10:30 pm Symphony…revisited

There is no greater pleasure in life than that of lying on one’s bed, feet jammed against the railing, and drinking in every note of the music sent to one’ s twitching ears by the stereo blaring from the IKEA shelf opposite.

The bed’s frame vibrates in rhythm with the bass, as do the cobwebs on the ceiling which you are busy counting. Even though there are only two, the hypnotic pulsations make your eyes flit from one to another until you are left star-gazing at the galaxy of dazzling arachnide confections overhead.

You are listening so intently that sounds are decomposed and recomposed, each instrument isolated from its counterparts. Harmonies are redefined, notes shifted from one octave to another until they sink into musical oblivion: you no longer hear them at all.

They have become as natural as the spider-infested air you are meditatively inhaling. Your heart beats in time to the music…or perhaps ’tis not your heart at all…maybe ’tis only the music obediently following suit. You can’t really tell anymore. All you can feel are zillions of molecules whizzing around, penetrating each pore, every crack in the wall…

You are all under a spell…until that click, that earth-shattering mechanical noise, which your heart does not follow. Swept out of your daze, it all comes back in a flash and flush of emotion : Nooooooooooooooo! Would someone please press the repeat button!

I wrote that before owning a laptop. Before my stereo became a worn and greying testament to a dying generation of hi-fi equipment, prisoner of a dust fortress, humbly accommodating my glasses and a stack of old ATM receipts.

How I miss those dreamy trances, where notes and instruments carried my undivided attention.

Now, it’s all about multi-tasking, multiple tabs, burnt retinae, carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow  induced by 10:30 pm surfing, chatting, listening, caffeine-laced-beverage sipping, reading, typing, editing, photoshopping, bitching.

It’s a good thing I’m not much of a phone person, or I’d have to add ‘bluetoothing’, and ‘updating my Apps’ to the list.

The spiders have sensed it too. Our evening interludes gone, the neglected creatures have sought out new locations to exhibit their silken weavings.

<<< I found a snail on my desk the other day. A slug trapped in a shell…a sign of the times perhaps?