being romantic...

on certain music; i'm trying to get away from itunes. i just don't feel like i'm getting anything from them.

so on music that matters to me, i'm heading back to cds, and even lps. there's just much more there.

art work and images are the big things. i remember how i got into some bands back in the eighties, and it was due to the art work and images on their lps.

amitabha...

thinking...

about getting back into the swing of things here.

so i'll see what happens, time, effort, topics and such...

amitabha...

integrity...

is a difficult thing to have in this day and age. people tend to bend over backwards of others. in many ways. we either don't want to 'rock the boat', or we just don't want to piss anyone off. other times we are just 'passive aggressive' enough.

the email is a wonderful way to be passive aggressive. we are able to use different fonts, and bold our words without even talking to the person.

case in point...a place that i work has been sending me emails about some garbage paperwork that they want done. needless to say; i haven't done it, and will not be doing it. it is pointless. and frankly, i don't have the time.

however; the emails keep coming. mind you, no one has said anything to me personally. the last couple emails were in bold. so i guess that means that they are important. at least to them.

so i took my stand. i sent off my own email about my integrity. my beliefs. how pointless the corporate exercises are. that it is the instructor, and their love of the material that makes the class; not their paperwork.

so remember to stand up for your ideals. your beliefs. stand up to tyranny of any kind. not just to bitch, but because you really do have a point. and i could underline and bold the 'do' in that last sentence, but why bother...

amitabha...

as michelle...

and i welcome our new edition to our family; one leaves us...



jake was our 'outside' cat that we took care of as a stray. he was a good cat, in every sense that a cat is able to be. kind and loving, and he also caught mice, and birds.

i found him the other day, and his one paw was ballooned up five times it's size. he must have gotten into a scrap with something that scraped back. i can only hope what he got into a scrap with is worst off.

he will be missed by us.

amitabha...

meditation...

is a difficult thing. i have to admit that when i don't go to temple on a regular basis, i really don't 'sit' at home and meditate. although i try to meditate in everything that i do...a more of an 'active' meditation.

i started reading thich nhat hanh's book; buddha mind, buddha body. and in that he talks about, in essence, walking meditation. and again; outside of the temple i find this hard to do. to experience every inch of your foot touching the ground. to be mindful of every step.

he opens the first chapter with...'you can make a step and touch the earth in such a way that you establish yourself in the present moment, and you will arrive in the here and the now.' to touch the ground with your foot in a very mindful way. i understood what was being said, but i found it difficult to practice. it seems so simple, but is very difficult...just like many concepts i find in buddhism; the complexity in the simplicity.

that was until lydia came into our lives. i now spend hours walking with her. holding her. bouncing her with every step i take. she really enjoys when i walk up and down the stairs with her. these things calm her. however; i have to be very mindful of every step, every bounce; especially when i walk up and down the steps at all odd hours of the day. she has helped me achieve something that i would still be struggling with...mindful steps.

to be present in every step i take. to be mindful of every step i take. how i am making that step, and is it the right step to make...she lets me know.

i now have two sifus. one at the temple. one at home.

amitabha...

on tuesday...

may fifth my wife and i welcomed our new edition to our family...

lydia poppy hamad



amitabha...

is all...

'this' unethical?

by 'this' i mean the experience of the web. by unethical i mean damaging of the individual.

limiting it even more; all the 'social' sites...let's be honest; there is nothing social about it.

coming from a certain article on seed the idea that all this socializing that happens on these sites fulfills the quick little neurons in the brain that illicit pleasure. not a mill version of pleasure, or a concept of eudaimonia. rather that quick little pleasure that come about from the web. satisfying an 'urge'; if you will. the pleasure from eating a candy bar.

we 'engage' in this stuff, simply because of the pleasure it brings. quick little glimpses of happiness that do not last. it's not about getting information anymore. if it ever really was. rather some sort of self-edification; which is only concerned, or conscious of the self. and this is where unethical concepts/actions occur. is in dealing with the self. to be ethical means to, in some sense, have an idea of others. any theory that you hold has a theory of others. and what that means. what i mean is that ethics extends beyond the individual. to be unethical deals with selfish notions.

now...if this is the case; a consent seeking of pleasure fulfillment, how does that translate into 'real' social situations?

amitabha...