Brief Lives

I've had two dreams that have been stuck in my head, both about as subtle as a hammer on china.

I had the most recent one on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I was back in Pittsburgh looking for a place to live. I was sick of California, so I had decided to move back to the city in which I grew up. I hadn't moved just yet. I was simply looking for a place to live with my friend helping me out. It was a cloudy day, and I was driving through leafy suburbs. I was going back to school.

On Thursday night/Friday morning, I had a miserable dream. It was New Years' Eve. I was sitting at a bar/restaurant/Trader Joe's waiting for friends to show up. A woman walked up to me, and said "Hi, you probably don't remember me. You interviewed me when you were at BigLaw." I replied, "Yeah, I thought you looked familiar." I can't remember what she looked like now. I think she kept shifting - Asian with high cheek bones to cute blonde with round cornflower blue eyes. Anyway, my friends showed up. I became really jealous because they started hitting on her and I thought she was showing interest. Then I thought to myself, "So what? I'm interested in her as well." I sat down with her on the couch, and put my arm around her. She grinned a goofy grin. I knew she was interested in me. I thought to myself, "I was right in taking the risk." We held each other for a while. Then I realized I had to pick up something. I went out to find it, but then I heard the countdown, "Ten, nine, eight . . ." I rushed back to the bar so I could have the midnight kiss, but she wasn't there anymore. I was completely heartbroken.

After midnight came and went, my buddies and I went awalkin'. I saw this line of people waiting to get into a building. It was a new business that decided to open a minute after midnight, a minute into the new year for a new technology. It was business that could replay memories. Folks were filling out a form. I had decided I hated the idea of this tech because life is meant to be lived, not to be memorized. But I wanted to remember what the New Years' Eve woman looked like. I decided to fill out one of the forms. Then I saw her at the door - she was a sales representative for the memory business. I realized it was a scam. She hit on me and left me deliberately so that I would come here. She never liked me at all. I called her on it, and she said, "So what? Stop being such a baby." Then I woke up.