Maxwell Joslyn is hosting this month’s IndieWeb Carnival with the theme of totems:

I'm the host for this month's IndieWeb Carnival, and the theme is totems: items of great personal, spiritual, or religious meaning, which may serve as the emblem or symbol of a group of people.

I’m not a religious or a spiritual person but there is one item that I consider fitting for this theme.

Let me take you back a decade. In 2013, I was getting ready to uproot my life and move abroad for the first time. I had landed a job in a startup in San Francisco starting in January 2014 and I hosted a farewell party with my closest friends at the time.

At that party, a friend gave me this hand-made card of a Mario Super Star with a personal good luck message on the back. I took the positive energy of the Super Star (if you’re not familiar with the item in the games, it gives you speed, invincibility and cool music) with me to the new life abroad and it has served me well.

A hand-drawn post card with a Super Mario Super Star. The card has taken a lot of damage on the edges and has become discoloured at parts.

As you can see from the photo, it’s seen some life in these past 11.5 years. I keep re-laminating it whenever it starts to wear down but I love how it’s no longer in pristine condition. It’s not a display case trophy, it’s part of my every day life and it shows.

So why do I carry it with me? I don’t genuinely believe that it would bring me luck, obviously. It is however a reminder of a good time and helps me remember the excitement that I felt at the time with the move to a new country. It acts as a reminder of good friendships and how lucky I am to have such people in my life. I keep it with me to give me hope that even in turmoils of life, bad moments shall pass.