back and forth, and back

I've been blessed by a muse since my last update, which may or may not be related to having read the first 50 or so pages of the first Harry Potter novel - i was, to say the least, not impressed. OK for childrens reading, but perplexing when I recall all those businesswomen (and men) reading it on the El on the way home from work....

On Thursday night, after a long day of work at the office and an evening of watching entertaining, but poorly acted, Tanzanian dramatic 'films' [I guess I wasn't as fried as i thought - we watched for about 2 hours], I left my neighbors house and got ready for bed. I was feeling pretty happy - I had recently begun hanging out more with my friend whom I will call 'Ras', short for 'rasta', since he has dreaded hair - this evening I had spent with him and his 6 brothers and sisters, who share closet-sized rooms [curse you Harry Potter, 'closet' reference is NOT my muse speaking] in a somehow rundown building next door to my house. I got into bed and, as I was drifting in and out of stage 2 sleep, heard a seemingly far-off wailing sound. Friday, returning late evening from work, I got word that my friend's 13-year-old brother, who had been coughing and wheezing during the movie, had died late Thursday night. My friend, who is my age and the oldest member of the family around, was responsible for making burial arrangements.

This morning I had a near-nirvana experience; partly influenced by the fact that I was woken up at 8am by the PC car waiting to drive me back to site (I got a visitor today), partly by the car ride itself - can't beat an airconditioned landcruiser, partly by a violent night of 'HOSTAGE - starring Bruce Willis' inspired dreams, partly by a heavy blanket of fog covering both the rolling landscape and my hay-fever affected, itchy-as-hell eyes. The rain has become a steady presence these days, and it shows - grass has replaced the barren dustbowl fields, tree leaves are green and have ceased making amplified crumpling-of-paper noises when the wind blows, and people are out in the fields, farming away by handheld hoes.

It was a quiet, peaceful morning, and I got a good 30 minutes of solid reflection in before being greeted, welcomed, and cruelly mocked by the blaring, thumping celebration of my neighbors' choir rehearsal.