Monday, July 24, 2006

Pink is the good

I love a hot shower. Not so hot that you're being burned, but as close as the hot water heater and my tolerance for discomfort will get me. It's just so damn cleansing, but there's a proper procedure for taking a genuinly hot shower.

First, I engage in the subtle dance that is the step-in, step-out. You can't just barrel into a stream of steaming hot water, you've got to ease into it. I sort of half step, half duck into the stream, careful not to scald the twigs and berries on entry. This procedure lasts for approximately fifteen seconds, then it's on to the immsersion.

Once I've established that the water is bearably hot, it's time to step full face into the fire. Ahh...sweet, liquid heat. Feel the pores open. Feel the stress literally melt away. Feel the flesh on your face approaching meltdown. It's bliss.

Of course, the body adapts and within a few minutes what was once skin tingling heat feels only slightly warmer than the urine trickling down my leg. Time for more fire! So the cold side goes off altogether and once again the rush of relaxation that can only come from exposing one's naked body to water which is just a hair shy of liquid death comes flooding over me.

By this point, I'm literally pink and as relaxed as I can be. From skin to muscle to brain, I'm free and clear of worry, stress and the running analyses that are my thoughts.

Nothing beats a hot shower when you're several months into a monk mode run of unknown duration. Maybe the problem with the Catholic Church was really more in the plumbing than in their plunging? Bah-duh-bump-psshh

Posted by Erik @ 7/24/2006 09:51:00 PM