Gatekeeper, seasons wait for your nod

I've been walking very late/early a lot lately. I like to stare out into the stars and let the notes of the night whirlwind round the light notes through my headphones and let my mind and heart glide through memory and fantasy. I tried once to capture with film the true feel and spark of these foggy moonlit travels but they never capture the essence. I swore to never try that again; that doing so for these particular moments not only causes me to miss out on the true experience entirely but serve as a poor substitute for the true feelings in my heart. And that is my problem I think. Acting from the head and not the heart. I didn't get a minute down the path when I had to call her. And again that same thing that is becoming more frequent each time, our voices are saying goodnight before the minute hand starts its third pass. 'Gatekeeper' was the song I hit pause on to make this briefer-than-the-song reach out to my California love. I decided right there and now when I hit play and traveled through the rest of the album that didn't know if I loved her. I didn't know if I loved her but also that there were a great many things that I did know I love. I love my friends I have gathered together. I love beautiful music and films. I love the stars and the rain and the snow and piles of leaves and street musicians.

Love needs to be shared if life is to ever be shared.

I'm confused, I've got words I'd like to use

7 hours. I've 7 hours of sleep this weekend. I can't get her out of my head. It's not that I want to, I'm so much better at keeping her hidden from obsession until the covers swallow me up. Only once my eyes have closed she appears unchained... midnight became one, two three four and 5:00 and her dancing through my wardrobe of fantasy.

I slept for 90 minutes, which is almost exactly half the time it took just to drive down to Ohio for our Cedar Point adventure.

I really think that up until now, I had always unconsciously hidden a Cedar Point trip away whenever I would clear my throat to sing 'Auld Lang sane' and think of the good times of yesteryear. Not anymore.

Cedar Point with Tom (as well as his lovely girlfriend) is near to a perfect science of time and schedule. No others of this Earth could buckle more seat belts to so many coasters in a single day as a coalition with him at the head of the class.

We got them all. And the weather was just glorious. And pizza at the traditional-since-I-can-even-remember-being-able-to-speak-the-King's-English Macaroni's restaurant before the final charge. The mythical Dragster, particularly for it's seemingly constant closures (eventually giving birth to the only somewhat sarcastic rumors of no human being having the boast to have ever ridden upon it), and it's 0 to 120 MPH acceleration during it's first 4 seconds and 90 degree assent and plunge...we did it. It was fantastic! We buckled in and it was elementary school suddenly. Laughing and tension and excitement and the ride is almost over before it even begins.

(click to enlarge)

The magic seemed to appear just then, suddenly as if it were in front of my face the entire time but hadn't taken form. And blazing through the night on my favourite coaster The Gemini and watching the red moon peek above the horizon of Lake Erie as we plunged through the night on The Magnum. And the final charge across the park to just barely slide into line for that one final ride though the stars. Adrenaline and joy and wonder kept fatigue and exhaustion from the door and just at the stroke of midnight, with arms spread through the darkness and moonbeams, I glided through the sky, screaming like a kid 10 years younger with my best friend I've known for much longer still. The wonders only children and the inner child can ever touch.

Flying down the empty freeway, watching the unknown and glorious meteor shower, I was living dreams and not fighting them for sleep.

Lost in all the brand new possibilities

So my Ma asks my Sister, the same Sister who I secretly suspect had some sort of experimental GPS dot surgically embedded by said Mother at birth, "Where is this music festival you and your brother are going to?"
"Oh it's nearby, you don't know the place anyway"

Cue us sneaking our yahoo maps from Waterford, MI to Cuyahoga Falls, OH into pockets and purses. Let the journey begin.

It was very exciting. Wide open traveling with my younger Sister practically growing up before my eyes (or so it has seemed so suddenly) taking turns dissecting our family as the clouds drizzled drops across the windows. Eating pizza and laughing in heartland plazas, crossing fingers plunging into unplanned detours. Then suddenly man hours and several semi-trucks later, land ho!

So very cloudy the day was. It wanted to rain out so badly and just before we could slide down the hill towards the pavilion the clouds gave way. Then suddenly we were in wait for Death Cab for Cutie! (as we somehow missed the handful of bands that preceded them..??) There were so many snobs there though. It was sad for a while, one guy "could barely wait through DCFC to get to The Flaming Lips (which makes me mad to be a fellow fan with this mean spirited man) and some guy in the front row ahead of us had the idea that he was going to plug his ears the entire way. Only, true to the spirit that this day was to behold, the earplug guy was trumped when Death Cab's guitarist ran near to where we was and smoothly flung him a pair of earplugs. Yes. And during their entire wonderful show, suddenly Wayne and Steven from The Flaming Lips wander out and they all play a song together, thus bringing down Flaming Lips snob guy. Such a good show. 'Title and Registration'....sigh.

And then suddenly the sun exploded and across the solar waves rode The Flaming Lips. Glory. A life experience unlike any other for such wonder and delight and pure dancing, singing, carefree joy. Santa's shining lights across from cheerleaders with Martian masks with superheroes walking about and balloons raining all around with confetti and light and notes blasting and floating through the summer breeze. If I had the bandwidth to do so, I'd put my video clip of it out there just to show you what 18 seconds of it was like (you could always see it at my myspace page at least) otherwise I am well short on vocabulary to line up a proper recollection.

Driving home through the dark summer night with my Sister smiling as brightly as I said everything. We were floating in the same heaven.