World AIDS Day -- December 1

For those who have died, for those who have mourned, for those who work toward a cure, for those who work for prevention, for those who work to educate, for the next generation and those yet to be

Another dream sequence

Well, BadgerBear, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are ready for a dream sequence. (BTW, I watched "Where the Bears Are" over the weekend.)

In my dream I am at the library. I am already retired but am volunteering. As I get ready to leave, one of the librarians asks if I know anything about sixth-century shrines. Some guy had come in and wanted information on sixth-century shrines because he wanted to carve a model of one. I said I wasn't sure, but the guy arrived right at that point. He came in with a whole group of people, most of them Indian (India-Indian). They are waiting for their leader and want to have a meeting about the shrine. One of the women takes out a notebook to keep notes on the meeting. I say I am leaving, but she insists that I have to stay. She asks me to write down my name for her and I try two or three times. For some reason my hand is shaking badly and I cannot write it legibly.

The leader arrives, takes one look at me and comes over to lay his hand on my shoulder. He begins to rub my shoulder and all of a sudden I get dizzy and attain enlightenment. (Think of Buddha. And yes, I realize the sexual overtones, Dr. Freud.)

This experience of enlightenment, which I can recall fairly well but cannot in any way describe, lasts for what seems a very long time. When it settles down, I find myself alone in the room and it is 5:45 p.m. I realize I am going to be very late getting home. When I leave, three women are waiting to meet me. I bow to them, they bow back and begin to whisper among themselves. (Yes, I realize the religious overtones, Dr. Jung.) I feel normal but know that something totally transformative has happened. I remember the saying, "Before enlightenment, there is the hewing of wood and the drawing of water. After enlightenment, there is the hewing of wood and the drawing of water."

I speak to a few more people and the dream ends.

Make of it what you will. I woke up a little later (being a man of a certain age), but it seems it was just a dream. I don't think I am any more enlightened than when I went to bed. Before I went to bed, there were cats demanding snacks; after getting out of bed, there are cats demanding snacks.

Speaking of cats, I had another dream in which Cassidy almost killed my pet naked mole rat. And, Dr. Freud, the nonsexual association for naked mole rats is that Ron Stoppable had one named Rufus on the old Kim Possible animated feature. And, yes, Dr. Freud, I know who Rufus Wainwright is.

Oh, enough of this.

Sweet dreams, everyone!

Meanwhile ...

 If you look back too much, you will soon be headed that way   

 Unknown source

Fiber optic internet arrives!

The guy who was supposed to connect our fiber optic internet service rang the doorbell a couple of minutes before his appointed time of 8:00 this morning. He ran into some problems because of some tangled something somewhere nearby, but it didn't take too long to get things up and running. Tom had carefully prepared everything he could in advance, and that meant the in-house stuff was set up right and did not need tweaking.

It is great, at least so far.

The good news: I can watch streaming episodes of The Big Bang Theory.
The bad news: I watch streaming episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

No doubt the novelty will wear off quickly and I can get back to using my time more productively.

I should note, however, for the record, that despite having been under the weather for the past week, I have written 39,788 words towards the 50,000-word goal in the National Novel Writing Month project. That puts me at an average of about 2,653 words per day, which is 985 words per day over the 1,667 per day needed to reach the goal.

I should also mention that this does not mean I will have a book ready to publish at the end of November. This is very much a crank-out-a-first-draft approach. What I like most about it is that it is getting me into the habit of daily writing and of pushing ahead instead of constantly going back to tinker.