Your crystal ball ain't so crystal clear.

[raybear]

My afternoon of self-education started with a search on explicit differences between zen and tibetan buddhism, both culturally and in practice, which led to reading everything from buddhist ideas on sex to zazen sitting practice. Then I wandered off to read about sikhism, in part because of a Trivial Pursuit question last week and found out it's more of a blend of hinduism and sufism, which makes more sense, and oh yeah! I wanted to look up that place we passed on Sunday so I did a search on the "anthroposophical" and learned a little about Rudolph Steiner and how it connects to the mysterious Waldorf schools I'd heard of, which for some reason made me think about this seminar on hypermodern realism and what was that French guy's name? Another search and I'm scanning articles and interviews with Paul Virilio and searching the public library for what books they have and in the midst of this brainiac moment I turn to Next-Door Co-worker and say,

"Do you know a place around where I can get my watch cleaned and possibly fixed?"
She pauses. "Um, have you walked over to Jeweler's Row which is five feet away? There are probably ten places."

No matter how many big words I can drop on the ground, that doesn't make me the brightest crayon in the box.

Comments

see, I still read your journal

[crafting-change.livejournal.com]

The random path that google searches take us is lovely. I'd take spiritual knowledge over noticing 'jeweler's row' anyday.

jewler's row.

[louche.livejournal.com]

i used to take my watch to a guy over there. he was fast and very cheap. but, he's no longer there. closed shop. i don't know that there are any other repair/cleaning places in there anymore. if you find one, please let me know.

haha waldorf

[herfierceness.livejournal.com]

i went to a waldorf school for kindergarten. Right here in chicago somewhere. they rounded the edges of our drawing paper because the corners are too harsh for children. Also, we had to do one crayon color at a time, I think blue was first, they had to work us slowly up to red, which was also a traumatic color for children. I think maybe we got to use multiple colors at a time after that. My memory is hazy. I fainted/had a possibly (mild) seizure in class one day (my psychic says I ws abducted by aliens). They blamed my parents. They also told my parents that I was going to be horribly fucked for the rest of my life when my mom and dad decided to send me to public school after that year. if I'd stayed in the waldorf school I wouldn't ahve started to learn to read until my adult eye teeth came in. Something about speech patterns. I got braces when I was six. I wouldn't hve sarted to learn to read until I was 12 if I'd stayed there. But instead I went to a nice normal school in lincoln park. Oscar mayer elementary. And yes, it was an old hot dog factory turned school.

I think I turned out well, don't you?!? *twitches*

[noisyspoon.livejournal.com]

perhaps i should email you this question... as you seem pretty well read... but what are some of your favorite books on Zen and/or the Tao? i'm itching for some new ones, but i get lazy about research on good books.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

ooh, i'm actually a horrible person to ask this question because i've finished very few and i'm currently in the middle reading like eight at the same time, but i read them slowly, partly intentionally, partly because i'm also reading books for school. so i'll list the books i'm in the middle of that i'm enjoying:

The Places That Scare You -- Pema Chodron
Turning Your Mind Into an Ally -- Sakyong Mipham
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism -- Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

and yesterday I ordered a new translation of The Dhammapada, by Byrom somebody.

[dommeyourass.livejournal.com]

No matter how many big words I can drop on the ground, that doesn't make me the brightest crayon in the box.

i think about this everytime i look at the plastic on our windows right next to the proust. it makes me giggle every time.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

i STILL don't want to talk about the plastic on the windows.

;)

[noisyspoon.livejournal.com]

Thank you!