CCIE Nightmares

The CCIE lab has officially invaded my psyche.  Over the last week, I’ve dreamt about the CCIE lab twice.  When I was learning a foreign language (first German, then French – both of which I suck at) I was told that it was a turning point when you started to dream in another language.  Hopefully dreaming about the CCIE lab is a good harbinger, but my guess is that stress is finally kicking in and making my unconscious fuck with me.

Dream 1 – I have flown to San Jose and am in the midst of the lab.  I’m doing well and am happy with my progress.  We break for lunch.  My wife and I go out to get something to eat.  I completely forget about the lab and lose track of time.  By the time I get back to the lab there is only about an hour left.  I start to hammer away at the CLI but the clock keeps winding down.

Dream 2 – I take the CCIE lab and fail.  I am relating how difficult this lab is to my family when my sister (the non-technical, neo-Luddite with a Literature degree) starts to brag about how she recently passed the lab.  I am flabbergasted and ask to see proof.  She shows me a certificate from Cisco with a CCIE number of 1.  She says that she did so well on the lab that they gave her a special number.  My head explodes. [Okay, the exploding head bit didn’t happen – but it should have.]

Sigmund Freud would tell me that the increase amount of time that I am spending on my studies coupled with the overwhelming nature of the exam is inducing these dreams.  Either that or I want to bone my mom.  Whichever.  🙂

If my brain thinks that I’m going to put up with these nightmares, it has another thing coming.  I have two bottles of Maker’s Mark and a shitload of ice cubes as well as cable TV.  A dozen or so ounces of whiskey and a couple hours of Reality TV will kill enough brain cells to show my brain that I mean business.  🙂