Morgan: Summer Heat

I love the heat of Summer...feeling the hot sun on my head, sweat dripping off my brow. For the past couple weeks I have been playing basketball after work. The blacktop outside tower four radiates the heat like a frying pan. Almost to hot to be outside. But the lure of basketball overcomes the heat and pretty soon I'm drenched with sweat. My knees have been taking a pounding, and it has become extremely painful to jump or run. I recently started wearing a knee wrap which gives me a lot of support. I absolutely love playing there. Its never crowded, someone always wants to play, so we get a three on three game going, until someone has to leave. I'm not the best shooter, but that doesn't matter, I just love to get out there and play.

I had to mow the lawn today...It was the same sun, burning me like an ant under a magnifying glass. Thank god I don't have a big lawn. The novelty of mowing my own lawn wore off years ago and now it truly is a chore to get out there and do my duty every week. I used to bag the grass clippings, now I don't worry about that anymore. Its grass! probably good fertilizer.

Last week we drove up to Atlantic City, New Jersey on hot, humid Friday night. As we got closer to the shore all of the towering casinos glowed a neon red, beaconing all to come and try their luck. I did play poker until three in the morning but what really captivated my attention were the people. Atlantic City tourists are so diverse coming from all over the world, but the majority seems to be from New York City. I watched the People in the casino, People at my poker table. Old people dragging oxygen bottles and smoking cigarettes. Young guys with their baseball caps on backwards and gold chains hanging outside their unbuttoned shirts. Women of all types. Old women with buckets of coins playing slots. Young women with small slinky dresses stumbling back from numerous nightclubs, shouting drunkenly to each other. The next morning we went out to the boardwalk and I did a little more people watching. The glamor of the night before was harshly revealed under the New Jersey sun. People wore less clothing, shorts and tank tops, sandals and flip-flops as they traversed up and down the AC Boardwalk looking sleep deprived. The number of tattoos looked almost epidemic, most ugly designs faded into wrinkled sun burnt skin. Hundreds of Filipinos flocked outside the convention center which advertised a Filipino game show. I could feel myself beginning to sweat profusely, so we hired a boardwalk taxi. It is basically a hand cart that the driver pushes down the center of the boardwalk while attempting to not run over the other tourists. It felt very indulgent to hire the young man to transport us down the hot boardwalk...a guilty pleasure. We passed a group of African-Americans all sporting maroon t-shirts proudly proclaiming the Jones Family reunion of 2008. I noticed an older man walking hand in hand with a Beautiful young woman with decidedly strong Russian facial features, Mail order bride? But the most disturbing thing I saw was a 70 year old man with out his shirt, dancing provocatively next to an ancient boom box. "I'm to sexy for my shirt."
The boardwalk was to hot for me. I was glad to go home.

This morning my (hot) wife and I drove to Sterling, VA to attend the Buddhist Lent Begining Day & Abbot's Birthday Ceremony at the Wat Yarnna Rangsee Buddhist Monastery. Once again it was Hot! The sun was blazing down on a cloudless day. Thai Vendors had set up food stalls all around the outside of the modest Monastery. Thai people wandered from stall to stall sampling the various food delights. We sampled fried plantains, grilled chicken satay. We sat down and slurped a steaming broth of beef and noodles. Making small talk with the strangers sitting at our table. While just as hot as Atlantic City something wholesome about the simple Thai celebration made me forget the sweat running down my back. I leaned back on my little stool and listened to the bald monk singing "only the lonely " with a karaoke machine. Yeah It was hot, but not so bad.