is this not real life?

want a challenge?  mentally reverse positive and negative space.  the atmosphere would a solid, and everything else is impressions in it.  no? try again... weird right?  which reminds me, you should really check out Zeno's paradoxes.  he's a Greek mathematician/philosopher who proved that motion is impossible, and part of his reasoning was that the universe is one single unit.  how could anything move if there isn't more than one.

why this, now? i'm about to talk opposites.

have you ever played beach volleyball?

i've always enjoyed it (it's been #2 behind basketball for a few years), but as i finish my second week of coaching, i've been struck by the realization of just how much i love it.  every aspect appeals to me, and i just figured out why.

beach volleyball is the opposite of the "real world".  think about it.

1) you're outside.  the comforting warmth of the sun's rays, a gentle breeze, birds chirping in the distance.
2) you're wearing comfortable clothes.  not only comfortable, but minimal.
3) you're active.  diving around in the sand, no less.
4) your approach must be informal. you're allowed to wear bathing suits for goodness sake.

everything about it is anti-cubicle, pro-living the dream.

live action shot!  i want to go to there.

in medieval history, we just finished working through The Song of Roland.  i had never read it in it's entirety before, but i'm a huge fan now.  i could tell you so much about it right now, for serious.  BUT the point is, in the epic, there is a very intentional balance between good and evil.  in the first half of the book, evil has the advantage, but in the second half justice prevails.  my connection is exactly that.  i'm loving coaching beach volleyball so much because it's balancing me out.  keeping me in the fight.

throughout my first several weeks of teaching in the fall, i would come home after school, change into a bathrobe, and have a corona.  i just couldn't take the fancy/restrictive clothing and everything being so serious. [side note: i recently wondered if i've worn a tie more times in the last 6 months than the rest of my life combined. it might be close].  that WAS my way of coping.  this is my new release, and i'm getting paid for it.