Deer Park Monastery, Escondido, CA

Teen Retreat
If I were abbot of this monastery, the first thing I would do is get rid of the "Teen Retreat". You get a bunch of teens up here to expose them to the practice, expose them to the Dharma, and you basically end up with a bunch of teens up here. And a bunch of monks in a tizzy from hormone exposure. You know you’re an adult when teenagers make you cranky.

Roomate update
I’m sharing a room with 3 other people for the week. I have a feeling this came down as a "suggestion" from one of the monks, and it’s fine with me. It’s part of the practice. It’s "fine with me", but let’s see how well I fare. I’m surprised they didn’t do this earlier. I’m glad they didn’t do this earlier, but I’m glad they’re doing this, and I hope they stick someone with me until I leave on July 12. Let’s see how supremely annoyed I can get. I must get in touch with my annoyance, must embrace my annoyance and cradle it and stroke it, and love it and hug it and squeeze it and call it 'George'.