I had a dream a few nights ago that, like so many of my dreams, was short, weird, and twisted snippets of imagery. Unlike my previous post, I'm hoping that it won't bear any resemblance to a nearly real-life event that happened within my circle of friends.

I remember I was hanging out with a myriad of friends from different stages of my life. High school/college classmates, coworkers, family friends, and so forth. We were just kicking back at a house I apparently owned on a clear, late spring day. The mood was light and casual with laughter abound.

A few of us were on my front porch, which happened to look down a hill, over a few trees, and upon a busy four-lane road. All was well until we heard the wail of emergency sirens and saw flashing lights appear on the horizon come roaring down the road. This convoy had several police cars, firetrucks, ambulances, and a vehicle that appeared to be an oversized pontoon boat on training wheels. It, too, had flashing lights and wailing sirens.

I remember blinking and I was then suddenly in the street in a nondescript a downtown location. Immediate distress and panic overwhelmed me. The thundering echoes of a seven story robot monster shook the urban landscape. This mechanical Godzilla waded through tall buildings, destoying everything in its path. I remember watching it swing at an office building and knocking a man out of his cubicle on an upper floot. This man landed mere feet from me, and he happened to be a classmate of mine.

Last night, I dreamt that I was on an extremely urgent rescue mission. I was to find out what that mission was when I arrived at a predetermined destination. I was running down and empty street in the middle of the night, not a car to be seen. The scenery around me was pure chaos-trees and power lines were down, dilapidated houses were caving in upon themselves, and I could hear loud rumbling explosions in the distance.

As my feet met with the wet pavement, muddy water splashed up on my leg. The muggy air overtook my lungs, so I slowed down to catch my breath. As I leaned over, the pounding of my racing heart drowned out any other sounds. I looked at my feet and noticed and envelope with my name on it.

I picked up the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper with only an address on it. followed by Hurry-go now! I continued running as quickly as my tired legs could carry me, certain that this address would reveal my mission.

As I approached my destination, the four-lane road gave way to tree-lined streets in an upscale neighborhood. As I made my way down the deserted neighborhood, I spotted an opulent home with one dim light shining on the main floot. As I drew closer to it, I discovered it was assigned address.

I jogged across the lawn and began to hear child-like screaming and I immediately knew something was wrong. I saw flames shooting up above the privacy fence in the back lawn. I ran to the fence and began to climb over it when I made a gruesome discovery. A man was setting his children on fire.

I instantly awoke to the sound of my heart beating in my ears.

Last night, I dreamed that I was in a building. This building was once a parking garage, as indicated by the antiquated elevator system, gradually elevating cement floor, exposed pipes, and rails. This building was later converted into office space in which I found myself wandering aimlessly.

I knew I needed to make my way to the top floor of this office building. When i attempted to take the elevator, I discovered it was not only 2' by 2' in area, but it had a toilet in it (gross). I tried taking the stairs, but as I made my way up the walls of the stairwell narrowed until I eventually couldn't pass. I found this rather confusing, especially since there were doors leading to people's offices. I had to wonder just how these people got to work each day.

Last night, I dreamed that I was in the midst of moving out of my apartment. The first things to leave were the fish tanks. They were moved and setup in my new abode, given vacation feeders, and left to fend for themselves and they boyfriend and I spent the next few days moving the rest of our belongings.

The vacation feeder routine was in place for several weeks, as we sorted through old and new items, redecorated, remodeled, and eventually settled into our new home. When all was said and done, I remember looking into the twenty-gallon tank to check on the feeders. The twenty gallon tank is home to my brown and golden algae eaters, and to half-dozen pristella tetras.

In the meantime, my fish family grew while we weren't looking. Upon close examination, I found a bunch of stout, short-bodied fry with sucker mouths, algae eater fins, body coloration and fin markings like those of my pristellas.

You know you've become way too involved in an organization when you start dreaming about a fellow member's demise via an email. I dreamed that a former member of my organization had passed away. I remember that this email was sent to my email group and, even though I had never actually met the person, I was broken. The funny thing is that it felt so real to me that for about a day I wasn't sure if what I had experienced was, in fact, real.

The business district in which I work is getting a gradual facelift due, in part, to an effort to revitalize the area. Although the overall goal of this project is to bring an urban edge to this small, Midwestern shopping Mecca, my dream begged to differ. I dreamt that all of the urbanization plans were thrown out the window in favor of a look and feel that is reminiscent of Old World Sicilian farmer's market meets Diagon Alley and Ivy League Elite.

This one is complements of a good friend of mine, who shall be referred to as kdj699.

KDJ and I were at the new home of the national headquarters of our community service organization. These headquarters are actually located in Tulsa, OK, but in this dream it was somewhere other than Tulsa. We were admiring the architecture and landscaping when His Excellency, Pope John Paul II (JP2), came hobbling by.

JP2 wasn't looking too healthy. He wobbled a bit and then fell. Out of nowhere, the media carnage ensued. Cameras, reporters, people descended upon the property in one fell swoop. The onslaught of media frenzy was maddening, with each camera's harsh click and each reporter's endless stream of over-hyped diatribe. While the pirhanas of journalism fed on their meal, no one bothered to help the good Pope back to his feet. It was really quite sad.