Taking the cake
I have had similar dreams to this one, but this one does in fact really take the cake. Or should I say take the half-baked cookie as you will see in just a moment.
In the dream, I receive an invitation to a meeting in the mail that is on very fancy paper. It could be an invitation to a wedding or a party, but instead it is a request to attend a meeting that is at Microsoft.
Soon, I find myself wandering around a high rise building, with just oodles of computers and huge plasma screens. I am looking for the office of Steve Balmer, the number 2 guy at Microsoft, but there seems to be no signs that help me find my way. I know I am close; I can hear his loud booming voice screaming about something.
It’s then that I look down and realize that I am carrying a pan of cookies, while freshly baked, they are not completely done. I carry them with a big awkward oven mitt, trying to not drop them, and frustrated that in fact they are gooey on the inside. I look for an oven but know that the point is useless … the oddity in the dream is I never seem to ask the logical question of the cookies. Why do I have them? I know they are not for Steve and yet I carry them carefully with the mitt as I walk. Careful to not let them slide off the pan. Careful to not burn myself.
I find myself waiting with a group of people. Faces come in and out of focus of people I worked with nearly 15 years ago. We yabber about small things, but there seems to be no attention as to why we are back at MS. All of them seem comfortable with it … and I am still too focused on these damn cookies to worry about the meeting. (“How much more time should I
have left them in the oven for? Can I put them back in the oven and they will be ok?” )
As we walk in, I realize now that I should have been thinking about Steve. Everyone else has large binders which is my first clue that I have not done my homework. I begin to sweat …
Steve looks bigger than I remember him, much taller and wider. He yells with his raspy voice, “You need to all start back on Monday. You will get your card keys in the lobby when you leave.”
I hear someone whisper, “I thought he changed to the kinder, gentler Steve.” (This was
a big deal when I was leaving MS that he was now going to be nice.)
Oddly, nobody else seems to mind that we are now employed by Microsoft. I interrupt Steve, “I really don’t want to come back Steve. I …”
He slams down his fist, “But you will. We will write the check and you will be here on Monday.”
“I really don’t want to work here… I work for a non profit, I like it.” I argue.
He slams his fist down again. “You have to look at the math. You want to give … give us your time and we will pay out your non profit. They will be able to have 3 employees. Can you really argue with that? Do you REALLY want to make a difference???”
I wake up from my dream … I pick up my cell phone, using the light to peer into the darkness of the room. I am completely afraid of the realities of the dream. I search my room for the pan of cookies or for the card key. I am relieved to find no evidence of either.
In the dream, I receive an invitation to a meeting in the mail that is on very fancy paper. It could be an invitation to a wedding or a party, but instead it is a request to attend a meeting that is at Microsoft.
Soon, I find myself wandering around a high rise building, with just oodles of computers and huge plasma screens. I am looking for the office of Steve Balmer, the number 2 guy at Microsoft, but there seems to be no signs that help me find my way. I know I am close; I can hear his loud booming voice screaming about something.
It’s then that I look down and realize that I am carrying a pan of cookies, while freshly baked, they are not completely done. I carry them with a big awkward oven mitt, trying to not drop them, and frustrated that in fact they are gooey on the inside. I look for an oven but know that the point is useless … the oddity in the dream is I never seem to ask the logical question of the cookies. Why do I have them? I know they are not for Steve and yet I carry them carefully with the mitt as I walk. Careful to not let them slide off the pan. Careful to not burn myself.
I find myself waiting with a group of people. Faces come in and out of focus of people I worked with nearly 15 years ago. We yabber about small things, but there seems to be no attention as to why we are back at MS. All of them seem comfortable with it … and I am still too focused on these damn cookies to worry about the meeting. (“How much more time should I
have left them in the oven for? Can I put them back in the oven and they will be ok?” )As we walk in, I realize now that I should have been thinking about Steve. Everyone else has large binders which is my first clue that I have not done my homework. I begin to sweat …
Steve looks bigger than I remember him, much taller and wider. He yells with his raspy voice, “You need to all start back on Monday. You will get your card keys in the lobby when you leave.”
I hear someone whisper, “I thought he changed to the kinder, gentler Steve.” (This was
a big deal when I was leaving MS that he was now going to be nice.)Oddly, nobody else seems to mind that we are now employed by Microsoft. I interrupt Steve, “I really don’t want to come back Steve. I …”
He slams down his fist, “But you will. We will write the check and you will be here on Monday.”
“I really don’t want to work here… I work for a non profit, I like it.” I argue.
He slams his fist down again. “You have to look at the math. You want to give … give us your time and we will pay out your non profit. They will be able to have 3 employees. Can you really argue with that? Do you REALLY want to make a difference???”
I wake up from my dream … I pick up my cell phone, using the light to peer into the darkness of the room. I am completely afraid of the realities of the dream. I search my room for the pan of cookies or for the card key. I am relieved to find no evidence of either.
