:: Electric Psychedelic Pussycat Swinger's Club ::

:: Thursday, July 15, 2004 ::

the yin & the yang
 
The shower head has a steady leak that keeps me company at night, but not in the good sort of way.  It's more like that annoying person that goes on and on about things you don't really care about, but you listen to politely anyway.
 
The peppered faux marble tiles, which together compose the bathroom floor, are abnormally hot due to a heated water pipe that runs directly beneath my apartment; so is the the less than polished wood  in the main living quarters.  This makes something as inactive as sitting perfectly still quite uncomfortable on hot and humid days, which during the summer in New York City, is pretty much every day.
 
The cockroach count  to date for the past year has reached an unpleasant six (6).  The not-so-little buggers make it difficult to remain free of any charges of murder in the second degree.  And God forbid any manslaughter charges are brought against me for wrecklessly stepping on one in the dark - the crunchy noise of collpasing exoskeleton awakening me from my customary half-conscious zombie-walk to the pisser during the middle of most nights.
 
And this past week I have gotten an average of about five (5) hours of sleep per night, and that's being extremely generous.  In two (2) out of the past four (4) nights, I managed to collect 3 hours of sleep.  Such exhaustion coupled with little REM has rendered any hope for dreaming illusory.  The only kind i've been able to do as of late is that of the day variety, which, for the past week, has been mainly about what someone on the other side of the world is doing at that very moment in time.
 
Moreover, my Lakers have traded away the most unguardable center to ever play the game in Shaquille O'Neal.  More disheartening is the loss of both Derek Fisher, one of my favourites to watch and an unsung hero for all these years on a team of unmanageable egos, and Phil Jackson - someone whose zen-influenced approach to coaching and life I truly admire.
 
To be perfectly honest, before they re-signed Kobe tonight, deep down inside part of me just wanted both of those guys to leave.  I was that sick of all the bickering that was tearing the team apart.  As a fan, it made watching what was supposed to be a season of greatness most unpleasurable - not because they ultimately lost, but because of the pure frustration stemming from their (Kobe/Shaq) inability to act with even a hint of class.  
 
But the loss of Shaq has made me feel an emotion not usually associated with sports: sadness.  Anger, denial, disillusionment - sure.  But sadness?  That's the only way I can describe watching #34 leave this way.  And without a strong center, I can't help but fear we've reverted back to the horrific days of Vlade Divac and his triple doubles: 10 pts, 10 rebs, and 13 flops.

Yet, despite all this  yin, I know that the yang is just around the corner to help balance it all out.  And that is why I am so happy today.  Because that yang came in quite a surprising fashion :  I was asked to stay on during the school year at my internship, which will become paid.
 
It's all about the yang, baby.

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