The water has such a cleansing quality. If only it could have the same lasting effect as Jackson Pollack's seemingly disdainful splash of white acrylic on a previously unused canvas. Instead, its prowess is diminished by each wave that surfaces and the ocean debris it leaves behind. I stood on the deserted sandy beach, as a squall of rain was swept out to sea by a cold, hostile northeast. . Perhaps this reminds me of my days as a second-row football player --- I could never withstand the impact of the ball stripped by the zebra when it hit my head, making me an ideal candidate for long warm-up periods on the bench, while others lured the fans and the leader hot in bed after the match --- I kicked a nearly empty beer bottle whose Budweiser label had been largely shredded from the competitor's glass surface by the incessant washing of a rough ocean. As the bottle turned over the beach toward the sea, I looked outward at the vast, black, open water---boundless and haunting in its liquid universe. Beer residue mixed with salt water poured from the missile as it circled the sand before landing on the peak crest of a retreating wave. Once saddled, it sank into deeper waters. The hedonistic crowds of summer had mostly disappeared from this New Jersey playground, except for my solitary figure and a few abstract silhouettes in the distance that looked, from my vantage point, like skeletal corpses resurrected from a long-forgotten coastal ship wreck. for the storm clouds rushing above me and the expiring breath from the northeast, my feet walked in the wet sand - my choice and I had no regrets. I am and always have been a solitary person. I can only take a limited amount of... middle of paper ...... ed Marlboro, then I threw the butt and the rest of an old habit to the wind; the still-flaming grass shredded the embers as it floated in the humid ocean air, startling a seagull pecking at the remains of some sort of victim washed up by the sea. I felt...I I tasted the salty air, I breathed it. Inhale deeply and exhale. It was intoxicating! I was glad that these occasional bouts of smoking were so fleeting and only evolved when my thoughts were heavy and their weight required grip for support. This evening, it was tomorrow's events that took over the moment. I had kicked the smoking habit - but not completely - I was still working towards total abstinence, but it was times like these that made complete abstinence a year-long New Year's resolution. 'other. However, when someone asked me if I was a smoker or not, I responded with a “no”. ».”.