Over the course of these two days I wrote around 2500 words, slightly under the pace I had originally set, but certainly better than the days immediately before. In any case, I am on pace to have written 10,000 words in my first ten days here, and if I continue in this manner, the first draft of the novel will be done before I leave Spain, with time to spare to begin rewriting.
I went to see el Parc de Labyrint on Day Six, which is a beautiful, somewhat bizarre and sprawling garden that features an enormous hedge maze, an enclosure for ducks, statues of Greek gods, rock waterfalls, and man-made ponds. It lies very close to the rural hills, which I could view well from the park, and I had the incredible urge to climb them. I constantly have the desire to stand on top of things. I think this is because I am a Capricorn.
On Day Seven I saw the Sagrada Familia, which is certainly the most incredible thing I have seen so far in this place. It is supposed to be a church, but it appears to be a monument to the rise of man as God over himself. It is a beautiful nightmare, almost something out of science fiction, and I plan to go and see it again. It is not yet complete, and so massive cranes tower over it. I would like to imagine what it would be like to be one of the construction workers on the Sagrada Familia. They are acting as the tools of an artist. What a thing to be!
For the past three days or so I have been suffering depressive episodes, particularly at night before bed. In a way it is shameful to even mention this, given how enviable my current circumstances are, but it seems that my brain does not care whether I am in a basement in Allston on the beaches of Spain. They say that happiness is a state of mind, but I can say with certainty that happiness is a fortunate mixture of chemicals. Aristotle wrote that a melancholic temperament is a precursor to genius, and I hope this is true, because otherwise melancholy is the most useless thing in the world.
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