Dream Date February 10, 2008

I have been struck again by this recurring theme of school related anxiety. This time, it's the first day of college and I'm running late for my first class. But in order to go to class, I have to first go to my locker. I do not know where my locker is, so I stop at the front desk and ask one of the girls there for my locker number. I feel very anxious because I know that going to my locker will make me even later for class.

Some continuity issues here, because next thing I know, I'm outside the school again and I have my cat Penelope in my arms, and as I'm walking towards the front door of school, I start to panic and wonder what I'm going to do with her. (She's the cat that I'm hugging in my profile photo.) I can't take her in class, because they'd tell me I can't bring her indoors, and some people might have pet allergies. I could put her in my messenger bag, but it's full of books. Maybe I could empty the bag. In the end, I decide that the weather is cool enough outside that I could safely leave her in my car with the windows cracked just enough to let in fresh air. So, I go out to the car and play around with the windows, trying to get the crack big enough to let in an ample supply of air, yet at the same time I'm trying to make it small enough so that she can't get out.

The next thing I remember, I'm walking towards the lockers with a small notebook in my hand that has my locker number written on it. I'm looking down at the number and then back up again at the numbers on the locker doors. My messenger bag is carelessly dangling from my hand. I'm looking around nervously for my locker, still worried about being late for class. There are some break tables nearby, and one of them has about four or five students sitting at it. They all start to laugh. Immediately I think they're laughing at me and I feel paranoid. Perhaps they're laughing because of the nerdy way I'm carrying around my messenger bag, and because it's obvious I'm in a hurry. I think to myself that they're freshman and they don't know any better yet.

Still running late for class, but I'm hungry. There is a vending machine nearby, but a maintenance man in a blue button-up shirt and jeans walks up to me and offers me one of two sandwhiches that he has, one which is stacked on top of the other. I greatfully accept the bottom one, and as I pull it off the one on the top, I realize there is a tomato slice on top of my sandwhich, so the top part of my bun must still be in his hands. I don't want to bother him to ask for it, so I take a bite into the sandwhich anyway. It's then that I realize that not only do I have the top part of my bun, I also have the bottom part of his bun as well as one of his tomato slices.