Relaxing Sunday
by Josh Staiger
Today turned out to be a really nice day.
I took a trip over to Chapel Hill this morning and, as planned, spent much of the afternoon reading in a coffee shop on Franklin Sreet. That was very relaxing and a very nice contrast to the husstle and bussle of the rest of my week. In that time, I finished up the book, Everyday Zen, by Charlotte Joko Beck. Overall, I liked it very much. Especially the last chapter. She does a very good job of explaining (as well as they can be directly explained anyway) many of the pracitcal apsects of Zen, breaking things down neatly into easily digestible pieces. I find that it is nearly impossible to define Zen directly, but through her explainations, the reader is able to get an overall idea of what Zen is about. This serves as a nice complement to Steven Hagen's Buddhism Plain and Simple, but I still think that the latter servers as a better overall introduction to Buddhism. Everyday Zen is more squarely focused on the direct effects of daily practice.
In addition to finishing up that book, I also started the first of the Harry Potter books: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I have been meaning to read these books for a long time, and I think that they will make for good summer reading right now. Everyone who has ever recommended these books to me has said that they make for good quick reading, and they are certainly right. I practically finished the first third of the book in one sitting and em enjoying it very much so far.
After leaving the coffee shop, I took a stroll around UNC's campus, just for the hell of it. It is, indeed, a very nice campus overall. It's just a shame that they have to have such horrible school colors. Baby blue? I mean honestly! Ack, what an ugly stadium.
I would like to check out Duke and NC state before I leave the triangle, though I've heard that UNC has the nicest campus anyway.