Out and Back

Obsession

I stayed up far too late last night doing research on a building located on Surf Avenue in Coney Island.  It's not a fabulous architectural gem like the Child's building or the Shore Theatre, but I noticed it as I was hunting through books and satellite photos, looking for a visual on a suitable building I could use as a "model" in the work of fiction I've been trying to write since last fall.  My husband agreed that I had found a good specimen of beat-up, run-down, re-muddled Coney Island architecture.  Last night, over whipped-up ice cream at Spill the Beans (a local ice cream parlor/coffee joint not too far from our home) I asked my resident architectural conservation expert all kinds of hypothetical questions about my hypothetical building in the name of research.  Our conversation went something like this:

"Say the building's been abandoned for ten years.  What would be wrong with it?"

"The roof would be leaking, badly," he replied. "And there would be plaster all over the floor.  It would fall from the ceiling wherever the water leaked through."

"Keep going."

"On the third floor, you'd probably be able to see sky through the holes that had started to form, and there would be some pretty serious dry rot in the floor, too.  Especially if the roof sloped down from the front of the building to the back."

"Anything else?"

"Your electric would have been shut off, most likely, and you'd have to get the building back up to code before the utility company would turn it back on for you.  Oh, and there would be pigeon shit everywhere."

"Seagulls," I corrected him.  This was Coney Island we were talking about, after all.

"Maybe, but pigeons, too."

"Sounds like a mess.  Why in hell would someone buy a building like that?"

"You tell me," he replied.

"Oh!" I exclaimed.  "Don't forget the mildew."

Oceanfront property

I had a really vivid series of dreams last night, one of which had me at an oceanside amusement park (that did not in any way, shape, or form resemble Coney Island for those of you who were wondering.)  There was a roller coaster that looked like something Anton Schwarzkopf would have designed.  The track was blue and the cars were decorated to look like sharks... appropriate for a seaside amusement park.  Unlike most Schwarzkopf coasters, which tended to have a relatively compact footprint, this one sprawled all over the park.  I stood under it and watched it go from one end to the other.

When I lived in Allentown, I had a therapist who was really good at dream interpretation.  Although I can argue that my mental state has improved to the point where I no longer need the services of a therapist, sometimes I wish I could send her my dreams to get her take on them.  Instead, I bought a pretty decent dream dictionary last year and have found that, unlike most dream dictionaries, it's been very helpful.  If you're into stuff like dream interpretation, Kelly Sullivan Walden's I Had the Strangest Dream...: The Dreamer's Dictionary for the 21st Century is a good book to add to your collection.  She even tackles the symbolism of dreaming about things like botox and Wal-Mart.  (I'm not kidding.)

Here's Walden's take on some of the symbols from last night's dream:

Amusement Park: Dreams of an amusement park symbolize your connection with your childlike, playful essence and to the joy of being alive.  Perhaps they are a message for you to enjoy your life, even the ups and downs, and highs and lows.

Beach: Dreams of the beach signify your desire for growth, change, and expansion, and that you are on the threshold of understanding your inner mystery.  You are exploring the realm of your sexuality, recognizing your synergy with the tides and cycles.  Dreaming of the beach can also mean that you are coming into great wealth represented by the innumerable grains of sand.

Blue: Dreams of the color blue symbolize clarity, peacefulness, and truth.  A dream of blue may also be drawing attention to an underlying sadness.

Ocean: Because the depths of an ocean are deep and mysterious and the waves are cyclical, dreams of an ocean symbolize sex, sensuality, your unconscious desires, and emotional issues.  You are being exposed to a strange and foreign area of life.  An ocean also represents your vastness, passion, and spirituality.

Roller Coaster: Dreams of a roller coaster symbolize mood swings, feelings of being out of control, and your attitudes about the ups and downs of the cycles of life.  If you are enjoying the tumultuousness of the ride, then you are handling uncertainty with an adventurous spirit.

Shark: Dreams of a shark symbolize a fear of death, of being destroyed, overpowered, and devoured.  Sharks represent the aspect of you that is merciless.

Yowza.  Maybe I do still need a therapist.

Coney dreams

This is a dream I transcribed one November morning in 1997.

I dreamt myself into Brooklyn last night... I had an apartment at Coney Island, above the subway tracks, with a vew of the Wonder Wheel from my balcony.  The front door had two flimsy locks and there were mismatched couches in the sitting room.  There was a small kitchen, and an even smaller bedroom with a bathroom off of it.

People visited me... there was a beautiful blonde man, and a dark-haired one, too.  Every time I went outside, I could see the huge Wonder Wheel and hear the hysterical screams of the riders on the Cyclone, though I couldn't see it.  The air was heavy with summer haze, the boardwalk crowded... I almost felt like royalty surveying my kingdom.

I don't remember anything the men said to me while they occupied my couches, but it seemed we were planning something.  My skirt was short and my hair off my face.  I was aware of the ocean on the other side of the boardwalk.  I had the wild urge to disappear into the sea, to leave this home which was mine, and yet not.  Mine.  The men were incidental, they hovered in the background and I think I could have made them leave if I had wanted to consider it long enough.  Effectively, I was totally alone.  But I was in a place that felt like home.  Alive in a lucid dream.

I found this picture online.  It contains the colors from my dream.