I had a night of very strange, oddly musical dreams. At the beginning, I was living in a large house in the woods with a lot of glass with my family. The family part wouldn�t be notable except that usually in my dreams I�m living alone and I�m actually alone in most of the subsequent scenes.

In the next scene I was visiting the house of 4 nerdy science graduate students (all male) for a party. I didn�t really know any of them very well and I�m not sure why I was there. I got there early and they asked another girl, bimbesque, about testing someone to detect the presence of extra-terrestrial life. It seemed like a lame excuse for a come on, but the bought it. They said they had to turn on soft music and do it in the dark, but she didn�t seem to catch on that this was a cheap ploy, so I said I wanted to watch, thinking I�d be there to keep an eye on these idiots. She could not see anything, although she kept claiming to. But despite skepticism, I could. The aliens were mouse sized and glowed in bright colors, but no one else could see them. But I didn�t find them by sight. I found them by the strange musical sound they emitted. I wouldn�t admit to the nerds that I could see them, but my attitude toward them did change. The party went on afterwards. I crashed on the sofa rather than take the long trip home. It smells like beer.

Next scene. I was attending a book group meeting at my friend Sara�s, but it wasn�t in her real house but in a great glass house by the ocean (yet I interpreted it as being in the city). I don�t remember much about this part, except that I was trying to decide whether to stay the night or trek all the way home even though it was late. I decided to go home.

Next scene. We�re in a crowded city block for some kind of street fest. Musical cacophony and lots of yelling. I run races with AJ and catch sight in the distance of the arrival of my friend R whom I have not seen in several years. (In real life, he�s a longtime good friend, whom I never dated due to one or the other of us always seeing something else, but we always seemed to think about it. He moved across the country several years ago shortly before I got married and we don�t keep in touch so often anymore.) I hope he�ll come say hello, but I lose him in the crowd. I make plans with husband to do some research in NY, which is near enough to take a bus.

Last scene. I�m on the bus to New York with plans to research on music in a Chinese community. I see on the sign on the bus that the first stop is Buena Vista Avenue, which in my dream is somewhere or the far north end of Manhattan. The weather was rainy when I left and I wonder about doing research at the Buena Vista Social Club instead, since it will be closer than driving all the way downtown. The bus plunges into the bottom level of a three-layer tunnel system into the city. We are deep underground. When we come up, it is sunny, but the city is completely flooded. We look out the windows in amazement. We climb a small bridge and stop at the top when we realize water is flowing across it like a river. We get out of the bus and all is quiet except for water noises and the distant sound of a Chinese dizi and erhu (flute and string instrument).

At this point, I was awakened by AJ demanding breakfast.

I got up early to jot down the above before I forgot it all and because I took the time to write it down, I didn�t have time to read the paper. I just read that there was a big flood in Washington Heights yesterday. Kind of weird. No references in the Times to any Chinese music, however.

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