The Stange Attraction Of The Moon, Pt. 2

Double Dreams Starring William I. Newman, Ph.D

Yesterday morning I had an interesting experience -- two quick dreamlets back to back, separated by a short waking period, starring the same character.

First, I dreamt that my friend William came and started to tell me about the grindingly difficult qualifying exam his students had to sit (he's a professor of astrophysics at UCLA).  To show the awesome amount of work they had to put in, he held up his hand with the thumb and forefinger parted a couple of inches, to show how "thick" the exam was (I guess in my dreams Ph.D students still take pencil-and-paper tests).

Then I woke up, made a brief trip to the bathroom and came back to bed.  I soon fell asleep and dreamt again, and this time I was standing by the long edge of a narrow table or counter when William came in, wearing what looked like a white sailor's cap, sat down on the other side, and silently fixed me with an intense gaze.  I was perplexed and uneasy at first, thought maybe he was trying to weird me out for a joke, but then realized he was drawing me.  I cooperated by keeping the same quarter-profile facing him even as I moved along the edge of the table.

This double appearance of a character in two consecutive dreams reminded me of the time when I nearly woke out of a frustrating dream but through an act of will was able to #go_back_into_the_dream to resolve the situation, and in the process "doubled" myself.

As for William himself, he was an original member of the little group I once organized in the L.A. chapter of Mensa for the purpose of meeting once a month to dine and watch Korean movies together at my downtown flat.  I dignified it with the important-sounding title of "The Korean Cinema Lovers Society", but only for personal reference^.  It was quite a diverse group at first, the membership including, other than Prof. Newman, an IT tech and his librarian wife, an Asian "tiger mom" and her young daughter, an ancient Jewish couple who I thought were married at first, but no, it turned out they were living in sin^ (they still send me holiday cards every year💖), and even a porn producer (it takes brains to produce good porn^;  come to think, my therapy group also included a porn producer, but he made gay porn -- before dying of AIDS).  As time went on the Society gradually petered out, became smaller and smaller, and on several occasions William was the only one to show up^, but we kept it up for quite a while before life matters intervened.

I'm A Sociopath,

apparently.  I once took one of those online personality tests, mostly for a lark, and this is the response I got back:

O.K., not to worry -- it's probably just a gag.  They probably respond with this to everybody who is self-absorbed enough to send away for a personality analysis...^^

But I have to say, at the same time I was just a tad weirded out, because it reminded me of this exchange I once had with an actual diagnosed sociopath, in which I was very positive on her emotional "condition", praising it highly and actually wishing I could be like her.

?

Stairs for persons with very uneven legs, perhaps?  But then, the design leaves out half the population of those who suffer from severe cases of Leg Length Discrepancy.  On top of that, the very same persons who found climbing these steps easy would find it extremely unnerving to descend, and vice versa.

Roasted Sparrows

I remember back when I was a child every now and then my father would set out early in the morning with his air rifle to go bird shooting in the hills and return in the late afternoon with tiny birds hanging from his belt.  It was up to mom and the housekeeper to pluck them, pick out the birdshot and roast them whole, heads and all, for dinner.

I thought they were gross and refused to touch them back then, but now, I think maybe I can.  After all, they are supposed to be very tasty!  Recently I actually suggested a lunch trip to this restaurant in Jongno -- one of the very few remaining establishments in Seoul that still serve roasted whole sparrows -- to a friend, and he turned down the offer, as he thought they were gross.  And since I'd rather not go just by myself, the fate of the plan is currently in an uncertain place.  But really, if France's former President Mitterand could bend the rules, just for himself out of all the République é, to dine on the ortolans -- which are illegal by the way (tiny birds that are just like sparrows, but classier, for some reason) -- for the last feast of his life, I think I can chow down on a plate of these birds, Korea's everyman-version of the hoity-toity French buntings.

They say that when dining on ortolans it's tradition to cover one's head with a napkin, to trap the delicious smell of the meat.  But I know the real reason -- it's to hide one's greed for the dish from God's sight.  Wonder if M. Mitterand covered his head?

*Wealth hath its privileges

Beauty II

A rose, yesterday.

 

Headless Ghost On A Wall

As if mere headlessness weren't scary enough, he was posing dramatically behind those "beheading" cables.

Untitled

 

Related post:  Pigeon Tracks In The Snow

A Bit Eerie

Makes me think of old TV fantasy/SF programs like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.

Just Looking At These Shots

makes me tired.  As I've said before, "Step out the front door in Seoul, and you're either standing on a hillside or looking at one".  It is known that 70 percent of the Korean peninsula consists of mountainous terrain, but sometimes it also feels like 70 percent of the city of Seoul is mountains as well.

Select related posts:  "Feets, Don't Fail Me Now"

                                   Only The Physically Fit

Pigeon With A Cat Silhouette

on its wing

To turn it into a proper "silhouette", I inverted the black and white

Reminded me of this stuffed cat I picked up on one of my prior trips to Seoul

and of course, the maneki neko, like this one found online

Parking Lot Stain

Trying hard not to Rorschach it...

 

Ghost Mask

 

Smeared

 

Like the Cloud God started to make some clouds, then changed his mind and tried to rub them out.

Gonna Roll With It

 

A Stray I Saw Today

admist my "favorite" condemned buildings.

(Click to expand)

More Errant Gloves

Presenting three more recent finds, in grayscale order.

Aha! Caught You!

I was waiting for the light to change at an intersection when I suddenly started to feel vaguely uneasy.  My spidey-sense was tingling, as if I were being spied upon by someone -- or something -- with an intense gaze.

Then...

Big Doodle

An unsuspecting spectator would see it as just a loud, confusing monster doodle.

But of course, I know the truth.

It's an atlas of Hell.  One of infinitely many.

Related post:  My "Phone Doodles"

Snow Day

Today it began snowing early in the afternoon,

so I hiked up the hills behind the apartment and shot the outside and the inside of the pavilion at the top.

After a fortuitous juxtaposition in the past I've come to regard my umbrella as a go-to prop for some photos.

Related post:  Untitled, But Sort Of Fairytle-ish

More Dreamlike Images From Waking Life

 

Feeling Lost And Alone In The City

One More Ghost Of A Staircase

 

"Seen In A Seoul Alley" Continues

"TEQUILA MORTAL"

Errant Comb

A Hello Kitty comb, no less.