Yarn

I had a dream recently; one that got me to thinking.

I was sitting on a log by a river, having walked through some woods on a paved path. I looked out at the water and the trees, with the structures and the noise of a city in the background. If I looked out at where the tops of the trees met the sky, I could watch them breathe -- that is to say, they shimmered, rhythmically, expanding and contracting. They breathed not as a group of individuals but as a communal entity; I suppose then I should say that it breathed; more appropriately: she.

I felt judged by the trees, and negatively too, though I felt neither guilt nor shame; without shifting any blame I felt blameless; it wasn't accusation, just observation. Although quite conscious of being a specific individual, "I" referred not only to myself but to people in general; not as a representative but as a specific iteration.

The idea of a paved path seemed passively offensive; obscene and unnecessary. I explained without defending (to the tree/trees, I suppose), "We're on our way," and paused, uncertain now, "...right?" It appeared that we--

(which isn't to say apes, necessarily; bipedal apes might quite fit in to this planet, whose trees are the lungs and whose roots are the brain; "I" however felt quite alien to this place, like a house guest who's been trodding his muddy shoes on the carpet)

--had something that we were doing, something we'd get done then take off from here, but that "I" had lost sight of and couldn't quite remember. Space travel comes to mind. But that's probably just because my imagination is limited to science fiction. I felt that I was offensive, but didn't quite need to apologize; I sat on the log and looked out toward the water, and watched a branch grow.

It moved very slowly, but neither linearly nor constantly. Rather it stretched (and not just the tip; various parts of it, linkedly but not symmetrically) and shrank in a pattern that seemed random. The subtlety of its tiny, tempered movements were awestriking. I wouldn't doubt that my mouth was wide open.

I certainly feel more comfortable when there are trees around, and the greater the grouping of trees the better; but that doesn't mean that I'm not creeped out by them; and certainly I can no longer assume that they are, by default, cool with me.

-----------

On a totally unrelated note (which is to say: find a link btwn these and Ram Dass will give you a prize), I made a little green desktop wallpaper with The GiMP that I've been enjoying. Maybe you're interested:

No Tool for Me

Today was the day to get tickets to the Tool show in May; tickets went on sale at 10AM, and were sold out at 10:01. I guess that's what happens when a multi-platinum band schedules themselves at a 3000-seat venue as the only Canadian stop in a city of 1.5 million (downtown) on a tour to support their new album immediately after releasing the first single.

Shucks.

Preliminary Remarks

It's nothing important, of course, but: after securing a copy of Tool's newest album, 10,000 Days (curiously about the amount of time it takes for Saturn to "come 'round again"), and loading it up as a Winamp playlist, I noticed something interesting about the track layout: two tracks are over 11 minutes long, and are the same length, within two seconds. These tracks are #4 and #8, which divides the rest of the 11 tracks into three sets of three. With the middle (#6) track at an uncommon 73 seconds, it gives the album an image of symmetry.

I checked this out mathematically: the three tracks preceding the first 11-minuter add up to 1251 seconds combined (or 20:51); the three tracks following the last 11-minuter combine to be 1282 seconds (or 21:22). These aren't perfectly symmetric... in fact, it leaves a difference of 31 seconds.

That's my first reaction.

Bicycle Day

Today seems like as good a day as any for a bicycle ride. London seems to have a pretty extensive and scenic bike path system that runs along the Thames river. I say: let's investigate.

Equinox Baby

Now's as good a time as any to congratulate Josh & Sasha on their impending stork visit: if the timing is right, they'll have an Autumnal Equinox baby (three cheers for Virgo!).

And good luck to Josh in his decision to quit consuming tobacco sticks -- though luck has nothing to do with it; it's all in the Will.

And in this corner...

The fish have been deposited outside, freeing up the corner for the Sonor kit to exhale and stretch itself out. Haven't played it yet, but at least it's there:


Tomorrow: I apply for recording school, complete with an interview with the Dean. Wish me luck...!

Lateralus on Vinyl

Sure, you don't believe me, but that doesn't mean it's not true: I'm now a proud owner of Tool's 2001 release, Lateralus, on vinyl.

Without giving too much away: the tracks are in a different order. At least, that's how I see it. My favourite part: there are no words: not on the packagingn or on the discs themselves. Just the track listings for each disc on their respective sleeves.

Call it pretentious if you want. I think it's a nice touch.

Come over some time and we can listen to the records and stare at the packaging....

Sarnia yesterday

... Catton has bright red hair ... Dan White ... Granny happy to see me ... good ol' Josh ... Sasha needs to calm down a notch ...

Walking down a road by the river, a guy in his 20s was driving a red convertible with the top down, a lady his age in the passenger seat; he pumped his hand in the air and cheered "Wooo!@". I thought it was pretty funny, the guy was being a dork. It really irked Sasha, so much that she ranted for a while about it, eventually concluding that she wished he would run into something and die.

... Blind Boys of Alabama ... THUG2 for PC, $10 ... Canatara Park ... Jared = Nathan ... Don Cherry's & the Leafs game, where Sundin zinged a few pretty goals ... Isis: Panopticon as the soundtrack for the drive.

The Guntar

Slid in some new strings before heading out to a campfire weekend. Well, sans campfire... nor is it really the weekend, yet...

"Funny thing when you're unemployed, weekends don't mean quite so much, 'cept you get to hang out with your workin friends."

BRCGFC Quiz Night, here I come!

Testing

I am suddenly reminded of a dream I had a few days ago, in which I was hiding, or living, underground. There were scarabs or beetles or scorpions -- some variety of large bug -- scampering around. One startled to crawl up underneath my shirt, and I realized there was opportunity to be terrified, but I consciously chose to not give in to fear. It came out through the hole at my neck, and seemed pretty friendly after that.

Again, the theme of testing, of something seemingly independent of me applying terror and checking how I react. Or something.

On an ambiguously related note, I would appreciate any insight available on controlled epileptic fits and trances.

Grave Vision

At about half past midnight, I bed down after finishing a chapter of Breaking Open the Head, and don't immediately drift off into sleep. Eyes tight shut, I fall into more an hallucination than a dream. (I would like to posit that by 'hallucination' I don't mean a made-up visual game, but rather a lucid trance with an impressive air of importance and reality to it).

It was quite simple and quick: I was looking forward into a dug-out area, a deep and definite trench, like a grave. It was startling, but as I was conscious of what it was, I chose to neither succumb to nor deny the terror (ie, "feeling of reality"), but decided to go ahead with it. We/I fell forward into the grave; then standing in it, I looked straight forward at its dark dirt headwall.

If a standard grave is six feet deep, then my eyes, physically, should be just about ground-level. But I was deep enough into this pit to be significantly below the surface. I wonder if this is linked at all to how I, occasionally, feel a whole lot taller than I remember being. (Similarly, in a "regular" not-so-lucid dream later the same night, I was conversing with a Bob Saget/Dave Bishop character who was significantly taller than me, though not so in waking life).

I get the impression I am being tested, or perhaps introduced to something.

Entrez-vous

Think of London,
the Forest City.
Dark --
dark in the daytime.
People sleep,
sleep in the daytime,
if they want to,
if they want to.