Who Am I in My Dreams?

I have already forgotten my dream from last night, but this story is not about that dream. It is about who I am or who I become when I fall asleep each night.

Granted I have plenty of trouble remembering most of the time. Many times I am simply myself in usual or unusual situations, like going on a road trip with people I know. Few times I may not even be in the dream. Sometimes I am watching from that third person floating-over-people point of view. But sometimes I am someone whom I aspire to be.

My dream Saturday night/Sunday morning - while I don't recall the most of it including the plot line - involved me being a pilot. Well... not an experienced or even a trained pilot, but I was flying a plane. I was a co-pilot in a commercial jet. The pilot was trying to teach me how to operate the controls. Most of the buttons were labeled with labels from buttons that I have actually seen before, like on a laptop keyboard or a cash register... or an arcade game.
At some point - I think after the first landing - the pilot skipped town. I was left to pilot the plane, AND I was given a new apprentice to teach how to fly it. Needless to say, I did try to teach him, but we mostly ended up doing aerial acrobatics in our commercial airliner and landing (safely) in the water while we played with the buttons.

I often become a "me" that I daydream of being: a pilot, an undercover agent, a chef. These are all on my list of back up jobs in case I fail as an artist or filmmaker.
But what bothers me is that I have never in my dreams been a baseball player or an astronaut. These are at the top of my list. In fact, I would give up (at least for some time) being who I am now to be play baseball or go into space. But I do not dream at night of being these "me"s. I wonder if this is because actually becoming either of these seems so far-fetched or out of reach. I could be a chef quite easily, but how much closer I am to becoming a secret agent, or a pilot.

Knowing that chances are slim that I may ever play in the Major Leagues or leave the Earth's atmosphere, I would love to at least dream that I can.... even if it's just once.

I read the news like it's my job.

Really. I wake up every morning and feel like my day cannot begin without checking up on the world. Perhaps I need to make sure it is taking good care of itself. Do I need to save the day? Or do I just need to know it is safe to go outside?

The News is like my 'Good Morning' cup of coffee... although I hate coffee. It's usually a glass of milk I can't go without. Erases that parched feeling, you know.

In the morning, I always look at (in this order):
** the "Headlines" RSS feed in the Firefox toolbar - usually links to BBC
** CNN.com for straight-to-the-point fact-based news
** NYTimes.com for creative stories I more enjoy reading - if I were biased this is all I would read
** ESPN.com for sports news obviously
Then I link or search to wherever the stories I have read might lead me. Whether it's some new technology, a big game recap, discoveries in space or on Mars (my favorite,) or - what I expect myself to keep up on - art/film news, I always seem to look for something extra to read... especially if what I've read so far seems boring. I wouldn't want to start my day off feeling like the world is going to be boring today.

Today's topics of interest:
** a plastic plane - well... mostly
** the case of the missing lake
** “The Case Against Perfection”
** homeruns bound for "the drink" - I have no idea where I got that from. "The drink?"
** and the biggest annual bicycle race in the world

Naturally I am drawn to the articles with the most photos, or sometimes the prettiest photos. Some of which are just photo essays. Others are friends' blogs, especially when they keep them up-to-date. And sometimes... sometimes it's the facebook that has the best photos of the day. I usually don't even read a story if there isn't at least one picture.

Movie trailers are good to keep up on. I have a special place in my heart for talking robots. Not the lame-ass fictional kind, but more realistic ones.

And often enough, I have a soft place.

Oh. And I always check the weather too. Ann Arbor's, not Westland's, regardless of where I'll be. Dangerously hot today...

I think I'll go play some basketball before I get back to job searching... and law fighting.