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I’ve been providing some more lists lately. I’ve been known to do that. This one stems from a random Twitter interaction.

Mine go back to high school. I'm 53.

— Rob Bodine, #Attorney by Day, #Nerd by Day & Night (@GSLLC) February 5, 2022

I have three recurring nightmares. I’m afraid to share them because someone like The Id DM might infer some deep-rooted emotional issues and have me committed, but I’m rolling the dice. 🙂

High School/College

Let’s start with the one mentioned in the tweet. This is one has the longest context. My high school and college days were pretty rough. I was always working at least 30 hours while going to school full time, and in college I was a physics student, which isn’t exactly easy. I should have graduated from high school after three years, but my parents wouldn’t allow it. I transferred to a public school for senior year because I was forced to pay for private high school, and I needed the break before college tuition kicked in. I wasn’t allowed to have close friends, so that part didn’t represent too much of a change for me, but my guidance counselor screwed up, which — long story, short — resulted in my spending my last semester in night school to take a required class that wasn’t offered in the second semester. Rather than graduate a year early, I was stuck in night school with people who had failed the class the prior semester.

At the University of Maryland, I was a full-time student majoring first in engineering, then moving to physics. I was working 30-40 hours per week (depending on the year), and I had to take the public bus to class, which took over an hour each way. It was a miserable experience. My law school days were just as busy, but a 28-year-old can handle that sort of thing much better than an 18-year-old. Ergo, I didn’t do so well at Maryland (2.6 GPA) and took 6 years to graduate. It also didn’t help that roadblocks were placed in my way. For example, my parents moved homes when I was in my last year of college. They were too cheap to pay for movers, so I had to do it almost single-handedly. That took time away from studying for an upcoming quantum mechanics exam. So, the day we finally finished, I sat down to study for the exam coming the next day, and my mother started yelling hysterically. She was angry that I hadn’t organized my room yet. Knowing that the yelling wouldn’t end until I did (making studying impossible anyway), I had to take that test without having a single minute to study for it. Graduating with a physics degree from a well-respected program (always within the top 15 since I attended in 1986) without being able to study is quite an achievement, but it wasn’t easy. My family never wanted me to succeed.

Now, all that may sound like the nightmare, but that was real. The recurring nightmare is that, in my last year of either high school or college, I realize that I miscalculated my credits. I’m always one class short of graduation. There’s always some vague notion that failure to graduate on time will cause logistical issues for me (e.g., starting a job, relocating), so I scramble to find a way to adjust that. The nightmare ends before I can resolve the issue. Considering how wonderful an experience law school was, it’s not surprising that this recurring nightmare never involves Chicago-Kent.

Being Chased by Xenomorphs

There’s no context here other than the fact that I’ve seen every movie with xenomorphs in it. They never quite catch me, but it’s always terrifying.

Missing a Flight

My habit has always been to be 15 minutes early for everything. I’m one of those types that considers that on time, and being on time is being late. So, I have this recurring nightmare of racing to, or within, the airport to make the my flight. The flight is always the last available flight that day, and much like the school dream, there’s always a vague notion of a need to make that flight. I’ve been to Seattle only twice, but that’s always where I am. It’s clearly because it’s a west coast city, so having to fly cross-country means you have to make your scheduled flight, but I don’t know why it isn’t some other city. I’ve missed a flight only once, and that was the airline’s fault. I came close only once because my connecting flight was on the other side of the airport, and I was walking with a cane due to my recently-developed arthritis. This isn’t a real world problem for me, but it’s apparently on my mind quite a bit.

I have issues, but so do all of you.

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