Oh, August

Brax,

Holy Moley. August. I love how alive and colorful everything is in summer. I love not having to wear a bunch of clothes to leave the house. By the end of winter, every time I leave the house I am fighting the urge to throw an all out tantrum. I want to rip off my stupid coat and scarf and hat and mittens and boots and sweater and undershirt and just throw them on the floor and stomp on them. I don't wanna wear my coat! I want to be freeeeeeee! Free like now, when I can run outside in my underpants and still be plenty warm.

Yep, all in all I think summer is pretty rad. August has it's own unique characteristics. All the energy of June (beginning of summer! hooray!!) and July (July 4th! party party!) has petered out into a general attitude of "it's still freakin' hot. Man, it's hot." American advertisers stop trying to sell you hot dogs and pool toys and start with the back-to-school stuff.

People in general, meanwhile, are feeling lazy due to the heat. Interestingly, heat also makes people both passionate and violent. August is like the orgasm of the year. Insects, plants, animals--everything is so alive in August, and you don't need me to tell you that everyone's mating. It's like the whole year leads up to this month, when the insects are buzzing and the veggies are popping off the vines. If you think about it that way, the Pagan new year (October) makes a whole lot more sense than January. It's right after the orgasm ends, when we start the incubating, germinating, and cultivating process all over again, and we eat a bunch of big pregnant pumpkins in the hopes that next year will be just as fertile. (Everything's sex, you guys. Don't tell the Christian Coalition, they're happier not knowing.)

I am anticipating fall already, but at the same time I'm entranced by what's going on outside my window. In DC the summer felt harsh and concrete and blistering. (Probably because of my neighborhood. I bet it doesn't feel that way to the people who live in those houses on Rock Creek Park.) Here it feels wet and energetic and mossy. Negative Ions, man.

OK, I promise: On my honor, my next post will have lots of pictures of neat stuff. No more asking you poor people to slog through my brain unaided by illustrations. I just need to find my camera charger is all.

Later!
Bruce