Had this strange long dream yesterday, even though the sleep was short (much thanks to Microelectronics ECE 342).

This is the first time (in some sense) I had a vivid dream that involves time travel, and guess what, it's a journey to the past!!! Wow how interesting. This time, I don't think it involves anyone I know except maybe Elly when we met randomly at this posh restaurant.

Anyway, this is how it goes, I think. Suddenly I was thrown into this big secured laboratory scene, and saw many people working hard at something. After some probing, I realized that everyone of them suffered the same fate as I did - unknowingly pushed through the portal of time and landed there. Among all the people there, there's this guy trying to lord over everyone in the laboratory just because he is the only one who can bring everyone back to the future. As usual, I refuse to bow to his tyranny, and even asked him this retarded question," So what if I step out of this laboratory? Outside this laboratory should be the present right?" Obviously the answer to it is no. But I had to prove it to myself, and gathered 2 other people, and we decided to leave the laboratory. We had to take the elevator down, so headed towards that. We passed this control room in the meantime, and for some reasons, tried to meddle with the controls in there. Then that guy came over and realized a blinking light which stands for intruders' escaping, ie us! And looking at that blinking light, he told us someone had already laid a trap in store for us on a lower level. He could even tell us what the trap is. It's a brand new car manufactured in 1996! Wow. We're 10 yrs behind time. How disappointing eh? I bet you were thinking we're in the 50s or the ancient times. Nope, you're wrong. Anyway, that's how I got to know which age I was in.

Eventually, somehow or other, we managed to leave the lab and we're outside, and we decided to walk randomly around. This is where Elly came into play, when we randomly approached this posh restaurant and bumped into her, for no apparent reason. We dined at that restaurant, together with that tyrant guy. I talked to him for a while, and realized he's actually quite sad. He was resolving some problems with his girl at a restaurant, and he's suddenly thrown into the past. And he's worried about what would happen when he returned. I mean, when you suddenly return to that situation, and you're not in the correct frame of mind, and doesn't know what's going on, you might just screw something up, and your girl would just walk out of you. That was what he's worried about. Well, I listened and felt sympathetic for that guy.

Soon after the meal, we parted and I again walked randomly in the streets. And I met this girl. She looked lost as well. After a short conversation, I realized that she's the girl that tyrant guy was talking about! She's also being thrown into Year 1996!!! So being eager help resolve the problems between them (as per my usual self), I asked her if she'd forgive him when she returned and she said she definitely would. So feeling happy with that answer, both of us headed back to the lab, hoping that the time machine is ready to bring us back to the future.

In the meantime, the tyrant guy already returned to the lab and everyone was working hard at building the time machine. This time, the guy had changed. He was no longer lording over everyone. Instead, he humbly teamed up with everyone there and finally got the machine started.

At this time, the camera head turned back to the girl and myself. While we approached the lab, we sense this strange aura of energy coming from the lab. At once, we knew that the time machine is ready to go anytime, so we rushed into the elevator and headed for the top floor! But alas! We were seconds too late! They were gone without us. We felt doomed at first. But after examining the time machine that's left there (the machine only opens up a portal to send people back), we figured that we could do the same. We tried a few times, but to no avail. Everytime we tried activating it, the energy went up for a while, but soon went dead. Finally, I recalled hearing the group shouting the magic word "Gasper!", followed by their favorite color. I have no idea what the hell that was, but i followed suit and shouted "Gasper! Blue!". And there comes the portal and we returned to where we came from. The dream ended there. But I know that the girl has forgiven him.

A pretty long and elaborate story huh? And guess what, it could squeeze in that 4 hrs that I had yesterday!!! Minus off the time to get down to the REM stage of the sleep cycle, it's probably just less than 2-3 hrs. haha~ It really felt quite long for a short rest. I don't even get such long dreams when I rest for 8 hrs!

Anyway, what's the message the dream's trying to convey? That I yearn for the past? That my favorite color is blue? That "Gasper" is a substitute for "Abracadabra"??? That I don't bow to authorities?? That I love going to posh restaurants? That something has to happen before a couple learns to cherish each other? That everyone should work as a team in order to achieve success together?

Yes, probably that's the message the dream's trying to pass. No man's an island, especially in a couple. I mean, no one's always up there at his/her peak all the time. Everyone needs someone to complement them when he/she is down. That's when the significant other will come and pull him/her up or help out with anything he/she could. I mean, if she is down, he cheers her up. Likewise, when he is down, she takes over. A couple is about a team, not about one leading the other. No one's better than the other. That's how a couple achieves success in life, or at least achieve an interesting, intimate and loving life. It doesn't work if one keeps all the troubling issues to oneself, because one cannot handle it alone. Inter-dependence and reliance is the key to a better love life for a couple. Therefore, it's only natural if a guy wants to cheer a girl up when she's down (or vice versa). That's the difference between love and friendship. It's one step further. A couple's lives are too well integrated into each other's that it's virtually impossible to extricate any one out. For friends, the sympathy probably extends to a lesser degree.

Well, that's probably why I look for someone whom I can depend on as a life partner. It's really hard these days to find someone you could really trust, trust that she'll support you when you fall, trust that she has the ability to pull you up, trust that she won't leave you at your lowest point, trust that she'd be able to do everything you entrusted her well. But once you found it, one can be sure that you wouldn't let go of it as such opportunities are just so rare to come by. Life would then be perfect if you find a partner like that. Which is why I devote so much effort looking for and pursuing such quality gems now. It's worth the effort. And so that also means once I found it, it means she's there. She deserves the quality control stamp and the quality praises.

Anyway, talking about complementing each other, reminds me about my buddy and I in bball. hehe~ that's the way it should go man. When one is out of fire, the other takes over the shooting. And in the end, we get a whole basketful of points and thrashing people in the end. That's the joy of it! Not only restricted to bball, but having a buddy like that.

Life is great if I have a life partner like that too, not necessarily in bball, but in the greater aspects of life. :)

PS: I think the dream's really a bad narration. Didn't really go back and revise it. haha~ Too bad. But it's really a dream. I didn't make that one up. :) And it surprisingly has nothing to do with ECE 342, unlike the times when I get so stressed that I even dream about classes at night! So probably the one that's causing the most stress isn't ECE 342... Maybe is the stress of having no one to "play bball" with me for the rest of my life. That then is stressful, as it's not easy to find a good "bball" partner. :)