Zen lesson for the day: Follow the rule of law

So, I got a traffic violation for doing a California stop through a stop sign yesterday - I had no plausible reason for doing it - the police officer even asked me if there was an emergency. I didn't have a good explanation other than it was habit for me, so he gave me a huge-ass ticket.

I was mad about it for about an hour afterwards, but when I got home and hit the comfy chair I had a chance to think on it, and realized that it was my responsibility to follow the laws as they are laid out for motor vehicles. There are a lot of pedestrians near that intersection - it is on a back road, though, so I think nothing of blowing through through the stop sign as I am turning into the Publix parking lot, which is right next to it. The cop was waiting across the street and had me dead to rights.

 So why do I consider this a Zen lesson? Because of something my precepts teacher, Thom Pastor, said about the precepts; know when to keep the precepts and when to break them. This is important, because I believe it is a fundamental philosophy in Buddhism. Buddhists may seem wishy-washy and opportunistic because of this, but really, it's because we are highly adaptable. So, "know when to keep the precepts" I think it means that we have sets of rules that we follow that benefit all beings - don't kill, don't get so drunk you do things that are harmful to yourself or others, and three others that I can't recall because I'm pulling this out of my butt (and welcome to my world). "Know when to break them" is the fail-safe we have for contingencies where not following the rules ultimately benefits all beings; if I had been blasting through the stop sign because I had a pregnant woman in the throes of labor who needed to get to a hospital, it might be considered understandable for me to break the law.

But there was no emergency; I was not helping to shepherd new life into the world. The cop, like I said, even asked me if there was an emergency. So, I broke the law when it was not of benefit to anyone, and may have endangered some pedestrian's life in the process. Moral? Follow the rule of law.

Housing Update

Well, it totally throws off my blogging about the Zen center, but after agonizing over it this afternoon I decided to stay somewhere closer to the convention center.  It seems like all the cool librarians are staying at The Quad, but I ended up getting a pretty awesome deal at Circus Circus.  A vague memory of reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as a wee lass of eighteen reminded me that Circus Circus is featured in the book.

What Hunter S. Thompson and his lawyer probably stumbled into, circa 1971

So, I'm still going to visit the center and pay my respects to my precepts teacher, and sit with the Sangha, if they're practicing, but staying at the Zen center itself is a non-starter.  Oh well.  But, the Zen center doesn't have a ROLLER COASTER or a 25-ride THEME PARK, does it?!  I thought not. Yeah, Circus Circus was made for me.  Party at my house!

Transportation in Vegas for me

Now, this is just for me - I've posted about general Vegas transportation options here, but this is just my own muddled attempt at transportation.  Do you want to know how long it's going to take me to get from the Zen center to the convention center?  An hour.  Each way.  I'm thinking my idea of living on the cheap in Vegas may have not been such a great idea.  And it might be too late to make a reservation, haha.  Oops.

So much for sleeping

Good thing I'm going to Vegas, a place like my home town in that it never sleeps!

Maybe I'm still totally stoked from finding out that I will be a stringer blogger for American Libraries for their coverage of ALA 2014 in the happiest place on earth - no, wait, that's Disney World.  Anyway, I can get to sleep to save my life tonight so I'm blogging today about what I just spent the last hour researching, mass transit in Las Vegas. 

http://www.rtcsnv.com/transit/fare-information/

I CANNOT believe they are charging peeps 65 dollars for a thirty day pass to the las Vegas transit system - who rides the bus for thirty days straight?!  Oh wait, that would be people with normal, everyday jobs in Las Vegas.  Still better than a car, cost-wise, but ends up costing me 4.05 each way between the convention center and the zen center!  A super friend offered to let me stay with her, but I really want to stay at the zen center.  Who needs in-room cable when you've got the Las Vegas strip?!  And the zen center looks like it has a pool , but that could just be ornamental - I'll have to see!

Plus, as always, cycling seems to be the middle path, here, as far as time spent in transit.  The longest, of course, being the bus.