Saturday, April 16, 2011

Prompt 8-Nature and Thoughts

My goal with this blog assignment was to be one with nature. When I read other nature articles, there is sense that these writers go to a place where other people can’t.  I don’t know if they are making it up or they actually believe nature is it’s on entity. The first times I went to my spot, it was just a spot. It was a place where I can go to relax and run without being bothered. Now, I feel like the land is talking to me. I’m not sure if that’s nature talking or if I’m going crazy.
                I realize this spot changed throughout the hour. I don’t know why, but I just assumed the weather would be the same if I went here at any time of the day or night. Maybe it’s because in the beginning I was running to this spot, sweating and trying to catch my breath. Now, I walk here, watching my breath swirling in the wind as if I was smoking a cigarette. Most of the times I’ve been here, it’s been frigid. I don’t own a lot of winter clothes, so every time I came here I was more resentful than anything else. It was hard to concentrate at times. Sometimes I just looked at my watch hoping 20 minutes would pass by in an instant.
                I guess after awhile I got use to it. Even though it was hard to concentrate when the snow was blowing in your face, it made me stronger. My skin felt like it was burning and my eyes turned red. Any temperature above freezing was like paradise to me now.  Weather changed me. Well Pittsburgh weather did. It made me expect the unexpected. I’m sure if I was in Hawaii where the temperature was always in the 70’s, I would know what to expect. However, after awhile, it would be boring. Each day was something different in Pittsburgh. True, mostly it would be full of gloomy clouds and unhappy faces, but now and then, you would get a smile, even from a homeless person.
                At first, thoughts of being warm were the only thoughts that came popping through my head. It slowly evolved into useful thoughts: “Why does each snowflake have to be unique,” “Why is the grass still green after being covered in snow for a month,” and “Why can it be short shorts weather one day, and the next day it might start hailing?”
                To me nature is about thoughts. Things that help stir up something in your head. Every time I went to this spot, something new happens. It was pretty wonderful. Sometimes I wouldn’t move without knowing it. I would be so deep in thought that if anyone saw what I was doing, they would think I was a part of nature.  

3 comments:

  1. Thanh, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your blogs every week. This one in particular caused me to laugh and read the first paragraph aloud to my boyfriend. His response, "My guess is he's going crazy." lol

    I never thought that about Pittsburgh weather, how it teaches you to expect the unexpected. I've grown up looking at each day's weather as being different than the one before. If I fall into a lull and forget to check weather.com or stick my hand to my window or look outside, the weather will always break its pattern and remind me to pay attention every day. After growing up with it, I thought this was normal. I hadn't thought that it was a peculiarity.

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  2. "Every time I went to this spot, something new happens. It was pretty wonderful."

    It is pretty wonderful to see how our nature spots transformed, as well as we have over the semester. Everything changes, but let's make it for the better.

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  3. I like the idea that we can be always engaging with the non-human world, in subtle, unnoticeable ways.

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