timothy's Journal: Dreams: Two more lucid ones, from 20100426

Several vivid ones, two remain w/ any detail

1) Working in Manhattan. Commuted to work by something between subway and light rail, from within the city someplace. Sara H. and Dana B. worked in the same building, along w/ some other I knew, but names not coming to mind. Dana, Sara and I would say Hi freqently, walk together to / from transit spots, etc. One day, on such a walk in common, Dana and I both leaving the office for something (coffee?) in the afternoon, bump into AQL, who it turns out worked either in the same bldg or nearby. She said Hi when there was no other choice; I made introductions, overall seemed an inoffensive encounter, though it made the bottom drop out of my brain for a bit. That same day, have a similar, less awkward encounter, meeting up by chance w/ Eileen Liu, who I didn't even know was in the city but it turns out was working there as well. Mentioned earlier meeting w AQL, which surprised her as well. I knew that Becky was around, too, which I mentioned to her.

2) Eating w/ some people (mid to late evening) in a slightly fictionalized Seattle: Jake, ScuttleMonkley (Patrick McGarry) and -- weirdly! but it seemed very normal at the time -- J. Moyer. We driving to a place that might be called low-brow haute cuisine (like the sort of places that sell only hamburgers and mac-and-cheese, but very gourmet). In this case, they sold a small menu, specializing in I think chicken, stuffing, and fries, though I'm sure there were also green vegetables like spinach. The food was served, counter service, in cafeteria trays with wells (rather than plates, bowls, etc.), but not ordinary ones: they were translucent plastic, broad ovals rather than rectangles, with deep wells (though more the size of a small platter than typical cafeteria tray). There was a funny trick to ordering there, too -- something about the dessert portion was dependent on how you ordered; if you said some phrase (which was not secret, but not the default setting) you got a double portion of the desserts, and they were reputedly excellent, things like apple crisp and blackberry cobbler. Paper displays in the seating area prompted, something like "Are you getting the Double Dessert?" Again, sort of a gussied-up comfort / fast-food touch. It was somehow related to an optical illusion that relied on the shape of the wells in the serving tray; they *could* serve a half-portion in such a way that it looked like all that was intended, but if you asked for the double portion, they'd happily provide it -- it just didn't *look* anything like doubled, more like a margin-of-error difference in portion size.

Though I was skeptical of the contrived / twee feel of the set-up (seemed very cookie-cutter kitsch -- I don't need an irony supplement in my food), I did actually like the meal we had, and admired the efficiency of the actual operation. The serving tray system and counter-service system -- self-bussing, too -- cut their need for staff, meant less interference with the (rather cramped) dining area, making that small area workable for customers. I meant to but forgot to order the stuffing, but it smelled good. I was going to sample some of Joe's or Patrick's, but the extra bit that one of them had left was raided by the other.

More on the location: this was around where Seattle's Pioneer Square is in real life; slightly south and east of downtown. A sort of arcade mostly of restaurants, wrapping around a small square of grass (Maybe 100 or so feet on a side), in a neighborhood of similar spots; there was auto traffic, but one-way and meandering; the single lane of cars goes slowly, because they're looking for parking, and because there are pedestrians (and because anyone who is *leaving* needs to back out of the angled parking slots into the same lane). The parking is on both sides, though, at least in points, and sometimes it's doubled up (two cars in a long diagonal spot; the 2d car is trapped by the 1st, so I guess this works best if there's a two-car party of diners) who know they'll leave the same time). The whole arcade of restaurants (perhaps some other shops, too, but no homes that I noticed) was full, lots of people strolling around in the pleasant weather, shirt-sleeves and polo shirts. SMall trees interrupt the sidewalk at spots; some of the restaurants (all of which have quite narrow faces to the sidewalk) have a few tables out front as well. There were homes and apartments nearby, but connected by footpaths and conventional streets, rather than the European-feeling narrow car path here. The restaurants were mostly 1-story, perhaps some were two-stories, but there was nothing very tall. Reminded me a bit of the stretch of California street where Mashiko is (in West Seattle); bookstores, for instance, would have fit in well.

Funny thing happened on the way there: in one of the double parking slots on the left, I notice a car (silver sedan, obviously a semi-high-end car; Mercedes? Sebring? Lexus?) with its lights on. I regret not knowing how to reach the owner to tell him his lights are on; Jake immediately looks up the license on a notebook or tablet computer he has along, and says "Ah! It looks like the owner just spent [some exact amount, like "$17.24"] on an entree at a restaurant called [and here he named it]," and showed on-screen an image of his credit-car receipt, along with the menu of the restaurant. From the price, he was able to tell what dish he'd ordered. We contacted the owner (text message? phone?) to let him know about his car.