Now and Zen

Song of the Day: West Coast Blues - Wes Montgomery

Quote of the Day: "Chance favours the prepared mind." --Louis Pasteur

Thought of the Day: The song of the day is one of my favorite Wes Montgomery tunes, love his soloing on this track. I played guitar on this tune a few times with my old jazz group, the Jazz Action Committee. Sweewawa and I have lately been debating about the merits of organized religion, and have as part of this discussion been sharing some Zen stories. Over the couple of years I'm eager to explore further the ancient philosophers thoughts on organized religion and also to delve into studying Zen Buddhism. I hope in these continued studies / discussions to arrive at a shared "conclusion" about what role spirituality will play in our lives. For starters I'll share now on this blog a cool Zen story I just encountered:

A man travelling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself over the edge.

The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man then saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other.

How sweet it tasted.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

March showers

Songs of the Day: Fake Plastic Trees - Christopher O'Riley (song from Radiohead's album The Bends)

Let Down - Christopher O'Riley (song from Radiohead's album OK Computer)



Quote of the Day: "We must not let our Leaders, load us with Perpetual Debt" --Thomas Jefferson, in 1816

Thought of the Day: Another rainy March day today, we haven't seen much sun lately. Last couple of days have really enjoyed listening to Christopher O'Riley, who is a pianist who does wonderful solo arrangements of Radiohead tunes. Sweewawa even prefers his music to the real thing, though I myself don't go quite that far . . . Today did brave the rain enough to make it through the parking lot to the apartment complex gym, for another good workout. Tomorrow will be a day off from exercise in preparation for the Monument Ave 10K which Sweewawa and I will run on Saturday (rain or shine!). The following Saturday is the Charlottesville 10 miler. The photo at the top of the page is one I took recently of tulips and daffodils at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond. Maybe some of these March and April showers will lead to some May flowers.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Forms within forms

Song of the Day: In A Landscape - John Cage

Quote of the Day: "The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude." --Aldous Huxley

Thought of the Day: Today begins my Spring Break, and I spent a good part of it reading Godel, Escher, Bach. Encountered during my reading the awesome Escher piece shown above. The forms within forms concept illustrated in the woodcut is really cool, and has some basis in reality, as genotype DNA which is the blueprint for our whole self, or phenotype, is contained within each individual cell. Also during my reading encountered some descriptions of musical offerings by John Cage, a modern musician who championed the concept that randomness and chance in music could be beautiful. He commented that he would like "to let sounds by themselves, rather than vehicles for man-made theories or expressions of human sentiments." The song listed above is not so much random (it does have considerable melody), but it is a selection I encountered on exploring Cage works to which I was particularly drawn. Hope you enjoy it too.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Liberation

Song of the Day: 15 Step - Radiohead

Quote of the Day: "Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going." --George S. Patton

Thought of the Day: Music, art, and philosophy merge: This morning got up determined to run 10 miles. The Charlottesville 10 miler is in 2 weeks, and I wanted to make sure I'm ready. Sweewawa and I watched Patton a couple of nights ago, and I was impresed with the strength of mind and body he displayed in the film and the way he was able to inspire this strength in his worn-out soliders. I did my run today thinking that it was nothing compared to marching through Germany in the winter with a heavy pack on dodging bullets and shells. And it turns out 10 miles wasn't actually that hard once you get your mind past it.

The run was also made easier by the choice of some quality music -- started off with a little Belding Principle (my old band), moved on to Dream Theater, and then listened to Radiohead's In Rainbows. In Rainbows is one of my favorite albums of all time and is one I'll never forget in that it got me through a long period of studying for USMLE Step 2. The Song of the Day is the 1st track from the album, a song particularly funny to listen to while running around a circular track as it laments "How come I end up where I started?"

Back home I enjoyed the afternoon / evening by continuing my reading of Hofstadter's book Godel, Escher, Bach. Encountered in it the beautiful work Liberation by M.C. Escher. The transition region between geometric figures and free-flying birds is really intriguing . . . perhaps the process of our inner-most thoughts percolating out and translating into actions and words is a little like his drawing.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Santa Barbara

California dreaming

Match Day

Song of the Day:

California Dreamin' - The Mamas & The Papas

California Dreaming - Wes Montgomery

Quote of the Day: "L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace!" --French proverb

Thought of the Day: Match Day 2009 yesterday at noon was an amazing experience. About 170 of us medical students gathered in the historic Bolling Haxall house in Richmond. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. 170 people, waiting to be handed the white envelope that would tell their fate for the next 3-5 years. My heart was sure beating faster as I waited for them to call my name. Names were called in random order, and finally they did call me (more than halfway through the names). Then Sweewawa and I opened the envelope and were ecstatic/surprised/happy/relieved to find out that I had matched at my first choices for both internship and residency! I will be staying at VCU to do my internship in Internal Medicine and then will be heading out west to Santa Barbara, CA to do my residency at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. It couldn't have worked out more perfect for us. We're thrilled. I felt so proud to have matched at my first choices, it was very validating that all the long hours of studying and work in the hospital was worth it! Included also in this post are some beautiful pictures of Santa Barbara. Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

I Can't Wait

Song of the Day: Can't Wait - Bob Dylan





Quote of the Day: "Well begun is half done." --Aristotle

Thought of the Day: I can't wait, I anticipate, standin' at the gate, what's my fate? Tomorrow at noon is when I find out where I'll be for the next 4-6 years . . . I really hope I get one of my top choices for residency, but really any choice on my list is quite desirable. I'm really happy to be going into Radiology! Can't wait for the wait to be over.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Fair Tax

Tea Party Revisited

David Homyk

The latest offering from my buddy David Homyk:

Happy 100th post!

Song of the Day: The Musical Offering, BWV 1079 - Ricercar a 3 - Johann Sebastian Bach



Quote of the Day: "Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for." --Socrates

Thought of the Day: Recently began re-reading a favorite book: Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (A Metaphorical Fugue on Minds and Machines in the Spirit of Lewis Carroll). This is a brilliant book which describes the shared patterns of beauty found in works of Math (Godel), Art (M.C. Escher), and Music (J.S.Bach). My song of the day today is J.S.Bach's Musical Offering, a masterpiece which is built around the musical (and somewhat mathematical) concept of the "canon". The "canon" is essentially taking one pattern and shifting it around (delaying it in time, speeding it up, modifying starting pitch, "inverting" it, etc). The superimposed parts create beautiful harmonies. The genius of Bach, in my view, is that he was able to create such complex mathematical patterns in his music without having the works sound formulaic or boxy. Also amazing is that he was able to improvise multi-part cannons on the spot, a tremendously difficult mental exercise!

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Match'd!

Song of the Day: Gonna Fly Now (Theme From "Rocky")

Quote of the Day: "Eighty percent of success is showing up." --Woody Allen

Thought of the Day: Today got some great news: I found out that I have successfully matched for positions in my Internship year and my Residency in Radiology!! Now I have to wait until Thursday at noon to find out WHERE. But I'm definitely thrilled, this news represents the culmination of more than 4 years of REALLY hard work. I'm so happy to have matched in Radiology, which is a quite competitive specialty to match in. I think I'll really enjoy being a Radiologist for my career.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Bessie's Blues

Song of the Day: St. Louis Blues - Bessie Smith

Quote of the Day: "They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." --Andy Warhol

Thought of the Day: On this rainy day I'm listening to the great Bessie Smith sing the blues. The sounds really match the heavy, slow feel of this dreary day. Last night it was raining as well but Sweewawa and I celebrated indoors with a 6 course French meal which I prepared. The courses were (1) Aperitif: Kir and veggie platter (2) Entree: Soupe à l'Oignon gratinée (3) Main: Lamb medaillons with garlic (4) Cheese platter (Brie, Rocquefort, and Camembert) & Salad (5) Dessert: Congolais (Coconut biscuits) (6) Espresso (with Dark Chocolate). I prepared all the dishes myself, it was time-consuming but very satisfying! All recipes can be found at this wonderful site:

http://www.ffcook.com/pages/dinner.htm

Cheers & Bon Apetit, Dr. Kowawa

Wes does the Beatles

Songs of the Day:

Eleanor Rigby - Wes Montgomery

A Day In The Life - Wes Montgomery

Quote of the Day: ""Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others." --Ayn Rand

Thought of the Day: The Songs of the Day are two brilliant takes of Wes Montgomery doing Beatles tunes. Love the orchestration on this album (A Day in the Life).

Vice versa

Song of the Day: The Sinister Minister - Bela Fleck

Quote of the Day: "Sometimes virtue can be a vice, and vice versa." --Dr. Kowawa

Thought of the Day: Had a great workout today, again following Mr. Jefferson's two hour suggestion. Did a total of 10 miles at Echo Lake, the majority of which was jogging. Now I feel pretty good. The pic above is Sweewawa's latest brush painting, which I think is really beautiful. I really like the sense of space and distance.

Miyazaki

Song of the Day: Take It To The Limit - Etta James

Quote of the Day: "Is someone different at age 18 or 60? I believe one stays the same." --Hayao Miyazaki

Thought of the Day: Sweewawa and I thoroughly enjoyed this evening watching the Miyazaki anime "Howl's Moving Castle". It is truly one of the best movies I have ever seen. The animations were so spirited, and the characters and plot were incredible. As celebration of finishing all my responsibilities of medical school we watched this film while sipping Maker's Mark whiskey and smoking a Davidoff 2000 cigar (my favorite). After the cigar we enjoyed the burning of frankincense (from the Middle East), which our cat Thenie enjoyed even more than we did. What an evening! I would highly recommend this combination of treats to anyone so inclined.

Liver boo-boo

Song of the Day: Surrounded - Dream Theater

Quote of the Day: "Music is the wine which inspires one to new generative processes, and I am Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine for mankind and makes them spiritually drunken." --Ludwig van Beethoven

Thought of the Day: Tomorrow I will be doing a presentation on Fulminant Hepatic Failure (aka the ultimate liver boo-boo). This effort will represent essentially my last project / work for medical school. Can't believe I'm done . . . and am looking forward to an extended break before starting the challenge of intern year. Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

What a wonderful world

Icicles remain

Songs of the Day: Birdland - Weather Report

A Remark You Made - Weather Report

Quote of the Day: "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great" --Mark Twain

Thought of the Day: It's still cold in Richmond, though the "snow days" are over . . . I started my Teaching in Medicine elective rotation today. Last night and this morning Sweewawa and I reveled in some beautiful icicles hanging from rooftop outside our bedroom window. Yesterday Sweewawa mentioned that the most dangerous time for young birds is late Winter / early spring when a surprise snowstorm hits. So I refilled our porch bird feeder with a variety of nuts and other bird delicacies and sure enough, little birdies were chowing down this AM when I woke up. It felt good to be helping these little creatures our through this cold weather spell. The musical offerings for the day are two absolutely gorgeous recordings from Weather Report, a band which includes as members the greats Jaco Pastorius, Joe Jawinul, and Wayne Shorter. The album, Heavy Weather, was recorded in the year of my birth (1977). Thought of the first tune, Birdland, due to our successful bird-feeding. The second, A Remark you Made, is sweet and sublime. Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Snowy snowy night

Songs of the Day: Winter Wonderland - Tony Bennett

My Favorite Things - Tony Bennett

Quote of the Day: "Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." --Lao Tze, Chinese philosopher from 6th century BC

Thought of the Day: Writing this eve in front of a warm fire. Outside Richmond is being blanketed by a thickening layer of white snow. Quite a rare treat for Richmond in March. Wish I were on the slopes now . . . and am hoping tomorrow might be a "snow day".