I was on one of those ferries they take in upstate new york when they go out boating and golfing. I THINK it exists? Again I was definitely “me”, and was with a group of men I knew not that well but we were friendly and there was camaraderie about learning the ropes of riding the thing. I don’t know the men in real life.
there were famous people on the ferry. I met damon waynes and he did a funny elaborate white person handshake with me when he saw I didn’t really know the black handshake. the old WGA baseball broadcaster (not harey carey the newer guy with the deep voice was there (does he even still live? probably not) (after some googling I think it was actually John Madden or some mix between him and harey carey, I love checking how factual my dream confabulations were)
there were some more kinda medium wealthy guys I was with and talking to. it seemed like we mostly just made the trip up there and back, and it was just to get out in the water in the end. but lots of the people we were with were golf affiliated including a professional golf coach.
I remember him talking in great detail about the business of golf coaching and found its specificity fascinating. he talked about the disadvantages when his main player got injured and how it hurt him more than the player businesswise. he talked about all the equipment and specialized gear he had to obtain for new promising players. then another dude dissed one of his most famous players aloud and I stood up for the player, despite not knowing him because the guy’s diss was kind of a “toxic male culture” diss and I effectively batted the guy’s loud criticism effectively in a way that made the other guys laugh and took my acquaintance off the defensive and I felt proud of that. I was like, “oh yeah, that guy pumped his fist after the stroke, he definitely reads mother earth news”. it was quite a detailed and specific set of complaints he was obviously parroting from a specific sportscaster.
I remember being aware of moderating my drinking and not just allowing myself to drink beer freely but also definitely drinking some beers. a couple of times I noticed (slightly waking up) that drinking the beer in my dream had a similar noticeable central nervous system effect
at the end there’s like a smaller ferry that takes you into the city but if you miss it you have to take the train (again I think this is real and I remember it) and dudes I knew took off without telling me it was the last minute. a guy I was talking to was like oh shit I really needed to make that ferry and I very skillfully ran after it but missed the rope for it by seconds, insuring I’d have to take the train into new york.]
my brain knew I lived in Elgin (as I told people) but didn’t do the math that it was a new york situation (why was I in NY?)
I was left with a sense that it was good and healthy to build and maintain male networks and friendships and I needed that, but that ultimately I wasn’t paying attention and despite an acrobatic performance kinda just barely missed the faster way back home, perhaps left to ride the train and talk to the slower (but it seemed less successful) peer.