plastic moments

Just a short post, mainly because I wanted to share this but the recent request got to my imagination before I could.

The film American Beauty can be well remembered by all for one particular moment. The plastic bag scene. The clip showing the audience a waltzing plastic bag floating around on its merry way. The character Ricky Fitts described it quite vividly:

“It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that’s the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and… this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video’s a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember… and I need to remember… Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.” Source

Yeah. Wow. Quite amazing that a plastic bag can really blow someone away like that.

Anyway, fact of the matter is, for the last two days I have seen some really beautiful moments. I’m aware this could end up sounding really lame, but these moments were quite simply terrific. They gave me that overwhelming feeling of awe, at the world and the powers that be. I’m not overly religious, but these moments felt like some kind of sign. Maybe in a future post I’ll travel that road, but for now let me tell you about my plastic moments.

• Walking into Lincoln city centre, I came across a motorbike that was stopping at a roundabout. This bike was cool. It was massive. Superbike for sure. The guy on it reflected that, and then he put his foot on the floor to steady himself. His feet with converse pumps on them. These pumps were very large, and it gave the impression that he had clown feet. So you had this fantastic cool superbike rider put his feet down to reveal clown shoes. I’m laughing.
• Walking back out of the city back towards the car I was halted by the rail crossing barrier. I looked at the approaching passenger train and was rewarded. The front capsule of the train held a beaming train driver facing my direction. It was like a childhood picture coming to life – a moving train with a smiling driver. Beautiful.
• Driving into Fishtoft, I noticed a swallow flying above. This guy was pumping his wings like crazy, except he was completely still in the air. He was matching the power of the wind with the power of his wings. Achieving a floating equilibrium.
• Finally, leaving Fishtoft for home, I spied a minature tornado in one of the fields. A little swirl of dust spinning eternally along the brown plains. It looked spectacular. The dust it had collected helped define it into a perfect cone shape.

All of these moments were entirely unrelated, yet they all gave me this wonderful feeling. The feeling that everything in life is superb and that there is a plan for me somewhere. In a spiritual sense, it really gave me that feeling that there is a higher power, and He / She / It is completely with me, in my corner, supporting my team.

It filled me with joy, that “…sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.”

My very own set of plastic bag moments.

vivid living, or viving

Just a short post to scribble some notions that have passed through my mind recently.

Sat in the bath yesterday provided me with two share worthy thoughts. Firstly, reading the final book in Terry Pratchett’s The Bromeliad, I was struck by a very clever but simple analogy. Part of the way through, the characters begin to discuss souls and the whole matter of what happens at death. The character that happens to be describing it is a machine however, and resultantly calls a soul the “operating system” for creatures. Very interesting to think of your id as an OS. In fact pursuing it further, maybe we could compare:

As we grow we regularly “update” our systems to match either views of others or views that we hold to be of most importance.
There are always situations where you just need to “shut down” – and when the usual procedures don’t work, the best way to do so is to turn off the metaphorical plug by getting blind drunk.

I’m sure there’s more meat here, but like I said, I’m keeping this one short.

Ok, second in the bathroom revelations requires short explanation. I like HOT baths. So hot that after a while my body sweats a little. Needless to say the bath was warm, and unsurprisingly (especially seeing as I had just got out and got back in again [call of nature]) my heart was either pumping twice as hard as usual, or palpitating. So I dunk my head under the water and listen. In this moment, hearing the pulsing beats through the water I felt very, very alive. It was one of those life affirming moments where you recognise that inside you is a complex device of magnificent proportions, that works all day every day just so you can survive long enough to then fill it with toxins and fats. Our bodies are legends, they work overtime, all the time.

Life affirming moments come few and far between, or sometimes in a roll of fear inducing panic stricken crazy moments, where so many things happen at once that afterwards all you can do is laugh. Laugh because you nearly died, but hell, against all odds you’re still here.

Moments like following manic truck drivers, palpitating hearts, narrowly avoiding accidents, reading inspirational literature. Those moments in which, as the comedian David O’Doherty once said

“I felt simultaneously more alive and yet more dead than I’ve ever felt before”

Hats off to those moments. You may feel horrendously awkward during them, but in with all aspects of life considered, they form some of the very things that we live for. So live life vividly. Take it by the horns and go crazy. Do those things that you dream of. Because THAT, people, is what living is all about. Vivid living, Viving.