I am in high school, and I'm dating a certain individual from my graduating class. It's interesting that my brain hooked me up with this dude. I considered him very attractive when I met him, but upon better exposure to his personality, he turned out to be undatable. He was nice enough, but egocentricity and a habit of pointing out how he went to the best parties (where he got sooooo drunk, high, etc.) made for boring conversation in the long run. Anyway, as a couple, we're the touchy-feely type, making out in the hallways and simpering sweet nothings at one another.

We're interrupted twice during the school day resultant to bomb threats. We dutifully file out of the classrooms on both occasions. I am, of course, obsessively hanging over my boyfriend. Along with our friends, we're conspiring to escape the campus while they're searching the building for explosives. Our efforts are in vain, however, and we're herded back inside to live through the monotony that is another day at high school.

I am at the movies, in the company two girls with whom I went to high school. For anonymity and simplicity, I'll refer to them as Girl #1 and Girl #2. Girl #1 is, strangely enough, the same bitchy woman who recently made another dream appearance (I honestly have no idea why she keeps popping up. Still haven't seen her since graduation.). Girl #2 was a friend of mine. We're in the theatre watching some slasher flick; it's one of those where the killer is a sadistic semi driver who stalks his unsuspecting victims along the fine highways of America, A.K.A. your basic, formulaic, lame horror movie.

When the credits finally roll, I am complaining about how crappy the movie was and commenting to the girls that we should've gone to something we knew would be decent. Girl #1 replies by telling me that I am too judgmental and conceited when it comes to film and basically tells me to lower my pompous standards. Girl #2 does what she always did in high school in similar situations. (She was a fairly popular girl who got along well with everyone. If Girl #2 and I were alone, we'd get along swimmingly. However, if she was in the presence of people who were of a higher high school caste than my own, she would defer to them and ignore me, for all intensive purposes. She was so fun to hang out with that she got away with this, and I remained friends with her.) Since Girl #1 is higher on the social food chain, Girl #2 backs her up and denigrates my taste in movies. I am shocked that she still acts in such an immature fashion, considering that high school rank hardly matters after graduation day. This behavior makes me angry, and more than a little bit sorry for her.

We leave the theatre and head to an appointment. I don't know where or why we're going until we arrive at Miller Park. We head out onto the field, joining the team, who are running some batting drills. I go over and chit-chat to Prince Fielder as he is working on his long ball. He's hitting homers left, right, and center while I'm talking him up about the season, etc. Girl #2 is talking J.J. Hardy's ear off, while Girl #1 can't get anyone to pay her any attention except Matt Wise. I laugh. Girl #2 and I leave for dinner with Prince and J.J., ditching Girl #1, who's still trying to find a better Brewers dinner date.

Several people are over at my Madison apartment to meet and play with Vito, my new kitten. For no apparent reason, one of my guests is this extremely arrogant bitch from my high school graduating class, whom I haven't seen since the graduation ceremony.

Vito's really excited, because I've purchased him canned food after a recommendation from the vet. He loves it, and gobbles up a whole small can in a matter of minutes. (I did buy Vito canned food yesterday. The vet recommended that I give him the extra fat and protein found in canned food, since he's got very little body fat at present.)

My guests and I are looking at pictures of my trip with Scott to Bonnaroo. I'm wearing these large sunglasses in most pictures, and my bitchy guest happens to comment on how hideous they are in a very passive-aggressive manner. She also lets me know that it's a good thing those sunglasses are now broken, since they must be an embarrassment to wear.

Soon after, Vito, who's been making weird gulping sounds for a minute or two after eating his meal, climbs onto the bitch's lap. Shortly thereafter, he upchucks all over her skirt. I am delighted; instant karma does exist. Thanks, Vito.

I'm heading into my old high school with Tiffany and my sister, Sarah. For some reason, school was optional for students today, but my mother's still forced me to attend. We head to our first class, which is in some area of science. Tiff informs me that since most of the class is absent today, we're supposed to be watching a video entitled "Epidemic" which focuses on the spread of multiple diseases, including the medieval plague, polio, ebola, and AIDS. This doesn't exactly forecast a happy-go-lucky start to the day, but when Mrs. Kemp (my favorite high school biology teacher) tries to put the tape into the VCR, it breaks immediately.

We put our chairs into a large circle, intent on discussing disease spread instead of watching the film. For some reason, Mrs. Goodman (the district RN) is acting as an aide to our class of about ten students. Interestingly, after the tape breaks, the class unanimously decides that we're not staying. I begin to leave the classroom and head home with Sarah. Instantly, Mrs. Goodman is on my tail, guilting me about my decision to leave school. She follows me all the way out to my car. I remember Sarah drove us home, because she unlocked and started the Prelude while I distracted Mrs. Goodman for the time being.

I am at my old high school, in the class of a much-loathed teacher. He's about to give us his lesson; this usually consists of his popping a tape about ancient Rome into the VCR and surfing espn.com for the next 50 minutes. (I can thank this jerk-off for everything I know about world history, which is little to nothing.) Instead of starting his lesson, however, he comes over to me with a self-satisfied look on his face. I know this can't be good. He hates me, as I am a freshman in a class of sophomores, and I am the one who usually corrects the factual errors that always end up on his exams.

He comes up to me and says, "You didn't tell me that you would be gone all of last week." This is true. I was visiting family in upstate New York, and I left without informing the school of my absence. I don't answer him. He lets me know that I can complete the homework I missed for half credit. It's obvious that this is a ploy to tank my grade in his class. He hardly ever assigns homework; when he does, the due dates are never enforced. As an added bonus, the whole class is now watching me in my embarrassment.

As he turns to walk away, I do the only thing I can think of. I flip him off. Lightning fast, he turns around and catches me in the act. I look at him coolly, turn away, and walk out of the room as he begins yelling.

Instead of walking to detention, I go home to my apartment (which is, inexplicably, my Madison digs) and pack a few things. I've got copies of my high school transcript, and I'm sick of this little town. I decide to go to high school somewhere else until I graduate. Leaving my friends, who are banging on my front door and imploring me not to leave, I sneak out the back and drive away quietly into the night.

(I wish I had actually done this to said high school teacher. Sadly, I just put up with his bullshit for a semester and moved on to better things.)

I am babysitting for a mother with at least six children. They are all about three or four, at the run-around-and-be-a-little-terror stage of their development. It's a total nightmare. I can't keep up with them, and I'm just chasing them all around the damn place, trying to curb the destruction they're causing. The best part is, the mother is around, as well; neither she nor I can handle them alone, but, together, we're trying to keep everything under control.

I remember that I took the group for a walk outside at night. We had kids chasing other kids into the middle of city streets, kids grabbing belongings of mine (e.g., purse, shoes) and hiding them outdoors, kids crying because another one slapped them. It was enough to force yours truly into a vow of chastity.

In addition, a woman I strongly disliked in my high school days was around, judging my capability to care for the gaggle of children. She didn't help me at all, but just threw advice my way. This made me angrier than I already was, as I could've really used an extra pair of hands at this point in the babysitting assignment (In lieu of some superfluous, judgmental advice.).

(I was babysitting in my dream because I babysat for Kori's nieces last night. Also, I happened to see aforementioned hated woman yesterday. She was around, pushing people's buttons, as usual. Aargh.)

I am cooking in a woman's kitchen. One of my friends had volunteered to help this woman, but he backed out at the last minute, leaving me to pick up the slack. The woman is cooking for a large family, and she is an Iranian-born Muslim, so I'm unfamiliar with all of the recipes and some of the ingredients. Trying to help this woman is a complete nightmare; she's so bossy and she likes to emphasize all of the things I'm doing wrong, all of the problems I'm having. However, when we serve the finished meal to a table of twenty-five, I feel pride ... and relief.

I only remember snippets of my other dreams last night, but:
- I am hanging out with a crowd from my old high school, and we are walking in Madison. Even though I know the city better than anyone, no one will listen to me when I try to give them better directions.
- A huge storm is brewing off in the distance. The clouds are making gorgeous formations -- everything looks incredible. I want to take pictures of the sky, but no one with me has brought a camera.
- I think I reinvented one of my fellow high school graduates as an incredibly attractive man. We were flirting nicely with each other, hanging out. It was fun.

I studied neuroscience all day yesterday. Consequently, most of my dreams revolved around the brain.

I dreamt that there was some sort of evil scientist out there doing research. I was observing him somehow. He would force his subjects to administer an electric shock to themselves. The shock looked painful, although it wasn't enough to knock anyone over when they pressed the button to receive it (All subjects were standing, all of the time). To motivate subjects to cooperate, the scientist threatened them with a much more powerful electric shock, which he could apply to them at any time. If a subject didn't administer a shock to themselves when they were ordered to, the scientist would give them a jolt capable of sending most subjects into violent seizures. Since all subjects were held in the same room, uncooperative ones were basically examples for the rest. Compliance was high with the scientist's requests, for the most part.

I also dreamt about neglect, which results from a lesion to the posterior parietal cortex. I was treating a patient with contralateral neglect; he hadn't dressed the left half of his body and described things monocularly. It was interesting.

The last dream I can recall involved some sort of high school project. For the project, each student was given a sample of marijuana. I don't know what the project entailed, but my dream picked up on the conclusion of the project, at which time each student was required to turn their pot sample back in to the teacher. Pretty much every student was coming up with ingenious ways to smuggle most of their pot sample out of the school. This was incredibly amusing. I guess it's always funny to outwit teachers when you're in high school.

Scott, Courtney, and I are going into a convenience store which we frequent. It's early in the morning, and we're surprised to find the front doors unlocked and wide open with no employees on duty inside. Nothing in the store seems out of place, but after a look at the employee schedule in the break room, we realize that our friend Hassett is supposed to be working right now. We quickly go to the front doors and deter potential customers from entering. A few minutes later, Hassett shows up. He apologizes, says he's been working far too much recently. Then he notices that the store's already unlocked, we're already inside. He's shocked, and after a second check of the employee schedule, we know the guilty party who failed to lock the doors to the store last night is none other than my 11th grade precalc teacher (Kori and I, and probably everyone else, just loathed this guy).

It's time to go to school, so I jump into the van with Mama, who's waiting in the store's parking lot. She drives me to my old high school. My first class is precalc, and I'm so thrilled that I can blackmail my precalc teacher. The next time he's a dick, I'll just threaten to bring the hammer down on this whole convenience store irresponsibility, and he's have to back the fuck off.