Hi. My name is Reed.

A UC Santa Cruz grad working at Cat N Cloud.

My dreams? Okay.

I like to say. Yeah. Dependent. I feel like it depends on the dreams. There’s something in some of those dreams that are very vivid that you wake up or you keep something from that. Like an image or, you know, something you heard or some sort of thought that may have come from that dream.

It’s pretty interesting how some dreams can be just, like, completely unrelated.

And you like I’m glad that it was a dream. It has nothing, no take on real life. But I think that there’s a lot of things to say about kind of like your mental state. Like how dreams kind of inform you about, like, one of the things going on in your life and how sometimes I realized some of the direct stressors in my life would be kind of showing themselves in dreams in some other way, but it wouldn’t like until you kind of rebound yourself out.

You don’t realize how your mind and body act react to those different stimuli.

Yes, it’s a dream that’s maybe not like the happiest dream, but it’s a dream that is like real life where I would it would resemble a lot of my daily life in a way. But it was kind of a little bit like Inception where I’d go into a different place and then I would be in almost a different world.

And I would remember kind of this constant feeling of waking up in my bed, leaving my room, and every time I’d leave my room it was a completely different area outside of my room. T

That was like during high school and I’m, you know, post-college. It’s a dream that I’ve always remembered because it was something that I wanted to wake up from.

And I felt like every time I was waking up, it came to a realization in the dream that I was in a dream and acknowledging that I was in a dream. It was something that I always remember because it was me acknowledging myself dreaming while dreaming.

That was something that kind of clicked. And it has allowed me to have that thought, to look back on dreams and contemplate them. But there’s a lot of times where, right after a dream, you start to think about it and then it’s already gone.

But, yeah, I don’t know. That’s my you know, another dream would be like, I mean, if, like, dreaming, you know, outside of the sake of like dreaming at night, you know, kind of daydreaming, like things that you wish for and whatnot.

I guess I’ve always wanted to be working in a position that allows me to create a difference kind of every day. And I found that a lot of times that’s been in service things, but also I did a more technology related degree and I’ve been focused more on creating–or not creating, but being part of a building up a technical product as a product manager.

My goal is to expand my connections and grow professionally. I’ve been taking a variety of like data science courses trying to further my reach of knowledge just to kind of further better myself. And I feel like every day there’s like something that you can take every day where you can see things on a sunny side or the rainy side.

You know, you can either take failures as learning opportunities or you could use those to weigh you down. And so, there’s been multiple of these situations that I had to learn to learn from my mistakes instead of having them weigh me down because I feel like I would make a lot of mistakes and a lot of my dreams would be tainted by those mistakes because of how much weight I would put on them.

And that’s what I realized too, is like, you know, you can only control as much as you can control in living. Focusing too much, overthinking things, keeps you away from the present.

The most important work I’m doing right now, at least, has been at Cat N Cloud.

Every day you can make someone’s day. A lot of times when someone comes in in the morning to a place to get their coffee or tea, they don’t know what they want, or they’re going on to a next part of their day that has already been kind of repetitive.

It’s easy to get lost in the sauce and just be going through the motions. I think that one thing that’s been good every day is kind of being able to pull people out of that kind of like way of thinking, bringing the present, and adding, something to their day, which is something that you don’t really realize you’re doing it until you get thanked for it later in another future meeting with them.

They tell you about how you’ve inspired them or something you said really helped them out that day. It’s something small. It doesn’t cost anything to say something or to be nice to somebody or show a certain amount of compassion. It’s easy to get trapped nowadays in a way of thinking.

And it’s really nice to be seen and be aware that there’s other people around you that are going through maybe the same thing or are struggling similarly. I think mental health awareness is something that’s been very important today in this world.

And it’s very central to the Santa Cruz community, too, and being very thoughtful of the people around you, and being courteous and not stepping on anyone’s toes. Everyone should be able to live the life that they want to live, the way that they want to live it.

And there shouldn’t be any room for someone’s opinion on how you’re living your life.

I love Santa Cruz. I came here for UC Santa Cruz and I after graduating in 2019, I haven’t wanted to leave.

Oh, I dream often, and I do normally remember my dreams. And I feel like my relationship with them changes a lot.

Sometimes my dreams, like, give me time with people who I’ve lost in my life, and then I must wake up again and it feels like I’m losing them all over. Or sometimes if I think something in my life isn’t bothering me, my dreams will show me that it is something that’s like affecting me and affecting my thought process.

I had an interesting one during last night’s sleep with my childhood home. I was in my bedroom. And my bedroom is small, but in my dream, it seemed so big and like everything was so far away and it was really dark.

 It was a weird dream, to be honest.

The most pleasant dream that I remember having recently was with my mom.

She was just hugging me and wrapping me up in her arms and it’s like she was like letting me know that she was thinking about me and proud of my recent accomplishments. And she was letting me know that she’s okay because I worried about that a lot.

I think my biggest goal, like long term goal now is becoming a teacher, an art teacher, specifically. And I think my short-term goal now is establishing like healthy routines, time management, and movement of my body and like moving my body more.

Being able to travel constantly and visit different cultures and capture documents, with documentary photography and writing and telling the stories of people who might not have their stories told or just get overlooked. Or becoming super established in a place and building like a community and just taking care of like my community.

Whether that be having a nonprofit and being able to financially support people who might need financial support.

Yeah, but I would need to be super rich to do that.

The work on myself. I think to fill other people’s cup, you must, like, fill your own cup first and I think it’s taken me a long time to realize that I’ve always just wanted to, like, pour into so many different places instead of pouring into myself first. So, I’m just working on myself right now, working on things that fill me, which is photography, my creative side and going to school, which has been a goal of mine for almost a decade now.

Remember realizing that I’m not in survival mode anymore and realizing that I can, like, do creative things and I can, like, take a beat and work on myself.

Things aren’t weighing down on me. And I feel like I don’t have to be constantly fighting or constantly surviving.

I can just take a day and go on a walk or go to the farmer’s market and eat some organic fruits and vegetables. I have that freedom in my life right now.

Staying consistent.

Well, I absolutely love Santa Cruz. I think it’s a very special place and attracts a lot of special people. I’ve even heard a time or two that it’s safe for sex and that once you’re here, you can’t leave. And if you do leave, then you get called back to Santa Cruz. However, I feel like it’s Santa Cruz is in a transitional period now.

And I feel like as much as our community wants to be like a place for all people, we struggle with turning our backs on certain groups of people like the houseless community and other community members.

I feel like we could be more diverse, more immersive, and more of an actual community for all groups, for all people.

I love Santa Cruz. I love Santa Cruz, and I’m happy to be a community member and I’m happy to do the work and I’m happy to be immersed myself in the downtown community. I just feel like there’s still a lot of work to be done.

I don’t typically remember most of my dreams on a regular basis, but when I do remember them, they seem to be realistic dreams or dreams that I feel like could be the truth in this world, or come to life or have come to life. So they kind of freak me out when I do have them.

Well, last Monday, I had a dream that my coworker came back to work for the first time, and I messaged her that morning to see if she was going to work. And she was. And then she was actually sitting there in the spot that I had the dream of.

Oh, gosh, yes.

You’re opening some doors here, Jake.

Not always. I would say in the recent years, it’s definitely come to light a little bit more. Yeah, or I’ve noticed it been more in tune with that.

Yes. Yes, I have. That one’s a little bit more of a suffocating dream. It’s a tsunami comes, and I’m always trying to find my way out of the tsunami. Sometimes I’m in the water, you know, trying to get out of it. But I always end up safe and alive or waking up to me being in the water. Wow.

But yeah, that’s definitely been a reoccurring dream in my life.

Typically it’s in Santa Cruz. Some have been like Long Beach is kind of like down in L.A., more like Santa Monica, you know? But yeah, most mostly here in Santa Cruz.

I’ve never looked into the stream before or like, what it means.

Right? Right. I No, no, no. I know. And the tsunamis that we’ve had here have been very minimal scale a stick to my dreams and how big they could be. But. Yeah.

Well, it’s different every time. And I remember these dreams. How funny is this? Like, I remember the actions that I take to, like, make my way through town or, like, to find a higher hill or of a house or of a light. Yeah.

Climb. Delightful. I think that was more like in the water, though. Like it’s rising and I’m able to use the water to help.

I haven’t had one of those in a long time, though. I would say it’s been maybe a few years since I’ve had that dream. Yeah.

Six. Ten? I don’t know that I remember. Which I don’t remember most of my dreams. Right. So out of the ones I remember probably like 6 to 10 times.

I’m very in tune to my surroundings.

Hmm. So I’ve never really been focused on my dreams and my goals. I’m very much so a day to day kind of person. Just recently, I’ve started opening my mind to having more dreams and goals to reach more of a potential with where I could go. Prayer is a big thing in my life. I’ve also grown up with a lot of manifestation surroundings, friends and people in my life with a spirituality in that way.

And so lately I’ve been bringing the two together in a way that can, yeah, help me reach my fullest potential.

Well, lately I’ve been thinking more along the lines of happiness, health and wealth and just what can bring me there. And in this life. What I want my life to look like. So my goal is to have a happy life and to live comfortably. Or I’m not stressed or worried like I have been in the past. I’ve. I like to leave that in my old my old self.

Flying to the moon as an astronaut.

You know, I feel like as a kid, for sure, that was like, a huge dream of, like, maybe wanting to explore outer space, but no way. No, no, no, no. I don’t know. That’s a really interesting question because I don’t really take my dreams to like. Like that next dreams. Yeah.

You know, I’ve always wanted as a human to provide dance into this world to other people like it has been introduced to me. And that was as a young girl. I didn’t have that much money. And so people gave it to me through scholarships and by means of helping me. And so I hope to be able to do that with other kids in this world and provide that to them.

I love contemporary dancing. And so, you know, a show that can tell a story obviously bring emotion into the picture and have the audience feel a certain way. For me, that’s how.

Today and in the future. I guess it would really depend on the students that I have and what I’m working with, because I can I can make a show around anything.

Yeah, I love dancing. I would love to get back into performing like that. I do on my own time.

Like contemporary dance at home and whatever. The music’s telling me to do.

Providing children with the opportunity to become whoever they want to be when they become an adult? Inspiring them at an early age?

Well, I get to show up every day and see children smile and have fun no matter what. And even if they’re not having fun, finding a way to help them feel included, those are always the fun ones to work with as well, because you get to see the lights light up in their lives, I don’t know. And then the progression over time, the reward of what you put into the children over a course of time and not just in one night.

The parents having to to get on the same page with them and then the teachers as well. Because I work and mentoring teachers as well as facilitating the parents. And so helping them understand each other that teaching is a hard job. And the we understand parenting is a hard job, too, and how we can bring the two lives together for the best of the children.

I obviously work at a preschool.

Well, I love Santa Cruz. There’s always been a wonderful draw here to wanting to be back here. I mean, my husband loved the ocean, the beach and the people. I have family here and friends and it’s home. You’re going to make me cry. Yeah. I love Santa Cruz.