Dream: The Eclectic Birthday Bus Magic Cher Show

I slept a little later than usual, and woke up after a very convoluted dream.  The narrative was all over the place, and my sense is that the themes and events I can recall blended into each other.

Missing the Arcosanti Bus

I'm not sure when this sequence happened in the dream, but I think it was early on.  I was at Arcosanti.  There was a bus going into Phoenix that I was going to take to the airport.  Even though the driver knew (or should have known) that I was going, the bus left without me.  I was going to miss my plane.  Somehow, this wasn't as upsetting as I thought it would be, and I think I tried getting to the airport -- I have a vague memory of a scene with a ticketing agent, but I don't recall much afterward.

Teaching Singing

I was in a large room, like a school cafeteria or a fair exhibit hall.  There was a bank of tall windows on one side of the room, but it was dark outside.  Shelves and cubbies ran below the window.  Institutional tiles on the floor.  There were a bunch of folks there -- I don't know if they were from the SCA, a Ren Faire, or a choir, but they were all artsy-theatre folks I knew.   The room was dark, the only source of light was from a bunch of candles. 

The group was not very organized, and folks' children running around gave what was supposed to be some sort of choir practice the air of a BBQ or potluck.  They wanted to know one of the old songs they'd used to sing, and I was teaching the soprano (and later the base) part to a song, like "Jog On," or" We Three Kings," or "Gabriel John," or "Good King Wenceslas" or something old-timey.   While we were practicing I heard some china break.  I went over the song again with the choir, which was kind of scattered, but I managed to get enough people singing to go through a verse or two....

...and then we all woke up in the dark.  "Who blew out the candles?" I asked.  I was sort of annoyed as I went around turning on some more lights.  In one of the cubbies, I found the shards of a red and white (?Santa?) mug.  "Oh," I said, kind of disappointed, but also kind of glad because I'd never liked that mug anyway.

Cher

We were in a large mansion owned by Cher.  Cher was a sorceress, in full Theda Bara Cleopatra garb, complete with metal cobra brassier.  It was a nice party, there might have been some dancing, but it was more like a cocktail party.

At one point in the dream, presumably after the party, Cher had rolled up her sleeves (I'm not quite sure what happened to her Theda Bara outfit, because those normally don't have sleeves), and was standing at the kitchen sink as she washed the dishes.  As she pulled dishes out of the initial rinse, if she didn't like the way they looked (like if they'd been chipped or if they were extra dirty), she breathed on them, which transformed them into ice dishes, and she tossed them over her shoulder (where they melted away).

Still later on in the dream (possibly after the events related in the next section), Cher flew in on great big white wings.  She landed, folded her wings behind her, and they swept into her long black hair.   She had a cobra or rattlesnake familiar, I'm not sure if he was a spirit and materialized like a ghost, or if he was a bracelet or tiara that animated, or if he started out as a live snake being worn like a belt or torc.  

In any case, the cobra grew into an animated mosaic path -- Cher stood at the tail's tip.  The snake's head lifted up off of the floor and looked back down its length at Cher and said, "Cinnamon, clove, and a touch of lime / now it is the loving time!"  (It's possible the snake had Vincent Price's voice.)  His head burst into a blue-green flame, and the flame traveled down his body and engulfed it.  Cher levitated into the air, and when the flame reached the snake's tail, it jumped up an engulfed Cher, too.   They both disappeared, and the flame contracted to where Cher had floated before it, too, disappeared.  

Birthday Bus

Mark and I had rented a bus for my birthday (which in real life is in two weeks).  My sense was that we'd rented it from a bus/RV garage in Eugene.  I think I mashed together the RV retailer in Junction City, the (years defunct) Marathon custom bus manufacturers in Coberg, and some random tire place on West 11th Ave.   I think I may have pulled the staff from the Eloy Airport Parachute Drop Zone.   

The weather was sunny and warm, and not December-like at all.  I was driving what was very obviously a Lane Transit District bus.  We would pick various friends and family members up, and party on the bus as we drove to various Birthday Destinations (maybe the party at Cher's house?).  

Near the end of the dream, I was driving and the bus was pretty full of partiers.  It was dark (magic of dream setting), and I had to stop the bus at a crossroad / railway crossing.  The setting was kind of like the Pacific Express Way, or when Harlow Road crosses train tracks to get to Highway 99.  I remember doing a U-turn across the train tracks, stopping the bus, and turning on the hazard blinkers while I got out ?to retrieve or place a fist sized rock from/at the side of the road?

Then it was off to the last destination "at Berttlestein."  (This is a road on the western edge of Eugene, that cuts across 11th).  The setting had turned back into a sunny day.  I was driving ?east on 5th? near the Eugene 5th Street Market when a woman said, "Oh we're here!"

I looked up.  I had overshot Berttleestien (which in the dream was a kind of mall? possibly near the "Oregon Electric Station" restaurant) and the bus was barreling toward the open garage of the bus rental place.  I had gotten up to change the bus's marquee to read "Berttlestein".  I was trying to get back to the driver's seat and hit the breaks, but there was a bar or a seat in my way.  The bus zoomed into its bay (think "Galaxy Quest," only in reverse).   The rental staff were frozen about the bay with horrified looks as the bus careened toward the end of the bay.  I hit the breaks.  The bus was going to smack into right side wall.  I overcompensated on the wheel.  The bus was still going too fast.  The bus was going to smash into a kiosk on the left.  I turned the wheel, but too late -- the driver's side view mirror snagged the kiosk, embedded itself into it, and the whole bus stopped.

Everyone got out.  There may have been events from other sections happening here.  There was some insurance follow-up; I'm not sure how much damage there was to the bus or the rental building.  At first the rental staff boss was furious, but no one died, and I guess people started thinking it was kind of funny.