I finished God Talk by Brad Gooch, and while I enjoyed most of the chapters I wish he would have come up with a concluding chapter on what he discovered on how modern American worships.

The most interesting chapters for me were the first three chapters, probably because I had read, heard of, or knew of people who were practicing those religions. Chapter 1 was on The Urantia Book, Chapter 2 was on Hinduism in America, and Chapter 3 was on The Trappist Abbeys, Thomas Merton and on Catholicism. Gooch writes that the many monks at Gethsamini became disillusioned with their vocation after Vatican II, which made the Catholic church more modern. "Vatican II stripped down the wall that people were hiding behind ... now you can no longer hide behind the poetry of Catholicsism to sustain your vocation", commented a monk to Gooch.

One interesteing thing about the Trappists abbeys is that they sell products. The Gethsamani Abbey for monks Gethsamani Abbey sells fruitcake, fudge and cheese, and Our Lady of Mississippi Abbey for nuns sell candy. I am seriously thinking of buying their products to support them. They lead such a fascinating life of contemplation, work and ritual. You can vacation at the Abbeys for retreats, which I've always wanted to do. There is something so interesting about the contemplative life.

Here's a Valentine's Day fun thing to think about: Favorite romantic scenes from a movie.

Off the top of my head, no particular order.
1. "Ever After", the part when the prince asks Cinderella to marry him, and puts the beautiful shoe on her dirty stockinged foot.
2. "Persuasion"(1995 version with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds), the reading of the letter from Captain Wentworth, and then he and Anne meeting outside the house in Bath and kissing.
3. "It Could Happen to You", the part where Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda are planning to move to upstate New York.
4. "Pride and Prejudice" (A&E version), the part where Mr. Darcy tells Elizabeth he still loves her.
5. "Bridget Jones' Diary", the end where Mark Darcy kisses Bridget.
6. "A Room with a View", the ending where Lucy and George Emerson are kissing.
7. "Top Gun", the end where Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis are kissing.

I own all these movies except for Bridget Jones Diary. I'm not sure whether Sense and Sensibility had any romantic scenes, or if they did, there aren't any scenes that are sticking in my head. Same thing with Emma, although I thought about including the scene with Emma and Mr. Knightley where he tells her he loves her.

SF Bay Area Diners - Dine About Town has been extended! I'm excited. I spent way too much money eating out, but boy was the food really good! I think I dropped about $30 and up per meal, and I ate desserts too and didn't gain any weight. Definitley good stuff.

Monday night is TV night for me.

At 8 pm, I start with "Veritas, The Quest", the new show on ABC. It's about a group of scientists looking for ancient objects of power. I love stuff like this. It's an action adventure show, so they don't have the time to get too much into detail about the ancient power objects but they do enough where I find the show interesting and fascinating. It's like a modern Indiana Jones, only with a father and son and a group of scientists.

Then at 9 pm, there's "Joe Millionaire". Tonight's show was a teaser, and basically nothing new was revealed. Bummer. I'll have to wait till next week's finale. I can't wait.

Then there's "Miracles", at 10 pm again on ABC. Tonight's show was creepy. They didn't reveal till the end that the woman the main character fell in love with was actually a ghost. I was like, oh my god - the guy was kissing a ghost. God, I love that. I had no idea, and I wish now I had taped the show so I could go back to look for clues. I love "The Sixth Sense" touch. The ghost woman could use the phone and call and leave a message, but I don't think anyone ever saw her except for the main character.

I'm still marveling at tonight's "The Miracles" story line. I wish I could write a story like that.

The Art of Pacific Asia exhibit made me think about finishing a short story I started a few years ago, called "The Blue Haired Buddha on Union Street". When I used to hang out on Union Street, there was a giant blue haired buddha in the window of an asian antique store. I used to always stop by the window, and stare at the statue. I just loved the Buddha's blue hair. I don't know why, but the blue hair was so cool.

I like the blue haired buddha so much, I decided he needed to be in a story so I started writing one, but I never finished it. I knew how the story should end, but I could never figure out how to get from the beginning I wrote to the end I envisioned. Years later, a fun and fantastical way to get from the beginning to the end of my story came to me yesterday in the shower. It will make for a weird story, but I think that's okay because then I'll have finished the story finally after all these years, and sometimes that's the only important thing.