Dan, Nattily and Troy
I arrived at Walnut Creek, California (Near San Francisco) around 8:50 pm on Friday March 22nd. Dan helped me bring some of my stuff in, and showed me where I could park my car. Then I got to see Seth (Dan and Troy's father). The last time I saw him I was around 6 or 7 years old. So Dan, his father and step mother and I talked some and I showed them some pictures. After that I told Dan about a Nintendo game I had gotten off of e-bay that was very rare and was used in a Nintendo Competition back in 1990. So we hooked up the 8-bit Nintendo and played that for a while along with a couple other games. Dan showed me a kewl flash file on the computer with the Mario Twins (A little comedy thing about Super Mario Brothers). He also showed me a little bit of The Lord of the Rings movie that he downloaded off the net. It was actually in pretty good quality.
The next morning I went into Dan's room to get on the Internet and check my e-mail. I started replying to one Darlene sent me, but Dan and I started talking just as I was starting to do that. We talked for a couple hours. During that conversation I told him about a dream/experience Darlene had with cats. He told me that he heard that dream before (or one very similar to it). I told him I probably just sent him a e-mail about it before, but he was convinced another friend told him a very similar dream. So he decided to call Karen (The friend who told him the similar dream) up to verify that she did have a dream that was almost identical to the one I told him. She was either asleep or not there so Dan left a message for her to call back.
Karen's Cats at her Apartment
After that Dan and I were starting to get hungry. It was almost noon. Dan cooked up some omelets and we ate them while watching some old home videos that Dan and I were in when he was 7. He is now 18 years old. Troy and his girlfriend Nattily showed up. They grabbed something to eat and watched some home movies with us for a little while. Troy was going to be spending the day with Nattily since she was leaving for Hawaii the next morning for a week.
Karen called back and Dan asked me if I wanted to go over and hang out with her for the day. He told me that she wanted to hear the dream I told him since she had one very similar to it. So we drove to Napa to visit her. Dan, Karen and I talked about dreams for a while and then about spiritual stuff and about Reiki. Karen and Dan with both very interested in the Reiki and wanted to learn how to do it. So I explained it to them, and answered a lot of questions about it that Karen had. I showed them how to feel the energy that is all around us. Something both of them had already done before. Then I explained what charkas are and how to channel this energy through oneself and to someone else to help heal them. I sent some Reiki to Karen to show them one way to send it.
We were starting to get hungry so Karen made some Banana Bread and Dan and I helped out. After eating we walked around Napa for a bit and went to a place where we could play pool. The three of us played pool for about and hour and then walked back to Karen's. It was a beautiful night and there was a neat rainbow effect around the moon with the clouds. I grabbed the Risk game from my car on the way back.
When we got back we talked about Reiki more and the three of us sat in a small circle and joined hands and sent energy around the circle in a clockwise direction. Then Dan sent some Reiki to Karen. After that I showed them another way to send Reiki where the person that is receiving it lays down instead of having them sit up. The method with the person laying down and going over the charkas is the traditional way that Reiki is normally done. I have seen it done that way before and Darlene has sent it to me that way before, but this was the first time I sent it this way. So I sent some to Dan this way. He was very relaxed when I finished and could not move for a little while afterwards. Then I sent some to Karen in this way as well and it had a similar effect on her. At one point when I was sending to her, one of her cats jumped up on her. Afterwards she said it felt like the cat was sending Reiki too :)
Playing Risk at Karen's Apartment
After that we broke out the Risk game and played that till around 2:00 am. Dan and I stayed the night there. I got to sleep on the couch and Dan got the recliner. That morning (Sunday morning) Karen made Dan and I breakfast and we talked a bit more before I drove her to work. Dan and I drove back to his place. Troy was home and we were thinking of going to the Redwood Forest. But after thinking about it decided to go to the reservoir instead since it would be a two hour drive to the Redwood Forest and we figured we could go later in the week when we could get an earlier start.
On the way to the reservoir we stopped to get some food for the picnic. We found a nice spot in the sun to eat and then we broke out the Magic cards (Magic The Gathering Cards are a card game). We played Magic for a while and left when the sun started going down. When we got back I grabbed my video game systems and games out of my car. We stayed up till around 1:30 am playing video games. We played a few that all three of us could play at the same time such as Tetris and some of the Super Bomberman games.
Dan and Troy at the Reservoir
Monday morning I woke up and typed up a trip update. Dan went to school and
Troy went to work. So I hung out at their apartment and walked around a park
that is close by. I also watched a movie on DVD that I have not seen before.
In the evening I went over to visit Priya. My dad and I lived with her for a
year or so in San Francisco, California when I was around 6 or 7 years old.
I saw her once briefly at Ananda Ashram when I was around 14 years old, but
have not seen her since. So it was good to see her again.
Priya treated me out to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. We mainly talked about different experiences we have had with Dr. Mishra both before and after his passing. I had a dime Dr. Mishra gave me when I was around 7 years old that he told me to give to Priya next time I saw her. I did not have it with me when I saw her when I was 14 years old so I gave it to her when we got back to her place. She showed me her dissertation she wrote about Dr. Mishra. Then we had tea and ice cream and talked about what we have been up to since we had last seen each other. I left her place around 10:30 pm and got back to Dan and Troy's place around 11:00 pm and played video games late into the night.
Dan and Troy had school and work on Tuesday so I hung out and watched movies and walked around for a little bit. That afternoon when Dan got home we walked over to Taco Bell for lunch. Dan and I went out to see the movie Time Machine and then theater hopped to see ET. We played more video games that evening and watched some old home videos that had my dad, nephew Dan and sister Becky in them.
On Wednesday Dan and troy had school and work again. Karen came over that afternoon. She and I went to Taco Bell for lunch. After that we played some video games and then watched the movie Bow Finger. Dan and Troy got back while Bow Finger was on. After the movie the four of us played 4-Player Tetris and Super Bomberman for a while.
Thursday I watched more movies, talked on the Internet and slept some. That evening Dan, Troy, their dad, step mom and I went over to Seth's family gathering for Passover. It was a fun evening and it was kewl to see how Jewish people celebrate Passover. There were around 17 people at this family gathering. All of us got little booklets that we went through before dinner with rituals for Passover. Things like lifting and sipping from wine glasses at certain times, dipping parsley into salt water and eating it. Eating the bitter herbs and stuff along those lines. It was neat because the booklet described why we were doing these things and where the rituals came from.
Dan in the Center at Passover Dinner
I watched more movies on Friday during the day. Dan went over to Karen's place that afternoon. When Troy got home him and I played some video games. That evening some of Seth's family came over and we watched a movie called The Wonder Boys and ordered out some pizza.
Saturday morning I woke up around 4:45 am and packed up all my stuff and got ready for the final part of the trip to Portland, Oregon. I said goodbye to Troy and was on the road around 5:46 am. It was a beautiful drive. As I was starting out I could see the sun rising in the east and the moon setting in the west. It was a nice sunny warm day. Driving through the northern part of California was amazing, especially around the Mt. Shasta area.
I arrived in Portland, Oregon around 3:30 pm on Saturday March 30th.
