Your new to-do list- Fri 1/02/09

Dear All,

Happy new year! My own was a little disappointing. You see, I've been alternating great and miserable new year's eve parties. Two years ago was one of the worst ever. Last year was amazing. This year...

I started out the night getting minor surgery on my right middle finger. I had the hangnail from hell and when I ripped it off it sort of turned the skin along my nail inside out. Then it got infected. The doctor had time to see me new year's eve, so on the way to my party I pulled over and had a little roadside surgery. Then, with my finger swathed and with very little feeling in my hand from all the anesthetic, I rode my scooter an hour to the beach for what promised to be a truly excellent party with lots of thought provoking women. On the way there I got caught in a monsoon and found the beach entirely populated by dudes. That was around when the anesthetic wore off.

I don't mean to bring anyone down. One night means very little compared to a whole year. I'm sure you all had a good time and made a new year resolution or two. I've made a resolution of my own to provide a silver lining to the debacle. As any good plan originating here in Bali, mine makes little sense. Bear with me as I describe my method.

I am going to more fully embrace my burgeoning inner Bali-ness by living my life in accordance with the Balinese calender.

To approach this task, I figured I should turn to my local spiritual leaders for guidance. In a local tourist publication, there is a monthly posting of Gede Marayana's "List of Auspicious Days According to the Balinese Calender." As soon as I saw this, I new I had found a source of wisdom. If you are living in the land of the gods, the only thing to do is live your life in accordance with their preferences.

Guru Marayana lists a number of auspicious days for the month of December. I'll call it my Balinese to-do list and I don't think its wisdom is limited to the island, or even Southeast Asia. In fact, maybe we should all agree to follow his advice and see if we aren't living happier, more spiritually aligned lives by the end of the month. I've abbreviated the list to make room for the busy western leisure schedule.

**Firstly, you should only get your hair cut on Mondays, but the preferred day is the 26th.
**The 20th is the absolute best day to make a fish pond.
**There is something Mr. Marayana refers to as "burning the bricks." I don't know what this means exactly, but you should only do it on the 4th, 11th, or the 15th.
**The best days to "start learning" are the 10th or the 27th, which is good news for procrastinators everywhere. If you have already started learning something in previous months, then I think those are free days.
**The 24th is Siwaratri. That's the day that Shiva comes down from heaven to hang with earthlings. Be nice to everybody on this day because hey, you never know.
**The 1st, 2nd, 5th, 10th, 15th, 21st, and 31st are the best days to make a fishing rod.
**If you are going to start practicing Yoga it should be on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd
**It is a good month for long trips but stick to the 1st, 2nd, 8th, 10th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 25th and 29th
**Cutting a big tree down is best done on the 2nd, 14th or 26th
**Planting a tree that bears fruit should be done on the 1st, 5th, 12th, 16th, 25th, or 30th
**You should only dig a well in the early half of the month. Either the 8th, 11th, or 14th. Check with the city first to avoid punching a hole through a water main.
**Castration of your animals should only occur on the 5th and/or 21st.
**Lastly, the best days for making love are the 1st(damn), 5th, 12th, 16th, 25th, and the 30th.

Later I'll let you know how my new plan is working out but I'm confident that if I stick to it this year will be the best year ever. My finger is starting to feel better already. Now I should go find some animals to castrate before Monday.


Sincerely,
Alex

This a video of another wedding I went to today. It should give you an idea of the blistering excitement that occurs during a Balinese wedding (it is rather interesting actually). Three points of interest. 1)You will see the groom get handed a cell phone during the ceremony. 2)This will go on for another 2 hours at which point the happy couple will move to the family shrine for another hour or so. 3)In this case (as is true quite often here) the couple, though in love, had to get married years before they wanted to because she got knocked up.

Who's the dork?
I love this guy!