Monday, June 4, 2012

Epic Dreams



Last night, I dreamt of a combined Grimm, Minority Report, Matrix, City of Ember inspired future (I’m just throwing out references in hopes that someone will pick up on one of them).  My mind seems tuned to dark, epic, and action-packed dreams which frankly reflect my day to day life (where I of course save the day via awesome adventures).  I only remember fragments of unconnected material, but altogether the dream had an air of adventure and foreboding and all of them were set in this strangely familiar futuristic grunge. 

In the dream, I was at my first day of work in a spacious white and blue glass advertising building with a young vibe.  All the employees were playing around; some were throwing Frisbee disks that were attached to cables that could pull you up the stairs like a zip line while others were standing in clusters joking casually.  Mike had accompanied me in a riding golf cart, but I told him that he should probably scoot home because he might make a bad first impression by wearing a tropical muumuu to work that he thought was hilarious (this part of the dream was inspired by a Portlandia sketch)…

           The following was a deja vu dream that I’ve had once before, only slightly influenced by a passage I read in Oliver Twist last night.  My coworkers and I had been given the recurring assignment to clean and repair the food pulper in the basement of the building.  After finding the camouflaged elevator entrance behind a set of full-length mirrors, we descended into a poorly lit concrete passage (much like an underground sewer) nearly half full with rushing water.  It was our task to re-attach an active wire on the other end of the passage without electrocuting ourselves.  The channel of water was moving much too quickly to swim across, so after some searching, I found a button on the Exit sign that lowered the water level to a manageable knee-height.  After wading across, we had to climb atop a 2-inch wide ledge and pry off the electrical wiring from across the length of the wall, then with the water level rising again, pull it with us above our heads and re-attach it to the other side before being swept away by the current…

            In the same vicinity not three floors up and underneath a mass of leaky pipes and electrical gadgetry, dirty pipe workers crawled about like ants, shouting at each other over the dull roar of ancient greasy machinery.  One such worker descended a crawl space only to encounter a dark and evil figure (I assume was the devil) whom he had previously made a shady deal with.  Unsatisfied by the current results, the dark figure grasped the figure by the throat and lifted him off his feet with one hand.  With the other, he reached through his mouth and pulled (still attached) his whole skeleton out of his body, beginning with the head.  After this conversion took place, the skeleton took his mark at the beginning of a water maze that wound itself through the dismal underbelly and down several stories along the waterway mentioned above.  On the devil’s mark, he began to soar through the water more like a luge racer without a sled than a swimmer.  As he raced along, trying to hit all of floating buoys, he became destraced by the angelic mermaid faces hovering just below the water’s surface.  Diving deep, he extended his hand to touch them, and the once beautiful and beaconing image became fiery and livid.  No sooner had he laid hold on her, he was changed into a blob of melted bone that was doomed to haunt the bottom of the pool forever.  When it was my turn to race, I was battling my cousin Amanda and two others that I new only in my dream as coworkers.  I raced down flat on my back, careful to dodge the murky figures while hitting all of my floating marks, until I won the race!  At the end, I had to dissuade ‘manda from pocketing a sparkly hair clip that felt of evil influence…


           We arrived at street level and looked around at the throbbing city of lights.  The towering skyscrapers and flashing billboards overwhelmed me as the cars rushed past at 100 mile an hour speeds.  One apparent skyscraper stopped in front of us; it was more than just a double-decker bus, but an entire moving motel.  The whole thing was only about 15 feet wide and 20 stories tall.  One could drive into the back while it was moving and the whole level you were on would rotate up so one could sleep in a chamber while traveling to their destination (clever idea brain, thank you very much)… 

Obviously, you can see why I'd prefer to never wake up.  I love that when I go to sleep, it's like I'm turning on an epic movie that I've never seen before but that I feel intricately a part of.  

Friday, June 1, 2012

VEGAS!!!!

        You know what they say, "What happens in Vegas, goes on my blog."  Turns out that whoever "they" are, they speak da truf.  Last weekend for Memorial Day we felt in need of a vacation...so Mike and I packed up our bags and took a spur of the moment trip to the city of lights (and sin, but we'll get into that later).  We got to The Cannery Hotel & Casino late Sunday night, so we just had pizza and chilled in the pool.  It was like 80 degrees out at 9pm.  No big deal.
        We also made a midnight run to the Wal-mart to get tylenol, snacks, and a red box.  So classy (who needs paper view...or is it pay per view?) Oh! And the hotel had the best mattress ever.  I'd bet my life on it...or at least the rest of my sleeping years (which are my favorite years, btw).
Just Drivin' so many miles and lookin' like a thug
"This road goes on for miles! We're out of water!" 
Mike is apparently a serial pizza-eater.  Look at that face...
Why yes. I ate this whole thing.
This is Mike's "I made this hotel" stance
So the next morning we awoke to a mess.  Someone had broken in our  hotel room!  No just kidding.  This is just the daily squalor in which we have grown accustomed to live.

After tidying up a bit, we dined like Kings on awesome breakfast foods (delightfully cooked eggs, blueberry pancakes, the works) and people watched in the Casino.  Vegas would really be an exciting place were it not for all of the depressed expressions on the slot machine players' faces.  Seriously, no one looked as happy as us.  Was that because we had an awesome breakfast?  Or because to us, the coolest thing about "vacation" was a pool and a hotel?  Or because they've lost $200,000 before 10:00am?  We may never know.  
Mike is happy due to pancakes. 


During the day, we tripped out to the outlet stores to buy some inexpensive clothing goods.  We snagged some new clothes for Mike and sunglasses for the both of us to help us "blend in."  It was gorgeous weather all day, and Mike was psyched he wore his "Cougars" shirt; we met a cool LDS couple from Utah who were also vacationing there for the weekend.








When we checked into our next apt, the LVH, we got the 23rd floor; awesome.  Not only did it feel like a 5-star room, but it was so high up you could see the entire city!  I was a little bummed it was so far off the strip, but it meant that we got a really cheap hotel and no road noise (not to mention any skanky stuff.  Most of the couples staying there seemed retired/just old).  
Swank King-sized bed.  Man, we lived in the lap of luxury!
Gorg. view from our window! 
This does not adequately capture the significance of a good bathroom, big tub, etc.
Apparently, it was tradition to slap your dirty shoes on the ceiling beams in the parking garage to leave a semi-permenant mark on Vegas
We had an awesome all-you-can-eat buffet at Treasure Island that afternoon. Brisket.  Pizza.  Salads.  Chinese dishes.  COTTON. CANDY.  Need I say more?





It was fun to tour the hotels up and down the strip that evening.  It's crazy to see all of the people who bring their children on the strip!  I felt like every other minute Mike was like "don't look down," or I was like "don't look up."  We got a system down to where, when they pulled the driving billboard up advertising semi-nude models, I would point in the opposite direction and say, "Hey look! McDonalds!" 

It's also funny the amount of money people fork out in casinos and forum shops.  We learned you can have just as much fun playing "red light green light" and "freeze!" on moving sidewalks and escalators as you can gambling.  And they're free.  

This is the gondola that went underneath the Luxor
This is a beautiful upscale hotel they just built.  Can't remember the name...
Treasure Island.  Mike is a pirate....er...

The Bellagio water show

The Bellagio indoor gardens




M&M world
"Why they have so many choices?"

Mike's mug shot 
My mug shot
Later that night, we took a trip back to Summerlin, a wealthier neighborhood that Mike served in on his mission.  It was really a neat experience to see where he used to live and for him to re-live some of the awesome experiences he had on his mission.  I'm so grateful to have such a keeper! 

Happy Vacationing!