Like a child in grown-up's clothing

I had a doctor's appointment this morning, and since it was at 9 AM on my side of town, I was looking forward to sleeping in a little bit. Because it was a slight change in my routine, though, it only made sense that I would have anxiety dreams about missing it, which in turn made me almost actually miss it. I woke up from the last dream at ten past eight, and realized that I'd inadvertently set the alarm for 7:30 PM. Oops.

Interwoven with that dream, I also dreamed that I was hours away from getting married when I realized that I didn't want to get married to my soon-to-be husband. It was nothing personal - I didn't even know who he was. He was just some unnamed, blank-faced figment of my imagination. In my dreams, I had to wait for his family to come in from afar, then rush to my doctor's appointment, then find him before the start of the ceremony so I could end things like a responsible human being who'd just spent $30,000 on a party.

My subconscious has apparently been working overtime in adulthood lately, as the night before I'd dreamed that I was changing a poopy diaper. There was a baby attached to the diaper but it wasn't mine and I didn't seem concerned with whose it was or why I was charged with changing it. No, I have just never actually changed a diaper before - ever - and in my dream I was primarily concerned with whether or not I was doing it right. I remember being proud of myself that I'd managed to do so, until I woke up and really thought about the process, at which point I remembered that I'd never actually removed the baby's clothes and instead just dabbed at the mess on the outside of the pajamas. Also, oops.

If I had babies on the brain, it was for a few reasons. For one, that day, I had been shopping for gifts for my friends' kids - including two newborns - who I am going to see next week. Then, I came home and read that Dooce had had her baby, so I spent the late afternoon checking for updates on the name and details. Then, finally, in the evening, after exhausting my television rerun options, I ended up engrossed in two hours of this show on the Discovery Health Network: I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant. What?

Have you watched that show? Are you aware that it is not only possible to go through nine months of pregnancy without knowing it, but that it is seemingly a common occurance in certain parts of the south and midwest? I watched, transfixed, the stories of young mothers having babies in toilets, on the living room floor, and in one case, a dirty bathroom in a Wisconsin camping ground. Throughout the episodes, both the narrator and the mother explain very clearly and convincingly how this phenomenon is possible. The women have irregular periods; they are unusually skinny or extremely overweight; they never develop any symptoms other than an odd craving for pickles or unusually swollen feet. The next thing you know, they go to bed and wake up to the baby crowning.

No wonder I've been having nightmares.

The baby dream, by the way, had nothing to do with my doctor's appointment this morning. Let me be perfectly clear.

Speaking of kids, I volunteered for my local alumni organization this past weekend, helping them out with an event that welcomes new graduates to the LA area. I was there to talk about my career in PR, and answer any questions from students looking to get into the same field. The event as a whole, though, focused on what it's like to move to Los Angeles, and I'd say at least half the questions from this post came up. "How to move to LA" is still the single most popular search term that brings readers to this blog, responsible for a good 5% of traffic, and about 50% of new visitors. So, I'm thinking that there is a legitimate market for this, and who's a better person than me to sit down and write the book? Right? Right! So, do you know anyone who wants to give me a book deal? Right...

The night before the alumni event, I spent with another friend who is moving here from the east coast. She's moving to San Diego, but we're in similar fields, so many of the same rules apply. As I was throwing out suggestions for networking, I realized, I may have found my niche.

When I'm not helping people move to the west coast, though, I am making my own plans for an upcoming trip back east. I'll post later this week with details, but in the meantime, can you suggest any good airplane/summer vacation reading? I don't mean to hijack (ooh, bad choice of words, there) Hilary's What Have You Read posts, but I am in need of some engrossing, yet lightweight, reading material.

Preferably not having to do with babies, diapers, or doctors. Thanks.