Sailing the Noosphere

1. I'm reading the steampunk novel "The Difference Engine" and taking notes in the margins with the pen I use for my dream journal. These concern an idea I have to rewrite the story in America, casting it in a more comical light with plenty of snarky humor. For example, I reference "All About the Benjamins" and make Ben Franklin a cocky womanizer.

2. I'm in a hospital for some routine test. I notice J. C. from high school with his sister in the waiting room, and I seek to avoid him by ducking down a hallway. I sit at the end of the hall and read a magazine. When I come back to the waiting room, my old friend W. L. is there talking to someone...