Part one: Pocket time

I've taken to keeping dice in my pocket.
Not yet, actually: I've taken to thinking about keeping dice in my pocket. I've stopped keeping my hands in them, except on those cold days I make the fatal decision to forget my gloves, so now I can fit other things in besides my hands. So I don't have this pair of dice yet, but I'm going to get some from someplace sometime before I head off to the great somewhere out west. I forget where and when I had the idea. It was probably when I had a hot head and went off driving somewhere toward the mountains. I remember one reason for carrying dice: you can always play a game with someone, or if you're alone, entertain yourself with a friendly guessing game. And you can make bets against yourself if you're really clever.
I think what got me thinking about carrying dice is that they are permanently optimistic. If you roll a die, you are mathematically certain to have a 100% chance of not getting a zero. This is with your typical six-sided die, of course, if you have nerd dice it is a different story, probably one with dragons and hot dark elves. That's fine, I like all kinds of dice, but never getting a zero is a friendly idea. No matter what you roll, even if it's not the number you wanted, you still have something, numerically speaking. Sure, you might lose all your money and maybe your toes if you're in deep trouble, but if you're in an alley trying to roll an 8 and you get a 4, you can always console yourself by thinking "At least I didn't lose my child's college fund by rolling a nothing at all! I have a four! That's a nice number! Maybe I'll call it my lucky number!" And your life would change slightly for the better: now you have a lucky number! Think of all the things you can do with a lucky number! Silver lining, guys. Only chumps and snotty mathematicians would call zero their favorite number. You have big-nose four, and no money. You better fucking hold onto that number.
I'd say dice are nice. Knowing no matter what you'll never end up with nothing is incredibly positive. Maybe not to Zen Buddhists, but for people like me who like things, it's nice to always know you have a positive integer on your side. I'm rolling dice right now, dice as big as a Chevy S-10 going across the cornopolis of the midwest. I'm moving to Santa Fe, and I don't know what I'm going to get, but I know it's not going to be a zero.
--------

I wrote this a few weeks ago. Now I'm in Santa Fe, with no dice, but I do have two axolotls, two cats, a farfisa organ, two friends, a couple of mountains, and no job yet. I don't have sweet zero out here, and I still have plenty in Maryland. And tonight, we eat pizza. It's pizza night at the yet-to-be-named house of Anne and Greg and Scott. We're starting traditions already.