(no subject)
Sunday, March 28th 2010 at 11:00am
I'm never having pets.
The people we're staying with are nice enough. In fact, they're very friendly and easy going. I don't have any problems with them at all. I mean, the young woman and her boyfriend would never become close friends, even if they lived nearby, but I can see us often doing things together if that were the case.
No, my gripes are with their cat and their dog. Thankfully the dog isn't much larger than the cat, and more thankfully still, neither of them make vocal noises. No insistent barking or mewing.
Still, couldn't sleep through a solid hour without being woken, all night long. They knock over the trash at least four times a day. They scratch at the walls, climb in and out of paper bags. The cat jumps onto counters and knocks things down. The things it knocks down the dog proceeds to chew on. They follow you everywhere you go, always under your feet. They don't listen when you say “down” or “no” or... Anything, really.
It's one thing when a person has a single well-disciplined pet. One dog that doesn't bark, jump up on people, or tear the house apart. Or one silent cat that knows not to sleep on people's coats and doesn't jump up on tables or counters. That can be borne fairly easily.
But the constant clawing of the very couch I'm sleeping on it just impossible to sleep through. Since obviously the dog and cat never receive any punishment for their behavior, they literally rule the house.
My next gripe is with the internet. There is no wireless internet. Just one internet cord, which my father currently has. No Lords Online, no e-mail checking, no sending a message to Paladin, no female-searching, no artwork browsing... I think that brings me to photo sorting or something.
No looking things up online whatsoever. It's very odd to be sitting at my computer and not be able to look things up.
…
This apartment building itself is always loud. Whether it be due to television sets playing in another room, or other people's pets, or people in the hall way...
Well, never mind what I said about the dog being silent.
Anyway, yeah, I'm never having pets. They smell, and they leave fur everywhere, and they generally make a lot of noise one way or another, and they cost money... I really don't get how their company can be worth all of that. Always makes me think the owners are trying to fill the place that a partner or child ought to be filling.
Sunday, March 28th 2010 at 5:19pm
I had a good day. I had a bad night that was full of broken sleep, but the day that followed was great. I had a bowl of granola with unsweetened almond milk for breakfast. My father went with our host's boyfriend to the store while our host went to class, leaving me some alone time to talk to Paladin over skype.
When my father and our host's boyfriend returned, the three of us went to the park. I headed first for the swings, and when I tired of watching the children (and thinking to myself how horrific it is that so many of them are overweight), I headed back down the path. I caught sight of my father and then heard the sound of drums further over the hill.
I followed the sound and my father, which were both in the same direction and came upon a the upstart of a drum circle. I stood around a listened for a bit. I recorded a little of it when it was sounding cool. My father and I both got patted down with a guy who had fresh sage. A smokeless smudge, essentially.
A man with a flute began to play. And then a saxophone, and a trumpet. There was also a man who came with a metal drum that made an amazing sound - unfortunately it was a fairly quiet instrument so you couldn't hear it very well over the large drums. A woman with a hula hoop began intricate dances nearby, and in the distance two people could be seen attempting to play Frisbee while walking on the same tight rope pulled between two trees.
A woman who may have taken a few belly dancing classes began to dance in the middle of the drum circle, and I joined her. Later on a man lent me his drum and I learned a little (through trial and error) playing the drum.
I spent a bit of time speculating about the men playing the drums and the women dancing. Several women, perhaps seven, danced on and off, including myself. Perhaps twelve men played the drums or another instrument, and one girl, who didn't play very long. During the short time I was playing the drum, I watched the women dance and I thought to myself, “Look at how the music I'm making is creating the rhythm for them to dance to.” It gave me an entirely different feeling than dancing to the music, which makes me feel like I am glowing, like eyes are on me, even if they aren't. But when you're part of the music making, you're invisible - nobody is watching you for any length of time. You are a part of the flow that the dancers are following...
It made me think of the difference between men and women. Our natural natures apparent in the scene. I felt this sense of wanting to provide as I was playing the drum. I felt like I was being rewarded for my effort by their dancing - even as I simultaneously thought about the odd technique off a girl who seemed to follow the beat by dipping her spine forward.
“Is this how men feel?” I thought, even as I noted that the drum made a better sound when bouncing my hand off the drum as opposed to just hitting it and leaving my hand there. To provide a place for a woman to work her magic. Through music was the way I was experiencing, but it could translate to anything. To bring home the dinner for her to cook. To bring home the money for her to make a beautiful home. To enter her and bring her pleasure - to see her scream and writhe beneath you.
It's wonderful to contain such magic within yourself, but how amazing it must be to be a man - to be able to bring the magic out of a woman.