The SATs, Fully Clothed

I rarely remember my dreams.  I either enjoy the sleep of a man with an untroubled mind or it's the sleep of the damned.  I awoke this morning right in the middle of a dream that dominates my subconscious mind - I experience few variations to this theme, and unfortunately it's not that kind of dream.

I was in a entry hall of some kind of school or university, preparing to take the SATs, a college preparatory test common in The States.  I felt unprepared and vaguely anxious about it. I wasn't sure where to go or if the test had already started.  I entered the large testing room and took a seat at a high table, but my chair was of a standard height so the table hit me about chin-high.  I was too self-conscious to move right away but eventually found myself a different seat.  I was startled to discover that I hadn't brought my reading glasses so I couldn't see the test paper.  I squinted as best as I could.  

Each question was followed by an area to mark an answer.  There was a great deal of variation here - some of the spaces were grayed out, some were in different languages, and other such bullshit.  I had heard that the test had been modified to make it more current and to remove any cultural or class bias that might have existed in the old test.  Fair enough, I thought, until I saw that the first question asked me to identify the boy band associated with a particular pop song.  It went this way for a while.  I felt like I was slogging through thick mud.

Control or Out of Control - it's all a variation of that for me.

I was not naked, in case you're wondering.

We went to Joan Miro Park today, a park in honor of Joan Miro, the famous sculptor.  It was a highlighted area of Barcelona.  There was precisely one huge sculpture there.  It wasn't a memorable park.

I watched a baseball game with Barcelona K last night.  It was weird, being 6 hours ahead of the actual time where the game was being played.

"Has it been good speaking English tonight?" I asked.

He sighed.  "You don't know how great it is watching this game and not having to explain every single thing that's going on."

Try it.  Try explaining a simple rule from your favorite sport to someone who has no idea what the rules are.  It's surprisingly hard.