I Am the Mighty Monkey Slapper!

We went over to my very good friend Doug's house last night for some food and fun. We had some awesome chicken, steak, potatoes, salad, and dessert. I ate a whole bunch. Just doing my part to make sure there weren't a lot of left overs to be brought home. ;)

We played some board games and I humbly report that I won both Scattergories and Trivial Pursuit! Of course I did have to sell a couple stretches in Scattergories but all in all I think it was a fair win. I hardly ever win any board games when we play over there so I was happy. I think the secret was the combo of comfy chair and presicely mixed concoction of Sprite and Jamacan Rum. I will have to do more research to be sure, of course.

I have five more business days until I go back on my regular, comfy, unlonley 9 to 5 shift! Yay! Working nights has a particular appeal but after a while it gets old. I like being there during the day when I actually have some one to talk to and if I need to call someone it's not waking them up. Waiting for shit to break in the middle of the night is fun and all, but I like the administrative side a little bit more.

I'm cranky today. Damn Canadian teenagers.

It gets hard for me to try and help people out when they get mad at me for it. Especially repeat offenders. I know I'm not the smartest or wisest or best anything out there, but I have learned things that are useful. And who knows, I may be right about one or two things. Why not just try and see if what I say is helpful instead of relying on snap judgments? The only time I give advice is when I care and feel that I can help. I don't just tell people stuff to do because I always assume I'm right and they're wrong. I'm not a bossy person. It's just hard on me to try so hard to help and then be blocked by a simple "meh".

I think I'll go swimming now, clear my head out. Have a great Sunday!

- BuddhaDave

"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."

A Zen Entry

- BuddhaDave

Nature's way is to say but little;
high winds are made still
with the turn of the tide,
and rarely last all morning,
nor heavy rain, all day.
Therefore, when talking,
remember also
to be silent and still

Half the Calories of the Ten Commandments, None of the Guilt!

I drew this little dealy up one Lonely Third Shift 12 Hours of No Human Contact night. It's my simplified representation of the five vows a Buddhist takes (a lay Buddhist, monks/nuns have seven) when they decide to be a Buddhist.

No one will punish you if you do these things, but you won't feel good and your karma will get you! Your punisher is yourself!

All done in ink on printer paper. Copy write!!

- BuddhaDave

The cheese is old and moldy. Where is the bathroom?

We've Got the Power...Oh Wait, Nevermind

Today I was enlightened as to how important electricity is. You really take it for granted until something like, oh, I don't know, your power gets switched off in one of the hottest months in Phoenix and can't be reconnected it for twenty-four hours.

It's my own damn fault. I'm a lazy bastage. But in my defense...I'm a lazy bastage. So now because of this whole situation I'm going to be broke for two weeks and wah wah wah. On the plus side I kinda like being broke. It makes me feel like my life is more simple. So does shaving my hair off but some people don't like either of those things so I don't do 'em. Damn womens! *shakes tiny fist in anger*

So laying in bed the other night I got this great idea. Normally the great ideas that come to me in that particular place at that particular time revolve around Getting Some, but tonight was different. I had just seen on the news how in only eight days this month twenty-four people had died heat related deaths. Mostly homeless people.

So I thought to myself, why couldn't I buy a bunch of bulk water bottles from like Sam's or Costco and drive around Phoenix after work and for a few hours on the weekend and hand out water bottles to the homeless? And hey, while I was at it I could print off little cards with the addresses of all the homeless shelters in the area and give those out with the water! It wouldn't be much, but it'd be something I could do that might help out.

Then my idea snowballed from there to getting a website with tips and info if other people wanted to do the same type of thing and a bumper sticker with the address on it and the humble but helpful speech I'd give during my news interview.

Then I realized, crap, I'm being vain! Again! It had turned into me being famous instead of my original intention of trying to help homeless people. All in the span of like ten minutes. Kinda sad. It took awhile to get those thoughts to run their course, but after I bit I just realized all I needed to focus on was the necessary things, the helping part, and everything else was unnecessary and would work itself out naturally. Then I felt a lot better and all those fantasies about people seeing me and going, "That's the wonderful boy who helps homeless people! Isn't he dreamy?" began to fade away and I felt better.

I encourage other people to do the same. You don't have to save the world but it's really easy to help. There's tons of problems out there. Just pick one, see what you can do, and do it. You'll feel really good. More updates to come as I actually begin to take action. Wish me luck!

In other news, Cuban cigars are good, and I likes to smoke 'em. The Night Before the Power Died I sat at my compy and had a Pinar 3000 and chilled live a villain...-ed. It was nice, and I was happy, as you can see above. Although I did get a bit light headed when I was done and needed to drink some watah. I'm not a lightweight! That tobacco is like sixty-four years old and pretty full. So there.

I'm outy. Have a good night/day.

- BuddhaDave

Zen Thought of the Day!
Everything that exists and happens is a necessary, perfect part of reality and should be accepted as such.


P.S. What is up with "country pride"? Or "state/county pride" for that matter? "My section of land separated by imaginary lines is better than your section of land separated by imaginary lines!" Ooookay.

Mic Check, One Two, One Two Three

Let's see if this works!

Just switched to Google's Blogger so lets see how it works. It came highly recommended and so far looks good.

Have I mentioned how much I love my iPod? I didn't even like Apple before (One mouse button? Ewww) but iTunes and the iPod are just awesome. Even if I didn't have an iPod I'd still use iTunes, it's just such a nice management tool. If you're on the decision see-saw about whether to get one or not, I hightly recommend doing so.

Think about it man! Every song you own on one little device! All your adio books, albums, everything in the palm of your hand. After a week you won't know how you lived without it.

I've been listening to Nine Inch Nails' new album "With Teeth" a bunch lately. At first I didn't like it and set it aside for like a month. But then I went back after the "Only" music video came out. (P.S. this song rocks) What I took at first to be a butt-rock album (Sorry Trent!) is actually really good. Some of my favorite songs are "Right Where it Belongs", "Only", "All the Love in the World", and "Sunspots". It's like $10 on iTunes, go get it!

I just finished reading this cute little book called "The Tao of Pooh". I didn't know much about Taoism before reading this but I'd heard good things about it and I like books with this type of format. I'm still reading "The Dharma of Star Wars" and it's honestly the best book on Buddhism I've ever read. The best thing, actually. And I've read a bunch. It's so much easier to understand abstract philosophy when it's based on things like Star Wars and Whinnie the Pooh.

Taoism (pronounced DAOism) is pretty simple. Now I may not have this exactly right, but the gist of it is as follows: Everything is governed by the laws of nature, i.e. cause and effect. The same laws that govern trees growing and snow falling and the formation of planets also governs us. The harder one works against these laws the farther away one moves from harmony and the unhappier one gets. Sooo...the more free-flowing one is and the more one can just let things be the happier one will be. I have to read a lot more to be sure, but I think that's it. So that's new and cool for me.

Imma post this because I still don't know if everything is working correctly, so I'll add more later if necessary.

Adios!

- BuddhaDave