Monday, April 18, 2005

we stoop so low to reach so high

Funny things I saw at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown this weekend:
  • A stand selling t-shirts that had such mottos as I suck at math and I will not love you long time.
  • A salsa band playing "Guajira" followed by a gospel choir singing "Oh happy day" on the main stage at the festival. Nothing like the smell of teriyaki, and the sounds of (alternately) Carlos Santana and the big JC to make a winning combination.
  • Spam burgers and spam maki. Because Spam is always funny.
We did see a very cool musical performance on a mind-blowing string instrument. Four players, an infinite number of strings, and an innate sense of timing. Very cool.

I might have appreciated it more if I had not been gimping around Japantown like an invalid. SP and I went on an epic hike this Saturday for 14 miles, and damage to one of my knees ensued. I need a walking stick (um, and maybe a walker and a can of Ensure). We started the trail cheerfully enough, following the trail we had planned, but then we hit a bit of a comedy of errors involving a seasonal footbridge that didn't exist. On the up side, at mile 9, there was a stunning pay off- a waterfall that was greater than 60 feet. Is there anything nicer than that sound of water demonstrating the basic principles of physics?

The 5 mile trudge back was where the trouble began. At first, it was peaceful; SP and I went twenty minutes without uttering a word, lost in our own thoughts, observing the strangely iridescent shades of green on the ferns and moss along the trail. But what soon dawned upon us was that we had reached the pay-off too soon. The waterfall behind us, there was nothing to look forward to except the drive back home. We were just walking. We were no longer filled with a sense of stretching, of reaching for something beyond our capabilities. The last half a mile was excruciating. We did not speak, both of us absorbed with weighing what parts were aching.

But then again, I had the kind of solid sleep that comes with complete exhaustion, a dreamless sleep that is dedicated only to rest. That, and the waterfall, was worth it all.

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