Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Turn it Off




Polite culture dictates that I should not expect you endure my cigarette smoke, listen to music blaring from my house, or listen to me blathering on a cell phone.

So why is it OK for every bar, hotel and restaurant to have one or more TV's blaring all the time?

I recently stayed in a very nice hotel in Prairie Du Chen. Awesome hotel. Perfect service in every way but one. In the morning, while i was trying to enjoy the great breakfast they had out, the TV was blasting the CNN.

I even tried to turn it off, since I asked the other two people in the room whether they were watching it or not. They both were fine with turning it off.

The clerk behind the desk, however, insisted that it remain on. Even though she couldn't watch it from her station.

WHY?

Why is it OK to make me endure the TV, and not say, a rap or country radio station? To me, it's still noise that I don't care for. Next time you have the chance, see if you can get someone to turn it off.

I have a dentist appointment Friday. Even they have TV's now. GAH!! I will insist they turn it off. I abandoned my TV three years ago, and I haven't missed it one bit.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Bring On The Night



The day begins with a certain kind of rhythm, and sets our course in a kind of tick tock pattern. BZZZZZ.. We wake. Breakfast, maybe coffee and a commute. Radio in the car. News, reviews, talk. More talk. Work. Get settled. Email. Meetings. Facebook. Lunch. Maybe more meetings. More Facebook. Commute. Home. Dinner. TV.

We are tired. 9 pm. 10 pm. Maybe we can stretch it to 11 pm and watch some more TV. Call it a day.
Weekends are not all that different. Maybe we have plans, maybe we have chores. Maybe we have events to attend. Summer time. Baseball games. Weddings. Picnics. Graduations. Maybe we look forward to that long run, that long ride. Summer. Fall. Winter. Spring. And so it goes.

All of it flows, like a waking dream. We move through our days, sometimes impatiently. Everyone trying to be somewhere where they are not. Gotta get going, gotta get there. got stuff to do, important stuff. Life stuff.

We beat the sun. We got to cut holes in our days.  Tick tock, like a clock, the Sun moves it way to the west, and the end of the day. We sleep. And do it all over again.

Days pass. Weeks Pass. Months. Seasons. Years.

Now, the juxtaposition, to the night. We don't get many chances to see the night, the whole night. Night stops time. The stars and the moon move, yes, but it's subtle, like a whisper. Night is big, when you are outside away from the artificial day of incandescent lights. Its big, yet intimate. It folds over you. Caress.

Evening spreads itself against the sky, blends down to your shoes. If you are out there, at night, you know what I mean. Somebody turn on the stars. Pin holes in the blanket.

Once the blanket is thrown, time slows down. Minute to minute. Hour to hour. last forever. There is no where to be, other than here. Its one my favorite times to run. All night. The earth seems to pass beneath your feet. You don't have to chase this, let it come to you. It just comes, and stays.

This is even more true when you stay up, long past the twilight. your body, not sure what to do, reaches a point beyond tired. And then you can just stay up, locked into that moment.

Three times this year, I found that place. Stayed up all night. With friends, shared.

Got one more coming, up at Superior. Very much looking forward to it.

"Bring on the night. I couldn't stand another hour of daylight" (The Police)