Purgatory

Spring usually makes me want to pick up and go. This year has been more like, get up and blah. The rain hasn't stopped for about three weeks. It is Memorial Day today, but still just another rainy day. I should be getting ready for work but here I sit, trying to coerce inspiration onto this page so that you, dear reader, don't think I died.

An ethereal fog shrouds my yard as I write this, or is it a low flying cloud? From where I am sitting I can see the princess sitting in the tall grass staring at the sounds that mice make. The mice are no doubt looking for breakfast as well. My trees are fully dressed now, in cloaks of green and red. Some wear flowers. Soon the edge of the forest will be carpeted with lush ferns. Then, suddenly, it will be summer. That is, if the sun ever comes out. The fog makes my world dream like.

I can also sense that a change is in the air for my being , as well. I can only wonder what it will be. I haven't touched alcohol in over a week. I want my body clean when it arrives. The change. I've also been listening to my old Beatle records again. They help unclutter my mind and take my thoughts back to simpler times, although, I know that there is no going back. My life seems to cycle in "ten year" increments. The change is due. Even a snake gets to shed it's skin and start fresh. It will be fun to fly out of the cloud and see the new horizon. Out of the fog and into the sun.

Out of my skin.

Flying.

Let it be.

The Downward Spiral

The plan was simple. Get in and Get out.
Unfortunately, it would not be that easy.
Too much anticipation had already numbed the excitement. And so it started, a day like any other day. Breakfast, dishes, vacuuming, television. Who would have thought that this was preparation for a road trip to see a Nine Inch Nails concert 400 miles away.
We thought it would be casual to leave around 11:00 a.m. and enjoy a leisurely 4 hour drive, arriving in Boston with 4 hours to spare to do the downtown thing, hang out, find a pub, and get psyched for the big show.
What we didn't anticipate was A tractor-trailer carrying 1,600 pounds of ammonium nitrate and blasting caps to overturn in the southbound lane of the Maine turnpike, paralyzing traffic for 13 miles. This happened around noon and we became hostages of a one mile stretch of the turnpike for over 3 hours, leaving just enough time to get to Boston for the 7:30 show.
We arrived in Boston around 6:30. According to our directions we were only a couple miles from the theater. Even with a map-quest route printed out in detail, we found ourselves immediately lost. Wicked lost. No clues. Driving aimlessly in circles around the heart of an all American(sic), non English speaking ghetto. Not one person could even point us toward the big evil highway 93 that we had strayed from on most likely an incorrect exit.
Further down the spiral. It's 7:00. I have no idea where we are. We're not going to make it!
We found ourselves accidentally crossing a huge bridge that would take us most assuredly to the wrong side of the river. Besides paying a whopping $6.00 toll to cross the bridge, I expected to have to pay again to get back to where we were so we could continue being lost where we started.
Things look up. The toll both operator reassured us that we were headed in the right direction and kindly gave some simple instructions to get us closer to our destination.
Whew! It's 7:15. We might just make it!
We found the theater district. Then we lost it. It's not my fault. Boston has some really messed up streets with no sense of direction. The street names change at intersections, streets suddenly turn into one way traffic coming toward you, and the usual logic of back tracking doesn't easily apply.
Yup, still lost. Even after finding the theatre around 7:45 it took another half hour to find a place to park. Finally, we are in the theatre at our assigned seats at 8:15. We catch the last 2 songs from the opening band.
We made it!
Basically, we have just enough time to take a couple breaths before Trent and his boys take the stage. All I can think of is, "I can't wait to get home!"
For the next hour and a half, though, It was bliss.
NINE_INCH_NAILS LIVE: WITH_TEETH_2005
They kicked serious ass, playing all my favorite tunes, old and new. [Click on comments for the set list.] Loud and Hard with no down time. The band was tight. The balcony was shaking, literally! (The Orpheum Theatre was built around 1850.) And the light show was intense!
But alas, it was over too soon.
Around 10:30 we were back at my truck. Trying to follow the reverse version of the directions that got us lost in the first place. We finally get on a familiar northbound highway at midnight. That was the most relief I felt all night, at least until around 4:15 when we finally arrived home. Planet Dandy.
I never went to bed. The sun was on the horizon and I was so relieved to be on my hilltop in the country that I couldn't have slept.
It's kind of funny. The deer were frolicking in my yard that morning. Chasing each other and rolling whimsically in the tall grass. A total contrast to the pounding techno metal noise of NIN and a somewhat ironic ending to the stressful adventure of the previous 20 hours.
I'm still trying to put it all into perspective. Like the over turned truck? It never even exploded. What a rip off!
But hey, I seen Nine Inch Nails, and now I'm back in the peaceful country side of Maine.
Closer to God.
I think that's pretty special!
Was it all worth it?
Would I do it again?
..."Hell Yeah!"

Sunspot Baby

Like a dust mop with feet, shirking her duties, she's grounded in the corner entertaining the sun.
"Shirk what?" She says nonchalantly. "I'm a cat. It's what I do."

A wisp of chimney smoke frolics outside my window like a lost spirit trying to find a home.

"I'm not lost." It says insouciantly. "It's what I do."

Why do I ponder minutiae and impose significance on the mundane? I ask myself ostentatiously.

"It's what I do."

Rainy Day Dream Away

"Rainy day rain all day

Ain't no use in gettin' uptight

Just let it groove its own way

Let it drain Your worries away

Lay back and groove on a rainy day

Lay back and dream on a rainy day"

---Jimi Hendrix

Perfect words for a perfect day. The weekend is upon me and it will rain all day today and tomorrow. It's darkly tranquil on my mountain top. The field is turning lush green. A hint of the summer that approaches and a fitting contrast to the charcoal skies above.The trees almost seem to form leaves as I watch. My world is in slow motion.

The fire in my woodstove is like the last breath of a dying friend whose company I will soon miss. For now, though, the comfort of the heat on a cold rainy day is a guilty pleasure.

Music assaults my senses from all directions as the trees outside slam dance to the wind.

The forest is alive.

Neither happy or angry.

Just moving.

Moshing.

[WITH_TEETH]