I Need More Degrees

Six are not enough degrees. Running in 6 degrees......bllleeecccchhhhh. Everything warmed up pretty quickly except the big toe on my right foot and the second toe on my left foot. Who know cold could penetrate so specifically? I thought maybe the way my shoes were tied contributed but once I took off my gloves I couldn't feel my fingers. Oh the joys of a treadmill and a Law and Order rerun.

Mary Katherine Went Crazy and its All Al Gore's Fault

MK was compelled to repeatedly send email questions about and pictures of jambalaya to her Rabbi. But if Al Gore hadn't invented the internet, she never would have been able to have an email-capable cell phone in the first place. So...you can see that Al Gore is responsible for her momentary lapse in mental health and he should be committed to an asylum or sentenced to jail.

Where Am I Going and Why am I in This Handbasket?

Almost every week in the laundromat the same 2 guys try to engage me in a discussion about my everlasting soul and my impending doom. How can they forget me and repeatedly approach? The very first time, before I figured out what they wanted, I answered honestly when they asked me, "¿Usted habla Espanol?" Now the conversation goes like this:

CrazyJesusMen: "¿Usted habla Espanol?"
Me: "no"
CrazyJesusMen: "OK, I speak English, too"
Me: "eh?"
CrazyJesusMen: "I. Speak. English. Have you thought about your eternal soul?"
Me: "Hubi frubends"
CrazyJesusMen: "Do you speak English?"
Me: "Youbu arba aba dubick"

Then they walk away. Who would have thought that Ubi Dubbi language from Zoom would come in this handy?

Tenacity

L recently told me that "tenacious" is his word of the moment. Which go me to thinking about tenacity, about persistence, about perseverance. Which brings me to my mom. Chemotherapy is brutal. She is hairless, her head leaks, her bones hurt. She is in the hands of doctors and scientists and radiologists. And every day she gets back up and sticks out her arm and accepts the poison that will eventually cure her. Probably. Multiply that times all the people in the world who are sick or down or oppressed who just keep standing back up. Astonishing. Its what karate prepares you for best, I think, getting back up. You don't always want to, but what's the alternative? Tap out?

My word of the moment..."mercy."

Soul Patch

I was out to lunch with my parents and their friends, I and P, who are closer to my age than my parents' age. They are nice folks.

My father has a goatee, or more specifically, what I think is referred to as a "Van Dyke." P has a mustache. My father had to explain to P the meaning of a "soul patch" (my dad has one in conjunction with his goatee.) Imagine my dad, 82 years old, explaining the benefits of a soul patch. In those exact terms. I'm just grateful he didn't call it a "landing strip."

By the way, my mom is now a lesbian and she propositioned the receptionist at the doctor's office. Really.

Half Benny

Sweet Benny. I love the architecture of her head.

And doesn't that look like a goose next to her? I think its just the table leg.

We have a new twist on the bathroom trifecta (tp, soap, paper towels). As you know, we rarely have all three. Yesterday we had tp, but it was perched on the radiator - mmmmmm, warm. We had soap, but it was delivered in minuscule dots, and the paper towels were rightly in the dispenser. And there is a clown nose on the shelf.

Disorganized Religion - Spiritual Practice as Explained by KD

At kirtan last night with Krishna Das he took a few minutes to discuss the concept of spiritual practice. I am paraphrasing...

Imagine you are on a very long train. That train is your spiritual practice and it keeps chugging forward. But you are running the length of the train...backwards. Back towards where you just left. Slowly..."gradually and eventually", that train gets to a destination whether you stood in the front car and looked at the beautiful scenery or whether you fought and cursed the forward motion of the train. Maybe you even hung tenuously off the very back door. Maybe you got off, and back on again. Still that train moves forward.

Thanks, KD.

"Versailles"

Means "to keep on turning a new leaf"

I am turning a new leaf!

Good Advice

After encountering several people who acted with little or no integrity, I posed a question to my wise friend L. I asked him if I should just "play the game." I don't subscribe to the "me and mine" attitude - you know, "I do what's right for me and mine, and to hell with everyone and everything else." That isn't me. But I was struggling because I had encountered so much conniving and lying in the last few weeks. You know what he told me?

"Answer Ignorance with Courage"