Had trouble sleeping again last night … I dreamt of barbed wire and poison ivy, forced to choose which I would walk upon, with a pair of exultant comrades who found the game exhilarating and life-affirming. I awoke with vivid memories of an old girlfriend from my pre-drinking age era whose virginity I took reluctantly (at her request) … somehow one recollection led to another, skipping across the years and a hundred forgotten co-workers and acquaintances, a flood of anecdotes dislodged at two AM to threaten my rest. It took a while to relax, thank God for my fortune and count to one hundred before I could drift off again into puzzling dreams of murky messages.