Mona makes a point with her fork...

The past weekend was brightened by a visit from Mona, who had to come down from Wyoming to do a few errands and was further motivated by a big dance recital I found at the University. She had mentioned before how much she thought she would enjoy this sort of thing, and I was happy to find a gift for her recent birthday.

As I suspected, I ended up squirming some of the time, and making pointless value judgments about the choice of some of these kids to spend fifty to a hundred thousand of Mom and Dad's hard earned dollars obtaining an education that culminated in feigning snowflakes or other forms of pretentious flitting about in avant-garde dance garb or classic tutus. Ah well, I am equally critical of all of the arts these days, including my own painting efforts. And as Mona pointed out those students no doubt have hedged their career bets with accounting and electrical engineering credentials. Sorry Mona - I enjoyed your enjoyment of it and should'a kept my opinions to myself.

We went the next morning to a Shambhala Buddhist Center event that ended with a potluck, for which I baked a nice big banana bread that proved to be well received. And following that event we stopped by the university again for some acting recitals a couple of seniors were delivering to their peers, mentors, and whoever stopped by. Some nice pieces, but wow, what a lot of potty-mouth. I've noticed before that they often choose for their minor productions those pieces with the most shocking and offensive language, and often harsh violence. I'm guessing that this is supposed to demonstrate their sophistication and newly adult status, but it really just reveals to me that they haven't any real message to convey - so far.



Last night, we stayed up (too late) and watched a mesmerizing and very impressive documentary (Unmistaken Child) on the search for a reincanate Rinpoche (Buddhist Precious One) by the devoted disciple of the recently deceased Lama Konchog, a world-renowned Tibetan master. Worth watching even if you have no interest in Buddhist doctrine or practices, for the awesome scenery and exquisite filmmaking.

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