SPLAT

Sometimes late at night when I wake up befuddled and groggy, when dreams influence and mingle with conscious thought, my mind struggles to find its footing. Sometimes I am entertained by the nocturnal wanderings of my mind and at other times I am profoundly relieved they are not real. I think few people are truly entertained by their own thoughts. One's thoughts come from within and entertainment typically comes from without, but dreams are something different. Though dreams are a product of my mind and come from within, they have the potential to surprise and captivate me as though coming from without. I don't feel that I am controlling or guiding them. It is that sense of being swept up, and not being the author, that lends joy to a good dream and fear to a nightmare. A good dream, the sort that makes you wish you had not woken up, is excellent entertainment, but perhaps the greater joy is found in waking from a nightmare and realizing none of it was real.