I love summer. There's something about sitting cross-legged in the shade of a warm afternoon that just sets your mind to wandering. Warm, summer evenings are the same way, there's nothing like an evening walk in the summer discovering a new place. (Well, unless you end up in certain parts of East Los Angeles after 9pm, to which I suggest a brisk 'run'.)

Where was I? Wandering. Yah, I just love summer and as usual a few things passed through my little three pound universe between my ears that I figured I'd jot down. I'm sure you have similar thoughts and perhaps will be inspired to pen them down to share with your friends as well.

-- Trees; You know.. as we walk around, above ground that is, between ourselves and all other objects around us the space between us is filled with air. But even in that air are particles of dust and debris too small to be seen. So as we walk around it's much like swimming through a thin ocean of airborne 'soup'. Looking at the trees around me it occurred to me that there is space, filled with this 'soup', between myself and this tree. But if you were to flip everything upside down and think of what is underground as though it were the 'top-side', the same would be true. Between a boulder buried below and the roots of the tree the space is filled with bits of debris.. called 'dirt'.

Okay, so the debris is a whole lot thicker between the boulder and the roots of the tree, but the same principle applies. So now imagine you lived underground. To you a tree would be those roots that stick up from out of the sky below. And if you were to dig a hole downwards you'd eventually poke a hole down into this vast void know as the 'sky'. And there, hanging from the bottom of the planet would be this funny looking other half of the tree, called the trunk. The trunk would have these green things whose sole purpose was to absorb sunlight to keep the underground 'tree' alive. Eventually you would want to fill up the hole you poked into the sky below, or someone might fall into it and disappear into the clouds.

-- Weight-lifting; Some things just naturally look like they'd be fun to do. Hobbies are usually done for some kind of fun.. a distraction from all the hard, serious things we do in life. That's how I feel about volley-ball. Whether you play great or are one of those "One-hand Mosley" players who sends the ball veering off into the picnic tables.. volleyball just presents itself as a fun, group sport. However I personally have never been one inclined to pursue weight-lifting. I suppose it's healthy for you, if you don't drop them on your toe of course or throw out your back. Or pull a tendon or rip the cartilage in your knee.

But despite the gym we have here at work no matter how much I observe the act of picking up something heavy.. and then setting it down again, picking it back up and... setting it back down again, I don't know, it just doesn't grab me the way volleyball does. Aerobics is a bit more fun to watch. It's kind of like dancing, except in the daytime.

--Morning Phone Voice; You know what I can't figure out? How do people who call me when I'm asleep know that I've just woken up? There I am, sound asleep stuffing orange whales into milk cartons when suddenly this distant noise jangles me from my sleep.. the PHONE! I sit up in bed and let it ring once more as I clear my throat, shout a little bit and then pick up the receiver as though I'd been up for hours.

"Hello?", I start off.
"Oh, I'm sorry.. did I wake you up? I'll call later and let you get back to sleep."
"No, no. I uh.. I was just doing some, uh aerobics."
"No you weren't, you were sleeping."
"How can you tell?! Do I sound sleepy?"
"I'll call you back in an hour, how's that?"

Hmm. One theory is that even though my voice sounds clear, my brain is actually only running at half-speed and I'm actual talking verrrryyy sloowwwwwly, even though in my brain it sounds like normal speed. Another theory is they know I don't do aerobics. Every once in a while when someone does wake me up from a sound sleep and says, "Oh, did I wake you up?".. I just tell them, "No, it's okay.. I had to get up and answer the phone anyway."

-- Birds; You ever watch a dog bored in the afternoon? I mean, when the dog is bored, not you. (Of course, you gotta be a little bored if you're spending the afternoon watching the dog, but that's another issue.) He'll droop around, maybe pick up one of his toys and look at you.. kind of smile for second and then put it back. Then he'll do what you do.. look for a shady spot to sit and think. And then along comes some bird. The bird lands about six feet away.. at first watching the dog from the corner of its eye, tilting his head this way and that. The dog just sort of looks at him, considers how hot it is, lets out a small sigh and goes back to staring off into space.

So the bird hops a little closer and jumps on the rim of the water dish. Looks around some more and then gets a drink. (If he'd seen how sloppily the dog laps up his water he'd think twice about getting a drink somewhere else.) Then the bird hops on over and starts picking at some dog food crumbs. I guess that's because birds can't read and don't know that it says 'Dog Food' on the can. I think that's where we get the term, 'bird-brain'. Again the dog could care less. Plenty enough food to go around. Besides, these birds they eat like, well, like a bird. Anyways.. then from around the corner along comes this cat. As soon as this cat sees the bird it starts stalking in slowly hoping to catch and eat this bird.

What I've wondered watching all this is.. how does the bird know it's just supposed to hop around and nibble on dog food? Birds don't talk to each other verbally in order to pass on concepts and ideas. It's not like Papa-bird tells the Baby-bird;

"Now, when you get out there on your own.. your job is to find water and stuff to nibble on."
"But can't I just go around stalking cats so I can catch and eat them?"
"Uh.. you can, but it'll be a very short-lived occupation."
"How about if I just chase balls, drool and howl when the fire-engine sirens pass by?"
"No.. we're birds. That's the dog's job."
"Birds?"
"Yes. Birds, we're birds."
"How do you spell, 'birds', Dad?"
"Uhm.. 'D', er,... go ask your Mother."

But somehow they know. Birds drink from the dog dish, cats chase after the birds and dogs make life a living hell for cats. We say it's because it's just 'natural', it's their 'instinct'. That's just our way of giving it a name without answering the question because.. basically, we still don't know.

-- The Other Side of Space; You know, for centuries people have looked up into space thinking, "I wonder what's on the other side?". I was told in school that space has no end, it just goes on forever. After you go real, REAL far.. it still just keeps on going. But I still figured there had to be some point where finally you ran into some construction zone or something where you hit this big cement wall with scaffolding where the rest of 'space' was still being chipped away. But that only presented another problem. If there was a wall that space was being chipped away from.. then how thick is that wall? Hmm.. I guess it'd have to go on 'forever'. And if there was a wall, what was it sitting on? And who built it? And why build it only to chip it away later? Ponderous.

But I did finally come to one final thought on the infinity of space. If there is another side to space and there are creatures there thinking, "I wonder what's on the other side of space?" Well, it's "Me.". I'm over here at the other end of space. And maybe their planet is being driven to new technological breakthroughs as they mount their efforts to launch themselves into space to explore what's on the other side. Wow.. to think I inspired all that. Amazing.

Yah, I like shade. Shade is good. I love summer. Some people get summer all year around. Lucky dogs. Unless of course they have no shade.. that would be a real bummer.

©1999

Back To Article Index