S T R E A M # 1 3

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The conditioner of air – a small, albeit noisy window unit – makes him sleepy. That is, it does, whilst in operation. This is a good thing. That is, it is, until he has to wake up. The conditioner of air, whilst in operation, always makes him wake up groggy. But at night, if he’s restless, all he has to do is blast it, and he’ll fall asleep. Every time, this’ll work, like a dream, this’ll work, no matter how stressed out he is; no matter how much he can’t prevent himself from dwelling. He spends most of his waking hours dwelling, which is to say, in a way, that he spends most of his waking hours dreaming. And perhaps this is why he never seems to dream when he sleeps. At least, he can never, or almost never, recall the dreams he’s dreamt overnight. He’s just jotted the following observation down on his notepad: “I have tremendous difficulty living in the present tense.” He Recalls Yoda’s wise words to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back: “All his life he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was… what he was doing.” Then he recalls Obi-Wan’s equally wise words: “Luke, don’t give into hate – that leads to the dark side.” And, during The Phantom Menace, who can forget Qui-Gon’s advice to young Obi-Wan: “Don’t center on your anxiety, Obi-Wan. Keep your concentration here and now where it belongs.” But then to that, Obi-Wan replied, “Master Yoda says I should be mindful of the future…” …which is an interesting point, but Qui-Gon then cuts him off with, “but not at the expense of the moment.” Hindsight being 20/20, who can honestly say which one was correct, Qui-Gon or Yoda? Both made tremendous, colossal, stupendous, Brobdingnagian errors in the run-up to, and management of, the Clone Wars. Qui-Gon also had apt advice for Anakin: “...your focus determines your reality.” Lastly, Yoda offered this wisdom, perhaps too late, to Anakin: “Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is. […] Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” That last line marks Revenge of the Sith as something of a tragedy – albeit a flawed one. If Anakin had only been more, well, MINDFUL of his own behavior, perhaps Qui-Gon’s hoped-for “balance” might’ve have been achieved. Back to the Future… No, back to the conditioner of air… Yes. At this very moment, the future is not in operation. Scratch that. The conditioner of air isn’t. In operation, that is. Compared to yesterday, it’s going to be a cooler and rainier day – that is, if the weather-bunnies are to be believed. He loves those weather bunnies (Mister Conn’s term, not his) on those new digital broadcast channels. Whilst treadmilling, he watches the weather bunnies sweep their arms across large digitally-projected swaths of the country. In sooth, he cares not a whit about the weather. He keeps shouting at the weather bunnies not to move out of the frame, to, “STAY PUT!” His grandpop watches these weather channels for the same reason. It’s the same reason his grandpop watches “Deal, or No Deal.” For the babes. The money-bunnies. Anyhoo, bottom reached. 

3 June 2008

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