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-Unusual Conversation of the Week Award quote: "A fire alarm isn't stabbing you in the face."-

I had a rather self-gratifying dream last night. It involved people telling me that the piano was the hardest instrument to learn, which is convenient since it is the only instrument I ever learned how to play (don't ask me to do miracles on it now -- my 8 years of lessons occurred long, long ago).

Two foods I "discovered" recently that you must try: cherrums and Greek-style yogurt. Cherrums are, I'm assuming, some weird cherry-plum hybrid, which means they look and taste mostly like small plums, but with a bit of extra sweetness. They get wrinkly as they ripen, but like cherries you can eat them even when they're collapsing into themselves. Chief advantage: I don't think any of them overripened before being eaten, and I bought 2 lbs. of the stuff. On the other hand, I tended to eat more than one in a sitting.

Greek yogurt, as you may have heard, is yogurt made from ewe's milk, then strained so only the impossibly thick stuff remains. Unlike your typical commercial yogurt, it isn't sweetened half to death so you really get the savory flavor of proper yogurt, besides that incredible texture. People often use it for making homemade frozen yogurt (which is why I bought it), but I would recommend keeping your hands off of it as much as possible. It's perfect as is.

Reality check. As a sidenote, however, I found the thought of Greek yogurt to be very distracting when I was trying to work -- in that sense it's best to just finish it off as soon as you bring it home from the store.

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-Care instructions quote: "Product should be washed inside out on a gentle cycle in cold water. It is recommended that apparel be washed prior to wearing. Products with Sparkle Flex should be hand washed."-

Had a dream this week that I was living in a ratty apartment complex, with people curled up on the street around the buildings. This made my brain think that I must be poor in this dream reality, so I ended up having to take out a loan just to pay rent. That sure made me feel thankful about my real situation in life.

Speaking of real life, I had an odd experience this week -- it was odd enough that I immediately remembered to do a reality check afterwards.

Basically, I was staring at a clock on the wall and it suddenly stopped, right as I watched. However, the lights were still on so the power hadn't gone out (in retrospect, those clocks are usually battery powered, but it did seem unusual at the time).

I looked at it for a while to verify that the second hand wasn't moving, then said aloud "Hey, that clock just stopped!" Feeling the need to say something like THAT out loud only reinforced the dreamlikeness.

A few minutes later, the clock not only restarted, but it swept its hands quickly through the time that it had missed out on. You have no idea how unreal that looks until you see it. I decided to count my fingers and surreptitiously check if I could fly. My suspicions were heightened by the fact that I felt unusually tired -- drifting in and out kind of tired -- that morning.

As it turns out, the clock was just jammed. No dreaming involved.

Reality check. Unless you subscribe to the philosophy that says that everything is a dream.

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-Menu quote: "Strolling Musicians - Daring Cliff Divers - Exciting Gunfights - Amazing Magician - Hilarious Puppet Show - Dancing Monkeys in Costume"-

I keep having dreams about my job -- to the point where I'm ready to tell my subconscious: "Hello, I do this all DAY. Can't nighttime be the time where I get to fly and stuff?"

So, yesterday I went to Casa Bonita in Denver. I would try to explain it, but there really is no way to do it justice, even if I were to use their catchphrase, "The world's most exciting restaurant."

Anyway, if you're ever in Denver (preferably with a large group of friends), I highly recommend it. I am still in awe at how they manage to keep their prices so low and their facade so small -- I guess they dug out underneath it a little.

Reality check. & Splendid Appointments: Behold the roaring waterfall, graceful palms, volcanic mountain, caves, sparkling pool, mine, palace, jail, etc, etc, etc.

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-Schedule quote: "OTHER NOTES:"-

Most interesting dream snippet this week: seeing Winnie the Pooh sitting on a couch... as a war general. To paraphrase the internet: whut?

There's a 0 sitting over there, on his haunches. Phantom keeper of addition; passgate to the realm of depth: a + 0 = a, ∃(-a) s.t. a + -a = 0.

In the other world is 1, anchor to multiplication. She reaches down to guide the flipped-overs, bringing them back around to herself.

They are the guards of it, the fundamentals, false and true, on and off. But their lives are separate without the bridge, the twisting graphite, the unlit black of zeroed lights. The proof that writes over the breach, that lets 0 multiply. The breath of cognition that opens the door of addition to 1.

How do you get to 1, having only 0? Or to 0, having only 1? Is it possible? From no bit to every. Information! Where is the shining chain that says 0 and 1 stand next to each other, and we can walk there from here, the verb that connects the two universal nouns? The gymnastic flip-flop that says if we can do this thing, we can repeat over and over until everything exists? Zero and one leapfrogging over one another until they've flung out the universe, entire, of all the substance man can imagine and plenty more that he can't.

What made this pair, this first couple? What reached out into nonexistence to make them be: both at once, even if we only saw one of them at the beginning? (the other had to be there, you see, we just hadn't realized that yet)

1+0 = 1

(1)(0) = 0

Stacked and through, they appear in the pair. The bit, the pattern. Echoed only once more, by the faerie children, twinned of -1. Dwellers in half-existence. If the first bit was the form, the second is the magic. Through and stacked.

-i + i = 0

(-i)(i) = 1

But that is another story.

Reality check. [/mathgeeking]