No Encore Please

Malaga sensationalizes the ephemeral. It is a city of Erasmus students studying abroad or working abroad for the first time. It is a city of retirees from the UK and Scandanavia who burn within 5 minutes of stepping out into the Mediterrean sun. It is a city of lucrative clubs and bars run by business savy night crawlers. It is a city of the beach , the ocean, the cocktail and the tan. Tourists flood the city and then retreat back to their cruise ships at the port. The turnover for people living in Malaga is about 1 year. You never know if the person you just met speaks English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch or Arabic. You never know if they just got here or if their on their final month countdown till they leave. Somehow, Malaga stays together and has remarkable success with such turblent demographic shifts.

Today a friend of Chris' came to visit for a few days and like another piece of the ephemeral puzzle of Malaga, he walked wide eyed through the streets I looked at everything with clear eyes, having dropped my rose colored glasses ages ago. We went to a basketball game and cheered as the shot clock counted down, grinning as our team won.



And we kept up with the touch and go lifestyle. Hopping groups of friends, locations, moods, and time. It's rejuvenating to have a new face with you on the bumpy ride, they remind you how you once felt, and give you secret comfort that you've lasted....and that you haven't been pulled into the machine of short lived pleasures. And if on a Saturday night you'd rather go wander the dollar stores looking for a new journal, you won't balk at the taunts that 'you're missing out on life' because you know that not all pleasures come poured in a cup or in a sexy get up. Some pleasures are a long time in coming, but the wait is worth it because they last. (some joys are waiting for you an ocean away. all you can do is wait)

So Malaga, entrance the newcomers, give them a good time, but leave me be, let me start to pull back, to wipe my hands of your thoughtless urgency and cheap persuasions, because I've seen you old, tired, shabby and unkept in daylight and by moonlight and I know your fickle promises are no good. I'm still here seated in the theater watching the performances, but the masks have come off and the act doesn't fool me anymore.

No encore, please.