750 words - day 12

 Working on developing deeper understanding and resonance with this "soul signature" philosophy, I really tried to keep this idea at the forefront of my attention today. I do feel like some progressive journaling about this topic, to help me scan my history, especially what the things were that I enjoyed the most when I was a young boy so that I can better structure my days around such activities. When I say "journaling" I mean sitting (in my cafe) with paper and pen to hand write my ideas and thoughts. It works a little bit here, on screen but on paper turns on some different capacitors that tap into deeper recesses of the mind, and there's something innocent and memory linked to youth that happens when you hand write on paper. So maybe that's what I'll try to do tomorrow. I could also do this at the library, but there's something sexier and more cinematic about doing it in a cafe.

Today I tapped into some boyhood adventurism when I was out for a walk. I walked off trail down into the bowels of the city and explored some sewer drains. Finally the water from the storms has receded enough, and the ground is drying out enough to make it possible to walk down into the creek-beds. It was fun! There are so many elements of daring-ness that need to be arranged. I mean, the two entry points for getting down to the creeks are visible from street level. The first one I went down (the more dramatic of the two) was easy. It was a back street that doesn't have much traffic so I know that no one saw me go down there. (Although the entry point is right next to the city police department. I don't think the police could stop me from going down there, but if they had been driving past and saw me go down there, they might have given me a personal suggestion NOT to do that...). The second storm drain that I walked down to was right on a busy street corner where a lot of cars were driving by. I didn't look at them. I had already shifted into "I'm going to do this, I don't care who sees me" mode and I just walked straight off the sidewalk into the the woods and descended the hill to where I could see the drain.

The first one I mentioned was more daring for this reason. The water was low enough that I could step right down to the bottom of the creek and enter into the drain. It was a huge drain, for one thing. Two city streets wide with a very high ceiling and it went back about 50 feet to where the inflow section was. When I stepped from the creek, where the roar of the rushing water was pretty loud to start with, into the drain, the sound of the roaring water doubled in loudness. That was startling. Combined with the darkness inside the drain I was caught by surprise, even though I would not say that I was scared. I could see clearly enough to notice that there was no one else inside there with me. It did get pretty dark towards the back of the drain so I didn't feel the need to go all the way back there, but I walked about halfway back. The other concern was to be careful trusting the solidity of the sandy ground. A week earlier I had stepped onto some creek sand that was more like "quick sand" and sank in up to my ankles. The ground was more solid today and I did not sink in at all. I stayed inside there for about 3-4 minutes feeling the awe of the elements combined with man made architecture, and I also was enjoying the graffiti. Our town is one where all graffiti is hidden from the eyes of the public. I was excited to find this rebel art in or city. I had not seen any here before this.

The flashback this experience was to memories of the types of small adventures we used to go on in our old neighborhoods in San Leandro, where I grew up and lived to the age of 12 was refreshing. I wasn't overjoyed or ecstatic from the experience, just very present in the moment and recognized that this was something that I don't get to do very often, and that there probably were very few other men of my age that would venture to do something like this in this city. So I rack this up as acknowledgement of my "soul signature" and I'm looking forward to how else I'll tap into this blueprint behavior of my life's purpose in upcoming days.