“Calling noise a nuisance is like calling smog an inconvenience. Noise must be considered a hazard to the health of people everywhere.”
— Dr. William H. Stewart, former Surgeon General of the United States

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Outside, the air was cold and swirling.

“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the waaaa-aayy!” A car full people, laughing and yelling, the car idling, the stereo booming. Bright lights, banner ads, and music streams out of storefronts, festivities flaking across Union Square. There is a moment every winter where I stop loving Christmas and cannot wait for January 2. This moment is about to happen.

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…Nothing!

Just what I’ve always wanted.

Merry Christmas, Everyone…

For Christmas, my family decided to forgo the gift giving, and instead take the money we would otherwise spend and give it to charity. The fun part comes in when we all get to make a suggestion, or a “presentation” even, about which charity we think should be picked.

I have a cause, but I’m not asking for money. I’m going to ask for a New Year Resolution.

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Dear Online Friends,

Admit it: you probably won’t get what you want for Christmas this year. Or, maybe you just can’t seem to find that perfect gift for someone you love. I have the answer!

I am selling / giving away a bunch of my stuff in order to head back to Vietnam in the new year to write, meditate, teach. I need to get rid of most of this stuff, but a little extra money toward plane tickets wouldn’t be so bad either. So here’s the deal: you can take anything you like, just make a donation as you see fit. Otherwise — take, take!

Some of the things I’m purging are: read more »

Returned from Doubtful Sound boat trip, a stunning piece of Peace. Traveling the fiords, the vistas and sharp sheer rock faces a bed for moss, fern, and eventually self-sustaining tree flora, an island 1.6 meters high and barely 500 feet long (mixing my measurements!) containing 85% of NZ rainforest species. Wow.

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Biting black flies, freezing weather… and amazing vista that stun with their beauty.

That’s right — I’ve left the Cook Islands and back in New Zealand’s South Island (Arrowtown), a place to refresh the soul like cold water… which it is, cold. No more tropical weather and sparkling diving scapes, but I’m resigned to loving grass and sheepies. Oh, the sheepies. Can I hug, please?

While the parents tee off at the local golf course, I’ve found myself a cafe with suitable tea and plenty of wireless to try and thaw this mind and produce something that looks like writing.

Cheers, and all that.

Hi, love. Another email for you, coming from the beautiful (but currently stormy) Cook Islands. I wrote you a little narrative of my day. Hope you like it.

Rough Seas do Shake, O Darling Come What May: A Story

Today we tried going out for another dive day. It is Sunday, and
everything around the island is closed (fairly religious here). It is
mom’s official BD, and so we thought a nice repeat dive, yesterday
being so great, would be just the thing. The weather was a bit stormy
again, but the dive place we went with said they were still good to
go, so we packed our bags and met them out from this morning.

I was already seeing ominous signs before we even started. read more »

You might think Britney Spears on the iPod while crossing New Zealand’s majestic bays via ferry towards Waiheke Island some kind of sacrilege — but let me assure you, my friends, it is a beautiful (life affirming) combination, the sacred and the profane.

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It’s so hot in here I can’t even sit in regular clothes; I am laptopping in my bathing suit. My feet are raw from walking on sand and lagoon rocks. There are two ants crawling on my laptop. Hello, friends.

After two weeks of being away from home, I’m finally emotionally on vacation. It took me a little while to unwind, as I still had some naming work I had to take onto the road, and getting certified as as diver in the Poor Knight’s in NZ’s North Island — as pleasurable as it was — was a little cold, stressful, and good, hard work.

But now that we’ve moved closer to the equator, and the weather is nearing 30*C ( middle 80’s Fahrenheit ), I can feel my nervous system turning to jello and a big, goofy grin slithering across my face like a moray.

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Watching the rain, rain, rain fall on Atutaki, Cook Islands in the South Pacific. We were supposed to go diving today, but the Gods of the Tropical Storms had different ideas. Not a bad excuse to sit and read a book…

Many things to write about — sleeping on benches when the local airport closed between red-eye flights, Maori Island Night dancing, bike ride around the island, the perfection of every view…

…but the internet here is sllllooooowwww and so this post is all you get. More later.