Beats, Bali, and Hallucinations

Another day of fasting. Went out today to buy some thingies for the windows because the original ones are rusted. It’s hotter here in Singaraja than it is in Sumbawa, and small as it is, Singaraja is still a city with noise and pollution. So I felt hotter than usual. I’m writing this as the sun prepares to disappear and I wait to open the fast and have dinner with the family, most of whom I haven’t seen today. Right, the time now. It’s that time in the fast when the mind and body begin to feel like they are in the midst of an lsd trip. Reality does get bent some – not totally distorted, but twisted just a bit, and the response time is slowed down – well enough that I don’t like having long conversations with people because I’m never quite sure what they’re saying.

I’d be sitting out on the balcony right now having my sundown scotch if it wasn’t Ramadan but instead I’m watching the sun through the window as it descends while I type this. I just finished reading an interesting piece on Kerouac and On the Road as this is the 50th anniversary of its publication. The piece is well written, and I take pleasure in reading it; it’s a sensuous pleasure as physical as if I could touch the text, smell the ink, feel the weight of the magazine in my hands, but I’m online and can’t, but I do nonetheless, and I wonder if it’s like the people that feel limbs that have been amputated. What will the sensuousness of reading exist as for a future generation that doesn’t have books or magazines?

Robert is coming over this evening for a few drinks after the fast is over. Putu will be here too although he rarely drinks. I’ll have some cigarettes tonight as well to celebrate On the Road.

I just took a look at the Kerouac piece again and notice something moving on the page. Hmm, a hallucination? No, the New Yorker has an animated cartoon. I take a look at the page again. I love the New Yorker.