Hot in the city

Last night the temperature plummeted to almost 70 degrees, and I was able to cool my non-air conditioned apartment down to 80 by this morning. I’m positively giddy – a couple of nights ago I woke up hot and sweaty. At 3am, my apartment was almost 90 degrees! I stayed up and looked at air conditioners the way some might look at Internet porn.

Regardless, I’m hoping that I remember to get one today at the hardware store. I never thought I might actually need one, but 90 degrees in Brooklyn is punishing at best and I’ve been miserable for weeks now trying to adjust.

The Tao of Friday

I’m thinking of skipping some of these.  Chapter LIX is more of the same.

For governing a country well
there is nothing better than moderation.

The mark of a moderate man
is freedom from his own ideas.
Tolerant like the sky,
all-pervading like sunlight,
firm like a mountain,
supple like a tree in the wind,
he has no destination in view
and makes use of anything
life happens to bring his way.

Nothing is impossible for him.
Because he has let go,
he can care for the people’s welfare
as a mother cares for her child.

The Tao of Friday

The Tao gets political again.  As I mentioned in my previous post, the Tao was a reaction to the rigid, hierarchical Confucianism of the time and wanted a more organic government. I wonder how Chapter LVIII would really work out though.  It’s a bit like Communism: great in theory, but falls apart in practice.  There needs to be a middle ground in everything and that’s why reactionism very rarely works.

If a country is governed with tolerance,
the people are comfortable and honest.
If a country is governed with repression,
the people are depressed and crafty.

When the will to power is in charge,
the higher the ideals, the lower the results.
Try to make people happy,
and you lay the groundwork for misery.
Try to make people moral,
and you lay the groundwork for vice.

Thus the Master is content
to serve as an example
and not to impose her will.
She is pointed, but doesn’t pierce.
Straightforward, but supple.
Radiant, but easy on the eyes.

Good-bye State College!

I am right now on the bus leaving State College.  I have left my keys in my empty, locked apartment and said sayonara to my super.  Truth be told, I’m going to miss my apartment. It has a dishwasher, garbage disposal. and wall-to-wall carpeting.  Also, the location on the 6th floor meant that I could keep my windows open all night without worries about intruders or anything like that.  Did I mention my new apartment also doesn’t have air conditioning either?  It’s like an adventure at 101 degrees!

Last summer, I posted that people were going to have to drag me back to this little town kicking and screaming.  But now, I think there are some things I will miss.  Not business school, for sure, but the local scene and the neat little events for sure.  For example, tomorrow is the Arts Festival, which is a huge affair that they block the streets off for.  Just to celebrate art! And of course I move out the night before it begins… I guess I will have to content myself simply with living in the cultural and artistic center of the US instead.

Urban Camping

I have two apartments and no furniture.  The ridiculousness of my situation has made me hesitant to couch surf.  Additionally, one of the reasons I don’t have roommates is that I really don’t want to inconvenience people, which I would definitely do if I was a perpetual guest in other people’s apartments.  This has forced me to do something that I am calling Urban Camping.  With nothing more than a thin “sleeping bag” (more like an insert, a real sleeping bag would be too hot!) and a pad, I have been hopping from camping out in my Brooklyn apartment to my one in State College.  Sleeping on the floor in State College is infinitely more comfortable that Brooklyn,  For one, I am trading thick carpets in Pennsylvania for cheap linoleum in NY.

Whoever decided that carpets were out and floors were in was insane.  You can’t beat the ease and comfort of wall-to-wall-carpeting.  Of course,  I have a shoes-off policy and no pets.  So that helps keep them nice.

Truth be told, while I loved this Brooklyn apartment when I first saw it, now that it’s empty, it’s completely devoid of character and humanity.  Just a cold, decrepit shell.  Of course, the last tenants left it in such a state that I was horrified at the thought of people living in such filth. I did have someone come in to clean, but that’s a funny story for another time.

In the meantime, I wait for the movers to deliver my furniture (and inject some charm!).  I hope it’s soon!

The Tao of Friday

Who knew the Tao was anarchist!  I have to say, after studying political systems and how they work for four years in undergrad, I’m not sure Chapter LVII is hitting the mark.  I like the idea of letting go, but I think we can all see on the news what happens where there is an absence in leadership.

If you want to be a great leader,
you must learn to follow the Tao.
Stop trying to control.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts,
and the world will govern itself.

The more prohibitions you have,
the less virtuous people will be.
The more weapons you have,
the less secure people will be.
The more subsidies you have,
the less self-reliant people will be.

Therefore the Master says:
I let go of the law,
and people become honest.
I let go of economics,
and people become prosperous.
I let go of religion,
and people become serene.
I let go of all desire for the common good,
and the good becomes common as grass.