eyes snapped open having been caught by a patient while being unprofessional. She came into the room, to my surprise, all the while smiling broadly at me and standing at the left bedside said, “You’re the one whose kisses tastes good.”

I was no longer asleep then. Nope. Wide awake. I sat up, preparing to get off the bed, but she kept standing there and leaned in closer, with intent. My brain raced, trying to remember when we kissed and who the hell she was. The way everything was going, it seemed that I had been a bit of a player in the past. I was getting a flash in my mind of a party on a yacht or maybe on a pier, but I didn’t want to dwell on it. Escape was my main priority at that point. I ended up just smiling and laughing a little, pretending that I remembered her and the incidental kiss. Then I excused myself to go see to my doctor and patient. I hurried down the hall to find that the exam had been finished already. In fact, the room had been cleaned and my new patient there. I engrossed myself in my last patient, eager to be done with work, but to also get the heck outta there. I’d assumed that ex-kisser had been long gone, but when I made it halfway down the hall to get to my doctor, there she was again. She hadn’t left after all. In fact, she’d been waiting for me. She advanced upon me, again with intent. She might have been saying something, but I didn’t register anything out of terror. I backed up as she advanced, putting both my hands up in front of me, and apologizing that I simply wasn’t interested. Behind her, I saw my boss coming at me, and gaining some power, I hurried by my stalker. My doctor smiled jovially at me, asking if I was ready, and I exclaimed yes while furtively pointing behind me at the female. My boss’s face frowned and I continued away to hide.

Later, stalker girl did indeed leave, and I went back after the exam to see my patient off. Except that she was now surrounded by a bunch of other old people. It was like a circus. When I arrived, they were all frustratedly poking and pounding on my computer keyboard. I waved everyone away before they broke my computer. I asked if Mrs. Weaver (my patient) wanted to make an appointment for the next time. Everyone around said yes, so I did. Then I had to pointedly say good bye and push everyone out, but they had so many things with them and scattered around my small operatory. I handed pieces of a stuffed fox to one woman, made sure the pieces of someone’s cane was given back, etc. By the time they were funneling out to the waiting room, I found 3 more items that had somehow gotten underneath my unit. I didn’t want to engage them again, so I just stacked them on my counter incase someone realized they were missing something. Otherwise, they could just call and come get it later. I broke down my room and cleaned everything up. Afterwards, I ran to tell my doctor what had just happened with my last patient, which was just me building up the courage to tell her about my harassment and almost assault by that other patient. Just as I was getting to the younger female story and seeing my boss’s face go from worry to anger–

–I woke up.

Work, Guy, Gable

I was at a concert or some event with lots of people. Eventually, I decided that it was overwhelming and went for a walk to get away from it. As I was walking around a nice downtown neighborhood, I caught sight of my old orchestra teacher Mr. K. He was walking around trying to advertise his musical lesson services to passerbys and neighborhood people. I waved at him and he waved back, but kept his distance and kept trying to get people’s attention. I laughed inside because he’d always been a bit awkward when it came to social interactions. I just stood there watching and waiting for him to be done so that I could talk to him for a little bit. That’s when this guy walks by, probably in his 40s and starts ranting about Mr. K, gesticulating menacingly at him. Something about letting that man of all people teach our children, a sham of a musician, etc. I was getting annoyed and angry. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with people, but the way he was doing it was not cool. From what I could gather from his tirade, he either used to be a disgruntled student, or a jealous colleague, basically making his argument null in my mind. Mr. K was standing there, not seemingly bothered by the outburst. When the man saw me, he stalked over, demanding to know what I saw in my old teacher. I stood my ground and told him like it was, how Mr. K was an awesome teacher that I’d had throughout both middle school and high school, and that I held no other higher in that regard. The man was NOT happy at my insolence and defense of my teacher, and I could feel the bodily harm he intended me. There was no doubt in my mind that given the first opportunity, he’d abduct me, beat me, and probably rape me too. That’s when I noted the distinct bandana the man wore wrapped around his head. I was wearing my work clothes, so I, too, had a bandana on. Mr. K waved graciously at me and I hightailed it back to the event to find my male friends. As I hurried out of the neighborhood knowing that he was already following me, I planned how I’d hide in the crowd, changing my head bandana to match the others and wearing something completely different as quickly as possible. Eventually, I found my friends and told them the story. Being younger guys (I must have been college aged), they joked a bit, but I wasn’t joking at all. This man meant to hurt me badly. I saw the flash of his distinct bandana and the escape was on.

Then I was at work. My first patients were an old couple. Very friendly, nice people. I needed to take a bunch of x-rays on the wife, but not the husband who had already had his done. She needed PAs and not BWs, so I went ahead and tried to take them, except every time I tried to take them, not only did I have to physically bend the XCP to adapt around the floor of her mouth, but they kept coming up as BWs instead of PAs. I was getting frustrated, but trying not to show it. Then my doctor came in for the exam and I had to explain the situation. She was okay with it, though. I left to go brush my teeth after cleaning up another room and checking the schedule. The office was dark as it usually is in my dreams and we not only had the hygienist St, but some other one I was not familiar with. I was brushing my teeth and went to a sink to spit the toothpaste out, but I realized after I did, that the doctors and the sales rep were standing right there. Oops. How rude and gross of me. Not only that, but my spit out was bloody. How long had it been since I’d brushed my teeth? I rinsed the sink and went to a different sink to finish. Then I was in the sterilization area setting up another tray when I found a bunch of documents to read over from a former worker. It made me laugh and I decided to highlight the funny words with a highlighter. Then I made my way back to my operatory to set up for my next patient. There, in the darkness of the office, St was lying in my chair. I asked her if she wanted a cleaning and she kind of said yes. I was okay with that as long as she helped me clean up the room for my next patient. I tried to put the polisher together to use, but it kept falling apart and soon it was getting late. My boss poked her head into the room–

–and I woke up.

This one was from the other day: The place was gloomy. It was deep underground, stalagmites and stalagmites in a massive cavern, water and endless pits abound. It had its own light source from high in the impossible to see vaulted ceiling, but it was very dark in the shadows. I was navigating around the place which seemed to be crumbling and dangerous at every turn, waterfalls, falling rocks and fragile cliffs throughout. I was with a female perhaps someone I’d met along the way, but she was very gothy and depressive. Despite that, it was nice to have a companion in the gloom. Thwarting all sorts of danger and navigating through ongoing battles, I found what I was there for: my dog. I was looking for my dog. He didn’t look much like the Gable I knew, but I knew it was him even though I couldn’t picture his face and he looked like a zombie. His fur was all shades of gray, his fur existing in disintegrating clumps, though his skin was also gray. He walked familiarly alongside my left and we made it to a train of carts on rails that ascended up just in time. I jumped in after loading my companion in who seemed to be getting weaker and weaker, but as the car started moving, I realized Gable wasn’t there anymore. It was too late now, but I kind of knew that was how it would happen. That’s when I looked over at my companion to see that she was also turning gray, bleeding, and then simply fell out of the cart. I was by myself, the even climbing cart taking me back to where I belonged.

Line, commute, waiting

I was commuting home from work and there was a lot of traffic. I made my way on the main road and seeing all the traffic, decided to take the back route home if not for time, then for peace of mind. The driving turned into walking. I was trying to cross a very busy main road which was lanes across. There was a break in traffic, so I went for it, trying to decide if I should saunter or run. I dropped by blanket and had to turn around to snag it before making my way across. Managed to succeed without having to rush too much…that would be too uncool. So I make my way down the back roads of a neighborhood and get stuck behind this older lady who was walking at a good pace, but not fast enough. At the same time, I was reading all the street names at the intersections and turned down the right ones. Unfortunately, she was turning down them all too, so I decided to go a different route in the hopes of beating her to the road I was trying to get to. Too bad for me, there was a middle aged man at the stop sign in my route. The other lady, reached the intersection would be getting in front of me, but she wordlessly got behind me instead. I was thankful for that. The man stopped at the next intersection which is the way I was intending to go, but there were so many people standing in line to go that way, that they were blocking the intersection at that point. The man in front of me was intending to turn left there, so he just stood in the line waiting. I decided to try a further back route and could tell that the lady behind me had the same idea. I excused myself behind the man and cut a right turn, lady hot on my heels.

Everything was a Target store now. I walked forward only to find that the way I wanted to go now had an even longer line than the other one! Great. I was resigned to my fate, so I made my way to the end of the line. It just kept growing with more and more people getting in line. I was thinking in my head that the reason the line wasn’t moving quickly had to be the 4-way stop ahead. The line was very disorganized at the end with people just all over, but everyone was very kind. One short brown haired female around my age pulled me out of line and asked me to to go eat with her while we waited. I didn’t want to lose my place in line, but she was really excited to be with me. That’s when I realized she was trying to push me into a date with her, even speaking loudly about how I was a manly, macho female. I got myself back into line, embarrassed, but eager to continue my commute. All of the sudden, the line turned around and started going down the checkout lane there. I wondered what was happening, but I had my cart with me and we’d make it to the checkout eventually. Some more commotion proved that the issue was that the card-readers were down, so they announced to everyone that cash would be the payment that could be taken. I opened up my wallet to take a look at the cash and pulled out this thick wad of it. It was all a jumble, so I took the opportunity waiting in line to re-organize the bills. My sister was standing with me and I took out the 2 and 3 dollar bills. Why did I even have those? It was clear that I had plenty of cash to cover the purchase and when I looked up, people were waving 1 dollar bills around.

House, Toilet, Boss, Kill, Bees

Some stuff about roommates, eye masks, and sharing rooms in a city. It was only going to be for 1 or a few nights, but one girl was making a big deal about it. Someone recommended changing the parquet flooring to a carpet to trap sound. A friend and I sat and listened to the sales rep but whispered to each other about the dust mites.

Then I was shopping at Home Depot where I saw a person trying to buy some electric toothbrushes. The model they picked up must have been seriously old because the removable battery on it was quite substantial. I showed them a different model which also turned out to have a large battery on it and wasn’t an electric toothbrush at all but Oral-B’s new oral irrigator. When she gave it back to me I noticed that it was only $3.01 on clearance despite never being opened! My boss swung by and told me to go ahead and buy it. I was super stoked to be getting such a deal!

I was at the house I grew up in. For some reason my boss was running his business out of there. We were about to have a client come whose son was just embodiment of plain awful. I was whining about it, but then my boss said, “Yeah, I’m going to kill him.” I stared. “I’m going to do restorative and then give him too much anesthesia.” I couldn’t believe my ears. The kid was terrible, indeed, but to risk his life and license like that was just crazy to me, not to mention playing God. I was just speechless and horrified. I wandered around the house trying to decide what to do. At one point, I looked out the back door at the deck and saw a swarm of large bees/hornets swirling around there, a clear massive queen in the middle of it all. Fresh air was out of the question it seemed. I returned up the stairs and asked my boss softly if he would risk his entire life for this act on this kid. He just shrugged, a hard look on his face. There was no changing his mind. I was really stressed out. Soon, the patient arrived with his mom who was one of my patients. I met them downstairs and spoke genially with them. While they awaited for their appointment, I entertained them with small talk and questions. The son had run off somewhere, so I took the opportunity to ask mom about him. She complained on and on about how impossible his behavior was and how taking care of him severely interrupted her life, but it was clear she loved him. I decided that she was indeed a large part of his issues, but I tried to recommend solutions perhaps like a good daycare. She just laughed while watching him mess with the office’s things. He came to stand at her side and she explained that she’d tried everything. At the last daycare, he’d picked up an entire elliptical and lobbed it at a caretaker. They both laughed about it and I began to understand why my boss was so adamant about ending the kid’s life. He was so unbridled he might end up a serial killer. It was their turn so mom went to talk to my boss who explained the different restorations to her. It sounded like he was selling her on the idea of a crown. I distracted the boy, running and hiding, talking to him and such. He just seemed like a boisterous kid, but this was within the realm of our office, not out of it. I led him up the stairs and he lay down on the bed in the master bedroom. My boss prepared the anesthesia and I saw the determination in him. It was really happening. I couldn’t watch anymore.

I excused myself to the bathroom. I needed to pee anyways. The first thing I noticed was that the kid, no doubt, had punched a hole in the side of the bathtub and pulled some sort of cable out. That made me angry that he would just destroy someone else’s property without regard for anything. I got down and looked in the hole which gave an interesting glimpse into the underside of the tub. Someone had managed to tile over an wall plug, trapping the plugged in cord under it. Wow. Turning my attention back to the toilet task, I reeled back in disgust! It was totally revolting! A brownish liquid pooled around the entire surface of the old-school toilet which was sitting atop drainage grates. The seat was completely loose and I was revolted to even touch anything. Agh!

Just then, I heard wailing. I left the bathroom, my heart heavy. It was done. I didn’t see the body anywhere, but I did see my boss tearing up the floor in the walk-in closet while trying to pretend he was remorseful. I feigned surprise, asking what was going on. The mom was crying, telling me that her son couldn’t tolerate the anesthesia and asked if it was common. I had walked by behind my boss and saw that the under the floorboards was a chasm into nothingness. I assumed that he’d tossed the body in there but how he’d managed to convince the mom to do that, I don’t know. I began to explain to her that it’s common, but it’s not uncommon either and then launched into a story about how one time I almost died that way too. Everything I said came out too cheerful, too fake, but she seemed to be eating it all up. I wanted badly to ask about why no one had called the cops yet or done CPR, both unforgiving of my boss, but placing the blame on the overall stupidity of the mother for getting her child into this mess, too. She told me that the authorities wouldn’t have been able to do anything about the death either, and that’s when I sensed that her tears weren’t truly genuine. She, too, had gotten over the initial shock of losing her son, and was now trying not to show how good it was not have to deal with him anymore. I disgusted by everyone and everything in that house and wanted nothing but to get out. I rushed down to the back door and saw that the swarm had quieted down. Unfortunately, the queen was still hovering, and her workers were now crawling all over the deck floor. How could I escape??

Patient

I was at work. The office was huge and crazy with too many people. I was late, but frustratingly scrambling to prepare. My patient appeared before I was ready. I didn’t spare them  much of a glance, but just kept preparing, telling them to go ahead and make themselves comfortable. When I turned around to address them properly, I saw that it was one of my favorite older patients. This time she was with her 2 adult daughters whom I’d never met. They’d helped seat her on the reclining lawn chair in my room. I was delighted and talked while STILL preparing instruments, music and such around all the clutter on the counter of the room. All the while, there was playful music sounding in the office. That’s when all of the sudden, the daughters decided that their mom should sit in a different chair with a cushion. I said I was okay with whatever they felt most comfortable with, though inside, I kept trying to decide how I’d best do this, as my small wooden stool would not be usable without a reclining unit. I figured that I’d just stand up and do it as she was elderly anyways. That’s when I got a good look at my patient and suddenly remembered that she shouldn’t be able to be there. I turned around to look at my doctor who was next door doing an exam and I asked with my eyes how it was possible for my patient to be here. My doctor just nodded knowingly and whispered that she’d explain to me later. I turned back around and really looked at my patient. She was happy, smiling, energetic, and talking to her daughters, but her skin was a grayish pale. Her usual makeup was there, but overshadowed by her pallor. She was genuinely happy to see me and while I was too, I knew she was dead. Still extremely behind, I picked up my instruments and started working in her mouth, but unlike in her life, she had every single one of her teeth and they looked great.

Other stuff I can’t remember, like stepping on top of an elevator car, something about cardboard boxes, a large room with large beasts or monsters.