hilvanando el hilo de la vida

The first colleague I talked to today said to me: “Pete, you seem totally out of it these days!” And I was slightly taken aback by the comment, because I’ve been feeling as sharp as a samurai sword this week. Mind you, I have been far out, lost in a world of thought that’s located far far away from wherever my body may find itself. Such dislocation is what permits me to leave my body in a trance-like state on the running machine, with no mind in control to say: “Stop, I think you need to save the energy for something else”.

But this afternoon, I realized that my colleague had been right. I suddenly noticed I was pretty much floating, and I thought back to this morning. What madness. All sorts of things had been flying around my head. I was full of randomness.


* * * * * earlier today * * * * *

"I used to think
As birds take wing
They sing through life
So why can’t we?"

This morning I have been unable to work: I can’t keep my eyes from the rain outside. It’s quite spectacular. The rain always fills me with an urge to do I don’t know what: just as quickly as the rain hits the ground, my consciousness becomes awash with far-flung ideas and inspirations. Generally, I am possessed with the urge to sing in Italian, though I don’t know which song to sing. This morning, the rain took me back in time, and I felt the urge to send a message in Portuguese. While in Lisbon all those years ago, we witnessed some of the most insane downpours Portugal had ever seen. The dainty little town seemed like it was going to be washed away – I was almost expecting it to vanish like a chalk painting on a pavement. You know, like what happens in Mary Poppins, after they've sung supercalifragilisticexpialidocious at the races...


Heavy rain and thunder is the weather at its most passionate. It’s something to behold. “Pioggia” certainly does sound as wet as today looks.

But it’s dark. It’s so very dark. Como pode o céu estar escuro como se fosse noite? It’s the end of July. A guy from work is getting married. Just like the rhyme:

“Mary said ‘Aye’ with a twinkle in her eye
And they both got married at the end of July”

Even though the end of July should be wonderfully sunny and pleasant, I like this weather. When the rain stops and the sky clears, the sun will return. We're getting truly bipolar weather at the moment, and bipolar weather feeds creativity.

* * * * * fin * * * * *


I headed to the toilet for a quick snooze. I really did float away. And when I came out, the sun was shining very brightly indeed. I read what I wrote this morning: I had been right. I surprised even myself.

All you need are wacky ideas.