Cult Classic

I had two different dreams about being in a cult.

I walked into an old house with me ex. I am not sure why we were at the house, I think it appeared to be some sort of boutique. We were invited to sit down at a big table with 4 other people. We were all chatting when I started to get a really weird feeling. Something just felt off about the people. They were dressed like they were on soap operas from the 70's. One of the women had big poofy blonde hair and was wearing all purple. I started to feel like I wanted to leave so I went to the door and called my mom. The people were not happy that I wanted to leave so I waited for my mom to get there. My mom and sister arrive and somehow I was able to leave, but my ex wanted to stay. He said "I'll be out in 2 minutes, it will be really quick." As we were leaving there were protesters outside the house, teenagers wearing all black with black eye makeup. They were yelling, "It's a fucking cult!" and holding signs. My mom, sister and I got in the car and started to drive away, but I said we couldn't go far because we needed to pick up my ex. We decided to drive around the block and we'd quick pick him up as we passed the house again. As we were driving we say my ex running. I couldn't tell if he was looking for us or just running. He was acting really strange, though. He would stop and kind of twirl and move around like maybe he was dancing? I kept watching him from the car as my mom was driving farther away from him. He had almost zombie-like dance moves. We drove out of his view and my mom announced that she was almost out of gas. Then the car stopped right before East Wash (in Madison). I was nervous about how close we still were to the house and my ex. We started discussing a plan of how to get gas.
And then I woke up.
When I woke up this morning I remembered both of my dreams really vividly, but now I can't remember if I just blended them into one or forgot the other one completely. But I remember waking up thinking it was really strange I had two different dreams about cults.

I Just Don't Know That Answer

I was in the basement somewhere and I was surrounded by stuffed animals. They were a mix of sea animals and Sponge Bob characters (I know next to nothing about Sponge Bob, but there they were). I was talking to one, and I turned my back to it for a minute. When I looked back at where the animal had been, there was only a stuffed animal shark. And it was alive. Not like a real shark though - it was the stuffed shark, and it was alive - talking and moving.

I asked the shark where the other animal went, to which the shark replied "Well, I just don't know that answer." This puzzled me, so in order to find out, I turned to the pile of sea animals (stuffed) to my right and started throwing them at the shark. One by one, he caught them in his mouth and swallowed them. Starfish, crabs, a lobster, a shrimp (I don't know what this even looked like, but it was included). Then a "dolphin" (who looked exactly like the shark) started lecturing the shark about eating too many small things. With that, they all turned back into non-alive stuffed animals.

Later, I was in somebody's backyard - it looked like a darker version of my parents' backyard when I was growing up. There was a swing set with a treehouse, a "Mr. Miagi Bridge" leading from one end of the yard to the other, and a small grassy area to the right. I was talking to a woman with five or six kids running around her. She would not shut up. As she talked, one of her sons, who was about 3 years old, picked up this giant bird with a long beak. It looked like a toucan but was all brown. I kept trying to interrupt her to tell the other kids to come look at the bird, and then to tell her that she should ask her son to be careful with the bird, but she would not stop talking.

Eventually, the 3 year old started fucking with the bird enough to break its beak - he made it so that the beak could go in and out, becoming longer and shorter. The bird also had a lot of pieces of wood sticking out of its body.

My biggest Fear is Sharks

Scuba Diving among sharks and realizing they are getting feisty; I won't make it to the boat, so I go to the bottom of the ocean because if I am 'grounded' the sharks can't touch me. But they keep circling and I am going to run out of air if I stay here and there's no way I'll make it to the boat before they will get to me and the panic wakes me up.

Almost immediately I fall back asleep and am in the car having decided to go to the airport to use the shower. I go to park in front [which would likely get me arrested in real life] and almost pass by an empty space so I try a tight turn but hit the car next to me into the car next to it. Damage seems minimal so I start to leave but a guy I went to middle school with comes hurrying up to me and I try to ignore him because I figure its about the cars, but he asks, incredulously, "why do you have to make everything about your divorce?"
"I don't, in fact I'm only just beginning to use the words 'K----' and 'ex-wife' in conversation and mostly only with close friends." I am relieved this is not about the cars I hit.
"But I've been watching you [I haven't seen him in 17 years] and your conversations always turn towards it."
"Well," I begin, "let me tell you why the last 8 years of my life were devoted to her in a variety of ways..." then I tell the whole story [which I will not repeat here] which feels like I talk in my dream for half an hour, with other random people arriving and taking interest in my story. I find it interesting, but am releived, that he does not point out the fact I made this conversation about my divorce.
[I wake up depressed and its snowing outside. I lay in bed wondering what part of me is stuck in middle school and is incredulous about my divorce...I hope to get back there and talk more with 'him']

Getting Places

I dreamed that I was with Sarah L. in Chicago and we had to get across town to go see DeVotchKa. We looked up and saw the Eiffel Tower, which meant that we had a long way to go. Sarah started flying. "Can't you just fly me too?" I asked? She did. It was awesome. She did it effortlessly.

Later, I was tricked into going into a warehouse where a man was making a map of where the strippers should walk on stage. They each had their own territories, marked in different color markers. One of my friends tried to escape out this back door but the door slammed shut and I think it's possible that her hand got cut off...

Then there was a basketball game in the warehouse, but I was next to the bleachers, kind of underneath and could only hear - not see - what was going on in the game. There was a teenage girl talking to the point guard on the team. "Let's go to the top of the bleachers so we'll be able to see better," he said, and she followed. "They're not trying to see better," I whispered to nobody in particular. "They're on a date."

I finally got outside the warehouse and Emil picked me up in his blue car. We drove under the L tracks and somehow "by accident" we ended up just having parked the car in a garage. We told the guy working there that we needed it back so we could go see Moby. He was Italian, and friendly, and he got us to the car right away. As we drove, Emil pointed to the dashboard. "Good," he said, "look how many Saturday Night Live episodes downloaded while we were in there! We can watch them on the way home." He pointed his finger towards what I assumed it would be a number, but I looked, and it was the letter R. "Seventeen episodes!" I said. "Not bad!"