Colors, moisture, heat. Enough blue in the air...
~ Joan Didion's Inez Victor, on why she stayed in Kuala Lumpur.


The entire time I was in Bali, I tried to remember the first three words of that quote. Colors, moisture, heat. In Bali, the three are inseparable perceptions. Lush green, sticky humidity, the bustle of motorbikes and vendors all merge into one sensation of being in a far-away land.


Enough blue in the air... I wonder if she was talking about the same sky. Colorado has more blue, but maybe the operative word is enough...


I came to Bali with some hopes and lots of questions, mostly about what my next step will be. A few were answered, other more significant ones emerged, and in the end I somehow feel better about the whole thing. Less aimless, maybe.


Maybe next time I'll write about the conference - sweaty business clothes, scribbling speeches to deliver at press conferences, meeting people I should have chatted up. But right now, on a layover midway through my 40-hour trek home, I just want to remember the colors, the heat, and inscribe the sensations in my memory. Breakfast on rooftops, cool marble floors, mangoes with every meal, flowers everywhere. A weekend that could have been a dream. Feeling alive.