ANECDOTE NO. FIVE: ON MOLECULES AND ELEMENTS:
Since humans cannot survive without water, water is a foundational element of life. The biological recipe that produces a human consits mainly of water. Author Tom Robbins once suggested humans exist solely because water wanted to find a way to get up and walk around. Clever, spritely little bits of atoms those water molecules are. . . if that´s the reason we are indeed walking bags of water.
The movement of the ocean is how I imagine the side of a mountain would appear if it took a muscle relaxer. A bit of jagged capricious jiggling and rolling with a possible hypnotic-hallucionogenic effect. When white caps form on the water, the swell rises like the first “I love you” forming in your throat but that evaporates is the dry nervous choke in your mouth. After looking at the shoreline long enough, you can begin to wonder, why is it I always thought the ocean moving over the land was what defined the shoreline? The shape of the land is moving just as much, so isn’t it the interplay between the two that defines the shoreline?
Living by the dictates of the elements isn’t always a pleasure. For example, sometimes high tide comes up when you are onshore grocery shopping. Then when you come back to the dock to get in your dinghy, half the dock is covered in water and Eli has to strip down to his skivvies and cross. Not even that made Eli lose his eternal smile. Of course, what is fun for one is not necessarily fun for another. For many people, sailing sounds like as much fun as paying a parking ticket. But I can claim to have had one hell of a good time.
Two and a half years ago on beach in Havana, Cuba I remember rolling in the sand until I was covered just so afterwards I could maximize the novelty of warm, calm ocean water. So different from Oregon. While sailing we had water-proof overalls and jackets that made me pine for splashes (but not for falling overboard). One day with relatively decent swell Rolph even suggested I harness myself into the bow spritz just to enjoy the sensation of crashing up and down and splashing. My foul weather gear and the safety harnes sufficiently emboldened me to do so. The laws of physics zapped in quick jolts throughout my nervous system each time we escalated a swell. The pull of the wind sucked us up onto the apex of the swell where Northern Light would momentarily stall before crashing down into the trough between the last and the next swell, leaving my tummy somewhere above. My giddiness was so overpowering I couldn’t stop laughing even when the wind made my teeth burn my lips like dry ice when I tried to close them.
Since humans cannot survive without water, water is a foundational element of life. The biological recipe that produces a human consits mainly of water. Author Tom Robbins once suggested humans exist solely because water wanted to find a way to get up and walk around. Clever, spritely little bits of atoms those water molecules are. . . if that´s the reason we are indeed walking bags of water.
The movement of the ocean is how I imagine the side of a mountain would appear if it took a muscle relaxer. A bit of jagged capricious jiggling and rolling with a possible hypnotic-hallucionogenic effect. When white caps form on the water, the swell rises like the first “I love you” forming in your throat but that evaporates is the dry nervous choke in your mouth. After looking at the shoreline long enough, you can begin to wonder, why is it I always thought the ocean moving over the land was what defined the shoreline? The shape of the land is moving just as much, so isn’t it the interplay between the two that defines the shoreline?
Living by the dictates of the elements isn’t always a pleasure. For example, sometimes high tide comes up when you are onshore grocery shopping. Then when you come back to the dock to get in your dinghy, half the dock is covered in water and Eli has to strip down to his skivvies and cross. Not even that made Eli lose his eternal smile. Of course, what is fun for one is not necessarily fun for another. For many people, sailing sounds like as much fun as paying a parking ticket. But I can claim to have had one hell of a good time.
Two and a half years ago on beach in Havana, Cuba I remember rolling in the sand until I was covered just so afterwards I could maximize the novelty of warm, calm ocean water. So different from Oregon. While sailing we had water-proof overalls and jackets that made me pine for splashes (but not for falling overboard). One day with relatively decent swell Rolph even suggested I harness myself into the bow spritz just to enjoy the sensation of crashing up and down and splashing. My foul weather gear and the safety harnes sufficiently emboldened me to do so. The laws of physics zapped in quick jolts throughout my nervous system each time we escalated a swell. The pull of the wind sucked us up onto the apex of the swell where Northern Light would momentarily stall before crashing down into the trough between the last and the next swell, leaving my tummy somewhere above. My giddiness was so overpowering I couldn’t stop laughing even when the wind made my teeth burn my lips like dry ice when I tried to close them.
posted by Jojo at 6:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home