Today, Shanti picked me up for a little excursion. First, we drove to Poughkeepsie, meeting up with a friend from Purchase who is best described with these words: vibrant, peaceful, large in stature, Hawaiian, green-haired. He goes by Buddha, which makes sense, because he truly does have a Buddha-like attitude. We drove out through Highland, Jaimie's home turf, and stopped at a deli in the middle of nowhere called the Ardonia Market. The place was run by an Indian family (presumably) and we obtained some food there. I got Goldfish, some really interestingly packaged gum, a SoBe, a hard roll (a "buttered roll" for you children) and the best BLT I've had in a long time. Shanti and I stopped to laugh at the fact that they had two drug-themed magazines visible in the rack; I suppose that if I lived in the sticks, I'd probably buy them too. We also had a random encounter with some truckers and discussed sandwiches with them; one suggested jelly, mayo and liverwurst, while the other said that peanut butter with radishes makes a good treat.
Adequately provisioned, we headed for Minnewaska State Park, located in the picturesque Shawangunks. I won't try to describe "the Gunks" as they looked as we passed through and soaked in the scenery, except to say that it's one of the most beautiful things I've seen in my life. Occasionally, the spell was briefly fractured by something jarringly out of place; a skulled-out dragster hearse that passed us, for example. Once we reached the park, we began our trip. My first brilliant idea for the day: The Forest Service maintains its hated "logging accomplice" status to mask its true purpose -- every year, they sneak out in the dead of night and replace each tree with a slightly bigger one, shifting them around as necessary. This explains why trees grow more slowly than we can observe. This was followed by the idea of dryness as a marketable commodity in an extremely wet world.
First, we found ourselves on a glacier-carved cliff above a lake. We watched as a dark sheet of water thundered toward us, let it slam into us, reveled in how primal it felt. As a bonus, the threat of this storm drove away most of the visitors for the day, excluding some hikers and a couple of badass dudes swimming laps in the lake. After it passed, a brilliant sun emerged and we soaked it in happily. We drank from pools of rainwater that gathered in depressions in the white stone of the cliffs. I hugged a tree, and though it's something I never thought I'd do, it was like embracing an old, weathered grandfather. I should mention that I could count the times that I've been happier on one hand. We discussed how people name things even though they're relatively insignificant to those same things; for example, you would describe a scene as "people next to a lake," not "a lake next to those people." By this line of reasoning, people might as well be described with regard to their surroundings, not the reverse; this is a return to a similar conversation Shanti and I had at Echo Lake. We also talked about the unfortunate nature of dolphins. Even though they're totally kickass animals who are known to fight sharks, they're too cute to be anything more than angsty-looking when rendered as art. (Imagine a biker with a dolphin tattoo.) It was here, too, that we experimented with the lake's echo, and were not disappointed. It was impressive, to say the least; a shout would fade, and after a few seconds would actually return over the mountains, clear as day.
Moving on, we "hiked" along a very well-kept path along the top of the ridge, not yet in the more mountainous areas of the park. Stopping at a smaller cliff that looks out over the forest and another ridge, we talked about how much punishment the human body can soak up and described various injuries we'd had. At another spot a bit farther down the path, a long rock surrounded by trees, we really went deep with the conversation. Most of the talk revolved around the insignificance of humanity in a larger reality, different ideas of higher powers and the (alleged) afterlife, society as an essentially artificial organism (police and the military are antibodies and money probably serves as blood) and the arrogance of environmentalism. While I believe that the environment is something that should be defended for posterity, I also realize that this attitude is actually kind of silly. When humanity is gone, the odds that another civilization will chance upon Earth is pretty low, and who will care what the environment is like at that point? In other words, a pristine world is really only of value when someone is there to appreciate it.
Moving on, we talked about what it's like to kill someone in a dream after Buddha recounted a recent one he'd had, and I found that I can't recall ever doing so. Our next stop was a fog-shrouded rock at what appeared to be the highest point around. Mist rising from its surface, the rock appeared to be a birthing bed of sorts for the clouds. Shanti attempted to create an echo here, but her cry was almost uncomfortably deadened. Buddha angrily rambled about the poor design of freezer bags and opined that the corners ought to be rounded off so as not to retain stuff. After we left this spot, we ate at a wet, mossy rock on a tree-lined slope and discovered a hideous, olive-green lichen we dubbed "toadskin." Buddha found an absolutely huge millipede, three inches long and a nickel's diameter. Insects and fish are creepy to me because they have such alien ways of thinking and operating, and a bug that moves in a wave over everything makes me exceedingly uncomfortable. I can't say I was unhappy when he released it back into the woods, afraid of crushing it as we climbed down some rocks. We stopped near a wall of rock covered in toadskin, but moved on after an unpleasant silence and bad vibes all around. None of us liked that wall very much, it would seem.
The last place we stopped to rest was a remarkably park-like field on top of the mountain, and Buddha again lamented our lack of a frisbee. Splitting apart, we laid in the grass and looked at the clouds. To be at peace with everything is a wonderful feeling. Soon enough we had to go, and we returned Buddha to the train station, but not before stopping at the Poughkeepsie waterfront. There, we looked at the lights on the bridge over the Hudson, relaxed with the waves lapping on the shore and ate a delicious mango that Buddha obtained at the Ardonia Market earlier. The park was full of sketchy people and a young couple was getting romantic on a pier nearby, so Shanti and I headed out for good. After I returned home, I went to Brian's, where we discussed the day (incredible) and watched American History X (wonderfully tragic) and Up In Smoke (rather funny). It was a worthwhile day, and I feel like I lived it to the fullest.
Quotes of the day:
"That other eon, when we were over there." - Shanti
"I guess this wouldn't be a bad place to die, when I'm old and ready." - me
"Somebody's feeling a little acidic over there." - Buddha
"The University of Trippin' Face. U Trippin' Face." - Buddha
"The University of Trippenface." - me, spelling it out
"I feel like a vessel of fluids that no longer wants to contain fluids." - Shanti
"She was just the bitch with the iodine." - Shanti
"What is tripping? It's a lot." - Buddha
"If you bite the knuckles of your second and third fingers and pull really hard... it feels like you're ripping your fingers off!" - Shanti
"I'm a punk-ass motherfucker, look at me!" - Shanti
"It was a bladed weapon. I just totally merc'd the guy." - Buddha, describing a dream
"This is gonna be quite a summer." - Shanti
"Drive out, smoke with some cows." - Buddha
"There is a bug for every molecule of your body for every person." - Shanti
"You are every person, now and forever, into eternity." - Shanti
"The universe is already there. It doesn't need to explain itself." - me, struggling with environmentalism
"Points are fuckin' pointless." - Buddha, concluding a 15 minute rant about plastic bags
"Chainbow Gathering: the negative version of the Rainbow Gathering." - Shanti
"Toadskin is a great metal band name." - me
"A TRIBE TO BRING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN! AHOOOOOOOOO" - Buddha
"It's just a good song to listen to in Saugerties." - Shanti, on "The Boys Are Back In Town"
...
Discussing thermite...
Buddha: "You could use it to open that jar of jam."
Me: "Yeah, there's just be globs of molten steel in the jam, if that's okay."
Shanti: "It'd just be iron fortified at that point."
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