I had a dream last night that I was in the deep woods by a stream, and everywhere in the woods were people working at desks, as if they were in an office.

Anyway, the water is starting to rise and I decide to talk a walk — in my bare feet, wearing the same pajamas I’m actually sleeping in. I’m walking along, avoiding the parts of the mudlands where the water is coming in, when it gets very dark and I can’t really see where to walk without stumbling into the water.

I’m standing there wondering what to do when someone with a flashlight comes along. I can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman, but the person shows me the way out. By the intense blue light of the flashlight, I see other people calmly moving through chest-high water. I safely make my way to dry land.

Just got back from the chiro, and I can tell you this: This is not your father’s chiropractor. Very high tech – a massage table that works your back, a high-pressure hydrotherapy bed that feels amazing. (These were to loosen all the muscles before he worked on me.)

Then he cracked my neck and upper back and said, “Do you sit at a computer all day? Because that’s what your spine is like.”

Naturally, none of this is free — but relatively cheap, a lot cheaper than when I used to go. If you can kick a few bucks into the kitty to help cover this unexpected treatment cost, I’d appreciate it.

I just came back from getting a therapeutic massage (because I couldn’t really move) and when I was done, the receptionist told me someone had paid for me.

I asked the two friends who knew I was going there today, and they both say they had nothing to do with it. Hmmm. Random karma? Early birthday gift?

I have an appointment to see a chiropractor tomorrow, which gives you some idea how badly I hurt. I haven’t seen one in over ten years, after this one guy created some nerve root damage that caused severe pain for a long, long time. What a pain in the ass that was.

But I can feel that my upper spine is twisted out of shape, so there you have it.

I’ll probably have to see the acupuncturist, too. Oh, joy.

Late last night, I slipped on something (I think it was a copy of Rolling Stone), skidded a few feet and fell into a cast-iron radiator — and I have to say, I feel like I was hit by a truck. I think it’s gonna take a while to feel normal again.

“Well, honey, back in the old days, people used to leave their houses and go someplace to do what we called ‘work’…”

Which is by way of saying that I just got off a phone interview for a job. Well, sort of a job, they haven’t completely defined it yet. But it’s online work for a progressive organization I already like, and I think I’d like to work with them.

So I should hear in the next week or so where they want to go with it (which will determine whether I want the position) — and whether they want me to work for them.

We’ll see.

I just found out that one of my oldest friends is having a malignant tumor removed from her brain Wednesday. (Parietal lobe, it’s affecting speech, writing, typing, spelling. “YOU would hate this,” she wrote me.)

Please send prayers, good thoughts, shamanic healings, spells, magic pixie dust and whatever else you can think of her way. A world without her in it would really suck.

My friend is sending me a new microwave as an early birthday present. You know, you don’t really realize how dependent you are on gadgets until you don’t have them anymore — it’s not as if you can simply heat up a Lean Cuisine in the regular oven.

So two of my friends got really good news this week, and now I’m hoping it’s my turn. (And soon, because my microwave just stopped working!)