B E B E R E

No really awful dreams that I can remember last night, though I did wake up choking and feeling desperate a couple times. Saturday night? Peacefully enough after a movie and a glass of wine. The neighbors had their first beer blast of the season, so I needed to take flight and rely on the kindness of friends.

Friday night, however, destroyed me. I think there was all of three hours of good sleep. The rest of the time was spent being pursued by a gang of bullies. Honestly: I did nothing to initiate the assault! Some guy grabbed me by the neck in my favorite Chinese restaurant, so I repulsed him and sent him tumbling down the stairs out the front door. It wasn't that I hit him hard, or even threw him. Just used leverage. Actually, it was kind of surprising to see how easily he gave way and crumpled to the ground. As his girlfriend left with him, I told her that she'd do well to get rid of him.

Didn't think too much about this incident until later, when I saw a group assembling in the woods out behind the restaurant. Told my partner that we'd best be heading out while it was light, as I thought that there might be trouble. My friend likes to dawdle and doesn't often take my advice seriously, so I was a bit nervous. We found a group to tag on to, but to no effect: a couple men with kitchen knives were waiting for us. Somehow, one of the men got to my friend and held him. I remember thinking hard on what to do - not only had we gotten into this pickle, but I knew that my friend was the last person to be able to fight himself out. So, what should I do? Try to overpower the attacker and risk hurting my friend? Go back with them to whereever they wanted to take me, as they wanted me and not him? At this point, I thought: Bev, you don't need to deal with this. It's only a dream. Wake up.

Woke up, but at around five in the morning (after going to bed late). Did not want to go back to sleep and possibly relive this awful scene. Made a valiant effort to be functional all day, but ended up falling asleep after lunchtime and waking up in the early evening.


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Only tangentially related, but interesting nonetheless: Over at RLC's site, he's posted on people studying martial arts starting fights. I'd never do that, no one I know who studies or teaches would ever do a thing like that. The only battle won is one that hasn't been fought. That's not to say that you shouldn't defend yourself, however. Picking fights is just a bad idea borne of emotional imbalance, poor training or a combination of those two.