Good Dreams Make Bad Omens

Last night I had maybe the best dream of my entire life. I was doing something related to Jeopardy!, though I'm not sure what. I might've been on the show or I might have been doing some work for the show; I don't know. Anyway, I found myself in the company of Sarah from the Clue Crew, and it occurred to me that this was the chance I had dreamed of, my chance to talk to her and make her see what a great guy I was. At first she wasn't paying attention to me really—there was no need to since whatever my purpose there it was only cursory, but at least we exchanged a few words. Then she told me to get on this curved piece of metal because she was going to give me a ride home. I had seen this hunk of metal before (apparently we were here in Ohio and it was something I pass often), but now it turned out the thing was a rocket-seat of some kind. So she hopped on behind me and we lifted off into the sky. We had various flying adventures on our way to Texas, apparently, and I gathered that this was typical Jeopardy! procedure, to give rides home to contestants or whatever (but always on a rocket-seat?). As we flew we talked more, and I realized that Sarah, more than being just a Clue Crew member, was also a scientific genius, for she had created this contraption (was Jeopardy! a front for secret genius development?). She realized that I wasn't just some guy around the show, but a truly dedicated fan and pursuer of great knowledge (although I perceived future trouble when she would find out I wasn't too a mechanical genius).

See, this dream was great because it had flying in it, which is always awesome (but in dreams always problematic—you never have the mobility your waking imagination is capable of producing), and it had Sarah in it, who is my one true celebrity crush. We were sitting next to each other, motorcycle-style, on a rocket-seat, and she was digging me. All my dreams were coming true.

Eventually we had to find a safe place to stop and recharge the seat. (On the one hand, it seemed like we weren't supposed to let people see us, but on the other hand we were constantly in view of people. Also, we somehow veered too far west and ended up in California, passing the Jeopardy! studios.) She showed me how I had to sit in the driver's seat and activate the recharge procedure, which involved me holding down a lever at the front of the seat with my foot for like fifteen minutes. Then she sat and talked to me a bit, looked at me directly for the first time since leaving, and then leaned in and kissed me. On the lips. It was hard to keep pressing the lever with my foot when being distracted this way.

And then of course I woke up. I didn't just regain consciousness, I jolted awake, lying on my side, my face facing the clock next to my bed. It said 7:27, and the room was light. I immediately thought, "That was the best dream ever, and it's over. I have to tell Andrew."

In the past I've had pretty good success going quickly back to sleep and continuing good dreams. But I knew when I woke that this wouldn't be the case, that I was too awake too fast to get back. But that didn't stop me from trying. I rolled over and closed my eyes against the light and tried to go back to sleep. It was a shoddy effort, and I couldn't ever tell if I was actually asleep or just nearly there, with my mind beginning to fire. I think I managed it eventually, because I remember a dream about playing basketball with a bunch of guys and Sarah and others were watching. I think I really wanted to impress her, and to my surprise everyone out there really stunk but me. But there was no kissing afterwards. Oh, and I had another dream in which I parked outside this building (in what turned out to be the milkman's designated spot, but I didn't get a ticket) that turned out to be a museum. I went into a certain room and was looking through these artifacts for some way, some thing, I don't know what, that would help me contact Sarah. It was all just wishful dreaming.

I woke up sometime after nine and was immediately depressed. I went downstairs and told Dave that this day was ruined before it began by dreams that were better than life could be. He sympathized. I looked in the kitchen and thought about breakfast—cereal or English muffins—and then I shouted, "I must have pancakes!"

I'm not going to let some dream win, no matter how good it was. I'm going to stack this day with awesomeness until it comes out victorious over the subconscious meandering of my mind. The first step was pancakes. Further steps include:

• Getting published. Everyday Dave and I wait for responses from literary journals concerning essays and poems we've sent them. I'm currently waiting to hear about an essay I wrote about Jeopardy!, and I'm taking this dream to be an omen that the response is coming today.
• Receiving some books in the mail that I recently ordered on amazon using my economic stimulus from the government (is there nothing the mail can't do?).
  
          
  
• Hearing that Elisa, whose birthday was yesterday (happy birthday and sorry I never caught you), received the very great present I sent her in the mail and loved it (no seriously, the mail does it all).
• Registering today to take a motorcycle riding course this summer.
• Buying a digital camera with more of my stimulus
• Going to Cold Stone Creamery instead of Institute (it's cancelled).
• Riding 18 miles on my brother's bike to continue my training (thanks, Jon, you rule).
• Working the system at school to ensure I don't have to take a useless-to-my-future class and get to take a very-useful-but-otherwise-untakeable class next year.
• Watching Joey smash Vera and Suchita in the last semifinal round of the Jeopardy! College Championship.
• Cutting the hair of young Abe Ogles, the stake president's son. Tomorrow is Wacky Hair Day at school and he wants me to make him wacky. I think I'm up to it.

Any other bright ideas?