Author’s note: This is from a series based on my journal. Unconventional and idiosyncratic punctuation and formatting are intentional.
This morning I woke up an hour before my alarm. I was not able to go back to sleep. Waking such a short time before my alarm seems so pointless and unhelpful or maybe it is trying to go back to sleep that is so pointless and unhelpful. I dreamed about attending a party on a golf course in front of Neville and Jessica’s house and getting ready to go on vacation with William and Polly when they were in middle school except we were all smoking cigars and helping with neighborhood trash collection. We kept talking about not inhaling and how that would stop us from getting cancer. Just puff! I said. I took a drag on the stogie I was smoking and blew out like a bellows. Like this! I said. Davis’ Can’t and Won’t includes many stories about or that are dreams. It’s hard to tell which is what.
Soon after coming downstairs I signed up for fitness class. Soon after that I cancelled. I felt like I wanted or needed to stay home and write and I did not feel like dealing with the cold and the dark and the snow. More snow. I finished two pieces about yesterday and posted them as Notes. After three months of doing my journal series I now see a pattern. I tend to write something new for the series in the morning based on what I may have written the afternoon or evening before. Sometimes I think that what I write the day before won’t turn into anything but by the next morning it’s become something. Sleep filters. Meg posted a prompt to write about a character who has trouble seeing her true reflections. Optional words include tremor, perplexing, cream, and birthday. Aargh was among Spelling Bee’s answers today. I might add ! if I could. ATTIC was the answer for Wordle.
On their show this morning Jenna and Sheinelle talked with a doctor who offered advice on maintaining good health. Everything she said about sleep and diet and exercise was practical and sensible. It’s just that they called her recommendations hacks. Hacks are shortcuts. Shortcuts are often the reason problems occur in the first place. On the radio I heard an interview with Kate Hudson. She talked about how music is a big part of her life and how when she was younger she used to rewrite the songs of singers and songwriters she admired and enjoyed. Her father is a musician. She rewrote the songs not because she thought they needed improving. She rewrote them because she wanted to take them apart to see how they worked. Maybe I should start rewriting stories by Davis and Meg for clues about how they do what they do.
This afternoon at my appointment with Dr. Aiken I remembered that his assistant’s teen-aged son is studying journalism and welding but I could not remember her name. Jo, she said when I asked her to remind me. She is so dexterous I am not at all surprised by her son’s interest and aptitude. Jo said he wants to be an underwater welder. They make bank, I said. I know, she said. She flashed my tooth with a blast of water and air when she finished. All set! she said. On my way home I went by the hardware store to get a new pack of night light bulbs. I used the last one yesterday morning for the light by the kitchen cabinet. I introduced myself to a young woman who works there. She often wears second-hand Carhartt overalls. She has light brown curly hair and a rhino nose piercing. Her name is Soren. Maybe I can remember it by reminding myself that her hair resembles the color sorrel. I can also see myself calling her Sorrel instead of Soren.
From the basket by the register I took two Dum-Dums. Mystery Flavor, said the label of one. Purple and gold question marks floated all over the wrapper. It was an aqua-blue and cream-colored swirl like Papa Smurf but its flavor remained mysterious to me even after I ate it. Just, sugar. Before going to the hardware store I called to see if they had the bulbs I needed. I dialed the home phone number instead of the store’s number. I did not realize it until I heard the home phone’s automated greeting. Hello, you have reached . . . . At home I saw that my call had not appeared on the home phone’s caller I. D. screen. I also replaced the night light bulb by my phone stand. It must have gone out just before I got home. The bulb was still warm.
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Dreams are weird sometimes.