I'm not sure how to organize these thoughts, so they may appear in a semi-random order. Though I was stood up twice in succesion earlier in the weekend (I responded to that in as blase manner as I could, and did the complete opposite of one of the night's original plans and sat across from a complete stranger in a coffee shop), I was determined to get something accomplished, and so went to a zen shiatsu workshop (cue fanfare). I guess the first thing I should admit was that I had to practically discipline myself to not be distracted by the gal in charge, who looked like she should be on the cover of Yoga Journal, but was even more charming as she had a bit of an accent and a lovely voice. I had no idea there would be such connection between martial arts and shiatsu, though I'll have to note that I'm thinking in the main of aikido and Chinese arts, of which there ironically happened to be two other gentlemen besides me who've practiced those in some capacity. I did learn quite a lot, and plan on taking advantage of whatever opportunity I can find to learn more in the same vein; in fact, I think I actually got some patterns in my thinking re-started, I'm not ready to talk about those yet, though. I will say one more highlight (besides the pleasant experience, free massage and gorgeous instructor) - I finally learned how to give someone's neck and shoulders a massage a proper way, which is a profound thing if you think about how awkward or ineffective it usually is to try to loosen the tension in someone's neck. If anyone wants to let me practice on them for a free neck rub or massage, I'm your man.

The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed in New Orleans, by Andrei Codrescu. I bought this collection of essays at some point in high school, I really have no recollection of why, except that it was for school. So I somehow found it, and thought, hey why not. Off the top of my head, Codrescu essays include commentary on growing up in Romania, the strange nature of that country's most recent revolution, various wry takes on being a vegetarian, a couple literary theory essays, some diatribes against communism, and one lovely exploration of New Orleans. I always did want to travel there, though unfortunately at the moment it looks like the only way I'll be able to will be through writings like this one, I suppose.