Punctuation; spelling, grammar, diacritical marks; so crucial to our ability to interpret the world. Take that post title, for example, and imagine that if instead of 7:11 I were referring to waking up in a 7-Eleven convenience store. Both are possible, in the real world, but one would be pretty far preferable to the other in terms of personal comfort. And if you know me, you know that I mean waking up in the middle of a lousy little quick-stop shop, unless we’re talking opening my eyes at 19.11, or 7:11 post meridiem. Sorry, Mornings, I just can’t seem to learn to love you.
The idea of finding myself in the snack food aisle of a convenience store when I opened my sleepy eyes is not, perhaps, ideal either. For any number of reasons, it could prove unsettling, if not dangerous. But I’m still leaning toward it as the better alternative, if I had to choose. Sleep calls to me.
I probably should consider where it means I went to sleep in the first place, if I’m waking up surrounded by small packages of foods with shelf lives longer than the motor oil that’s sold in the next aisle. Was time travel involved? If so, I can only hope that I went backward and thus gained some extra snooze time, or so far into the future that there is already a cure for what I will have contracted by lying on the floor where so many strangers have trod, sneezed, and drooled. But I’m still willing to consider it a worthy risk, because that’s just how important my nap time is to me.
Perhaps it’s better to let go of the whole conundrum and assume that I was merely inspired by a glance at the clock when I woke mid-sleep to think of such things at all. Odd things can happen when anything awakens one in the midst of heavy slumber. I’d work on this puzzle further, honestly…if I weren’t so…sllleeeeeeeepy…
Art-Colored Glasses 
OMG. Like waking up in the middle of the movie Clerks. Ha ha! We have 7-11 here. Never been in one during the hours normal folk aren’t in bed at 7:11. 😉 What a difference a punctuation mark makes..
You *know* I’ve never claimed to be Normal. 😀
A nightmarish scenario indeed! Picking up on your more serious introduction concerning punctuation being crucial to our interpretation of the world, you’ve encouraged me to have a wee moan! Why, oh why do some authors, mainly American I have to say, decide that they are above speech marks? It infuriates me and ruins the whole flow of a novel. There, I’ve had my say! Thank you Kathryn!
Christine
No argument from me on that topic! During my years of teaching English (writing) at uni, I quickly developed both a horror of the state of my incoming students’ skills and efforts and a reluctantly firm policy that even first drafts had better not be turned in to me without a preparatory trip to the campus Writing Center. I’m not obsessive, but I like to think I still value clear communication and the infrastructures that make it possible.
Now that I think about it, I’ve never—in all of my years of highly elaborate, colorful, and memorable dreams—had a nightmare about waking up in the middle of a convenience store, but I’ve had *tons* of them about trying to teach unwilling students. 😉
Humorous, but not. Creepy, but not. Deep, but not. Sounds exactly like the kind of twisted and contorted thoughts that might accompany a not-quite-fully-awake dream memory. Mine tend to feature four-legged friends and balsa wood airplanes, rather than prehistoric snack food, but same difference. No clock references, though. That would just be weird. 🙂
Sorry, I can’t stop laughing long enough to respond!!!
❤