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Fermius Firefly

A Dream Log, whenever I remember the dreams I've had.

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Location: San Marcos, United States

Fermius is a pen name drawn from a series of short fiction I wrote when I published the small press magazine Stellanova (on paper.) I play RPG games to escape from my daily grind as a technology wage slave for the state of California. I eat out a lot in order to do my part in supporting our increasingly service level economy. I am butler to 2 feline masters. If you ask them they will tell you I'm not very good at it, late with dinner, don't have enough hands with brushes in them, and sometimes I even lock them out of their office.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Childhood Home, Native Reality

              Housing market is horrible, so I went back to Virginia to the two story house my parents had built when I was six years old. The house was empty, having been abandoned by its previous owner. I looked around, enjoyed the fact that the floor tiles were still the same in my old bedroom, marveled at how small the windows and staircase looked now, and how narrow the bedroom was. I went out into the front yard and looked at the over thirty year old dogwoods in the front yard.
              “My grandfather planted those in the spring of the year before we left. I'm surprised they haven't destroyed the driveway.”
              “The driveway was replaced a few years ago, it floats above the roots now,” the realtor explained. “There is a problem with this house, though, it has been in a fire.”
              “I know about that, it happened a year or two after we moved out.”
              “No, more recently than that. A neighbor here doesn't like the house and wants it torn down.”
              “Why is that?”
              “It blocks his view of the the forest.”
              I looked around. Where there was once a forest at the end of the block of the cross street, the road now continued into more housing.
              “We need to go talk to the neighbor, I don't think there's a forest to be seen.”
              So, I went and talked to the neighbor about the long missing forest. The neighbor had lived in the house behind us for several years, and hadn't actually been out of the house in all that time. Turns out they had lived in the house as children, right about the time we lived there. The person was still upset that the trees had been cut down to build our house.
              “I see. You realize that was over forty years ago?”
              They didn't seem to believe me.
              I went back to my old house and took a deeper look at it. There was an unfinished solar tube installation in the attic room. I found the round glass ball like lens and mounted it in the open tube at the top of the roof. The attic was much lighter for it. I'd never been in the attic when we lived there, and didn't know that there was so much space. There was even a set of small paned windows that looked out over the pink and white dogwood trees.
              The roof joists and floor beams were in terrible shape, however, rotted almost to a paper like consistency. It was only a matter of time before the whole place collapsed, and a short time rather than a long time, I thought.
              I made my way downstairs to the kitchen. The realtor was attempting to salvage the refrigerator, which was a large over under model finished in forest green shag carpeting. It had two large googly eyes (about three inches across) glued to the front of the top door. The black plastic eyeballs rolled under their clear plastic frame as the fridge tipped left and right.
              “Let's at least get this outside before the explosion takes the place out.”
              “What explosion?” I asked.
              “You just set the demolition collector above the horn. When it's fully charged a blast of flame will fill up the kitchen here and blow through the front, causing the whole place to come down.”
              “What?” I ran upstairs, winded by the time I climbed into the attic. Sure enough, there was a large funnel like horn under the solar tube, and the glass lens was growing brighter by the moment.
              “Get out of there before it goes off!” I heard a shout from below.
              “I don't think we have to demolish the whole thing!”
              “Too late now. Your neighbor is paying for it!”
              “My neighbor?”
              “Yes, you set the collector in place, so now it's your property.”
              I couldn't see the logic in that and was rushing to get out of the house.
              As I ran out the front door there was a loud “Whoosh!” from above me and I felt a blast of heat push me gently out onto the front lawn.
              The whole house collapsed in on itself behind me. I helped the realtor wrestle the green shag refrigerator to the end of the driveway.
              She looked at my little Honda Insight. “I don't think this will fit.”
              “I wasn't planning on buying a fridge.”
              “Oh, it comes with the house, no charge.”
              I looked at the burning pile of rubble that had been my childhood home. I was hoping it wouldn't catch the trees on fire.
              “Well, your neighbor is paying for the new house, so you are in luck.”
              “How so?”
              “The lot alone is only worth about thirty k more than your down payment. Less if you want to just buy it outright.”
              I did a quick calculation and I could easily afford it. “Okay, but where am I going to live in the mean time?”
              “You can stay at my house.”
              That caught me completely by surprise. I could tell, though, that she was far more interested in the refrigerator than myself. I could live with that. I figured I could give her the fridge as a going away present when my house was completed.

              I had another dream this morning, but all I recall is three highly decorated staves. Feathers, beads, silk and other rich fabric wrapped poles in a single umbrella stand. I also remember talking to a white haired native American fellow, but the only thing I remember saying is “This is a highly dubious reality.”

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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Road Trip, Detour.

        I dreamed N and I were tooling along the 215 when we came to a closed section. The detour took us out of the cone zone and onto a section of roadway that neither of us recognized. It was wide and smooth. (No washboard!) After wed driven a few miles, we realized we were the only vehicle on the road in either direction. I started looking for an exit, as I suspected that we missed our detour sign and were now really lost.

        After a couple of more miles, we noticed that the desert foliage was becoming thicker, and the purple leaves and very orange blossoms didnt really look very earth-like. Soon we found ourselves at an exit, which I took.

        Ours was the only wheeled vehicle on the road of the small town. Some floated on cushions of air, some rode on legs and some on tracks. The traffic signals were a single instrument that hung in the center of each intersection. Fortunately I was well behind a line of vehicles and we were able to figure out what the symbols meant. I was looking for something that would be a service station, in hopes of finding some directions, though I suspected the directions we needed would not be available.

        Nan was glad wed stopped for gas and groceries earlier. At least its not all pink, she observed.

Ad astra per technica,

FF

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Spare Parts in Space, Game Convention Costume

              Spare Parts in Space, Game Convention Costume

              I dreamed that I was testing my MMORPG Spare Parts. The test scenario was that of investigation and settlement of a large orbital station. The satellite had appeared in orbit, and had broadcast an invitation to the peoples of the world. Respondents were beamed up into an Avatar which then undertook to shape the new resource as they choose.
              Essentially the player is playing a person who is in charge of an avatar on the large satellite parked in orbit around our world. The character safely controls a biological construct which, after their first, they design the balance of physical and mysterious attributes.
              In the dream I was running the game with several others, we were testing a GM generated quest line, to find a combination water and chi resource, clear the native hostiles and then secure it for a time against any other player operated avatars seeking to claim the resource as their own. The clear and hold action would result in the expenditure of many character points to create defensible towns along the length of the resource that would keep the chi draw to a minimum. We were being paid by the kill and by the chi that reached the GM's chi forge that served as our base of operations.
              In the dream we'd made our way to the source of the chi stream in our spike of the satellite, and discovered that it originated in another spike, or spoke of the satellite. We were making our way up the spoke, clearing large venomous creatures from the area of the stream, and debating over where to place our first settlement, either inside the spoke, or outside on the spike. We had all ready left several camps on the map to mark our claim and to provide useful foraging and repair services for those who would follow us.
              Visually, we were in a long verdant tunnel with rock structures leading up to the transparent roof of the spike. The evening sky outside revealed more of the satellite's construction, a web of spokes and spikes around a large central hub of stony material with hundreds of antennae and ports of all sizes. We could see space shuttles moving from earth to the satellite's docking arrays, bringing in new controllers.
              The trees and grasses looked much like those of earth, but with a slight twist in the colors and shapes. The creatures, though, instead of being four limbed, tended to have six limbs, and closer to the hub, four limbs and wings. Our little spike, with its avatar labs and docking bay at the narrow end, opened up to a tube that was a couple of miles around. The scale of the satellite was enormous. We could make out, on the perimeter of the structure, domes that were dozens of miles across. Telescopes would reveal some of what was in those domes, but the path to many of them remained to be discovered. Gravity, and thus movement tended to be variable, as full, or even slightly more than full gravity existed only on the equatorial band, the central hub and the poles of the satellite tended to be less gravity and therefore more leaping and flying was the order of the day. Exploration started on the main spokes leading to the equatorial regions, of course, and the spikes leading away from the terraced 10 mile wide shaft that had docking facilities that were still working. I wondered how the water was pumped back up into the more central regions of the world, as evaporation didn't really seem like a suitable mechanism.
              I remember thinking that later players would very much miss out on the whole “Pristine World to Explore” experience, and that bothered me a little. I figured we would have to find a way to open up new worlds to explore on a fairly frequent basis, and try to weight the filling of those worlds towards new and newer players. I explained to my fellow play testers that we might consider that when a player moves to a new world, they take none of their current world resources with them, and in fact have to start over with creating and training a new avatar. This would go a little bit against the concept I had of account experience recycling. (To keep and transfer experience a player permanently retires an avatar and then creates a new avatar with 85% of their previous avatar's experience available at avatar creation.)
              I remember that the combat system used a combination of keys on the left side of the keyboard to select the skill or maneuver used and the number pad or mouse clicks to select the target and direction of the skill use.

              Later, I dreamed I was at a sort of gaming convention where costumes were mandatory. I had managed to sew together some sort of detailed quilted magician's robes. The armor of which was a complex set of folds in four old space blankets. (Blue rip-stop on one side and reflective mylar on the other.) This folded kilt was my “armor” and was supposed, in the rules of the game, to be made of Kevlar and some sort of magic and laser reflecting material. I felt like I was in one of the Wizard of Oz witch's guard's costumes with their wide panniers. I thought the effect was to make my costume look barely a cut above the cardboard armor some of the other folks were wearing. I desperately wanted to lose the armored kilt, as it really covered up way too much of my quilting and appliqué work.
              About the time I was thinking of ditching those elements with the explanation that they were under the robes, someone approached with more space blankets and asked if I would play the arch Wizard, and could I fold these up and add them as neck and shoulder armor to my costume.
              “I'll look like a Piggly Wiggly after Katrina.”
              I really wished I taken the time to make the shoulder armor and high collar I'd intended.
              I got to folding and managed to come up with something that worked. I went with the GM to a staging area to learn my lines and my “new” spell abilities for the scene. Since I was really just a participant, I had no idea what my “old” spell abilities were. Explaining this got me no where, and eventually a gopher showed up with a staff badge to replace my participant badge.
              “See, now you're official,” the game master beamed a huge grin at me. When we started rehearsing, I realized that two of the other actors were former students, R and her boyfriend K. There were great huge hugs, after we figured out how to move around the stupid space blankets. The couple were more excited than I was about my playing the role.
              “I bet they don't even know you can act, they just picked you for the costume.”
              “We'll see, they might still be right. Melodrama isn't really my forte, you know.”
              “You're going to be great! Daddy.” R hugged me again.
              “Daddy?”
              “Yep, I play your estranged daughter, come back to try to save you from your evil ways.”
              “I prefer to think of them as, pragmatic,” I said in my most imperious voice, then gave an evil cackle. “And watch the armor, it's dry clean only.”
              Everyone around us broke up, laughing.
              “This is going to be the best ever.”
              “Yeah, if you can't kill 'em with magic missiles, kill 'em with laughter.”

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Arg! I Got Nothing!

No, really. I've got an ear infection (10 days or more now) that is making sleep -- odd. I know I dream, but I usually wake when turning onto the sore ear, and then it all goes away before I can lock it in.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Fruit Roll Ups

        Last night I dreamed S and I had set up camp in a clearing near the top of a hill. Unfortunately the only thing we had to eat was fruit roll ups. The grape ones.

        At least we can burn the wrappers for heat. I looked at the paper and tossed it into the Sterno can.

        You always were an optimist, werent you? S poked me with a stick.

        Hey!

        I just wanted to go to sleep. I dont know why, but I was pretty sure there would be eggs to eat in the morning.

Ad astra per technica,

FF

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

New House

        I dreamed that N and I bought a new house, with a pool, and a recreation room/library on the second floor. N swore she wouldnt ever go up there, so Id better plan on keeping it clean all by myself.

        The one visually interesting aspect of the home was that it was fully paneled below a dark colored chair rail, and had gold and black floral wallpaper, in every room but the bathrooms.

Ad astra per technica,

FF

Friday, February 06, 2009

60th Party, Ice Age 2012

        I dreamed we were celebrating Dinkys 60th birthday party, with a pool party. We were at an indoor black bottom pool. D was with her new boyfriend Steve a guy in his late 50s that I didnt recognize. D looked pretty good for a 60 year old. D and N were comparing the grey in their hair, they were both curly salt and pepper with white streaks at the temples.

        Steve commented that they looked more like sisters than D and I looked like siblings.  N would have been 72 in the dream, but she looked pretty much like she does now, only with more frown lines.

        In a later dream I found myself in some sort of harness pulling a sled across an icy rough landscape. Little John and the ancient T-Rex were bundled up in a fur covered bucket on top of the sled. Every so often I would look back and see one or the other of them poke their head out for a split second to check on my progress. When they popped back into the bundle the opening would close on top of them. I remember thinking that was a good thing, they might have a chance of avoiding frostbite. I didnt think this was a good environment for cats, but needed to get them to the new shelter where they could be warm. It had become too difficult to insulate and heat the house. These were the last two cats I had to move, and I had a load of bedding and books on the sled beneath them to deliver as well.

        We had teamed up with several of our friends to make an igloo village, and had included an ice block cat run in the plans. We didnt have real furs to line the run with, though, so used wool blankets stuffed with straw to keep the water from dripping all over the cats. There was a central igloo large enough for us to stand in, and wed managed to get some real furs to use to cover the seats so we would be warm. There was a small electric heater in each of our rooms as well as emergency oil lamps and camp stoves. The cats were all staying very close and cozy. We had a large locker full of food, including about 800 pounds of cat kibble. (About 20 weeks’ worth.) Vons was still open, so we were also getting fresh vegetables for now, even though the trip was getting to be more difficult as the days progressed. None of our cars were capable of navigating the blocks of ice and snow that had replaced the local roads after the last ice storms had blown through.

        There were lots of global warming jokes from R and S, but they didnt really seem to cheer anyone up.

Ad astra per technica,

FF

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Doctor Who, Spoor Excuse

        I dreamed I was aboard the TARDIS, and we were heading into a plague infested future. Large green spoor balls with tails of long slimy webbing were the source of the infection. We were trying to find a hidden and spoor ball free area to land.

        I was watching out the front door, as the TARDIS, for some reason, was unable to sense the spoor balls, even though we could see them clearly enough.

        They have some sort of temporal damping effect.

        You mean a cloaking device.

        Something like that, yes

        We found a large steel bridge that was under construction, it had a partially complete lower section. The bridge had a sort of S bend to it and we decided to try inside. It looked pretty clean, but as we rounded the first turn I quickly pulled the door shut, as wed almost run directly into one of the spore balls (they were about four foot around, and covered with three inch dimples like a golf ball.) I told the Doctor to keep the inner doors closed, as I wasnt sure if wed closed in time, Id seen some of the dimples explode as we got near.

        The other companions, Donna, and another woman I dont recognize, begged to let me in. The Doctor agreed with me, though, I might have been infected and we just couldnt take the chance.

        Too bad this doesnt open up on a clean room, or an infirmary.

        Wait a moment, what did you say there?

        Open up on a clean room or an infirmary.

        Thats it, underground clean room. Theres an abandoned one under the Chatsworth Hills. The Doctor spun some controls and we were off.

        Youre just going to drop him off underground! one of the women shouted.

        Only until were sure hes not infected.

        And if he is?

        Well figure something out. I am a Doctor.

       

Ad astra per technica,

FF