after many delays...

Hello World!

I've started to write a Rob Update about 3 or 4 times in the last 3 or 4 months,
but this time I really mean to write it right now!

Instead of properly summarizing everything that's happened in Japan since the last
time I wrote, which I don't even know when that was.. I'll just say Happy New
Year!!  and improperly summarize a few things that have happened recently enough to
be remembered.

But FIRST, and this is the reason I have to write right now:

I'm going to attend a week long meditation retreat thing outside of Sydney,
Australia from 27 March to 5 April!  Anyone going to be in Sydney just before or
after those dates?  Amanda G, I'm lookin' at you!  8-D

The retreat will be a deep emotional cleansing extravaganza called ISIS 101,
organized by Clairvision (http://clairvision.org/).  My friend Kevin did the same
course, and came back with lucid eyes beaming joy!

Speaking of beaming joyfully, that's how I felt when I picked up my brother Fred in
Shibuya!  Fred was here for 3 weeks, spanning the New Year transition. 
Fortunately, I was out of work (*) while he was here, so we got three glorious
weeks of chillin' together, wandering around the internets, wandering around
Shibuya, wondering why Fuji-Q was shut again when we went, and having a generally
great time together.  We didn't even fight once!

(*) I've started saying, "I finished my contract," instead of "I was laid off."

The day Fred left Japan, I flew to the southern tip of Japan for a clinical drug
trial.  Received 803,000 yen (roughly 8000 USD) for two weeks of relaxation as we
surfed the web and played cards, punctuated by nurses puncturing our skin for
little blood samples.  It was a proverbial piece of cake!  Though we didn't get any
cake during the trial: the food was healthy and delicious, but with no snacking
between meals!

Across the room from me in bed number 9 was a man named Simon, who I befriended
more effectively than any of the other 8 guys in the trial.  He's an artist, in
both writing and drawing.  He spent most of his free time working on two children's
books, one extolling the virtues of human-powered transportation, and the other a
parody of U.S. foreign and domestic policy. He encouraged me to come visit him
after the trial; I may just have to do it!

But first, let's have a moment of silence for those who are (no longer) living in
war.  The crumbling US finances and crumbling of schools and hospitals in Gaza kept
me from writing for a while.  I found it difficult to write cheerfully with all
that going on.

And on.

Watch Zeitgeist Addendum, start a protest, light a candle, sit meditatively.  Let's
bring peace back to the world, starting with our own hearts.

   Love and Light
    - Rob!