beautiful!

in stark contrast to the last post, i offer this literary lemon-wedge to cleanse the proverbial palate...

it is absolutely beautiful here today. i don't think i could take a picture that would acurately capture the feeling of the day, so i will attempt it descriptively....

as i somehow figured out the problem i was having with my data analysis, i decided that this little victory was worthy of a reward, so i headed out to get a demitasse of espresso. for once the sun is shining today, through a slight haze that lends a welcoming glow to the air... soft light filters down and there is a light breeze that is just strong enough to bring the scent of all the blooming lilies on campus to your nose from anywhere you stand. it is one of those days that invokes the memory of all the days like it before... spring and late summer days that are not particularly memorable, but are sporadically recalled, like deja-vu. i walked through campus, around the athletics buildings and past the running track, where families and a few solo runners jogged easily. no-one seemed particularly set on breaking any records there... i continued through the center of campus, looping back to my department, and paused at the edge of the plantation fields that form a green buffer from the city along the south-western edge of ntu. there is a wandering board-walk there, along the edge of a pond that is host to many types of floating plants, reeds and lilies, lotus and cat-tails. a fair number of people are out walking, strolling really, taking time to pause at the waters edge and look at the turtles basking in the sun on a log at the far side. i sat down on a stone bench that is just off to the side, under the half-shade of a young tree. so many layers of sound are present in the air, but not like what's usually audible in the city. the normally pervasive and penetrative barrage of sound that greets the ears here is something i generally prefer to filter out with the aid of my ipod... today the hum of the city took backstage to the underlying thrum of crickets and the animated sound of children talking at each other. the splash of water from a nearby fountain as it falls on the surrounding stones, and the chuckle of a couple of grandparents... the sound of a man slurping the last drops of melting ice-cream from the bottom of a cone before crunching into the cone itself. i can sit here for an hour, and do, watching people and birds drift by....

~t