a buck fifty and one clean day

"Cleaning soot w/ TSP makes the shrine room lovely! "

Today was a cleaning day at the intentional Buddhist community that I call home in the here and now. I helped clean the main shrine room using TSP which is a serious cleaner that is toxic and requires the use of industrial strength gloves, we moved all the flags, Trungpa's chair, and artifacts to the other shrine room. We stood on ladders and scrubbed away wiping the black soot until we got to the white underlaying. The main shrine room w/ most likely be painted Gold in the next few days, but would be impossible to paint over with all the soot. It took many elbow grease, rags, sponges, and lots of joking in the process, but we did it in over 3.5 hours, and celebrated w/ some momos and Nepalise food.
I checked my weight this morning and I am at 150 lbs, a buck fifty. When I left for India I was around 145 lbs, and came home weighing about 143 lbs, so now I got my weight up eating well at the Buddhist Intentional Community w/ group meals every night at 6:30pm and smoothies, and homemade granola, so even though I miss lassi, thali, and masala dosa it is nice to have some regular veg food and soy milk, and hot showers instead of bucket ones.

latex paint to be washed off with hemp washcloth w/ Dr. Bronners

I worked half a day's work of construction today in Denver. It was snowing in Boulder this morning. We painted and primed two floors, and were going to sand and paint the windows outside, but the weather was too crummy. I haven't worked construction since '98 and '99 when I was living in NYC working as a laborer for a big hotel chain doing remodels and working with an eclectic group of people from all over the world. I got to learn some cuss words in Polish, Italian, Jamican, Spanish, German, and so on, and learned a little bit of conversational Polish.

John and Yoko

Here is a picture of John and Yoko. I'm not sure who they are photographed with. I took this shot in the Taj Mahl Hotel in Bombay. It is probably the nicest and pricest hotel in all of India, starting at $295 US a night. It was vast like Grand Central station with tons of shops, and so on. It is listed in the book 1,001 places to see before you die.

Gandhi painting

another view of Gandhi's room

Notice the spinning wheel, and the bookshelf on the back had the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, and the Koran.

my friend and Gandhi

Here is my friend Satya, meaning truth. He hails from Bihar, the same state where Bodha Gaya and the birthplace of Buddha is. Satya is a journalist who left his family to move to Bombay. His family are farmers, and he worked as a journalist, but was trying to land a job to work at a callcenter i.e. like Sprint and so on. The cell phone technology in India seemed to be more advanced than America and quite affordable, everyone seemed to have cell phones.

bust with flowergarland

figurines

There was maybe 50 or more figurines showcasing important events in Gandhi's life.

Gandhi's room

This is the room Gandhi stayed in when he was in Bombay. It is kept the same way that he had it, very spartan. Simple living, higher thinking. He lived what he preached.

Gandhi the Mahatma with walking stick

gandhi

These are images from Gandhi's residence in Bombay which is now a muesum.

bicyle thieves suck!!!!!

It is Earth Day weekend and I am pissed/pouty because someone stole the front tire of my bike last night. I bought a replacement for $35 luckily got it used, otherwise it would have cost $65. Maybe I was burning off past karma for haggling a rickshaw driver for a lower than fair ride to get a thali lunch in my past life.

the lama, Earth Day's unofficial animal

another Lama shot

lamas

Here are two Lamas, one male and one female at the Earth Day Fest at Naropa. The Lama is native to South America and is no relation to the Dalai Lama of Tibet.

trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva circa 5 AD

The Elephanta caves are accesable by ferry leaving the Gate of India in Bombay. They are on an island and amazing to behold dating back 2,000 years featuring mostly Shiva carvings from rock.

crossing the frigid cold river in Boulder

dosed in sacred ash

NY and NJ reunion

Velvet Underground and double camera shot

because 2 cameras are better than one

road dog

Here is a shot of me and my best friend, a talented muscian and brother from another mother taken in his Brooklyn, NY flat a few days ago. We go back since 2001 at the Buddhist Univeristy in Boulder where we met in a Human Systems and Evolution class.

another view

hardiwar

Here is a shot taken from the back of my cycle rick, of 2 Sikh brothers riding their bicycles through the crowded chaotic, but holy streets of Hardiwar. I got dysentary in Hardiwar, but the healthcare was dirt cheap. $2 got me better as the hotel worker took me to the hospital at 3am, as I was shitting and vomiting all night. When I asked the Doctor who I woke up how much? He said as you like. I was going to pay $10 US, but he said no that is too much you are a guest in my country and he took $2US, i.e. 500 ruppees vs 100 ruppees.

bombay sunset

in a park overlooking a beach in bombay

ascending

gearing up

hiking through the frigid waters..........

on the way to climb Positively 4th St wall.

back in CO

"Carried thru the road so far alone Days glue themselves to what is wrong And soon the hills will swallow us up Plans will pass her Land on the walls is laid out I know you're in pain Train for the cause is staying down It plays you out Fall out of love again Your dreams all end"

In the Buddhist community and happy to be here. Fell out of love and was quite depressed unable to go outside, but came around. I went with a friend and his cousin from CA rock climbing. It was cold and windy. We had to cross a fridgid freezing cold river barefoot, and climb up until we got to the wall. Climbing and spotting your partner takes total concentration. I trusted my friends and the fear of falling was there, but would leave with the trust and surrender. My hands were frozen and the wind blew hard. I layered up and cut my hand on the rock. I might go climbing again tommorow. Tonight J. Mascis and the original Dinasaur Jr. lineup are playing the Fox and I got a ticket. Amerherst, MA is represting. Last night took in the Naropa Coffehouse w/ a friend, their was magic tricks from a good friend of mine, indian music, buddhist rock and roll songs, poetry and so on. I don't know how long I will be in CO and might be returning to NYC in a few weeks. I love the uncertainy and change of life, just watching this life go by and healing my hurt with the elements of nature, friends, and shedding tears.