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this entry will probably make you sick, but you can suck my balls.
2004-06-22-8:03 p.m.
Two weeks ago life kicked me in the ass. And today it didn't quite pat me on the back, but it did at least smile at me. I woke up this morning, slowly, after a late night staying up on the phone with my beautiful girl. I had a great, productive day at work, and spent my drive home talking to Paige again, we spent the afternoon talking about Volkswagens we'll be working on together, picking out her classes for the last half of the summer session, and looking for a new bike for me to ride to the gym. I cooked myself dinner too, shrimp sauteed in habanero sauce, liquid smoke, and cajun spice, with thai noodles, broccoli, and bell peppers. She had to finish up at work, and I went for my daily run. When I left the house I was yawning and sleepy, but after I walked my 2 blocks for a warmup and stretched behind my neighborhood independent record store, I was off like a rocket. I started out on a smaller backroad, running through neighborhoods, past old houses, new condo's, the poorer mexican apartments, complete with a mobile taqueria van parked out front. The road ended in a "T", and I decided to run along the main street, Richmond Avenue. I ran past my usual laundromat, the west university post office, more mexican food places, the cleaners, the telephone exchange, and more than a few apartments. It was the first time I noticed that the entire sidewalk down Richmond is still paved in old red bricks, although broken up in places leaving a few puddles of water from yesterdays rain. I ran all the way down to the major intersection, Richmond and Montrose, my headphones keeping up a steady soundtrack of old school punk rock and new school hip hop. I turned left along montrose, noticing a city bus, an porsche 911, a girl on a vespa scooter, and a 4 wheel drive truck decked to the nines. The typical eclectic mix that I love about Houston. I turned at the first block, past a man sleeping on a park bench, and down a picturesque sidewalk bordered by small oak trees on my right, and tightly manicured bushes on the left. I ran along the University of St. Thomas, and as I was midway, it started to rain. Softly at first, and very easily. A young mexican guy pushing home his ice cream cart (probably from the college) smiled and waved at the crazy white boy running in the rain when I probably had a perfectly good car at home. As I followed the side streets past the small but proud little houses bordering the Menil Collection (a local art museum), it started raining heavier, and I purposely moved from the sidewalk back into the street to feel the rain entirely. By the time I passed the museum the rain was absolutely furious. Cold and heavy, and I couldn't help but run faster and faster, even though I was a few miles into my run. As the street narrowed and cars came along, I moved back to the sidewalk, jumping puddles, over the uneven concrete ripped up by the roots of the big pecan and oak trees alongside it, ducking under the branches of the shrubs of the yards to my left, all the while smiling and singing along to Bad Religion and Alkaline Trio in in my headphones. I finally made it back to my street, made a left, running through the inch deep water in the sidewalk, literally covered in floating pink flower petals from the bushes alongside. I passed the record store again, shot across the busy intersection, leaping over puddles and on and off sidewalks around cars, and down to the end of my block. The rain was so hard I could barely see in front of myself and my legs burned from 40 minutes of the furious pace. I ran to the end of my street, between the video store and the guitar shop, and just like that the rain almost completely stopped. I walked back down the block slowly, almost plodding and definetly exhausted. I walked back to where my truck is parked to grab my keys, and noticed that as usual, all the rain from the roof of my building was collecting and cascading *right* past my bedroom window on the top floor. I set down my mp3 player and my keys on my truck, looked around to see if anyone was looking, then thought "who gives a fuck?" and stood right underneath the waterfall coming from my roof. It immediately took my breath away, it was so unbelievably cold. I laughed at it, rubbed the suprisingly crystal clear water into my hair, and laughed again. I stepped out after a few seconds. A shower from mother earth just works so much quicker than the one in my apartment. After that, it was time to go back to reality. A quick shower inside and visiting with Chuck and his friends. They're here now and I'm going to allow myself a drink or two. (Jamie is trying to get me drunk with ridiculously expensive margarita mix he got from Williams Sonoma where he works) But today, this afternoon, was one of the best days I've had in weeks. For the first time in so, so long, I started to truly breathe again. It's one thing to see nature on tv, another thing to see it out a car window, and another thing to walk through it on a sunny day. But it's another level entirely to run through the rain like an animal, the only person surrounded by hundreds dumb enough, or smart enough, to run in the rain. We're just animals, and sometimes, it feels great to really feel like one.
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