Omri

refreshed

2004-12-26T19:29:17Z

i was going to title this entry 'rebirth' but that's too extreme a description of how i feel now. i feel like i've jumped through a few hoops and when i came out the other end, i had an epiphany that i no longer want to work in the circus. i just went through a spell of being incommunicado with most of my loved ones. if anything, i've really needed people to relate to in the last few weeks, but as i often do, that's exactly when i curled up into my own head and sat around waiting.

i'm in austin now. i'm not attending university (still). i teach private piano lessons and i might have enough students soon to sustain myself financially, which would kick ass because it doesn't take too many hours out of my week, i work at home for the most part, there's almost no prep work in between, and i engage with my passions (and others'). i live with 3 other bachelors and 2 colombian girls who don't speak english in a modest two bedroom / one bathroom house. kiko pays the rent, which is quite modest even for one person, and the 2 girls are his cousins. i'm glad they're here because now i don't have any excuses to hold off learning spanish. plus they're cute and 19, but i'm not holding out for them.

right now everyone is away, though, for x-mas, except for erez and me. erez is my boy from back home (yonkers). i know him from camp and i tossed out the idea of moving down here together before the summer, and our lives and ambitions slowly became intertwined over the many months it took us to actually get up and go. we only left in late october, when my original plan was to leave as soon as camp was over in august. we went through a lot of experiences together, side by side for many months. our relationship was strained sometimes but it made us grow stronger. we had a lot of fun together (like A LOT), but now that's all over.... dun dun DUN!

over the last few weeks i have become totally disenchanted with erez. i felt that he betrayed my trust as a friend, as a roommate, and as a person. i'm not sure that it's important to detail the entire process because i don't think i'll be interested to read the details later anyway, plus it'll all be one-sided, and what's important now are my feelings. essentially, the balance at home was not perfect (not in a dramatic way but in a perfectly normal adjusting-to-a-new-home kind of way) and erez decided he needed some personal time, stat! that doesn't always work in a communal setting, especially if you don't even communicate that you need some space. none of this seems bad in itself and it isn't, but it started this process where all of the assumptions i had about our friendship were called into doubt. i couldn't even talk to erez about what was happening without him being defensive and dismissive in my opinion and him accusing me of trying to be his dad and calling my criticisms judgment. we had a long talk about it (finally) yesterday. it wasn't pretty but it was constructive. we both agree that we're not angry about what has transpired in the past few weeks and we're ready to move on without a grudge. but i made it clear to erez that i'm starting from zero with him. i'm not relying on him emotionally, socially, financially, etc. i'm gonna start taking personal time of my own and de-twine my ambitions and interests from his for now. knowing me, i could be over this in a week. however, i've never felt this level of disconnection and disenchantment from a loved one before and something underlying still seems stuck.

in other news, oren is coming tomorrow from ny and eugenio is coming a few days later. i'm really psyched for their arrival. it's been below freezing the past few days but it's supposed to be around 70 for at least the next week and sometimes up to 81!

my love life has been non-active but non-desperate either. i have a few prospects, some that i'm more interested in than others. a lot of small cues have helped me feel like i'm ready to be on the prowl again. one student of mine is 20 and she's exceedingly beautiful and interesting and fun and smart (i have a little crush). i also got a love letter (or love email) the other day from a former ladyfriend, which i feel ready to respond to today. it made me feel tingly and warm inside.

i also feel revived in the passions department. i've felt so empty for so long without that intrinsic internal motivation that we call passion. i've felt too 'heady' in my decision making but i'm reconnected in a whole new way. i've been practicing piano and reawakening my fingers to their potential. we also jam out at home at least 3 or 4 nights a week, which is probably my favorite times nowadays. we have a bunch of instruments and plenty of experimenters (not quite musicians!) around and we jam. my creativity is flowing out. there are a lot of very talented people around me who inspire me. everyone has their baggage too, for sure, but if you just listen to people you'll learn so much about them and about yourself in the process. i had 3 separate long conversations with omid the other day and i feel like i've reconnected to him in a way i haven't felt since i was here in austin last spring. and erez is a creative writer, which has excited me to find joy in writing again. and jon is a really amazing writer too. he's the only reason i've even kept checking lj.

even though i'm critical of how erez stays in touch with people, i still see a lot of good in it and i plan to reach out more in the next few weeks... ESPECIALLY to people i haven't talked to in a long time.

so that's it for this most recent installment in my unfolding life. peace and happy decemberween / festivus!

og @ 2004-08-29T15:09:00

2004-08-29T19:10:06Z

51

Every being in the universe
is an expression of the Tao.
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being
spontaneously honors the Tao.

The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.

og @ 2004-06-16T23:18:00

2004-06-17T03:18:55Z

50

The Master gives himself up
to whatever the moment brings.
He knows that he is going to die,
and he has nothing left to hold on to:
no illusions in his mind,
no resistances in his body.
He doesn't think about his actions;
they flow from the core of his being.
He holds nothing back from life;
therefore he is ready for death,
as a man is ready for sleep
after a good day's work.

og @ 2004-05-25T09:49:00

2004-05-25T13:49:47Z

49

The Master has no mind of her own.
She works with the mind of the people.

She is good to people who are good.
She is also good to people who aren't good.
This is true goodness.

She trusts people who are trustworthy.
She also trusts people who aren't trustworthy.
This is true trust.

The Master's mind is like space.
People don't understand her.
They look to her and wait.
She treats them like her own children.

large boner

2004-05-25T13:47:50Z

lag ba'omer (large boner) was rock solid! i gotta say that sasa was representing like mofo's (what what). for real, sha-har, le-el, and iz-ak (sharon forgot and stan had a wedding) were incredible. i didn't feel like they needed to be babysat and i never asked older hadracha to watch them or "guide" them. everyone was on an equal footing and we needed it because it was 10 hadracha to 45 kids and some hadracha were always unavailable, either working in the kitchen or preparing the next peula... ein hashofet really came through, too. dave, zack, bina, solomon, and me... i'm so glad you made it. i'm so glad you made it. you gotta gimme some a lovin', gimme gimme some love.

the kids were crazy. honestly, our camp absorbs all of the weirdos of society. i was thinking how amazing it is that we take the wildest kids and not only deal with them and show them a good time but really open them up and change them for life. i mean, we rock. elissa and aaron were key, too.

i'm really psyched for this summer. this weekend was perfect (including the weather). we got off to a bumpy start. the kids were aimless, the hadracha was aimless, the first station of zman mosh on saturday was totally awkward for every chulia, but after that, everything became awesome. in fact, it was more perfect because we went through a transition. it means we were active and conscious in how we handled things. once we got into the flow, the hadracha was always chillin with the kids during free time and playing some sports, izak's ADD majorly cooled down, i stopped having to chase hadracha to tell them things, there were always some hadracha helping in the kitchen. man, it was smooth by the end, and that made the parade a breeze. it was probably the best salute to israel parade i've ever been to.

shit was off the heezy. ya heard?

dreams

2004-05-25T13:09:28Z

i dreamt last night. i decided that i would before i went to sleep. i decided i would lucid dream too and i did. i spent a lot of time making decisions in some of my dreams. i wonder what it could reflect. i don't like to draw stories from my dreams because the interpretations are more about my belief system during my waking state than any "true" symbolism during sleep. if something stands out to me then it is my truth, but not if i dig in to find meaning.

the same is true for life. indeed, life is but a strange dream.

og @ 2004-05-15T18:22:00

2004-05-15T23:24:00Z

48

In pursuit of knowledge,
every day something is added.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.

True mastery can be gained
by letting things go their own way.
It can't be gained by interfering.

i'm trippin

2004-05-14T19:08:01Z

the last leg of the trip is the hardest. it's friday afternoon. i have the whole weekend ahead of me and then a few more key days. i'll have time to see most people and do a number of things i wanna accomplish. so much to do. i don't have any money, so that limits my options. i don't wanna waste the coming days. i leave to ny on wed morning. it's gonna be a long day.

i've been chilling hard core here in austin. it's been incredibly relaxing and rewarding. i probably won't even understand the repurcussions for a while. when i come back, it'll be to a typical ny cluster fuck. i wanna work full time at columbia u. and as much part time at kaplan as i can get. i'll also be at the lishka preparing for the summer as much as possible. most weekends i'll either be at camp or at a seminar preparing for camp. and then there's my bday and those of my two brothers. i wanna have a string of parties. i suppose i can get a lot of free socializing out of that. plus there will be the FAME Media parties. we'll see if stav's purported success is what it's cracked up to be. so much to do.

but now i can relax. all i have to focus on is how to maximize my last few days here. i could have gone with omid to houston. he's a great guy. we would have night surfed and then yesterday i could have spent the day at museum's for free. i didn't feel like it. so really, i don't regret it, but i wanna start feeling like it. something's moving within me. it feels like truth wrapped in illusion. i need to peel off some layers to get to the heart of it.

get to the heart of this!
peace.

og @ 2004-05-08T13:37:00

2004-05-08T18:37:34Z

47

Without opening your door,
you can open your heart to the world.
Without looking out your window,
you can see the essence of the Tao.

The more you know,
the less you understand.

The Master arrives without leaving,
sees the light without looking,
achieves without doing a thing.

from the Daily Tao

2004-05-08T18:33:00Z

There was a beginning of all things
which may be called Mother of All.

When the Mother is known,
her sons may be understood.
Knowing the sons,
still keep to the Mother,
and your life shall be free of all danger.

Close the mouth,
shut the doors -
and all your life be free from toil.
Open the mouth,
meddle in affairs -
and all your life be without hope.

Seeing the small is enlightenment.
Keeping to the soft is strength.

Use the light,
return to enlightenment -
and therefore be free of danger.
This is practicing the eternal.
-- Laozi

og @ 2004-05-08T13:25:00

2004-05-08T18:29:22Z

here we are.
we're no where else.
we're everywhere else.
words don't contain my joy.
joy doesn't contain my essence.
the temperature rises.
but it doesn't consider its fall.
it doesn't need to.
i don't need to.

og @ 2004-05-07T16:03:00

2004-05-07T21:12:59Z

46

When a country is in harmony with the Tao,
the factories make trucks and tractors.
When a country goes counter to the Tao,
warheads are stockpiled outside the cities.

There is no greater illusion than fear,
no greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself,
no greater misfortune than having an enemy.

Whoever can see through all fear
will always be safe.

og @ 2004-04-23T16:19:00

2004-04-23T21:21:25Z

45

True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.
True fullness seems empty,
yet it is fully present.

True straightness seems crooked.
True wisdom seems foolish.
True art seems artless.

The Master allows things to happen.
She shapes events as they come.
She steps out of the way
and lets the Tao speak for itself.

today

2004-04-22T19:24:51Z

i'm a little tired today. i'm taking a water safety instructing course through the red cross so that i can be the aquatics director at camp this summer so we can open our pool. then i came home, did some work, and farid and baruch came over. we chilled until around 3 and i slept until about 9, but i was constantly awakened in a fit of coughing. these allergies i've developed down here follow few distinguishable patterns.

anyhow, i'm enjoying the WSI course. i get to swim, the instructors are nice, it's an easy way to spend a few hours every day, and it's not too boring. also, i was worried about not passing the "swim test" during the first class, but i made it.

tomorrow is the Idea2Product competition. kiko has a killer idea but communication has been weak and we're in a rush to finish everything today. i'm presenting the whole thing. the tensions of working together on a project and having deadlines have created new channels in my relationship with my housemates. i don't think it changed us, i think we resolved our frustrations in very neutralizing ways, but it is a different dimension of life to experience together.

ok, nap time.

og @ 2004-04-16T14:11:00

2004-04-16T19:54:06Z

44

Fame or integrity: which is more important?
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success or failure: which is more destructive?

If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.

eternally mine

2004-04-16T18:41:57Z

spring is the sunshine
frought with the pain
of all of the people,
their hopeless disdain

summer is living
living til fall
infinite games
finite withdrawl

autumn is splendor
loss of control
leaves turning brown
unanswered calls

winter is harsh,
soft, and benign
closed off til spring
wait for a sign

these are the seasons
that we live to feel
we feel alive
we think that it's real

lecture series

2004-04-15T18:51:42Z

last night i saw steven lynch. he's a funny mofo. he pushed everyone's buttons. he started off with a song about his one testicle and then descended into the darkness. he had a song about his first sexual experience... with a priest. he sang some new songs too. he didn't sing the special olympics song, though. kiko (my housemate) got revived by the performance when lynch got really offensive, although kiko wanted to see him go further. he wanted to hear a 9/11 song. hehe, good ole kiko.

on monday, i'm gonna see ehud barak. we got plenty of free tickets already. i don't know what he's gonna talk about, but it's probably just his opinions about things going on.

le-el sent me these funny ads for fanta soda. you can change the captions. so we did:

so that's it.

today's entry

2004-04-13T22:13:15Z

i talked with my mom this morning. she called me just after i woke up. it seems as though she didn't have anything specific to talk to me about, so we just talked about me for about 40 minutes. i saw an academic adviser yesterday and the path to graduation seemed somehow more pleasant during this evaluation. financial aid, however, looks pretty grim, but my mom pointed out that my worries about money are incongruent with my purported belief that there is enough of everything and things will work out. she's right.

i've been dwelling in the notion of choice a lot lately. it's a theme that keeps cropping up and i'm unsure where i stand. some people say that we have a destiny or at least a journey that's "right" for us. when we find that path, we feel stronger, happier, more peaceful, and more congruent. when we're not on that path, we feel sad, confused, insecure, and perhaps empty. i'm feeling a mix of those things. my mom suggested after a brief inquiry that i might be sharing my decision making with a parallel life. the explanation seems right even if neither of us understand it.

another idea about choice is that we are not bound to path that someone or something chose for us, or that we chose for ourselves before being born, but that we have the opportunity to choose our existence at every moment. i believe this is true. however, i also recognize that the two theories about choice don't have to be exclusive. i'm at the point now that very few things vibrate clearly as being "right" for me, and most of the things that make me feel good, i often use to disconnect rather than heal.

as such, i've been feeling lately that maybe i should just decide... decide anything. i don't believe that any path is inherently better or more important than any other. and since no path seems to shout out at me, maybe i'll just decide which path is best for me right now. the only tricky thing about that is that i feel at the same time that all this talk about paths might be a distraction altogether and just being in touch with this moment will make everything else clear.

everything seems to be right and yet i still don't feel "right". that's the real issue. and the real answer? i'll have to wait and see...

a bunch of stuff

2004-04-09T19:17:05Z

my neighbor's are intensely interesting. like i can't find a dimension of their lives that isn't unique and fascinating. well, i guess the neighbor on one side, he seems kinda interesting. he used to be a reverand and people come over his house all the time, but now he's in the hospital cuz he's old and jesus doesn't love him.

but really, the neighbor's on the other side are who i'm talkin about. they seem pretty regular. they're both early-30s i think. chris works in computers, he's tall, seems quite american and quite austin. amy is full of energy, kinda has ADD when you talk with her, has great tits. she's blond and blue eyed, but from jewish background. anyhow, they just got back from jamaica where they got married. they've been all over this bitch (the world), they have incredible art from everywhere, their house is amazing to walk into, and they know all these interesting people. like amy's twin brother married a palestinian woman after his wife died in a car accident. the religious parts of his family and of hers are in heated conflict. one of amy's only friends in her small fishing village in jamaica, which she considers to be her true home, was from a famous family but wanted nothing of it, married this poor jamaican, and then died in one of the 9/11 airplanes while flying to new york. these are all stories i'm hearing because amy wanted to show us pictures.

last night i watched a documentary with ryan called "sex, drugs, and democracy" about the netherlands. man, it blew me away. while watching it, i imagined that not everyone thinks like the people interviewed for the documentary, even though they had quite a cross-section of people. plus, the documentary seems to have been filmed in the 80's, which is already another lifetime ago, but still.... on paper, in practice, the dutch people are the most chill people definitely in the western world. my brain couldn't understand how there could be somewhere like the netherlands without every other nation and every other person realizing that it just works better to be chill. they have the least teen pregnancies and abortions and prisoners and people with STDs and drug abusers and homeless and most civil rights and healthiest environment.

i couldn't stop thinking about it for a while. and really, i was caught up thinking about myself. how do i want to live? once i figure that out, i think i'll have a better understanding of where i wanna live. but having travelled, it's really hard to justify living in this mess called the US. kiko and i, well mostly kiko, have these ideas for starting a non-profit and we're gonna start it up and make it happen. it's one of the few things i can see myslef doing now. anyhow, not lots to say proactively, just reflections. i borrowed this book from ryan called "finite and infinite games". it looks pretty amazing. i'll relate more as i read more.

peace, love, bones, thugs, harmony.

og @ 2004-04-07T14:40:00

2004-04-07T19:40:15Z

wrote a 'friends only' entry.

a quote i see

2004-03-30T03:00:40Z

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
--Douglas Casey, Classmate of W.J.Clinton at Georgetown U. (1992)

life in austin

2004-03-19T02:02:27Z

i'm in austin! i've been here for a week! i'm having a great time!

this move is wonderful, so i'm going to first start with a lot of praise, but it's not to gloat or to justify leaving.

my housemates are great. omid is a 31 year old iranian. he loves music, he loves life, he doesn't hold back with people and he sees the best in everyone. he graduated college with two degrees, he worked as a successful web freelancer, and he's moving to australia in july to live with an aboriginal family that adopted him at a gathering in california in the fall. he plays the didgeridoo like a mofo and made a website about his experiences: http://www.didgeman.com/. he's the fit iranian in the gallery pictures (not one of the aboriginals).

my other housemate, kiko is the leaser of this home. omid and i moved in here in the last few weeks. kiko is a 25 year old grad student here at UT originally from colombia. he lived in a van for two years which is in our backyard and omid sleeps in now. kiko always has projects in mind, like opening a coffeeshop in austin or buying a piece of land to grow psychedelics in, put up a sweat lodge and a shack, have open-nature parties in whenever we wants, and maybe move his parents onto one day. kiko has also roadtripped pretty extensively with some friends from spain who are total life improvisers. they drove this past summer together from england, where they bought the van that they lived in, to spain, morocco, back to spain, and then through all of west and much of east europe, then down through turkey to iran. kiko couldn't get into iran but his spanish friends continued to india. kiko is always open and questioning, he talks the same way to adults and children, he's honest and doesn't feel ashamed about who he is. we get high a lot, they bring amazing friends over, and we talk about life, society, spirituality, everything.

my other friends are great too and i've connected with them wonderfully. i came at a perfect time, at a perfect transition of everyone's journey. i don't have a job yet, but i'm not worried and i still haven't received my last paychecks from my two jobs in nj/ny. austin has such a great vibe. besides the weather, the people consistently impress me with their uniqueness, openness, and chillness. plus the weather is great of course and the women are gorgeous.

for the last few days we've been hosting a woman that kiko used to date and her three children, ages 5, 7, and 7 (twin girls). they're always hyper, but really cute and sweet. it's been a handful sometimes, but usually a source of joy. the mom is a substitute teacher and it's spring break for her and the kids, who live 3 hours away. we drink and smoke pot around the kids, but we're always active with them and responsible. the mom wants to fuck my housemates and i and i'm not digging her that much. plus there's this beautiful nyu girl i met a few weeks ago who's in austin for the south by south west festival. i'll write if i meet up with her tonight.

the computer's in hot demand now (since i've been writing actually), so i'll give it up to the kids. said enough for now anyway.

love and peace,
omri

og @ 2004-03-02T18:57:00

2004-03-02T23:57:04Z

Ghostwriter by RJD2 -- awesome song.

thanks mike.

frickin hilarious

2004-03-01T16:25:14Z

Auto response from superbina: yay OG! oops i mean ohm-ree! and yay jazzie! just for being jazzie!

tanning and reading. its not too cold for a bikini top right?

(jazzie is my family's toy miniature poodle)

og @ 2004-02-29T19:02:00

2004-03-01T00:02:38Z

Auto response from mayernyr: yes, Rosebud Peas, full of country goodness and green peaness