New Year Ceremony for Year of the Cat
With the arrival of the new moon comes the celebration of the New Year for many Asians and Buddhists–and the arrival of the Jade Buddha in Ventura! This year is the “Year of the Cat” and the local Buddhist Temple, the An-Lac Mission, is commemorating the occasion with a series of events tonight and in the coming month with a visit by the very special Jade Buddha. Read more about the Jade Buddha here.
Here’s the schedule:
AN LAC BUDDHIST MISSION: Ventura Buddhist Study Center
901 S. Saticoy Ave, Ventura, CA 93004
2011 LUNAR NEW YEAR -Year Of The CAT
FEBRUARY 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 13, 17
The Venerable Thích Thông Hải President & Abbot of the An Lac Mission writes:
May all the members, devotees, well-wishers, & friends of An Lac Mission have a peaceful, prosperous, and happy life in the ‘Year of the Cat’ with the blessings of all the Buddhas and Bodhisatvas. I invite all of you to join us for the New Year Services at the temple beginning from February 02, 2011 to February 06, 2011. After the New Year religious ceremonies you all are invited to go on a pilgrimage to some temples in Southern California on 13th, 2011.
FEBRUARY 02nd (Weds)
06:00PM–Chanting in Pali by Bhante Sutadhara; 06:45PM – Calling of the bell; 07:00PM –ProstrationS to thank the year of the tiger (2010) 08:00pm – lunar newyear’s eve party
11:00pm – new year religious ceremony Year of the cat (2011)
12:00am – good luck red envelopes
FEBRUARY 03rd (Th.) Read more…
Contribute to A Creative Community
What kind of a creative community do YOU want to live in?
On Wednesday, head to downtown Ventura to see the vision of seven individuals and to participate in conversations to make these visions become reality!
Ventura’s 20×20 event this Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 offers food and good times. Take this as an opportunity to mix with the community and push forward fresh dialogue on what’s happening in Ventura!
Where: 230 E. Main Street (near the San Buenaventura Mission)
What: Join us in Downtown Ventura as architects, artists, community activists, and others in Ventura’s design community collaborate on what’s new and happening in ‘creating spaces, places, trends, and a stronger Ventura.’ This will be an opportunity to engage in a fun, creative, and fast pace presentation style allowing 7 presenters only 20 slides each and 20 seconds per slide.
730pm – presentations end and open discussion begins.
Collaborate until 9pm and help propel good ideas into a place of gaining more ground and traction. Come share your ideas and help build a stronger community!
If you have any questions, please email Kevin Waldron ventura.20×20 AT gmail DOT com
“Pink Panther Rides Again” for February 4 First Friday ArtRide
Next Friday is the First Friday of the month which means it’s ArtRide time once again! After party at el Jardin with beer donated from Anacapa Brewery so remember your mug and some money to donate to the Ventura Bicycle Union!
via Bikergo Gal
Poetry: waking up in Egypt
The Egyptians Gods have joined me
here in this room on this cruise on the Nile
their animal heads bob along
the edges of the room animated
with their energy:
falcon headed Horus of royalty
jackal headed Anubis of mummification, messenger of the underworld
ibis headed Thot of wisdom, god of writing and patron of scribes
others too of course
their names escape me but
their images do not.
There is Ramesses the Second
and his wife Nefertari, the pretty one
they are here too
and the walls of my room are now stone
and the roof of my room is now stone
and now descending
and now encroaching
and they are coaching
they are whispering whispering
they are hissing
the animal headed gods
are disappearing fading
Ramses stays and stays
they are telling me to listen
he is saying to speak
I hear
“eyeyam eyeyam eyeyam”
I discern
“I AM I AM I AM”
“I am” I say I repeat
“I am coming I am coming”
I hear I repeat I shout it now
that is what I know
“I am what I am” echoes
and I repeat it aloud.
The stone walls that threatened
retreat
Ramses fades
it is Abraham and the Lord God of Abraham
I recognize His words His voice;
tears well and flow down my face.
I am awake
and I still hear His voice.
Sarah is here too,
Abraham’s wife.
I don’t hear her
I feel her
know she is close by
and the tears flow like the Nile.
back from birthday bash & more in EGYPT
After celebrating my birthday with the pyramids and doing two rituals with my mother’s ashes, plus visiting a lot of Temples and more, I returned from Egypt last night and I spent most of today sleeping it off…
As you may have noticed, I wasn’t able to blog or get online like I had hoped while I was in Egypt. I do plan to do some blogging about my Egypt experience so stay tuned for blog posts as soon as I am more recovered from jet lag, plus a rash I got from a massage last Saturday, and the flu I came down with last Sunday….
The photo is from my birthday; I’m on the roof of the place we stayed “The Sphinx Guest House” where as you can see we had marvelous views of the Sphinx and the Pyramids!
A Sacred Journey to Egypt 1-11-11!
I’m heading to Egypt tomorrow Insha’Allah “if it is God’s will.”
Almost EVERYTHING is already paid for on this Sacred Journey with Sequoia Hamilton, except for a few meals, which will make it really easy to focus on the sights, sounds, smells, to deeply experience the country, and to go on an inner journey as well. The following itinerary is adapted from an email sent by Sequoia; all photos on this page courtesy of Sequoia Hamilton Travels.
I get on the plane tomorrow morning at 8am. Thank goodness for my Comfy Commuter pillow and blanket which will cradle my head and keep me snuggly warm during my flights–then pack up into a little ball as I race from airline to airline!
On Tuesday, 1-11-11, my birthday, I arrive in Cairo, the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab World with 15 million residents, where I will be met and greeted by Guardian Travel who will transport me to the tour operator’s family estate where we will spend out first night. By afternoon, everyone will be there and we’ll have a celebration on the rooftop and enjoy the sunset on the Giza Plateau. Not sure what else is in store for my birthday!
On Wednesday January 12, after breakfast, it’s off to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities Read more…
Art Predator in Egypt!
Yesterday, the universe conspired to send me to Egypt for my birthday next Tuesday 1-11-11 and so of course I said yes!
So it will be a busy few days getting ready to go! I will post photos and stories about my Sacred Journey to Egypt here on Art Predator.
Here’s more of the story…
via The Write Alley
Why I Love WordPress
It’s no secret I love WordPress, and I teach people how to use it too. In this video, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg discusses his philosophy and you’ll see why so many of us love WordPress.
via The Write Alley
2010 in review
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
Crunchy numbers
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 110,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at The Louvre Museum, it would take 5 days for that many people to see it.
In 2010, there were 231 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 1123 posts. There were 364 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 86mb. That’s about 7 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was December 21st with 1,377 views. The most popular post that day was winter solstice lunar eclipse: rites of passage.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, en.blog.wordpress.com, en.wordpress.com, in.yfittopostblog.com, and twitter.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for burning man, skulls, cell phones, burning man 2009, and burning man 2010.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
winter solstice lunar eclipse: rites of passage December 2010
1 Like on WordPress.com,
Disney Theme Parks: 2009 Free on Your Birthday, 2010 Free When You Give a Day December 2009
8 comments
Great Barrier Reef Fun Activities for Kids February 2009
4 comments
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down: “Open Your Hips To Me” aka “When We Swam” January 2010
1 comment
Happy New Year!
I’m taking a social media break for a few days to contemplate 2010 and prepare for 2011!
What are YOU preparing to do? What’s on your bucket list? Will we see you at Burning Man? Will you publish a book? Or?
See you next year!
art predator 