Street scenes. Navigating blind sidewalk corners of New York’s rectangular grid while attempting to retrieve or deliver a suitcase. Tall, colorful, narrow buildings. Autumnal.
Another street. This is literally Hollywood Boulevard and its crowds of tourists. Many themed experiences with their lines of ticket gates outside, bustling excited people.
I find a quiet cantina that was mentioned by a friend. No cover charge. I make my way directly to the back room, an enclosed patio that looks carved from sandstone. It’s based on the same design as another bar I’ve been to, the exact layout. With my existing knowledge I gain access to the upper level, the mezzanine ringing the patio space. Usually this would just be decorative but I take the opportunity to lounge in a corner, savoring the assurance of privacy in a public space. Eventually a group of people enter the space and begin chatting, unaware of me. I make my way down and exit the wall closest the front of the building instead of the far back wall. I inspect what looks like a small piece of art, an incomplete outline of a five-pointed star formed by a living plant vine. I have the chance but for some reason intentionally don’t try take a picture — perhaps I am already waking up, perhaps I know I won’t be able to keep it, perhaps it would be too frustrating with dream logic rules.