On my way to meet some friends at Roxy Jr. last ni…
On my way to meet some friends at Roxy Jr. last night I stopped by Kirk’s place to give him my copy of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, now that I’m finished with it. Kirk was in the middle of dying his hair blue, so he could come out, but he said he’d call later. Roxy Jr. is a typical Shi-da area bar, full of foreigners talking about visas and the English-language newspapers. I had a beer and shouted over the din with friends for a while. It was a beautiful night, cool and clear. The store owners were laughing and chatting as they washed their pots and pans in the street grates. I didn’t feel like going home, but Kirk wasn’t answering his phone, so I didn’t know what else to do. I went home.
I awoke this morning to find that my neighborhood has been taken over by thousands of Buddhists. I think they’re still around, because the buses they arrived on are still lining the street downstairs. The reason they’re here is to catch a glimpse of a piece of a Buddha, his finger or something like that. Kind of silly when you think how Buddhism teaches to disdain the physical aspect of life and strive to perfect the spiritual. Or not. I have to admit, I’ve forgotten most of what I ever learned about religion in general. None of it really ever made sense to me, which is probably a sign that my life is deficient in that respect. Perhaps it is something that happens as one gets older and one’s thoughts turn to the more spiritual side of things as one’s grasp on the physical side of things becomes less certain.
I walked over to the Jianguo Market today and looked at a couple of gray kittens in a cage. They were both females, but one was frisky and loud while the other just sat there, looking very peaceful and occasionally licking the other one’s face. They were adorable, and the frisky one was given away as I watched to a girl who didn’t know anything about having pets. I’ve never had my own pet, really, besides my turtles, but I came close to taking the other cat home this afternoon. It was hard to resist the Forces of Cuteness considering my lonely life, but I managed somehow. Later on I also managed to resist the allure of a new cellphone when I went to the Far EasTone office and found that none of the phones there appealed to me at all. I’ll just wait until someone makes a phone I like, and then I’ll consider getting a new one. It’s not like I use it very much. I’d rather have a cat.
My back aches something fierce. I think I twisted it or pulled it or something, but I should probably see someone about it. Just when my eyes are getting better, some other part of me gets screwed up. It’s always something.
