Some friends and I were setting up a workshop/makerspace thing in some warehouse on some block out at the edge of the city. For the time being we were mostly familiarizing ourselves with the area and playing video games, probably because we didn't have much equipment to set up, yet.

One video game I was getting into was a LEGO Minecraft space-colonization game. I flew to some planet in a gray and white spaceship I had built using a lot of special curved and window pieces, and then was futzing around trying to figure what to do with myself next. There was a bit of a city already built here, but it was a no-atmosphere planet, so one had to be careful to not have any leaks in whatever they built. Maybe I was just stopping here to refuel and get some food.

Then we played some other games on our Super Nintendos. Super Nintendos were very in these days because people had figured out ways to easily mod them to run any software you wanted and use different controllers. We had some Genesis controllers handy but for whatever we were playing at the moment, some classic like Mario Kart or Super Mario World or Donkey Kong Country, I decided it'd be worthwhile to dig up a real SNES controller (for both nostalgic 'correct look and feel' purposes and because a non-SNES button configuration could lead to real control issues).

There was some exploring of the neighborhood. We were on or near a corner that was maybe analogous to the northeast corner between Fitchburg Road and Lacy Road (which would be fitting because that area's currently being 'developed', i.e. being made worse by adding a bunch of roads and stupid buildings all over what used to be a bunch of trees and brush) and walking the analogue of north on Fitchburg road, there were woods and vacant lots along most of it, and then the last 1/4 of the block on the right was some warehouse or factory or something, which I decided was a tolerable amount of factory/warehouse to share the block with.

I was telling someone about how I really liked biking around in Middleton because while there were lots of bike paths and a few nice roads for getting around, just west of the Phesant Branch Conservancy, most of the land was undeveloped, and that made it much more plesant to travel through than most places in Madison. As I continued to simultaneously explain this and bike home from the conservancy, I wondered how true that really was. Aren't there a bunch of stores and condos and stuff that way?

And then a completely different dream:

I was on a plane to Ireland, the first leg of a two-part trip. As we unboarded I noticed that another passenger, who was still sitting, had something wrapped up using that orange polypropaline bailing twine that tends to sprinkle bits of itself all over the farm. I attempted to compliment them on their choice of string as I walked by, but it was loud and I was trying to keep moving and they didn't appear prepared to be talked-to, so the silly/playful spirit and "same twine!" implication of the message might not have been successfully conveyed, if they even understood my words or realized that I was talking to them.

Once inside the airport I started to think about where I needed to go next. There was an exit stairway down to the road, and I briefly considered going out to visit this city, which I suppose was Dublin, but decided against it because there wasn't anything out there I cared to see and I didn't want the stress of having to get back in time for my connecting flight, which...how long did I have? I wasn't even sure. Where was I going? Saudi Arabia. Oh dear, am I prepared to go to Saudi Arabia? They have all sorts of crazy laws over there. What if I'm carrying illicit items? I feel like I haven't thought this through.

As I wandered around the airport I texted Sara asking how much I should be worrying about these things, and if I was even supposed to be going to Saudi Arabia. She assured me that it would be fine and I should carry on. So I switched my focus to finding the gate. Unfortunately I didn't know the gate number, so was looking for "Saudi Arabia" on any of the scrolling LED signs that marked the entrances to various passageways. None of the signs were intelligible, so I just followed ones that seemed close.

I finally found myself in a terminal that was way up in the sky, looking through an open gate at the side of a plane whose door had just closed and that then pulled away and flew off. There were no check-in desks or airline employees here, just an unnervingly open rounded-square gateway to the dark, cold, windy sky. To the right was the rest of this rickety tin sky terminal, which somehow had a very London Underground vibe to it. It was crowded with people milling about and waiting at densely-packed gates (unlike the one I had found myself looking into when I first arrived, they at least had doors), some of which were on a second level that could only be reached by narrow spiral staircases. I kept exploring this terminal, keeping an eye out for any signage that would hint me towards the gate I was supposed to be at, but I suspected that the plane that had just departed had been mine. Part of me hoped that this was true, because I didn't really want to go to Saudi Arabia. Another part of me just wondered how they could pack these gates so close together and still have room for planes to dock at them. Up one of the little spiral staircases I went after failing to rule out that the gibberish on a nearby sign was indicating the way to my gate.