A little whine for thy minds sake

A coupla’ days back, one of my closest friends returned home. We’d spent two years together at uni in australia and possibly another year or so at ACBT in Sri Lanka, so that makes about 4 years…and counting.
I knew the chances of me seeing him again were far from remote, but the chances of seeing him within the next year or so…not likely, not with trying to achieve the lofty goals I have set up for myself (which would take the better part of a year and a half at least)
Although it doesn’t seem like a lot to cry over (not that I cried…really) it’s significant that he won’t be present for the mayhem and mischeif we’ll be getting upto in the years to come, the difference with the coming months being that we’ve all finished uni and, at least during the summer would be working full time.
Now I wonder what a group of twenty somethings with steady jobs could do during the weekends…
You see, when a person becomes a signifact player within a circle of friends his presence becomes somewhat imperative to those weekends; who’s gonna do something or say something that sends the rest of us into hysterics? (And not always in laughter…this guy aims to shock rather than amuse) who else is gonna keep the good times rolling even after the party seems to have died a tragic (and sometimes smelly) death through his upbeat attitude?
Who the **** is gonna lead the cricket team?
But already we’re adjusting. The beauty about friends is that there’s always someone with a reason to laugh, or to smile at least. The good times keep rolling in.
But we miss our brother just the same.
In buddhism it’s said that we’ve all been brothers and sisters in past lives and when I look at the idiots I hang out with I’ve no doubt that we’ve all shared a mother at some point in our karmic existence.
It’s not just a nice thought, it’s a sense of peace.
And sometimes friends can be your greatest teachers. Some say life is the greatest teacher, but I’d say life was more of a lesson with one, very, very large syllabes. It is those around us (and of course, ourselves) who unravel its intricate mathematics and show us what, exactly the **** is going on.
It can be through something as simple as living an a well organized life, or living a full life; Enjoying every second of it and not a Jack Daniels in sight.
Or it can be through acts of forgiveness, acceptance.
We love our friends, let’s face it. We cannot imagine life without them.
Even through the mistakes, through the fights, through good times, through the fights,
through the bad times and, did I mention the fights…?
The ties that bind us remain strong and only grow stronger…

I’m at a place,
Not a very comfortable one but it isn’t in the slums either. It’s that bit in life where you find out that, depite all the contradicting evidence, you’re going to make it…
If you’re lucky…
Back home, when lunch was whatever I told mummy to cook and bills were a myth invented by adults to make sure I turn the garden light off, life could only be described as comfy…comfortable is way too formal to describe that state of relaxation and utter disregard for responsible living so I opt to use its more lax counterpart…comfy.
Then, like waking up from a pleasent dream (The ones where Jessica Alba and Charlieze Theron decide to come out of the closet…YOUR closet) you find that lunch is, in fact a myth and bills are taped across the fridge like unholy garffiti.
But you get used to it, after the initial shock you learn things, like chicken…it comes in packets of raw flesh and no you can’t use the pictures off of restaraunt brochures to guide the process of transforming it into something more digestable.
And ‘Final Notice’ doesn’t mean a thing if it’s addressed to ‘Vakapute Alwis’…of course if you happen to be ‘Vakapute Alwis’ then, we have a problem.
And the next thing you know you’re at that place, where you’ve in so much debt you’ve got Bonos’ number on speed dial, while everything in you immediate vicinity seems to be broken.
And let’s face it…It’s your fault…
But one thing I’ve learned (among many others) is compassion.
You see, I’ve observed that it is a human trait to be effortlessly compassionate to others, but not to yourself, at least this was how things stood in my neck of the woods. But I also noticed that I wasn’t heading anywhere by feelings of guilt, I thought that I needed to be tough on myself when what I really needed was some compassion.
With compassion comes understanding, at least you need understanding to be compassionate, and with understanding comes wisdom, and I think that I’m making some progress, at least in my understanding of my life.
I learnt all of these through listening to the sermons of Ajahn Brahmvanso, which my best friend through kindness and consideration gave to me.
I think that should set the tone for the posts I make on this blog;
Life is beyond a simple, one line definition, even a thousand line definition.
I personally don’t think it has one, but I’m here…
Relegion I think is a recipe, an afternoon special that show you ‘How to get the most of your chicken’. I don’t think that it aims to tell you what came first, ‘The chicken or the egg’. At least that’s how I see my relegion, Buddhism.
So I think I’ll jot down all my musings and experiences on my ‘lil ‘ol blog, and maybe someone else out there can give me a hand across those stiky places.
Or join me on my adventure…
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go to work….some of us have bills to pay…

Cradled in the shelter of night,
Frollicking skin
Tumbleweed across the desert Bed,
A shallow storm
Gaining strength,
Casting net
For Oblivion sought,
Escape
Prison of Bliss,
Obliviate
Need,
Of touch,
Of tongue,
Remaining,
Skilled survivor,
Need,
Of Humanity…