tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109765312024-02-19T00:37:06.515-08:00Notes from the PNWExperiencing culture, food, music, bicycles, and the meaning of life in and out of the great outdoors in the Northwest corner of the USA.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-51435886077512577622014-09-13T13:29:00.004-07:002014-09-13T13:29:54.339-07:00Episode 32: Monastic MurmuringsOn outdoors:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.metroparkstacoma.org/swan-creek-park/" target="_blank">Swan Creek Mountain Bike Park</a>: Tacoma's MTB Playground</li>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.strava.com/activities/192757676" target="_blank">Trail Notes</a>: arrived at dusk and did the outer loop three times. Definitely need a headlamp with the bike lamp to light the way. Jason, Sean, Dmitri, Jeremy, Jeremiah and a couple others- the most so far! Can't wait to do it during the day.</li>
<ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<li><a href="http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/upload/camp-muir-route-with-get-your-bearings-map-oct11.pdf" target="_blank">Camp Muir</a>: Mt. Rainier's main base camp</li>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.strava.com/activities/193309421" target="_blank">Trail Notes</a>: We headed out from Tacoma around eight-thirty and arrived at Paradise a little before ten in the morning after a cup of coffee. Sean and Nicki were the companions for the day. With lots of wind coming from the northwest, we departed from the lower parking lot of Paradise ten-fifteen. Trail mix, cheese balls served as fuel. In a little under four hours, we reached base camp at two-thirty and had the BEST quinoa salad, courtesy of Nicki. Super good! The ice fields on the way up were slippery. No crampons, and headwind that eventually died down made it worse. Altitude sickness kept us deliberately judging our efforts. Retina burn from the snow fields also kept things interesting. I drank 48 oz. of water- way too little for a six and a half hour round trip.</li>
<ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
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On bookshelf:<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Place-Called-Saint-MartinS-1895-1995/dp/0898659825" target="_blank">This Place Called St. Martin's</a>, John C. Scott, OSB</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Night_of_the_Soul" target="_blank">Dark Night of the Soul</a>, John of the Cross</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Into-Silence-Mallory-Conquest-Everest/dp/0375708154" style="color: #ff8866; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Into the Silence</a>, Wade Davis</li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Flannery-OConnor-Spiritual-Writings-Masters/dp/1570754705" target="_blank">Spiritual Writings</a>, Flannery O'Connor</li>
</ol>
<br />
On media:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://open.spotify.com/artist/2bM3j1JQWBkmzuoZKu4zj2" target="_blank">Anton Bruckner: Symphonies</a></li>
<li><a href="http://open.spotify.com/album/4XmTCJpGGiYVTvovYzXbZ3" target="_blank">Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet</a></li>
</ol>
<div>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(TV_series)" target="_blank">Sherlock Seasons 1-3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Horror_Story" target="_blank">American Horror Story: Murder House</a></li>
</ol>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-41306038314740468352014-07-10T22:46:00.000-07:002014-07-10T22:47:00.392-07:00Episode 31: GracePreviously and most recently, I started reading some of Flannery O'Connor's writings, first her short stories for class and now some of her spiritual writings. Below is a quote on from <i>The Province of Joy, </i>on the section titled "The Cost of Faith" and afterwards an essay on her short story, <i>Everything that Rises Must Converge. </i>Enjoy :)<br />
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I don't assume that renunciation goes with submission, or even that renunciation is good in itself. Always you renounce a lesser good for a greater; the opposite is what sin is. And along this line, I think the phrase "naive purity" is a contradiction in terms. I don't think purity is mere innocence; I don't think babies and idiots possess it. I take it to be something that comes either with experience or with Grace so that it can never be naïve. On the matter of purity we can never judge ourselves, mich less anybody else. Anyone who thinks he's pure is surely not.</blockquote>
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I sent you the other Sewell piece and the one on St. Thomas & Freud. This latter has the answer in it to what you call my struggle to submit, which is not struggle to submit but a struggle to accept and with passion. I mean, possibly, with joy. Picture me with my ground teeth stalking joy - fully armed too as it's a highly dangerous quest. The other day I ran up on a wonderful quotation: "The dragon is at the side of the road watching those who pass. Take care lest he devour you! You are going to the Father of souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon." That is Cyril of Jerusalem, instructing catechumens. (To "A," January 1, 1956) </blockquote>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-f0869af8-1d85-1399-a7c6-39404ba0073b"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">St. Martin’s Abbey</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-f0869af8-1d85-1399-a7c6-39404ba0073b"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gus Labayen</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-f0869af8-1d85-1399-a7c6-39404ba0073b"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Illuminating Grace Accepted:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Parable of the </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prodigal Son</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Flannery O’Connor </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everything That Rises Must Converge</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greenleaf</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RELS 201 | Introduction to New Testament</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Killian Malvey</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the truth that it reveals is not palatable or easy to swallow. There is a certain pride in people that causes them to give and give, but to come and accept is a different thing.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-Oswald Chambers</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Divine grace is what is provided to us by God which is undeserved. It is shown in the salvation of sinners and the resulting blessings He has given us. Our experiences with grace is provided freely by God. It deeply resonates with our human spirit and is available to anyone who is willing to accept this by its nature. This is edifying throughout time and, in this case, our readings of the short stories of Flannery O’Connor and the parable of the </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prodigal Son</span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Here I will discuss the main characters Mrs. May from </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greenleaf</span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> & Julian from </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everything That Rises Must Converge</span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and how they accept grace</span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I will also relate these short stories to the </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prodigal Son </span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and how the Father acts with compassion in the right though totally unexpected way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Prodigal Son</span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Luke 15:11-32) the younger son took his portion of what would be his from his father and squandered it away in dissolute living. Then a famine came and he set to live with the pigs. This son came to his senses and came back home saying “... ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands’ (Luke 15:18-19).” The father sees him, embraced and kissed him. He says to slaughter the fattened calf and to get the finest robes and put a ring on his finger saying “... for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” Suggested by the parable’s title, where the focus is placed on the fault of the son, we can observe how ungrateful he was to his father. Though in the light of grace, the father becomes the focus when it states plainly that his son was dead to him. The father disowned him and wanted no business with his son though he was “filled with compassion” for his him; filled with illuminating grace, this most edifying act was a change of heart where any ordinary father would have scolded and disgraced him. This is also shown the in the sudden acceptance of grace by Julian to act as an instrument of grace. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Julian takes his overweight Mother in </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everything That Rises Must Converge</span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to the YMCA on Wednesdays to reduce her blood pressure. Most of the story takes place on the bus to the Y and shows a racist Mother and the thoughts of Julian bent on sadistic spite. As the story comes to a peak, the mother admires the negro child accompanied by his mother saying “Oh little boy!... Here’s a new bright new penny for you, (418)” but is knocked down by the mother. Julian is reminded of the old home she grew up in with Negro slaves that he never got and attempts to teach her a lesson, scolding her for the way she’s acting and recursively mirrors his actual rejection of everything that his mother stands for. In what becomes the most shocking is when the mother suddenly changes and says to Julian, “Tell Grandpa to come and get me… Tell Caroline to come get me (420),” referring to better times in the mansion she grew up in. She sees her son in a true light, the truth of how his son has been treating her. Crumpling from an apparent stroke, Julian suddenly is illuminated in the a light of losing his mother saying “Mamma, Mamma!” As he is running towards lights, it goes further showing that though he has suddenly seen the truth of the situation, the “lights drifted farther away” and has to confront his feelings of guilt and sorrow. This symbol of light is also shown in </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greenleaf.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mrs. May in </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greenleaf</span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is confronted by the bull, a sign of fertility and sacrifice. The story ends with the bull piercing her as she gazes into the bright sky like she “has been suddenly restored but who finds the light unbearable (333).” The overreaction to kill an innocent bull resulted in her own death though she realizes this too late. However, there is hope as the end, Mrs. May “[is] bent over [the bull] whispering some last discovery into the animal’s ear (334).” These are the points of O’Connor’s short stories- a revelation usually at the expense of a character’s life. The message of grace available to everyone, even to the sinner that ironically becomes an instrument of grace.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my new life as a monk, in the Prologue of the Rule of St. Benedict, Benedict says “What is not possible to us by nature, let us ask the Lord to supply by the help of his grace (RB, Prologue v. 40). It is evidenced that authentic prayer is what is genuinely good in my life. Romans 12:9-21 gives insight to what is good, “Let love be genuine… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good.” When hardships arise or a restlessness of heart becomes the usual, no matter how little, it is only by coming to God and accepting his grace that fulfills the soul. The acceptance of grace then becomes an act of our spirit, of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things (Galatians 5:22-26).” May we all live by example in our journey as followers of Christ. </span></div>
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- 行者劉暢</blockquote>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-61701626972095168372014-06-18T09:38:00.001-07:002014-06-26T11:07:50.018-07:00Episode 30: Monastic MurmuringsOn outdoors:<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://cyclocosm.com/" target="_blank">Cyclocosm</a>? Cosmo Catalano, bike racing personality. I'll say the best out there. </li>
<li>June is the time to come off the high of the <i>Giro</i>, race the Dauphiné & <i>Suisse </i>tune-ups in preparation for <i>Le Tour. </i>In the meantime, watch the World Cup in Rio on ESPN. Go USofA.</li>
<li>Riding is non-existent at the moment. Only machete bush-whacking in the woods. A tubeless conversion for the mountain bike is a little more complicated cloistered in a monastery. Anyone want to lend me a mountain bike?</li>
</ul>
</div>
On the bookshelf:<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Into-Silence-Mallory-Conquest-Everest/dp/0375708154" target="_blank">Into the Silence</a>, Wade Davis</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Searching-God-Basil-Hume/dp/0809121042/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402700570&sr=8-1&keywords=searching+for+god+hume" target="_blank">Searching for God</a>, Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishiop of Westminster</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Maurice-Therese-The-Story-Love/dp/0385497407" target="_blank">Maurice & Therese</a>, Patrick Ahern</li>
<li><a href="http://www.litpress.org/Content/Site145/FilesSamples/143561pdf_00000039238.pdf" target="_blank">The Long Rule</a>, Basil the Great</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ninth-Beethoven-World-1824/dp/0812969073" target="_blank">The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824</a>, Harvey Sachs</li>
</ol>
On the organ:
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<div>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://play.spotify.com/album/2b2EXjhwM5giw1Mo3caWhj" target="_blank">Prelude & Fugue in G minor</a>, BWV 558, J.S. Bach & a LONG Fugue in C minor</li>
<li>Nun Bitten Wir, BuxWV 209, Dietrich Buxtehude</li>
<li>Hymns of <a href="https://www.giamusic.com/products/P-W3.cfm" target="_blank">Worship, 3rd edition</a></li>
<li>Introits, Antiphons, and Vespers of St. Martin's Abbey (with improvisation, transposing, and singing!)</li>
<li>Piano is minimal at the moment. Sight-reading WTC Vol. II and his Busoni Chorale Preludes</li>
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- 行者劉暢</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-68547243439943140082014-05-31T16:22:00.004-07:002014-05-31T16:22:49.345-07:00Episode 29: Desert, Dinner, Desserts, and the DEvilReporting from the monastery: good morning, blogosphere! I've been having dessert everyday and I LOVE it. When I first came in, I had dessert after <i>every</i> meal because, let's be real, if there's temptation in the form of ice cream and either pie, cake, cookies in any variety or hybrid form, who's not going to indulge? Be my guest. But that was soon short-lived as dessert soon just becomes part of dinner, then it just becomes dinner because one has it before dinner, making it "dinner" and dinner "dessert." If I don't watch myself, I could be eating to the waistlines of the other monks here (I jest since I don't think I'm capable of losing or gaining much weight in the first place)! So as lent approached, a simple form of self-improvement came in the form of giving up desserts. At the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OldTownBicycle" target="_blank">Old Town Bicycle</a> the snack/dessert station was within arms reach, usually consisting of Philippine dried mangos, or dougnuts from one of the delectable doughnut shops in Tacoma (sooo good). Here at St. Martin's Abbey they're about a half-minute walk and I've gotten better at resisting such temptation for 40 days and 40 nights. Long arduous days in a monastery. Tell me about it. Now that we've celebrated the Easter season (50 days), I'm one step closer to becoming a saint.<br />
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The <i>desert</i> on the other hand should be taken much seriously. As the city can be a place of good people, good families, good ideas, and good business, the <a href="http://vimeo.com/85594723" target="_blank">desert teaches us what's really important in life</a>; all the better with a proper fat bike to take you across the vastness of the dessert.<br />
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Can you think of a life-changing event, like the carpet pulled out from under you, then, when you suddenly realize you're on your butt that sitting isn't so bad after all? I'll start with an unoriginal reflection, since the monastic life is at the heart is contemplation!<br />
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Our desert is any place where we confront God. It is not a change of scene, nor a place to run from our failures, nor a heroic adventure that does something for our ego. Our desert experience may be tedium, weariness, disappointment, loneliness, personal emptiness, emotional confusion, the feeling that we have nothing to give, the conviction that we constantly fail God in prayer. You just have to keep on keeping on in prayer, and you are not aware of "progress," because there seems to be nothing by which it could be measured. There are no paths in the desert except the ones you make by walking on them.</blockquote>
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It is the place of truth, but also of tenderness; the place of loneliness but also of God's closeness and care. The journey is precarious, but he is faithful, even though our own fidelity is shaky. In the place of hunger and poverty of spirit we are fed by the word of God, as Jesus himself was in the desert. Part of our poverty may be that we are not even aware of longing for God, only aware of the suffocating burden of our own sinfulness, of the slum within. But the desert is the place of confrontation not just with our sins, but witht he power of God's redemption. You come to see it as the place where there can be springing water, manna to keep you going, the strength you never knew you had, the surprise of the quail that plops down at your feet, a tenderness that cares for you and a knowing of the Lord. These things are not the promised land, but they are tokens of love and may be sacraments of glory. Your life, your prayer, can be the wilderness to which you must look steadfastly if you would see the glory of God.</blockquote>
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Now if that was a bit of too much Christianese, bear with me. The author, Maria Goulding probably hasn't ridden a fatbike across the Sahara dessert. But I think she can imagine it would be a little easier with one. Surely biking across the United States is far easier that walking it (though I did run into a gal who was doing that very deed).<br />
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The purpose of the desert is to confront <i>ourselves. </i>Imagine that crazy duo in the video not going through sand dune after sand dune from the Nile to the Atlantic, but through street and highways with traffic, rain, snowstorms, forging water, and having to drink and eat. What a feat! They confronted themselves in a very physical way, feeding the body to work for them, to get them and their tool, the bicycle and their equipment, across a barren land full of danger and adventure.<br />
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Now how does that relate to the current situation of monkdom? Well, my friends, not much. But I've had to dig deeper than that so I'll elaborate. Have you been in the toughest situation in your life and decide how much longer can I go? If you can't rely on your energy, faith, or other family, what or who do you rely on? Definitely not evil, which is the devil without the D... that's what I've figured out and for you to decide for yourself who one can rely on in the tryingest (yes that's a word as of right now) of times. Call me when you find out ;)<br />
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- 行者劉暢
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-6245436452956352152014-03-09T21:58:00.000-07:002014-03-12T23:35:19.233-07:00Season 3 Preview: A BoneReporting from <i>inside</i> the monastery (yes, this is allowed and no I'm not breaking any rules):<br />
<br />
I'm here to throw you a bone. All is well <a href="https://twitter.com/Across2Worlds" target="_blank">here</a>. This blog is going through revision and you will certainly be notified of such changes. In the meantime, the things I've been devoting my time to are below:<br />
<br />
All things cycling:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.steephill.tv/" target="_blank">SteepHill</a>. All things on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_cycle_races#Spring" target="_blank">Spring Classic</a> openers</li>
<li><a href="http://bunyanvelo.com/" target="_blank">BunyanVelo</a> Fat bikes rule.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.gypsybytrade.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">GypsyByTrade</a>. Fat biking adventuring rule</li>
</ul>
Lots of reading. On the bookshelf:<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pope-Francis-Conversations-Jorge-Bergoglio/dp/0399167439" target="_blank">Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio</a> by Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Stories-Flannery-OConnor/dp/0374515360" target="_blank">Complete [Short] Stories</a>, by Flannery O'Connor</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/No-Man-Island-Thomas-Merton/dp/0156027739" target="_blank">No Man Is An Island</a>, by Thomas Merton, OCSO</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/This-House-Brede-Rumer-Godden/dp/0829421289" target="_blank">In This House of Brede</a> by Rumer Godden</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/City-God-St-Augustine/dp/0385029101" target="_blank">City of God</a> by St. Augustine of Hippo</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Strangers-City-Reflections-Paperback-Monastery/dp/1557254605" target="_blank">Strangers to the City</a> by Michael Casey, OCSO</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thoughts-Matter-Mary-Margaret-Funk/dp/0826411649" target="_blank">Thoughts Matter</a> by Mary Margaret Funk, OSB</li>
</ol>
<div>
On the newsstand:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>The New York & Seattle Times, and Olympian daily</li>
<li><a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/watch.html" target="_blank">Al Jazeera America</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.romereports.com/" target="_blank">RomeReports</a>. All things on Pope Francis & <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPHRIjI3hXs" target="_blank">Vatican City</a></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
On the music stand:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Piano:</li>
<ul>
<li>Brahms <i>6 Short Pieces Op. 118, No. 6 in E-flat Minor: Intermezzo</i></li>
<li>Scriabin <i>Preludes</i></li>
<li>Debussy <i>Petite Suite</i></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Organ:</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<ul><ul>
<li>Yes I'm learning! And no, nothing worthwhile mentioning. Soon. Bach is in the works.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Sacred:</li>
</ul>
<ol>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
<ol>
<ul>
<li>Lots and lots of course! Chant, hymns, spirituals and modern stuff. Updates soon. Promise :)</li>
</ul>
</ol>
<div>
Until next time,</div>
</div>
<div>
-Gus</div>
<ol>
</ol>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-88462574142069465132014-01-16T14:21:00.000-08:002014-03-10T13:23:24.574-07:00Finale- Episode 28: Across 2 Worlds<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Merry 2014 and Happy Christmas 2013 to all from the Pacific Northwest! My father used to typewrite his Christmas letters since he was 18 and so I sought out to do the same. After high school, we rotated writing Christmas letters and stopped for a time. Now, I present to you not only a Christmas greeting overdue, but the most important parts of my formation as an adult, which left off around 2012.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">2012</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ2sai1QAcgFOCfOGVZFpv4HFvk0_6lrs-ZrWi7inNrWPslyVeGu87rm8H5JbQIOhNwFtnyhj5IbCW4AYYzJdX_Hv6NnFHSMQyeuwvcWMPONxmelY6PdeJ21JlLwLCnJsPw5Ar/s1600/confucius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ2sai1QAcgFOCfOGVZFpv4HFvk0_6lrs-ZrWi7inNrWPslyVeGu87rm8H5JbQIOhNwFtnyhj5IbCW4AYYzJdX_Hv6NnFHSMQyeuwvcWMPONxmelY6PdeJ21JlLwLCnJsPw5Ar/s1600/confucius.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Great Learning</span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 24px;">
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">古之欲明明德於天下者,先治其國</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">欲治其國者,先齊其家</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">欲齊其家者,先修其身</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">欲修其身者,先正其心</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">欲正其心者,先誠其意</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">欲誠其意者,先致其知</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">致知在格物</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">物格而後知至</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">知至而後意誠</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">意誠而後心正</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">心正而後身修</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">身修而後家齊</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">家齊而後國治</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">國治而後天下平</span></div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">“</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></span></div>
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</span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the </span></span><span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">world, </span><br />
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">first ordered well their own States.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wishing to order well their States, they first regulated their families.</span></div>
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</span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts.</span></span></div>
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</span>
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their </span><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">knowledge.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></span></div>
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</span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></span></div>
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</span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">___________________________</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Things being investigated, knowledge became complete.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Their families being regulated, their States were rightly governed.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Their States being rightly governed, the entire world was at peace.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #cc0000;">— Confucius</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNNUZou-zZKn9gm5kz-Hkw8ChJb8OhwOu4Gg7HpyGmwCSunYPTBFk08dsAsFtgb6Qz9PdVSOBoijh5pN9mEnY_Jp5MyEwyHz7MDbfldkeYV0RQJYGIJZWvb4uPya8ZR6riFOf/s1600/177771_10150912605295017_1720708558_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNNUZou-zZKn9gm5kz-Hkw8ChJb8OhwOu4Gg7HpyGmwCSunYPTBFk08dsAsFtgb6Qz9PdVSOBoijh5pN9mEnY_Jp5MyEwyHz7MDbfldkeYV0RQJYGIJZWvb4uPya8ZR6riFOf/s1600/177771_10150912605295017_1720708558_o.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As my commencement ended in June 2012, I was an ocean away in the Philippines, in my homeland where my ancestors labored, loved, lived and left a legacy for their kin. I, a sand particle who humbly sought from their spirit what they have left for us- tangibly and spiritually. So I spent most of 2012 as a wandering soul going back to the drawing board, seeking the meaning of life, not only through what other people told me, but from within myself. My degree in hand, I set out to have real experiences of action after years of academic study. Socrates, the first philosopher said <i>ipse se nihil scire id unum sciat,</i> "I know that I know nothing." Taking it to heart, a bicycle with the goal of seeking purpose in a country that I knew the most (but barely knew) came to fruition, listening and deciding for myself what the divine has gifted us.</span><br />
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<div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">First of all, that God exists. In my particular experience of life as a twenty something Filipino, first generation American Catholic can with all my entire being can say, I say hell yes. On the contrary, with devout divorced parents of the faith, Catholicism became a contradiction within itself at the most inconvenient time, the parabolic height of my musical growth. I was playing secular music and learning about secular history: of World War I and the atrocities committed to humanity by humans, nationalism and its artificial boundaries, of grinding metal against flesh, and Nietzsche's “Gott ist tot.” I was playing Prokofiev’s 1st War Sonata and I came out traumatized from war without having to step onto the frontlines. I simultaneously mourned the death of the Romantics, my faith, and my family. A lifestyle change was long overdue, to take responsibility not only for my music, but for my religion and education. So I financed my last year of college because my parents were incapable of cooperating. Then I spent the weeks of paperwork, meetings and fundraising power I could muster and flew myself to Macau, the Special Administrative Region of China to teach. <i>Docendo Discimus</i> (By teaching we learn), my alma mater's motto, became my mission though that was only the beginning.</span><br />
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<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I taught the kids of Macau, but more importantly I learned from <i>them</i>, because innocence is the best teacher of Truth. My ministry in music became charity for the numerous 15th century Portuguese churches, but quite selfishly for my salvation. I found the closest sacred space, the closest church in the historic part of Taipa hill, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, off of the cobbled streets where most came to take pictures and where I soon frequented. I went from being paid for my artistry as a musician in the States to being present on my own accord playing church folk hymns on an old Casiotone SK-1. It didn’t take a spiritual director, a monastery or a friend to tell me that there is a God. I found it was our own experience, <i>that </i>feeling of oneness, the connection to everyone in a sacred space, that inspired us to prayer. That closeness to the divine is what holds me not only in the universal Church that I was born into, but now a church I fully accept as my own. A shade of life ended and realized that if I were to return to America it would be to search for such communities in a place that I really knew little about. So I did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A pilgrimage sets one directly in communion to a path traveled by many. Though paradoxically enough, my public “pilgrimage” was inversely a personal search for God. "A soul ride to contemplate the divine and its manifestation through family" was my purpose. I stayed at direct Benedictine ancestors of St. Martin’s Abbey of where I am entering as a level 1 monk. And I took detours to a Thai Theravada Buddhist Temple as well as the Islamic Society in Boston. I received a much more diverse experience of the divine than expected. More importantly, I met the people of the northern tier of United States of America. And at the time of the presidential election, I heard the opinions of every person's walk of life, from Republicans & Democrats, to social workers and hippies, to Amish people and Muslims; though we share one thing- our humanness. I traveled with Kyle, a colleague and dear friend, where we were at similar crossroads of "<a href="http://annpatchett.com/what-now/#.Utom5GTTky4" target="_blank">What now?</a>" Our paths separated in Fargo as he found work but I still had a soul ride to finish. At St. John's in Minnesota were 200 monks who seemingly came out of nowhere with people my age seeking the same thing. An assurance of such sincere holy men working together calmed my restless heart. I cooked Macanese-Portuguese Feijoada for family in Toronto. I almost retired in the New England were it not for the impeding winter and hurricane Sandy approaching.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />A lacerated kidney and pneumothorax, short for God’s wakeup call to reassess 2013 and my discernment of a monastic call. M</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">onths of 40+ hour weeks enraptured and lured me more into bicycle heaven.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Since my employment at the shop, I was able to practice a skill less readily emphasized- biking. But more importantly consistency, organization, and valuing work and play. Then I got a mountain bike for diversifying what we have been taught to do- follow the good road but also be yourself. My talent as a cyclist ended almost as quickly as it had started after a fall into shrubbery and my own elbow bruising my kidney and lung. I sat in the hospital thinking- I love what I'm doing. On the surface of retail, I found monasticism to teach the opposite - dispossession in favor of having the singular goal of salvation through the reminder of Christ’s offering of salvation for the world. After digging deeper, the shop also fostered many of the same values a monastery possesses- community, food, work, leisure, learning, and a sense of humor. It became a global message, starting from the individual, to the family and to the world, just as Confucius said!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After being acutely reminded of my mortality, the fear of God came to the forefront. I set up camp and laid under the torrential downpour of the summer, with flashes of lightning moments apart and miles within and I, laying under tent poles, fabric and insulated down feathers staring up into the heavens praying, my heart racing, fearing God and for my life. Then, I awoke like nothing happened because I lived to tell the tale. In fact, as I remembered later that night coming to a threshold that I see many of us come to do: <a href="http://saisondegrandcru.blogspot.com/2012/08/episode-15-just-do-it.html">to do nothing</a>. A restlessness of spirit, an imperfect person, and a vision to help humanity becomes a burden when nothing is done.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-0-0NYmhk5rAZ6QZGvTCrBkLCHg4YZJt_CFuL_DjLRhK2IRP1MSdR0XzX8A8FGfgUWg7dp3Fzu3Dukb32Mk92CgT4xjECGBcn754mNLvACWu0vjfxV6aiitrjz_UIsoDbcdX/s1600/457868_10150649615575017_1490823320_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-0-0NYmhk5rAZ6QZGvTCrBkLCHg4YZJt_CFuL_DjLRhK2IRP1MSdR0XzX8A8FGfgUWg7dp3Fzu3Dukb32Mk92CgT4xjECGBcn754mNLvACWu0vjfxV6aiitrjz_UIsoDbcdX/s1600/457868_10150649615575017_1490823320_o.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We humans have a talent for suffering but we also have a talent for loving. Is there a validation for a just suffering? Buddhists describe suffering as one's attachment to the world- family, career, things, even time, past and future. Hence it is logically sound to conclude that once one lets go of such things, what is left is the present (that's why it's called a gift!). What's left is to be in the moment of what we call life, to smell the roses, to notice the grandeur of nature, to hear the silence of the night, and to notice how our soul, mind, and body are three but one in the same. Why should one worry about that Debbie-Downer co-worker, or our significant other's inadequacy of an ideal relationship, or how we interpret other people's faults that may well be the same shortcomings of our own. For the good of the order but most importantly ourselves, commitment to living out an authentic life should be our mantra.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDP9hhImud22msVd1dGMPpxwB5LiSn3nykyKeqoGW0E9CDJqZ6D6OEm84JQVmPRk68m7rw4AxITuE0XhGYqFW9u-DbAJIj08bHQq7-ysZq8pF_gkTxN1vw7fYBoV3jW0vcQsb1/s1600/223184_10150259956010017_3904881_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDP9hhImud22msVd1dGMPpxwB5LiSn3nykyKeqoGW0E9CDJqZ6D6OEm84JQVmPRk68m7rw4AxITuE0XhGYqFW9u-DbAJIj08bHQq7-ysZq8pF_gkTxN1vw7fYBoV3jW0vcQsb1/s1600/223184_10150259956010017_3904881_n.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">An annual week in Lake Chelan with my second family was my summer vacation. Though it acutely reminded me of my blessings being raised in middle class America- away from poverty & discrimination much of the world faces every day. An entitlement of rest and relaxation is a valid feeling, but to quantify work vs. leisure is only a shade to living a balanced life. In my case, it's manifested into a conscious decision to humbly insert myself into the ancient tradition of monasticism according to the <a href="http://www.osb.org/rb/text/rbejms1.html">Rule of St. Benedict</a> of Nursia, a short rule of a practical man who sought to unify a broken world, and created the father of cenobitic Western monasticism. But I thought: how does such an ancient custom apply to today?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mortals, escape with me from a false world! Christ calls. Away! Life be our voyage fair,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Safe riding o’er the surge of cares and lies!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One quest alone employs the lonely Monk,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How he may reach the Haven of true peace,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Where never comes the strain of breaking hearts.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">O happy life, all music, free from sorrow!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Where is the prudent seeker of true gain</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Will part with all the world and choose the Cross?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Indeed, I escape from the world to a place I find sincere holy men seeking God.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: #741b47; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #cc0000; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 2px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">-ST. THEODORE THE STUDITE (759–826), BYZANTINE MONK</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />A more simple life was called for to take to heart years of active discernment. In the world, I took this chance to implement monastic vows as readily as I would in the physical walls of the monastery. In all three- chastity, poverty, and obedience (as well as humility and stability), it became clear that learning, reading and talking about the Benedictine way of life was essential as living them out. Committed to a Christ-filled life with family and sharing it with the world is the focus of my life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />I was blessed with employment where my heart and passions reside- in music and bicycles. Old Town Bicycle has me the product manager and as a liturgical musician for the Seattle Archdiocese, mostly at St. Rita of Cascia and St. Nicholas in Gig Harbor. It was an honor to be a part of many funerals and weddings and to share and experience a time of celebrating and mourning with respect. I was afforded time with my family that I wouldn’t have found otherwise. Mom decided to move out to Tampa and is enjoying life taking care of her parents as they get older.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />Being back in the Pacific Northwest has afforded me exploring this area- hiking Mt. Ellinor in Olympic National Park and up in Ellensburg, biking to Seattle to visit friends and sight-seeing, skiing with my brother at Crystal Mountain, and mountain biking at Capitol Forest outside of Olympia. The beauty of this area is proof of God’s majestic creation. I hope to summit Mt. Rainier in the coming years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I am pleased to announce that I'll be joining the American-Cassinese congregation of the Benedictine Order at St. Martin's Abbey. My postulancy will start January 19th where I will pray, chant, work, and eat in communion with the monks. Of course, I will also be able to study, sleep, bike, and play piano! Letters, visits (via the guestmaster), and prayers are welcome. A deep thanks to the entire communities for whom I've had the pleasure of knowing since my youth to the present day. I humbly ask for your prayers as I continually pray for you.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /><br />Gus Labayen<br />5000 Abbey Way SE</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Lacey, WA 98503</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">United States<br /><br />Until next time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">-劉暢</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-26459545522019678502013-09-01T19:47:00.000-07:002013-11-28T19:51:12.796-08:00Bicycle Banter: The Things I've Learned: Part II<br />
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.</span></div>
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On a serious and philosophical note on what I've learned, presented here is another series of things I've learned in no particular order or importance:<br />
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- Instead of running from problems, face them and be surrounded in an environment that nurtures talents and love.<br />
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- Indifference is as toxic as the opposition/catastrophe. Do something about it.<br />
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- Let's take time out of our day to love ourselves. We may be overly critical at times. Accept us as we are... humans.<br />
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- One's thoughts are the source of everything.<br />
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So my friends, I urge every one of you, whether it be the next natural disaster, the next religious conflict, the next shooting, or the next election, know that reading about it and sharing it with your opinion is not the only thing one can do. Do a good turn today- go volunteer at your favorite non-profit, smile and greet someone no matter how awkward it turns out, or when eating out and have extra, take it to go and give it away.<br />
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Until next time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-26552744286994069392013-08-01T19:25:00.000-07:002013-11-28T19:48:52.140-08:00Episode 27: Cascadia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkbaGFR6i7vZlu0nQbCRsKlAtC0sWV0uK6eFBWxbdtzlYmFpbrG9CRLGTtqhiy171ucPIc-DakGkjotyQejUxhMn2uiWPU0bGhLq6g3Z32qmgXkROuRaaUrvezYcoyVI-sFoH/s1600/Cascadia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkbaGFR6i7vZlu0nQbCRsKlAtC0sWV0uK6eFBWxbdtzlYmFpbrG9CRLGTtqhiy171ucPIc-DakGkjotyQejUxhMn2uiWPU0bGhLq6g3Z32qmgXkROuRaaUrvezYcoyVI-sFoH/s1600/Cascadia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkbaGFR6i7vZlu0nQbCRsKlAtC0sWV0uK6eFBWxbdtzlYmFpbrG9CRLGTtqhiy171ucPIc-DakGkjotyQejUxhMn2uiWPU0bGhLq6g3Z32qmgXkROuRaaUrvezYcoyVI-sFoH/s1600/Cascadia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkbaGFR6i7vZlu0nQbCRsKlAtC0sWV0uK6eFBWxbdtzlYmFpbrG9CRLGTtqhiy171ucPIc-DakGkjotyQejUxhMn2uiWPU0bGhLq6g3Z32qmgXkROuRaaUrvezYcoyVI-sFoH/s640/Cascadia.jpg" width="428" /></a></div>
Where do you live? I live in the Pacific Northwest. A documentary I recently watched talks about the bioregion called Cascadia, on the recommendation of Zen master Ben, teacher and friend. Below is a word dump after watching the documentary.<br />
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Sacredness of Water<br />
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Newest thoughts give light to older practices. Feeling, and eating & drinking and fueling. Assess, discern, pray, think, and live. After a time, one has to stop thinking about such meanings of life, to solve world hunger, or world peace, or give in to our needs as humans. What about our needs as organisms in nature? Nature gives us context and grounding. The sacredness of water gives us life to nurture or consume. To be interbeings, not just beings, or transbeings. Because we are all in an interconnected world. How have us millennials given back to the world in any way? Maybe those hippies who aren't too far off the social spectrum that congregate around Portlandia and have co-op gardens, eat vegan and breathe that new age spirituality. Maybe not.<br />
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What about those people that we never hear about, the unsung heroes that make a difference in the local community? They make it to the newspaper or magazine, or the radio or some media. But answer me this: who cares? If people cared, there would be an abundance of resources and love through our relationships and thoughts and actions.<br />
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Now go find 117 minutes and watch <a href="http://vimeo.com/55819924" target="_blank">Occupied Cascadia</a>. Enjoy.<br />
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Until next time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-81570143610143677342013-07-01T18:46:00.000-07:002014-01-18T21:31:01.436-08:00Bicycle Banter: The Law of BeautyOh beautiful. If beauty be good for the soul: what is this world?<br />
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A woman. Pretty face, high cheekbones, eyes that smile, gentle curves.<br />
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Of nature. Water flowing in the sun, commands attention through sound and touch. A tree whispering secrets above, the ground rooted with footsteps of life.<br />
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A child. Taking small steps and finding joy in the little things, speaks truth frankly and no cares in the world.<br />
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Of silence. Hearing the voice of God; a heartbeat. A mute soul racing and the mind reaching, where dreams and fears manifest into reality or fantasy. Paradise awaits.<br />
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A monk. Standing and meditating. Moving intentionally and praying. Helps the pilgrim; says little though commands much. A life well-lived.<br />
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Our world is the beginning. Beauty is good for the soul: oh beautiful.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-48130662138502004782013-06-01T22:19:00.000-07:002013-08-15T03:31:57.246-07:00Episode 26: 2013.5Welcome to June everyone! We are halfway through 2013. I can't believe it. June has always been enjoyable for me because it meant a lot of things over the years, but mainly the end of the school year. My brother is graduating high school and I get to vicariously live another transitioning point in life. What a great time it is- the freedom and remorse (or joy) of leaving home and figuring out how to wake up, study, exercise, eat, sleep, and hang out all in one day.<br />
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As a full-time working class citizen, I've found the similar adaptations I've needed to implement to successfully do all that, including studying! A wise person once told me to "study, study, study," even after finishing school since life is always learning. Why stop? Some things I've learned these past 6 months:<br />
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<li>Pray. Not religious, then express gratitude for the good things in life because there is at least one good thing going for us even in our darkest hour.</li>
<li>Eat. Be conscious what you eat, not just go on a strict diet. Listen to your body and your thoughts and you'll be rewarded a hundred-fold.</li>
<li>Work. Not employed? Write. Exercise. Volunteer. Socialize. Why? Because even the smallest thing we do contributes to our future. Try something new, go to a different coffee shop or smile at a stranger- work to make the world a better place.</li>
<li>Sleep. Good work deserves good sleep. Can't sleep? Count sheep! Absurd you say? I was just kidding. Work harder to sleep harder. Decide to have a good night's sleep by eating, working, exercising so to get up and do it again.</li>
<li>Go to Nature. The famous wilderness activist John Muir said, "The mountains are calling and I must go." Stop and smell the roses- listen to the bugs, and the water, and the mountain.</li>
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<span class="s1">Does this sound like a pep-talk to you? Because it is. Halfway through the year, how's the new year's resolution, the lifestyle change, the new image? If it's not up to your expectation, then reevaluate and decide on a realistic goal. If you have met your expectations, cool, you are awesome. Then do nothing :) Or if that's not good enough for you then set another goal for the next 6 months.</span></div>
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People ask what's the meaning of life. I jokingly left work one day and said,<br />
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"I'm going out to find the meaning of life."<br />
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I came back the next day and they said, "so... the meaning of life?"<br />
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I looked dumbfoundedly only thinking about it the day before, moments after I had said it.<br />
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After a pause, "the meaning of life- to ride. To drink a beer. And to watch the sunset." I was surprised even myself as the words were coming out.<br />
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Come to think about it, that is what the meaning of life- to ponder life and enjoy what we do. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-86341000915943675892013-05-01T23:57:00.000-07:002013-11-28T19:21:55.153-08:00Episode 25: VaingloryI have made a tremendous discovery, and that is <a href="http://www.strava.com/" target="_blank">Strava</a>. It allows one to track, via GPS (Garmin, smartphone and the like) on rides and runs. Then one can share their workouts and how fast they go on a social network and have bragging rights to the favorite hill I climbed as a teenager.<br />
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After my workout, I took my dog out to for a run around the block thinking "He's a quadruped, dogs aren't supposed to be <i>walked</i>, they're supposed to be <i>run." </i>And man do I wish we could quad-pedal the bejeezus out of the world because it looks like they have so much fun. Though Colby is poster-child for any type of distraction engulfing his full processes. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-37174672262774146982013-04-01T00:00:00.000-07:002013-08-15T03:50:44.740-07:00Episode 24: Lenten FoodDuring my tour, I ate anything. Absolutely anything and everything. Breakfast slowly degraded to oatmeal so I could get on the road quicker. Oatmeal will never have the same taste again; there's only so many variants of brown sugar, raisins, bananas, etc. before it becomes a drudgingly slow process of "chew and swallow." My go-to for lunch were bars because they were cheap and fast and the midday bar dwellers were a nice crowd to get to know.<br />
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During the liturgical season of Lent, a follower of Christian thought goes through a purging of fasting, alms-giving, self-denial, and reconciliation. Three things come to mind that come to the foreground when a period of self-growth is initiated: what I eat, what I am attracted to, and what I want. This year, I gave up meat (besides fish) and alcohol.<br />
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We are what we eat. When I was little, the communal dining table was the center of family life- we talked about life, about school and friends, about plans for outings and plans for parties. Then in college I convinced myself to eat two big meals a day. Later I realized that didn't work out well; I'd run myself to empty burning the candle at both ends. I am reminded whenever I stuffed myself full of food or eat my fill then realize dessert is still waiting; not necessarily the guilt I feel of eating more that needed but the feeling of eating more that needed. In Macau, there were numerous times where I ate and drank with friends and afterwards I would experience a deep sense of fulfillment being at table with those I care about surrounded by food that gives us sustenance.<br />
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Today, after 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter, I gave up meat and alcohol. And boy did I enjoy a pepperoni pizza and beer afterwards! Though I did learn what it was to eat enough and healthy for me. Which is different for everyone. I found out I may be acutely allergic to gluten, which is unfortunate. No cinnamon rolls, white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookes, or beer.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-53738643423713772062013-03-12T17:34:00.001-07:002013-03-12T20:13:45.928-07:00Bicycle Banter: Sede vacante<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHVz7H7k58gGV1yo4N-9ynY_3vQTuoPbWHxrBmAHM3pSKqJ5UnOpZmIitKmL9y3ZmYka5BN7fm6pGCxCGfgd2X8yAU53xNuFIcmwvQ491mJmxE5ieG-KyPt7qG4vRi0K90yn-N/s1600/P1070579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHVz7H7k58gGV1yo4N-9ynY_3vQTuoPbWHxrBmAHM3pSKqJ5UnOpZmIitKmL9y3ZmYka5BN7fm6pGCxCGfgd2X8yAU53xNuFIcmwvQ491mJmxE5ieG-KyPt7qG4vRi0K90yn-N/s640/P1070579.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Opening my eyes to the black Pixar light, permenantly looking down on the books of Hermits and Hemingway, I remember: reading into the night on Buddhist & Christian monastics, <em>Lectio Divina</em> and Nirvana. The Gethsemani Encounter it was called. My low battery on my phone- checking Twitter for conclave and Paris-Nice updates. The Patrine throne has been empty for 13 days. Conclave is to be set by seven Vatican time. Team Sky and Garmin-Sharp looking nice. Milan-San Remo this weekend. Waking up before the sun has its perks. Morning prayer has a nice air to it, still loopy from the cough medicine last night. Breakfast is getting better, honey is my friend- on Johnny bread, on oatmeal, then cantaloupe. Change to work at the pottery studio with Nick, finding a rehydrated mouse in one of the fired bottles. Another day at the monastery, Tagle could be the first Filipino pope! <i>I </i>could be the first Filipino pope. The Vatican can reach me by email or cell phone. I jest. When I'm Pope, I'll require everyone, not just Catholics (since Catholic does mean "universal") to say one nice thing a day under punishment of Purgatory. O'Malley is a monk and an American and has <i>papabile</i> facial features, he'd be a super pope. Turkson would certainly reign in a JPII fashion and have first office Obama-like hype. But of course Tagle is my favorite. Has anyone asked <a href="http://www.isthereapope.com/" target="_blank">God</a> who's his favorite? In flight, sickness through civil sneezing, snotty bodies, I dare not ride again. Back in the Pacific Northwest, my home breathes with me, a innate deep breath of clean hydrated unadulterated air. <i>On the Road</i> I write this Bicycle Banter, some unfiltered unacademic unreserved mind dump, hopefully helping those poor souls with nothing to do. Cue "until next time," though that doesn't have the same ring as it used to. How about <i>arrivederci? Sede vacante</i>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-32981904890281876222013-02-28T23:57:00.001-08:002013-04-30T22:44:47.873-07:00Episode 23: Thoughts<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">This being human is a guest house</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Every morning a new arrival</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">A joy, a depression, a meanness</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Some momentary awareness</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Comes as an unexpected visitor</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Welcome and entertain them all!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Even if they're a crowd of sorrows</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Who violently sweep your house</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Empty of its furniture</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Still treat each guest honorably</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">He may be cleaning you out</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">For some new delight!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">The dark thought, the shame, the malice</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Meet them at the door laughing</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">And invite them in</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Be grateful for whoever comes</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Because each has been sent</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">As a guide from the beyond.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #888888; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 2px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">Rumi</span></div>
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During the past month, I've done a lot of studying. I've been reading this short book titled <i>Thoughts Matter: The Practice of the Spiritual Life</i> by Mary Margaret Funk, OSB and I found it to be easy to read and digest, but difficult to repeat in daily life. After all, I'm working on my inner self, it's not as easy as taking a shower! To internalize more fully the content and nature, I'll be posting this mini-series on my spiritual weight training and help everyone else in their everyday lives as I do the heavy lifting (pun intended). Rarely do we get to practice what we say or practice what is read, thus one must simply "do." Right? Fire away.<br />
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We must first realize that we are not our thoughts. When we meet a new person for the first time, how do we judge them? By the shoes they wear or the color of their skin? Naturally, we judge the book by its cover and it only becomes later that we get to learn from its pages. Whether welcomed or not, thoughts surface that can be positive, neutral or negative. But thoughts are not ourselves, just simply a bunch of synapses that fire from inner and outer stimulation. It is said that our brains are an orchestra without a conductor, so as resulting conductors, let us conduct our body, heart, and soul in rightness.<br />
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A person told me once:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Be very, very careful of what you think, because what you think you will eventually say. Be very careful of what you say, because of what you say, you will eventually do. Be very, very careful of what you do, because our actions become habits. And be very careful of your habits because they create your way of life."</blockquote>
Our thoughts become our way of life. Once we train the way we think, it translates not only in our lives, but to the rest of humanity in a small way. I firmly believe it is not the extraordinary things people do but the everyday ordinary deeds that makes life more beautiful. As a kid I wanted to do extraordinary things like make an invention that would change the world like Edison and the lightbulb. Then I wanted to "grow up" and become the person I want to be and attain enlightenment and have all the wisdom in the world. Little did I know that life is about today, the present moment, because that's all that matters, the past was yesterday and the future will always be tomorrow.<br />
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I read once:<br />
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吾十有五而志於學,三十而立,四十而不惑,五十而知天命,六十而耳順,七十而从心所欲,不逾矩。 </blockquote>
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And I didn't understand. For English speakers:<br />
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At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty I knew the mandate of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart's desire without transgressing the norm.</blockquote>
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As we observe our thoughts, our actions and habits, let's work on living what we think- to love ourselves so that we may love others, to improve ourselves so that others may improve themselves, fail so we can succeed, and succeed so we can fail. And, hopefully when we're seventy, our heart's desire is in line with our heart's desire today.<br />
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Until next time.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-49683365541736180152013-01-31T14:50:00.001-08:002013-04-30T22:44:32.681-07:00S2, Episode 22: Silence<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: clear; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">Silence is a true friend who never betrays.</span></div>
<span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; color: #888888; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: 2px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: clear;">Confucius</span></span><br />
With the longest writers block since the invention of writing, I reflected, questioned, brainstormed, discussed, wrote, and journaled for "another story," another post that'll keep my views stats high for the month, that'll keep satisfying whoever reads my blog. That you, the reader, would spend this time to read the insights of what I have to say is admirable, a middle class American with a decent education and not anything really spectacular to show for. But what can I share with you and in turn, how will it benefit humanity?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzSmIb7el10pUPWdY9a7gttKHG6o5ctE0RMy_4GYw2UNXgT8Sji9o3gphNLiSm-UiQeQXy-bBMJH6yXOLKA6rrJyAq9tMUK5ITFLdbWWBkJiX0r2Ai8hGASqL61xtJ8LOtgeCR/s1600/48219_10151093226650017_815672033_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzSmIb7el10pUPWdY9a7gttKHG6o5ctE0RMy_4GYw2UNXgT8Sji9o3gphNLiSm-UiQeQXy-bBMJH6yXOLKA6rrJyAq9tMUK5ITFLdbWWBkJiX0r2Ai8hGASqL61xtJ8LOtgeCR/s640/48219_10151093226650017_815672033_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
The waves of change swept over my life as I got back from my trip. I was back in the Pacific Northwest! I graduated college. I taught music abroad. I had lived on a bicycle for 100 days. Now all of that is done, what next? How can I top that? A new chapter has unfolded in my life and slowly it dawned on me: I have nothing. And so I stayed silent. If I had nothing of value to say, if my next post was going to be a rant, or another story just for the sake of storytelling and ego, what weight does that give to my experiences and to my future? I stood blog silent through the holiday season, spending time with my family and closest friends, I still had nothing. Is this it? Shall I wash my hands clean and leave this, my modest following, this sacred cyberspace of sharing intimate anecdotes? No, we've come to this space to share ideas and thoughts as if we are sitting across the table drinking coffee and catching up like old times. So here, my 2¢: silence.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPPse_wcEhQDCA1y133ME74tKSURV35ot9XpMHgoXiXqHjSi7rH06He3WBg_MJhs-3dh23X7YpnBVXnocl7Gj1Hx0f6RevNJSEBr1J06iU_2MuzZvixHQbcopAoVE03k3O7jN2/s1600/280595_10151093221515017_919026144_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPPse_wcEhQDCA1y133ME74tKSURV35ot9XpMHgoXiXqHjSi7rH06He3WBg_MJhs-3dh23X7YpnBVXnocl7Gj1Hx0f6RevNJSEBr1J06iU_2MuzZvixHQbcopAoVE03k3O7jN2/s640/280595_10151093221515017_919026144_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. John's Abbey Church- Collegeville, MN</td></tr>
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The blog silence has allowed much reflection and the only thing that I can write about is just that- silence. Take a moment, turn off <a href="http://spotify.com/" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, close the extra tabs of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yjNQndZJCs&list=PL2EC7F45DBD9D9B1A&index=45" target="_blank">YouTube personalities</a> and Wikipedia articles. Listen to this story. And try this :<br />
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Listen to the hum of the computer. Listen to your breath. The in breath and the out breath. Be aware of the body, the posture, the slouch, the relaxing and tensing of muscles. Notice what time of day it is, the temperature of the environment, the aroma around the space. Notice the traffic outside, or the buzz of people, or the sound of mingling family or co-workers, or friends. Then notice the in, then out breath.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Feel better? I do. But how does that help our daily lives? We simply exist in the moment of now and soak in the wonderful world we have been privileged to be a part of. One person said to me once, "Listen to the world, and you will be rewarded a hundred-fold."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT6cUcmWkTXZg9e1sArz4rqj-Cjnv9kGLpdNtXnehCpKCvl5pkrFMIFELYqkjvTZY340cjI7SJP6bG8VEJ8EdPZP1jWn3AcTJDfaf4QJPaf0nilm6wzNYUiclpf7YwNyNAALIE/s1600/665681_10151154780930017_1721159184_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfD_mRRSEn_JMFCP6TIo4MUwEK-XPxpCTmxbmwnenOqnk5uB4-32NqNqv6baFf4ugPS72kvgS0OesQaqIGhXw65Zgv5_d-NbfbpumdfviA22D1nqxM5cNDvtS1-CZJkfGLHBnd/s1600/615496_10151134576230017_1402355475_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfD_mRRSEn_JMFCP6TIo4MUwEK-XPxpCTmxbmwnenOqnk5uB4-32NqNqv6baFf4ugPS72kvgS0OesQaqIGhXw65Zgv5_d-NbfbpumdfviA22D1nqxM5cNDvtS1-CZJkfGLHBnd/s640/615496_10151134576230017_1402355475_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holy Cross in Boston, MA</td></tr>
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With Hurricane Sandy approaching, I sought refuge in Boston. After the lots of wind and rain passed, the nation was mourning the loss of lives, livelihood, houses and a place to call home. I took in mostly second accounts of the nation despite being on the eastern seaboard. I could tell you that I volunteered at the red cross to move sandbags, or gave out gas or served at a soup kitchen. I could tell you that I gave the little possessions I had away to people who probably could have used some warmer clothes. I could have told you that I made a difference in indifference. But I didn't. I went on my somber, melancholic way to spending Thanksgiving with family in New Jersey & New York. Then I remembered the time I was at a monastery in New Hampshire. <br />
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Morning - the church bells rang. Then silence. It was cold sitting in St. Anselm's Abbey church. It was dark with some candles that seemed to provide no heat. It was only November; how could it get any colder? I knew it was the immensity of the space of brick, wood and glass. I sat in my place with my hood and looked to the darkness of the rest of the church. The sun hadn't risen yet, though the monks of St. Anselm's Abbey gathered to sing and meditate. If the monks around me were drifting in and out of sleep or actively meditating, I couldn't decide, but I knew I was still hazy from waking up minutes ago. My mind wanders nonetheless.<br />
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The sun starts to rise and give light to the day. The stained glass windows give a faint color at first, as if waking up themselves, then harmoniously give an aura of hospitality. The cold fades, the darkness fades and begin to see the vastness of the space.<br />
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Midday - the windows give a warm presence to the church. On the right, reds and blues signify the Holy Spirit, on the left, greens and reds symbolize Jesus, and in the middle, all the colors blend to embody almighty God watching over us.<br />
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Evening - I come back and stand in the center of the circular church. It's quiet. Then I realize that my own self becomes quiet- my thoughts and heart, all reveling in the serenity of light, sound, and existence. It's as if nature and the people that came before me tell their story, where we are closest to God, tapping into that chi, that "Zen" state, not outside of me but within and around me.<br />
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And I realized it was just that: allowing the silence of one's surroundings and within one's soul that reconnects us to everything. So I add, "listen to the world and within yourself, and you will be rewarded a hundred-fold."<br />
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Until next time. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-79994578293343994762012-11-21T18:37:00.000-08:002013-01-10T23:42:09.629-08:00Episode 21: A Picture of Thanks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sitting in a train for 8 hours from Boston, Massachusetts to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, I thought "how could I ever thank all the people that made this trip possible?" Since the U.S. is celebrating Thanksgiving, I thought it only appropriate to acknowledge of all who made this trip possible: through pictures. I've ended up with 1,500 pictures for this trip, might as well put them to good use. Andale, andale! Arriba, arriba!<br />
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Companies:<br />
<a href="http://www.recycleshop.us/" target="_blank">The Recycle Bicycle Shop</a>- Ellensburg, WA<br />
<a href="http://www.mountainhardwear.com/" target="_blank">Mountian High Sports</a>- Ellensburg, WA<br />
<a href="http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/" target="_blank">Peter White Cycles</a>- Hillsborough, NH<br />
<a href="http://www.rei.com/" target="_blank">Recreational Equipment Inc.</a>- Seattle, WA<br />
<a href="http://www.mec.ca/" target="_blank">Mountain Equipment Co-op</a>- Vanouver, BC, Canada<br />
<a href="http://www.competitivecyclist.com/" target="_blank">Competitive Cyclist</a>- West Valley City, UT<br />
<a href="http://www.trailheadbikeshop.com/" target="_blank">Trailhead Bike Shop</a>- Ludington, MI<br />
<a href="http://www.greenmountainbikes.com/" target="_blank">Green Mountain Bike</a>- Rochester, VT<br />
Julie, virtual assistant of <a href="http://www.amtrak.com/home" target="_blank">Amtrak</a>- United States<br />
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Hosts:<br />
Birkin Owart's Family, Quincy, WA<br />
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Bill Bender- Sagle, ID<br />
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Abbot John Klassen, Br. Aelred Senna, & the monks of <a href="http://www.abbeyvocations.com/" target="_blank">St. John's Abbey</a>- Collegeville, MN<br />
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Doug, Barb, & Gus [the Dog!] Benson & friends<br />
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St. Mary's Catholic Church, Fr. George, Kay & company- Port Huron, MI<br />
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Nicole (& Diesel) LaChance- Portland, ME<br />
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Elijah Blaisdell- Boston, MA<br />
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Alex Niu- Cambridge, MA<br />
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Tom, Linda, and Tessa Mandras- Nashua, NH<br />
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Abbot Mark Cooper, Br. John Paul, Fr. Anselm & the monks of <a href="http://www.anselm.edu/saint-anselm-abbey.htm" target="_blank">St. Anselm's Abbey</a>- Manchester, NH<br />
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Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, Fr. Bonaventure & the monks of <a href="http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/" target="_blank">St. Vincent's Archabbey</a>- Latrobe, PA<br />
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Erik Flaten- Portland, OR<br />
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Abbot Neal Roth, Fr. Peter, Br. Aelred & the monks of <a href="http://www.stmartin.edu/abbey/" target="_blank">St. Martin's Abbey</a>- Lacey, WA<br />
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Family:<br />
Mom, Dad, Jim, & Lolo Lola- Tacoma, WA<br />
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Tim & Rose Rosemeier, Samantha, Michael, Vincent, Veronica, David Rosemeier, Minneapolis, MN<br />
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Tito Eboy, Tita Ting Ting & Lizares Family, Toronto, Ontario, Canada<br />
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Mavie & Chris Labayen, Philadelphia, PA<br />
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Friends:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaQXXG1VvY14hN2GRhyphenhyphenQlUaZRpHco9jr1li-G5yz5EQ25NaYSSLSOCpG1OTXrtNRhruQ-Hq3gPE46riScSVZTgjvYhazXaEudleyaneGCjUPNu_eHZ6VvhI_3MBEzh3UeibX0l/s1600/411573_10151017775010017_1961437547_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaQXXG1VvY14hN2GRhyphenhyphenQlUaZRpHco9jr1li-G5yz5EQ25NaYSSLSOCpG1OTXrtNRhruQ-Hq3gPE46riScSVZTgjvYhazXaEudleyaneGCjUPNu_eHZ6VvhI_3MBEzh3UeibX0l/s640/411573_10151017775010017_1961437547_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brendan & Brittany</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhkfkzw1CP3L_Yj59uBmWu1P-elrMrrSkrqutHk3aCvq1KDnM6YdIG5Cj6jr68wSqkzrd8ZSu3VQZeZWbfu4ynhdL7JUblm7r_F3mgGD_a5l4nckP0hwK9i3JsYxZIdkAEPjt/s1600/621633_10151075273795017_827482923_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjhkfkzw1CP3L_Yj59uBmWu1P-elrMrrSkrqutHk3aCvq1KDnM6YdIG5Cj6jr68wSqkzrd8ZSu3VQZeZWbfu4ynhdL7JUblm7r_F3mgGD_a5l4nckP0hwK9i3JsYxZIdkAEPjt/s640/621633_10151075273795017_827482923_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reece & Family</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2uksZNJgwADaIkPOEaVXcRQS2K-xRv-az9HWZSeXcTCADYo7s6ELIUbcIRZFi-dOpGM3KAlufrkL27vwgv-ieO_SnbYXCgu7nOn6ZrLdxpNewwu7hT6HIz1KtbtM7Vt704T_2/s1600/327452_10151093247300017_3408324_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2uksZNJgwADaIkPOEaVXcRQS2K-xRv-az9HWZSeXcTCADYo7s6ELIUbcIRZFi-dOpGM3KAlufrkL27vwgv-ieO_SnbYXCgu7nOn6ZrLdxpNewwu7hT6HIz1KtbtM7Vt704T_2/s640/327452_10151093247300017_3408324_o.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kyle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1nWa2uv7I_tEG4eTNng15sGXs22IRyv_sK6BSr_JqE9S4pDxRli52Aot1ASmAS5KtbCDpc7QgwH98pkGMR3erb9pwln0wQBGl7LwJmB9wPsLEPl0nPZoX1Ny6m8dutKY40fgB/s1600/336221_10151075319010017_358401387_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1nWa2uv7I_tEG4eTNng15sGXs22IRyv_sK6BSr_JqE9S4pDxRli52Aot1ASmAS5KtbCDpc7QgwH98pkGMR3erb9pwln0wQBGl7LwJmB9wPsLEPl0nPZoX1Ny6m8dutKY40fgB/s640/336221_10151075319010017_358401387_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter & Sam</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iann</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN3P9R1HNAR0wFDJmroAg4MHUkwTCwIJ55v4lXA903WaEQWSvTcOiB1io7BpzeRMtT9sy_MvNP6DiWIXG5h2-u7OSGuY1ZHn3iRMRi597vH7s0g7FuYfhxy0gvbfy2TOBpFply/s1600/241886_10150936595830017_175063800_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN3P9R1HNAR0wFDJmroAg4MHUkwTCwIJ55v4lXA903WaEQWSvTcOiB1io7BpzeRMtT9sy_MvNP6DiWIXG5h2-u7OSGuY1ZHn3iRMRi597vH7s0g7FuYfhxy0gvbfy2TOBpFply/s640/241886_10150936595830017_175063800_o.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Josh, Sarah, & Tara</td></tr>
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Paul Nelson from <a href="http://www.nelsontruevalue.com/" target="_blank">Nelson's Hardware TrueValue</a> - Cumberland, WI, left<br />
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Wisconsin adventurers, right<br />
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Unfortunately, this list is not complete. My memory is great but not spotless. So to everyone I didn't mention, I remember the good memories we shared. A short speech and a long story could be written for every name, picture and company here. I hope recognition, my prayers, and my friendship has made your life more beautiful. Thank you for making my life so blessed and wonderful. Please keep in touch! In fact, if you send me an email and say hi, I promise I will write back!<br />
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across2worlds@gmail.com<br />
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Or friend me on Facebook. So from my humble heart, thanks... but also salamat po, danke schön, merci, grazie, gracias, obrigado, السلام عليكم, & 謝謝.<br />
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Until next time.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-37845053780886057132012-11-10T05:48:00.002-08:002013-02-03T00:00:16.896-08:00Episode 20: Long Live Lobster<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As the title suggests, lobster is the name of the game. But first things first: I MADE IT. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFefiYY0x1FzDs36UTmZ-xWJDJQZuAnWROZvg4fdmZ8sKA8Il7GXqq_dCfml2kKIPy5wqj4PMfs4Drdlx3y9vfTVY5Vw2fuFATmdn7-PZVDXKB-RiYir1steEHEPxTBH6r0qR/s1600/P1060366.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFefiYY0x1FzDs36UTmZ-xWJDJQZuAnWROZvg4fdmZ8sKA8Il7GXqq_dCfml2kKIPy5wqj4PMfs4Drdlx3y9vfTVY5Vw2fuFATmdn7-PZVDXKB-RiYir1steEHEPxTBH6r0qR/s640/P1060366.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjugj7w9E7KhBo51xb6x1Gad9UVZsobCD1ideMxAZHRcVAb1m5kuu0W-vxZe2nvrKmuyD3uJpJM3nnO2PnZukEKwQgJkOomBuwNcxiD-PaQozzzdK-vkgNAtLudvTQdu06-M0Eu/s1600/P1060362.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjugj7w9E7KhBo51xb6x1Gad9UVZsobCD1ideMxAZHRcVAb1m5kuu0W-vxZe2nvrKmuyD3uJpJM3nnO2PnZukEKwQgJkOomBuwNcxiD-PaQozzzdK-vkgNAtLudvTQdu06-M0Eu/s1600/P1060362.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjugj7w9E7KhBo51xb6x1Gad9UVZsobCD1ideMxAZHRcVAb1m5kuu0W-vxZe2nvrKmuyD3uJpJM3nnO2PnZukEKwQgJkOomBuwNcxiD-PaQozzzdK-vkgNAtLudvTQdu06-M0Eu/s640/P1060362.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The first part of my "Coast-to-Coast" Bicycle Pilgrimage is over as of 14 days ago. Technically my bicycle and I went<i> coastal state-to-coastal state</i> since Ellensburg is smack dab in the middle of Washington, but let's not worry about the details. The "bicycle" part is still an option, basically until the weather doesn't allow me to, and the "pilgrimage" is not over as I'm visiting some monasteries this month. <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=207067118976401684480.0004cd8a8f1be6f56c51d&msa=0" target="_blank">Click here</a> and you get (more or less) the route Kyle and I took to Minneapolis, and what I took the rest of the way.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibIlgF25LQjkX_6fy0qPC0xn8RbWnEDGL-hqEmU9iAr-8kBaJC_QrcuoPI1pY8hlaQnc51nNeYM8xZFjPrOi_7sVTpDUL1niysY9RtgQOKZgfC8i_THUt87ULrZ2OCkK14EOFO/s1600/P1060378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibIlgF25LQjkX_6fy0qPC0xn8RbWnEDGL-hqEmU9iAr-8kBaJC_QrcuoPI1pY8hlaQnc51nNeYM8xZFjPrOi_7sVTpDUL1niysY9RtgQOKZgfC8i_THUt87ULrZ2OCkK14EOFO/s400/P1060378.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Atop Cadillac Mountain, 1,528 feet above sea level.</td></tr></tbody></table>Maine: the lobster state. Everyone told me the lobster season was good this year, from Montana to Wisconsin to the local lobsterman in Maine. I arrived in the lovely state of Maine via the western border city of Fryeburg and onto Brunswick, my first official Atlantic coast city, at dusk. At that time I was in the highest spirits of recent memory, after going through tough weather, (rain, wind, snow) and sickness (cold & fever), all going through three sets of mountains in the Appalachians (the Adirondacks, Green Mountains, & White Mountains). I ended up at the Brunswick and the stayed in Portland after a night on the town with a local. Then went onto Bar Harbor, a piece of cake except for rain and constant kickers of hills that killed my morale. But I made it up to Cadillac Mountain, the highest mountain on the Atlantic Coast, north of Brazil.<br />
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So lobster. Crustaceans. This summer they were going for $2/lb.! The cheapest I found was $3.99- still cheaper than anywhere else, even the New Brunswick lobstermen <a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-08-08/news/33087217_1_maine-lobster-lobster-dealers-lobstermen" target="_blank">protested for fair prices</a> because of the U.S. surplus driving down market price. Price = cheap. Preparation- they have to be alive before you cook them otherwise their digestive juices end up breaking down the organs, giving off an enzyme and eventually going bad. So wait... I have to <i>kill</i> it to cook it?!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2t2uRlVobmo0IGMIgeKob6qvvkF_0YcyR65TDxE-0VvaX1_uu9ymFY_Bv_BTYQbLESthAzT7Xo82HEZH043UY4f9Tq-OshRDJceatRSeetTQuloVGnzSi7Hkaj7FjybaP6XH/s1600/P1060450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS2t2uRlVobmo0IGMIgeKob6qvvkF_0YcyR65TDxE-0VvaX1_uu9ymFY_Bv_BTYQbLESthAzT7Xo82HEZH043UY4f9Tq-OshRDJceatRSeetTQuloVGnzSi7Hkaj7FjybaP6XH/s640/P1060450.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But... Butt...</td></tr></tbody></table>I stare at it. It moves. I flinch.<br />
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"I hate creepy crawlies."<br />
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Nicole simply picks it up and hands it to me like it's a play thing.<br />
Tells me, "If you rub it between the eyes, it goes to sleep."<br />
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I rub it. It goes limp. Doesn't help my courage one bit.<br />
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"You'll put one in?"<br />
<br />
"... Ok."<br />
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And I am up close and personal to the biggest one I've encountered. I work up the courage to pick it up and get proof via picture.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfya7RXYhmGjkopc_vDtohRFlmOfmXbl5MW6f93vbmKKvanbvip3WfGykkmQknNp52WiRGU2A_OfyMul4ruEcZR-0ky5Ys1NR58D_8e5f7w57-HR_62ZvuzIQLfjkckbZMzTB7/s1600/P1060451.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfya7RXYhmGjkopc_vDtohRFlmOfmXbl5MW6f93vbmKKvanbvip3WfGykkmQknNp52WiRGU2A_OfyMul4ruEcZR-0ky5Ys1NR58D_8e5f7w57-HR_62ZvuzIQLfjkckbZMzTB7/s640/P1060451.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cooking lobster. In an apron.</td></tr></tbody></table>Done. No big deal. I just killed something. Do I have to go to confession for that? Is there such thing as humane killing? It was in a coma when I put it in the boiling water. It came out freshly boiled and looking yummy, not like it did squirming half an hour ago. I ate my lobster, <i>my</i> lobster, with this in mind, thinking how different I would feel if I ordered one from a restaurant and paid three times as much.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_MwDvHfNZIgyDb5NODRNu5vSfPD_jdLe31SX7fZw6gTceyp_Ut0TYE6pJ-kO0bTPh1e3blb7lX03pqWyS0btOtXmSIqluD5mhBi5s7KffZ_Kuck6rAA4rp3sR6-1LEMd60Ez/s1600/P1060453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_MwDvHfNZIgyDb5NODRNu5vSfPD_jdLe31SX7fZw6gTceyp_Ut0TYE6pJ-kO0bTPh1e3blb7lX03pqWyS0btOtXmSIqluD5mhBi5s7KffZ_Kuck6rAA4rp3sR6-1LEMd60Ez/s640/P1060453.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner: served.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />
But as I slowly shucked it up, from bottom side down the middle and same up top, slurping up the juices and slathering butter all over; it's a messy affair really. The fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach and boy did Maine win my heart.<br />
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</div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnxAB2FK4JQKVFosf7khhVsc82y68La_4uTeYJ1pXecwH0bzlUarBhM3zG4iy-sQbRWNqGZUFXVH6_GtHUuccpS_KwsYEnf_URGXIEDqw53I5uGIn3-GVZr6H8BplaeUy2iFf/s1600/P1060340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnxAB2FK4JQKVFosf7khhVsc82y68La_4uTeYJ1pXecwH0bzlUarBhM3zG4iy-sQbRWNqGZUFXVH6_GtHUuccpS_KwsYEnf_URGXIEDqw53I5uGIn3-GVZr6H8BplaeUy2iFf/s640/P1060340.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner: served again.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At the end of it all, I ended up having 5 lobsters in the 6 days I was in Maine, two in Portland, two in Belfast, and another in Trenton just outside of Bar Harbor with a lobsterman and his family. Sure, Acadia National Park, Mt. Cadillac, Catholic mass at a record 38 minutes with music and all, Bath where they're making a super stealth destroyer are great stories, but that'll be for another time... all for the sake of lobster.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Until next time.</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-48641670388039208282012-10-31T10:34:00.001-07:002012-10-31T16:23:03.856-07:00Episode 19: The Things I've Learned: Part IThink of a plan, make a plan, have a plan; but not everything goes according to the plan.<br />
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Reflecting on 79 days and counting every single day, I have tried to appreciate the accomplishments, no matter how little. Or the things I have failed to accomplish. Fail and reflect. Accomplish and reflect.<br />
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Agua de Vida. I would take a gander that 50% or more do not drink enough of the daily recommended amount of water. Or drink enough caffeine to counteract it.<br />
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If it's cold, be active. And wear layers. Stay dry. Have soup, hot tea, coffee, cocoa. <br />
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If it's hot, be active. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Enjoy the sun but not too much everything must be taken in moderation to avoid heat exhaustion. <br />
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Anger is a reactionary emotion. It can consume and give way to irrational thoughts.<br />
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Joy is a reactionary emotion. It can consume and give way to rational and irrational thoughts.<br />
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Hospitality can go a long way but don't count on it. <br />
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From mooing to cows to meeting people in my spandex, there's always a good story to tell when one stands out from the crowd. <br />
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Do not travel facing backwards on the train. We aren't meant to travel backwards.<br />
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Until next time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-68486703426929410272012-10-13T07:38:00.001-07:002012-11-02T18:00:34.344-07:00Episode 18: FearIn the light of the upcoming commercial holiday, what makes one scared? Scary movies, haunted houses, creepy crawlies, or the dark hallway? I have spent many a night on the road wondering if I'd make it- "what if a gigantic animal decides to feast on me tonight?" "what if I simply freeze to death?" "what happens when I see the bogeyman?" Can't go running to mom and dad's room anymore.<br />
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I'm focused on survival: I become suddenly aware of my surroundings, my hearing more acute, and time seems to slow down. How do these instincts tap into our spidey senses and allow us the fortune of being spared from foreseeable peril? Answer: our ancestors. They did the same thing before there were automobiles, firearms, grocery stores, homes with running water, sewage, and electricity. We've all been bred to innately be scared when there is a reason to be.<br />
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What I wonder on the road is whether other animals sense fear in others. Growing up learning to be tolerant of house dogs that viciously bark but are instinctively weary of strangers to their patch of land, I have been chased by some who pursue out of play and some I'm not so sure would wag their tail if I were slower. But it's all part of that game of life: survival of the fittest. And I happen to have wheels; take that quadrupeds. Though I have yet to be chased uphill or on gravel. That'd be the end of me.<br />
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I came upon a book called Beyond Death's Door by Dr. Maurice Rawlings at a garage sale in Wisconsin. Perfect, because I was getting frantic with what I'd do with my time once I finished my current book. It was written in the late 70's when resuscitation techniques became proven and widespread. Dr. Rawlings discussed his documentation of the patients that were pronounced clinically dead and lived to tell the tale, whether pleasantly good or terrifyingly bad. A simple short read for those interested.<br />
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Then we have fear of reasonable things- our parent's wrath when we're little when we do something bad, or what happens if one of our love ones gets hurt, or if we fail. Those fears transform us into respecting our elders, respecting nature, and respecting failure. Respect is an essential part of life and why we are largely afraid of things. Or should I say the end goal is to develop respect for what we fear: God, nature, death, life. Which, by the way, is the origin of the term Halloween- All Hallows Eve/All Soul's Day, although it has Irish and Scottish pagan roots. It's a holy day of obligation for you Catholics out there (go to church!).<br />
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In other news, this is my 61st day of my bicycle trip, entering New Hampshire, typing this post in a cozy Bed & Breakfast:<br />
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Donna & John Andersen<br />
Breakfast on the Connecticut<br />
651 River Road<br />
Lyme, NH 03768<br />
<br />
I'll be staying in Lincoln tonight and arrival to Bar Harbor, ME will be Thursday. Some numbers for y'all:<br />
Days: 61<br />
States: 10<br />
Days of Sun: 50<br />
Days of Rain: 10<br />
Days of Snow: 1<br />
Days of Sickness: 4<br />
Rest Days: 23<br />
Mountain Passes: 3<br />
Hikes: 4<br />
Miles travelled: around 4,000<br />
Miles by-<br />
Bike: a lot<br />
Train: 1,400<br />
Car: 120<br />
Days in Tent: 40<br />
Days under Roof: 21<br />
Showers: 28<br />
Laundry: 12<br />
Flat tires: 0<br />
Ounces of gas consumed: 38<br />
Calories burned: 250,000<br />
Books read: 5<br />
Days with Monks: 6<br />
Days with Family: 12<br />
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Until next time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-80575070517874096112012-10-01T09:02:00.001-07:002012-10-01T09:16:27.791-07:00Bicycle Banter: AromasThese are the aromas of Ontario<br />
Young tomatoes by the truckload all over the road dodged and smashed but plump and full of seed and juice.<br />
Dehydrating burning tobacco kilns sending their pungent pervasive aroma easterly<br />
Monsterly peppers hanging and laying on the fertile soil deceiving the eye but seizing the tongue<br />
Brown cows black cows spotted brown and black cows signalled by lingering manure and hay grazing and perplexed by mammals mooing must be another cow they say<br />
The faint charcoal BBQ smoke of suburban invisible families enjoying food and drink on the land while I move along the land<br />
These are the aromas of Ontario.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-20096313752506033062012-09-16T21:10:00.001-07:002012-09-16T21:15:49.049-07:00Episode 17: Twitter 101Before you do anything else, follow these instructions:<br />
<br />
A) SMS "follow @across2worlds" to 40404 (Twitter),<br />
<br />
or <br />
<br />
B) <a href="http://twitter.com/across2worlds" target="_blank">Go to Twitter</a>, sign up and follow me.<br />
<br />
If you've been living under a rock the past 6 years, or one social-media website is enough, I give you Twitter. Not actually giving you, but educating you with the facts. Twitter is a micro-blogging service to tell the world what you're up to in 140 characters. You can follow famous people like the U.S. president (@barackobama) or your favorite actor/actress (@tomhanks/@zooeydeschanel). And find trending topics classified under <i>hashtags</i> (#monasticpilgrimage) to classify what's happening in the world. Yes I am simply using you to increase my followership.<br />
<br />
If you kept on reading to this second paragraph and haven't followed me already, shame on you; you must have been one of those problem children in school. Just kidding, I still love you. Many people have been asking where I am at <i>exactly this moment</i> (Shawano, WI) and where I'll be the next few days so Twitter becomes better than Facebook because, unlike Facebook, you can follow and unfollow whomever you please and is more social-media acceptable than a Facebook unfriend. *gasp* If I indeed unfriended you on Facebook, it's because we haven't talked in years. I'm sorry and you're welcome to friend me again. I simply don't need 1,200 friends.<br />
<br />
After this simple passive-committal step, you'll be able to get up-to-the-minute report of everything (via SMS, mobile app, and stationary app) that I don't post on Facebook or this blog. It's like one of those stalking relationships where you look at pictures of your 1st grade elementary crush. Yes, I just admitted that publicly... but this is rather useful information, like where to eat if you happen to be in Shawano, Wisconsin.<br />
<br />
Woo. Completely transparent. Like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Armstrong#Allegations_of_doping" target="_blank">Lance Armstrong</a>, who for the record, passed every in-competition test. A winner in my book, not some sports politics on who has jurisdiction in deciding his fate. Doped up or not, he still won the Tour de France 7 times among others. He bested Miguel Indurain at the 1993 World Championship before cancer, the 5-time winner of the TdF and physiologically better than Armstrong with a resting heart rate of 29 compared to 33, and a VO2 max of 88 ml/kg/min compared to 84. And he survived cancer treatment. How many people do you know do that and accomplish more thereafter? Food for thought.<br />
<br />
Last but not least, the two people I miss at the moment:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKLdwjd47dkwKYoTUFaJuWLzQKgXjXM2WcU93amPuclhf1LERGaHaV2WesvV_S1LAQ49Q8JOVzRHrPYDVcMVx-yKrTprgUGOcgTz2q_qwGQHOtJZC7UhunrPKYQFjJ07BvuP4S/s1600/469522_10151093235130017_1062965673_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKLdwjd47dkwKYoTUFaJuWLzQKgXjXM2WcU93amPuclhf1LERGaHaV2WesvV_S1LAQ49Q8JOVzRHrPYDVcMVx-yKrTprgUGOcgTz2q_qwGQHOtJZC7UhunrPKYQFjJ07BvuP4S/s640/469522_10151093235130017_1062965673_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cousin David and Kyle</td></tr>
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Until next time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0Shawano, WI 54166, USA44.814967162135623 -88.60885620117187544.76988616213562 -88.687820201171874 44.860048162135627 -88.529892201171876tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-29619877339500638422012-09-14T14:57:00.001-07:002012-09-14T14:57:19.805-07:00Bicycle Banter: Numbers, Maps, and ThingsFor the rest of my tour route, <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/6qyUa" target="_blank">click here</a>. If you are remotely (~25 miles) close to this route and would like to provide your front yard, please contact me at across2worlds@gmail.com. Thanks!<br />
<br />
Some numbers so far for y'all:<br />
<br />
<span class="userContent">Days: 32<br /> States: 7<br /> Miles by bike: 1,200<br /> Miles by train: 1,200<br /> Miles by car: 100<br /> Days of sun: 30<br /> Days of rain: 1<br /> Days of snow: 0<span class="text_exposed_hide"><br /></span><div class="text_exposed_show">
Mountain passes: 3<br /> Hikes: 4<br /> Average daily mileage by bike: 62<br /> Average speed (mph) by bike: 12<br /> Showers: 16<br /> Laundry: 8<br /> Flat tires: 0<br /> Ounces of white gas consumed: 28<br /> Calories burned: 160,000<br /> Days with monks: 5<br /> Days with family: 9<br /> Bears: 3<br /> Bald Eagles: 2<br /> Animal noises I've learned to make: 4</div>
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AND a picture, for kicks- Gus the touring cyclist, and Gus the dog:</div>
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Until next time. </div>
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-83737806837230890002012-09-09T18:44:00.002-07:002012-09-16T21:47:11.502-07:00Episode 16: The Rising Sun<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGzUsEZNUwXp_ljjoaOUwGOCZAdMGh79ljf3bhVKvZ0LlolgGOJf_ZC6LgwsGPmdgRdMCS1fgpyFpkCrmN3-rV6AGQZUNpy3K0gKztpyxFRJdDx5SXrc50AN14lxIQ4qLPHXph/s1600/P1050134.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGzUsEZNUwXp_ljjoaOUwGOCZAdMGh79ljf3bhVKvZ0LlolgGOJf_ZC6LgwsGPmdgRdMCS1fgpyFpkCrmN3-rV6AGQZUNpy3K0gKztpyxFRJdDx5SXrc50AN14lxIQ4qLPHXph/s640/P1050134.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kootenai Falls</td></tr>
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We approach West Glacier in the late afternoon via treacherous highway 2. Some clouds with mild weather. We eat at the taco truck by the name of "The Wandering Gringo" and it doest indeed wander- south to Arizona (maybe that's why their tacos are darn good). The Apgar Village is recommended to us by bicycle path located at the mouth of Lake MacDonald. Canadians are our neighbors and share original Coors (the good kind, and stuff that can't be had in Canada) and good stories up to the night.<br />
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A highlight, if not the crowning jewel of the Northern Tier of the Adventure Cycling Association route is Glacier National Park. The look people get when one mentions Glacier, something happens- they swoon, or their eyes focus into the distance, or become animated, telling you the best hike to a lake or pass they've been to. It has become, for some, a place to be one with nature, become a place to go to for spiritual enrichment, become a place to be awed, inspired, fulfilled, and nourished. So I thought, "ok nature, show me: do your best."<br />
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The Highway to the Rising Sun. Sounds epic. Going-to-the-sun highway is the actual name but it doesn't roll of the tongue quite well.We set off by eight o'clock on a freezing morning. They close the only road that goes through the park to cyclists because it's a two lane road that has practically no shoulder when two-wheeled velocipedes carrying person and pack would certainly be secondary to motorists because of the view. A picture is worth a thousand words? Well, these will be the grandest thousand for a while:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNhoofUsMMEfGQM4UoiVlxW7D6u59SPQtbjN7x_OARJn_2obeZ4sX7z54t0BNz1SJqrR6LWifUmAlsqUx9sO7oSsw05bC8s_K7EwFW076lJC5i4nwCVwrzvYhyphenhyphenL5hU6Q6xvI6/s1600/77972_10151093213070017_1479999005_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNhoofUsMMEfGQM4UoiVlxW7D6u59SPQtbjN7x_OARJn_2obeZ4sX7z54t0BNz1SJqrR6LWifUmAlsqUx9sO7oSsw05bC8s_K7EwFW076lJC5i4nwCVwrzvYhyphenhyphenL5hU6Q6xvI6/s400/77972_10151093213070017_1479999005_o.jpg" width="400" /></a>The ascent took 4 hours (for me) to get to the top. We took pictures and did the tourist thing at Logan Pass, located at 6,646 feet above sea level. After descending into Rising Sun to set up camp, we met with Graham, an old high school buddy who tours people around St. Mary Lake, the second largest lake in Glacier to Lake Macdonald. The next day we spend lunch at Piegan Pass after getting to St. Mary Lake, a 4.5 mile hike that ascends 1,750 feet higher while a little creature's curiosity nagged our picnic of chili and rice.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs14Sj46HidJi_iXUiLilU9vkbQJO6Ils4lRhzZ8VK43gPsFZ-J4pzJRHWqNLKqYm51_udjiKu8LGLJk3tm7GoLFFZambkh2BUrkl6TxtS38-AwjLPkzSGJYUrX2dCPAytHIuK/s1600/P1050304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs14Sj46HidJi_iXUiLilU9vkbQJO6Ils4lRhzZ8VK43gPsFZ-J4pzJRHWqNLKqYm51_udjiKu8LGLJk3tm7GoLFFZambkh2BUrkl6TxtS38-AwjLPkzSGJYUrX2dCPAytHIuK/s320/P1050304.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzP0B9eUIJzd48F6XAX8a1WhmYK5qyp53Qu9anqgvxvpAdWfdHuCymqNddkjKDOHWLZ4N7I3153Qp3ZbMPGmcaXVo83gXQZIL5CLaX0qUHRf3_gdIlARPBbFqIeTPT5Jk-70qD/s1600/P1050305.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzP0B9eUIJzd48F6XAX8a1WhmYK5qyp53Qu9anqgvxvpAdWfdHuCymqNddkjKDOHWLZ4N7I3153Qp3ZbMPGmcaXVo83gXQZIL5CLaX0qUHRf3_gdIlARPBbFqIeTPT5Jk-70qD/s320/P1050305.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1xQ3IpcpneufRQMBKsf26oO5Y7ul3UZanSAKGpgGcJ4xW6c7YI_y2tKf8qI_xv4-FgBC5MWYXH3bmBZsnkvJ6mLWqdul0TNdigLPJWPq8lafrHYsrvv9j9zVWHA2o26t3AReF/s1600/P1050280.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1xQ3IpcpneufRQMBKsf26oO5Y7ul3UZanSAKGpgGcJ4xW6c7YI_y2tKf8qI_xv4-FgBC5MWYXH3bmBZsnkvJ6mLWqdul0TNdigLPJWPq8lafrHYsrvv9j9zVWHA2o26t3AReF/s320/P1050280.JPG" width="212" /></a> <br />
After spending a week in Minneapolis, Kyle got a call for a potential job offer and had to head home. He made it to Washington by train safely and wish him well in the real world. So I'm on my own starting tomorrow, heading into Wisconsin in anticipation for the Great Lakes. I'll miss you Kyle. The one thing I've learned is that it's the journey that matters, not the destination. And so part two of the journey starts tomorrow.<br />
<br />
Until next time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-9436944537570602842012-09-02T13:32:00.000-07:002012-10-01T09:03:27.398-07:00Bicycle Banter: TravelWe travel day by bicycle.<br />
Drink, eat, bike. Drink, eat, bike.<br />
Drink, eat, sleep.<br />
<br />
We travel afternoon by train,<br />
plains running slower than the power lines.<br />
The lounge car with people perusing-<br />
city folk, farm folk, Omish folk, mountain folk.<br />
<br />
We travel evening by train,<br />
all wandering folk, all to leave a place to get to a place-<br />
Glacier, The Oil Boom, Fargo for farewell,<br />
Mom at the hospital, St. John's.<br />
<br />
We travel morning by train.<br />
The rising sun calls for listening with the heart,<br />
a stranger pouring his life into my story.<br />
<br />
I travel day by car, with monks.<br />
Pray, eat, work. Pray, eat, work.<br />
Pray, eat, sleep.<br />
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I travel day by foot.<br />
Alone with God.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10976531.post-31266971479738136942012-08-14T07:23:00.001-07:002012-09-16T21:40:00.360-07:00Episode 15: Just Do ItSorry Nike, I'm stealing this for the day. People say things they want to do. Less people act upon what they say. What started out as a dream is about to become reality. I'm leaving to go on a journey, physical, spiritual and everything in between. So I'm acting upon what I said months ago. To get up and decide to do it was the easy part. To pray and discern if God wants me to is less easy. To actually walk out the front door with my life on a bike is the hard part.<br />
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My buddy Kyle and I are biking across the Northern Tier of United States of America, the place I've called home for most of my life. From Ellensburg, Washington to Bar Harbor, Maine. 11 states, 2 territories, 4,200 miles, 6,000 calories a day. Glacier National Park, The Great Lakes, Niagara Falls, the Appalachian Hills. And why you might ask? For the adventure of course, not for the attention. Not for a charity or for academic research; for a change of scenery, meeting new locals everyday, and eating food of the area. </div>
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I have noticed that the people who inspire me, the ones I've met and read (and able to learn from) function on a higher sphere than most. They go out and... Just do it. They seemingly contribute to society effortlessly. They listen. They teach. They write poetry and compose music. They eat, pray, and love. So I go searching out there in the world and inside myself, and in people for something intangible, something more than money can buy. Maybe we'll find a paradise no one else has found. </div>
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This summer I have sold, auctioned, and given away all my possessions, besides my books and tools of trade. Since I've gotten back from Macau, I've earned my bachelor's degree, my wage as a musician, a bike mechanic, and librarian. I'm able to pay the bills, play music, ride the bike, float the river, throw dinner parties, go to dance parties. I've made new friends and gotten closer to old ones. And farther from some. If I were to impart any wisdom it'd be: if one walks the humble, respectful, just, and rightful path of life, everything works out in the end. People have good hearts and it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that. By the way, if you'd <a href="http://www.gofundme.com/14swcw" target="_blank">like to contribute</a>, I'd give you my utter thanks and blessings. I don't think it's tax-deductible but you'd have a special place in my heart.</div>
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I write all this envisioning epic Wagner or ethereal Mahler in the background and guffaw at the idea: if a simple person like me would ever receive a drop their genius I'd be thankful. And their blessings for the trip. Thanks music gods. What I'd do to sit down for coffee with Rachmaninov. Or Beethoven. Or Bach. You probably won't hear from me as regularly because I'll be doing my soul-searching. Not google searching. If I have something profound or funny to say I'll tweet something somewhere (<a href="https://twitter.com/Across2Worlds" target="_blank">@across2worlds</a>), or post some pictures that inspire. Maybe someday I'll write a book about it but as of late, I have nothing to say. </div>
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Godspeed gentlemen. And gentlewomen.</div>
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Until next time.<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;">劉暢</span> </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02946605005895703367noreply@blogger.com0