The first thing I recall is being on a race track in a Ferrari convertible.  It was like an oval track, but with some curves of varying radii, so one couldn’t just go flat out the whole time.  I recall getting up to speed, then somewhat finding the limits of the car’s grip and traction.  First it was the grip, as I took a curve with as much speed as possible without sliding off into the wall.  Then I tested the traction as I came out of a slow speed corner and got it into a controlled powerslide, where I was accelerating and burning out, and in a drift at the same time.  That was fun! At first I wasn’t sure if I would spin out or maybe could lose control, but then I just settled into it, sort of achieving a comfort in feeling like the car was predictable and manageable while on the limits.  During that powerslide I was more on top of the car rather than in it, btw.  After that lap I looked forward to trying out other sports cars around the track, like a Porsche 911.

Then, suddenly, however, I had to start dodging stuff on the track and moving at a slow speed to avoid collisions.  It was one of those things you’d probably curse at in real life, like some dude just having pulled off to the side of a road, but with no major problem, just suddenly deciding to stop for whatever reason, probably to take a picture or some trivial selfish decision, but taking up space and causing traffic to slow down as a result as he became a hazard and obstacle.  As I made my way through and around a few of these obstacles, like a slalom, at least one, perhaps several, of which were white vans/trucks, trailers, etc, I suddenly became aware that I was driving a white Porsche Cayenne, and that felt pretty good.  I obviously appreciated the quality in the interior, and even as an SUV it had decent performance and handling, plus I got that sense of it having a ‘presence’ on the road, with it also having a somewhat ‘beefy’ packaging and elevated ride-height. So that was nice; it inspired confidence.

Then there was a transition, and the focus became about going to a college football game with my childhood and college buddies, Joseph and Kendrick.  I knew I would be driving for our carpool arrangement.  I briefly remember being inside a house, maybe in an upstairs bedroom, where I was trying to sort out the clothing strategy.  I anticipated it becoming evening or night time by the time the game was over, so I imagined it would be cold enough to probably be wanting an extra layer.  Should I bring a jacket, hoodie, etc? Then I went outside and was speaking with my dad about the vehicle options.  I wasn’t sure which car would be optimal — I didn’t want to just jump in and take off in my dad’s Cayenne, since that was his primary vehicle, and I didn’t want to leave him without.  I reached into the backseat of some car that was parked in the yard and found two matching sets of car keys which I didn’t recognize.  At first my dad didn’t recognize them either.  I took a closer look at the keys to try to identify a brand logo, but in the place where I’d expect to see it, I only saw a circle with the word “two” printed inside.  It was identical on both sets.  Then I asked my dad about them, and he suddenly remembered now having a new black Toyota sedan that these keys went with.

Knowing my dad’s tendency to pay up a little for premium quality, I thought that this black Toyota sedan would be a good option for my trip to the game.  It might have been a bit small and simple, but at least it would be comfortable and fully capable.  So as I had seemed to settle on that decision, I then focused more on this particular black SUV that was right in front of me.  I’m not sure whether it was the same car that the keys came out of, but I also do not recall much movement around the yard, driveway, property, etc, so it may have been the one and only car I’d seen up to that point. It had a strong resemblance to a Jeep Grand Cherokee– kind of boxy, but spacious and nicely proportioned.  I got into the back seat and noticed it was super clean, like it has just been vacuumed or perhaps even fully detailed.  I expressed a preference for taking this one over the sedan.

Then I just remember writing something, and there was a brief moment where I caught myself mid-letter as I paused, then had to remember specifically which letter I was intending to write.  It was an ‘s’ at the end of a word.  I had made the first up-swinging stroke, in the cursive lowercase, then had the pause, then completed it with the rounded lower curved swoop to the left — then followed that with the finishing reverse-stroke out to the right.

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