Strange Dream

I just remembered a dream I had last night. Very odd.

I was going to Shakira's flat, and while it's true that her flat is in the area that is next to AUC but quickly becomes VERY lower middle class housing within a few blocks, in my dream it was like it turned into an informal housing slum. I remember that the streets were sort of like cobblestone and totally dark and I was almost slipping on the pavement as I walked, thinking about how pitch black it was and how surprising it was that I'd never noticed how close she lived to the brick boxes with no water or electricity that you see so much of on Cairo's margins. I then realized that I'd somehow missed the turnoff to her house and had walked past it into this area, and when I turned around I also realized that I'd been walking in and out of the gutter (which was just a shallow depression along the side of the street -- and not how Cairo is in real life). It wasn't traumatizing or anything, but I did have mounting anxiety about how dark and late it was and how unfamiliar I was with the area.

I went upstairs to her flat and here is where the dream really changes. I visited with someone in real life who does not exist, an African-American guy whose relationship to Shakira I don't really recall. They sat me down at a table (almost like a botth at a diner) and introduced me to someone who I recognized (after a few minutes) as American rapper Dr. Dre (I think that was him). We were all playing it cool and not saying anything about Dre, until for some reason we decided to go to another location and the guy who sat me down and introduced me to Dre sort of asked: "Do you know who he is?" and we laughed about how I'd recognized him but was not making a big deal out of the situation or asking questions, and he and Dre said they appreciated that. It wasn't clear to me if they were lovers or something, but I remember that we were all just sort of happy and easy-going and it was like they were relieved to find another friend (like Shakira) who could be really down to earth and know the secret. It was funny, too, because they told me that when Dre first met up with this guy, they would pretend, when in public in the US, that it was this other guy who was famous (just to distract people) and Dre was his personal assistant, and so he would like shout orders at Dre in public, like: "And I told you I wanted that NOW!" so that people would never think to really look who Dre -- a servant, basically, in the lie -- was, but then he'd have to run up to Dre and whisper: "Wait, what is it that I want?" and Dre would give him direction about how to manage the public and this fake celebrity lifestyle.

A friend of mine from college who, in real life, I'm not in touch with was also there, and we decided to go back to my flat that I was sharing with her. I remember there being some scary moments leaving Shakira's flat in the elevator (which IS true to real life) and that it started rocketing from the top floor to the ground level without stoping and I actually jumped out into the shaft (it's one of these open-shaft elevators, like the old-style wooden ones, so you aren't really trapped at the bottom -- you just open the door to the metal cage and get out), and counted my blessings that I'd escaped that elevator, again (this was totally triggered by my odd experience with it yesterday...I swear to God one day that thing is going to kill someone).

It gets weirder. When I left the flat I was aware that they were watching from the balcony and sort of, like, smiling and commenting about their new friend, and I started doing this thing, which I can only describe as half flying half walking, running (it's like skipping or bounding, but I get more height and distance and can REALLY jump like 20 or 30 meters at a time), and when I realized I was doing it in the dream, to get back to my flat, there was such a familiarity in the movement (like I could control it well and it was just a very familiar way of moving) that I realized that it's something I've done in OTHER dreams! It was also weird because I passed through all kinds of terrain getting back to my flat, including snow.

At some point when I was bounding along back home, Shakira and this college friend appeared in seperate cars and told me that we should drive back and try to pick up cute guys in THEIR cars on the way back. I said ok (!), and got in the car with Shakira, while I remember this college friend sped off in her piece of junk can and Shakira and I sort of laughed and rolled our eyes. There were NO hot people ANYWHERE, and then as soon as I said that comment (and of course in the dream I said it loud enouh or telepathically enough that my college friend could participate in the discussion even though she was in a seperate car off in the distance), this car with two REALLY hot guys appeared, we made contact, and basically did the "follow us" thing and they were all coming back to our flat to hang out.

The dream ended when I got back to the flat and I saw that Shakira and the college friend had left a huge mess with old pizza boxes and things lying around (I remember that the mess wasn't mine, because I'd just cleaned in the morning for the maid to come), and I was like scrambling along with them to try to make the place look presentable while one of the guys was using the bathroom.

That's all I remember!!

Weird, huh?

VC