We had planned on taking Craig out to lunch at Zeek's Pizza, in Ravenna, for his birthday today (his birthday was actually last Wednesday), but this morning, Craig had to take a "raincheck." He wasn't feeling well. I was very disappointed. Craig is a friend we don't see often enough.

Instead, Phillip and I went to lunch at OK Corral, in Greenwood. We stopped by Big Lots - Phillip wanted to pick up some Halloween decorations. We wanted to avoid the University District, because of the Husky football game going on, so we went to Greenwood by heading west and north, around Queen Anne and through Ballard. We reversed the route going back, and, on an impulse, we stopped into Value Village. I ended up buying three shirts, a pair of jeans - and the best find I've ever made at a Value Village. For a mere $9.99, I bought a pair of Birkenstock® Milano sandals. I've thought about a pair of Milanos for years, but I never got around to spending the $99.95. (Price wasn't the thing preventing the purchase. I've spent $170 for a pair of Baltimores, that now need to be re-soled.) The ten-buck Milanos I found today look like they've been worn just long enough to barely break them in, and they are exactly the right size. Sometimes, I can get excited about a material purchase.

"Easter Island is found some 3,760 kilometers west of the continent, at Chile. It has an expanse of 166 kiliometers with a triangular shape and at each vertex it has a volcano, whose names are: Rano-A-Roi, Rano-Kau and Puakatiki, all inactive. The island was discovered on the 5th of April, 1722 by the Dutch admiral Jacob Roggewen. The original name of the island was Paasche Eiland because it was discovered on Easter day. History tells us that the natives who came out to greet him were very friendly, and they offered fried bananas and stews, sugar cane and pumpkins."

(It's interesting to me how someone can be the person who discovered an island and meet the people already living there.)

I started this day feeling stressed and anxious. I kept feeling like I had too much to do, and too many deadlines approaching. (It's funny: When I started this job last July, I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough to do.)

Those feelings of stress and anxiousness vanished after this morning's Buddhist meditation session. Meditation works, folks. There were seven or eight of us today, plus the teacher. Today's session wasn't as deep for me as the first one, but I think that was due to having to stress down in the beginning.

I am back from this evening's yoga session. I feel even more mellow. I still need to work on arching my back correctly. I think that when I stop looking at what others are doing and just feel the positions, I do a lot better. With the help of a great instructor, and some helpful fellow students, I did fine tonight. When a position is right, yoga is a wonderful feeling. When a position is done right, yoga is a beautiful thing to behold.

By the way, ¡Piensa en Español! Think Spanish! magazine is not all train explosions and current events. I started with that particular article because it was categorized Musica. There is an article on Geografía: "La Isla de Pascua y Viña del Mar." I may read that one next, because I think Easter Island is an interesting mystery. There is an artcle on People titled "Don Victor." That could be interesting, but I don't know who Don Victor is, yet. How about the article on Viaje: "El Acueducto de Segovia"? Or, maybe I'll read some Cultura: "Desayuno Con El Presidente de Nicaragua." The Receta: "Crepes de Naranja" doesn't look all that appealing, but maybe next month's recipe will be better.

I was so excited about the little bit I'd translated of the article "Pongamos que Hablo de Madrid" that I wrote this morning's post before I'd finished the translation. As a result, I made two major errors in reporting the article. First, the tragedy of 11-M was more than just one train. Second, the article was not about how how Joaquín Sabina used music to cope with the tragedy, but rather how the people of Spain used the music of Joaquín Sabina to cope.

This evening, with the help of the magazine's glossary and my Spanish/English dictionary, and avoiding the temptation of Babelfish, I translated the entire article. (To be fair, the articles are short.) I picked up a new word, which was used seveal times in the article: después (later).

This is how I translated the one-sentence description of the attacks: "The 11th of March, 2004, (11-M), two and a half years later and almost 7:30 in the morning, three bombs exploded in a train arriving from Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid, and a few seconds later in the Atocha station four more explosives were detonated, and when the second massacre came to an end in a period of three minutes, 13 backbacks of explosives blew up in four trains where more than 150 people were killed and many more were wounded." (The two and a half years later refers to the September 11 attacks discussed in the first paragraph.)

The next day, 11 million "fellow countrymen of the Spanish people" carried protest banners into the streets of Spain in solidarity.

One more time, like with the terrorist attacks in New York, Spaniards looked for "El Por qué" ("The Why"), and like with Western music, Spaniards sought refuge in music. Recently, the Spanish people have identified themselves with two songs by the famous musician and poet Joaquín Sabina, "Pongamos que Hablo de Madrid" (Let's Say I am Speaking About Madrid) and "Yo Me Bajo en Atocha" (I Get Off in Atocha).

"Pongamos que Hablo de Madrid" was published in 1978 and became the number one song on Spanish radio.

Joaquín Sabina was exiled to London after a Molotov cocktail was used during a street protest in the '70's, but returned in 1977 after Franco's dictatorship. The words of his music "reflect with poetry" lost causes and Madrid life.

I read all that, and more, en Español!

I'm slowly reading an interesting article in ¡Piensa en Español! Think Spanish! magazine. The title of the article is "Pongamos que Hablo de Madrid." ("Let's say I am speaking about Madrid.") It's about how music can help people deal with "las tragedias más horribles" (the most horrible tragedies) like "11 de septiembre, 2001." It goes on to tell how musician Joaquín Sabina dealt with the tragedy of 11 de marzo, 2004 (known as 11-M), in which terrorists blew up a train in Madrid.

I am actually reading sentences like: "Entre todo debate, todo discusión, todos los políticos, la música siempre engloba y une al público y muestra a la vez las emociones que sufre el pueblo."

I also scored 100% on the 20-question "Leccion - la expresión 'hay'."

If all goes well, I'll read future articles and issues faster.

Sometimes, a victory can be achieved by not losing.

I pray for people whose lives are out of balance. They do things to compensate for what they think is missing, when all they have to do shift their lives back to their natural, comfortable centers. I pray that those people will find some peace.

Today's after-dinner fortune cookie fortune: You will be made stronger by adversity.

The song stuck in my head this morning is Doctor My Eyes, by Jackson Browne. (Where do these songs come from?)

Headline in this morning's Seattle Times: Library use soars at new building

It's been four months since the new downtown library opened, the article said, and the "novelty hasn't worn off." The number of books checked out at the Central Library has doubled since August, and there are more visitors per day than the old downtown library ever had. There's also an interesting comment about the decrease in the homeless population at the library: The Seattle Public Library credits the increase in the number of computers for that. People aren't waiting around for a free computer like they used to.

Yesterday afternoon, Phillip reminded me that today is Writers' Group. It is the second Sunday of the month, but I thought I remembered us pushing it back to next Sunday. Still, I wasn't sure I was remembering that correctly. I didn't have anything to read. It wouldn't be a tragedy - Bernice and Blanche don't always bring something. Then I thought about how Blanche may not always bring something she'd written, but she'll usually make up for it by bringing something interesting she'd found in a magazine or newspaper. Then I thought about this blog. Why not bring an entry? I did that once, but I made the mistake of bringing too many entries and I could tell I was losing everyone's enterest after a while. One entry might be too short, but what about expanding one? I immediately thought about the day I did the Buddhist Meditation. I know the group would be interested in that. I started writing at 10 last night, and stopped at midnight. Then I started again at 9 this morning, and printed it out at 10:40, without proofreading. (Church starts at 11:00.) Sure enough, Writers' Group is next Sunday. It was a worthwhile experience, however, writing under such a short deadline.

Now I'm wondering if Tricycle, or similar Buddhist magazine, would be interested in my outsider's story of meditation.

This afternoon, Phillip and I used the movie passes from my Booklover's Basket to see Resident Evil: Apocalypse at The Metro. I enjoyed it, once the story got moving - but I think Phillip thought more of it that I did. We're both fans of the original Resident Evil. I'm not familiar with the game it was based on, but I am familiar with similar computer games, like Half Life and Quake, and I could tell that the first movie did an excellent job of remaining true to its source. It had that look of a battle-monsters-through-the-complex game. This sequel was missing that, I felt.