‘Twas A Good Night at Zen

I would like to give a big thanks to Mathew, Janine and Henry, and Anne. With the start of ‘summer,’ I’ve found myself helping out by covering other meetings and missing out on my Zen time this month. By next week things should be more or less back to normal, but this particular night seemed to be full of teachings for me.

First off, let me apologize to Janine, I was unable to keep Henry entertained/distracted, and I assume that you did not even get your interview started, or if you did, it went on for all of 30 seconds before you realized I was not up to the task of caring for the mini-humans. I do fear that this is largely my fault. Some of you may have noticed that I tend to be a bit on the quite side. In general, this does not seem to work well with the mini-humans, they tend to gravitate towards the more boisterous ones in the crowd. A notable exception has been Adi, who has actually spoken to me and addressed me by name. Let’s be honest, this is still difficult for me, so Mat, for our next interview, the question has appeared.

This evening, I did learn that some formalities have changed. I had never ‘led’ a meditation practice before with more than one other person present, and learned some formalities that have changed since my return. I think I was also extended the opportunity to get some moktak coaching, thus far, I have only done it twice, with only me in the room, so some coaching would be nice so I don’t butcher it if there is more than one.

And finally, in my mind (hahaha, lol) the biggest thing was the kung-an (koan) I was given. I have to admit, it has been a long ass time since one has stumped me as good as this one has. This actually makes me wonder, does this particular kung-an reflect a ‘major’ karma for me? Hell, it’s probably just a regular karma for me. I guess I’ve become used to ‘seeing/feeling’ the ‘proper’ answer, or at least close enough to it that it can be worked out in a couple more interviews (of course when you don’t request them, you typically have plenty of time to meditate on them). This one, from the outset, has been like staring at a blank wall. It is always interesting when someone offers you something you did knot know about yourself, along with the challenge to figure it out. The funny thing about kung-an’s, is that the ‘answer’ is always so simple and obvious, I think the term “Face Palm” fits quite nicely.

L-Day is nearing…

I think that next weekend I may well make the full conversion to Linux. I’ve been playing around with a dual boot for a couple weeks now and am pretty comfortable with most everything. Just need to get a couple things working properly in the virtual machine and all will be good. It will be good to finally do this, deep down, I’ve been wanting to for awhile, but have always held back because Sue does not like change. Since she is now on her laptop 100% of the time, there should be no issues. Actually, since Christmas (when she got it), she has been on here once to order a pizza when she let a friend a work borrow her laptop. I think she can live with suffering through Linux once every six months at most.

Just this past Saturday, I went down to the folks house, took care of a few computer issues, then we all went down to Chicago for dinner. Oh, and as it happens, by sheer coincidence, cousin Dave was in town on business, so we picked him up and went on out. Traffic was typical for heading into the city on a Saturday night so we got to his hotel around seven. Then is was a fairly short ride to Kuma’s Corner for dinner. The wait was only 1.5 hours, so we got to sit out back in the open on the picnic tables. I am glad for that, because that place is both small and loud!

We started out with two orders of the Buffalo Strips chicken (oh, did I mention there were six of us). Let me tell you, that was some damn good chicken. I personally would have liked the sauce to be a bit hotter (I loves me some spicy food), but that chicken was very well prepared, moist, tender, perfect. If you are not familiar with Kuma’s Corner, virtually every item on the menu has the name of a heavy metal band, which goes with the music that is played there.

All the burgers are one size, 1/2 pound. You have your choice of roll, as long as it is a pretzel roll. For a side, you can pick waffle fries, homemade chips, or a salad. I had the chips and I can state for a fact that they were made there and that they blew me away. For my burger, I opted for the BLACK SABBATH Blackening Spice, Chili, Pepper Jack, Red Onion. I dare say those things are 1/2 pound after cooking, not before. Their reputation is well earned, and the wait is worth it.

As much as I hate to admit it, just the day before we had a massive thunderstorm. A roads closed, emergency vehicles traveling about type of massive storm, complete with county sirens blazing and emergency broadcast system alters on. During said storm, I have 100+ pounds of Rottweiler on my lap. During one particularly loud thunder crash, he flung his head around, which happened to catch my chin, and drive my lower jaw into my upper one. Let’s just say my lower jaw still hurts, and when I bite, the front two bottom teeth still report that they are not pleased. If I’m ever back down there with a jaw and teeth that actually work, I’ll be a bit more adventurous with my selection. I’m thinking the Pantera Burger…

Red Bench

Spent most of the day with fellow Zen folk out at Kim’s River Sand Studio. He does a lot of excellent work out there, mostly woodworking and calligraphy, go figure the odds on those two combining.

Anyhow, we had a number of people throughout the day, many thanks go out to Mathew, Darin, and Jay for all of their contributions to the work that was done throughout the day. The work on the six benches kind of exceeded what was planned, and we did not get to start on the table for the herb garden. To keep the energy and excitement for the project going we have the following press release:

Red Bench

As part of a community art work project, the first phase ‘Red Bench’ has been completed. As part of as of yet unnamed art installation, ‘Red Bench’ is a significant milestone of this work.

‘Red Bench’ is part of a neoclassical interactive display. This work is not meant to be merely observed, but to be touched, even sat upon, so that the “observer” not only feels the art, but actually becomes a part of it.

We hope to have the art completed by late July and have the project installed at the Original Root Zen Center so that the general public may enjoy the interaction with this art installation as much as we have had in producing it.

So keep your eyes peeled. this is a very exciting addition to the ORZC garden that has been brought to you by the blood, sweat, and tears of the community. We do this simply wishing to bring you happiness, peace, and compassion while you are in the garden. And if you see someone there tending the garden, please feel free to say hi!