Oh, that reminds me.

I woke up in a minor panic or at least with a deep start a little after 2:30 this morning. I'd had trouble going to sleep in the first place, all angsting about the events of the day and heavy disappointments, both near term and long-lasting. Finally, I had fallen fitfully asleep, but the old headbone seemingly was not done for the day.

I was at some sort of loud party. It was at someone's house, but dark inside and loud & chaotic, like a rock & roll club. Lots of people were there, many of them my friends or acquaintances of varying degrees. People were moderately dressed up -- like it was something of an occasion, but not really fancy. They mixed and moved around a lot, very festive and having a good time and guffawing together, some on either side of me shouting back and forth past me at one another.

I was having a pretty good time, but feeling a little distance from the excitement. I was kind of wrapped up in my own social awkwardness, not knowing some of these people very well, and somewhat overwhelmed by the noise and bustle. Still, it was a nice occasion, and I was pleased to be with some people I liked a lot.

Soon the scene got visually darker -- someone had turned the lights down for some reason or whatever -- and the activity level started to build. I felt more and more anxious, and eventually I wound up crouching and then sitting on the floor between two round tables. I may have slipped or lost footing. As I struggled with this, someone I knew well, liked a lot, and trusted circled in from the left and made a playful swipe at my face. She was dressed in dark jeans and a sort of cropped black T-shirt with really short sleeves just covering her shoulders -- very girly.

I put my hand up in defense, but she kept kind of moving and pushing her hand at my face. I realized she was trying to put something in my eye, a salve or cream of some kind. She was making this wiping motion, and wouldn't stop as much as I pushed her hands away, continually circling and playfully pawing -- not in a mean way, but smiling. It was like she thought this salve would be good for me or fun or something, but I didn't know what it was and I was alarmed that she'd be trying to do that without explaining. But she was silent, just smiling and moving.

I got to my feet and turned away, shouting "You can't put that in my eye! Don't put that in my eye!" Then she quit and danced off to mix in with the general hubbub, leaving the little bottle of whatever the stuff was sitting on the left table. It was brown glass and had a rounded part at the top specifically for dispensing small amounts of salve onto someone's finger for application. I turned away from it and woke up in a state of alram.