After a ResourceScout meeting on Tuesday I'm in bed by 10:15 pm to catch up on sleep. Near midnight I'm having a weird dream where I'm near an Aunt's house in Flint, Michigan and wandering around. (It isn't clear if I live in my Aunt's old house or not.) There's a large black dog in the dream and the dog suddenly turns mean and wants to bite me. So I'm yelling at the dog and kicking at the dog to keep protect myself. And suddenly I'm in two worlds at once as Person N_V wakes me up to stop me from kicking him in bed. In that fraction of a second I was in the dream and in real life simultaneously. It is a bizarre feeling! And I start laughing and have to explain to Person N_V what the dream was about and the bizarre "dual world" feeling. I wonder if this is the parallel universe situation that string theory and quantum physics suggests is possible?
On Wednesday night, after a pretty good presentation on my part at Northrop Grumman during a design review, I go to play an ice hockey game. Though I lifted weights directly after work and felt fine, my lower back has started hurting as the evening wears on. During my second shift on the ice, as I'm chasing down the puck in our own zone, I feel the back "let go". And now there is serious pain. I finish the shift as I glide around the ice a bit, but when I leave the ice I tell the captain that I'm done for the night. We are shorthanded on players to begin with, so this is not good news for the team. By the time that I am home I can barely bend over. I take more Aleve and head for bed - trying to lay as still as possible. Person N_V has the stomach flu and I am currently "physically challenged" - we make a great pair right now!
After a painful day at Northrop Grumman I'm in bed early. A few hours after falling asleep I'm having another weird dream. This time somebody has broken into my house and I catch them in the bedroom as they are crawling along the floor trying to get away. So I start yelling and kicking at the burglar. And I wake up having kicked all of the blankets off and knowing that I was yelling in my sleep also. I'm back to sleep about 15 minutes later when I put the burglar episode behind me.
Saturday is spent cycling, doing the laundry, making a trip to Goodwill, and doing errands around the house with Person N_V. After Person N_V takes a late afternoon nap, we head for downtown Long Beach for dinner. At the Lebanese restaurant that we choose there is a belly dancer and Person V_N tips her $5 in appreciation for her effort. Afterwards we drive over to Club Asia because Person N_V as never been there. We are not in the club for more than 2 minutes when somebody comes up to Person N_V, taps him on the shoulders, and following the shocked realization and recognition, gives him a hug. It is Person N_V's piano teacher from 15 years ago (and they hadn't seen each other for 15 years)! Person N_V also runs into a number of other friends and acquaintances from Orange County and San Diego. We evetually leave and make it home to bed near 2:30 am on Sunday morning.