Songs For Your Day

“Kids” by MGMT is musically a very powerful song, notably in the chorus that I find to be quite cathartic. I love nothing more than to blast a song like this when I’m home, imagining the notes exploding from my walls. Letting go and diving in are two things I’ve been thinking of, and “Kids” is the perfect backdrop.

It’s been a hectic two weeks returning to Green Door Apartments and taking a kayaking clinic at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina. I’m still recovering from the latter, in a very good way.

Kayaking is an awesome (there is no better word for it than this) and equally frightening sport. Last week, as a complete beginner, I learned how to kayak. Being on the river is unlike anything I’ve experienced, and I was surrounded by natural beauty all day. For five days, we played in the water for hours on end. I have played golf, soccer, tennis, ran cross country, cycled, but I have enjoyed none of those as much as I did this.

If I loved this so much why not jump right in to this as a full time hobby? This is also one of the most dangerous activities, by leaps and bounds (except maybe the guys that wear flying squirrel jumpsuits and base jump). Safety really is first in kayaking, and sometimes there are enormous consequences for making a mistake. It’s not a matter of if, but when (there is a lot of carnage, some good and some bad). Hearing stories about undercut rocks, foot entrapments, and how many people have died at certain rapids brings out an utterly primal need for survival. This would hold me back, but the possibility of being explosively passionate about something tells me to go for it. So I break free, and dive in.

Rebecca P.