The sixth week of practice period came and went uneventfully, although it didn't start off so great, surprise, surprise. I think I even randomly skipped a morning and didn't regret later, I don't remember. I do remember finding it hard to get up at 5:00, in contrast to the beginning of the practice period. When it was fresh and new, anything was possible. But now that it's tried and routine, it takes even more of that little push to not think and crawl out of bed and automatically get dressed and get out of the apartment within 10 minutes. By Wednesday I was back in the groove.

Seventh week also brings the Asian American Film Festival. The way I've been treating film festivals in my unemployment has been to only go to matinee screenings and to not buy tickets in advance. This was all a compromise ploy to not spend too much money. If a show was sold out, tough. But unfortunately, this year's festival is rather anemic in the discount matinee screenings, and what little they do have aren't of much interest to me, although I'll give them a second look later. Plus, there were three films I really did want to see, so I paid full-price and in advance.

Yesterday, I saw Travellers and Magicians, out of Bhutan. A funny line from the movie was, "I hear in America, they don't even know where Bhutan is", and judging by the laughter, I think the audience largely shared my realization that despite having knowledge and interest in the area of the Himalayas because of Buddhism, Tibet, and Nepal/Mt. Everest, no, we couldn't pinpoint in our minds exactly where Bhutan is! Sure, we've run our eyes over the map of the region countless times, sure, we've seen the name and know it's a Himalayan country, but only if we had a reason to look for Bhutan would we finally be able to pinpoint it's precise geographical location. It's south of Tibet, east of Nepal/Mt. Everest in the Himalayan range, and north of India/Bangladesh. Your welcome.

It was a great film, almost two films in one - one for the metaphor, the other for the metaphor for the metaphor. OK, maybe not. Maybe. On a personal metaphysical level, if you believe in reincarnation, it made me smile and think, Well, why did I come to America? Is it the land of dreams I hoped for with its opportunity, material freedom and excess?

Later today I'm seeing Wheel of Time, which is a documentary overtly about Buddhism. And tomorrow I'm seeing S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, which I'm not looking forward to, but feel I have to see for the same reasons I want to see the new hyped-up Mel Gibson movie. I just watched "The Killing Fields" recently and Spalding Gray's companion monologue, "Swimming to Cambodia", so the ideas of the horror and tragedy involved are fresh in my mind. To say that the premise of this documentary is compelling is understatement. It's mandatory viewing for anyone interested or moved by what happened in Cambodia and why and how.