Tuesday's Truth

There's nothing wrong with being a romantic.

Reality TV Killed the Music Video

I miss the 90's...

Bone reminds me of Summers in Florida:


I vividly remember watching this video on a lonely rainy day, that was back when I didn't have friends, all I had was music:


Remember Pop-Up Video?


My Favorite Song in Middle School:


This video doesn't require an explanation - Ohhhh 3EB, I'm sure all of the energy and time, and money that I invested in you during my youth has some significant value:

Well, that was fun. Time for bed.

Self.

By the end of 2010, I will:

1) Speak Japanese. This will be with thanks to the Rosetta Stone and digging up those 6 years of Nihon-gakko from the archives of my brain.

2) Compose 3 new pieces for Mirai Daiko.

3) Learn Rhapsody in Blue in its entirety.

4) Travel to a distant land (this one is relative).

5) Start my own business.

6) Raise the bar.

7) Learn to love myself more.

Truth.

“Oh soul,
you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength.
You have seen your own beauty.
You have seen your golden wings.
Of anything less,
why do you worry?
You are in truth
the soul, of the soul, of the soul.”

- Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī

Loving-Kindness in Bhutan

***excerpt from "The Geography of Bliss: Eric Weiner"***




... When we arrive at the hotel- which Tashi points out by declaring, "We have arrived at the hotel, sir"- I am in no mood for small talk with the staff, so I carry a chair to the balcony outside my room and sit. Just sit. My head is spinning. Karma Ura has thrown me for a loop. Happiness is low expectations? How do I reconcile that with my driving ambition, which has served me so well in life? Or has it? And what he said about compassion being the ultimate ambition. What was that about?

Then I see it. About two feet from me. A bug. It is lying upside down, its tiny legs flailing futilely. I look away. But my eyes are drawn back to this tiny creature in such a pathetic state.

I consider my options. Option One: I can squash it and put it out of its misery. The main advantage of Option One is that it ends suffering, the bug's and mine. Option Two: I could ignore it, which is how I usually respond when faced with the suffering of others. Don't get involved. Be a good journalist. Remain neutral at all costs. But this is not a news story. There will be no "Bug Dies in Himalayas. Family Distraught. Footage at 11:00."

There is, I realize, an Option Three. I could intervene and save a life- an insect life, true, but still a life. I take a tentative step toward the bug and give it a gentle kick. Only it's not quite as gentle as I intended, and the bug slides a good ten feet across the patio, still upside down, legs still flailing. Okay, another failed humanitarian intervention. The United States- with all of its resources- couldn't save Somalia or Iraq, so why should I feel bad that I couldn't save one bug?

I got downstairs to my room a half hour later, out of morbid curiosity I peek out on the patio and see that the bug is still flailing, though losing steam. Why the hell should I care? I hate bugs, damn it. But all this Buddhist talk of loving-kindness has gotten to me. What the heck, I give the bug one more kick, this time more gently, and in an instant it is right-side up, scampering away. Not thanking me, but that's okay. It feels good. I saved a life. I got involved.

A postscript. When I stepped out on the patio later that evening I found a bug, the very same bug I'm sure, on its back again. I couldn't believe my eyes. This time, I did nothing. I slept easily that night, though. Nobody, not even Karma Ura, I bet, can save a dumb bug from itself.

Pure Music

"Delicate sounds of the jeweled trees of the jeweled forests
Produce natural music serene and consonant;
Excellent are the pathos, grace, elegance and resonance
Take refuge in the Pure Music."
- Shinran Shonin, Jodo Wasan

Teardrop - Massive Attack

John Legend "Motherless Child" & Hope for Haiti

This is beautiful.

Donate Now: 1-877-99-HAITI in US/Canada, or go to www.hopeforhaitinow.org

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http://www.cmt.com/haiti/