fighting crime

Batman had it pretty good, overall.

shame

I have some friends who are lawyers. Sometimes when they talk about the situations they encounter in their jobs, I am overwhelmed by what happens in the world. One friend's job involves going to public hearings about the construction of a Hindu temple near town, to make sure none of the locals violates our state's religious freedom laws by saying something stupid like "well, this here's a Christian community." That sentiment is obviously still in their hearts, but instead the discussions center on their made-up concerns with the plan: drainage, irrigation, parking, anything they can think of to slow down the approval of a nice temple that will probably even bring them some business.

Another one who I met recently works on cases of abused and neglected children. Apparently prosecutors with that job are 3 or 4 times more likely to be [assaulted? killed?] than average people. I wonder if it's because people who abuse children just choose the children because they're easy targets, but really could mistreat anybody. Maybe the way they communicate with people is just broken. I feel sick about how much that dynamic is based on power, and how easy it is for a person to be trapped and powerless.

I am ashamed of humanity's sexism, bigotry, poverty and cruelty. Even pretty tame examples from our apple-pie corner of the world bring up all kinds of shock and anger and shame. I don't know what to do. Unfortunately, all I know to do with evil people is actual fighting, which isn't useful. It would be enough to drive me to violence, though, if only that would help.

Edit: I wrote this a long, long time ago and never published it. Now it's a little less fresh, and I'm ok with seeing it on the internet.

I love to eat

Wikipedia has a whole section about Chinese vegetables. I spent a lot of time at work last week reading about hollow vegetable and Chinese broccoli. It's exciting to me, because I love food. Bdon & I went to a new grocery store today and found some tiny, tiny all-green bok choy. They were delicious! You could put the whole thing in your mouth at once!

When I go to my parents' house for vacation, I need to remember to bring some things along that I don't want to look for or go without while I'm there. For instance, my brothers and I have a secret plan that will require some sweet rice flour. I also want to bring my yoga mat, in hopes that it'll be a portable way to keep working out regularly. And I should probably bring along some Chinese to review - maybe these children's books that I have. They look fun.

meditation, meditation. me di ta tion. meditation.

We possitas haven't been doing a lot of yoga lately, but I think that is about to change. I'm excited - back in the summer we went every week and I really liked it. But recently we've been going to this tea ceremony at the Japan House instead, and I don't have time for both. I've decided I prefer yoga.

I've also been practicing more taiji. Last night I didn't feel sleepy right away so I did a tiny bit of sitting meditation before bed. It helps a lot. I haven't had trouble sleeping in at least a year - maybe I need to reexamine some things about my schedule. But more taiji is good, whatever my reasoning. Maybe I can get into a morning taiji / evening yoga (or vice versa) routine.

adventures are so six months ago

I feel like there are a lot of individual things going on with a lot of individual friends, and it all adds up to a general malaise. Not all of it is bad: D. is graduating and making awesome plans. Bdon has the kind of job that will help him get into grad school in the field it seems like he wants to be in (but does he want to be in it? His usual enthusiasm is MIA). Some of us have genuinely good things going on: F. is going to graduate and I think his plans are to stay local for grad school. I've been getting a lot done on my own research lately. But Matt seems generally discontented, the psych crew is always busy and they all have the same long face, and Bdon also has plenty of things to get him down. I'm concerned. I don't know how to cheer up people who don't have time to cheer up. Or maybe this is a feeling only I have, and it just makes me interpret other changes in a different way.

A completely separate thought: I like it when my man shows off for me! Not obvious things like muscle-flexing (though that's fine too), but little stuff. Like thoughtfully shaving before we are going to spend time together. Or a little butt shake in my direction. Maybe wearing a nice shirt and asking what I think of it (while making muscles?) when he already knows I dig it. These are things that girls know to do, because in a way we're more used to being pretty, having people look at us. I am glad when guys catch on, though! Keep the admiration channels open.