That was another very cool dream. I was over at my friend E's house (whose house I've never been inside), and there was a very large fallout shelter in the back. It was really more like a huge, long, and strange sub-basement with a strange slidelike entrance. The lighting was minimal but floor-upwards, and there was a sign marked "Squirrel Hill Ave" on the entry, making me initially think that it wasn't just private to his house, but perhaps ran under the entire neighborhood -- it really was far too large to be just an accessory to a house that was privately owned. There were rooms with all sorts of strange things in them, and the place felt very clean. The air was really pretty stale though -- initially I had trouble breathing and talking. As always in my dreams, I had a limited ability to fly, so I was able to fly up and peek over walls to see some things he couldn't see. I also though, in pulling open crawlspaces and doors, damaged some of the styrofoam some of the walls were made of, and he asked me to stop doing that. Earlier in the dream, I was having group therapy with both of my parents and my old psychologist (I was, for a time, seeing a psychologist, at Debb's urging), and was talking about my relationship with them with him. He was, I believe, Orthodox and observant, and he was making jokes with my mom about Jesus and the messiah during a break in the conversation. I pronounced the hebrew version of the word messiah, and he said he never learned Hebrew, so I started talking Yiddish to him.

Yes, strange dream. Yesteday night, I dreamed I was going to a circus with an observant Orthodox family, and they were talking about where my (dream) powers came from, god or elsewhere. It was a long conversation.

I don't understand why my dreams have so much of that topic in them. Maybe living in Squirrel Hill is really rubbing off on me. Next thing you know, maybe I'll be wearing my Yarmulke around :) Heh.

So, this weekend I went to visit my parents, and it actually was mostly ok. Decent food, some conversation, etc. I almost got a guitar, but while we were in the store, I decided I wasn't really sure I wanted one. I really might want some other instrument instead, so I'd best wait until I know what I want. Piano? Harp? Perhaps another String Bass.. It was nice playing on my parents piano when I was there.. I think what puts me off about guitars is that the strings are so close together.. matching the hands on the right string to produce the desired notes is a pain.. but I'd probably get used to that if I played around on it enough.. ehh.

I borrowed a lot of music from my parents.. going to take awhile to sort through and find the stuff I want. It's nice having new things to listen to. My parents also gave me a spare couch, leaving me a choice between tossing the old couch (which, thanks to Wally having torn at it a lot, is kind of ragged), or putting them next to each other, allowing me to nicely have a few more guests over. My current living room, with the two desks seperate, is optimized for (optionally 2-person) studying. Hmm. We failed to locate my passport when I was there.. so I guess I'll just apply for a new one. The old one was probably expired anyhow. I apparently just need to visit a post office to handle all the paperwork.

I had a nice, long visit with my Grandparents too. We talked about a lot of things, sat near their lake, and fed the giant catfish my Grandpa put in. It was very pleasant and peaceful. I really like it there. I really like that about their house -- I always feel at peace there. We had dinner at the Macaroni Grill.. Yum. They don't have those around here.

Finally, last night I arrived back in Squirrel Hill around 10:40, heading right to Coffee Tree. There I met up with some friends and talked for awhile. One of the people who works there was being, I thought, a bit strange, suggesting that a brand of tea I don't normally get would be the best Earl Grey I'd ever have. I didn't care too much, and let him go get it out of the cabinet. Much to my surprise, it really was much better than any other Earl Grey I've had in memory, and I was instantly made a fan of the stuff. Later that night, I swung by the supermarket and got several boxes of the stuff. He had gone into some spiel about why it was better -- something about how they used higher quality leaves so they didn't need to use oils to mask the leaf quality issues like other Earl Grey tea did. *shrug* It's quite good, and that's what matters. In case you're curious, it's "Twinnings of London" that makes the stuff.