Well, this post isn't really about Christmas...sorry if I got your hopes up. It just so happens that I'm writing it on Christmas. Why? Because I finally have some free time to myself and I noticed that my last blog post was in August. That's a long time...I think in the world of the blogosphere it equates to four years. Think of all the things that can happen in four years. Think of all the things that can happen in four seconds.
So where do I even start? I feel like there's so much and not all of it is appropriate to just post up here on the ol' interwebs for all to see. I mean, a blog isn't really a diary, is it? I feel like the things I have to type are either intensely personal or just boring. I mean, it's Christmas and I'm on my computer. So far today I've watched The Wire (amazing!) and downloaded about thirty records. Now I'm drinking green tea, eating mom's delicious thumbprint cookies, and watching the comedy genius of Mel Brooks. It's not usually what I do on Christmas, but I've found the past few Christmases way too unusual to do the usual stuff.
Since September, I've been studying Chinese medicine at the Pacific College Of Oriental Medicine.
I have two problems with the school's name: Pacific, and Oriental.
Despite that, I am really enjoying being in school for maybe the first time in my life. I feel like I am in a place that's so perfect for me, I am actually willing to get up at 7 AM to make it to class.
I've never sat in a classroom in the middle of the morning with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude before. I just wrote a paper on Buddhism's influence on Chinese medicine in the Tang dynasty. The only thing that could be more right up my alley is if they made me somehow incorporate drums and percussion into the paper. It's too bad that when those Indian Buddhist monks brought new herbs to China, they didn't also bring tablas and kanjiras!
In school, when we have to talk about things like "heart fire," "qi vacuity," "damp heat," or "earth failing to nourish metal," it doesn't sound weird to me. It makes sense. Really, I am at the end of one trimester and I have no clue what I'm talking about, but I feel deep down that I'm going to be a very good acupuncturist. Next term, I will be working in the acupuncture clinic. What???? I would have never predicted I'd be doing anything like this in a million years. I won't be sticking people with needles (yet!) but I will be learning a lot while taking pulses and looking at tongues. There's somebody very special that I think would be proud of me, and that makes me happy.
