Jacknapped!

Dissatisfied with my productivity levels last weekend, I had a firm list of Things To Do for today.  Getting a good night's sleep was on the list, since much of my inactivity last weekend was the result of being so thoroughly wiped out by the previous week.

Sadly, getting a good night's sleep was not to be.  Circumstances (somewhat) out of my control kept me awake until 4:00 AM, and my apparently finely-tuned internal work clock woke me promptly at 7.  I tried fiercely to sleep longer, but there was to be none of that.  At eight I threw in the towel, threw off the cat, and got up.

First on my list was a trip up to Rachel and Ben's to drop off their copy of the "Beauty and the Beast" DVD my student director made and to pick up a funky theatrical-ish chair Rachel found next to their dumpster.

Next, I went out to the Denver temple to do an endowment session.  The temple was hopping (Saturdays in April = weddings), but I got in a session and some solid meditation time.  I didn't fully go into the meditation techniques Phra Bart taught me.  That kind of meditation asks you to empty your mind, to dismiss all thoughts.  I am not very good at doing that.  Okay, I am awful at doing that.  Besides, my desire to meditate today was driven by the crowd of thoughts in my head.  I didn't want to empty them out; I wanted to sit quietly, close my eyes, and sort them.

I did that, noting along the way that 1) I may not be able to dismiss all thoughts, but I am still pretty darn good at dropping into the relaxed physical state Phra Bart taught me, 2) I stayed remarkably awake in the process, and 3) at one point I lost track of where my body ended and the air around me began.  I knew logically where my body was, of course, but I managed to drop in deep enough to lose that ever-present awareness of my corporeal self.  I noted it with interest, pleased that I could even be consciously acknowledging it and still maintain it.  Yay me!

Phra Sanjoy chastises me repeatedly that meditation can be done anywhere at anytime, so long as you practice it daily.  I think he is right, but I feel a certain affection for meditating in the celestial room.  It's a light, quiet space, yes, but it's also a fun conflation of Thai Buddhism and Mormonism.

After the temple I headed back to up Rachel and Ben's to pick up Jack.  All three of them are sick, but Ben seemed especially miserable when I saw him earlier in the day.  Besides, I wanted some company while I ran errands.

We had a good time at Tattered Cover.  I looked through travel guides to Spain and Morocco and Jack checked out the children's section.  He particularly liked the big dragon kite hanging from the ceiling ("Grr!" he said every time he passed it) and the rubber ball he carried everywhere.

We got a lot done, Jack and I, and he got a giant chocolate chip cookie as a reward after helping me shop for groceries at Whole Foods.  He's particularly adept at throwing (well, smashing might be a better verb) the items I hand him into the cart behind him.

Rachel was home from work when I returned their stolen child, and we got to catch up a little before I headed to my own home.  We mostly talked about the Patrick Rothfuss books we've all read and thoroughly enjoyed.  They're wonderful pieces of storytelling - enough so that I'm already looking forward to rereading them next year when the third book in the trilogy comes out.

I feel like my writing is deteriorating, and I still need to do some planning for the Gospel Doctrine class I'm teaching tomorrow, so I'm going to forgo any attempts at writing a conclusion that brings this post neatly around and instead hie myself towards bed.