Hurry up Hari

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I have a new bedside book. It's the Bagavad Gita.

A street evangelist gave it to me. Not the kind of evangelist who stands in the street and preaches at the top of his voice - the kind who approaches shoppers with a clipboard and asks them loaded questions.

We spoke for twenty minutes, but here's the short version:

Evangelist: Are you happy in your spiritual life?

Kapitano: Which religion are you selling?

Evangelist: We're not part of any religion. We follow the teachings of Prabhupada.

Kapitano: So you're Hare Krishnas.

Evangelist: Yes. We want to bring about a spiritual awakening of all mankind, one person at a time.

Kapitano: So you want to change the social, economic and political structure of the world by abstracting large numbers of individuals away from it. But how can you change human consciousness without first changing the the material conditions in which it develops?

Evangelist: Once our numbers reach a critical mass, society will change.

Kapitano: But won't societal and economic pressures prevent sufficient numbers becoming enlightened?

Evangelist: People come to enlightenment in small stages. With each stage, the society around them changes, permitting progression to the next stage. Even if a person stalls at one stage, they'll still be happier.

Kapitano: So what distinguishes Hare Krishna from Scientologists, Christians, Jevohis Witnesses and all the other groups making the same promise?

Evangelist: I should speak to other people. Enjoy the book.

I asked if there was a Krishna analysis of the recent events in Mombai, the recession or drug addiction - of course there wasn't, because HC is all about personal happiness and isn't concerned with real issues or money.

The young fellow came close to losing his cool when I admitted I had no cash with me for the purely voluntary donation.

Perhaps I should have mentioned the use of HC as a front for drug smuggling.

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A day out with C. It was bitingly cold outside, so we browsed a series of warm shops and drank tea in their cafes.

Sometimes it's nice to cheer up a depressed friend - to be an ear for listening and a shoulder to cry on. But it's also much nicer to find your friend isn't depressed - in fact he's manically sparkling and full of life and wit.

And is going to spend the weekend in Paris, about which I'm not remotely jealous, oh no.

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Why didn't I get into LastFM sooner? It's udderly brilliant - better than Pandora is/was. In two days I've been introduced to a hundred new bands, and loved just about all.

Now I just need to become a millionaire to hear them all above 128kbps.

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What's this called?

You spend a day sorting through hundreds of data backup CDRs and DVDRs, copying the still-useful files to hard drive for later reburning, and throwing away the out-of-date and duplicated discs, in what started as an attempt to find one single file. After which, you conclude that you've (a) got hundreds of gigabytes of barely catalogued stuff, and (b) lost the one file you were looking for. But at least you you tidied up a bit

And then you notice a large cardboard box that's been sitting unnoticed, at the bottom of a stack with four others. It's been there for over a year, it's quietly slipped out of your memory since you stopped tripping over it...and it's labeled "Misc Discs". It's also very full.

Nevermind - on the plus side, I think I know what to do for my thousandth post.

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