THE DAILY DIVERSION

ITSY BITSY SPIDER...

Some silly stuff happened last night whilst I slept. I had a wacky, almost funny, dream, and I got a song in my head that just has no explanation. I'm going to blame it all on watching the movie "Saw" last night and having sloppy joes. Damn, those sloppy joes were good!!

I also tried a new beer last night. It's a German brew called "DAB". It says something on the label about being the original "Dortmunder" or something. It was pretty good. Good enough that I had two of them.

It was a beautiful day in Memphis yesterday. Of course, I was inside all day, until after 5 pm. That's the life of a workin' man I suppose. Anyway, after I threw off the shackles of work's monotony, Adrianne and I went for a wonderful walk down at Tom Lee Park (along Riverside Drive). It's hard to believe that in just about a month that park will be destroyed by over 150,000 in a 3 day period. Some call it the "Memphis in May Music Festival". I call it craziness. It's a madhouse, but they have some good bands there. We went last year to all 3 days. I can't say that's going to happen again this year, but it might. The list of bands is pretty good. Check it out!

Okay, onward toward the silliness that my sleepy-time gave me...

Song of the Day: "If I Didn't Have You (I Don't Want Nobody, Baby)" made most popular by Patti LaBelle on Gems, but sung by a ton of people on a ton of albums.

Wowsers! This is a real off the wall one. I actually woke up very early with this on in my head, and it stuck with me. My "Boo" was asleep next to me, so I'm not sure if it was about her or not. I'm thinking it was about all of the junk that I've gotten rid of lately. Kidding!! Oh, and I don't have this song on my Ipod, so I'll have to listen to something else.

Dreamy time: **Note to audience-- You know you're working too much when it trickles into your dreams** I'm wandering around my office looking for someone named Dana Fosselman. I do not know if they are a he or a she. I ask my co-workers and they just laugh at me, like I'm supposed to know it's a woman. I say to one of them "Well, Dana Altman is a guy. He coaches basketball at Creighton."

I end up walking into the office of the oldest member of our team. He's been with the company for 32 years now. I stroll in, but we're no longer in our office. We're at Greenwood High School. Well, at least how it looked when I was there. We were in a regular classroom, but it looked like a biology lab or something, with counters all around the room. He and a lady, that I assumed to be Dana Fosselman, were talking about something. I interrupt them to ask "Have you seen the appraisal I need?"

They both kind of disregard me and continue talking. About that time I see a giant tarantula crawling along the counter toward the two of them. I'm on the opposite side of the room as the spider, and I try to warn them of it's approach. It picks up speed and ends up going right past "Dana". It crawls up the side of Larry's Ole Miss thermos cup (which he always drinks out of) and right up his arm to his head. He seems unaware. I move closer to the door and start screaming and shouting for the spider to come after me. It jumps off of Larry's head onto the counter and raises up two front legs on one side and one leg on the other side as if saying "I see ya buddy! You're next!"

As it's raised up it opens it's mouth (yes, it had a regular mouth like a person), and lets out a menacing "hiss" sound. I don't know that it really scared me, but once I saw it moving toward me, it was time to hit the bricks. I sprinted out the door and tried to make an immediate right turn. Then, just like in a shitty B horror movie, I fell down. While on the ground I looked back "in horror" to see the spider cruising toward me. I pick myself up and start running. I'm not running like I would really run if I was afraid of something, because I'd have 4 flat sprinter speed if that was the case. Instead, I'm running like a complete doofus. My arms and legs are flailing out, just like the dingleberries in the movies do when they're chased through the forest.

I turn a corner to another hallway and look back, only to see the tarantula shimmying at mach speed. I actually think to myself "Damn, that spider can really fly!" Finally, I see an open door with lights on inside. I stumble in it and slam the door shut. "BAMM!"

Now, I'm standing in an empty room. There's nothing to climb on and no where to hide from the spider. I look down at the door, and there's a gap of about a half inch under it. I start to worry about if the spider can get through it and then I wake up.

Okay, in the case of this dream, I actually got up out of bed, went in the kitchen and found a note pad and pen. I wrote down some of the key elements of the dream while they were still fresh in my head. It was about 3:30 when I woke up from this dream, so I knew I'd go back to sleep and forget it. Here are my exact notes:
-Dana Fosselman
-Looking for Appr
-Tarantula chaising me around school

Yes, being mostly asleep affects my spelling. I do know how to spell "chasing". My hand writing is bad enough when I'm awake and sober, so it was bad enough that I was mostly asleep and trying to write in the dark. I'm surprised I actually put three words together that made any sense. Anyway...

What it means? I'm going to go the easy way out today and use a lot of the dream dictionary. It should be noted that I am not afraid of spiders, even the big ones, like the fella in my dream.

First and foremost I was at work, which really sucks, since I spend more than enough time there as it is. Here's what the dictionary tells me that means:
Work: To dream that you are at work, indicates that you are experiencing some anxiety about a current project or task. The dream may also be telling you that you need to "get back to work". Perhaps you have been slacking and need to pick up the pace.

Well, I have been worrying about a project, but I made a big breakthrough on it yesterday. Maybe my dream was telling me to get back to it while I was making some headway? I'm always a slacker, except when the chips are down. I'm usually efficient enough that I don't worry about procrastinating.

Next I saw my coworker in, what I though was, danger. Here's what they say about seeing coworkers:
Coworker: To see your coworkers in your dream, highlights aspects of your waking relationship with them, including difficulties/support. It signifies your ambition, struggles and competitive nature.

We have a good working relationship, and he's actually been quite the mentor to me. Maybe my wanting to keep him from harm was a sign of me wanting to return the favor of him helping me all the time? That's the best I can deduce.

Ah yes, the itsy bitsy spider. Well, that bastard was anything but "itsy bitsy". He was a beast! The main part of his body was at least the size of a CD. Let's just put it this way... He was a big ol' boy!
Spiders: To see a spider in your dream, indicates that you are feeling like an outsider in some situation. Or that you may want to keep your distance and stay away from an alluring and tempting situation. The spider is also symbolic of feminine power. Alternatively, a spider may refer to a powerful force protecting you against your self-destructive behavior.

Okay, the first thing that came to mind when I read this is that I'm running away from trying to keep my distance from something alluring. Being that this statement is a double-negative, wouldn't that mean that I'm moving toward something enticing? Hmm... Have I confused you as much as I'm confused?

Here's what I really think of the spider. If it truly symbolizes feminine power, then it's probably a symbol of my fiancee. The simple fact that I was trying to coax it away from others means that I'm trying to get her attention all to myself. When I was running away from it like a big goober, it was just my goofy way of playing "hard to get". Finally, she got me right where she wanted me, and where I wanted to be. That's my personal take on all it .

Man, I love having semi-funny dreams. I'm still not sure what the person's name meant in my dream or why I remembered it. I may try to do a google search and see what comes up. I'm willing to bet that it's just a name I saw while watching the credits on a TV show or movie.

Okay, time to stop slacking and GET TO WORK!! Thanks dream!