Journal #24: Water

Water is the nectar of the gods. Water flows through the world and flows through everything in it. Water gives life and replenishes it, makes things clean and washes away pain. A long gulp of sweet water after an intense run or strenuous hike is the best feeling in the world. Jumping into a deep sea of cool seawater puts the life back into life. Clinging for dear life to a boat bouncing across the heaving waves is pure ecstasy. With the salt spray flying off the pristine blue water and whipping across your face, you are the master of the world. The water is your dominion and you are the ever-reigning king. But you are a humble king, because the water is what gives you the life and power that you love. Still, in the moment, you blast across the waves; you gulp down the water; you dive into the sea, because that is what is right in the world. That is what flows into your blood and sinks into your skin.

Water is the stuff of life.

I Can't Believe I'd Never Heard This Song Before

I'm sailing away,
Set an open course for the virgin sea,
'Cause I've got to be free,
Free to face the life that's ahead of me,
on board, I'm the captain, so climb aboard,
We'll search for tomorrow on every shore,
And I'll try, Oh Lord I'll try, to carry on

I look to the sea,
Reflections in the waves spark my memory,
Some happy, some sad,
I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had,
We lived happily forever, so the story goes,
But somehow we missed out on the pot of gold
But we'll try best that we can to carry on

A gathering of angels appeared above my head,
They sang to me this song of hope and this is what they said,
They said come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me lads,
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me,
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me baby,
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me

I thought that they were angels, but much to my surprise,
We climbed aboard their starship, we headed for the skies
come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me lads
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me...

Stormy Times

My feet pound the track. My breath comes in heaving gasps as I force my body onward through the stormy summer wetness. Rain lashes against my skin and wind throws my body off balance. My hair is soaked, and my muscles burn with lactic acid.

I keep running.

This is not an official race. This is me racing against the fastest runner on the team. I cannot let him lap me. That is the deal. No more rules. I keep running.

I'm on the third lap. I want to slow down. I want to speed up. I want to stop. I want to die. I force air into my lungs. I keep running.

The rain shoots down in heavy sheets now. I can only see about ten feet ahead of me. My heart thunders in my head. I slip and nearly fall to the ground. I wonder if I've already been passed. It doesn't matter. All I do is keep going.

Thunder booms ominously close.

I pass onto the fourth lap. I can vaguely make out the hulking field goal post to my left. My legs are frozen numb. I chance a glance over my shoulder. Can't see anything.

I keep running.

Nothing could be harder. My mind screams at my body. My body screams at my mind. My gut screams to keep going.

I think I'm past the 200 meter mark.

I look over my shoulder again. And my heart nearly jumps out of my panting mouth. My opponent is no more than 50 meters behind me and sprinting on strong.

I don't stand a chance. I'm gonna die.

I go for it.

My legs rage in protest as I fire into sprint mode. I'm flying down the track with no hope but to die before I lose. My whole body is soon in complete numb exhaustion. My lungs are ashes and everything is a blur. Thunder blasts my entire world. I thunder on down the last straightaway.

Footsteps thunder behind me. I pour the last ounce of my soul into the race. Bright colors sway across my blackened vision. I vaguely think that I'm about to pass the mile mark.

Lightning splits open the sky and crackles through my body, catching me mid-stride. I realize I am falling into a deep soothing blackness before I go blank.

**************************************************************************

Somehow, I get magic racing powers. I don't want to write it out. It's a cool idea anyways.

And I Feel Peace

The silverware clinks against the plates and much hearty food is ingested. Much loving conversation is shared and much warmth is felt. Much peace and happiness exists on the earth.

Boat Water

The boat races across the water, the motor buzzing relentlessly. The nose bounces up and down across the heaving waves, forcing the passengers to cling onto the metal rails for dear life. But they love it. Sunshine splashes on the pristine blue of the water and everything is right in the world.

The rushing wind throws the passengers' hair out of control and whips sweet sea spray into their faces. Later, they might complain about the sticky white salt that still clings to their skin. But right now, they scream with approval and their brains scream with delight.

Lethargy

My Timestamp was set in Ouagadougou.

Sick

So I wake up at 9:15 and hurriedly get ready for the race. My nose is stuffy and my throat creaks. My muscles ache. I stuff some grapes and a waffle into my mouth and ride to Burtner Farm.

I look around for our team and see Mark. Simultaneously, the gun fires for the start of the girls' varsity race. MY only worry right now is that I'm late and I'll be looked down upon for it.

But Bair greets me warmly and I just chill for a little. I put on my uniform and try to calm my brain down. After I drink some water, my stomach starts to feel queasy. My head spins, and I walk over to the trees and puke up my breakfast. People ask if I'm all right, and David Love says he's gonna tell Coach. I tell him No, I want to race.

Me and Justin start to warm up at about 11. And we sweat and stretch and sweat some more. By the time I'm wondering what to do next, Coach is saying we should start to warm up. Great, the meet is behind schedule.

Eventually it gets time to be on the line and I head over there. And I start jumping and doing little stretches and then proceed to puke a lot more. I try to get all of it out and make my stomach feel better, but at the same time I try to hide it from Bair so he doesn't have a chance to take me out. All my resolve is going into just finishing the race.

And the gun goes off and our pack is in the same 20 meters for the first half mile. And then I start to drop off. My body just can not continue to go at that pace. It becomes a steady decline of resolve and strength until David Love passes me. I put one final effort into getting back into the race before collapsing at the mile mark, drained and disgusted and sick.

Tired

My heart booms in my chest and my lungs heave. My feet pound the ground. My brain is tired and my muscles ache. My muscles scream as I tear up a hill. My lungs scream as I race down a hill.

My brain screams at me to stop. And I dearly want to. More than usually. But I shove my body into the race. I force my mind onto the one thing that can give me the passion to keep going.

And apparently it worked. 21:35, almost a PR. Now i gotta beat will and gabe.

And I also gotta get off.

Amendments

Maria Rose is actually the Queen of Blogger and deserves praise. I was mistaken!
The dwarf was my fear!
But like dwarves, my fear has been easily conquered. All thanks go to the magical Rose child. Congratulations and praise to Ma Rose!

Rockets

I was calm.
I lay on the sand.
I lay on the thick sandy sand.
I lay on the thick hot sandy sand and let the water wash over my feet.
Cool. Calm. Breeze. Sun. Peace.
Everything was right.

And then a giant fireball flamed into my conscious in the form of a female dwarf. The dwarf stomped on me! The dwarf dragged me! The dwarf beat me with a blunt axe until I could only ask, "Who-"

"I am the great and terrible Maria Rose!" the dwarf smiled wickedly. "I have come to take your homework and feed it to every single dog on earth. I am the time stealer! Hah!"

And then she proceeded to give me a medicinal cherry sundae and my body was healed.


And now I am thrust into this world of blog openness. I can't see through the thick fog. Tendrils of cloudy smoke creep into my nostrils and smog my thinking. But I am not turning back. I will plunge ahead into this abyss, even if I fall down a giant endless pit of destruction.