On my spirit animal.

So I have a spirit animal. I'm not really into the whole pagan belief system, but as a writer and a general nutcake, I'm fond of symbolism and a general sense of connectedness to the rest of the universe.

Of course, one doesn't just choose a spirit animal. According to the interwebs, a spirit animal chooses you - perhaps it shows up often in your life in a condensed amount of time, or characteristics of the beast manifest itself in your behavior. To Pericles (his own spirit animal being the rooster), the defining moment is when the animal speaks to you in a dream.

Now, the Floopness had been calling me Catfish for years. It's a nickname that arose because when I forgot to shave, my exceptionally scant beard would start poking out of my cheeks like whiskers. Perhaps that's why I'd always been fond of the regal bottom-feeder, and that's why it was on my mind as I went to sleep the night of my second bachelor party.

And maybe it was because I had ordered my wedding band with the word 'Catfish' inscribed on the inside that day, or maybe it was the fistful of mushrooms I'd eaten, but the catfish came to me that night. I was underwater, but not drowning. It was dark, but I could feel the riverbed beneath my ass. And out of the shadows came a fish, face broad and widemouthed, whiskers trailing from its cheeks like tendrils in the night. And he spoke, in a deep, rumbling voice that filled the waters around us.

"It's cool, man. It's cool."

And that was it. My brain moved on to other dreams until Zev stepped on my head to wake me up. I felt no change in who I was or where I was going in life. But I had a spirit animal.

And does it suit? I like to think so. I like to sit in the shadows like Batman; I like to devour the things that people have forgotten. I like to lie, cloaked in murk, watching and feeling the world flow over me, around me. And when I act, I like to think it is with purpose and alacrity, sure and powerful. I would probably be delicious in a cornmeal crust.

We all draw connections where we want to see them. It's in our nature, our attempts to make sense of the world around us. And things like this are like astrology; it's fun to think about, and it has exactly as much impact in our lives as we allow it to. Perhaps there is a deeper meaning to it, more likely there isn't.

But still, there's a part of me that looks forward to lying lazily on the banks of the Mississippi, belly full and eyes glazed, ears half-listening to street jazz and people, watching the world go by with one thought in my head: "It's cool, man. Everything's cool."