-^-for posterity-^-

i slept today. i layed on the bed in my room and took a four hour nap. it was refreshing but there's a lot of guilt accompanied with sleeping away your first day in a new city. a lot of guilt.

i did get up to the roof of my apartment building to write and see the city. the city was teeming with life and movement. it seems to bubble and honk constantly. all the movement becomes white noise except for the occasional dog yelp that breaks the monotony. there is a huge contrast in building types. there are very large skyscrapers with their glassy sides reflecting the movement below. they are few and large. there are also many small buildings of a variety of shapes and sizes. they house families and lives and stories. i would love to be able to learn about them all. their walls are rough and old and reflect nothing. only maybe age and wisdom. they are many and small. tv antenna are everywhere. there's not a house that does not have some type of antenna strapped to some type of bamboo or metal pole all stretching towards the sky. they are all very high, much too high in my estimation. they all seem to be precariously positioned. i guess there's something special about that blue flickering. it seems to stop thought.

there was also a storm on the horizon. it was grey and moving. the other horizon was occupied by a group of clouds tinted peach by the setting sun. very peach. there was soon to be a battle for the sky over ho chi minh city. the grey storm clouds moved in, slowly, rumbling and flashing as they went. they churrned up wind that seemed to come from everywhere. one moment it would lick your face and the next moment it would lift your shirt. it seemed to hit you on the top of the head and come from your feet at the same time. vietnamese flags were all clinging to their flag poles as the storm moved. it was very angry. the clouds would roll and buildings would become more and more grey in the distance. finally things reached their climax. the storm opened itself up and dumped it's blessing. what a beautiful rain. thick and still. it rolled off of the glassy walls of the sky scrapers and collected in buckets around smaller concrete homes. the city continued to move.

tomorrow im determined to walk all over this strange city. i'm full of guilt for sleeping today but feel refreshed.