Happy Easter!

Easter is the weirdest holiday to me. I was born on the 19th of April-- In my birth year, that was Easter Sunday. Truth be told, it's my firm belief I should have popped out of an egg that day, but certain aspects of human anatomy kept that from happening. 18 years later, Lady Gaga stole that idea from me.

Bitch.

However, I really enjoy Easter. Aside from the terrible Men's Warehouse necktie color-scheme it has, it brings in new life. I have never once experienced snow on Easter, even in the frozen Northland of Minnesota.  And I'm okay with that.

My younger sister likes to go a little bit crazy with the holidays, and I actually like it a lot because it shows she isn't afraid to really embrace something she enjoys. Just a few hours ago, she came up the stairs with a big plastic bag filled with stuffed bunnies saying something like "I am the Easter Bunny Faerie and I am here to... Easter-ize... this... living room." 15 minutes later, the living room was fully Easter-ized with everything from eggs to stuffed rabbits. Easter-ized as hell.

In World of Warcraft, there's an Easter-equivalent in-game holiday called Noblegarden. In it, everyone from lords to peasants are searching for eggs that give gold, candy, even some elegant garments inside. (There is also a rabbit pet that lays eggs, but that is neither here nor there.) Completing all the in-game "Achievements" grant you the title "(Character Name) the Noble". I really like it-- A small (probably unintentional) reminder from the programmers that remembering to revere life is truly noble.

How you choose to show that reverence is up to you.

So, I'm going to wake up with a big smile ready to take in the (hopefully present) sunshine and remember how great life is. Have a fantastic Easter, readers!

Why Snorlax Has the Right Idea

Traum

Exhaustion sweeps over me like a tidal wave of sleepy blue silk
The fluid, viscous substance slows me
I feel heavy, weighed down as though by drenched clothing
The tide comes in, and I hear the lullaby of ten thousand soft voices
My eyes close and I feel the waves wash over me, covering me, swaddling me
I slip across the barrier
Where it is only mine, mine and no one else's
A box of sand I sprinkle into my eyes
To bring good dreams, or blindness
Which may after all be one in the same.

I like sleeping. I do it a lot. I think the number one thing people my age don't do enough of is sleep. Well, that and drink enough water. But mainly sleep.

Sleep, and dreaming, have both always been a really strange phenomena to me. There is nothing quite like dreaming. I think of it as letting your brain and soul really go wild while your body takes a breather. Whenever a dream wakes me up, I always reach for a notebook and pen so I can write it down, as most dreams are completely forgotten during the course of the day. Reading through of them, I realize how truly foolish it is to let my brain idle. Note, some of the text is illegible because I can't write well in the dark after waking up in the middle of the night from a crazy dream.

"And took the....<illegible>... sword and stuck it into his gut, but he doesn't die. He stays there and stares at me, like 'what the hell, man' and gets up and walks away like I had just scuffed his shoes or something. Then I'm taken by a big burly guy to a... <illegible>... and said that I was under arrest for "Generally being a dick".

 Yeah, that happened just two nights ago. I definitely stabbed someone and was arrested for "Generally being a dick" which, I suppose, is a good way of putting it. Another:

"She was stuttering! She was freaking stuttering and telling me that it was ALL MY FAULT. She was saying something in Chinese, it sounded like song lyrics... Maybe 方大同的 music or something... <Illegible, I think I was trying to write Chinese here> So I was telling her to snap out of  it so I can at least understand her correctly and ... <illegible> I find a set of horse blinders and stick it on her face and tell her "Hi ho, Silver, Away!"

 Dream-David has a genius way of getting rid of annoying bitches.

Anyway, I think more people should sleep more. If not for the health, than for the sharing of fantastic crazy dream sequences.

We all can learn a great deal from this guy.

I'm just gonna stuff this post full of thoughts on romance.

我爱故我在: Roughly translated from Khalil Fong's song “爱爱爱” ("Love, Love, Love"), "I love, therefore I am."

If you know me well enough, you probably have noticed two things about my romantic life: First, that I am a hopeless romantic and a little bit sappy when it comes to romance, and second, that I am a little bit of a heartbreaker. In a lot of ways, I'm still trying to figure out how to act in a relationship. This isn't helped by the fact that every girl is different.

I've been in my fair share of crazy relationships. I have been romantically involved with girls from Asia, Africa, and America... And the only thing I've learned is that each of them were terrifying uncharted territory. Going into each relationship, I realized that I had no idea what to expect in each instance. A lot of my good friends know that I love learning about other cultures, so I rarely have romantic interest in girls from America... I don't really view it as a bad thing, but it gets kind of annoying when my own family members and best friends poke fun to me about it.

"Hey, there was a girl who told me she used to have a crush on you, David."
"Oh, is that true?"
"Yeah, but you wouldn't have worked out with her."
"Why do you say that?"
"She's white."

When I'm not in a relationship, I always have a terrible lonely feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's the whole "everyone is in a relationship but you!" mindset, and I hate it! I don't know why it plagues me so much. It's worst during the winter, but I always feel better when spring and summer roll around. I don't know why I let the seasons affect my mood so much.

It would  be interesting to marry a girl from another culture. If I did that, I'd ask her to wear traditional clothes from her culture... I think they're beautiful! Even though they're probably not suited for a wedding, any formal event deserves something like a Japanese kimono, a Chinese cheongsam, a Korean hanbok, a Vietnamese áo dài... I don't know why, I just view them as very very beautiful.

 In a lover, I want someone who can be honest, intelligent, interesting, someone who I can just... be with. Someone who will listen to me when I need to talk, but will tell me to shut up if I need to. Someone who will watch movies with me and cook food with me and listen to music with me.

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson is the author that wrote the words of this post's title, and I believe that they ring quite true, even after over 100 years.

Like any other emotion, anger is a response. Our soul reacts to stimuli from outside sources, and anger is just as natural as fear, compassion, greed, and love. Anger is a way to express ourselves! It's not a bad thing. However, how we deal with it can be either constructive or catastrophic.

Anger can be good when we channel it to find results, solutions, or new abilities, but it takes real self control and a strong willpower to know exactly how to forge it into something constructive. I've heard a lot of people say "What would Jesus do? Would Jesus be angry?" Chances are, yeah, Jesus would be really freaking angry. The Bible has numerous accounts (in Matthew 21, Mark 3, Mark 11, and John 2) of Jesus becoming angry with certain people for cheating, and for refusing to answer his questions. What makes his anger justified is the fact that it's not directed at the weakness of another, and it's targeting injustice.

That being said, anger can be (and most often is) very very dangerous when, instead of mastering it, we allow it to master us. When we lose control of ourselves and turn to infighting, violence, and hatred, and when we refuse to deal with it and throw it away, it begins to burn us. When we try to deal with it by becoming reckless, destructive, and unwise, it does damage not only to us but also to the ones that love us.

I asked a handful of friends, "What really makes you angry?" One person answered

"For me Anger results from hindrance and ignorance. It enrages me when people do not put in the same amount of effort as I do, whether it is a relationship or a work project."

Another said

"I become angry when people don't follow through on their promises and when they go out of their way to cause harm to other people."

Neither of these feelings are bad, but dealing with them wisely is crucial. The Buddha said,

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

 So, what's an effective way of handling anger? www.PersonalTao.com gives a simple, yet surprisingly effective list:

1. Take a breath, and just feel it.
2. Look at it, don’t try to answer it, just look at it.
3. Accept it, and then release it as a long exhale.
4. Imagine it going into the earth as compost.
5. With your arms sweep it away: Literally use your arm like a sword to cut through the feelings of anger to say I see the anger: and it is as it was.

The first step is actually all that meditation, in its core, truly is: awareness of breathing. Being conscious of breathing is a way to slow the heart rate, to relax muscles, and to promote mental stability and calm. The second step stems from the fact that rushing to solve a problem too soon might make it worse. As Lao Tzu says in the Dao De Jing,

"Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear."

The third is the core of dealing with anger healthily: acceptance. Seeing as anger is neither positive nor negative, simply accepting it for what it is helps us to see past the anger into the real mind of the situation. The fourth step, at first glance, might seem a bit strange. However, looking mindfully into it, we see that everything comes from the earth and  returns to it in the same way. Our anger comes from our soul, from our core, and accepted, it returns, having served its purpose. The final step seals the acceptance. "It is as it was", before the anger boiled up.

"Do not be deceived by your senses, your feelings of fear and uncertainty, for even as the tempest may howl, just beyond lies a serenity that you would otherwise not have experienced."

Anger is not a bad thing, it is simply very powerful. How we use it decides everything, and when we truly look mindfully into the present situation, we are able to use it to benefit ourselves and those important to us.

Let it Fall!

I've been stealing little bits here and there... Just enough to keep me going
It isn't mine, I know it's bad for me, but I still need a taste, a fleeting taste
To know that it's still there for me.
I need this addiction to fade, to stop stinging me with white-hot needles.
Let it fall.

Greed, my master passion, has been cycloning within me
A wicked maelstrom that has no bottom to its abyssal belly.
I keep wanting more, I keep needing more, but I know
I need this hurricane to turn to a rain, a tired, sighing mist.
Let it fall.

The clock on the wall, with each thundering motion of fate's hand, is slowly
rusting, decaying.
The glass I used to see your face through is now covered in dust, obscuring any thought, any spoken word.
I need this eon to end, end with the flap of its wing.
Let it fall.

The Dao of Health

I try to stay healthy most of the time. I practice tai chi and kung fu, and I make sure to stay away from obviously unhealthy food and try to eat as healthily as possible. I drink at least two cups of green tea every day. I don't smoke. Things like that.

I know people who have experience in drugs personally. Not just cannabis, but also harder drugs such as hallucinogenic mushrooms and cocaine, and two people having experience with heroin.

I don't use anything like that, not because it's illegal but also because I just don't like the feeling of having unnatural effects being placed on my mind. The thoughts scares me. I also have seen what happens to people who use them.

A lot of people rely on substances to offer a release, or an escape. They feel that the sensation offered by the drugs is simply "better" than the real world, or it offers a form of "enhanced perception". Such thinking could not be more dangerous. What hallucinogens, for example, are really doing is firing neurons in your brain in a very destructive, dangerous, volatile fashion.

Even with drugs that are not directly addictive, the risk is there... The desire is there. I've never understood the desire for a certain drug past that of a cigarette. It throws the entire body-mind balance out of whack! It throws it outside the Dao, the Way.

The Dao, or the Way, is described as being within the natural flow of things. Using drugs throws your body so far out of the natural order that it's incredibly difficult to become realigned with the Dao.

People who are slave to drugs rarely realize the manacles around their wrists, because their eyes are always on the next time they can alter their perception of the world. The worst part is, the people who are in the most danger of becoming addicts are often the ones who never realize it.

In one of my favorite books of all time, Lamb by Christopher Moore, one of the disciples of Joshua (otherwise known as Jesus), named Bartholomew, is portrayed as a Cynic and teaches Joshua of Cynic values. He describes it as living like a dog. "I own nothing, therefore I am slave to nothing." This resounds deeply within Buddhist values of removing suffering by removing desire. Similarly, removing the dependence on any substance breaks the shackles of a soul and emancipates it-- Grants it true, unabashed freedom.

Some people believe that drugs help them get "closer to God"... What they tragically fail to see-- Or, rather, what fails to be shown to them-- is that God is always close. What they destroy their body and their soul in order to see has always been right in front of them. It's in their friends, in the water they drink, in the food they eat, in the air they breathe. Everything they need is all right there.

If you know someone who is struggling with substance abuse, help them as you would want them to help you. Call 1 800 390 4056 or go to www.addict-help.com .