Banning the dictionary: commentary from dad

My dad's response to the dictionary being banned in a school system in CA:

"A letter flooded in. Panic in the ranks! Sheesh!"

Ahaha!

A day in the life of an average Buddhist.

Been grumpy all week. Predictably. *looks at the calendar and that time of the month*

Had to knock my mind off the angry treadmill last night (WG this, grumble-grumble-grumble, work that, grumble-grumble, mom the other thing, grumble, housing situation, grumble-grumble-grumble...), remind myself that this is just hormones, my mood's not real, this is just hormones, the mood's not real. Switched over to Vajrasattva, my favorite practice. That worked for a bit.

But getting a letter from the university demanding $75 for a book WG kept didn't help. Grrr.

Clicked on Austen's Sense and Sensibility (worked nine hours straight w/o a break, and got home at 10:30 so Obama's speech would've been wasted on me). Fell asleep to the mumble of upper crust Britishness.

This morning woke up to two kitties snuggled close. Patches on top of the covers, tucked behind my knees. Cally under the covers, cuddled close. Did morning practice in my mind, not moving so I wouldn't disturb them.

Kitties know what to do when you're grumpy.

The story of the stupas in three parts.

Flashback... The story of the stupas in three parts.

Part one



In 1991, I helped build these. By April the project was far, far behind, tangled up in wrangling over who's in charge of what. I rode with the foreman, Mark, back from the job site one evening, bumping over ruts in the road, the sun low. Temps had hit 100 degrees and the weather was musty-muggy.

He complained about the wrangling. "We have six months to do this. Six months. And they're dicking around!"

I listened for a bit. Finally voiced what I'd been thinking. "We have to get ahead of schedule."

"What?"

"We have to get ahead of schedule."

"We're behind schedule right now. And that schedule's as tight as a virgin's--well, anyway, we're already behind."

"So we have to get ahead," I said with the certainty of John Belushi in the Blues Brothers. "We need to get so far ahead that when all the usual problems crop up we'll have time for them."

His jaw dropped.

"I'll find a way," I said.

He stared. "You're crazy."

"Where there's a will there's a way."

After a moment he shook his head. "I believe you." And laughed. "You're crazy, but I believe you. Which probably makes me crazy, too."

"Everyone knows you're crazy, Mark."

We laughed at our insanity, somehow certain that we were going to put this project ahead of schedule.



Part two tomorrow: Is it broken?

New Lightning Round for Help_Haiti.

Missed your chance to peruse the offerings at Help Haiti?

Midterm kept you from participating?

Fear not! There's a new Lightning Round to keep the help pouring in.

Help Haiti has been an amazing success, already raising $73,680 in confirmed donations.

And on that note, my Help Haiti Lightning Round fics continue on apace ... and about four times the maximum length, of course.