On the up: Maggie
On the down: Impatience

Some of us were meant to meet Rinpoche for a meeting on Saturday night but as JP and I were driving over, we each got a text: "Dear Paris/JP, did you know fabulous tony roma's opened at the curve??? In Singapore it was one of my and the monks' favourites! Tsem T."

LongStoryShort, things are always unexpected and spontaneous in the world we call The Mandala (Buddhas' abodes) we all ended up in Tony Romas even though we'd all already eaten.

On the way, Rinpoche, JP and I bumped into one of JP's friends who read my article about Rinpoche in The Star and now has this bigbig hangup over the fact that Rinpoche talks to his students about sex and doesn't mind people drinking alcohol.

And now she sees us all heading over to Tony Romas.

What what what? Oh my god! The monk tells people they can have sex, he tells them it's okay to drink martinis, and and and he brings them to eat MEAT at Tony Romas?!

hahaha

Some people should so just get over themselves.

Anyway, since most of us had already eaten, we decided to just order a few things and share it out among all of us. I sat next to Rinpoche over dinner and made the mistake of asking him if I could please have some fries. The Buddhas don't seem to eat very much, but they sure do like making sure their students eat proper, so Rinpoche PILED THE FRIES on my plate.

And then I got onion rings too. And ribs. And salad. And more fries.

I was all, "No no no, really Rinpoche, thank you but I can't eat anymore."

He's like, "Ah! Never mind!!!!! Eat eat eat!"

I ended up just moving everything around quietly my plate trying to make it look less; and since Seng Piow was sitting next to me on the other side, I ended up giving him everything.

We went back to KMP for the meeting after that, which didn't end until about 7am There are times that I just totally love being there, hanging out with Rinpoche, talking about Dharma and being silly all at the same time. And then, there are times like last night, at 3am, when I was totally hating it because I just wanted to go home, watch DVDs and eat chocolate. I kept agro-ing in my head, so so so wanting to not have to play pick games anymore.

Rinpoche kept saying, "Okay! I'm going off to do my sadhana now" and all of us would do a little dance in our heads. And then he'd start telling us another story for another hour.

I've learnt that there is just no point in getting agro, so eventually I decided that I may as well give up the chocolate attachment and enjoy the stories that Rinpoche was telling about how, in his last life, JP was an Irish girl called Maggie, living on a farm.

You see, Rinpoches not only teach the Dharma, do extensive pujas, help to clear your spiritual obstacles, counsel you through bad relationships, advise you on how to deal with sensitive parents, bring you to enlightenment and teach you how to overcome your biggest weakness. They also tell lovely bedtime stories!