<"}}}><: Instructions on a pure green light

I’m sitting at home in the fair village of Leulumoega. The ocean is off in a short distance behind me while a beautiful mountain rests in front of me, teasing me to climb it one day, however for now it sleeps peacefully in the light of the sunset. I am home alone. Ryuta, my roommate from Japan, has been AWOL since before I moved in but I suppose that it is understandable considering that I have spent relatively little time here myself. The first night I came here I was lonely and hopped on the first bus I could find back to Apia but this time I am very happy to be here. In fact, tonight I am very inspired. I am writing this on a terribly abused laptop that was left behind by one of the volunteers who was here before I was. It is frustrating to use and sometimes everything I write randomly deletes itself but at least it has the capability to play the 2 gigs of reggae and dub mp3s that I swiped from the office computers. I feel a strong vibe from far away and the fading sunlight is only fueling my energy. I actually spent most of today by myself; this was much needed. I went for a dive at Palolo Deep for the second time and this time I made it all the way out to the main attracting which is a large section of ocean that tunnels down very deeply below revealing a beautiful underwater world only visited by those who can battle the strong current preventing most swimmers from reaching their destination. I spent a great deal of time staring off into the ocean as I usually do whenever I am in its awesome presence. The feeling of being on a tiny island has deeply rooted itself into my all-being and I have no complaints. I noticed something on the bus ride from Palolo Deep to Leulumoega and I am curious if others have caught onto this yet. I don’t know what it is, be it my status of a foreigner or whatever, but I’ve made a simple observation about something being different during that curious moment of existence when you catch a stranger and make direct eye contact. This usually only lasts a moment before both of you look away as if you didn’t notice, but here it seems that if you don’t look away then neither will the person looking at you. In fact I’ve had instances such as these that last for several moments, even a whole minute if that’s not too much of an exaggeration. On the bus today I stared at someone in the eyes while we both smiled and neither of us looked away until the bus hit a bump causing a perfectly good reason to be distracted. This stare down is incredible. You have to imagine what its like to sit there staring eye to eye with someone just smiling and enjoying the curiosity caused by the energy between you. People don’t seem uncomfortable with these things. In fact bodily contact really isn’t an issue either. I think that it is something that makes people from my culture uncomfortable but rather than hiding behind my own discomforts I embrace it here. That stare down made me feel really good all over like the two of us were exploring each other and this is not the first time this has happened. The bus rides are good for discovering such things because people generally don’t talk much but rather use body language and other human forms of communication. So I sit here in my house taking turns between writing, doing push ups, sipping wine, and staring at the pink sky. There are girls about my age dancing in the compound across from me, I think they are practicing for some traditional dance; their presence makes this wonderful night even better. When the sun goes down tonight I’m going to sneak out for a starlit stroll along the outskirts of the village. The ocean is cool at night because it is the time when all of the nocturnal animals come out. If you sneak up to the water then clap or make a sudden movement you will witness dozens of flying fish scattering and flopping away in a wonderfully frantic escape. In the days to come, before I attend my first school meeting on Monday, I would love to visit Lalomanu for a night or two. I’m going to ask around if anyone wants to come but I really have no reserves about going by myself. There are many people to meet there from all over the world and every time I’ve made it out there some sort of adventure unfolds. I’m dancing on a beam of light from the sky. For those who want to feel what I feel right now, locate the track, ‘Tou le Monde’ by Daddy Ous. Cheers, love Mookfish.

Starlight.

I didn’t see any shooting stars. Tonight I am the shooting star. There is an energy floating through my veins that I have never felt before. All living things exist as vibrations created by the universe and tonight I twinkle and twitch among all that is alive from the leaves on a tree to the humpback whales leaping above the surface of the ocean. At times in the past I have felt from the night a rush through my veins that compels me to write a word or two on my arm in permanent maker ensuring that I feel it when I wake up in the morning but I know now that this is impossible. You cannot hold on to such an energy but rather feel it flow and respect it enough not to try to hold onto it. If there is a lesson to be learned from this, it is to treat all experiences in life in the same manner as experiences like I have had tonight. It is foolish to hold onto such things because they will rot inside you and cause much unhappiness. A life cannot be lived with bottles of dead emotions that have been collected and trapped inside, this only causing suffering. After all, there is enough suffering in the world without the suffering which we cause unto ourselves. I will fall asleep tonight with nothing written on my body in permanent marker, this way I can leave room for the lessons which I am meant to learn tomorrow.