Sylvia's Journal

In a very vivid dream I was preparing for a prison stay. I had been charged with reckless flying and given a three-month prison sentence. After waking up the feelings stayed with me and remained surprisingly real for some time: dread and despondency with a little bit of anger and ‘this-is-not-fair’ sprinkled over them. In the dream I was trying to find out what my new reality would be like, who would be my ‘watcher’ or ‘handler’ and how I would spend my days. I was told I’d be working in a leather shop and punching out holes in thick leather with a heavy machine. My biggest concern was how to continue blogging. I had asked whether I could take my computer and how internet access was in the prison. Although I never got the answer I had already resigned myself to the fact that I would only be allowed pen and paper and thus would have to interrupt publishing my blog for 3 months. Waking up in my own bed and knowing that downstairs there was a computer that was connected to the internet, was like a gift. Here’s to freedom from prison and want!

Yesterday had two deadlines, a dentist visit and our organization’s holiday party on the menu. The dentist declared me good for another 6 months even though I had not flossed very much. High in the corner of each room a video monitor is mounted that plays, in an endless loop, all the cosmetic services the dentist and his staff can offer you, including some gross before-treatment shots. I suffered through that on my very first visit some years ago and ever since I have asked the staff to turn the thing off. Luckily customer is king and I don’t have to see it again. Much better is the postcard stuck on the wall with the picture of a chicken that says, “Chicken don’t have teeth. Don’t be a chicken.” I used to be one of those children for whom the postcard was designed. Brute force and later narcotics were used to allow the dentist access to my mouth and keep me from losing my teeth. I am OK now with dentists but I remember the agony and struggles each time I see that card.

I completed my assignments before they were due and late afternoon we dressed up to go to the office party that took place in a big chain hotel in Cambridge. Without the few grey haired old-timers like us, the average age at the party would have been 25. I recognized many partners and significant others from facebook profile pictures or photo albums even though they looked more composed and serious than they do on those pictures (often wild poses, of the ‘tongue- out-of-mouth, cross-eyed’ and ‘beer-bottle-in-hand’ variety). I also met the person whose name regularly appears on my facebook page as ‘someone you might also like to become friends with’ Now we will. It was a joyful event with much dancing, too many nice deserts and a champagne toast to everyone’s hard work.

And now it’s time to start planning for a long cross country trip South or West into New York State, depending on the direction of winds and cloud cover, that should keep me, Bill and a friend busy for most of the day.