for anyone interested, i think i know what the issue was. the other day i was messing around in the hatch area. lubing my latch and pulled apart the wire loom to fix some broken wire insulation. i did not disconnect the battery when i was doing this. apparently this set up a super secret code in the pcm or got the instrument cluster confused. today i tried the pcm reset procedure (+bat to ground, attach + to bat, key to run, lights on, lights off) and the check engine light went out. i did notice while doing the reset that the cel didnt go off until the lights were toggled. not sure how the rear hatch switch, lamp switch, intrument panel and pcm are all interconnected but i can see from wiring diagrams they are. anyway, lesson for today...always disconnect the battery when messing with wiring repairs!