Okay, no need to be quite so literal.
The dream mechanism often gives insights into the workings of the brain. This morning I woke from a highly unusual dream.... I was part of a county rescue team, and we had been running a drill with specific instructions. (Meet Unit 6 at assigned rendezvous point; climb the ice; pick up Unit 8.)

No idea where this came from; I've never done such stuff in reality, and hadn't been reading anything similar. Completely invented by the mind for one purpose, which was stated explicitly at the end. After climbing the ice, I said to the other team members: "Well! This was a real confidence builder!" Okay, dream mechanism, I get it. No hinting or symbolism there. I've been short on confidence as the next courseware project finally starts.

Though the dream mechanism is trying to help, it has a poor sense of authentic dialogue. I don't say bright chirpy things like "Well! This was a real confidence builder!" More like "Hmp. Glad it's over." You'd think my own dream-generator would have paid more attention to my own speech patterns.

After that, the brain revealed another piece of its mechanism. We picked up Unit 8 and prepared to return to HQ. The team leader was having trouble with his car's starter. I could hear occasional high-pitched ringing sounds from the flywheel, indicative of poor lubrication. I said "Sounds like your ring gear."

Unlike the out-of-the-blue rescue squad plot, this was a direct answer to a question I had really been wondering about. Does tinnitus continue during sleep? And the answer is No. It's absent during sleep and returns intermittently just before waking, at the same time when the muscles get re-connected.



Ring Gear. Not quite appropriate car terminology. Though the starter pinion does engage a ring gear on the flywheel, the part normally called 'The Ring Gear' is in the differential. But it was appropriate terminology for tinnitus, which is Ringing in the ear.


= = = = =

Later: Figured out where Unit 6 and Unit 8 came from. I often watch episodes of the '50s cop show Highway Patrol before bedtime. At some point in each episode Mathews uses this map to spot the culprit's likely area of operation, and to assign the various units. The 6 and 8 are generally prominent in these scenes, though they're never actually mentioned. (The map itself was a rather sloppy fake; a close look at framecaps shows that it was based around Wheeler County, Oregon, with highway numbers and town names erased.)


  ¶ 3:17 AM