As a small child, I dreamt time and again that a fearsome dragon inhabited my grandparents' cellar.

When I was a small child, I had a recurring dream in which I entered the cellar/garage of my grandparents' house (though it wasn't the house where they lived in real life) and had to walk across the length of it to the kitchen door.

With each step, terror gathered, until mid-way through the cellar, I would encounter what appeared to be the mouth of a dragon, full of orange-red fire and teeth. I would freeze and wake up or flee. Sometimes I was alone, sometimes I was with my sister or a cousin. Regardless, I never made it into the kitchen.

One night, in the depths of my dream, I crossed the crowded cellar with my cousin J, holding hands against the shadowy dark, our bones filled with growing dread. As we approached the lair of the 'dragon,' it let forth a low, hissing rumble. We gripped each-other's hands for dear life and ran, terror close on our heels, sprinting across the cluttered concrete floor and up to the door, where we clawed inchoately like frightened dogs.

The kitchen door cracked open and swung wide. For a moment, a tall silhouette stood out, sharp and statuesque, against the briliant light of the kitchen. My eyes adjusted and I saw that the silhouette was my beloved 'child-minder,' Debbie C.

She said, "Come on," and took our hands, then led us back into the cellar. Though wild fear still wracked my nerves, I let her lead me. I trusted her, and that was that.

Soon we stood before the lair of the dragon itself -- and I realized, quite suddenly, that it was not a dragon at all. It was just an oil- or coal-burning furnace: the 'teeth' were the bars of the grate, and while the fire was, indeed, fire, it was meant to help, not harm, us. The low, hissing rumble was the sound of the hot air being blown into the ducts.

J and I laughed, then the three of us turned and walked slowly back to the kitchen door. As we entered the kitchen at last, I glanced back over my shoulder: but the dragon had been tamed, and remained a harmless furnace.

I never had that dream again.

Man Boobs?

My take on this is a little different. I'm an intersexed guy with gynecomastia. It so happens that I'm extremely androgynous in general: I don't look like Bob from Fight Club. I just look like ... me, I guess. I didn't like my body much until I met someone else who liked it, because I was afraid nobody would ever like me the way I am. I always figured that as a gay guy, I would probably have to have breast reduction surgery if I was to have any hope of finding a mate who liked how I looked with my clothes off. Then I met my boyfriend, who seems to actually really like the body I've got. That made me want to rethink things.

I'd rather change the world so there's a place in it for bodies like mine -- the ones that are unusual, but work just fine -- than change my body to suit the world we've got.

That being said, I am still thinking about 'getting my chest done' anyway. I haven't yet figured out if I am strong enough to say 'in your eye, world' and take my shirt off at the beach, or what have you -- or, should I never be that brave, whether I'm willing to live my entire life having to hide my body in one way or another.

I've been considering this decision for a long time, and I still don't have the answer.

Cherry Cola

One word: caffeine.

I am an insomniac. It's more manageable than it used to be, but I am hard-wired to sleep from roughly 2 AM - 10 AM, or thereabouts. Through the judicious application of exercise and rigorous self-discipline, I can generally make myself sleep from 11 or 12 to 7 AM. Without exercise, I can sometimes force myself to sleep by midnight, but I'll sleep poorly for the first few hours.

What I can't do is adapt when I stupidly pick up a temporary extra job that requires me to be out of bed by 5 AM. Oops.

My answer? Caffeine. In quantity. The problem is that I metabolize caffeine, and many other chemicals, poorly -- so it stays in my system for a long time, exacerbating my insomnia. So I use more caffeine.

It doesn't help that I love cherry cola and iced tea. I grew up in a family that reserved soda for special occasions, but I rely on (diet) soda and iced tea for my caffeine intake. I also absolutely love the flavor of cherry cola, and that makes it harder to quit.

I would quit -- will quit -- because I don't like a chemical substance having that much control over me. I want to return to being someone who can enjoy a cup of tea or a cherry cola as a treat without using either specifically because I can't get through my day without the caffeine.

Besides, being able to sleep normally again would be great :)