Dinky's Docket

The night before last I had a dream that is still vividly alive in my head. That's strange because I rarely remember my dreams at all, let alone for days. Anyway, maybe somebody can analyze it for me. I think there are obvious parallels to my life but I'll describe those after I describe the dream. What I can remember is very intense. I was desparately looking for a place to park my car. I think I was in the parking lot of the local university's basketball stadium. There were spaces available but I had no parking pass and I couldn't come up with the nineteen cents it took to buy one. So I pulled into the load/unload zone and went in. Now the stadium was some kind of store. It's very nebulous but I'm leaning toward some sort of sports clothing store. Don Nelson, the coach of the Dallas Mavericks was in there frantically trying to persuade some collage ball player to come play for him. In my dream I knew Don but I had to remind him of who I was. I asked him for nineteen cents and he waved me off. All around me were famous sports figures and I knew them all personally but none of them would give me the time of day--or the much-needed nineteen cents. Finally, I found a quarter and bought a parking pass, but by this time all the spots were filled. Then I woke up cold and sweaty, as if from a nightmare.

The parallels are these: I don't like sports very much at all but, because of where I work, I have a cursory aquaintance with a few NBA players (though I have never met Nelson). There's only one of these, however, who would recognize me in a crowd and know my name. All they've ever seen when I've been around is the camera I'm holding, not me. I don't make very much money--my total household income is well below the poverty level so the ninteen cents represents, I'm sure, those small things that I need that seem so elusive.

Actually, I think I may have it figured out.