Blogblocked

Have you ever had that mentally blocked feeling, when your mind is buzzing but you can't sit down and organize your thoughts long enough to produce a coherent narrative? Well, that's been me this week. I've been busy, but the buzz is more than mere busyness - it's also an overarching sense of recalcitrance. Like, I'm sick of thinking. Don't make me think anymore.

Fortunately, I finally have a chance today to back away from the work week, return to my cushion, and relax with the blog - with the cat on my lap, of course.

So what's going on? Well, lots of work stuff. Continuing changes on the job. Nothing bad, necessarily, but certainly some new challenges. I have several different projects in the air.

Fortunately, I've had some fun, too. My friend Bob and I went to the Museum of Modern Art yesterday to see their new exhibit on color - interesting stuff, because of course MoMA never disappoints. We had planned to go up to the Bronx to see the orchid show at the botanical garden with Brian, but the weather was hideously rainy, so we decided to stay close to home instead. We'll do the orchids another week.

Today, on the other hand, is brilliantly blue and cold. I went walking this morning and took some photos in Chinatown and down by the Brooklyn Banks, as the area under the Brooklyn Bridge is known. (Popular skateboarding territory, and lots of street art.)

And I'm psyched because I have reservations to visit Palm Springs early next month with my friends Christopher and Jerry. I'll fly to LA and then we'll drive to PS for a few days. I can't wait!

(Photo: Fence in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Feb. 2008)

Fountain

I went walking with a friend through the plaza at Rockefeller Center last night, where we saw "Electric Fountain," an installation by British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster. The project was inspired by Rockefeller Center, where it will be on display until April 5.

From the program:

Electric Fountain represents Noble & Webster's modern take on the world's oldest form of public art, the fountain. It simultaneously references iconic pop culture symbols, such as marquee signs in Las Vegas and Times Square, and historical fountains built in civic spaces, such as Bernini's Triton Fountain. A monument for the 21st century, Electric Fountain is a celebration of the spectacle, excess, beauty and desire of contemporary culture and a provocative comment on the nature of consumer society, a theme often present in Noble & Webster's work.

"Electric Fountain mimics the tradition of a fountain as a monument found in public squares around the world, but its magic lies in the emulation of light where water should be," said artist Sue Webster. "During daylight hours the viewer will really get a sense of Electric Fountain's architectural and sculptural qualities as the lights react with the changing moods of New York City's daily weather conditions. As nighttime falls, the sculptural form will slowly disappear into the darkness leaving only the illusion of bright cascading water in its wake."

Sparse

My posting may get a little sparse over the next week or so - I'm once again getting into an unusually busy time. Of course, I've said that before and then kept right on posting. So who knows.

As I lie in bed I hear a lot of helicopters in the air. Apparently there's been some sort of small explosion in front of the military recruiting station in Times Square, and some of the streets and subways have been shut down. Drama!

(Photo: Brooklyn, Feb. 2008)

Quotation

Today, just for fun, I’m taking a cue from Reya, who was recently tagged with this meme. I generally don’t tag people myself, but if you’re interested in trying it, feel free!

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Here goes:

Their encounters were anything but intimate. “Although George delivered meat to our house on his bicycle, I didn’t really know him,” Bramwell admits. “But I discovered, some time later, that he was getting all my records from a classmate named Maurice Daniels, who was a drummer in a dance band and had borrowed them from me to rehearse with each week.”

--from “The Beatles,” by Bob Spitz.

(Photo: Sixth Avenue triplets, Feb. 2008)

Rest!

I ended up spending most of yesterday at the Zendo, practicing in the morning and attending a steering committee meeting in the afternoon.

It’s funny -- when I first went to the Zendo, four years ago, Zen felt very easy to me. I quite confidently felt that I had a natural affinity for it -- that I understood it and was already somewhat in touch with my Buddha nature. But over time, my confidence in practice has gradually diminished. Now I often feel like I’m wandering in the wilderness. I guess that’s a step forward!

Oh, and I did finally have a chance to rest up. I had a terrific dinner and evening with a good friend, and then went to sleep at 9:30 p.m. Whew!

(Photo: Alfred Hitchcock in the East Village, Feb. 2008)

No Rest

Well, my "day of rest" yesterday turned into a day of errands. Nothing very exciting: I cleaned my house, went to the gym, got a new watchband, bought cereal, bought a Beatles CD ("Beatles for Sale," from 1964).

Last night I went to see "The Buddha Play" with some friends from the Zendo. It was quite poetic, and certainly conveyed the simple beauty of the Buddha's philosophy. I found myself letting go even as I watched, settling once again into the simplicity of practice. Unfortunately, I was also so tired that I struggled to stay awake toward the end - no fault of the production itself.

(Photo: Shadows from the Pierre Hotel on the building next door, Feb. 2008)

Day of Rest

This has been a very busy week. I haven't spent an evening at home since Monday, making me feel like a neglectful cat owner. (Not that the cat seems to mind. She's lying here next to me, grooming away, apparently oblivious.)

The white spot in the photo above, by the way, is not the moon. It's a spotlight inside the glass building. But it looks very lunar, doesn't it? That's the spire of the Empire State Building directly below the light, peeking through the sections of the large building in front.

Thursday's Tibet event got me thinking about nationalism. I've never understood why China is so persistent in clinging to Tibet, a harsh country where - to hear the panelists tell it on Thursday - the Chinese can't even live because they're not adapted to the altitude. I've never understood Serbia's insistence on maintaining control over Kosovo, either.

It seems to me that if a majority of people in a given area chafe against the government and want to secede, and it's an area of modest material value to the national economy, little would be lost by letting it go. Why shouldn't Kosovo and Tibet be independent nations? Or Chechnya for that matter? You'd think the central governments of China, Serbia and Russia would be happy to be rid of them.

This probably reflects stunning naivete on my part - and I'm aware of complicating factors, such as intermingled ethnic groups, not to mention our own Civil War history - but overall I just don't get it.

I saw "No Country for Old Men" last night. An excellent movie! Bloody, but it kept me riveted throughout. Javier Bardem is great, and so are Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones. The movie ends rather abruptly, I thought, but I guess that's part of the mystique.

Anyway, I am looking forward to today. I plan to go to the gym, relax and read, and clean my apartment. Tonight I'm off to the theater again, but at least I'll be well-rested!

(Photo: Herald Square, Feb. 2008)