Day 195: The Strangest Dream

So I went to bed tonight and had the strangest dream. For some reason I feel compelled to tell you all about it. Here it goes:

I had a dream that I was hanging out with my friend Eric having a sleepover at his house. Only he lived in this house where all the walls were glass - all windows, essentially. Well we were watching this really scary slasher flick on TV during the sleepover, only that Eric didn't know was that what was happening in the movie was also, simultaneously, happening *for real* right outside the house! So there's this serial axe murderer running around his front yard killing people and then he sees us (and of course you can't exactly hide in a glass house!) I start to freak out but Eric still isn't catching on, and then the killer tries to break into the glass house to get to us.

Suddenly I pull a trick like I often do in dreams when they're about to turn into a nightmare... In my dreams I can pretend that I'm the 'director' and control 'the cast' and what happens, as if my dream that I'm living out is a TV show and I get to call the shots. I realized this and told Eric (*right* before the movie got especially gruesome and just before the killer was about to get into the house) "Hey man, it's almost 4am, I'm kinda tired, how about we just go to bed?" Eric thought this was a good idea so he turned off the TV.

SHAZAM! The scary movie was over and the exasperated killer just went "Damn!" and had to call it quits. He couldn't try to get into the house anymore now that the movie was off so he walked off and went home feeling frustrated and disappointed (much to my relief!)

So I spent the rest of the night at Eric's and then woke up the next morning and left. I walked outside his house to see that it was actually attached directly to a KTX Station (Korea's high speed train.) "Oh this is awfully convenient," I thought, "I needed to take the train home anyways." So I'm walking through the station (very crowded and busy) and suddenly who do I run into? Why it's my old Delany's Coffee House boss Robin (the owner.) Being quite surprised to run into him in a train station in Korea, I asked him what he was doing there. Turns out that the Delany family has decided to open a new store and that they want their fourth coffee house to be Delany's: Seoul. I thought this was extremely exciting and super cool!

Robin explained that he was actually just on his way to an international press conference, to be held in that very station, to announce the opening of Delany's first coffee house in Korea. He invited me along to join him at the press conference and I was glad to have the invite. I was given a Delany's Vest to wear to the conference and was even given a chair to sit up at The Table with him at the front of the press conference.

So the press conference begins, in front of a train station full of press from newspapers and tv stations from all over the world, and Robin suddenly gets stage fright. He's so nervous in front of all these people that he can barely speak and can't answer any of the questions. In a moment of panic, just before he ran out of the room in fear, he asked me if I'd 'represent' Delany's at the press conference, since having worked there for four years until recently, and if I could answer all the questions. I was hesitant to oblige him but felt pressured to not let the store down and so I stepped up to the plate.

I jumped in like a pro who's lived his whole live in front of the media. I handled that crowd like it was putty in my hands and was as witty, quick-thinking, and informative as one could ever be. I was a total star, and I was loving every minute of it. And there was like the Olympics of nations there all asking questions. "Yes, Team Czech Republic, what's your question?" "And the man in the yellow shirt from Brazil, what would you like to ask?" "Why yes, Mr. New York Times, that is in fact true, and here's another tidbit for you..." I was totally awesome and so proud of myself.

The press conference ended and so it was time to head home. I got onboard the KTX (finally) and was quite thrilled to realize that it was actually a giant, high-speed *roller coaster* that went across Korea. The train slowly crawled up the mountain-sized hill before tearing down that and whipped across cities and countryside, through spiral turns and loop-de-loops, at like 3000 km an hour. "Wow, no wonder you can get across the country so fast! And a rollercoaster - what a great idea!" were my thoughts.

The next morning I woke up early and was DYING to find a newspaper. Any newspaper. Or magazine. I was so sure that all the media would be completely filled up with my star performance at the press conference and I was dying to read all the reviews. This was my moment of glory that I had waited my whole life for. My moment of vindication and public validation.

I was horrified to see that in the first article I read I was given an absolutely terrible review! The review questioned my facts, my judgement, and what the hell, exactly, was *I* doing at that press conference in the first place! I was mortified! I read another newspaper and was embarrassed to see yet another shameless bashing of my presence at the conference. This time the attacks were personal and even made fun of my voice. What, my first taste with fame and already I'm getting mud slewn on me via tabloid trash? Newspaper after newspaper, review after review, magazine after magazine all condemned and criticized me. Hell, even dozens of readers/viewers had written in to tell how bad they thought I was. I was more surprised than anything by all of this, cause I still believed that I had done a stellar job and was super hot at that press conference. What a disappointment!

The dream ended and I woke up feeling rather confused... The even weirder thing about the dream is that the soundtrack for the entire dream was all Huey Lewis & The News songs. What the...???

It was a very strange dream indeed but a funny one for sure. Sometimes my brain comes up with the craziest stuff! So what do you think this dream means? Are there any dream-interpreters out there who'd like to help me out with some clarification? I'm open to any thoughts or opinions on this urgent matter. Please reply! ;-)