I love 6:30 a.m. phone calls...

My sister-in-law called at 6:30 a.m.. She had heard on the radio that someone from Michigan had died from swine flu. Not true, at least as I've been able to find out. People over here in South Korea are very worried about it. I suppose people everywhere are worried about it. My sister-in-law was asking if we still had plans to go to Michigan this summer (yes). By August it will either be over, winding down, or gotten far far worse.

President Obama's 100th day was today. Yay, Mr. Obama! I liked him very much when he was a candidate, and so far, I think he's doing a fairly good job. I've not agreed with everything he's done, but nobody is perfect 100% of the time. Not even me! A lot of hoopla about 100 days -- I'll be more interested to see him after one year. I'm looking forward to some good arguments with my fairly conservative father this summer.

Less than 10 days to go until "Star Trek" comes out. I can't wait!

Torchwood, etc

I watched yet another great episode of the British Sci Fi show "Torchwood" last night. They're showing it on the BBC channel on cable TV here in Korea. The first season was excellent, but so far the 2nd season has been brilliant. If you don't know, "Torchwood" is a spinoff of "Doctor Who", and is set in the same universe. Torchwood, however, is much darker, and definitely meant for adults.

Everybody is in a tizzy here at my school, due to visiting VIPS. Everybody is wearing ties, the school is spiffy, and people are nervous. I have to attend a demo lesson (not give a demo lesson ~ whew!) in some 20 mins.

It's a brillantly sunny day here. I love the spring.

Galactic Dharma?

Hmmm... A blog. Well, why not? Everybody else seems to be doing it these days, so why not me too?

What does the title mean? I had to give the blog a name kind of on the spur of the moment, and tried to think of something that would combine two of my interests (some say obsessions).

The first is Buddhism. I've considered myself Buddhist since the late 80s, I guess. Ever since I first learned about it in a World Religions class at my community college, it has fascinated me. I'll talk more about this some other time, most likely. Dharma has several meanings. One of them is ethical behavior. Another is the teaching of the Buddha.

My (Korean) Buddhist name is Iljin (일진 in Korean); il means day, and jin means truth. It means something like "One whose everyday life corresponds to dharma", or at least that is how I interpret the characters.

The other interest is Science Fiction and Fantasy. I am also a massive Star Trek and Dr. Who fan.

Science Fiction / Fantasy and Buddhism have been very good to me, and influenced my life in all sorts of ways. Therefore: Galactic Buddhism.