Some Newer Thoughts.

Here are some 2 am thoughts.

I think a good portion of life is spent on the process of waiting. I realized this in the passed few weeks. I have to wake up early to go to a bus stop to wait for a bus. I then wait to arrive to the city. Then I wait for the shuttle to grand central. Then I wait for the doors to open on the train. Then I wait for the next train. Then I wait for my class to start. Then I wait for my class to end. Then I wait for my day to end. Then I wait for sleep. We're mostly always waiting to be done with something. Very rarely are we not. So recently I've tried not waiting.

A few months ago, I was in Boston visiting some friends. We were walking around a park on a very nice Autumn day, discussing past parties and the new Jay-Z album among other things. We came across a group of kids, probably 1st or 2nd grade, doing something beautiful. They were fitting the ideal stereotype of kids playing in a park. They were literally just running around in circles and laughing so loud and pure. They had no apparent task. They weren't even playing tag. They were completely in the moment of nothing, and embracing that nothing, that no goal, to something so fulfilling. We sat and watched them for a few minutes laughing and awing and then went to go get some overpriced ice cream. As we were eating said dessert in this hip, quaint little place, we were discussing what we had just seen. We realized that what we saw, was something so rare, a truly innocent moment. I kid you not, we started tearing up. This was also due to the fact that there was quite the fitting music of Alexi Murdoch playing along in the background to tug at our hearts a little more. The reason this saddened us so, is because when are we going to ever have another purely pointless, innocent moment? Seemingly never. As adults, almost everything we do has a purpose or goal or definitive end.

Recently I got a bit of cabin fever and decided on trying an experiment. I blacked out my windows with newspaper for some light projection thing that did turn out pretty cool, but I think that fact that Sufjan Steven's "The BQE" was playing through my speakers really helped that. But I was laying on my floor in this pitch black room, doing absolutely nothing. I was achieving nothing, and had no plan other than "lay on floor." This was, in no way, shape or form, a beautiful moment.

So how can we decipher the difference between a moment of nothingness that is in fact meaningful, and a moment of nothingness that is mainly just boring?

The answer is obvious. One feels special and one feels boring.

The real question, is how do we live a moment that has no goal or purpose, but gives that moment in our lives purpose?

i don't know the answer. I'm trying to figure that out.

One time I was feeling like I wanted to feel spontaneous and I went out driving to go hiking. I couldn't find the entrance to the trail I was looking for, so I just pulled over on the side of the road and started going up the side of a mountain. (That sounds a lot more extreme than the event actually was.) I got lost and dropped my phone in a creek and at one point was stuck on a cliff and the only thing I could think to do was mobile upload a picture of me being stuck on a cliff. It was actually rather exciting because I had to do a lot of jumping and sliding to get down and it was pretty dangerous and I was alone so I felt sexy in an Indiana Jones type way. This day is a remarkably memorable day for me. The thing about it is, nothing happened really. I never found the trail, I didn't go that high, and where I was climbing, although steep and kind of annoying, was not that scenic or rewarding. So why do I remember this pointless adventure? I guess because I was running in a circle and not playing tag.

This most recent summer I was in my friends yard and we were spinning in circles and listening to jazz and staring at the stars and running around. I will never forget this night and how hard we were all laughing at mostly nothing. I think this was another pointless, without a goal moment that was pure and perfect. No one was it. No one was tagging. We were just running, in each others company.

We were complimenting existence by giving our plans and aspirations and goals a little break. Everything needs rest, or else it becomes exhausted. I think that's part of the problem. We exhaust our plans and routines.

But we can't just sit and wait for these moments, because that brings us back to the problem of all the time wasted on waiting.

So what am I suggesting we do? I'm not suggesting anything, calm down, I have no answers. I'm just a guy who waits for subways a lot and sometimes spins around and slides down rocks.

I think next time you're waiting you should ask someone else who's waiting a question. Something specific, but that has mass appeal. Like: "Would you rather have breakfast, lunch, or dinner with your favorite celebrity?" If I was asked this I would be shocked and pleased at the breaking of the waiting and an introduction into a moment that has no direction whatsoever. (I would answer this question by saying, Definitely lunch, because it's more laid back and can extend into the night which could lead to a further adventure.)

I suppose that's about what I'm thinking at the moment.

I could continue this for a long time if I was to begin to talk about health care, or the feeling of re-instated true love, or how "Visiter" by The Dodo's is just about the greatest album ever. But I won't.

We should play tag less, and just run around more. We'll laugh more, and no one will be annoyed about being it.