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ENTER SANDMAN |  | June, 2007 - With my body hopped up on some incredibly strong vitamins I pick up semi-regularly from Whole Foods, I've been thrust into a vitamin enriched world of insomnia and hyperactivity. With
bedtimes regularly arriving with the rising sun, the few hours of deep sleep I get a day has given way to a series of insanely real and bizarre dreams that I can't quite figure out fully. If you're up for it, take a look at what my subconscious has unveiled to me in the past few days. |
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Here are recaps of two of the dreams that I've had in the past couple of days that have stuck with me beyond the first few minutes of the day when everything still is really vivid: |
THE HIGH SCHOOL DREAM
The dream began in an inauspicious manner - I was in a shopping mall, and I heard familiar voices behind me. As I turned around, I was approached by a girl from college I had a crush on accompanied by her mom. Her mom was delighted to see me, and told me how sweet I was. She then handed me a credit card and a wad of cash, which I instinctively realized was about six months of my income. She then wished us luck and left us to our own devices. Our mission? To find a fitting
gift for my friend's best friend's birthday party.
The dream continued on with a montage of shops and gift ideas, and culminated with me waiting in a department store as my friend tried on dresses. I was extremely cautious about the money in my pocket, and the credit card, which was a combination of a credit/gift card, had a positive balance of ten million dollars on it. Wanting to impress my friend and her mom, I sweated through the hours at the mall by not spending a dime of it. Somehow, I even avoided getting a quick snack from the food court.
We left the mall and my friend kissed me goodnight and wished me luck tomorrow, telling me she was proud of me. I had forgotten, but the next afternoon I would be graduating from high school.
The next day I got ready for my big day. I put on a suit, then the scarlet red gown in my high school colors. When I arrived at the small theater for the ceremony, the scene was a madhouse - a rough crowd of parents ripped straight from a prison riot filled the balcony barely overlooking the stage. Giant scarlet rectangular banners flanked the stage, and I met up with the girl from college. She kissed me, wished me luck, and told me how happy she was we were getting married tomorrow. I had forgotten that
fact as well, and a new level of nervousness weighed down upon my soul.
| When I ran into some graduating classmates, none of which I actually went to high school with, they all ribbed me about graduating first in my class. I pointed out my grades and effort over my past few years and told them there was no way I could graduate on top. They then informed me that all of the other National Honor Society
students were disqualified from graduating, and I was left at the top of the class. |
SIDENOTE -
I never wanted to join the 'elite' group of National Honor Society students, but was forced the night before the application deadline to write an essay explaining why I was worthy and scrambled to get a couple of teacher recommendations on the last day to apply. Somehow, they still thought I was worthy of such a distinguished award. |
Confused by the entire affair, and still left wondering how one could graduate from college before high school, I looked up into the balcony with the empty student section and rowdy parents. It was about this time they were throwing empty bottles of beer around the dimly lit theater. Above the student section was a quote in gold letters fastened to the wall - it read, "All of your efforts are a waste". Although I never actually uttered those words, I realized that was my quote, an honor that comes with graduating top
of your class.
As I made my way to the first seat in the student section, I ran across my mother and my brother. My brother shook my hand and expressed his disbelief in me graduating at the top of the class. My mom, proud and full of tears, hugged me and told me not to do anything embarrassing like at my college graduation, which, in reality, featured me walking across the stage with my pants at my ankles. I explained to my mom that I was wearing pants with a belt this time, and reassured her she wouldn't have to go through that
again.
And as the ceremony started, I was left to ponder the meaning of my now infamous words again and again, as each speaker quoted them in glowing terms over and over. My thoughts then turned to my impending marriage, and just how incredibly random all these events seemed. I soon woke up covered in sweat with my sheet wrapped around my body and one of my pillows on the floor. |
THE BIG APPLE
"Well, it's either New York City or Portland, but either one, there's no going back now." That's how I explained my situation to a stranger at the Port Authority as I picked up a small backpack containing some clothes and my toiletries. I had arrived in the Big Apple at night hungry and broke. I looked for a place to eat, and wandered through darker and dirtier neighborhoods until I found a late all night diner. It was very rough around the edges, with age old grease and grime ground into the
formica tabletops from decades of simultaneous use and neglect. The walls were stained yellow from cigarette smoke, and nobody in the diner was under the age of 55.
My hunger gave way to my need for sleep, and I asked the surly, unattractive and more than creepy waitress where I could get a room for the night. She pointed me to the corner of the bar, where there was a forerunner to the touch screen video games found at today's bars. On the washed out screen filled with cyan doing its best impersonation of cerulean blue was a variety of rooms for rent. They were all located above the diner, and the prices ran the gamut from $71 a month and up. Most of the nicer looking rooms
were not available. When I asked the waitress if a couple were still free, she pointed with a cigarette in her mouth to the dirty blue color workers in plaid flannel shirts and said, "For now."
She escorted me up the water stained concrete stairs past heaps of trash and discarded clothing to the fourth floor. She led me through the maze of hallways and unlocked a door for me. "This is the $71 dollar a month room, can you fit?" The room was a four foot concrete square with an eight foot ceiling, and a single light bulb hung down about three feet from the ceiling. I debated the merits of the $71 room against the next higher priced one, a sweet 4'x8' room that I could lay down in when I slept. I told
her to give me a minute and I walked through the halls. I came across a room with an open door, and I saw a brunette who was cute but had lived a rough life. I asked her how she liked living here, and she closed her mac laptop and told me it was alright, but you have to be careful. Her space seemed huge and well lit, and her walls were painted white.
I asked how she got such a nice space and she said she had a roommate, she has 3/4 of the space, but only charges her $261 a month for 40% of the space. We talked for another minute before I found the waitress and told her I'd take it. I put my backpack down in the corner of the room, and locked the door as I wandered towards the patio.
The patio was a concrete slab with loose railings. The fresh air felt nice, with a crisp cool Autumn breeze blowing through the air. I looked down at the alley the balcony overlooked and saw two men engaged in a gory knife fight. One guy got slashed a few times in the gut and the other took off running. Not knowing what to make of all of this, I once again woke up and started another day in my studio.
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ONGOING AND UPCOMING SHOWS
2008
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11th | Bearded Lady Printing
East Austin | The Bearded Lady vs. the Really White Vigilante
The graphic work of Michael Schliefke and prints of Bearded Lady | |
NOVEMBER | Rio Rita Cafe y Cantina
East Austin | Solo Painting Show
A show of new paintings | |
DECEMBER 3rd - 24th | Blue Genie Art Bazaar
Monarch Events Center | Blue Genie Art Bazaar
creative gifts for the Holiday Season |
2009
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MAY 2009 | Tales of the Really White Vigilante Volume Three
East Austin | Comic Book Release Party
General Malaise helps our young hero past some pitfalls as new developments hit East Austin. | |
NOVEMBER 2009 | Tales of the Really White Vigilante Volume Four
East Austin | Comic Book Release Party
Does the final volume of the tale of the White Vigilante bring about the end of gentrification? |
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