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looking forward to a great weekend

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It’s been a hectic week to say the least. Hell, it’s been a hectic month. Work is the busiest it’s ever been, and it’s only promising to get busier. The coming months should be quite amazing though – as busy as it’s going to be, I’m honestly excited about it.

This weekend will be great. I don’t get to hang out with Matt too often, so this Sunday will rock. Little Man and I get to hang out while the girls have the baby shower. (which btw, any of you that know me, know that I’m of the ‘new school’ of fathers who believe in sharing the parenting 50/50. So, this whole ‘girls only’ baby shower isn’t a popular subject with me, but hey, whatever ;) )

They are going to make such great parents. Michelle is an amazing person. Seriously. Always kind and caring, the type of person you really do know is completely special. (and those of you who know Matt, can imagine the level of patience she has. hahaha j/k Matt) Matt is one of the most unique people I’ve ever met. I’ve told the story time and time again, so what’s one more time….

I was working at <the place that shall remain unnamed for fear of losing my sanity> and saw this dude wearing a Cthulhu t-shirt. Went over and told him what a cool shirt I thought it was and we started talking. After a while I saw his desk. Now, we’ve all seen the typical cubicle farms that office workers are shoved into and this place was no different. Most people have books, food, whatnots up in the overhead bins of their cubicles. On no – not Matt. He had every happy meal toy imaginable from all fast food places in a 12 mile radius of the place! And not only that, they were arranged into this intricate diorama with complete story on how the M&M guys were robbing a bank, but the animal doods were the local armed forces trying to stop them, while the stuffed animal thingys were the horse cavalry trying to raid the local quiki mart. Or something like that (Matt, if you’re feeling up to it, please comment with the full story – cuz I know you remember it). Well, as you can imagine, I just had to be friends with this person. He was wayyyyyy too unique NOT to be friends with. And ya know, he’s been one of my best friends since. In a strange way, this is what lets me know the kind of Dad he’ll be. He is seriously smart, insanely creative, and incredibly imaginative. And I know he’ll be able to help their child be as creative as he is.

Well, enough said. This is going to be a fun weekend.

baby shower

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So we went to my little sister’s baby shower today. It was nice to see all the family again, strangely, that’s not a common occurrence any longer. (funny how life turns out, ain’t it) They received a lot of very nice things for the baby as well. As promised, I didn’t talk politics with Dad either – yay. I think he and I both know it’s best that way – we don’t agree on it much. hahaha.

Should be having breakfast with Mom tomorrow before she drives back home. (Dad left today) Little Man and I will be having a fun day tomorrow.

life is getting really interesting right now

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The most recent issue of Wired magazine has a story titled ‘The New Atheism‘.
Now, looking around CNN.com today, it seems that Time magazine has an article titled ‘God Vs. Science‘

It’s quite interesting to me that two, highly circulated magazines have articles like this in such a close time period. Those of you who know me, know which side I stand a bit closer to. ;) I think one of the things I’ve always felt makes Buddhism unique is it’s openness to science. Do all things in Buddhism ‘check out’ with science? Well, depends on how you look at it, but safe to say closer to no. And that’s fine. What it’s really taught me is that you daily life, what you do for others, that’s the key. All religions truly are VERY similar in their teachings related to day to day living. Of course there are huge differences as well. Do I believe in a creator god? Well, no. Does that mean I’m going to stop others from doing so? Well, no, not really. hahaha. If it helps you be a good person, that’s what the belief is for. Once it is used to take rights away from others, stop scientific progress for the better of man, used as a tool to wage war, used to control people unintelligent enough to think on their own without being spoon fed,,,, that’s when I have a problem with it.

but, I digress. Like I said, life is getting really interesting right now.

…For the times they are a-changin’.

First issue is officially sent off to the printer

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I’m happy to say, Wil and my first issue as editors of Buddha’s Light Magazine of Los Angeles is done. Venerable has sent it off to the printer, and I’ve posted it to the website. http://www.blmla.org

The website is being announced as well with this issue. This is quite exciting as it’s been a goal of mine for a while now to help the temple in this way. I’m still not completely satisfied with the look of the site, but, it is a work in progress. Joomla seems to be great in some ways, and completely horrid in others. It is in no way as intuitive as I would like. But I’m getting used to it. I should be able to continue to improve it over time.

emptiness…

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Emptiness. What is your first thought when you read that word?……………

I think in the west, we’re taught culturally that empty is a negative, or unfulfilled word. We believe if we don’t have things, stuff, junk really, our lives are in some way destined to be empty. It’s a hard mind-frame to get out of at times. Everywhere we look – advertising. Messages about how much of a better life we’d be allowed if we just have this product, or that thing. And at times we really can believe this. It’s weird when you step back and think about it.

Then we come to what I intended to write about when I fired up ecto. The buddhist definition of emptiness. One of the most famous passages from the sutra states, “All phenomena are like a dream, illusion, bubble, or shadow; they are like dew or lightning. You should meditate upon them thus.” Another I like to think about states, “form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” In summary, or, for those unfamiliar with buddhist thought, you can say that all phenomena is insubstantial on it’s own. A good example is this:

Pick up a pen.
What makes it pen? What gives it “pen-ness”?
Does it, itself make it a pen?
No.
The experience between you, what your understanding is, and the pen – all together – that is what makes it pen; what gives it “pen-ness”.
Think of if a dog got ahold of that very same pen.
To the dog, would it be a pen? Would it have “pen-ness”?
No.
Likely, the dog would see it as a chew toy or something to that effect. Therefore, between the dog, the dog’s understanding, and the pen, it would have no “pen-ness”.

I had a moment of understanding about this the other day in conversation with one of my friends at work. I had just looked at my watch and noticed that it was already 2:30PM. I thought to myself ‘the day sure is flying by’. Not a second later he brought up “can you believe it’s only 2:30? Wow today is dragging!” I kind of giggled to myself and chose to stay quiet,replying with just a smile.

Time itself is also empty.

Gave blood today.

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So I had another appointment for donating blood today at 4PM.

It went really well, but, typically does. This poor lady though; we were sitting there eating our free cookies and juice afterwards and she started to state that she didn’t feel well. They asked her to try and walk over to lie down on the cot, but as she stated that she didn’t think she’d make it she passed out. The onsite RN came over just in time. They got her over to lie down and luckily splashing her face with water was enough to wake her up. I hope she’s ok.

Found some interesting facts about donating blood at the Mayo Clinic’s website, the most striking of which is:

“Only 5 percent of eligible donors across the nation donate blood, but the number of transfusions nationwide increases by 9 percent every year.”

It’s such a small amount of time, within minimal effort, yet the potential benefit to others is so high. And heck free cookies and juice when you’re done, you can’t go wrong with free cookies and juice.

When you’re ready to donate – please see the following link:
http://www.redcross.org/donate/give/