Of Mice and Monkeyshines

Let's start this off with a little eye-candy - here we see a view taken from the sprinkler area of the Shore Road Park at 79th Street, looking Northwest across the river. Miranda attempts to plug up the frog-sprinkler's mouth. Zach enjoys the cooling waters.

Our installment of Monkeyshines for this fortnight was jam-packed, fun-filled, and Jim-dandy. It featured multiple trips to multiple parks (as usual) to run through the sprinklers, long walks along the promenade (somewhat as usual), and a trip to the pet store to purchase an addition to our family (not at all as usual).

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had been wanting to get some sort of a pet for the kids for some time, but did not want do all of the work that is involved in owning even a cat, which are not really allowed in my building anyway. Miranda is quite taken with the lizards on our trips to the pet store next to the Sensory Gym, but they do not seem to hold her interest for very long and having owned reptiles in the past, I know that they are not very interactive. Really what I would like to do for the kids (and myself) is get a dog, but that will have to wait until I first secure a suitable living arrangement - give it a couple of years. So to make a long story somewhat shorter than a long story, I had been thinking in terms of a rodent.

We loaded up the stroller, braved a terrifically hot day and cruised down to World of Pets on 86th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues. We got a white rat, which we have been referring to as the "mouse" - the pet store had a varied selection of mice, including a rather handsome species from Africa, however, mice are known to bite and nip at little fingers and I wanted this to be a positive and learning experience for the kids. Rats on the other hand, are much more docile than hamsters, gerbils or mice and offer the added benefit of being very bright and loyal. So a rat is what we got.

It was interesting to watch the difference between the way Zach and Miranda enjoyed the experience. Miranda was just bursting to hold the "mouse" and pet it and solemnly promised to be a gentle "mousey-mommy" and to take good care of it. I was so proud of her holding the rat in her hands, carefully trying not to hurt it, squealing with delight (Miranda, not the rat) and saying "Ooooh, it's soooo cute!"

Zach was curious about the "mouse" but was far more interested in the cage, especially the working of the door and the water bottle. He giggled when I put the "mouse" on his shoulder - he has a wonderful deep chuckle that seems to come from way down deep and belong to someone much older. He is, however, quite a bit more heavy handed than Miranda, so I was far more nervous for the tiny creature (the rat, not Zach) as Zachy was holding it.

After our new pet was suitable terrified, we put it back in its home and filled up its bowl with MeowMix - I'm sure that irony is not lost on all of you, but until I can find some RatChow our rat will dine like a cat.

The rest of the weekend was just as wonderful, however, not as singular. We watched Corduroy, which is the story of a little girl who admires a stuffed bear in a department store, but her mother does not let her buy it because it is missing a button. That night the bear comes to life and goes on a quest in search of a button, so that the girl will buy him - you can probably guess the ending. Miranda, who has a fine and ever expanding collection of stuffed bears, was enthralled with the story and I believe that we have definitely found a new favorite video. Zachy, on the other hand, loves to watch the Thomas videos from Grandma Fredi and Grandpa Monty, and will watch them over and over again without tiring.

One other first this weekend was buying Miranda ice cream from one of the Mr. Softee trucks that prowl around on warm days - normally I don't do this because I don't want Zach to feel bad, but Zach was busy munching away at his snack and didn't seem to mind. Miranda wanted chocolate which she ate "like a kitty," licking it out of the bowl rather than using a spoon. She got it all over everything, but was very happy to announce the fact that she was all sticky.

Finally, I spent a great deal of time ingenuity and effort to redo the kids room to make it a bit more comfortable for little people to live and play in, and I'm proud of the way it all turned out so I took some photos to show off my handywork - tell me what you all think.

That's all for now - keep checking back for the continuing saga of Monkeyshines.

It's Magic!

I just met Magic Johnson in the lobby of the building where I work. I got to talk to him for a little bit and rode the elevator up with him. What an amazingly nice guy! He was on his way up to the 14th floor to see Mr. Bill (President Clinton) - I got off on the 9th floor as usual. Only in Harlem!

My Brother from Another Mother

Last Thursday, July 12th was Michael Burns' last day at work. Every once in a blue moon (actually a lot less frequently in my experience) you meet a kindred spirit and some profound form of bonding occurs. This was certainly the case with Michael and I. We have spent the last few years as friends and colleagues; perfecting our craft together, solving problems together, having deep discussions on just about everything, reading the same books, editing each other's written work, watching internet documentaries together, hanging out on Fridays, eating lunch together, learning how to be parents, and laughing a lot, at ourselves and life.

Michael, Janelle and Noah left this past Sunday, with the whole household crammed into a U-haul, for a new life in Illinois (Champagne-Urbana) where Michael will be pursuing his doctorate in writing studies. I am incredibly happy for him, and deeply sad at losing his companionship, both at the same time. Fortunately, there are some friendships that are strong enough to overcome vast distances and we have made arrangements to stay a part of each other's daily lives - I will miss hearing that funky laugh and Arkansas drawl, however. Peace and love to ya' Mr. Burns, wherever you are.

Reality Check

Today I am just being. I had the big second interview with Ameriprise (American Express's Financial Services Division) at their offices across the street from the Chrysler Building on Friday. I thought the whole thing went pretty well (even though my phone chops ain't what they used to be), but the recruiter that set it up said her information showed that I aced it. I'm expecting a call from the V.P. some time today, after they have had a chance to confer, etc. I'm trying to keep things in perspective and go through this whole transition to the finance industry (wherever I end up) with my eyes wide open - so we'll see.

I will get around to writing this week's edition of Monkeyshines sometime later in the week, but I will say that I had a wonderful weekend with Zachy and Miranda, and that our family has a new addition: we now have a mouse in the house. Let me explain - I've been wanting to do something about a pet for the kids, and I have not had good luck with fish, so we went out and bought a "mouse" which Miranda is calling "Squeaky." Actually, Squeaky is a white rat of the common variety, that I am now referring to as Socrates (pronounced "so-crates" with a long "O", a long "A" and a silent "E", like in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - this, along with the reference to Willard, amuses me). Socrates now lives in a cage (a rat condo really) on the kids dresser and it is nice to have another being in the house, which often seems very empty when the kids are not there.

This evening I have an appointment with Dr. Zoe and then I will be celebrating my two years formally, complete with a Carvel ice cream cake. Tomorrow, I get my first exposure to the mortgage business, which actually interests me far more than financial planning. I am very curious to see what there is to see in this arena, and I am going to get to watch (and listen to) a deal go down from soup to nuts. I will also probably learn a lot about credit scores and such - trey cool! The rest of the week should be pretty uneventful - just a bunch of laundry to do, I'll keep y'all posted.

Existentialist Couch Potato

When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

It's not the pace of life that concerns me. It's the sudden stop at the end. ~ Miller.

After dropping the kids back at Monkey-Central last night, I curled up on my thinking chair with some Chinese tacos and flipped through the offerings of my local Time-Warner cable monopoly. I stopped flipping around when I heard the familiar sounds of Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra ("Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in English), which has become inextricably associated with 2001: A Space Odyssey. Actually, it was the sequel (2010: The Year We Make Contact) that was on last night, but I've only seen it a couple of dozen times or so, so I let it run on.

I've always loved this piece of music (I even own a copy), it often makes me think of Friedrich Nietzsche - that favorite philosopher of overwrought teenagers - as it is also the title of one of his middle-period works, Thus Spake Zarathustra, A Book for All and None (1883 - 1885), which became Nietzsche's best-known book and the one he considered the most important. It famously declares that "God is dead", elaborates on Nietzsche's conception of the will to power, and serves as an introduction to his doctrine of eternal return.

The book is sort of a free-wheeling narrative featuring the character of Zarathustra (referring to the traditional prophet of Zoroastrianism) who knocks around making speeches, making a nuisance of himself and generally being misunderstood. It comprises a philosophical work of fiction whose style often lightheartedly imitates that of the New Testament and of the Platonic dialogues, and uses natural phenomena as rhetorical and explanatory devices. It is ambiguous and paradoxical which has helped popularize it amongst the reading public, but has frustrated academic attempts at analysis (as Nietzsche may have intended).

Zoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster (circa 6000 BCE) of what is present day Iran. Mazdaism is the religion that acknowledges the divine authority of Ahura Mazda, proclaimed by Zoroaster to be the one uncreated Creator of all (God). Some scholars have suggested that Zoroastrianism was where the first prophet of a monotheistic faith arose, claiming Zoroastrianism as being the oldest of the revealed credal religions, predating Judea-Christian monotheism by as much as 2000 years, and which has probably influenced mankind (directly or indirectly), more than any other faith. Consider the fact that Zoroastrians were referred to as “Magi” by the time of Christ. Once the dominant religion of much of Greater Iran, as of 2007 Zoroastrianism has dwindled to small numbers; some sources suggest that it is practiced by fewer than 200,000 worldwide, with its largest centers in India and Iran. The basic principles of Zoroastrianism are pretty benign - you just have to get past all the funky foreign sounding proper nouns. These beliefs are:

1. There is one universal and transcendental God, Ahura Mazda, the one
uncreated Creator, to whom all worship is ultimately directed.

2. Ahura Mazda's creation - evident as asha, truth and order - is the antithesis of chaos, evident as druj, falsehood and disorder. The resulting conflict involves the entire universe, including humanity, which has an active role to play in the conflict (see #3 below).

3. Active participation in life through good thoughts, good words and good
deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep the chaos at bay. This active
participation is a central element in Zoroaster's concept of free will, and Zoroastrianism rejects all forms of monasticism.

4. Ahura Mazda will ultimately prevail, at which point the universe will undergo a cosmic renovation and time will end (Zoroastrian eschatology). In the final renovation, all of creation - even the souls of the dead that were initially banished to "darkness" - will be (re)united in God.

5. In Zoroastrian tradition, the malevolent is represented by Angra Mainyu, the "Destructive Principle", while the benevolent is represented through Ahura Mazda's Spenta Mainyu, the instrument or "Bounteous Principle" of the act of creation. It is through Spenta Mainyu that Ahura Mazda is eminent in humankind, and through which the Creator interacts with the world. According to Zoroastrian cosmology, in articulating the Ahuna Vairya formula, Ahura Mazda made his ultimate triumph evident to Angra Mainyu.

6. As expressions and aspects of Creation, Ahura Mazda emanated seven "sparks", the Amesha Spentas, "Bounteous Immortals" that are each the hypostasis and representative of one aspect of that Creation. These Amesha Spenta are in turn assisted by a league of lesser principles, the Yazatas, each "Worthy of Worship" and each again a hypostasis of a moral or physical aspect of Creation (basically a bunch of angels to help with more mundane matters, such as finding a good parking spot, etc.

Doesn't sound too far-fetched, does it now?

Two Years

It seems at once both incredibly inconsequential and mindbogglingly momentous - if anything this second year has been one of far vaster personal change and growth than the first.

I'm told that the first year is mostly about the physical - getting healthy, that the second year is one of mental/spiritual healing, and that the third year is when financial matters are finally put in order (and dentistry). These simple truths would seem to have been borne out in my case.

I am at peace with my surroundings and my life; am profoundly grateful for the amazing abundance that I enjoy; am overwhelmingly optimistic about my prospects for the future; and am beginning to be able to wield the powers of mind, body and spirit with which I was bestowed. Pretty cool huh?

A Yaqui Way of Knowledge

I finally went out last Thursday and bought a book that I've been meaning to read and study for a while now - Barnes and Noble actually had it! I've been trying to understand and learn more about animism which was once the "religion" that was practiced by all of humanity. Christian missionaries encountered it wherever they went and quite effectively stamped it out, to the point that today it survives only amongst the few aboriginal peoples left on Earth. I put the word "religion" in quotes because animism is really as much or more of a world-view than a religion. It has no universal rules or dogma, no codified beliefs, no universal rituals, no wars have ever been fought over it - in its simplest form it is merely the belief that the world is a sacred place and that humanity (which is also sacred, but no more or less so than anything else in the world) belongs in this place.

In my study of animism, and through it shamanism, I have continually encountered references to the works of Carlos Castaneda who was a Peruvian born American author. He wrote a series of books that describe his training in traditional Mesoamerican shamanism, which he referred to as a form of sorcery. The books and Castaneda, who rarely spoke in public about his work, have been controversial for many years. In his books, Castaneda narrates in first person the events leading to and ensuing after his meeting a Yaqui shaman named don Juan Matus in 1960. Castaneda's experiences with don Juan inspired the works for which he is known. He claimed to have inherited from don Juan, through a long apprenticeship, the position of nagual, or leader of a party of seers. He also used the term "nagual" to signify that part of perception which is in the realm of the unknown yet still reachable by man, implying that, for his party of seers, don Juan was a connection in some way to that unknown. Castaneda often referred to this unknown realm as nonordinary reality, which indicated that this realm was indeed a reality, but radically different from the ordinary reality experienced by human beings. Nagual has been used by anthropologists to mean a shaman or sorcerer who is capable of shape-shifting into an animal form, and/or, metaphorically, to "shift" into another form through Toltec magic rituals and shamanism.

Castaneda approached the work as an anthropologist (as he was - from UCLA), but realized while in the process of collecting data that this approach would not work, thus he assumes the role of an ethnographer and a student. He has a marvelous ear and his sparse but gritty descriptions allow the reader to place himself on the dirt floor of don Juan's front porch at twilight when the crack between worlds takes place. So far, the book (The Teachings of Don Juan, A Yaqui Way of Knowledge) has been everything that I hoped it would be, offering valuable insights into what it means to learn and grow and experience what it is to be human. For example, on the subject of learning, don Juan says, "A man goes to knowledge as he goes to war, wide-awake, with fear, with respect, and with absolute assurance. Going to knowledge or going to war in any other manner is a mistake, and whoever makes it will live to regret his steps. Man lives only to learn. And if he learns it is because that is the nature of his lot, for good or bad." In order to best do this don Juan says, "You have to be a strong man, and your life has to be truthful." When Castaneda asks don Juan what a truthful life is, he replies: "A life lived with deliberateness, a good, strong life."

Sage advice, in my humble opinion, but today the passage that is still resonating within me, and that I will ponder for some time, is the following:

"Anything is one of a million paths (un camino entre cantidades de caminos). Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what you heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question. This question is one that only a very old man asks: Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long, long paths, but I am not anywhere. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you."

I have stopped reading for a while, until I think that I have absorbed this lesson, and that may take some time. Already it is clear to me that portions of the path I walk are not deliberate - that not choosing is in fact a choice. The complexity of life and the nearly infinite number of choices that I make every day makes discerning the true nature of the path I am on very difficult. For now I will simply practice being more deliberate and listening to my heart.

Summer Monkeyshines

Well, it has taken me a while to get around to posting this entry, but I enjoyed another great visit with the kids the weekend before last. Rather than writing a long commentary, I thought that I'd just sort of caption the photos and let y'all enjoy them on your own.

Here we enjoy some playground action before going to the Sensory Gym on Saturday.













On our way to the park Saturday afternoon (to run through the sprinklers) we ran across a bluegrass band on 3rd Avenue, in the middle of Brooklyn (imagine that). They played The Wheels on the Bus, some Beetles' tunes and a whole bunch of bluegrass standards, and entertained us for quite some time. We even got to keep a couple of balloons!
















We ran through the sprinklers.
















While we were at the Shore Road park, we ran across some clown selling big funky-looking balloons, so we bought a couple.













We relaxed and played with our Hotwheels.
























Miranda and I had a game of catch with the Earth ball, until she decided it was time to take the tractor out for a ride.












On Sunday we went to the McKinley Park to watch some softball and play in the park - of course there were sprinklers there too and we couldn't resist even though we weren't in our swim suits.























We finished our park trifecta at the park at Fort Hamilton High School, Sunday afternoon after lunch. Miranda (dressed in Zach's spare shirt - everything else was wet by this point) had fun jumping on the brass chimes on the playground.
















Zach just wanted to swing and swing some more, and eventually Miranda got into the action.
















Y'all come back now for the continuing saga of Monkeyshines.

Food for Thought

The 4th of July is a uniquely American holiday. On this day each year millions of my countrymen slaughter, roast and consume helpless animals, get really pissed drunk, then play with explosives - it is a practice that is as incredibly unwise as it is quintessentially American. It seems to be a holiday devoted to excess, even more so than Conspicuous Consumption Day (a.k.a. the holiday formerly known as Christmas). Nothing could possibly illustrate what it means to be an American better than the annual grotesqueness that takes place each year here in Brooklyn: the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest in Coney Island - let me quote from this morning's Newsday:

Downing an average of one Nathan's hot dog every 11 seconds to win the most coveted prize in competitive eating, Joey Chestnut set a world record yesterday when he out-ate - by a mere three wieners - the legendary Takeru Kobayashi, the six-time Coney Island champion.

"It's the Fourth of July and I wanted to bring the title back to America," said the new champ, whose manic mastication of 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes was about 12 more than Kobayashi's total last year.

Consider the fact that each individual Nathan's hot dog (they are raw for the contest) contains 309 calories, 20.14g of fat, 684mg of sodium and 35.43mg of cholesterol. Now let's do some math - that is 20,394 calories, 1329.24g (roughly three pounds) of fat, 45144mg of sodium and 2338.38mg of cholesterol. According to U.N. data, the average Ethiopian consumes about 1600 calories per capita per day, thus Joey Chestnut ate what an average Ethiopian would consume over thirteen days, in a mere twelve minutes. Moreover, he did it not because he was hungry but out of some masochistic need to compete in a binge eating contest.

Perhaps competitive I.V. drug use is next? - I'm sure we would have no trouble finding a sponsor amongst the Big Pharma companies. Maybe next 4th of July we'll be treated to the GlaxoSmithKline Dose-Off, featuring two heavily track-marked heroin addicts standing in front of trays of syringes (only underneath the boardwalk, not on it).

You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. ~ Mark Twain

It is not that I'm anti-American, I'm merely pro-human and I find nationalism to be incredibly passe, believing that it is just a pastel-shade of fascism. So I did what I usually do on days like this - I sat it out, opting to watch Michael Moore's Sicko instead - God bless America!

Good Mojo

Did you ever experience a period of time when things just seemed to be falling into place? I am in the midst of one such period - this is a very good thing and is the result of much hard work. However (there's always a "but" isn't there?), I've been ruminating on how these periods are defined. There is always a beginning and an end that are the opposites of, and which define, the period in between as either positive or negative, good or bad. The same old-same old, gray or so-so periods in this case are often unremarkable and are seldom noticed by me, even though they make up the bulk of life. Thus, a run of good luck begins with the cessation of bad luck and continues until an instance of bad luck occurs again. This may sound like I'm waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop, but this is not the case at all.

This is mainly due to the fact that I've been thinking about it all in terms of Karma and, to a large extent, I believe that we make our own Karma, reaping that which we sow. This is the real beauty of simply putting one foot in front of the other and doing the next right thing - it is a recipe for good Karma. The trick seems to be to keep on-keeping on. Sure I can stop and enjoy the mojo, but I know I need to keep sowing the right seeds if I want more of what I'm getting now. Just thought I'd share that with you - peace, love and special sauce.
P.S. as an added bonus, I get to see my two beautiful children tonight from 6 - 8!