perfect moment

A point in time in which everything is right with the world. I treasure these, for they are rare and fleeting. They're different for everyone; for some, it's when they're making music. For others, when coding or making love or any one of a million things; I can't possibly dream of them all...

When I am consumed with the beauty of a thunderstorm, nose to the cold wind blasting past me, swirling grey lit by chaos incarnate; carried on the perfect sound
sing to me...

Standing on the heights, the world stretched out below me, wind through my arms outstretched offering the tantalizing promise of flight, and suddenly a part of me is up there, wings embracing air, free.

Riding the music, feeling it, play through the drum and don't stop keep going through the sweat and the aches and merge with the wall of sound-

Rising through the black water, cold and silent, so used to my rig that I don't feel it anymore; forgotten to breathe for a moment because as my face passes through the surface the water caresses my temples, receding, and I am kissed by a warm breeze; the sight of the Universe stretching across the night sky fills my eyes. Eternal depths to eternal heights.

Three-quarters drunk, sitting between two people whom I love dearly as friends, one of them trying to keep me warm in a very inefficient fashion but niether one of us giving a damn because we were mostly off flying together and wanted some physical contact. Finding myself by accident to be holding the hand of the other, his hand was so warm and I just sat there and basked in it, knowing somehow that I would fall in love with him if I could; resigning myself to believing that if not in this lifetime, then perhaps in the next.
   In the space between asleep and awake, between drunk and sober, there may be found the perfect moments; the dream of what might have been, the possibility of what may yet be: for in these moments, sometimes I think I see an eternity stretching out before us.
A few weeks later, my life-mate found it within himself to accept the idea of loving more than one person at the same time, and in doing so gave me the ultimate gift of freedom, and since then I have fallen in love with the man whose hand I held that night.

What are your perfect moments?

When I am writing something, and I have been obsessing over one paragraph for days, and I finally make it perfect and I lean back in my chair in front of my laptop and light a cigarette.

Watching the sun rise after making love.

The moment where a very difficult and complex math problem crystallizes in my mind.

A big round of applause after a good busking show.

Mill's Mess with five balls.

Perfect moments in everyday life happen more often than you would think. These moments are not Earth-shattering, but simply are moments in time when you are experiencing something that puts you at immense peace for reasons you truly don't understand.

Personally, many of these moments seem to happen to me while I am in motion. Whether walking, jogging, or in an automobile, I often find myself experiencing a moment of serene perfection while on the move.

Have you ever driven down a crowded highway overpass, turning slowly in relation to magnetic fields you never stop to think about and watching intently the taillights of other cars floating in front of you? Suddenly the correct song pours from your car stereo, and for just a moment everything else is gone except the red wash of light and the feeling of a great magnet gently pulling you towards your destination.

I was alone this New Years Eve, and spent the passing of 2000 in an airport terminal. Before I made the trip to the airport, however, I went downtown to take in the sights and sounds of the annual festival the city holds in honor January 1st. I was walking South Pearl and simply enjoying the lights and lack of traffic when I was passed by a horse-drawn trolley that was out for the occasion. I turned to wave and as I did the passengers exploded with a loud "Happy New Year!" Not wanting to be out-done I ripped my hat off my head and spread my arms into the air, yelling their exclamation back at them with as much cheer and volume I could muster. I’ve never been yelled at by a trolley-load of holiday-happy people before.

Last night I was returning from a dinner outside of the city on route ninety when I saw an ambulance ahead. It was traveling at a steady sixty-five miles an hour, with no sirens and only half the lights going. It was late, and there were few cars left on the road. Following from behind, I was mesmerized by the red and white lights' play on the snow-covered hills to either side of the expressway. Moby's "Porcelain" was on my radio, and all I could do was float in my car, moving at seventy miles an hour while sitting down, and enjoy the rare moment in front of me. After it passed I drove ahead as I could feel gravity pulling me and needed sleep. As I passed the ambulance I realized it was the same ambulance that had taken me to the hospital nine weeks earlier.

June 2002, Tokyo, Japan.

7am at Tsujiki fish market with my Dad. We're dining on the freshest sashimi known to man, sipping back a couple of Kirin Ichibans and taking in the surroundings. Hangover from the previous night of Karaoke bar abuse vanishes in an instant, I feel like the king of Tokyo.

Okanjoo o onegai shimasu?
Can we have the bill please?

The owner of the sushi bar insists the beers are on the house due to Ireland's stunning performance against Germany. I give him an Irish flag I have in my rucksack and we say goodbye in a flurry of handshakes and bows.

Arigato gozaimasu! Ja ne!
Thank you! Goodbye!

The early morning beers hit my Dad and he splits back to Asakusa. I hear my inner geek whispering to me: "It's 8:30 in the morning, you have the whole day ahead of you, you're on your own in Tokyo, half cut... let's have some fun." I catch the Yamanote line to Akihabara and exit the station under a sign that says Electric City.

I am engulfed in the blazing Tokyo morning, swallowed by the throng of denizens.

I hit the play button on my MiniDisc, seeking my soundtrack. The Album: OK by Talvin Singh, Track 1 - Traveller.

I go for a long walk, lost in my perfect moment.