The Zen Killer

Within the rectangular garden at Ryoanji Temple, the fifteen rocks and meticulously groomed white gravel represent the “quintessence of Zen art”. Arranged in no particular formation by a nameless monk in the 15th century, the brochure suggests each visitor “find out for himself what the garden signifies”, and millions of miniature rock gardens in psychiatrists’… Continue reading The Zen Killer

Fashionably Light

I read the other day that backpackers tend to suffer from two afflictions more so than from anything else. The first is the inevitable traveller’s diarrhea (aka Delhi Belly, Rangoon Runs, Tokyo Trots, Montezuma’s Revenge, etc), for which we have enough ciprofloxacin, azithromycin and loperamide to plug a hole in the Hoover Dam. The second… Continue reading Fashionably Light

Credit Where Credit is Due

Ms. Gupta and Ms. Boop, San Clemente 2008

Before getting underway, I’d like to give credit to the very good friend of mine who came up with the title of our blog. If it weren’t for the creative genius of Ms. Ruchi Gupta (who coincidentally works for a large advertising house), Olivertheworld might otherwise have come to be known as EatenbyMonkeys.com or worse,… Continue reading Credit Where Credit is Due

Countdown

Please accept my apology when I tell you that I haven’t channeled a writerly thought in now nearly a decade. In fact, it is with distinct physical discomfort that I sit alone tonight, in the darkened kitchen nearing 2AM, banging away at this keyboard in what is now my seventh effort to get this damned… Continue reading Countdown