Feliz ’07, adios ’06

Ok, so I’m a little slow to join the ’07 celebration in the blog-world. I did manage to kick it off well on New Year’s night though. Wii play and wine, countdown at the Union Club with beer and champagne, and a nightcap of whiskey at a friend’s house. So for me ’07 started properly on the 2nd. On the first I was lazy and hung-over, I ate dry toast and watched “The Ghost and the Darkness” with roommates. But since then it’s been non-stop work, class (Philosophy of Religion 3 hours a day), reading, working on my teaching essay, and a Ph.D. application. Ironically, despite my better intentions this may be my busiest year yet!

My 2006 began much as ’07, with drinks and a night out with friends. But then I had nothing to do and as seems to happen with me in Missoula winters, my mood slipped quickly into blue. Thankfully, by January 9th I was on a plane headed to Hawai’i for a conference. The trip saved me, infusing me with enough sunshine and good spirits to get me through the ensuing weeks back in Montana.

When spring semester classes started I was off and running. Still managing abundant spare time (I lived on loans and worked sparingly), I wrote about Authenticity, Einstein, Evolution, Existentialist broodings, Darwin (and Daniel Dennett), the STILL MISSING Panchen Lama of Tibet, and my admiration for the Catholic monk Thomas Merton.

Soon after classes began I also found out that Ana would be visiting (still referring to her then as my ‘lovely Spanish lady-friend‘, now she is mi amor, my very beautiful love).

As March began I was still deeply involved with classes, work, and preparations for the soon-to-come miss Ana. I mused about Buddhism in Politics and wrote a long piece anticipating my Sartre term-paper on wrestling with the self [with the YOU diagram here]. I heard from some old Bristol friends who had made it to India (one as a teacher, the other returning home to Calcutta).

Then I bragged about reflected on having won a couple Blogisattava awards and unhappily ripped on contemporary philosophy. Then, as mid-semester woes nearly overcame me, I managed an uplifting trilogy on a weekend Zen retreat:

1. Life: (1 of 3) Zen and the art of Retreat (with photos)
2. Buddhism: (2 of 3) Zen scriptures, here, now
3. Philosophy: (3 of 3) Zen & Ethics

Then in some very different St. Patty’s day posts I wished my Dad (Patrick) a happy birthday and then had a very, very long conversation with Tom about the ethics/issues surrounding the Catholic Church and a St. Patty’s day parade.

On a much mellower note, I mentioned the unsurpassed beauty of the art exhibit Ashes and Snow (a real must-see) and some Buddhist videos from FPMT.

March ended with a post from Las Vegas (where I was vacationing WITH ANA!!!). April found me back in Montana – back at work – back in school and Ana… back to Spain:

“Yesterday Ana left to return to Spain, and I returned to work, engulfed in sadness. The two weeks she was here were wonderful, magical, and thoroughly joyful. Our travels, our conversations, our spontaneous moments of affection, our quiet embraces, and even the normal activities of day to day life all had an air of perfection, of beauty.”

(and some pics)

Finally – May came along with finals, a conference, illness, and overall craziness of life. And after it all, some reflection on the stormy semester.

The end of the school year brought Al Gore (An Inconvenient Truth) more work on my Cosmology paper – my epic post on the Bohmian interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, thoughts on my Masters Thesis (which I should be thinking about again about now!), and a look back at my Bristol cohort (the other three MA-Buddhism students that I worked with).