“From effect to cause — we trace our steps.
The effect is today. How, why, when,
go back, back, back: voyage sans baggage.”
-Louise Bourgeouis
The books are starting to come trickling in. The ether ones are rather hit or miss, what I really need is “Conceptions of Ether: Studies in the History of Ether Theories, 1740 – 1900” but it’s silly expensive. For no good reason that I can find, it isn’t that old, it’s just the perfect book for me so of course it’s out of reach. I’m just crossing my fingers that it was a required text for a course somewhere and it’ll be sold back come December.
More to the point is “Wonderwater: Alice Offshore.” I’m barely into the first, and already it’s making my mind tick. At the last phrase, sans baggage, I stopped. I carry a lot with me. Even when traveling light I have books, I have hats, I have yarn, I have paint, I have ink, I have I have I have. It isn’t heavy though. I don’t think I need it to get by. Still, a friend just decided to stay where he was without planning, and he’s left everything behind. The sheer loss makes me a bit ill. His books, his sketches, the notes he’s kept. All left behind. A life sans baggage, but it feels like a house-fire, self induced. Perhaps he feels lighter now, but I feel a bit scorched simply through association.