Take two

Well. What a week. The universe surely will conspire to keep you humble, won't it? Man. I won't go into all the details, but suffice to say; some humbling experiences this week. Language-oriented, spatially-oriented...

Okay, I'll explain some. First of all; yesterday I set out again on a trek to reach CT (Churchy Thing). I made a concerted effort to pay closer attention this time to where I was, where I was going, where I'd been, etc. And at one point in the trip, I finally figured out the mystery of what the hell happened on Monday. Let's just say that, on Monday, had I continued walking another ½ mile or so from the point where I decided to turn around and head back, I would have blown my little mind. It's definitely for the best that I didn't; it was hard enough on my ego when I just thought I'd stumbled around the city and ended up on the back-side of the park on the hill. By yesterday I'd gotten over it enough to be able to face the sad, ugly truth; I was truly, truly, nowhere close to where I thought I was. And let's just leave it at that for now. I was able to laugh at myself though. So that's good.

Enough of that! Let's talk about the expedition proper! It was a good walk. I got much closer to CT, close enough to realize a) it's much farther away that it seems, and it seems pretty far, and b) I don't think you can really walk up there. I'm pretty sure you have to take a bus, or drive, or something. The road is not a walking path.

But I got pretty close; at my closest point, I realized that there's some sort of amusement park up there. SWEET! I saw the tops of several rides: Ferris wheel, a kiddy roller coaster of some sort, that sort of thing. Honestly? I think I got close enough. I have been satiated. Oh yeah, also: I think the actual CT is some sort of hospital. So there you go.

But the walk was nice, and actually included a fair bit of honest-to-god off-roading. That was a lot of fun. I winded my way up the hill that I would have to traverse to reach CT, and right near the top I went straight up this overgrown trail through trees and tall grass to a false pinnacle. I'd guess it was 100 feet, pretty steep. I'd say that was the highlight of the walk, but I figured out the layout of the city a bit more, too. I had been thinking that the city was rimmed by hills, but it turns out (I think) that the hills form a sort of semi-circle in the middle of the city, of which Parc Guell (the "mountain" (snicker) from which I originally saw CT) is one of several. And I figured out a more direct route from the vantage point I reached at the end of yesterday's trip, so in the future I will probably use that as the first leg of a different walk I make to parts unknown.

What else...it finally rained here last week. That was good. (And yes, I can hear most of you laughing...that bitter, mirthless laugh of the Seattlite in December.) But it was nice to have the rain; the city actually smelled kinda good for a few hours...

But, it's sunny again now, so I'm going to go for a walk. Not sure where, though I imagine I'll meander down towards the water (cause the city slopes that way...you know).

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Okay, I have to say it; you know that last line, the parenthetical aside directly above? I know that should be the end of this post. I feel it very strongly. But I can't help myself. Because that line is from the same Simpsons episode as "The Pope of Chilitown." So if you didn't believe me before, you can believe me now; much as Hebrews believe that the entire universe is contained in the Torah...so to do I believe the same about that episode of the Simpsons.

That is all.