No, This is Not a Freaking Hobby

My senior yearbook is online.  I haven't looked at it since 2004, almost certainly.  I remember when I got it there were kids in there I had no idea I went to school with, let alone were in my class.

I was led to believe that everyone in my class was pretty much better than I was.  We had nearly 60 valedictorians in a class of 345.  They were smart and motivated and were getting 5.0 GPAs and would be Doing Things with their lives.  Since I knew that I was going to be astonishing one day, the people around me must be as unto gods.  They were going to take over the world.

Now that I have the names of all the people I don't think of, I discover most of them are perfectly normal.  They have spouses and children and went back to school for their MBA and are accountants.  One of them has invented an business networking installation app.  Another one works for the Redskins in some executive capacity.  Another is working for the public transportation system in a suburb of Vancouver.  Some are teachers.  Some are moms.  None of them are household names.

I suppose most people live average, ordinary lives.  Even if they are struggling to be the best business analyst they can be, or living in LA but managing a Starbucks.  We are all the children of people who, by and large, decided to have children and lead ordinary, normal lives, so it's the model most people know.  More and more, I don't think I was cut out for that.

Granted, I've failed to be extraordinary so far.  I do know extraordinary people, or I think I do, but I need to work a little more at being one of them.

But In Dreams

I've dreamt of exotic animals lately.  The importance of not forgetting purple hippopotamuses, and rescuing a baby giraffe and elephant from a department store.  While leading the giraffe out of the store, we encountered its dead mother, and I got to comfort an unhappy baby giraffe in the middle of the store.

It turns out?

To dream of exotic animals is related to desires, and baby animals are associated with never achieving whatever they symbolise.  Unusual animals, the wrong colour or with special powers, are supposedly a highlight of how much you desire whatever they represent.

Hippos mean creativity, flow and aggression.  Elephants are communication with friends.  Giraffes are happiness and dreams and a desire for change.

So.  That's a thing.