Dream different.

I went to sleep last night with an Apple iBook dozing lightly on my desk. When a second-generation iBook (the one that isn't shaped like a toilet-seat) goes to sleep, it slowly blinks a dulled white light to let you know that it isn't quite switched off. I fell asleep with this on and had a very nice dream.

Walking on a beach that stretches towards a rocky outcrop that is battered diffidently by breakers, I find myself stepping over sands that release growling, singing noises with every footstep. Like tiny slivers of guitar feedback. The waves themselves generate similar susurrations, although much more quietly and much more numerously. I find myself weighing my steps to make the most pleasing sounds.

The sky is dark, twilit, purple, although a low moon hangs above the horizon. The waves steam lightly as they break gently on the sands, and as I watch, its pale disc wavers gently as it hangs above the sea.

I walk a little away from the breakers and step into the low dunes, where grasses sprout from amongst the sighing sands. Some are short, familiar, stiff-bladed plants. Others resemble earthbound kelp forests, towering above me into the sky. Listening close, I find these are also singing softly in a low breeze. I think that this place must be dreadful if there are ever storms here.

But there isn't a storm. Just the low evening breeze, the still air warm on my skin. The breeze is cool, though, and I settle down against a dune with my hands on my knees. I pull off my jacket, bundle it up under my head and fall slowly asleep as I kick my feet into the sand, warming them where the dunes still retain the heat of the passing day.