Dwi'n wylo pan ti'n chwerthin

I'm glad I decided to swing by monshu's after all. It's comforting to know that, if he dies in a fiery crash on the way to the airport, the last thing I'll remember seeing of him is his laughing face.

Seal assignment: Where's the dharma?

Dearest, don't be surprised to find out that the accompanying English text matches the seal text not at all. The impression is not in the least an anecdote about two Chan monks; it's the final couplet of Wang Wei's "Replying to Subprefect Zhang" (酬張少府) and it goes like this:

君問窮通理 You ask why privation continues;
漁歌入浦深 Fishing songs entre the riverbank's depths.

No prizes for guessing that the overall theme is Daoist, contrasting retiring to the pleasures of nature with sticking it out in the ugly world of politics.

(no subject)

Favourite out-of-context quotation of the day:

"Katie Couric sometimes come close to God in terms of egocentrism."

(Alright, if you insist: University of Chicago Magazine, Vol.99:No.3, p.23.)