The Eros complex is an underground prix-fixe community of the future. There is an airport accessible by an underground elevator system, a full shopping mall, and neighborhoods of apartment, condo, and townhomes in several price ranges. There is also a full health club and gymnasium for all residents. The elevator system also connects to a Disney-esque European village above ground. Homes are pre-sold to visitors, and many are invited to "free" preview weekends to see if they are a "match" for the community. We stayed in the "Pineoak" division condos. We enjoyed exploring Eros, with its hotel like lobbies and lounges, and its huge health club with a wall of picture windows for viewing. A row of men in loose fitting cotton pants practiced a form of tai-chi or other Eastern exercises (perhaps from India?) while chatting in their native tongue. Others performed leg lifts in captain's chairs that were suspended from the 50 foot high ceilings. A eucalyptus scented steam room beckoned from another side of the hallway. Outside the Pineoak condo, wooded mountain landscapes were visible from the carved balcony; ten or twelve buildings were set in at different heights on a hillside. (keep in mind this is all underground.) We could see an older woman peeking out from her balcony below. Soon it was time to leave. Our party found the airport elevator. My three year old son and I went back for something. We found our way to the gym and the center lobby of Eros, but the airport elevator was nowhere to be seen. We turned down a side hallway and soon found ourselves in a maze of twisty storefronts from the mall side of this underground "paradise". Two men in corduroy jackets rested in hammocks in the narrow organ store, waiting for customers. They perked up at the sight of us but sagged when we asked for directions. We walked through the store thinking we would end up at a new hallway but instead found ourselves 'stuck' in a warehouse sized bookstore. We exited a side door and ended up in a maze of rooms. In the first room, women of all sizes, ages, and races were having their hair braided into tiny braids. In the second, women (with hair already braided) were lying in salon chairs receiving some sort of color treatments. As we moved through the dozen rooms, we realized with a sickening reality what was happening here. The last room had women checking themselves out in mirrors, smoothing long, blond straightened hair(with tiny bows) and perfecting makeup. They all had the same body shape. They were all...Barbie. It was a Barbie salon. I grabbed my son's hand and we tore back through all the "treatment" rooms screaming- get out get out, they're going to turn you into Barbie!!!!!" We didn't stick around to see if they left. We raced back from where we had come and found ourselves in a small hallway near the main lobby. A sixty-something gentleman with a V-shaped gray goatee stood up from behind an office partition. He welcomed us and said, "I'm going to show you something most first time visitors do not get to see." He began by telling us about the four varieties of succulents in a landscaped wall. Then we made our way into a private "club style" sitting room and private bedroom with a TV and one window. "Most of the units are not furnished in this style," he explained. "This is a perk of signing up early." It was
a nice room, to be sure, though small-ish and decorated in men's burgundy stripes with hints navy blue. Nothing light or flowery. Part 1 of the dream stops here.
(You did realize this was my dream, right?)
Part 2 of the dream has to do with things in my classroom etc., so I won't go into it except to say that in the dream one end of my classroom opens onto not one but TWO public library entrances (one city run and one county) and somehow my kids just started going in and bringing hundreds of books from both (it is unclear whether they checked them out or just brought them out) and proceeded to mix them up. The library worker came to the adjoining door of the county library and said, " You do realized that this could jeapordize your borrowing privileges forever!"
For me, this would be a nightmare! At this point, I started to want to wake up.
By the way, this is a typical night of dreaming for me, hence the post label below.
