I thought it wasn't possible for me to get cabin fever. I was wrong.
I woke up this morning to the sound of singing (read: screaming) birds, louder than normal. I'm not sure if that triggered it or if I was going to wake up longing for the squeaky floor of a 24Hour Fitness gymnasium anyway, but I realized I had hit the wall.
It's weird, I have heard people complain about it, about getting antsy here, but they're people who come to paradise and then don't do anything. The "ugly Americans" who get mad they can't have their starbucks latte every day, even though Starbucks probably gets its coffee from here haha.
The same can't be said for me – I do fun things all the time, with fun people, yes, in paradise.
But it's not about "doing stuff". It's me missing the stuff I used to do. It's me missing certain things about America that I have not been able to find here.
A 10' basketball hoop. (They're all about 9'6".) A well-lit, hardwood floor gymnasium, loud and with an extremely high ceiling. Gym rats who just want to ball. Exhaustion after 4 hours of holding court. Sore feet and legs not from a brutal bike ride, but from running my ass up and down the court. People who know how to throw a football. And want to. The feeling of chasing down a post-corner thrown right to the sidelines, and that split second where time stands still as my feet toe the line and my hands reel in the pass. A real piano, with real keys. (Small plastic keyboards just don't do it for me…) Yeah. And my guitar.
I know I'm complaining. I should be ashamed of myself. I just really miss my regular hoops fix, really miss going and playing a real piano.
Everything else is great, and sunny, and happy, and inspiring, and wonderful. But surfing is not the same sensation as nothing but net. Conquering challenges on my bike or on foot is not the same as a game winning shot in traffic. Fingers on a keyboard to write, and write, and write…is not the same as fingers on ivories.
It's weird – I guess I miss basketball (mostly) more than I ever thought I would. I knew I'd miss playing a real piano. (I haven't even SEEN one here.) And yeah, I can go shoot, but that's not the same. I want to play.
So if you're in central america and want to play some hoops I have a growing assortment of footballs and basketballs and I'm jonesing for some competition!
Or maybe I just need to get better at futbol. I enjoy that sport. But basketball is better, because I get to use my hands…ugh.
Ok, I'm done complaining. Here North Korea is threatening civilization and Fascism is growling loudly and people are starving, and I just want to throw a ball through a metal ring…
Well, I do.