Back from the Dead

Actually, I've been quite busy in the land of the living lately.  A lot has been happening.  I took a week off from the bookstore the week before last, but ended up in a bunch of meetings with various UWest administrators about taking the Resident Housing Manager job.  Long story short, the previous guy left earlier in August and I have six years experience in the field, so we worked out a deal.  I will now have one full-time job on campus, rather than having to juggle two part-time jobs.  I will also have four Resident Assistants (part-time student workers) to help carry the load.  That's at least three more people than have ever worked in housing here.  The goal this year is to build a stable system for the next person to take over. I'm still graduating in May, so I'm leaving the end of that month.

I did finally get to go to the beach that Friday with Shakya, Danny (now a.k.a. "Gorgeous Dorje").  We went to Malibu beach and hung out for a few hours.  Word to the wise: use sun block on your feet.  Also, don't try to eat mango in the sand.  ...It doesn't work very well.  Here are a few shots, but I don't have the best one of Shakya burried in the sand.

Shakya, me, and Danny.  We actually did get in the water after a bit.  Will post more shots when I get them.

We also took another trip to the Mt. Baldy Lodge last Saturday night, 9/1.  We took three cars and had a good time, though everyone seemed a bit tired. 

Me driving.  Whoo hoo.  I have a dorky smile on my face.  I was actually thinking that if I stretched my neck a bit, you wouldn' t see the double chin.

This is Jen's belated b-day cake and ice cream.  She turned 25 on her two month trip to Taiwan, Thailand and Cambodia.  Danny, or Gorgeous Dorje as I shall call him now, set it up.  We sang the song and everything.  Too bad we didn't have a tiara (a tradition from previous birthdays at UWest) for a photo.

The whole group, from left to right: Jerry, Sonam, Eldor, Lekdan, Gorjeous Dorje, Hayden, Jen, Jesse, Khoa, me, and Abdu.  We're quite the international motley crew.

Last but not least, Danny being totally inappropriate with Smokey. Doesn't the poor bear look really uncomfortable?

Back to the present.  I'm really looking forward to this semester now.  I'm taking a class on the Prajnaparamita ("Prefection of Wisdom") literature, one on East Asian Buddhism, and an independent study in Korean language.  I've already to a paper assignment for the Prajna class, and have created a list of greetings and other pleasantries to memorize in Korean.  I can't believe I've got less than one year left here in L.A.  I've grown to like it here.  ...Not well enough to give up going to Korea, though. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that two of the new students here are Ladakhis.  They're from an area of northern India closely tied to Tibet where they practice Tibetan Buddhism (Sonam and Lekdan above).  I've already been invited to Ladakh and have heard stories of the lamas there, and the ancient monasteries.  I've got another place to stop on my international Dharma tour some day. 

That night up at Mt. Baldy, Jerry got Sonam to do a little dance and recorded it as video on his camera.  It's hilarious.  If I can get it in a format that works on by blog, I'll upload it if Sonam doesn't object.

Comments

[michael tran]

that must have been a whole lot of fun!

[Carrie Froseth]

Dude, the stretching the neck thing never works to hide a double chin. Own your chins, you'll let go of a lot of stress.

[EdaMommy]

Ditto to both. ^_^