Elsewhere.

"He reflected how much, in the many years that had passed, he had defined himself by his difference from his friends, differences felt in that degree of detail which is obtained by continuous careful talking."

"Christianity spoils its believers as spoilt children are spoilt."

Iris Murdoch, The Book and the Brotherhood

Don't you hate it when people keep telling you their dreams?

Mum and I are at the beach, somewhere in Marin. She's lounging in a deckchair, wearing sunglasses, very glam. A plane swoops low over the city. Something falls from its belly. I stare, uncomprehending, until the penny drops. I pull Mum down and try to shield her body with mine. "Is this another one of your silly nuclear war nightmares?" she asks, irritated. The fire sweeps towards us across the water and burns the clothes off my back.

I wake up, terrified, and go to work. It turns out that the headquarters of Red Hat and Caldera have been destroyed by atomic bombs. My coworkers and I discuss it, bewildered: What was the point of that? Who will be next? Above our office, the bomber engines grow louder.

I wake up, terrified, and go to school. Russell Crowe tries to seduce me, but I'm more interested in his lasagne.

Third and final session of the first Moonbase University lecture series starts at 7pm tomorrow night, at Cellspace, 2050 Bryant Street, between 18th and 19th, San Francisco.

It's on genetic engineering! Celebrity guest is Eduardo Blumwald of UC Davis, inventor of a tomato plant that desalinates salted earth. $5 donation requested. All welcome. Fun will be had.

Dreams

The Bedrock Theater Company is doing a reading of Macbeth, with Debbie Leeding as Macbeth. I'm the director, and I urge her to underplay "sleep no more".

Sarah Michelle Gellar deliberately runs me over in her SUV.

My friends Jonathan and Recheng have a baby boy and name him Giaaq.

We drop off Nancy and Colin at Circus Circus in Reno, but as we're driving away I realize it wasn't Circus Circus at all. The sky turns black.