Benjamin James Lancaster
Dreams - 2000
January
January 4, 2000. Semi-vivid.
A group of people going back to Evelyn's house in the country. We get there by means of super-smart, multi-coloured cows. But the cows get loose behind Evelyn's house, so we run around and eventually round them up. We inject them with the stuff that makes them smart and coloured, and they start to call other animals to join our group.
January 6, 2000. Very vague.
Walking through a small dull grey apartment that belonged to a family member. I was trying to get up a level, like levels in a video game, but all the levels looked the same. Each floor was pretty much blank dry wall in a haze, and there were always people around.
January 11, 2000
1) Vivid. Arriving home in the summertime with Greg and Gabe. We have at least two cases of beer each, at least, and we hide them in my backyard for the time being. My parents are home and I'm scared that they'll find our beer. Then my mom is getting ready to drive us somewhere and we end up hiding the beer in the back of the van she's driving.
2) Semi-vivid. Luke and I going into a law office applying for an internship. The office is strange and fun on the surface and we are like 'we're in!' There's something being swished around on the floor like oatmeal and we like that fine. The female secretary has the same type of humour that Luke and I do. But there's the feeling that there's something really wrong with the office.
3) Vivid. The lunch gang and myself walking through a park. It is exactly twilight and the park is mostly cement and concrete, like alleyways or streets, but with no buildings. It's almost like a maze. Everyone got separated but we weren't really concerned. I found Karolina and we began dancing in the fog. The we came across the rest of the group, with Jackie and Heather showing up out of the fog last.
4) Vague. Riding the city bus and seeing Jacqueline outside, driving a blue car. I can see her through the windshield and she is driving alone. I knew we were going to the same place and I wonder why she didn't give me a ride. The she gets on the bus and sits with me. A man walks by and punches me in the face and I feel embarrassed.
January 12, 2000. Vague.
Being at a University with Nathaniel. We are looking at a list of students, searching for his brother. We come across someone named Nathaniel K and I ask if that is his brother. He says it isn't but I say I think it is. 'Who else would have your name?'
January 14, 2000. Semi-vivid.
I'm at a golf course in the clubhouse with my mother. We're looking for Jacqueline. The I see Gavin and he has his peace-pipe. I shove the bowl of the peace-pipe in a gas outlet like in the science rooms and break the bowl by accident. Gavin flips out and pulls me outside onto a course and starts wailing on me.
January 20, 2000.
1) Vague. At some family gathering and my sister is Lisa Simpson in woman form.
2) Vague. Part of an army attack on a bunker, I jumped out of the van and, using up my bullets in my gun, work my way behind the bunker. Then, back in my room, one of the army teenagers on the mission wondered if we could be friends, and I said 'sure, why not?'
January 24, 2000. Vague.
My mom had made a play-date for me with Natasha. I was outraged, claiming that I was 17 and didn't need play dates. Besides, I had plans with Trevor to have dinner at Town and Country. Mom drove us there and weird things were happening. The signs kept switching sides of the road and we flew through fields.
January 27, 2000. Vague.
I was in a movie with Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Spacey, Charlie Sheen, and Cameron Diaz was my wife. Everyone changed into blue leotards in an old Shakespearean fashion, and then Cameron and I went to the washroom to rehearse some scenes...
February
February 2, 2000.
1) Vague. At school for the 1st day of semester II, I see Karolina waling down the hall. I follow behind her into a history class and then I surprise her. Heather is sitting at the front with a trick highlighter, and I show her how to use it. But instead of being a pipe, it is a weapon.
2) Semi-vivid. Greg, Jacqueline and I waiting in a shop along a deserted country road. We decide to play tennis the next day, even if it is raining. We drive along the road, it's a very sunny day. We drive past a famous tennis player's home. All these little kids are using the court, but we convince them to let us play.
February 4, 2000. Vivid.
The whole gang is imprisoned in a jail that is really just a house. We have a fair amount of freedom, however there is an aura of unhappiness because we are here against our will. There are repeated escape attempts, and many of us spend days at a time on 'the outside' but we have yet to escape. Anne is on 'the outside' and Don and I go out to see her because it's her birthday.
February 9, 2000. Very vague.
Going through a video game that I've completed before. I'm with my 'team' in the lobby of a castle from which all other levels are accessed, and I tell them which way to go.
February 10, 2000. Semi-vivid.
There are a bunch of kids locked away in the basement of the library. Heather, Jacqueline and I go around to the back to try and free them, but it's barred off. We lower one of the bars to the side, but the main ones are still up. We decide to go into the library and find a way down, but we can't.
February 12, 2000.Very vague.
Fragmented. At a ski resort hiding in the stairwell of this building. Jason M bringing me home and I go skiing on the top of different houses. Seeing a girl against a fence with her mother there beside. Driving in a white stretch limo planting explosives and driving away from police forces.
February 19, 2000. Very vague.
Some sort of festival going on in the summer in Guelph. Uncle Ralph was supervising, walking down the rows of stations set up in the park. Something about him being mad at me for doing something wrong and I went back to the clubhouse.
February 22, 2000. Vague.
I went forward in time through the efforts of a group of peers. I saw myself and I looked like Matt. I didn't want to give myself away so I asked the old me a bunch of small talk questions instead of what I really wanted to know about my future.
February 26, 2000. Semi-vivid.
Leaving Rockwood in the morning after having spent the night there. Instead of getting a ride back with someone, I decide it's a gorgeous day for a walk and set out on foot. I'm going down the highway on some object on wheels like a skateboard, and I'm lucky not to be hit. Then I reach the forest that goes into Guelph, but my parents spoil it by meeting me there and driving me home.
February 27, 2000. Vague.
Taking a trip to some city with my family and Matt's friend. I somehow get separated and wander through the city. The city, though, is futuristic. It is awe-inspiring and I keep wondering why this city alone looks so cool. It's night and everything is in domes. I walk high up, in bubble walkways between skyscrapers of neon purple. Still, I get worried and wish I was home.
February 29, 2000.
1) Semi-vivid. I'm in an airplane with two other people, about to go skydiving. I keep checking with the instructor on how to open my chute and the other people jump on their own. I see them hanging in the sky and, not wanting to be left behind, I run and jump out after them. After I leap everything becomes still and black & white for a moment, and then I plummet. It's amazingly exhilarating and then I see below some telephone wires. The next thing I know I smash down on the ground, without opening my chute. It turns out the plane wasn't very high up at all.
2) Semi-vivid. I'm in chemistry class, beside Jacqueline. She was talking about how her arms and face are pretty hairy for a girl. To make her feel better, I leaped up in from of the class and pretended I was an ape. I squawked and barked and waddled out of the class without saying anything. I then went for a walk around the halls and saw Adam R. He seemed really intimidated by me. Then I walked back into the class, trying to look distinguished as if nothing happened, but I tripped.
3) Semi-vivid. I'm climbing up the stairs to my room and a scorpion attacks me. I get upstairs and the thing goes into my parent's room and into the bed where a girl lays sleeping. The girl then wakes up and I got the impression that she'd been asleep for a long time. She is surrounded by fruit, but I try to tell her not to eat. She does anyway, and then all these full grown scorpions crawl out of the fruit and she screams.
March
March 1, 2000. Semi-vivid.
I'm walking with Brandon through a cemetery towards my cottage. Along the way he drops a piece of trash, saying he'll pick it up on the way back. We step through the foresty cemetery onto the beach and we begin walking past the cottage. I realize that none of the cottages are mine and I fake it by rummaging through a bunch of toys and stuff in front of one as if it were mine. I take a sandmobile (basically a snowmobile) and ask Brandon if he wants to ride back and pick up that piece of trash. He says no, that he wants to go inside.
March 4, 2000. Vague.
Gabe, Laura E and I sitting around in a small house in the country. We get a call from someone far down the street who needs help fixing her bike. We decide to bike down to her. At first it was pitch black, and then it was very sunny. Every time a car would pass us, Laura would smile at the car for a ride. She was wearing a purple shirt with dark blue jeans.
March 5, 2000. Vague.
I am playing the role of a teacher of daffodils, and I get romantically involved with a woman who smokes. I have my own secret daffodil garden, and like in the Simpsons, drums of toxic waste are buried there, making whatever it is on the ground mutated. It turns out to be an old lady who has been horribly mutated into a monster with long, skinny arms and a huge, scorpion-like torso ending in short, stubby legs. All she could do was scream and attack people.
March 6, 2000. Vague.
Playing a hide and seek game at a beautiful cottage by the lake. I'm looking for Jacqueline and Heather and I reach what I think to be the farthest I can look as the path through the trees ends in water. There are some shrubs in the water creating a wall of foliage blocking my view. I'm about to turn back, but then I decide to swim under the bushes. As I'm swimming through the roots and branches, I see Jackie and Heather on a boat that is just leaving a small dock that was hidden by the bush. They're just starting to move away, but I catch them in time and climb aboard.
March 13, 2000. Vague.
There was a blue funk meeting at John's locker when I wanted to see him. Then there was a seedy restaurant in the school and I really wanted to get pork ribs. Some teacher warned me not not to get them because it was full of brains and would make me stupid. I ignored him and got the ribs and they were good.
March 18, 2000. Very vague.
On a boat, travelling around a new-style art building that I wasn't supposed to be at. Then, back on a quiet residential street in autumn. It's Anne's house, and we're on her front lawn. She's describing that her father was angry with her because their boat is broken. Then she shows me old pictures of her folks in this old law-book.
March 19, 2000. Vague
Going into a variety store at night on a deserted country road. Winston was running it and I placed all my items on the counter. When he rang up the price, I realized I couldn't pay for everything, so I told him I'd be back and went out into the night to get money. Anne's house was right across the street and I snooped around outside until I found a key embedded in a tree. I went into her house to look for money and I found Anne still awake in the kitchen, doing her homework.
March 24, 2000. Vague.
At a party with everyone in the play, celebrating the Sears Festival. Dani was making out with everybody and she was getting upset that they were leaving her. Just as John and I were leaving, she gave me a big, open-mouthed kiss on the lips because she hadn't been with me that night at all.
March 26, 2000. Semi-vague.
I followed this girl I was interested in home from Edward Johnson school. Next thing I know, the two of us, along with this makeshift, false family, are wading through water in a narrow sewer system. We can to a place to sleep for the night, with small beds floating on the water, separated by dividers. I crawl into my bed and shine a flashlight over the divider to the girl's bed, flirtingly, and then I announce that I cannot sleep down here, and I get up, wading through the water. I come out upon a big warehouse-style place, with lots of coloured gates and gratings and walkways. It looks like a video game and I realize I'm a player, pitted against against three others. There are also other, non-player enemies running around, and the four main players are different colours who have different coloured guns and clips that go with them. The clips were skinny cylinders, loaded into the bottom of the uzi-like gun. I remember that I was sneaking around quite well, and it was very fun.
March 27, 2000. Vague.
On a trip similar to the Montreal trip with Don and others. We were walking in front of guys who kept talking about getting laid. We got sick of it and ran ahead to Erin and Karolina, commenting that they 'don't always talk about getting laid, right? So let's walk together.' The Don and I exploring some underground mall by ourselves and we go into the huge department store in which all of the items have the same plastic packaging.
March 31, 2000. Very vague.
During and Indiana Jones-like voyage, through crumbling walls covered in rats.
April
April 3, 2000. Vivid.
John and I join this international camp that turns out to be closer to slave labour. We are roomed with with these two Russians who don't speak English. The whole complex is dark and metallic. We see Heather and Jackie and Faye and we tell them that this is a horrible place and they should leave. Faye tells me that a long time ago she saw Lyle Lovitt here and left behind her ticket. It has great sentimental value and she really wants it back. I go looking in this old lady's house but forget where to look. I hide in the bathroom and another lady sees me through the window.
April 5, 2000. Semi-vivid.
Greg, Gabe, myself and an overweight individual are in a futuristic bank in which everything is controlled by cards. We are planning a heist and Gabe lets off an explosive at the one terminal that disables the security. Everyone notices, however, and we have to kill a worker there and get his access card. The we go to another terminal and get more cards. The four of us kept switching between who we are, and Seinfeld characters. Then we enter a back room filled with furniture and cards. Panicking, I grab a couch and smash a window with it, escaping into the outside with my cards. Everyone else flees then too, but we all get caught.
April 6, 2000. Semi-vivid.
Getting ready to do our two Intimate Betrayal performances at GCVI. We're doing them in the gym and it is very nerve-wracking and hectic before the show. When at last it is our time, I grab a soccerball that I need for a scene and start to walk towards the stage. The GCVI soccer team has taken over the stage because I stole their ball. I try to explain to them that I need it for the play. The I realize that the stage is missing because the GCVI kids took it outside and started dismantling it. Graham and I run outside. I try to tell them calmly to stop but they won't listen. So, with Slater's permission, Graham and I take baseball bats outside and start beating on the kids. Some of them were using the rake stage as a sled, and as they slid towards me I whacked the bully in the front as hard as I could. I came across Tim L and he was severly beaten, and Richard E grabbed my leg and started attacking back. I got away from him and continued my onslaught against the GCVI kids.
April 8, 2000.
1) Semi-vague. Matt and Elizabeth needed me to do a job for them and I found this fancy red tie that would look good with my blue suit.
2) Vague. Back stage at an Intimate Betrayal show, looking down these corridors filled with props, and I was looking for something. The during a red cast performance, I was back at the lighting table making noise, and Mike was telling me to be quiet.
April 11, 2000. Semi-vivid.
Greg and Anne and I coming back to some place after being out for the night. We were proud of ourselves for some reason, but people kept coming and bothering us. Greg and Anne's parents kept coming and yelling at us. Then a man came and yelled at me and left, and then he came back because he thought I stole his big red book, but he actually just forgot it. Then this dirty-looking guy came in a car and got out. He yelled at Greg through the window, saying 'your tape sucks' and then he mooned us and ran over a Good Skamaritans tape with his car.
April 17, 2000.
1) Semi-vivid. Rushing around to get dressed for church, I was taking too long to decide what I would wear and dad was getting furious.
2) Semi-vague. Running around outside a beautiful garden. The only thing was that there was a log of bugs. So me and a partner went around catching bugs in a net, but we didn't catch any rare butterflies, like we wanted to.
April 22, 2000. Vague.
Matt was married to Winona Ryder but she was really mean. We all put up with it because she was so gorgeous. We were sitting at a table and I brought out my lava lamp. She said she hated those things and took the lamp and squeezed it like the wax inside. I thought it was pretty mean, but I didn't say anything.
April 26, 2000. Very vague.
Walking back down the Rockwood highway to Guelph. I was coming back from a party and I stopped into some house supply store, looking for Lindsay.
April 27, 2000. Semi-vivid.
Putting on an amateur production at the school that we had never rehearsed. Anne was in the play with me and we were worried that it wouldn't go well. It did go well however, and Anne and I were very happy. Anne gave me a big hug backstage.
April 28, 2000.
1) Vague. I am at a volunteer helping clinic and we are making children's stories. I am instructed by Mrs. Knight to write a story and I choose to write mine with chalk on brown paper as opposed to the other options presented.
2) Vague. In Don's van, playing my Beach Boys CD with everyone's approval.
May
May 1, 2000. Vivid.
Aunt Maria and the family staying together at a resort. Aunt Maria was acting crazy, thrashing around and yelling. Apparently she gets like this sometimes and has to be subdued. She's on a bed, and she looks out and sees a small body lying in the grass. She starts to panic, certain that it is her own son. I go down to check and when I get down, Aunt Maria is collecting a bunch of animals to maim and kill for some reason. Then I'm in a grocery store and my dad is running around and he has the same conditions as well. The police catch him and put him in a cage, but I don't think that's enough, so I kill him and the rest of the family, feeling it was necessary.
May 2, 2000.
1) Semi-vivid. I had just made a mixed tape featuring Third Eye Blind's “Never Let You Go”, followed by a bunch of KORN songs. Darryl, Trevor and I were cruising around in Darryl's van, and I wanted to pop my tape in Trevor's boom box but we needed a thick chord for some reason, and we made a bunch of stops trying to get it.
2) Vague. Panicking before a show because I had to play the par of Jeremy. I scrounged around and got some of Graham's clothes, but when I got on stage, Andy S in his devil costume had take over the part.
May 3, 2000.
1) Vague. Matt and I in a 3D virtual game of the kid's book “Little Blue Ben”, except it was Graham Base in Animalia we were searching for.
2) Semi-vivid. Two baby cribs in my room, one had Matt as a small child in it, and the other was me as an infant. I picked myself up and we started playing and giggling together on my bed. Strange sensation; time travel. Happy feeling though.
May 4, 2000. Semi-vivid.
Seeing Uncle Ralph and the family on the street and they told me I should apply for a job at this animal day care. So a group of us go there, and the old guy who owned it was a bit crazy. John got a job right off the bat as a receptionist. We were being led around on a tour and there was a wait room in there, and I asked Luke what was going on here. The old man made reference to Dave O being a relative of mine, and when I tried to tell him about my University experience, we were interrupted.
May 16, 2000.
1) Vague. I'm in a real-life video game contest, in which the game is Donkey Kong 64, so I think I'll do well. I have to collect the yellow DK coins, and the trail of them underwater takes me to a place that is the hold of a metal castle underwater with just the tops showing, which are hurtful to touch. It sparks a memory of a part of Zelda 64, and I say something like 'ah geeze, it's good to be back.' Then, watching John play this super secret level in Mario, in which he fell down off the bridge onto floating pads of ice as a shortcut, and myself and everyone else watching is amazing.
2) Vague. John's over at my house, and outside the dining room window I see this small, scruffy, light-brown bear. The bear has yellow eyes and teeth and his light fur is wet and sticky and a little spiked up. The bear is crazy and he breaks through the window. Terrified, I run upstairs, turn, and throw an empty glass at his head as he climbs after me. I hit him square on the head, and I remark to John that this bear is scary looking, but harmless.
3) Vague. Our cast and crew at a table at some awards dinner. The lights dim, and two people start swing dancing beside our table. I have no intention of joining, but from behind Sue asks me if I'll dance with her, and I say I will. We start swing dancing, and we're not too bad at it.
May 24, 2000. Vague.
Our gang hanging out beside the school. I had to run in to do some sort of mission, and I tried to run away quickly, but before I could someone shot four tranquilizers into my side. I was stumbling to get inside the school.
May 25, 2000. Vague.
Slater holding auditions for the play next year. We were inside, looking out a window of the auditioners outside. Most of the people auditioning were tech hall jocks, and I was quite surprised.
May 27, 2000.
1) Vague. Being held comfortingly against Lindsay's breast in a social situation. Then I had to go to the washroom in front of everyone, but I was somewhat aroused. I managed to squeeze it out, and I thought 'cool, if they think I'm this big when I go to the washroom, then they must really think I'm huge.'
2) Semi-vivid. Walking through the remains of Streetfest in the middle of the night, eyeing the unmanned items on the street. Then I hear cops behind me and I run into a store and hide behind a bunch of stuff. I see their flashlight creeping along the store, and then I see two pairs of feet walk past. I leap out of the store though a stone arch and onto Ottawa Crescent, where a police car bears down on me from behind.
June
June 3, 2000.
1) Very Vivid. Myself and two other friends are on the roof of a building. Someone called the cops, and we are trapped up there with drugs. We quickly climb down and run through the parking lot behind the building. There are police cars everywhere, and I scale this high fence quickly. I think I'm safe, but then I'm caught and the three of us are taken to jail. We are crammed in a small, dirty yellow cell with a bunk bed. I keep worrying about what my parents are going to do to me. The next day, during our outside exercise time, we hop this one fence and try to escape through the forest. We're caught, but we try the same thing the next day, and we manage to run away from the prison. I feel very excited. It's all through forest, so they have to go out after us on foot. We cross the river and make our way to Eden Mills by the path that winds through the woods. The cops chasing us look at an overhead map of the area, and Eden Mills is in the upper right-hand corner. Just before you reach Eden Mills, there is a big wooden structure beside the path. We ignore it and continue on the path. Then a woman cop, organizing the search, reaches the wooden structure and wastes her time looking through it. We reach Eden Mills, and take the bus to a far away city. We end up in Montreal, in a small, underground bus terminal, but we're still not satisfied. We buy a plane ticket to Hawaii and escape, fully, from jail.
2) Semi-vivid. Matt and I in a futuristic vehicle , looking for where Eden Mills is on the map through a series of highways, against other teams. Once we find it, then we have to team up with someone else and find it again. It is dark and the roads are like a maze in a video game.
June 7, 2000. Very vague.
Greg and others decided to go on stage at a school assembly and pretend not to be able to play their instruments as a comedy act. Lindsay came forward after a while and stated that this wasn't funny. They were embarrassed off the stage. Then I was in the woods with the gang, hanging out and trying to sober up before going home.
June 8, 2000.
1) Vague. Jackie, Heather, Faye and I playing at a big party in the church. We're playing hide and seek and we decide to hide in the small closet just outside the washrooms downstairs.
2) Semi-vivid. Lindsay and I in a big city for a play in which we play cousins. I've been put up in a hotel for the play and we're both trying to find my room. It's difficult because we're drunk. We arrive on the nineteenth floor and enter the room we think is mine. It's filled with people and I start yelling at them. Then I realize my room is really down the hall.
June 11, 2000. Semi-vivid.
Playing pool in the bookshelf before a movie. I try to show Steve Q the pyramid 8-ball trick but it won't work. Instead, we play a couple of games, have a good time, and Heather P says she'll meet me after the movie and I'm to stay put. The Steve and I go into see The Filth and The Fury, but instead of rows of chairs, there's a couple of couches and a carpeted floor to sit on. We miss the very beginning of the film because our last game took longer.
June 12, 2000. Very vivid.
The wedding day in which Don and Anne are getting married. We're in a small structure and everyone else is waiting downstairs for the two of them to get ready. When we all climb upstairs, we realize something is really wrong. Anne and D have just broken up for good and aren't talking to each other. I hear something about another guy, like an affair. It turns out Anne is pregnant with another guy's baby (a male version of Julie Y in fact). This doesn't come as wonderful news, but horrible news. Everyone is asking Anne about it and everyone forgets about Don, who slowly walks downstairs. I go down and he's leaning against a wall with a big bottle of liquor in his hand, weeping. I hold him, and he tells me that he wanted to drink two litres of vodka to forget about what happened, but he's only drinking one, realizing two is too much. Back upstairs, everyone's asking Anne questions like if she's ok with the baby being part Asian, and is she going to keep it. She defensively says 'of course.' Everyone is shocked and uncomfortable, but I give her a big congratulations hug. She's thankful that not everyone is judging her, and I ask when the baby's due. She says 'Dec 23, so it could be a nice Christmas gift.' Everyone knows that must mean it was conceived in March, which means she cheated on Don, but no one addresses it. Everyone's just really uncomfortable. Then Anne and I go looking for some food and I mention how weird it is that we were just joking about Anne eating for two in Laura's van earlier that day, and now she really is. I asked her if she was excited about becoming a mother, and she was very excited. She showed no sympathy or guilt about Don whatsoever. We looked for food and laughed and joked like we always do, but it was different, I had lost respect for her.
June 13, 2000. Vague.
Walking through the Food Basics parking lot, with two friends. I see a car with its door open slightly, so I climb inside and start to ransack the inside. The owners of the car, a couple of big black guys, catch me doing it and I imagine trying to run away from them, but then I realize that I'd be too slow with all the stuff.
June 18, 2000. Vague.
Waking up one morning and preparing for school on one of the last days. John D is there, having slept over, and as I'm gathering my stuff together, he asks me to bring any drugs that I have. I get a bag and quickly put it in my sidebag, not wanting to be caught. Then I arrive at school late because of John and I head to math class, which is a single room outside, with windows for walls. I'm afraid of getting in trouble for being late, but everyone's inside having a party. Anne is standing up, saying something to the class, and I come up and scare her through the glass. Then I enter the room, dancing and having fun, and the whole class begins going crazy. The teacher is a cross between Nathan Lane and Mr. Stains, and I ask him if he likes our behaviour, and if he likes Dave Matthews. He does, so I put it on.
June 20, 2000. Vague.
I rented a bunch of games for N64, and all my friends were hanging out in the food court of the Eaton Centre, taking turns playing the games. I went first, and went inside a virtual fishing world which is the outside of a castle. I got on a horse and could jump higher in the game. There was also a Punch Out! But the classic view didn't work.
June 21, 2000. Semi-vivid. Luke, John and I at Canada's Wonderland on an Intimate Betryal trip. Luke was scared to go on the Bat, but I convinced him and the three of us got separated on different trains. Then Slater was yelling at the owner of the park about legal issues. The man was older and had a sparkly suit.