Population: You

Not a good sign for the weekend, generally, when it starts with being abruptly (albeit nicely) broken up with -- gotta say, there were zero signs of that one coming. Well. Still, after the initial bafflement dissipated I felt pretty much okay; was waiting for the self-doubt shoe to drop, but nothin'. So all things considered I figured I'd take that deal.

I'm not a big dream-interpreter, but I do believe that your sleeping subconscious is a window into what your true feelings and anxieties are. As it happened, last night my most unsettling dream was that Ben Roethlisberger injured his left shoulder and wouldn't be able to start in Jacksonville, thus dashing one's fragile hopes of him racking up some big pass plays against the Jaguars' depleted secondary. I take this as a sign that my emotional state does, indeed, seem to be operating under business as usual.

(I did, of course, check the news this morning to make sure Ben was still going to start. Incidentally, I'm under no naive impressions that it's likely we win this game.)

What induced undeniably bittersweet and wistful feelings last night was watching Jason Bay hit his first-inning three-run home run against the Angels. Long, lofting fly ball to straightaway center. Man.