windows

can someone explain to me why you wouldn’t electively take a window seat?

the night was super foggy as i flew to vegas, but below i could still see storms and flashes and bursts through the clouds as we went.

the only possible reasons i can think of are two:
you go to the bathroom a lot and want an aisle. yes, i get this, but you can crawl over people. that’s what happens on flights. and if you’re the aisle guy, you just get crawled over. might as well see some junk and not get clocked by the cart.

you hate flying. makes perfect sense. why look down on everything below you since being so far above scares you? well, counter that – because you HAVE to. what’s the point of flying if you can’t see what you’re rising above?

it might be hard to look, but it’s worth it.

a friend of mine once went to see a performance artist play a piano in a black box studio in nyc. the performer only hit one solitary note, for the duration of more than an hour, at varied speeds. first off, yes, horrible. but the artist argued - art isn't supposed to make you feel good, it's supposed to make you feel something. and you did. and it was hard and strange and new, unfamiliar.

one of my favorite songs of the past year is Casmir Pulaski Day on the Sufjan Stevens album. i like it for several reasons, but the main reason is simply because it’s hard to listen to. i like watching Six Feet Under because every time the show starts i feel a bit uneasy. one of my favorite books of 2005 was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, because it was raw and sad and serious and curious about itself. i like doing what i do for a living because along with the immeasurable amounts of fun you get to have, it’s risky and hard to do sometimes. i don’t mind difficulty in relationships, friends or otherwise, because i believe to build the best ones, it takes some work.

sometimes you have to listen, or look, or see, or jump, no matter how difficult it is; because if you don’t, what’s the fucking point?

get a window seat. but don’t take mine.