Inception

Well, it's been done. Inception. For those of you who have seen the movie, the titular procedure's success was tentative, as the entire film was a subversion of reality.

But, I am pleased to announce to you today that my lovely and amazingly astral empowered wife has done it. She tricked herself into studying while she sleeps.

You see, poor Alia has, for some time, been swimming in a sea of homework. I won't say she is drowning, because she's pure awesome, but it has been with as much effort as it would take me to eat a raw onion.

However, she has found a way to study while she sleeps. By implanting the idea of anatomy lectures, she has secretly been getting her RN in the dark hours of 12:00 am to 6:00am (not weekends or holidays). Her technique would have gone undetected, unacknowledged, were it not for the awful sleep I had last night.

I'd say it was about 3:30 am. The scene? Lying in bed, unable to drift back to my fantasies of becoming a post-apocalyptic John Connor, I was startled to see my previously slumbering sweetheart sit upright and suddenly call out "Bryce!? Bryce! Where are you?"

Now, if you don't know, Bryce is Alia's younger brother of 16, and known recipient of Alia's obligatory older sibling bullying and teasing. I sat in trepidation, wondering what heinous scheme would be unfurled upon me, if I was to be identified as her younger brother. I remained silent, quickly praying that I could avoid the possible tickling or punching or being convinced everybody was a demon (all things Alia would do to her poor brother and sisters).

Alia, however, was tenacious, and began to slap her hand around the bed like a blind beggar searching for dropped change. She quickly found my torso, and her hands leaped to my shoulder and began to shake me.

"Bryce! Bryce! Wake up, you have to wake up!"

Now, I was beginning to wonder to what extent was Alia's lack of lucidity, so I calmly responded (though I fear'd my tremulous palpitations would betray me),

"Who am I?"

Hoping I wouldn't get a joking 'Jean Valjean' response in return, I was slightly relieved to hear her response.

"You're Bryce, silly! You have to wake up!"

"Why do I have to wake up?"

"Because you have a camera around your neck!"

Well, this certainly wasn't the response I was expecting. Curious as to the new line of thought, I pushed ahead, cautious of what might lay before me.

"What kind of camera is it?"

This elicited a slap to her own forehead, in comedic frustration with my complete ineptitude.

"The kind of camera our FAMILY HAS!" her voice dripping with forced patience. "The only camera we own!"

I was curious still, however, at the exact purpose, and questioned her on the matter.

"What is the camera for?"

This brought another slap to her forehead. Clearly, we were not on the same plane here.

"You need it for the right side of the digestive system! You need it...for...for...the digestive system."

This dialog had clearly drained her energy, and she began to sink back on the bed. The cause, however, of the dream became clear.

Alia had planted the idea of running a endoscopic examination using a flexible camera to evaluate the digestive system. It was so simple, so brilliant, so much better than studying the textbook or going to labs! My wife is a genius!

So, when I informed Alia that this discourse had occurred, she was mildly embarrassed that I discovered her secret, but I assured her that nothing was wrong with different types of studying, as long as she didn't make me think I had to put my head on a train-track to see Spiderwing, my beloved, imaginary son.

So, Bravo, Alia. I'm not even sure Cobb, Arthur, and Ariadne could have come up with something so brilliant. Bravo.

But, you mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.