I guess I'm going to have to quit reading thread updates after 9pm. Let me explain.
[Long post, but should be worth it....]
So, after finishing up some work in the early AM, I proceeded though my lists of "regularly-visited" websites to catch the latest "news," ultimately ending the night by reading the latest additions to the "Good Creek closing" thread. Hit the hay, and, the worst happens - I start having nightmares about a local independent restaurant closing. I won't name the restaurant (not really pertinent to the story), but I will say 1) it was very clear which restaurant it was 2) although the layout of the restaurant was much different in my nightmare.
It was really the strangest nightmare. I find out about the closing when I go to pick up a paycheck from the manager*. It's a one-day paycheck as I was hired as a one-time, fill-in server (which makes no sense). I try to pick up another shift while I am there, but the manager tells me (the manager is a female which is not the case at this "actual" family restaurant), "I'd love to, but we can't even cover payroll. Tonight's our last night." I start begging with her, not for a shift, but to keep the place open along the lines of, "What if I can fill the place tonight?" As expected, her reply is, "But what about tomorrow, and the day after? There's no hope**, this is just the way it's going to be." My memory of the nightmare gets a little fuzzy at this point - all the prior "events" happened before I woke up around 2:30. One clear memory I have of the continuation of the nightmare after returning to sleep is that all the local restaurant "big wigs" - whomever they may be - came in for one final meal, and the manager got me a spot at their table. Although I remember the table conversation addressing "the importance to support local establishments," I can't remember any of the dreamed specifics.
So I guess it was a nightmare with a possible happy conclusion. That local place still closed, but there seemed to be hope on the horizon.
Any dream interpreters out there? I must admit that I've always been a notoriously poor sleeper, starting with a childhood that not only featured regular nightmares, sleep walking, and sleep taking, but also minor sleep terror occurrences. One of the rules when I was growing up was that I was not allowed to watch the news before going to sleep, as the "most horrific news story of the day" always found its way into my sleeping semi-conscious. Things have improved with age, but, alas, that horrific news story of the [week] still found its way into my sleep.
Hope that story is entertaining. It might hit to close to home for some of you.
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Footnotes:
* The weirdest part of the whole dream was that I let myself into the establishment by unlocking the doors -which meant I had a key to the place after serving one shift. Seriously?
** I think it was the combination of Louisvillehotbytes and economic news stories that triggered all this.