Zen a day - Jan 17

Thursday 17 January 2008
Just think of the trees: They let the birds perch and fly, with no intention to call them when they come and no longing for their return when they fly away. If people's hearts can be like the trees, they will not be off the Way.
- Langya

Zen a day - Jan 16

Wednesday 16 January 2008
Like water, we are truest to our nature in repose.
- Cyril Connolly

Zen a day - Jan 15

Tuesday 15 January 2008
Refraining from all evil, not clinging to birth and death, working in deep compassion for all sentient beings, respecting those over you and pitying those below you, without any detesting or desiring, worrying, or lamentation - this is what is called Buddha. Do not search beyond it.
- Dōgen

The (gay) Dance (club) - poem by Hugh Kemeny

That last Zen a day (for today), inspired me to post some more erotic writings I have under Hugh Kemeny, as one poem came to mind. I am not sure yet I want this sort of thing on my main writing site (http://HughKemeny.ca)

Here is the poem:

The (gay) Dance (club)

Eyes meet across the dance floor
Sliding, dancing together, by the rhythm of the music
Eyes locked, smiles of lust and intention shown
Hands, arms, thighs touch
Intimate erotic dancing ensues
Heat, passion, sweat, lust
Hands cup ass as lips meet in kiss of introduction
Blood pulsates, erections, hormones tantalise
Hands seek pleasure points, squeeze ass,
Slide along back, up chest, play with nipples
Kissing neck, sucking ear, cocks rubbing
Hormones raging, passion driving, beat increasing
Shirts come off, exposing hot sweaty chests
Dance intensifies, eroticism increases
Rubbing bodies, licking chest, French kissing
Tension builds, erections throb to the music
A look, a smile, a nod, and escape from the crowd
Into privacy, animal instincts surface
Raw lust ravishes the body
Lick, suck, kiss, pain, pleasure
Moans, pants, grunts, screams, euphoria
Climax
Release of sexual energy
The moment of love passing
In a dark corner, clothes return
Beat of the dance echoing in the silence
A look, a smile, a nod, return to the crowd
Dance close, final kiss, disappear in the rhythm
Moment passed, guy gone, as memories resound

- by Hugh Kemeny

Zen a day - Jan 14

I have not posted in a few days as I was in Edmonton spending time with my boyfriend, and family. So here are the Zen a day for the weekend:

Saturday 12 January 2008
Open your mouth and you're wrong.
- Zen saying

Sunday 13 January 2008
Seung Sahn and a student were having a conversation which finally came to this question from the master: "If you were seventy years old ans someonw asked, 'What did you attain?', how would you answer?"
The student hit the floor with his fist.
"Not a bad answer. But what if you had no hands? See? Before you were born, you had no eyes, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. And no hands. Soon enough, you'll die, and you'll have no eyes, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no hands. So then what are you?"
The student bowed, and thanked the master for his teaching.

Monday 14 January 2008
When you've got it, there's no place for it but a poem.
- Wu Pen

Zen a day

For the new year I got a Zen page-a-day calendar.
Here are the sayings todate:

Tuesday 1 January 2008
All at once the roshi, the room, every single thing disappeared in a dazzling stream of illumination and I felt myself bathed in a delicious, unspeakable delight . . . For a fleeting eternity I was alone - I alone was . . .
- A student describing Kensho

Wednesday 2 January 2008
The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.
- George Baker

Thursday 3 January 2008
The monk Hyakujjo and his master, Baso, were taking a walk when a wild duck flew by. "What is that?" Baso asked. "A wild duck," Hyakujo replied. "And where did it go?" Baso asked. Hyakujo replied: "It is gone." With that, Baso violently tweaked Hyakujo's nose. When Hyakujo yelled in pain, Baso said, "There! Where can it go?" The effect was to cause Hyakujo's sudden enlightenment.
The next day, after he paid homage to Baso, Hyakujo returned to his room and started crying out loud. A monk asked him what was the matter, and he said to go ask Baso. When the monk did this, Baso said to go ask Hyakujo. But when the monk returned to Hyakujo's room, Hyakujo was laughing heartily. The monk was baffled, but all Hyakujo could say was, "I cried a while ago, but now I laugh."
- Zen story

Friday 4 January 2008
If you want to understand Zen easily, just be mindless, wherever you are, twenty-four hours a day, until you spontaneously merge with the Way. This is what an ancient worthy called "The mind not touching things, the step placed anywhere."
- Ying-an

Saturday 5 January 2008
When I play from my mind I get in trouble.
- Stevie Ray Vaughan

Sunday 6 January 2008
God made the senses turn outwards, man therefore looks outwards, not into himself. But occasionally a daring soul, desiring immortality, has looked back and found himself.
- The Upanishads

Monday 7 January 2008
The Scholar gains every day; the man of Tao loses every day.
- Lao-tsu

Tuesday 8 January 2008
Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be cold and hungry and weary.
- Henry David Thoreau

Wednesday 9 January 2008
A nameless bird
looks cold
in the wintry blast.
- Sampu

Thursday 10 January 2008
My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.
- Albert Einstein

Friday 11 January 2008
Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.
- Oscar Wilde

Stangeness

Well life has gone by fast since my last post, and most of it focused on my play - see the related blog on that.

What made me post today was a strange email I received that I would almost classify as junk/spam, if not for the bizarre nature of the email. I have copied it below. As you can see it is not obviously selling anything, and in fact is almost a piece of prose (with odd words thrown in).

Though as a friend said, it could be a cryptic message (and oh no for me for posting it if it is!).
Oh, you'll notice it is not actually addressed to me, my email was under Virginia's name.

-----

From: Shelli
To: Garth
Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 9:35:10 PM
Cc: Eun; Man Armstrong; Tena; Lakisha; Ok; Virginia Montgomery; Noemi Hernandez; Janeen Murphy
Subject: Finally, found it

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Observations on the C-Train

I am not sure what it is today, but I seemed to be more observant on the C-Train this morning. There were 3 individuals that caught my eye with their appearance.

One woman had a Vulcanish look to her. She looked quite dignified, and defined facial features (such as her jaw and nose). Her hair style was more what gave me the Vulcan impression as it reminded me of the Vulcan (or perhaps Romulan) hair cuts on Star Trek. She even had the salt and peppery look to her hair, despite which she still looked middle aged (not too old, not too young). It seemed a give away that she was not Vulcan by her normal shaped ears, but with cosmetic surgery now days, who knows....

I was standing in the middle of the C-Train car, and the Vulcan woman was opposite me just to the front. Opposite me a little farther back, was a man who caught my eye. Or more his eye caught my eye. He had one bright blue eye and one darker eye (dark green or perhaps medium brown). Not quite like Jason/the little girl on X-Men 2 (with the piercing blue eye and the piercing green eye). Had I been standing elsewhere I doubt this man would have caught my attention. He was dressed casually, in a black coat, black trousers, and a shirt with some design on it. He seemed to fit into the mix of the transit crowd. His eye caught my attention and I wondered briefly if one eye had a coloured contact lens. I did not observe him too much, and there is only so much one can gather from a few glances. I did however think that perhaps there was more to him than meets the eye. Does he have some special ability because of the eye? (As I write this Alastor Moody from Harry Potter comes to mine, but a much younger one, as the man I saw would be in his 20s by my guess.)

Now I don't mind if people listen to music. I mind only a little if I can hear a bit of it through their headphones (though I wonder why they play it that loud). But when I do hear it I look around to see where it comes from. Opposite the man, and just about next to me, was a the woman with the loud headphones. Now the best way I think I can describe her, is an 'out of season cougar.' She had the general look in the face of an older woman (I'd almost say she looked older than the Vulcan woman, but they are probably both about the same age). She had wild blond hair, and those dark sunglasses that look like they're made to cover normal glasses. The music I could hear (not too clearly, but loud enough), basically cemented the Cougar image to me. She did not look overweight, but she did look a little hung over perhaps (I'll atribute that to the sunglasses). Now it is a little cool out today, and it wasn't evening when I was on the C-Train, so her attire was perhaps the one thing that did not scream cougar, but close. She had a black winter jacket, blue jeans and brown (typical) winter boots.

There were of course others on the C-Train I observed, but not to the same degree.
A woman had three piercings in her lower lip - her attire as casual as the blue eye man.
The man next to her was working on a laptop.


I must also add that I don't think this is coincident that the next chapter of Joe Trebble is titled Public Transit as I wrote that about 4 days ago (just took a while to type up and post).

Lunchbox Theatre - Calgary

On 26 March I received an email that surprised me. It was an invitation to the launch of the next season of Lunchbox Theatre.

It surprised me as I've no idea how I got on their mailing list.

'Fate' I told myself as I replied saying I would attend. In the back of my mind I thought of who might have put me on the list.

The launch was on Wednesday at 3pm, and it was fun. I was a little nervous since I still feel new to that world (although I have been involved in various aspects of drama and theatre off and on for several years). However, I met a few interesting people prior to the 2007-2008 schedule of plays.

This year it is going to be a set of 7 world premiers, all of which look fascinating. And I so happened to meet one of the playwrights.

Lunchbox Theatre
http://www.lunchboxtheatre.com/

Hello March!

Life is a journey,
one adventure after another
some are joyous
like birth, weddings, graduation
or even just a great night on the town
and some are depressing
like death, loss, accidents
I had such a day yesterday
not with death, thank god,
but a couple mishaps.

It is three weeks since my grandmother passed away.
I was visiting my parents this weekend to help out, even though most of the work was done.
But it was a good thing I was there, for my Mother slipped and fell in the shower.
She went to the hospital, got sewn up (3 stitches in the back of the head), and came home.
Two more times she fell, but luckily my Father and I were there to help.
She was then admitted into the hospital.
At 8:30 pm I decided to drive back to Calgary from Edmonton.
Around 11:30pm, less than 60 km from Calgary, my car spasmed.
This has not been my week, I thought while waiting for a toe.
For last week my computer crashed, and I came down with a heavy cough.
When March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb.
Does that refer to life as well as weather?