In other news, last week I went out skating in my neighborhood... by myself. It was not the wisest thing to do, perhaps, but it was exhilirating, and the sub-freezing weather last week did not let up. Now, there are myriad factors that should sway people from casual pond skating, like unseen springs feeding into ponds, etc., that suggest that one may meet with disaster. In the area this winter, I have seen folks out skating, setting up hockey nets, and NOT falling into frigid waters. I wore my neoprene surfing gloves just in case I fell in, with visions of frozen fingers being unable to turn the key in my car's ignition when equipped with wooly mitts. All said and done, the pond by my house was frozen solid and skate-worthy, so I spent about forty five minutes exploring all of the nooks and glens that are accessible by boat only in warmer air.
I learned to skate when I was four, indoors at a rink. Maybe fifteen years ago, my Dad, the Filoni brothers, Dan Desena and I went out to Canonsburg Dam in January. That was my first and only outdoor skating on a natural surface until last week. The five of us played half-court hockey on the frozen lake.
Not even Krzysztof Kieslowski's Decalogue I kept me from going out. I borrowed this from the library last week, as part of my ongoing self-taught film-studies course. One day, I hope to teach a film class, if only to my biological children or nephews and neices. Right. Decalogue I is the saddest of the series, and I knew nothing about it. I planned to have dinner, watch an installment of this 'great' movie series and then skate. Who knew ("Not I," said the Matt) that the first episode is about a kid falling though the ice when skating? who knew this would be his end? Again, not me. But I watched it, and went skating anyways. And this speaks of convergence.
Another minor sampling of this convergence happened last week, again with the library and home DVDs. I borrowed Lonesome Dove and watched it at home last week, only to learn in the special features that it was 18 years ago, almost to the day (certainly the week) that the mini-series came out. February 4. A big deal? Am I Karnak? No, just a mere observation. I also observed that my Dad's birthday is today: he would be 74.