Whoa, it's Wednesday already

I sure am glad yesterday has passed into the dust bin of history.  Those are the type of days we'd all like to forget.  I had a really weird dream last night and I'll tell ya 'bout it a little later in this post.

First, the big news is that my upcoming day at the office holds potential for a wild & whacky Wednesday.
I got a call from Debby yesterday a little after 5 pm.  She was so kind as to not call earlier since she correctly assumed I wasn't in any mood to take a call from anyone due to the dental damage.  We have this volunteer mileage reimbursement program. We get about $5400 from United Way each year to help defray a teeny, tiny bit of their gas expense.  The maximum one person can get each month is $21.  Like I said, it's a tiny amount in this day and day.  We actually spend a little more than $5400 each year on this program and lots of people have become somewhat dependent on that little check.  You know how it is with the "fixed income" crowd.

Well, anyway, Debby got a call from one of our reimbursement recipients yesterday.  The kind Little Old Lady told Debby the check had BOUNCED!  WHAT?  This is akin to a 7.0 earthquake in my office.  Debby did as much damage control as possible trying to bird dog down the cause of this trainwreck.  She couldn't find the reason or ascertain the extent of the collateral damage either.  So, we talked about making a plan for Wednesday to hit the ground running (fast & far!) and how we should attempt to retake the high ground and what kind of defensive perimeter to establish and how to handle the casualties and so forth.
There's only two scenarios: A) It was a flukey bank error affecting only one person, or B) ALL of our recipients had the checks bounced.  Debby and I decided to "Prepare for Option B and Pray for Option A."
We're going to begin calling all of them at 9 am sharp this morning.  Susun's volunteered to woman a phone, too.  We figure that if it is Option B, then we can at least look a little "pro-active" while we hunker in our bunker for the inevitable flack we are going to get over this faux paus.  WOW--what shocking news!  (Bear in mind my employer currently has an annual budget of roughly $14-million with roughly 140 employees.)

OK, let's move along to something a little more cheerful (HA!) but probably related to the above. SO, I had this dream last night, probably about 3 am, plus or minus.  It was one of those dreams that I had to forcibly shake myself awake to escape from.  It was so weird I woke up Susun and told her about it.  I will recount her immediate interpretation after telling you about the dream.

OK, so somehow we wound up back down in Old Mexico.  We were in this coastal village.  It wasn't Rocky Point.  It was a very primitive village, very poor.  The houses were Spanish colonial style but small and decrepit.  Somehow we were in an old house on a barren corner lot.  Inside, we sat talking on the dirty tile floor with our neighbor and friend Gary W.  He was showing us some maps and some GPS coordinates and we were talking softly about something.  It was dark when we finished out talk and I asked Susun if I could take her picture outside next to this rock retaining wall and this knarled tree.  So, while I am setting up the shot and holding the camera up, a voice comes out of the camera and the voice is calling my name, "John?  John? Is that you?"  Well, at first, I thought it was simply a voice chip in the camera that I had somehow inadvertently activated.  You know how it is with all the stupid bells and whistles they put in cameras these days.  Well, it wasn't.  It was Tom & Sharon from Rocky Point.  They were a couple we met there in the 1990's.  They came to Palmar RV Park every winter and were considered Old Timers there.  Tom was a classic Gadget Guy.  Well, now, he had bought some fancy radio gear that let him talk via radio to anyone's digital camera, no matter how old the camera.  After I got over the shock, I started carrying on this lively conversation with Tom & Sharon through this freaking digital camera.  I had to talk into the lens to get it to work right.  People were looking at me in the dim dark of night like I had lost my mind.  Anyway, Tom & Sharon & I reviewed all sorts of specific details about our friendship.  They had continued to go to Palmar through all these years and it was now their 15th consecutive season visiting there.
Meanwhile, I heard this huge commotion and rumbling and high pitched squealing coming from behind the house and I saw people running and they were running fast and very scared and they yelled at us in English, "Get out of the way, go inside, the bulls are coming."  Well, I had forgot that it was the annual running of The Midnight Bull, a event far more brutal and fatal than the daylight running of the bulls over in Pamplona, Spain.
I went into instant panic and began screaming at Susun to get inside before she would be trampled to death as teh first of the young bulls came roaring around the corner.  I reached out and grabbed her hand and pulled her inside just in the nick of time.  Well, the thing that made this running of the bulls different were the howler monkeys and the jackasses.  In front of the bulls ran a gang of howler monkeys and a few exceptionally fleet-of-foot jackasses.  The howler monkeys were chasing Susun into the house and trying to get inside, too.  I was kicking them away as fast as I could but one of them succeeded in getting inside and then immediately proceeded to scamper up my back and put a choke hold on my throat with 3 legs while using a foreleg to begin pulling my hair out by the monkey fistful.  I was screaming for Susun to get the freaking monkey off my back and yelling at her to stab the sumbeach or something.  meanwhile, Tom & Sharon were still tuned in on the digital camera and they were laughing like circus clowns.  Meanwhile, this freaking dam jackass was lying below my on its back kicking the crap out of me with is forelegs and laughing like a hyena, too.  Outside, a thunderous infinite herd of giant bulls streamed past in an earth-shaking stampede.  Clouds of thick dust stung my eyes and clogged my throat.  Between the freaking howler monkey and the dust and the jackass, all I could do was scream for help.  That's when I shook myself awake and I was actually sweating in bed.  I could even feel soreness from the legs of the monkey around my throat.  WOW, was I glad to be out of that dream or WHAT?  YES!

So, I woke up Susun and told her the dream and she matter-of-factly mumbled, "Oh, that's just your job, John," and rolled over and went back to sleep.  Ouch, she was right and I laid there thinking about it for maybe an hour before I, too, could get back to sleep.  Sometimes dreams really put it into perspective like nothing else can. It was one of those nights.

Well, on those two cheery notes, I will leave my Loyal Blog Readers to hopefully enjoy another fine day in Paradise.  May Cheers to you!  Carry on.  jp