So, I had a dream last night that involved a bit of gaming. Surprise, surprise 😉 Me and some new friends, Ron and Mark, were playing a new RTS of some kind on PC. It seemed suspiciously “Star Wars”-like, but was called something completely different. The characters on the cover were suspiciously familiar, with a large and furry creature who wore a bandoleer that looked a lot like Chewbacca’s except that it crossed his chest twice.

My folks were there for a while, so was my bro and, of course, the lovely hapflygirl.

After it was all said and done, I headed over towards Ruthie’s pad. For some reason I just had to stop at the store. I don’t remember what I got. While in the checkout line, though, a girl in front of me who must have been in her teens touches my leg. She’s short and slender, with shoulder-length hair that’s down and quite drenched with sweat. She says, “Yup, you must have it.”

I say, “What?”

She replies, “The virus that’s going around.”

I have an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach as I ask, “What virus?”

At this point, she’s sitting in her mom’s cart, like a wee lil lass. I don’t know how she got there. She describes to me the symptoms: profuse sweat because of high fever and internal bleeding. Sounds like an extremely nasty and possibly deadly virus, almost like Ebola or something.

So, I get worried. I check out, pondering how sweaty I am and how I suddenly have an urgent need to see a doctor. Is that awful feeling in my stomach the result of bleeding? After checking out, I look behind me to find the girl standing behind me in line. She’s no longer sweaty, and her hair is up in a pony tail.

I disregard this oddity (it’s a dream, of course) and get into a van. I don’t know whose it is, but I have the keys so I start it up and head down the road. I notice that my clothes are drenched so I uncharacteristically change in the car en route to Ruthie’s 😮

It is at this point that I wake up to the clock radio and NPR.

Weird.