I don't have anything earth shattering to relate but I was getting sick of seeing December on this site so I figured it was time to update. Happy New Year! I hope everyone survived the holidays in good form. I had a splendid vacation in Tucson at my sister's desert villa, where I spent endless hours on a chair in the sun reading. I finished Dharma Punx by Noah Levine in a day and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in Zen or has gone through recovery, or knows someone who has.
I also read Full Catastrophe Living by John Kabat-Zinn, another "must read". That book lead me to order Kabat-Zinn's guided meditation CDs. It's funny because I read this whole book written by him, and have read many articles as well, and it's all about being present and living in the now and very Eastern and of course very Zen. So when I put on the CD, recorded in his voice, I started cracking up because he's got a hard-core Brooklyn accent. I did one of the meditations last night called the Body Scan, but I think there was more to it because I proceeded to sleep for 12 hours straight. I'm calm, okay. I had to check my pulse.
I am quite certain I have African Sleeping Sickness or Mononucleosis or some exotic disease causing major fatigue. I can't seem to get enough sleep. At this point, I'm oversleeping, which isn't making me feel any better.
I went to the Seattle Animal Shelter foster care orientation on Saturday, and the PAWS foster care orientation on Sunday. Now that we have a big bathroom/laundry room and an extra room, we may foster some kittens. There's all these kittens that are about 6 weeks old that aren't big enough to be spayed or neutered, so they need a home to get loved and fattened up for a couple of weeks. The shelters are just insanely overflowing during the spring and summer months. Right now they are also overflowing with cats who have colds that need a home to recover in so they can be adopted. Upper respiratory infections runs rampant in the shelter and the poor kitkats don't heal so well in a steel cage all alone.
When I see millionaires talking about how much their car cost, or celebrities blowing obscene dollars on stupid things like 12 million dollar earrings, my first thought is always, "You know how many animals I could save with that money?" One pair of Paris Hilton's earrings and I could open a huge state-of-the-art shelter and save hundreds of thousands of critters. Maybe some day. Do you know that PAWS operates this huge national program and shelter and wildlife center, and they do it on about $350,000 a year? Including salaries?
Oh crap I have a meeting to go to. I hope you all are having a splendid start to 2007. I will post my photos from Arizona very soon. There are a few sparkly ones I'm quite proud of. More to follow.
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