I dream a lot. When I'm asleep mostly, though if you pass by my desk shortly after lunch you may see a blank look on my face which indicates I'm daydreaming (or I have a Twinkee stuck in my esophagus--either possibility is just as likely). Most of the times my dreams are pitifully mundane (seriously, we're dreaming about watching TV now?) and often they pull from a roster of typical reoccurring dreams:

Kato is back in school but doesn't know his class schedule.

Kato is in his underwear in a public place.

Kato is back in school and doesn't know his underwear.

You get the idea. But the other night I had one of my more interesting dreams. I was sitting in the lunch room of my old high school ("The Commons" as it was called), but unlike my usual anxiety dreams, I wasn't confused about where to go when the bell rang or afraid that I was going to fail the final because I hadn't been to any classes. No, the setting was considerably more relaxed. I think it was early morning, before the first bell, before we could go to our lockers and homeroom.

Other than being a walk down memory lane, this dream wouldn't have been particularly notable except for who I found sitting in the lunch room with me. As I sat there waiting for the bell, the radio or intercom was on, maybe something akin to "morning announcements". Mixed in was a little ad encouraging people to check out Galacticast. At hearing mention of the sci-fi parody web series I gave an appropriate "Woo!" to show my support. Wouldn't you know it, I looked over to one of the other tables in the sparsely-populated lunch room to find none other than Casey McKinnon sitting there.

Dreams are awesome, aren't they?

She looked up when she heard my cat call and gave me a smile of appreciation. Noticing the attention, and ever the smart ass, I added with a wry grin, "Of course, it's no Mahalo Daily...." and gestured to another table. There sat Veronica Belmont, diligently studying. Casey put her hands on her hips and frowned. I don't think Veronica even heard.

At this point it would be prudent for me to point out something in case Misses Belmont or McKinnon (or, more importantly, Misters Block or Jahchan) read this. This was a perfectly G-Rated dream. It didn't break out into a spontaneous sexy pillow fight or anything (I don't have those kinds of dreams--like I said, my subconscious fantasizes about television and sitting on the couch, apparently). But honestly, dreaming that I'm hanging out with some of my tech/geek/internet idols is way better than some tawdry adolescent romp.

(Not that there's anything wrong with adolescent romps).

Of course, this whole situation seemed perfectly natural to me, even though I clearly didn't attend school with either of these internet video entrepreneurs. I don't remember much else, other than the fact that I then proceeded to get up and go over to talk to them both about video production, an act which clearly dictated this was fantasy and not a flashback. The real high school Kato would probably have taken all morning to get up the courage to go over and talk, started walking toward the table of girls, only to chicken out when one of them looked up. HS Kato would abort the mission, making a bee-line for the vending machine to grab a "Chilly Willy" or a Chocolate Milk, adjusting his glasses uncomfortably and shuffling his feet as he pretended it was his destination all along.

So, anyway, I apparently fantasize that I went to school with well-known contemporary geeks. I wish the dream had gone on longer (or that I could remember it better)--I wanted to take a look around to see who else might have been sitting in my fantasy lunch room. Maybe Gabe and Tycho working on a comic in the corner? Or Randall Munroe sitting nearby finishing his math homework while doodling in the margins? Would upperclassmen Ze Frank and Jonathan Coulton be hamming it up at the "Senior Table"? I bet Molly Wood and Tom Merritt would be delivering the morning announcements. Of course who would notice all of this when you're tasked with determining the best way to relieve an Orc of his pie in Wil Wheaton's D&D game.

*tingle* Now that would have been an awesome high school experience. Never mind the fact that the small sampling of attendees presented here vary in age by as much as fifteen years. Never mind that they live in different parts of the country and it would take some crazy Steven King-esque "A bunch of strangers somehow wind up together" type of fluke to make it happen. It would still be awesome. It would be Eden. It would be Utopia. It would be my own Unimatrix Zero.

We can all dream, can't we?