Michelle Kwan Goes to a Consignment Shop

A while ago, I blogged a dream involving the Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir. I've had a recent dream featuring another Olympic skater.

In the dream, I was running a consignment store in some dark shopping mall. It was crammed full of clothes, books, toys, small furniture, and other odds and ends. One evening, I was sorting clothing on a worktable when an Asian-American woman wearing casual clothes that managed to look expensive came into the store. After glancing around the store, she headed in my direction. I recognized her as Michelle Kwan, the legendary Olympic figure skater from the 1990s.

Trying not to gawk at her, I asked brightly, "Hello, how can I help you?"

She said, "Do you take vintage items?"

"Yes, we do. What do you have in mind?"

"Here." Michelle removed an item from the shopping bag she was carrying and handed it to me. It turned out to be a vintage transistor radio from the 1950s, the size of a small hardcover book, in white plastic with turquoise accents. It appeared to be in relatively good condition despite mild yellowing on the white plastic.

"Whoa, this is definitely worth some money. How'd you come across it?"

"It was in the family for a while. And it's supposed to work, too."

"Wonderful! What would you like to do with this -- sell, consign, or trade?"

Michelle looked around the store and said, "Actually, I could use a new work outfit."

Shortly after we pawed through the racks of clothing, Michelle was decked out in a white ruffled blouse and a charcoal gray pencil skirt, which looked a bit schoolmarmish.

I said, "Hmm, it needs something more, to add some oomph."

"Yeah," Michelle agreed.

"Wait, I have an idea. One moment, please." I darted deep into one of the aisles of clothes, found what I was looking for, and returned to Michelle.

Now, she had a loose silk jacket draped over her shoulders. It was white with a black-and-white print of oversized old-timey Chinese coins.

"Now, you look much better," I told her. "And these coins should bring you good luck."

Granted, this dream isn't as exciting as the one where Johnny Wei becomes a hairdresser. But it's cute, and I blogged it here so that some other skating fan might get a kick out of it.

Backward-Facing TV

 One night I dreamed I was in an old aiport that had been converted into a shopping mall, with gates and waiting rooms converted to shops and restaurants. Many of these businesses have wide windows looking out onto what would have been the tarmac but now converted to parkling lots for shoppers. This makes the mall quite bright and open, a rather pleasant place to visit. Anyway, I was strolling down the concourse when i spotted a college-age man waling ahead of me. sporting a futuristic-looking white backpack. A smallish flat-screen TV was affixed to the backpack, so anyone walking behind him could watch TVCurrently, the TV was running a cartoon featuring a sacrastic-looking blue rabbit named Bopper. (Not sure if this show exists in real life.) No idea why this man is walking around with a TV he can't see -- perhaps he was an art student doing some weird art experiment.

Anyway, this could be a great marketing venture, having people run ads on their acks for other people to watch -- like the 21st century version of the sandwich man. If you're in marketing and you like this idea, go ahead and take it -- I won't charge you for it.

A Very Square Building and a Japanese Lady

 This isn't the most exciting or craziest dream I've had, but I want to write this down because it's kind of cool in its own way. My husband I were visiting a city somwhere, and we wandered into a wide midrise building. I don't know if was an office building, a hotel or even a dormitory. But, its interiror was certainly unique -- it turned out to be a series of atriums, wall-to-wall skylights and walls of dusty-yellow brick walls with square windows. In fact, each wall looked the same with several rows of evenly spaced windows and passageways at the bottom. In fact, just about every aspect of the building was square -- the entire walls were square, the perimeters of the atriums were square, and the skylights each had 9 perfect square of glass, and so on. It was almost as if we were in a building made of large Lego bricks.

It was early evening, so the skylights glowed violet-blue in every atrium we visited. The atriums were empty except for concrete benches, large planters of fake plants and black chest-high lamps casting warm light onto the ground, like at a shopping mall.Though we would see light in a handful of windows, we did not encounter anyone else, not even cleaning staff.

Eventually, we encountered one living soul in one of the atriums -- a woman, who looked Japanese with her black hair pinned up in an elaborate up-do, had set out a section of the courtyard as a sort of studio space. It featured bolts of fabrics in rich jewel colors, a cluster of chairs and stools, and various kinds of tools. It looked like she specialized in upholstery, and currently, she worked on applying a beautiful striped fabric of vibrant purple, black and hold to the seat of a dark wood dining chair. She had a white string of many knots, each tied at an equal interval, wich she stretched across the seat at various angles, as if taking measurements. I asked her what it was for. She smiled and explained it's a measuring string, like the kind that seamstresses used in old times. Why not a measuring tape, I asked.

She answered, "Well, it's true that measuring tapes are more precise, but this string is more organic."

I didn't understand what she meant, but the chair did look like it was done professionally and not sloppy, so I guess I can't argue with the results.

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Secret Smiles on TV

 Last night, I dreamed I was in the kitchen of an apartment I'd never seen in real life, though it did seem upscale with graninte counters and expensive-looking white cabinets. I was preparing a dish for dinner. I was cutting up an endive and trying to remember what the recipe was supposed to be. Soy sauce, sesmale oil, what else? Maybe I should look it up in a cookbook that I'd left in my bedroom. So, I padded down a hallway painted dove graywith white trims and plush carpet in matching shade of gray, to the bedroom.

I entered the bedroom and realized with disdain that I'd left the TV in the room on by accident. Right now, the TV was showing two college-age women, one White woman with wavy brown hair and freckles, and a Black woman with a gyspy-style scarf tied over her hair. The White woman leaned close to the Black woman as if about to share a secret, and asked, "Are you...?"

The Black woman nodded her head with a shy smile.

Both the women hunched up their shoulders, grinning at each other. clearly sharing the secret, whatever it was.

I have no idea what that was all about, but that part on the TV stuck in my head for some reason. Mabye the White woman wasking the other if she's seeing someone or if she's pregnant, or if she is LGBTQ. Or something out there, like if she's from another dimension. Or soemthing really mundane like if she was one with her homework Feel free to speculate. (And in case you're asking I don't know if I found that cookbook or finished the dish.)