The earlier dream also had mountaintops and cherry blossoms.

I dreamed about a yakuza syndicate and a gang of street kids fighting for territory inside a mall. When I (on the side of the street kids), went a little too far, I was sent to lay low with some friends at a nature preserve full of snakes and tigers. When a hurricane began to bear down on us, and retreat was cut off by approaching yakuza, I first tried to text for help; but then teamed up with the generous older couple who ran the preserve (and had their own past full of sordid secrets). After we barricaded the door, I woke up.

 

There was also an earlier dream, fiilled with metaphysics and cyberspace travel, but the details elude me.

Having an amazing day.

Apparently the Department of Higher Education has a "we'll take what we can get" attitude toward defaulted student loans, rather than the previous loan company's "you must pay us all or nothing, a dollar less than the stated payments counts as nothing" attitude, which caused the default in the first place.

I had been dreading the call to the DHE to make payment arrangements, and nerving myself up to it, rallying mental energy for it, for weeks now.  It's probably one of the major sources of the funk I've gone into and out of this last month.

I negotiated a 66-80% reduction in my loan payments in under two minutes with no difficulties.  Hallelujah.

Of course, that means right now my brain is running rampant with adrenalin.  All that energy I had gathered for the epic struggle I anticipated is still there, but now it has nowhere to go.

Today perhaps will be a productive day, and I will get SOME OF THE THINGS done.  ALL THE THINGS would be nice, and I'll make an effort, but I don't want to overcommit and dunk myself back into a depressive slump if I fail to get ALL THE THINGS done.  SOME OF THE THINGS is a safer goal.  3-5 LARP character sheets, 2-4 job applications, possibly a book review post.  Maybe a clove cigarette.

Yes, my official to-do list has a clove cigarette on it.