A walk in my shoes

I walk for many reasons, and you can probably tell what the reason is from the way I’m walking. I walk as a part of my natural instinct to find food and shelter, and to flee danger. Here, I am walking fast with a purpose and with a destination in mind. Most of my energy is focused on what awaits me and I pay little attention to anything else. Of course, among other things, this results in me being labeled as a jerk because I completely fail at noticing people I know as well.

I also walk to reflect, and introspect. These walks lack both direction and destination. The constant motion of my feet and body helps keep my thoughts in motion as well. Here, my gait is more laid back, and I am mindful of my surroundings. I look at nature, notice people and smile at strangers.

I take quick, short steps. I usually hold my head up, my back straight and my shoulders relaxed while walking. My arms are usually tightly clutch to my sides and my vision is focused forward. I don’t pay much attention to where my feet are going. All I know is that a reflex is guiding them one in front of the other, and I am being propelled forward by the reactionary force of the Earth. I am unwary of other things and as a result, I stumble a lot. On cracks in the pavement, random objects and sometimes, my own feet.

Walking is an essential part of my day, my life. I am horrified by the idea of owning a car one day and driving to places. I am glad I live in a city that is “foot-friendly,” so to speak. Given a good set of directions and time, there is no place I can’t get to on my two little feet. Walking keeps me independent. It makes me empowered. It keeps my circulation going, and my muscles at work. It dictates my preference for shoes.

Without my love for walking, my shoe-rack wouldn’t be the same. For real. I like my feet to be comfortable when I walk. I avoid stilettos and backless footwear. Most of my footwear is either flat, or has block heels. And straps. Must have straps. If there are no straps, then I am more concerned with keeping the shoes on my feet than with walking.

If the terrain is tempting enough, I walk barefoot. I love being barefoot and experiencing the raw stimuli of the ground below. Within reason and hygiene, I like to walk barefoot as much I can…until my heels start to crack. My goal for this fall is to collect the sounds of crisp, fallen leaves under my feet. My goal for this winter is to run barefoot in the fresh snow. In spring, I want to walk in lawns and let the fresh grass tickle my feet. Without walking, my life wouldn’t be the same. I am grateful I was born with a functional body. I am grateful for my very short legs and feet.

And I am proud that walking gives me joy.

Colors!

Ok kids, today was a really big deal.

I missed the Perseids meteor shower last night. Bummer. I was really looking forward to seeing those shooting stars. But it's okay. I was more than compensated for that.

You see, the sky loves me. Today, right after I came back from my aunt's place in NJ, I was out buying some chocolates for some temporarily deprived friends of mine. As I was walking back, I was stunned to see not one, but two rainbows right in front of me! Now considering that hardly ever happens, it was a pretty big deal. And most of all, I got to see it.

They were right there, the two rainbows. One shorter than the other, and incomplete. The bigger one was a primary rainbow, with the colors going one way, and the other one was secondary, with colors going the opposite way, and fainter. It was rare, and I was so glad I was there, in that moment, to see it.

I found a picture similar to what I saw, only it doesn't do justice to what I saw. I threw my arms open to the sky and did a twirl as I started walking back. A man sitting on the bench nodded and waved at me. I waved back.

The sky loves me.

Coldplay

July 25, 2008. 9:30 PM at Wachovia Spectrum, Philadelphia

First time I ever spent about $100 on a concert ticket. First time I ever waited for something for more than a month. First time I ever saw Coldplay in concert. First time I ever went alone.

There are more reasons than one why this band is so popular among people. And last night, I saw all of them. What makes them so loved, so crazy and so talented. The space was packed with people — I have never seen such a crowd at the Wachovia spectrum before: kids, teenagers, young people, old people, people in love, people out of love. Everyone who could be there, was there. A part of the crescendo, a part of the madness, and a part of the music itself.

This show was a part of their Viva La Vida tour, and it was completely sold out. They offered unknown bands to open for them through a contest hosted with WMMR, a local radiostation here. One of them was Jonah Delso, a Drexel student. Fancy that! My fellow Drexel-ite. As I sat in the crowd, listening to his music, and his flabbergasted speechlessness, I couldn't help but feel proud. Here was a really lucky kid, and, boy, he was talented. His music was impressive, and his speech was all but a few words, "thank you WMMR, thank you my friends and family, thank you Coldplay."

They opened with Violet Hill, and then came Clocks. Also on the playlist were Viva La Vida, Lost!, 42, Yes/Chinese Sleep Chant, Lovers in Japan, Speed of Sound, The Scientist, Yellow, Fix You, Politik, and In My Place etc. Not one person in the audience stayed in their seats the entire time the band played. More than once, the entire audience sang along with them, participating and playing their part as an amazing audience. Dancing, singing, professing their undying love for Coldplay out loud, bathing in the butterfly confetti and reaching out to catch it with a child-like excitement, holding up "Viva La Coldplay" signs for the encore, and just becoming this one, big wave of energy, and music.
It was unbelievable. To think that these four performers have touched and moved so many people with their music. To think that they have so much power. I was truly watching a legend in the making. 917 more shows, and they will break Billy Joel's record. I sure hope they do.

They were greeted with a standing ovation, and sent off with one. It was a night not many people will forget. Including me.

I really hope they keep making good music. Encore.


Viva la Coldplay.

Smart. Lazy. Apathetic.

That's most college students for you, in a nutshell. Who we are, and who we are instead.

Consider this notion: every man is bound by the limits of his own perception and reality. There is no absolute reality because everyone constructs their own versions of events, theories, and ideas. In college, all of us come in contact with a plethora of people, some fade-out and some don't. Their ideas rub off on us, as do their personalities, tastes, and lifestyles in general. Pop culture. Generation Y. These weren't created by one mind alone. These were created by a mixture of originality, influence, acceptance and then conformity.

Most people like to think that college students are lazy and apathetic. These views trickle down to us, and we like to think of us as lazy and apathetic too. It's how college students are. When in college, that is how one must be. How one is. Except that, it is not. Those who have heard us converse will tell you about our potential. The ideas we develop in our minds, the worlds we create -- whose plausibility is yet to be determined and yet we are hopeful. There is potential waiting to be honed, directed and harnessed. And yes, we can be lazy. This fast-paced competitive world distills the ideas of "fending for yourself" and competition into most of us. Life is hard and convoluted. You must struggle and struggle before you can achieve your heart's dearest desires. And you struggle so much that you slowly forget what you loved. Who you loved. Who you were.Your true self becomes more and more distant from you, and what you are left with is an illusion of yourself. The image that others projected on you. You have to construct your own life to the best of your ability, if you are to be successful. You don't have the time to worry about others. There are no "others" in your life. It is just you.

Really? I wonder.
I wonder where the concept of man being a social being evolved from. From the beginning of time, right? We are made of people. We are People. Every bit of our fabric is made of a person who left an imprint on us. And very spark of our imagination is filled with people we are yet to meet. The possibilites. Tabula rasa.

Yes, this is a very idealistic way of thinking. But this is, more than anything, an acceptance of who we are when our mind is free, and without fear. As a friend once said, there are those that destroy and those that mend, and in the end, there is some balance.

We are the balance. We are the World. We are People.

Strike

Each night is an eyelid, the thorns never stop piercing. And the day never ends, never stops counting itself, broken into copper coins. I am tired of so many stone beads scattered in the dust. I am tired of this unfinished solitaire. Lucky the mother scorpion who devours her young. Lucky the spider. Lucky the snake that sheds its skin. Lucky the water that drinks itself. When will these images stop devouring me? When will I stop falling in those empty eyes?

I am alone and fallen, grain of corn pulled from the ear of time. Sow me among the battle dead. I will be born in the captain's eye. Rain down on me, give me sun. My body, plowed by your body, will turn into a field where one is sown and a hundred reaped. Wait for me on the other side of the year: you will meet me like a lightning flash stretched to the edge of autumn. Touch my grass breasts. Kiss my belly, sacrificial stone. In my navel the whirlwind grows calm: I am the fixed center that moves the dance. Burn, fall into me: I am the pit of living lime that cures the bones of their afflictions. Die in my lips. Rise from my eyes. Images gush from my body: drink in these waters and remember what you forgot at birth. I am the wound that does not heal, the small solar stone: if you strike me the world will go up in flames.

Take my necklace of tears. I wait for you on this side of time where light has inaugurated a joyous rein: the covenant of the enemy twins, water, that escapes between our fingers, and ice, petrified like a king in his pride. There you will open my body to read the inscription of your fate.

-- Obsidian Butterfly, Octavio Paz.