Thursday, October 21 2004

We went rock climbing last weekend. It was really great and lots of fun. They showed us around the place and the basic techniques and then we tried it out. We leased the equipment at the gym so we didn't have to buy any. There are different walls to climb. There are easy ones and difficult ones for experienced climbers. They are tall walls with lots of little rock-like bits sticking out from the wall which you hold on to and climb up the wall. Everyone has to be tied with the rope so they don't fall down if they slip off. We climbed the easy walls and we had a great time. It can be very hard trying to hold on to those little rocks and climbing up. Nikki was really good too. She's very limber and it was easy for her to climb up. And once you get to the top it's even better going down because you just slide down the rope. I think we'll go rock climbing now every weekend because Nikki liked it very much and so did I. We saw other kids at the gym too and some girls were even younger than Nikki. They climbed the same easy wall that we climbed and they showed us some tricks.

That was on Saturday and on Sunday we stayed at home and played with each other and watched a movie. We watched Seven Years in Tibet with Brad Pitt. The movie is several years old but I thought it was interesting because it showed Dalai Lama when he was little. I've been learning and reading about Buddhism now whenever I can and the more I learn about it the more I want to know. It's very relaxing just reading about their teachings. I also discovered a very good web site www.buddhanet.net. They have many e-books and other material to explore and learn from and I've been spending lots of time going through it. This is one of my favorite quotes from one of the books: "Always recognize the dreamlike qualities of life and reduce attachment and aversion. Practice good-heartedness toward all beings. Be loving and compassionate, no matter what others do to you. What they will do will not matter so much when you see it as a dream. The trick is to have positive intention during the dream. This is the essential point. This is true spirituality." There are many other examples like this one and they can be very inspiring when I feel depressed or sad or afraid.

Nikki said we should start planning our New Year's Eve. She said she would like to have some of her friends come along but I don't know if that's a good idea. We'll talk about it. I really don't know what we could do this year.