Anonymous Quote

"Awakening is absolute intimacy with life. When this intimacy is total, you realize that life is absolutely impersonal. That is the biggest joy there is."

Drug store

Clerk: What's the last name?
Me: George
Clerk: Is that g-e-o or j-o-r?
Me: Uh, g-e-o
Clerk: A lot of people spell it j-o-r, so that's why I asked.

Lunch at the zoo

Having lunch at one of those snack bars they have. Three little boys are pouring yogurt all over the base of a patio umbrella. The moms yell, give them time outs, a swat on the behind. The boys are not impressed.

We're thinking how none of it looks like fun. Another group shows up. A bunch of kids, a couple of moms, a grandma. They sit next to us, pulling up lots of plastic chairs. The older kids are yelling. Someone's passing out Tupperware and fruit. One little boy sits silently licking the picnic table.

Sherman Oaks

Woman in her forties, blonde, jeans, leather cap, all done up. She's grilling the guy at the counter of a Japanese fast food restaurant. What kind of vegetables? What comes in the spicy chicken bowl? Could she get it without rice? After a long interrogation she says she'll think about it and leaves.

On my way out I see her talking to another woman whose hair is wet. She's in a smock, getting her hair done but stepping outside the salon. The blonde is telling her "He wants me to put makeup on as soon as I get up!" She's indignant. "No one has ever said I don't look pretty without makeup!"

Joko Beck

"The only way to transform 'I want' into 'I am' is to experience one's disappointment, one's frustration."