15th Floor Blues

You don’t see much out the window from the 15th floor. We do have a construction project going on across the street, and I have a pretty good view of the skyline. But unlike on lower floors, the scene is unchanging. Nothing ever moves. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t even be able to tell the seasons apart from this altitude.

So when a leaf floated past today, it caught my eye. It hovered at my eye level before being whisked away to greater heights. It took me a moment to grasp how truly remarkable this was. The tree it came from couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 stories high – that leaf had to work hard to get up here. It had to defy gravity, to defy fall, to find the perfect gust of wind to rise above its place of birth. It was remarkable that it would never reach this height again, except on its way down. This was its one last hurrah, a chance to get a good look at the world before succumbing to a fate of sneaker-bottoms and decomposition.

For me, though, the most remarkable thing about it was that it caught my eye at all. There’s something terrible about being so far removed from the earth. There’s something grotesque about a high rise. I love hotels and dream of an office in a skyscraper penthouse, but life at high altitude just isn’t the same. A bug on the window is an event. I find myself being merciful to the pests that find their way into the room – I’m either desperate for nature or just in awe of the fact they made it up so high. And my ears pop every time I go down the elevator; I’m so foreign to the ground that my body needs to recalibrate. Next year, either my world needs to move to the 15th floor, or I need to move to ground level.

Animal Collective - Leaf House

Zookeeper - On High

Eliott Smith - High Times

Frankie Miller - High Life

Radiohead - High and Dry

The Frames - Rise

Travis - Flowers In The Window

Billy Bragg & Wilco - At My Window Sad And Lonely

-Danny