Bunged-up ears ... and weird dreams

For the last ten days or so, I've had inflammation and complete closure of both ears. Lucky me! I seem to have caught a bad case of Swimmer's Ear while showering. I sure haven't been swimming ... although the forecast for my neck o' the woods portends heinous heat for the next five days. Gimme a pool!

So I'm deaf ... totally deaf. When I awoke today after a ratty, restless sleep, one of my first thoughts was, "Does autism have anything to do with chronic hearing problems?" There's nothing like being locked into the buzz of your own brain that makes you wonder. I've been in so much pain that I've wanted to bash my head through a wall ... and my poor husband has had to deal with a woman-turned-monster. When the shit hits the fan, he loves ...

I wonder about the dreams, too. Last night, I was one of the command crew of the USS Enterprise -- Jean-Luc's Enterprise! I sat at the console to the right of the captain's seat and got to push all the nifty buttons, which made sweet, trilling music. I had no idea what I was doing, other than letting my fingers dance. Whee!

A crew member's beloved cat had died and Jean-Luc delivered the eulogy. I think he cried. Anyone who's ever loved a cat will understand the depth of grief ... and the stories that get spun. After the feline funeral, it was let-your-hair-down time. There weren't any nasty enemies in the sector we were travelling through, so we got to play. A bunch of us were in one of the turbolifts and we told terrible jokes while being whipped around the ship's interior. Then Deanna Troi announced that she wanted to get plastered and talk about men. So Deanna got loaded and blathered, the rest of us listened -- you don't want to be in the company of a shit-faced empath; that woman ran off at the mouth for an eternity, but she provided great fodder for future jokes and teases.


Finally, I got to retire to my quarters. Apparently I bunked in an octagonal room that had nothing in it but Pullman-style beds that were pulled down from the wall. I yanked my bed down ... and it had a bubble-gum pink fuzzy blanket on it! Pink on the Enterprise?! I didn't want to sleep on that natty cot, so I headed back out into the corridor and back to the turbolift. Another crew member was hanging out on the lift so I rode some more.

I used to love riding up and down elevators when I was a kid, so I suppose this portion of the dream was dredging up my old love of lifts. Up and down, around and around I rode with this other person who was reading aloud from a book -- something turgidly poetic. I guess this man was loaded too. I was somewhat dismayed that it wasn't Jean-Luc quoting Shakespeare or Chaucer ... but when you're stuck on a lift, you take what comes.


I love my dreams. There's so much to do; so many surprises; so many journeys that don't happen in "real life." I've had a few dreams of being part of the Enterprise crew ... and once I even got to smooch with the captain! I didn't last night -- Jean-Luc retired early, feeling morose about his friend's late kitteh. I think Jean-Luc got loaded with his bereaved friend in the captain's quarters ... and I was stuck with drunk Deanna. Will Riker was nowhere to be found and she was pissed. Never, ever get involved with a Betazoid man, she told me. They'll zap your brain with their intuitive powers and suck out all your will. I guess the Will got sucked out of Deanna 'cause she was livid to find him and give him a piece of her mind.

Dream interpreters: whaddya think?