Cloud Spotting

I watched a thunder head roll past our building for a moment today. It reminded me of when I was a kid watching clouds while laying on the ground. I was head to head with a couple of other kids. I don't remember who. We were in sort of a star pattern so we had different prospectives on the which way was up for the drawings that floated by in the form of clouds. I remember a perfect wolf's head and a Star Trek Enterprise. I remember angles and plenty of sailing ships. There were things you had to squint a bit to make out and things that leaped from the sky.

I remember doing this again when at the pool. There was a ten minute period out of every hour or two where life guards had to take a break. Every one under the age of eighteen had to get out of the water and let the guards go smoke a J in the guard room. Sometimes I would take the time to look up and daydream about nothing. My God, I used to waist hours of every Summer's day at the pool. There were times I would have the water to myself. I'd swim laps under the water with no sound other than my own heart and the rush of water past my ears. The blank bottom of the pool would act like a clear blue sky. it was the best when the waves of the water would cause ripples of light chaotically across the bottom of the pool. Those were the best times to go swimming.

On rainy days I made things appear from the drops of water running down the window. I still make images out of the stains in the carpet. To this day, if I can find one, I can lay in an empty room and relax as images and sound poor in from nowhere to fill the void. My mind makes up the difference. My mind just makes up as it goes. I can understand how people go nuts after staying in solitary for even a short time. I would not make it very long. I'd cluck like a chicken in a couple of hours.

That thunder head I watched for just a moment today brought all kinds of memories of Summer days spent doing thing I probably shouldn't have done while cooped up inside my parent's home with nothing better to do. I think the internet and video games are a great way of stifling people's creativity, but they might be good ways to prevent people from just going out (or staying in) and getting in trouble. I suppose there is good and bad on both sides.

The thunder head was about a mile away. Between it and I was sunshine. The shadow of the cloud was dark. I, up on the sixth floor, could almost feel the sunshine. This is one of those times it's good to stop and smell the roses. Oh, well. Back to packaging Linux software. Oh, the cloud is gone.