Welcome 2010

January 1, 2010 was a day to savor. I hope it portends a good year. It began with a joyous welcoming of 2010 at midnight, under the stars and the full moon directly overhead, with 3 generations of family as well as good friends. Despite getting to sleep at 1:30am, I still awoke early enough to take a cold shower and sit for a long meditation before everyone else in the house got up. After breakfast we worked on a complex jigsaw puzzle that we had begun on Christmas day (a family tradition) and other deliciously unhurried leisure activities. After lunch we headed up to Eldora ski area, where Barbora did training for Nordic racing while Jitka and I did a backcountry XC ski trip up Jenny Creek. The conditions were perfect: sun and plentiful, dry snow. When we got back home, we quickly showered and prepared for a dinner party at a friend's house. There was perfection here too - a warm-heated and gracious host, good food and animated, thought-provoking discussions that everyone participated in (i.e. there was only one conversation going on). The night started on politics (is democracy possible or appropriate in Afghanistan?), progressed through contemporary physics and causality, lingered on lightweight topics such as existence of the soul, ventured into various conspiracy theories and the threat of extraterrestrials and ended with everyone rating the current state of their life on a scale of 1 - 10. Among the 5 men and 3 women present we had Buddhists, Christians, Atheists and a Sikh, and we all thoroughly enjoyed each others' company. A great finish to a delightful day.