I dreamt last night that I took Simeon and Ketra to a BAMM graduation only to have the graduation turn out really strange. The male instructors kept refusing to wear their helmets, so everyone was having to walk through their fights really slowly, and it was extremely painful to watch, and I was in the front row as a graduate hoping for a free fight but when the mugger came up to me I demanded he put on his helmet, which upset him, but there was /no way/ I was going to trust my reflexes /not/ to kick his head in just because he wasn't wearing his helmet. It was 6am when I woke up, bleary and tense all through my body with the anticipation of fighting and the frustration of the dream. I lay in bed for a long time, hugging Heather and breathing deep, trying to relax. I did finally start getting there, despite a litany of unhelpful thoughts reminding me of all the things I am supposed to do this week, but then the clock went off. 7:15, time to get up.

The benefit of getting up this early is that I'm getting up with Jim, so we shower together and talk while we're getting dressed and stuff. I even left at the same time he did, and ran by the grocery store to get much needed supplies (shampoo, conditioner, tortilla chips so I can fulfill my relentless salsa craving), and then drove up to Foster City for my bi-weekly session with Patti, who is teaching me many of the things I need to know about Judaism. Today we talked about the blessings, which got very complex and fascinating. I love the idea of living with that much awareness of all the beautiful things in the world, rainbows and first fruits and fresh bread and wise scholars and all other goodness. Developing mindfulness.

Jim's parents should be showing up tonight; they're driving out from Arizona, dropping some stuff off and spending two nights, then driving down to LA to go to the Disney's California Adventure. Jim's taking off work tomorrow to hang out with them, which should be nice for all concerned. I briefly contemplated doing the same, but I have both a Very Important Appointment (follow-up to the previously mentioned Very Important Phonecall) and my Japanese final tomorrow, so there really wasn't any way to do it. And I'm not sure how much time I'll have to spend with them tonight, since I need to finish catching up on my Japanese homework, which is a sort of preparation for the final as well.

I think I'm too busy. No, I know I'm too busy. What I don't know is how to become less busy. Somehow the obvious answer -- do less of the things you want to do -- seems very unsatisfactory.