April 27, 2003
gyal po burger
Lobsang made this big list. Raymond said that he made an identical list every time they went to Burger King. The list stated exactly what each person wanted to eat and what they wanted with their meal (fries and drink). The list contained three columns. The first was for burger type (seven Whoppers). The next column was for fries (six fries) the next list was for drinks (six sodas, one hot water). Raymond told us what the list would look like before Lobsang gave it to us. He even knew who wanted the hot water and who didn’t want fries. Yet a list was very carefully composed and very clear notes were taken about each person’s request.
posted @ 8:54 AM
April 21, 2003
top three
What are your top three bands (they can be your current favorites, all time favorites, whatever)? Here are my (all time) favs:
posted @ 12:39 PM
April 18, 2003
f5
Hmm... I’ve been reading the Friday Five over on the _monk site for a few weeks now, but have never participated. Well, friends... prepare yourself:
1. Who is your favorite celebrity?
Winona Ryder or maybe (if he’s considered a celebrity), the Dalai Lama.
2. Who is your least favorite?
Jean Claude Van Dam
3. Have you ever met or seen any celebrities in real life?
Yes, Phil Jackson... and all of the Beastie Boys were pretty damn close at their concert.
4. Would you want to be famous? Why or why not?
Well, I used to work in radio and was slightly famous then. It was ok, but I wouldn’t want to be “Winona Ryder famous”, no.
5. If you had to trade places with a celebrity for a day, who would you choose and why?
David James, West Ham United’s goal keeper, because that guy is amazing and I’ve always wanted to play professional football (err... soccer).
posted @ 4:37 PM
the plot thickens
I’ve been thinking about the continuity in TV shows lately. For example, Friends last night had a whole bit where Rachel wanted Joey to kiss her. It turned out it was just a dream (glad I didn’t bet anyone about that — I would have lost), but it only really made sense to someone who follows the show regularly and knew that Joey had this whole thing for her months ago. Shows like Family Ties or the Cosby Show had the same characters every week, but each show was 30 minutes of crisis and resolution. Alex P. Keaton was always Alex, the Republican, the cool but nerdy guy. When his best friend died in a car accident they did a two part show and that was it. The best friend was never talked about or referenced at all on the show after that. Not much in the way of ongoing plot line. These days almost every show (even slap-stick ones like Scrubs) have plots that carry over.
In a related note, next week’s episode of The West Wing is going to rock. (Sorry, I’m going threw this weird TV show phase. Not much else going on in my life right now.)
posted @ 7:31 AM
April 5, 2003
will the real cause of violence please stand up
My good friend shipped out to Iraq yesterday. We’ve talked several times over the course of the last few weeks about war and peace, violence and nonviolence, righting the wrongs and making the world a better place. He’s under the impression that we will never agree. I say never is a long time. I doubt very much that his experience over there will bring him any closer to my way of thinking, but then again... maybe all it will take is a good dose of violence to realize that maybe that isn’t really getting us anywhere.
I think it would be absolutely wonderful if their could be a war to end all wars. If all that was needed is Joey P “kickin’ ass and takin’ names”. This has yet to be the case though. We’re two World Wars deep and we still have a military. It’s not black and white, that’s naive. It is very gray. And I don’t think I have all the answers.
I’m very willing to listen to the arguments of the other side — that we’re doing some big humanitarian effort. That we are saving the people of Iraq from themselves (we thought we were doing the Native Americans a favor in much the same way). Maybe some of this is true. Certainly some Iraqis feel that we are helping them. I don’t think that Saddam (or any of the “Dirty Nine”) are okay guys who just need a second chance. However, from a Buddhist world view (and from a pretty normal, everyday American view too), killing these guys won’t suddenly make all of the problems go away. I remember in the ‘80 when Kadafi and Libya were the big threat. I was in the third grade, but it is one of my most vivid memories — the day the U.S. killed members of his family. A few months ago [apologies for not being able to find the article] I read on the nytimes.com website that Kadafi is now a changed man. Libya has offered to pay for the PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie and Moammar seems more likely to be seen promoting peace than conspiring to bomb civilians. But, wait! If this is true, then why do we still have violence in the world? If the man who was the biggest threat to our safety in the 1980’s is now just some old hippy how can we still have violence? Oh, you mean to tell me that we didn’t eliminate the real cause of terrorism? You mean to tell me that something (someone) else is now causing this to happen? How can that be? I think it means that doing violence back to someone isn’t the cause of them stopping the violence towards you. Maybe they will stop, but someone else will come along and do the same.
posted @ 7:24 AM