Today I was sitting in the sun. It was a fairly busy little patio in front of a Starbucks near my favorite �Contemporary Asian Cuisine� restaurant. Drinking an iced coffee and eating Chinese food out of a to-go box with chop sticks, completely engrossed in The Birth of Tragedy (Nietzsche) and this small child, probably 3-4 years of age, comes up to the right of me and did the most remarkable thing. No, he didn�t jam a lollipop into my eye, that wouldn�t have been very remarkable, other then the remark of �That little bastard!�, but no.. He patted my back in a most adult manner and said �Hi! It�ll all be okay.� And then flashed me a grin full of tiny teeth surrounded by a messy face with golden hair and azure eyes.

To say that I was stunned would be a bit of an understatement.

An elderly gentleman with a kind face came up shortly after and called to the child �Come on, mister friendly.� To which the child looked at him and giggled, looked back at me with that same tiny toothy grin and then ran off to hug the man�s leg and walk on with him. I continued to watch the child and the man walk away along the path. Now and then the child would turn and wave at me and then continue to skip along next to the older gentleman.

What a remarkable child. I can�t properly describe what happened, not enough to fully portray the surrealism of his very adult like gestures coupled with his child innocence and sincerity.

It wasn�t last night or was it? No, it was the night before last. The night of the late night thunderstorm. I woke up around 3am, unable to sleep yet again. I heard the distant growl of thunder and quickly got out of bed to inspect the sky. As I opened my door the cool moist night air rushed by me carrying with it the strong scent of rain. Delighted, I ventured further into my yard to get a better view of the surrounding area. I was greeted by a sharp tongue of lightning followed by a crisp and powerful thunderclap. My body blazed with energy at the sound of my old friend returning to me after such a long time (Come to think of it, I�ve never explained in my diary my old affinity with lightning, remind me to do that soon).

Mesmerized, I stood awaiting the coming rain. Oh and it came in sheets along with the winds, the unseen force that rends the trees so. The rain covered me like warm dark velvet. I relished in the feel of it spreading over my body, protectively.. washing away the filth and misery. Pure bliss. Absolute solitude. I�ve never owned an experience so completely. The warmth running down my face, dripping off my lips and down my chest. It was complete and holy, a spiritual moment.

It only lasted for a short time, 20 minutes at most. My awareness of time was non-existent. First, it was there caressing me kindly and then it had passed, leaving the soft dripping of the leaves and the fresh smell of rain and grass.

I stood out there for an unknown period of time just soaking in the fragrance of the world and watching the lightning, listening to the thunder rumble on about this and that, a huge grin of familiarity on my face.

My empire of shit.

-G