an inconvenient truth.

"when i wake in the morning, as long as i don't smell flowers or see any candles i'll get up." red skelton.

it's a mixed group at the gym i go to: you've got young and old all mixed up together. that's part of its charm, i suppose, and i wouldn't want it any other way. nevertheless, it can be a challenge at times, like when that twelve-year-old kid last week beat me on the basketball court or, like yesterday, when i walked into the change-room just in time to see a really old man blow-drying his genitals.

i'm not stuck in-between the two extremes. i'm closer to the old guy giving himself a blow-job than the young bball phenom. like, after playing some pretty average bball yesterday i was ready to take a shower, but for a couple of moments i could't find my towel. then one of the young studs there pointed out that i had it wrapped around my waist. oh they thought that was soooo funny, laughing snd laughing as i muttered: 'it's all down-hill from here,' on my way to the showers.

i was mugged once in the byward market: january 14th, 2000, 6:15 at night to be exact. after living in mexico for a couple of years, travelling all 'round the world and living twenty-five years in india, i got mugged in ottawa. go figger. i did alright considering it was three against one. but, at a certain point i got clubbed from behind and passed out. the point of all this is that, as i was losing consciousness, my only thought was: 'oh, i'm going into meditation now.' it was quite comforting really. i was familiar with that state of consciousness, even like it, even love it. i don't know what it is. but, it aint scary.

i marvel at the stoic nature with which we humans often face the certainty of death, the end of life as we know it. "death is not the extinguishing of light," ravindranath tagore once wrote so eloquently. "it is only the putting out of the lamp because the dawn has come." tecumseh said: "when it comes your time to die, sing your death song and die like a hero going home." what is that home? i don't know. i don't know. but, my hope is that it's got a hair-blower, cause i'm probably gonna want one.