Palegoldenrod

Having my last few New Years experiences degrade from a good night with good company to just downright depressing, I decided to see this year in a little differently.

I thought about what I wanted to do this year, and didn’t really feel right about bringing the year in with intoxication – noise, poison and escape from reality. It felt like the opposite of what I wanted for myself. And I wasn’t particularly excited or feeling anything about the coming year. It just… was.

I decided to enjoy the last night of the year alone.

I showered and dressed in clean clothes, and stood in my room with the lights off and the glass doors out onto my balcony thrown open to the quiet, cool night air. I bowed to Buddha – Gautama for being compassionate enough to teach others and to the inner buddha (or potential) in all of us, I bow to the Dharma for offering me an opportunity to escape from suffering, and I bow to the Sangha for bringing that Dharma teaching from the Gautama to me through 2500 years.

Then I bowed 365 times. Each time I touched my forehead to the ground I reflected that the bow represented a day past in the last year, a day I probably did not utilise or appreciate fully. Was I happy that day? Did I help others or hurt them? Most likely this was a day where I could have done better. I also thought of the day in the coming year, and what I hoped to achieve, how I should use it well.

I bowed slowly and gently, remembering the words of a nun who once told me that my hands should to open gently like a beautiful lotus, like my heart. Each bow made me feel lighter, cleaner. My bowing brought forth my earnest wish for a mindful, peaceful and fulfilling year to come, and a resolve to improve myself and shed those things in myself that are negative.

When I finished I stood for a while, then sat for a while longer to follow and appreciate breath. I practiced metta for a while – first I feel love for a close friend or family member, then for someone I don’t know so well, then for someone I don’t like, and finally for all beings. It’s a very nice practice.

Then I bowed for a little longer, firstly to universe, then in gratefulness for health, shelter, employment, food and water, education, living in a peaceful nation, etc. I bowed for each of the 5 mindfulness trainings. Finally I bowed once again to the Triple Gem and went to bed feeling wonderful (even if my knees and arches of my feet were a bit sore, hehehe).

I determined to avoid alcohol for a while this year (or for good, who knows?) and to take better care of myself and those around me.

I hope you have had a wonderful start to the year, and wish you good health, good luck and good times for the year to come. Let us not waste a day.

Reading Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon has stirred in me once again that desire to learn more about crytography and information theory. To that end I am playing with PGP again.

If, for whatever reason, you decide you want to send me a message that you absolutely only want me to read (wow, it must be juicy, please send it soon!), here is my public key.

(I’ll review the book separately, but it was good)

—–BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK—– Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (Darwin)

mQGiBEd5kt8RBACQeVJFZNV6GhKF4BrNkAeTqzPMCirVKAG8zvxOPiPRJyNfeipq lwSkjSnNbUj1Z1U9GZ8Kn4VDDgr187jUVJiQ+telms6hBiZ7vR2bclhDfF4l2hYF yKXY445fZnmVXO/ScHSFl4rA3kEfKDnPkt0aIgelX2Bc8BsUus/edh1QrwCgu4ss 8CxY1ikNLtdBT3dynd/Usn0D/0uvp1OKAAtSgDW5xbOlGXPN/nafeFmN8O119H7b aMedNBunQfiKcLOIS26AifoE67NgHn/IefSI2+F0L5mxolEtrAXyKUtw9o2BeM+7 SK/GEkRq2pY3wsoBuNF3gNseU4EW57H83fAeszVbGoQZfnsdzBJErrAN7pSycz8k rlSMA/9SR/IsUd1a6GTMANk2lhiDJioyErrc8/KV4H/mo+aneyg/OqZKfdKNZpEH R1WIVkWt7R2Px2E7EqHMNrVYxyj3TX6nWg5dK5aW8fjlVkYX+kUV7dYA7FVgA1l0 l8NBMHW5Rlf4JuimyojGdvwUdNIQf67IE+rw2Q9jVb7nD/k5ibQpQ2FybHkgTHlk ZGlhcmQgPGNhcmx5Lmx5ZGRpYXJkQGdtYWlsLmNvbT6IYAQTEQIAIAUCR3mS3wIb IwYLCQgHAwIEFQIIAwQWAgMBAh4BAheAAAoJEGwP/P1ZdAcVG8QAoIiQ0QiRdReR FtUjoZFkgJy8khZ5AKCdXmEB6HN9mJhkTVreUXuK4nAznbkBDQRHeZLfEAQAyBlo V70WTcVvv9YvnxTSqROPvBwpsxMEW4X9U0sY0tsUFvo9RaEGtMtx2ZVNInRNEWYX k7SaJOh212yVOniPaEHwqzNoM9Zk7++gFA91aVMP6lUGTxpNP6ldr6GhRQ4c51RV IlEP7WYe6YU5VStK2yytnGXI1g4fWLCfwF8Kkg8AAwUEAK2z3lk2Z8GQyl+84UtO rup0oPOY2aUp73q3/HR9ZPfBOAzuWQDkcMzOe2D883VdsqhuYR2bDXNTnzC9gBG2 RSGGDxKod0+Rl8MWAs1nM/LIO3o5WCUhnKVYMIwZXiNaAkHUcYTsT06CFHtGCYNx 2j3Ww1/4MCLAthDacuSLX0iUiEkEGBECAAkFAkd5kt8CGwwACgkQbA/8/Vl0BxUE 3wCeOWV38VPJ7cQNcmY4AjCXALiq9MEAniB/SOjh3txuR3kZthr9xK64v+3D =OM5s —–END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK—–

Some of you out there might want to look into the Android Developer Challenge. Not for developing androids, but rather developing for this free and open mobile platform that Google and partners are bringing forth. Some pretty hefty ca$h prizes are up for grabs, so if you have some time on your hands for the next few months and you’d like some moolah, checkiddout.

From their site:

“Cool apps that surprise and delight mobile users, built by developers like you, will be a huge part of the Android vision. To support you in your efforts, Google has launched the Android Developer Challenge, which will provide $10 million in awards — no strings attached — for great mobile apps built on the Android platform.”

If I wasn’t working full time you can be sure I’d be working on this with some friends – it looks interesting and possibly the start to a business venture

If you decide to enter, let me know. I’d be really interested to hear how you go.