i-ching-a-ling profile picture

i-ching-a-ling

pet me, I purr...

About Me

"Spiritual truth is not something elaborate and esoteric, it is in fact profound common sense. When you realize the nature of mind, layers of confusion peel away. You don't actually 'become' a Buddha, you simply cease, slowly, to be deluded. And being a buddha is not being some omnipotent spiritual superman, but becoming at last a true human being." --from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche

My Interests

learning. reading. writing. drawing, painting, sewing, designing, making art. cuddling with my cat, and other people's cats. all things fuzzy. collecting puppets, costuming puppets...and then watching other people play with puppets.

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I'd like to meet:

oversized stuffed animals. lovers of spicy food. impassioned, compassionate souls. compulsive tea drinkers. voracious book readers. handwritten-letter composers. crossword puzzle partners. ambidextrous vegetarians. furry four-legged creatures, especially those that purr, but also wombats, koala bears, and burros.

Music:

world music and/or music that's out of this world...current faves are Federico Aubele, Orishas, Orchestra Baobab, Sonar Calibrado, M.I.A., Ojos de Brujo,...steady faves include Cigani Ruzsa and Angelo, Karsh Kale, Talvin Singh, Cheb i Sabbah, Dzihan and Kamien, The Dining Rooms, St. Germain, MC Solaar, Mos Def, Terrestre, Gotan Project, Nina Simone, Portishead, Bjork, Massive Attack, Manu Chao, Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box, Kruder and Dorfmeister, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Mutamassik, Natacha Atlas, Master Musicians of Jajouka, Suba, dj Krush, Cut Chemist, dj Shadow, Thievery Corporation, Nightmares on Wax, Morphine, Radiohead, Joao and Bebel Gilberto, Cesaria Evora, Boban Markovic, Taraf de Haidouks, Goran Bregovic, Loyko, Garmarna, and much much more...love and props to les musiciens extraordinaires: Filastine, Maga Bo, Critters Buggin', Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet and all his other creative gyrations, Rhythm Nathan, John Wicks, D.C. Cooper, C.D. Littlefield, Reggie Watts, Quitzow, Setting Sun, the Evangenitals, Papillon, Pink Mochi, the Movies, Alana Sweetwater, the Section Quartet, the Degenerate Art Ensemble, Kopna Kopna, Moira Smiley & VOCO, Sirene...and to those amazing free radicals: Extra Action Marching Band and the Infernal Noise Brigade!

Movies:

Black Cat White Cat, Tuvalu, City of Lost Children, The Burmese Harp, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ghost in the Shell, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Iron Monkey, Wing Chun, Dragon Inn, The God of Cookery, Raise the Red Lantern, Map of the Human Heart, Everybody's Famous, Amelie, Girl on the Bridge, La Haine, Santitos, All About My Mother, Don't Tempt Me (No News From God), The Motorcycle Diaries, Once Were Warriors, Latcho Drom, Baraka, The King of Masks, City of God, Run Lola Run, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, March of the Penguins, ChungKing Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, Maria Full of Grace, Born into Brothels, The Terrorist, The Mark of Cain, House of Flying Daggers, Tsotsi, Hustle and Flow, Eve and the Fire Horse, El Bola, Croupier, 6ixtynin9, The Boys and Girls Guide to Getting Down, Mad Hot Ballroom, Rize, Favela Rising, Head-On, Crossing the Bridge: Sound of Istanbul, Children of Men, Black Book, The Tunnel, The Lookout, Once

Television:

I like it when bowling balls go crashing into them.

Books:

I LOVE BOOKS.
Currently reading: The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges
Recent reads and top faves:
NONFICTION: Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubinstein, The Omnivore's Dilemma and Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan, Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey by Isabel Fonseca, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World by Richard Heinberg, The Cosmic Game by Stanislav Grof, The Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits by Bill Porter, Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock, Underground by Haruki Murakami, Mapping Human History by Steve Olson, No Logo by Naomi Klein, We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anticapitalism edited by Notes from Nowhere, Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, Twenty Ads That Shook the World by James B. Twitchell, Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism and 2012: The Return of Quetzacoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich, The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History by Howard Bloom, Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh, Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's Commentaries on the Martial Way edited by John Little, Zen Mind Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice by Shunryu Suzuki, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche, Saffron Days in L.A.: Tales of a Buddhist Monk in America by Bhante Walpola Piyananda, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, A Thousand Pieces of Gold: A Memoir of China's Past Through Its Proverbs by Adeline Yen Mah, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II and Thread of the Silkworm by Iris Chang, Running with Scissors and Dry by Augusten Burroughs, Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing by Caroline Myss, In Other Words: A Language Lover's Guide to the Most Intriguing Words Around the World by Christopher Moore, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks
FICTION: Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The Road, No Country for Old Men, The Border Trilogy: All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing and Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy, anything by Christopher Moore, but particularly A Dirty Job and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, Too Loud A Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirsten Bakis, The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon by Tom Spanbauer, anything by Haruki Murakami but especially Wild Sheep Chase, Wind-up Bird Chronicles, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and most recently Kafka on the Shore. Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, The Storyteller by Mario Vargos Llosa, Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong, anything by Tom Robbins but most recently Villa Incognito. Trainspotting, Glue, and Porno by Irvine Welsh, The Beach by Alex Garland, Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan, Earth by David Brin, Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo, The Earthquake Bird by Susanna Jones, The Laughing Sutra by Mark Salzman, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love by Lisa See, Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, White Teeth and The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith, Makai by Kathleen Tyau
SHORT STORIES: White Snake and Other Stories by Geling Yan, Housebroken by Yael Hedaya, Close to Spider Man by Ivan E. Coyote, The Republic of East L.A. by Luis J. Rodriguez, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler, Among the Missing by Dan Chaon, The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle ..

Heroes:

My parents. Kuan Yin. the Bodhisattva Tara. Buddha. His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Thich Nhat Hanh. Sogyal Rinpoche. Bruce Lee. Iris Chang. Aung San Suu Kyi. Vandana Shiva. Sunryu Suzuki. Ikkyu.

My Blog

vampire cats

more cat pictures...
Posted by i-ching-a-ling on Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:03:00 PST

jet the baby deer

from the Iron Mountain Jewelry blog site: http://www.ironmountainjewelry.com/FawnFolio.htmlan excerpt:JetEarly in the morning on Sunday, May 4, my husband was on his way to work when he came back and ...
Posted by i-ching-a-ling on Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:32:00 PST

don’t be sad

When I get sad, stressed, or upset, I watch kitten and his box. But to watch this is doubly healing: Here's to hoping that my dad heals, recovers, and returns home from the hospital soon....
Posted by i-ching-a-ling on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:30:00 PST

Yay for LA Public Library! We CAN make a difference!

An important message from the City Librarian to all SaveLAPL visitors Published Blog entry by admin[ http://savelapl.org/fontayne521b ]Dear Library Supporters, When Kim Cooper and Richard Schave info...
Posted by i-ching-a-ling on Thu, 15 May 2008 03:50:00 PST

hello kitty

In the midst of death and suffering, whether due to cancer, earthquake or cyclone, there is still Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty is named Japan tourism ambassador By TOMOKO A....
Posted by i-ching-a-ling on Tue, 20 May 2008 05:59:00 PST

dying and living

In honor of my sister-in-law Jessica, who passed away on Saturday, May 17, 2008 in Boston due to a prolonged 5-year battle against breast cancer.  She leaves behind her husband Vinny and their 4-...
Posted by i-ching-a-ling on Sun, 18 May 2008 02:58:00 PST

down in fraggle rock

from http://www.variety.com/VR1117985529.html:Weinsteins roll with 'Fraggle Rock'Edwards to write, direct live-action musicalBy MICHAEL FLEMINGThe Weinstein Co. is reviving Jim Henson series "Fraggle ...
Posted by i-ching-a-ling on Wed, 14 May 2008 07:59:00 PST

booger king

Activists out Burger King dirty tricks operation By Leonard Doyle in Washington Friday, 9 May 2008 Activists have outed a corpo...
Posted by i-ching-a-ling on Fri, 09 May 2008 02:44:00 PST

Dave Barry on the Economic Stimulus Payment

Dave Barry on the Economic Stimulus PaymentThis year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format: Q: Wha...
Posted by i-ching-a-ling on Sat, 03 May 2008 05:20:00 PST

more kittens and a box

nothing like spending one's precious life time by searching for key words like "kitten in a box" on youtube... ...
Posted by i-ching-a-ling on Thu, 01 May 2008 11:45:00 PST