Balance in Moderation or Moderation in Balance
Tiredness and drowsiness invade all of my senses: the result of attempting to do too much in too little time. It may also be a result of living out of moderation at the moment. It demands the question, should we live moderately in balance or balance the moderation? The main point that I will be living with anyway is the fact that I have too many things happening at the moment… Embarking (tentatively) on a voyage to Barcelona this Friday, followed by a plane trip to Athens on Sunday (October 26th). I will be traveling with a girl friend of mine around Greece and finish in Turkey (principally Istanbul), all within the time frame of a week. I have to finish essentially 4 projects before then… I should be off of this blog site but I feel a sense of relief in inscribing my thoughts.
Maybe it doesn’t make too much sense, over-complicating the issue, as I tend to do. I’m just listening to this new Saosin song, ‘Come Close (Acoustic),’ one of my favorite bands, and this moment can never be re-lived. The magic of hearing each new second of the song being played is a discovery that is only apparent in its first perception. The same goes for discovering a new place that we are not familiar with, those first impressions are so different than the mental schema that we create after numerous interactions with the same environment. And, as the song ends, so does the ‘first impression’ that can never be re-lived in the same manner ever again. We can like the song, the place for that matter, but we will never attain the uniqueness that defines the ‘virgin’ experience. And that is a truth that I have many a time overlooked. Apparently, the same holds true with drugs, the first high can never be ascertained, only mimicked through an increase in doseage that ends in a downward spiral.
Perhaps my drug is that of travel and international frenzy. International frenzy in that I tend to find myself in very ridiculous situations quite frequently in different countries. Many times it is characterized by me running from one destination to another, all while I am asking ‘Why do I always find myself running from point A to point B?’ I would ask this question in Grenoble, France,South Korea, Toulouse, and more times than I can recall during my travels. One of the most vivid examples that comes to mind is when my two friends and I woke up late (due to not having an alarm clock) in Shanghai for our train to Huang Shan (a beautiful mountain just West of Shanghai). We rushed like crazy, paid the taxi twice he was owed (almost getting into several accidents), and sprinted to the gate after dealing with the ‘bordel’ that is China train stations. We arrived not more than 30 seconds late, and I made a mockery of myself by trying to jump over the barrier and argue to the Chinese railroad officer to let us through the door. There must have been about 500 people looking at me in disbelief (Love it!).
My tiredness has gotten the better of me, and I must rest a bit now before re-tackling the overly burdensome tasks before me…
Bisous,
Matthieu 🙂
