Have you seen my totem?

So Sunday morning I was dreaming that it was a warm, sunny day and I was trying to arrange my little bonsai tree that’s struggling. I wanted to give it the most light it could get in the shade of a tree on campus. It only has one leafy branch and I had it in a dappled sunny spot and was trying to figure out where to put it so the sun would shine longest on that branch when a BYU football player came up to me in full uniform. He started telling me he needed to direct traffic to the big BYU-Utah football game and his daughter was telling everyone it started at 12:03, but it really started at 12:05. He was pretty worried, and I was annoyed he was bothering me. I told him it didn’t matter, both times were close enough, and I wasn’t really in charge of football parking.
I woke up.
And I bumped in to a friend on 13th East and 2nd South. It was raining and dark but it seemed he was happy to see me and asked if I’d walk with him to his office, because he had something he needed to tell me. I said ok, and as I turned around I ran into another friend who lives out of state, and I hadn’t seen in a long time. He asked if I’d go to lunch with him and I said OK. As I turned again I saw the first friend who looked disappointed in me for forgetting about him so soon. I tried to quickly explain that I’d catch him after lunch, or the next day and that this other friend wasn’t going to be in town long and this was my only chance to see him. I was a little annoyed I had double booked and…
I woke up.
again.
I was in a shabby casino, standing in front of a huge craps table made entirely from chocolate with a molten surface three inches deep. The croupier urged me to play quickly and I found a couple chocolate dice just against the inner wall. I picked them up and threw one, rolling a six. The die began to soften in the molten confection and the dealer urged me to throw the second quickly. I was curious how I could see so clearly in the molten liquid. I threw the die and it came up five and she shouted, “Winner!” She handed me another die and told me to roll it to see what I won. It came up 5 again as the first two dice dissolved into the liquid mass. The dealer counted me out 5 large square chips confirming each as a hundred as she lay them down on the candy rail. A die rolled past nearly round as it dissolved, the six dots on its face constantly towards me. “Buy yourself a new saxophone, kid!” she said. I picked up the chips turning towards the cashier and thought, “Who am I, Lisa Simpson? I don’t play the saxophone…”
And I woke up.
The sun was shining brightly in the room, and outside it sounded like a car pulled away from the curb. My first thought was, “Damn you Leonardo DiCaprio!” And I wondered if I ought to do anything that came into my head all day.

2011 Resolutions

So I don’t make resolutions. I find it kind of silly to hinge change on a single day, and on a day when everybody else is doing it as well. Maybe it’s just that latent rebel in me that also wouldn’t let me read Harry Potter or listen to Green Day. Maybe this year is different, though, or maybe it’s just that it’s an 11. I like 11’s.
So here’s how it’s going down. I resolve this year to make resolutions. New Years is as good of a time as any, and I think I’m adult enough to know I’m in a constant process of evolution, but there may be something to setting a few clear goals at the beginning of the year and follow up on them at the end.
To begin with here were my handful of goals from last year that definitely weren’t resolutions.

Continue reading 2011 Resolutions