I've had a recurring waking fantasy for the past several weeks. Don't worry (or my apologies to you): it's not that kind of fantasy, well, not really...

I picture myself in a large, empty dance studio, ballroom, or other expansive interior space with a wooden floor. I'm with a partner who really knows how to waltz, and we're completely alone. I'm talking haven't-seen-anyone-all-day, Andromeda Strain kind of alone. I have a small boom box, but when I turn it on it sounds like the music is coming from the very walls, all of them, acoustically perfect.

We waltz, we dance crossstep, the kind of dancing where you communicate more with your partner silently than you could in words.

The walls in the space are non-descript, the floor doesn't creak. There are no cars driving by, jets overhead, neighbors to worry about waking, or even any direct illumination. The only textured sensory inputs are the music and the dance. It's like I'm a barrel filling up with something and that dance is the only way to pull the cork from the bottom to release the pressure.

Augh. Stress is getting to me, and I haven't been to the Starry Plough in almost three months (not that the above kind of dance could be found there...)