8 Nov

"I feel like I'm getting old." Jamie says to a workmate.

"You just have to live in the moment." She replies. How zen, Jamie thinks.

And he is right. One of the core tenets of Buddhism is to focus on now and only now. All the cliches of meditation come in here: paying attention to your breath, to the tension in your muscles--all are exercises meant to remind the practitioner, "you are distracted; focus." Taoism, too, instructs people that there is nothing outside this noisy, incomprehensibly complicated moment.

Jamie walks down a dark alley of pedestrian stairs linking The Terrace to Lambton Quay. He crosses the street and notices the wind pause as he passes the parliament building. He turns right at the next light, walks past the university book store and stops just before the descent into the subway leading to the train station (note: a subway being an underground sidewalk). The flax are in bloom, and the tuis are well aware. In a small garden, flax flaunt their yellow blossoms. A tui flaps into them and, clinging to the stalks, pokes its beak into each delicate flute. Is feathers catch errant sunlight like cops, turning it all back. Jamie is struck by the pale green beneath the bird's neck; the deep sea indigo of its crown. He slowly moves his hand to his pocket to reach his camera when suddenly three more tuis crash into the flax. Their heads bobbing, one begins its signature song.

Jamie decides to forget about the camera. Sometimes, you just have to be there.