The World In Between

I just woke up from a dream in which I was telling a girl about a dream I had within another dream (within this dream in which I was speaking to her), in which I was told that I would die after listening to a particular song. When having the dream within a dream (within this dream), I had been afraid. But in the telling of it, I realized there was no reason to be afraid. Of course I would die after listening to the song. If I died before listening to it, I wouldn’t be able to listen to it. And just because I was going to die after listening to it, it doesn’t mean that I would die immediately after listening to it.

We all die in the end after doing whatever it is that we end up doing. To avoid listening to music for fear of listening to your last song would be to lose your life even while you are still living.

Edit: Before falling asleep again, I distilled that last line into a haiku:

If, for fear of death,

you avoid hearing music,

you will die in life.

We went to the Japanese Gardens today. We practiced zen patience while waiting for the perfect shots to appear.

Urban Zen in Chinatown.

My father came to town today and we went to the Chinese Gardens.

I recently found a slip of paper on which several months ago I had sketched an image and jotted a few notes about a simple project the idea for which I was inspired while browsing the craft store. I decided that now was the right time to implement the concept.

I call it the Oasis (or rather, I couldn’t think of a clever name, so the Girl called it the Oasis).

It’s a cylindrical glass jar with bamboo and water in it, inside of a larger glass jar that is filled with white sand and a Buddha figurine. I raked the sand so it has waves, which is in contrast to the still water inside the bamboo jar. The only thing I would change is to lower the water level, but the bamboo needs water and if the water level goes below the sand, then you can’t see how much is in there.

I like the simplicity of the design. It’s not complicated or anything someone else couldn’t have come up with, but it works for it’s purpose. Far better than a complicated project that I never get around to finishing because of grand designs and perfectionism.

Recently I’ve been reviving old project ideas and writing down more ideas rather than ignoring them and letting them disappear into forgetfulness. This is a good thing. This is by virtue of a new notebook I purchased with the full intention of writing every little idea down rather than writing only the thoughts that survive my perfectionistic mental filter. In addition, the Girl and I have been in an Asian mood. She made a Zen garden display case. The cat thinks it’s a Zen litter box.

I’ve been reading about Japanese gardens and coming up with related ideas of my own. I’ve been writing down ideas for indoor Zen fountains. We ate at the Sushi Station the other day. I had shrimp sushi and the girl had veggie rolls. We shared gyoza and plum wine and hot sake. We browsed the Indoor Garden store for bamboo and Zen artifacts. In a cheesier move, I bought some chopsticks to use while eating my ramen noodles. Just more little moves to reinforce my Asian mood.