Greetings all. How have you been since my last post? I wonder if questions like these point at either my megalomaniacal tendencies or mild schizophrenia.
Yesterday I drove to Philly to drop my friend's sister there. I have two modes of driving, if I am in a crowded area I am quite cautious to the point of being a pain on the others in the car, if I am on the interstate I am the coolest cat on the planet (brrrring...brrrring....yeah, it's the 1980s and we want our vocabulary back).
So once we got out of the insane demolition derby-esque streets of Jersey city I relaxed and started looking around and actually enjoying the drive. Soon enough the motion was suggested and passed that we stop for coffee. We stopped for coffee.
The starbucks was located in this rest area off to the side of the interstate. There was nothing spectacular about the place, just another concrete monolith in a landscape dotted with such concrete monoliths.
As I stood outside sipping coffee with my friends I suddenly got struck by this feeling. There was a pleasant breeze (chilly but not arctic), it was that time of the afternoon where the sun decides to take a small nap and the clouds decide to arrange themselves in patterns pleasing to the eye. There were trees with dead leaves all around the place and the sun's light filtering through these threw dappled shadows on the ground. I opened my mouth and said "Man...this place is natural".
Considering the earlier statement about the concrete monoliths this was a most absurd statement to make. No matter how much I thought about though I could not bring myself to change it. This might partially have been due to my obstinacy but I would like to believe that at least some part of me truly felt that it was natural. Not natural in the sense of it being deeply entwined in nature. Natural in the sense of it just feeling right. The whole aura of the scene was one of complete and utter harmony.
I added a slight filter effect to the photo and a little blur but this is how it looked.
We roamed around in Philly for a while but since it was cold and getting dark we decided to head back after grabbing some Dunch at a Korean place (that's dinner + lunch in case you are wondering). I liked walking around in Philly, it felt great to be on a university campus again. It was then that I realized how much I missed just hanging out on the UF campus. There is something about that college environment which just makes one feel safe and that very same thing kicked in for me that day in Philly.
The drive back was also nice. After managing to successfully extricate ourselves from Philly we got onto the interstate and switched interstates a bunch of times including this one time where we were going in the exact opposite direction for a good while. It was dark and the lights everywhere were on.
I have always loved the lights at night especially when I am in a car. When I was a kid these experiences were always experienced from the backseat of the car which is infinitely better in my honest opinion than having to drive and try to see the place around you.
You are moving so fast that other people are just a blur. In that brief instant when eyes lock between cars at a light there is the true definition of the present. Infinitesimal contact severed once the light changes to green and suddenly we are all moving again. Is there meaning in all of these things or am I just trying to find significance where there is none? I wonder.
At this one point we got onto a huge bridge and all around us was some kind of industrial city kind of structure. Every building was studded with lights and the whole thing just looked so beautiful and out of this world. Ever since I was a kid I have had a fascination with yellow lights.
I was really young and sailing with my mom and dad on the ship. We went for dinner at this indian family's place somewhere in the US and on the way back I acquired this one memory which to this day has not left my side. I was drowsy and remember being steered by my dad. When we got back to the port area the entire place was dark except for the hundreds of yellow lamps all over. I remember being enthralled by them.
So the drive over the bridge was awesome and once again we descended into darkness.
I wish I had taken some pictures of the night drive but I did not and so it's only words, and words are all I have to take your mind there.
When you start feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders get in your car and drive somewhere nice. Roll those windows down and feel the wind roar. Squint your eyes against the mid morning sun's rays and breathe.....just breathe......and for once, let that be enough.
ainren.
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