April 27th: fasting and the lamest show on earth

Day 223

I'm doing a matching game with cards, same as the Valentine's Day game, but with music-related vocab, to tie in with the immense hoopla on our football field. I included an addendum, allowing students to ask if their counterpart had something that began with the same letter, but it threw off one kid who asked, "Do you have something that begins with the letter spotlight?"

Incidentally, I asked the kids if they enjoyed the show and none of themsaid they did. We all agreed the dancers were subpar, there were no superstars, and lip syncing was cheating even if it was a violin. In my second class, i had just taught them the vocab when Steven came in with a pair of binoculars and said, "Mr. Willis, er the parents are standing outside the gate and it's very hot. Shall we er call it a day?" No argument here. I let the rascals loose and I was done teaching for the day. No afternoon classes because of the hoopla.

The sunshine was blazing, the sky cloudless. It was sunburn waiting to happen, so I stayed inside until the afternoon got a little less overhead and severe. I went to the arts building and sneaked in via the outside railing. My voice still isn't a hundred percent. High notes and falsetto blanked due to cleggy drainage, but the practice was more for meditative purposes.

I had decided to fast for 24 hours and it's amazing how your brain is automaically inclined to absently eat. Once you set the fast into motion, you forget about it and then catch yourself: "Time for coffee, No wait, can't. I should really finish that cheese. Aw, fuck. Can't." It becomes a mild struggle with your body and you feel more in control. "We're drinking water and detoxing and giving our organs a break. It's a good thing. You can eat at 7."

Around 3ish, I pedaled up to the middle school where everyone was on the roof. I engaged Heather in some cutthroat badminton, the wind absent for once. Afterwards, we watched "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" tokill time, probably the worst thing you can watch while fasting since the plot is about a couple stoned guys' quest for food.

If you've never fasted, the feelings are like this: The first few hours are all deprogramming, fighting the automation. You drink water like it's food. The next few hours you can feel your body sort of deflate, tighten up. All residual burps or bloating evaporate. Your brain feels a little more focused. It's enjoyable. The last couple of hours, desperation grows. You get a little antsy, impatient. The NEED takes over. Beyond 24 hours, I've deveoped a bad headache, so I never go beyond that.

Rhys, Heather, Jeni and I rode out to Royal Young and got pizzas and company sandwiches, a bowl of pistachios. I bounced in my chair, eyes frantic as Rhys and Jeni pored over the menu in agonizing indecision. "I implore you to be urgent," I managed to say without shouting. I knew I was being unreasonably edgy, from a self-inflicted state, and I reminded myself of that. Once the pistachios came, all was well. I sighed, chewed. It's like the fast never occured except the food tasted really good.

We rode back, hitting the ice cream chap near Shishan Lu, saw that he was watching the hatin'it concert on TV. Doesn't anyone realize they are lip syncing? The shots of the crowds revealed everyone, adults and children, were wving those ridiculous colored light saber things that we Americans only see at the circus. Permanent kindergarten.

Back at the middle school, people were gathered around the big TV at the gate watching it. I got to see Catherine, one of my students go onstage and give this choad in a Chinese kilt a bouquet. He had a glob of ceramics hanging from his ear and a mustache no heterosexual would sport. It's amazing how he was able to fade out his voice right with the music...

We watched "City of God" a Brazilian crime epic based on a true story. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant film. The after-eating euphoria was akin to post-coital bliss and I was soon asleep.