I am now writing a book!

Yes, I have really begun my first book.  I am not so far into it yet but it has begun!  Clayton, I just want you to know that you are in it and your name is "Raymond".  I am almost done with page 2 and I am writing it on my MacBook.  It is the best.  

Today I went to a Zen group.

It began at 7:30 in the morning and went until 9:30. Seven people were signed up to attend but only 3 came. The leader of this group is Kosho. He is a Zen Buddhist from Japan. As soon as I entered he told me how to get started with the zazen meditation. There was another woman already there and a third came in a little later. Two of us were beginners. We meditated for 30 minutes. Then he went over the basics and we meditated another 20 minutes or so. Then he taught us some basics about Soto Zen Buddhism and did a chant. He finished it off by serving us a breakfast of rice, soup and pumpkin. During this breakfast we all conversed and this was the most interesting part. The other two women were also seekers and very intelligent. Kosho was rather difficult to understand because of his accent but I got enough out of it. Zen Buddhism is about living for right now. It can be summed up as "Be happy. Don't worry." Do what you choose to do at the moment with all your heart. It is not a religion. It has no "god" or sacred text. It is about practicing the right way to live.

Overall, I was impressed by the level of conversation. It is definitely a group I will return to.

http://www.sotozen-net.or.jp/kokusai/howtodozazen01.htm

An Interesting Place: The Panama Hotel

Jan Johnson stands in the stairway leading to the Panama Hotel she's revived and remade into an elegant gathering place for an eclectic clientele. Before becoming the caretaker of the basement's Nisei historical trove, Johnson lived in Italy and designed fine knitwear for haute couture houses. TEA &TREASURES A hotel gets hip, from the basement up THE MOMENT you step through the vintage glass doors and into the café, there's a certain feeling lingering in the air, the spirit of this place. If you know nothing about what's in the basement — or the Lamborghini-driving fashion designer who brought it all back to life — you may think the ambiance comes from the aroma of toasted green tea and Italian espresso. Or the plank floors restored to violin glow. Or the historic black-and-white photographs on the brick walls. Or, perhaps, it's the extraordinary light that flows uphill from Elliott Bay, ricochets off a dreary slab building across the street, strikes the gilt letters on the café window and casts a perfect shadow on the wall: PANAMA HOTEL. The Panama Hotel and Tea House, at 605 1/2 S. Main St., anchors what was once the heart of Seattle's Nihonmachi, Japantown, one of the most thriving communities of its kind in the country. It was built in 1910 by the city's first Japanese architect, and for the next three decades, the lower floors of the five-story workingman's hotel were home to a laundry, dentist, tailor, pool hall, book store, florist, sushi shop and sento, a Japanese-style public bathhouse. Of hundreds of such communal bathhouses in Japantowns across the country, this is the only one preserved intact, in place. more here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2002/1103/cover.html I haven't been to the Panama Hotel or its Tea Room yet but  it sounds fascinating from this article.  This is a place my  character will have to visit often.

Today I went to Joe Bar

I am in the process of expanding my small little world of work and responsibility by slowly adding to my experiences in and around Seattle.  Soon I will begin writing a book.  My characters need to get out and about and so I am doing just what I want them to do.  Joe Bar is a small coffee house on Roy St.  It  is in an old building that capitalizes on "old" and is quite interesting.

One can order coffee, crepes and other things or just sit and take up room with or without one's laptop.  People occupy space, have conversations that can easily be overheard by others and look and feel cool while doing all this.  Old and young go to Joe Bar.  I happen to be one of the "older" ones.  I would not have known about Joe Bar if my son had not suggested going there.  He said I am Adventure Deprived and I suppose he is correct.  My life is mostly made up of going to work, coming home, doing  a great deal of reading, doing repairs on my house and in my spare time, search for enlightenment.  It keeps me busy alright.  But something is missing.  Or rather, something is NOT missing that I would prefer to be missing.   I would prefer to not have to go to work.  This is a relatively new turn of events for me.  For many years my work was my life (or a very large part of it) and now it is not.  It is time to open new pathways in my life before it is too late to do so and so this blog will be the recording of what is to come.