A Lazy Afternoon

Written down in my notebook about two weeks ago.

I drift away in my thoughts, eyes barely open, fan blowing a steady breeze in my direction.  A gecko has stopped in the rafters above, frozen in motion, as if made of silicone and carefully glued above for ambience.  For once, I let all the "I-shoulds" and "I-have-tos" fade.  It’s nice, in a strange unsettled sort of way.  Like a sense of relief from pain, so long a part of me, I had quite forgotten it existed until it’d left.  I can feel the individual ribs of the bamboo hammock hard underneath my back but it’s by far the most comfortable hamock I’ve ever laid in, as it doesn’t try to engulf me in fabric like a human burrito the minute I lay in it.  And if the wanderings of my mind tend towards Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus in Boondock Saints (both 1 & 2) rather than any deep philosophical truths of life, I don’t mind.  Because I don’t expect anything productive to come out of this particular hour. 

Perhaps some may ask, "What’s the point?  You’re in an exotic foreign country and you’re just laying around doing nothing?"  Well, yes.  And that’s the only answer I can provide.  Later on, we’ll probably stroll over to a nearby church for evening service, then enjoy the ambience of Chiang Mai’s Night Walking Streets.  We’ll settle back in our guesthouse for various errands & responsibilities, maybe relax with a musty yellowed novel purchased from the local Gecko Used Bookstore and a cup of lukewarm tea laden with cream & sugar.  But, right now, I’ll dream a little longer of tattooed Irish boys with rosaries and silver pistols.