Wrong Number
I rarely use my cell phone, and probably don't really need one, except I kind of like having it when I'm on a long bike ride just in case something breaks down (though I'm not sure if that would even be helpful, because on the few occasions when I've actually tried to get ahold of Katie using the cell, I almost always get her voice-mail) and I'm supposed to have one as a running coach (though on the few occasions when someone has tried to call me when we're out running, I haven't heard it, so they've gotten my voice-mail). Anyway, it seems to me that I get way more calls from people I don't know than from people I do know, and they always seem to leave me these intriguing messages that make me feel kind of bad, because their lives are obviously way more interesting and exciting that mine. Actually, I think I should start writing down all the intriguing messages I get from strangers, because it might make a pretty mildly amusing collection. Things like, "Scooter, this is Dipsy. We're still plannin' on flippin' the cakes tonight. Don't be late," or, "Boomjaggle, you ol' corndog. Gimme a call on the q.t. Gotta go," or stuff like that. So the other day, I was at work, diligently educating our young people to be responsible and productive citizens of the 21st century, when my classroom phone rang (actually, it beeped, because it's set on "do not disturb," which means it beeps once then stops making noise). When I got a chance, I checked the message, expecting it to be from a parent. I always feel a slight sense of trepidation when I get these phone messages - usually they're not a big deal, but every once in awhile, there's a doozy, so there's always this breathless sense of nervous anticipation when I hit the "play messages" button. This time, though, it was a guy named Jerry calling from the Ford dealership, and he was quite agitated as he told me that they'd been trying to get ahold of me, because the part they ordered wasn't the part they'd received, and the customer was still waiting for it, so they need me to check the tag number on the requisition they sent, which was, "Tag number zebra, tango, one, four, libra, charlie, seven, two," and then call them back as soon as possible. Since I don't have any requisition orders from the Ford dealership, which means I don't have any tags to check, I erased the message and didn't think much about it, but then I got the same message the following day, which I once again erased and ignored for the same reasons as stated above, and I haven't heard back from Jerry since then, so I'm assuming he either figured out he wasn't calling the right person, or he decided I'm a total jerk for not returning his calls and crossed me off his Christmas card list. I'm still wondering how the guy accidentally left a message for me, because my voice-mail at school does announce my name at the beginning, so the whole thing was kind of weird.
Dream a Little Dream
I don't know about you, but people often come up to me and say something along the lines of, "Hey, I had this really weird/cool/disturbing dream last night, and you were in it." I've heard this from colleagues, students, people I run with, and even my wife (usually, my wife's dreams about me involve me doing something really awful like leaving her for another woman, which means that she's usually pretty snippy with me the next day because I was such a jerk to her in her dream - I'm sure this says something deep and meaningful about the depth and meaningfulness of our relationship, but that's a whole 'nother can of spaghetti). The other day, I got a message from my oldest daughter, Caitlyn, about a dream she'd had involving me. Here's what she had to say:
"So I wanted to tell you I had a dream about you last night. I dreamed that Mom made a movie of the two of you jetskiing. You were surpisringly agile. Except then there was a kind of accident and your ear was somehow severed from your head. I believe it was your left ear. You were trying to get it out of the water when a narwhal showed up and started munching on it. You looked very calmly and thoughtfully at the narwhal, looked at Mom (who looked horrified) and said, "Well, that'll make my ear funny-looking." And then I woke myself up laughing. Love you and miss you!"
Hmm, what could this signify? Obviously, the symbolic ramifications are running rampant in this young lady's subconscious, so let's roll up our psychological sleeves and see what we can make of it. Jetskiing obviously has to do with escaping and since you jetski on water, it must symbolize the womb, so there's something here about wanting to regress to childhood (not sure if that would be the dreamer or the dreamee). And I was "surprisingly agile" which is obviously a cheap shot at my well-known lack of dancing ability and doesn't really need to be analyzed any further. My ear was severed - more significantly, my left ear - which suggests a desire to distance oneself from the outer world and retreat into an inner world, and since the left ear connects to the right brain, that would be a retreat into an inner world of creative expression and visual stimulation. Then a narwhal eats the ear - and as I recall, a narwhal has a horn like a unicorn, so that must symbolize magical qualities and eternal life, which means my connections with the physical world are being absorbed and digested by a desire for supernatural explanations. And then my lackadaisical response to this whole thing (although my wife is horrified) suggests that I'm participating willingly in this withdrawal. And since my daughter wakes up and laughs, this means she finds this whole spiritual angst-ridden journey thing that I'm obviously struggling with amusing. So there you have it. My situation in life, according to my daughter's subconscious mind.
Running Between Raindrops
Thanks to El Niño, we've been receiving an above-average amount of rainfall over the past couple of months. In addition to providing some much-needed moisture to our drought-stricken desert, this has also created an odd and unusual situation in which our rivers actually have water in them. It's also served to reinforce the fact that I've become a pretty big wimp. Every week, I've been checking the weather forecast for the weekend, hoping beyond hope that the rain will hold off until after Saturday morning so I can get my long run in before the rain hits so I don't get wet and cold. I did have to complete one of my weekend runs in the rain several weeks ago (actually, that was on a Sunday, ironically enough) and it just wasn't fun. Actually, it was kind of fun for the first part, but then I got cold and wet and tired and discouraged, and then it wasn't fun anymore. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed regarding the weather in a certain big city located in the northeastern part of the country on the third Monday in April, because I would really appreciate having reasonably good weather for a certain little race that will be occurring that day.
That's all for this entry, so until next time may your raindrops fall at convenient times, may your psyche remain angst-free, and may your cell phone remain silent (unless, that is, you're hoping it rings.
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