Monday, June 7, 2004

So, what was the aforementioned hilarity?
Well, it comes in two installments, in chronological order.

Firstly, let me say this; I am by all means a geek. I thoroughly enjoy RPGs, manga/anime, am an avid gamer, and despise MTV. But I have no intention of becoming the guy from Office Space whose only memorable line is "I believe you have my stapler?". In case you're wondering why I'm mentioning him, let me tell you. I ran into this man in Barnes & Noble. Here I am, looking at the tabletop RPGs, and to my left I see this large figure out of the corner of my eye approaching me. I look up, and I see a fat, sweaty man in a red sleeveless shirt and grey sweatpants. His face and head are covered by thin, greasy hair matted down all over the place, and he's panting like he just ran a marathon. He then proceeds to pick up a D&D Manual, flip through it, and occasionally glance up at me and whimper like the aforementioned "Office Space" character. I was thoroughly scared, and have made it one of my definite goals to never end up like that guy. I don't mean to sound judgmental, but I have no wish to end up that way.

The second item of hilarity? As we all know, I subscribe to that heathenly little belief system called Buddhism. So, naturally, I would be looking for one of the Dalai Lama's (great guy, btw) books in BN. Here I am, standing in the Eastern Religions section, trying to decide on which of his many, many books to purchase. Suddenly, my grandmother (hardcore Christian, for those who don't know) comes out of nowhere and says the following, with a tone of mild disgust and disbelief;

"What are you doing in the... Eastern Religions section?"

She then proceeds to give me that look that usually precedes one of her infamous zealous rants, thus giving me no choice but to move on in despair. I guess next time I'll just bolt to the back, grab An Open Heart (one of the Lama's many books), bolt back to the cashier, and get outta there before my grandmother (or brother, who is also a zealot when it comes to religion) notices the subject of my purchase.

It's bad enough that my brother goes insane whenever I buy a martial arts-related book like Hagakure or Book of Five Rings. He insists that Musashi's book promotes suicide, which it does not. He comes to this conclusion simply because the author was a samurai. He also comes to the conclusion that all Buddhists are bald, wear robes, and are immediate pushovers. >_<

You can see why I have such a sense of humor. Anyways, if anyone has read any of the Dalai Lama's books, could you make a recommendation? That is one purpose of that "comment" option, which you will find if you look one line down.
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