I normally don't use LJ as a dream journal, but last night I had an extremely odd and vivid dream.

I was in a bar/restaurant, similar but definitely not the same as the one at the hotel we stayed at for Dreamation 2008: all multi-elevation platforms and dark wood. And I had the definite sense that it was in the DC Metro area, not NJ.

For some bizarre reason, there was some sort of reunion of sorts of people from my high school, mostly from my graduating class. I recall seeing Jeff Carpenter, Kenny Lawrence, Dan Wagner, and Rob Sumney (actually haven't seen Rob since our 5 year reunion, but he works with my brother-in-law), as well as Jeff Livolsi (not my year, though he, Scott Adams/placesinmypast, and I hung out together our senior year a lot).

I was sitting on the middle level of this restaurant, at a six-top table, in the center seat facing away from the entrance and toward the bar. Directly across from me was geekchick, to her left (my right), sat Jonathan Coulton (and I had the impression they were on a date).

Suddenly, I feel someone plunk down in the chair to my left, a hand grab the back of my head, and my face being pulled into another face. I hear "Kiss me now!" and do so -- I am nothing but if accomodating. After a very nice but not overlong osculation, lips separate, and I lean back to see who I've just bussed.

It was Piper Nearing.



A pause for context...

---

Piper -- whose name I always dug as a complete line of credible dialogue -- had/has one of the most beautiful faces it's ever been my pleasure to behold. Slanted almond eyes (for the life of me, I can't recall the color, as usual), upturned nose, apple cheeks, smooth and rosy skin, a generous mouth.

She always seemed to be smiling, had a feeling of stability and knowing herself, and a great sense of humor.

I'd always liked her from a bit of a distance starting in grade school; we didn't run in the same circles, but there didn't seem to be any of the high school "caste" issues (jocks/brains/burnouts) happening there. We were just on different sides of the pool, as I recall.

She wasn't one of the girls that I was crazy-infatuated with (as I was wont to do), but was someone I really would have liked to get to know better. (Side thought [1] below.)

We did go out on one date, post-college, after I met her at the mall on afternoon. That ended up being a semi-disaster for a few reasons, but it's probably best to sum them all up under "Chad is a doofus." [Side thought [2].)

We dropped out of contact when I moved down to DC. I've only really thought about her on one or two occasions in the past 13 years, usually when relating the semi-disaster date story.

---

Side Thoughts
[1] I really didn't know many people in HS. Part of this is due to me being a mutant freak black sheep, uncomfortable in my hometown and inexplicable to most of my peers.

[2] Because of being a doofus, and [1], I asked girls out when I wanted to get to know them better. I'm thinking now that at that time, and in that place, that's not the way it works. In junior high and high school, you don't go out with someone to get to know them better, you go out with them because you already know them. This may explain my relative lack of dating luck in HS.

---

Back to the dream...

I say hello to Piper, and introduce her to Cathy and Coulton. I explain to C&C the semi-disaster date, and the four of us laugh. We all chat.

Three things are highly bizarre in this interaction with Piper.
1. The initial kiss. I'm pretty sure we never did in real life; I don't think she liked me in that way.

2. Something Piper Said. During the conversation, she said something along the lines of "I don't read as many books now, since I can't talk to you about them any more." As we didn't really run together in HS, I don't ever remember having such conversations. It struck an odd note, which Cathy reacted to as well.

3. Piper's Demeanor. After her initial happiness and cheer at sitting down with us, and after that statement, Piper grew intensely sad. Morose. Like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Deeply depressed and withdrawn. This was the most vivid, lucid, and real part of the dream. It felt like it was happening. And she wouldn't, or couldn't, tell me what was wrong throughout the rest of the dream, but kept sliding further into a Slough of Despond.

---

After all that, I woke up this morning, and the feeling of "Piper is really sad, for reals, and she's thinking about me (for some reason)" was still there, front and center, in my brain. It's probably crazyhead talk, but it sincerely feels real, and I am both worried and curious.

So I make this post for two reasons:

1. In case Piper Nearing or someone who knows her Googles for her name, with luck this page will pop up in their searchlist. If so, and this gets to her: please drop me an email -- my email addy is on my profile page here -- to let me know that either you're okay or that I'm just crazy. Either would be fine.

2. Assuming this dream is just a dream (and not evidence of my vast, impressive, and minty-fresh mental powers), I'd like folks who go in for that sort of thing to take a crack at interpreting it. Because I'm pretty hornswoggled by it -- by the vividness and oddness of it. (And this is an odd dream for me: I take dreams with monsters, superpowers, dead Presidents, and being transformed into a alphabetic character and getting lost in the maze of sentences on a page in stride. The relative "mundanity" of this dream is NOT NORMAL for my dreams.)

Thank you in advance.

Tags: mental health, mumbo jumbo