Coins for Crystals

Date Dreamed: 2014-02-14

Dream

This one is long and wandering, so bear with me. I start out at a class trip in sixth grade. We are staying at a hotel for the night, since it is apparently a multi-day thing. I’m in the basement with a couple of elderly people and find a large amount of change on the floor. I get the idea that I could use the coins to have a poker game with my classmates (I happen to be carrying playing cards). The old man helps me pick up the coins and there is more than enough for poker so I split the money with the man. On my way back to the lobby where all the other kids are hanging out I run into Kirk. I ask if he wants to play poker, but he seems apprehensive. When I tell him that I found a bunch of coins so that nobody has to use their own money he is much more willing to play. In the lobby I try to find more people to join us, but everyone else is busy with their own activities. Later we get on the bus to drive to our next historical site, or whatever our class is touring, and I still want to play poker. Nobody sits next to me on the bus and I don’t have the courage to ask anyone. I figure the bus might be a little too bumpy anyway. Next I’m fighting some evil crystalline aliens (with no transition to speak of). Some giant alien is apparently threatening Earth, and I’m battling him on a floating disc or crystal. I end up pounding him through the floor of the disc with a giant hammer and save the earth. I find the alien’s mother clinging to the broken edge of the disc and drained of all energy after he son’s defeat. I notice she has a bag of gem stones and when I ask her about them she explains that they have little value to her people (being made of crystal and what not). I offer to trader her my coins for the gems, and she jumps at the idea since she finds metal far more precious. Now I’m at a family reunion (huh?). I get the idea that my father once worked for the same company that I did, but this doesn’t make any sense and I struggle trying to figure out which office he would have been at. Then I give the gems to my cousins Brett and Trevor. They use the gems to gamble and make a bunch of money. Trevor meets a woman at the casino and they fall in love. Brett shows up and the woman instantly falls in love with him instead, and Trevor is hurt and mad at his brother. Later, we are eating in a cafeteria and I am obsessing about setting up chairs and trays for everyone. I don’t know how many people will be joining me and there is a policy where you need to stack the chairs and trays that you aren’t using. Eventually I’m joined by Brett, Trevor, Leah, Nick, and a two foot tall amoeba who can sit in a chair (the amoeba was even at the head of the table). Everybody finishes their lunch and leaves except for Nick, who help me put the chairs away. Then we hear that everyone is coming back so we have to place the chairs out again.

Context Explanations

We did have a class trip in sixth grade, but it was just a day trip. I carry a deck of playing cards now, but I didn’t back then. I was a big fan of poker in grade school, specifically five card three-two draw. Sixth grade was the year I moved between schools, hence the lack of friends, but Kirk was in my class and was always nice to me. Brett and Trevor are older cousins of mine and are brothers. Leah was a girl from early grade school, and Nick was from junior high.

Plot Holes

Why are we eating lunch with a giant amoeba? Also, it wasn’t very clear if I just left the alien's mother to fall to her death or not.

Erection?

Meanderingly Yes

Analysis

There is a pretty good mix of books, shows, and video games I’ve experienced in the recent past popping up here. Cutting all that stuff out, we’re left with some loose change, questions about my father’s work history, and setting up cafeteria chairs. The money might be a combination of the fact that I like to carry enough coins to make exact change and also that I recently made a chess set out of coins. I can’t say why I found the money on the floor in the basement of a hotel while elderly people were present. My dad and I went to the same college, but never worked for the same company. I did get a job with an uncle, so I think I just got all of that mixed up in the dream and this confused me as I knew the facts were false. The lunch scene is a little more analyzable. I always get anxious before social gatherings because I can’t be sure of how people will behave. Perfect preparations are hard to accomplish when you can’t even be sure who will show up. Having everything planned and understood ahead of time is just something I always try to do. This anxiety is the reason that I tend to avoid loose social gathers. I prefer things like sports, where you have a set time to arrive and specific actions to perform.

Auguries

I should stay on the lookout for an advantageous trade opportunity, possibly with a woman in need.