The birds are already up as I boot my trusty Ubuntu. It is still dark but the air is filled with bright, morning song. Each feathered genus with their own unique melody. In parts of Africa it is common for people to gather and sing before work. I like to sing. A person asked me if I could teach them talent. I said, no, but as a human we are all given a voice, the earliest musical tool so perhaps I am wrong.  Last night I dreamed of singing. I was at a Rob Halford concert, only he was also playing guitar. I was asked to come on stage with some other men to sing a Judas Priest song but when the tune began, I did not know any of the words. Humiliated, I left the stage, went to my seat and grabbed my things for a hasty exit from the venue but there was more than I could carry and I labored to collect everything in vain. 

This is a recurring theme in my nightmares, I am in a hurry to go somewhere but I can’t collect all of my possessions before I can leave. No matter how hard I try, I keep finding more junk to pack up. It is okay to lay awake in bed. My other theme is trying to punch my father in the face but my blows have no force. At one point in my Halford dream, I had a big cardboard box I was trying to fill with surgical gauze. Frustrated, I began hitting it like a boxer at the heavy bag, wishing a heavy weight would do the same to me until my ribs were shattered and I could die of internal wounds. 

It is not okay to lie awake in bed. It is bad grammar or you are not be facing reality. Either way, don’t do it. 

It will be hot in Houston today. It will likely be hot in Africa, too. It is gnat season, they have have descended. Clouds swarm for the sole purpose of annoying humans. Maybe they come to save their own kind from animal testing. In biology lab, we observed fruit flies beneath a microscope as we eye-dropped different chemicals into their environment. The results were not astounding. Caffeine made them jumpy, barbiturates made them sleepy or dead, it was hard to tell even with a microscope. I enjoy coffee and the chemicals inside. I often wish for a barbiturate whenever I am lying or laying awake. 

There are some terrible bugs in Africa. I know of a fly whose bite can cause blindness. I learned about this at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Georgia. The former commander and chief started a charitable organization to help those people suffering from the malady and research treatments for the disease. 

If you remove the G, the word is short for Nathaniel. I know a Nat but never see him anymore. I would have heard by now if he has passed on but I suspect Nat considers  people to be as annoying as gnats and so stays away from us. Every time I attempt to write free form without stopping like Jack Kero-something, I end up with a rambling mess and wonder why I didn’t go outside and sing with the birds.