Choices

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or [...]

Surrounded By Nerds

I work as a technical writer for a start-up software company based in Irvine, California. It opened its satellite division in Armenia in July 2005, and I was one of the starting employees at the office here. We’ve grown from a group of five to just over 20 in that time span. Needless to say, [...]

Disconnected

The man sat in the dark alone. He smoked while thinking, occasionally out loud to no one’s attention. At times he walked about in his apartment, switching on a light in another room as he entered in search of the explanation. His thoughts were often muddled, yet there was a central core to them, a [...]

They Taught Me Not To Cry

Life is not hard to manage
when you have nothing to lose.
–Ernest Hemingway
… They taught me not to cry.
It was late night. We were sitting in the kitchen, smoking and he was telling me about his life. Then the boy stood up nervously, [...]

The Master Surrenders His Beliefs

 
The master surrenders his beliefs.
He sees beyond the end and the beginning.
He cuts all ties.
He gives up all desires.
He resists all temptations.
And he rises.
And wherever he lives,
In the city or the country,
In the valley or in the hills,
There is great joy.
Even in the empty forest
He finds joy
Because he wants nothing.
 
Excerpt from The Master
The Dhammapada
Thomas Byrom, [...]

Tell Me My Story

 
 
Don’t give up
Because you have friends
And believe
There will be place
Where we’ll be loved
I am digging in the dirt
To find the place
Where I’ve loved
     - Tell me my story…
     She is twenty years old now. It is already seventeen years that she lives in the children’s home. For me she is a girl who has never had [...]

My Favorite Wines

Most recently I have been rediscovering wine drinking, mainly because a friend of mine who is a composer and an avid appreciator of the stuff was staying with me for three weeks while in town visiting from his home of Boston. That and because I am getting bored with beer. By all means I do [...]

The Soul Resilient

The transition progresses. One relationship teeters on the edge of oblivion while another takes root, still shallow but persistent. The winter light casts a hazy gleam on my soul, which accepts the gentle warmth of promise, of new beginnings. The beams flicker slightly but become stronger with each passing day. Bonds are tied but not [...]