Early Days in Santa Fe

...First month at Upaya. One night, I'm listening to The Beatles' "Revolution #9," and I'm amazed how the structure of the song is like the structure of thought. The constant background babble and chatter is the active monkey mind, while the repetitive chant of "Number 9. Number 9," is the meditator's attempt to harness these random, out of control thoughts...

...In Albuquerque's Nob Hill, crossing the street to the Satellite Cafe, I look in the wrong direction, right to left as in Japan, and nearly wind up impaled on the spokes of a bicycle that is attached to the front of a city bus...

...on the job hunt, filling out applications to Whole Foods and REI online, finding it dehumanizing and insulting...

...overheard at the Aztec Cafe, a remark about a cougar "sight/site" and feeling not entirely sure if it is about a place in the hills notorious for dangerous cats, or a bar filled with older women on the prowl...

...feeling early on that life in the States had me caught in that vice grip between what I wanted to do and what I had to do...

...first Sushi at Kohnami. Surprised by not getting oshibori or hashioke. Having to pay for tea. The owner's reaction to my Nihongo, seemingly put off. I found the latter to be a constant in my time here, most of the Japanese I met refusing to speak to me in anything but English, despite my persistence in their native tongue. At the least the owner of Kohnami had an excuse, the front plate of his jeep bearing the Taegukgi. "반말, dude"...


On the turntable: Gomez, "Split the Difference"