Sleep to dream

Some of the best ideas come from seemingly no where. I am reading Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and having a string of very odd dreams. There is seemingly no connection between the two.

Last night the last thing I remember is thinking "Oh God, don't think about that. Now I'm going to have a dream like that." I don't even remember what it was. One of those creepy, unnecessary worst case scenarios that pop in my head on a daily basis I'm sure. I think I must be a nervous person. I have never really considered myself a nervous person, but maybe I am. Damn, that makes me nervous.

And it's not that talking to customer service representatives on the phone makes me feel physically ill (I'm getting better) or that I get embarrased when the machine won't read my Credit card (which is getting worse). What bothers me is that today I heard people yelling in the basement of the Shriver Center. They sounded angry and plentiful, as if two groups of rivals had unexpectantly met outside of the bookstore. They were screaming and I immediately imagined one of the phantom voices around the corner pulling a gun. My imagination never works like the movies, he doesn't wave around this pistol and demand things, threatening bystanders and proving a point; he pulls a gun to shoot. It's not symbolic, it's destructive.

The only consolation that comes to me when I think these things is that I know they are absurd, which allows me to become a hero, waiting for the man to turn his back and then kneeing him in the face, sending his gun sliding across the linoleum. I'm comforted by the fact that, if some day someone pulls a gun, I'll have run the scenario on the silver screen of my mind so many times that I won't be stunned into inaction. I will react. Unless, of course, this person is a customer service representative, in which case I might just get nauseous. And I wonder why I have a hard time sleeping.

But, like I said, the best of ideas sometimes poke up from the strangest of places. Not sleeping very well means you've got extra time. I spent some time thinking about my strange dreams, and reading about our valiant protagonist, the Invisible Man, outrunning the dream of his grandfather. This lead me to pick out some imagery that sometimes pops into my dreams and create a new shirt design. I am proud of the results, and it became the fastest selling item we have ever listed online. I wasn't timing it, but the first of the Aegri Somnia shirts sold in under 10 minutes.

That's a gratifying feeling, not only is someone interested enough to give you money, but they just can't wait. Sure it's a little ego-centric and self aggrandizing, but there's nothing quite like it to help me fight back all the worst case scenarios that float around, bumping the sides of my skull. It helps me sleep.