There are a number of highly stressful things going on in my life right now. Luckily, most of them will be over by this time next week. Unfortunately, stress often begets stress. Because of the stress, I haven't been sleeping much. Maybe four hours or so a night for the last five nights. Not good. It makes the days very difficult. Can't concentrate, screwing up simple things, etc.

Good thing about stress, though, is that I've lost 6 lbs. or so since Friday. Not even trying.

Anyway, in addition to not being able to fall asleep and waking up every hour or so, I'm also being plagued by nightmares. No zombie dreams, though. Maybe those are for everyday, ordinary stress.

A couple of nights ago, I dreamt I was in a trailer park out in the middle of the woods. I was being stalked by a serial killer, a dark, shadowy figure. He trapped me in a trailer with no power and came after me with a large butcher's knife. Right before he stabbed me, I got my first clear look at his face . . . it was David. Now where the hell that came from, I have no idea. David is one of the sweetest, most soft-spoken people that I know (his insatiable desire to become Emperor of the World notwithstanding). His is not a face that springs to mind when I hear about grisly killings.

And yet, there he was, knife in hand, face twisted with rage, ready to kill me.

Luckily for 'dream me', I was able to talk him out of it. But the disturbing thing is how I did it. I convinced him to team up with me. He could chase me around threatening to kill me. Then I would run up to a house and beg the owner to take me in to save me from the killer. Then when the owner of the house wasn't looking, I'd unlock the door and let David in to kill him. This went on for a while, then I woke up.

Disturbing. I like to think that even in my dreams, my moral compass still points in the right direction. I don't think I'm the kind of person who would sacrifice others just to save myself.

I should probably just go see 'Dawn of the Dead' and get back to good, old-fashioned zombie dreams. At least I never join them in their rampage to eat the flesh of the living.