Bad things happen to good people

I've been trying to sell our pool table for a while now. I promised my Mom I'd renovate the basement with the money. Sounds so simple, does it not? But alas, life has it's rash way with me once again. It seems its a lot easier to blame life than people lol. "Live" is "Evil" spelled backwards, or so they say.

Apparently there has been scams, all over the world. But this particular one got me to take the bait, and of so fast it happened. To have trust in complete strangers equals to a death sentence.

So what happened?! This guy Dave replies to my Craigslist ad about buying the pool table. A very genuine email, not like the others you can smell the scam from a mile away. He says "goodmorning", and "please" and things that a genuine customer might say. So we made a deal, however online, to me was still somewhat binding. Ok Dave I'll give you a chance. I waited for weeks and finally received an envelope with no return address. Inside, is a folded flyer and oh yes tucked inside the flyer, is the $2500 money order, Woohoo! But as life would have it, it was a fake, we knew it was a fake! We even wen't to the bank it was supposedly been issued, and the bank somehow knew there was something wrong with it. Although, they weren't really blunt about it.

Again, taking the hook. I went home, put the money aside and waiting until Dave contacted me. Just to be sure it came from him. A few days later, a private number calls me, odd how the call was blocked. Dave calls me asking me to hurry and cash the money order, to hurry and send the rest to the shipper. ALL A PART OF THE SCAM!!! Agitated and surrendering to greed, I rushed to the bank and deposited the money order without any regards, thinking I was smart enough that the outcome will be just fine. After depositing, I was able to take some money out of my account and like a good sucker, sent it to the shipper. There it goes, someone, pulled a fast one on me. Dave calls to make sure I did what he instructed and oh God, he was so happy. I never heard from hear again after that.

Stupid me! Bye bye cash, all I could do is bitch about it in RCOL/Police and Craigslist.

Mom was dissapointed, I was disappointed, wife was dissapointed. Thanks to Dave, I got set back from my plans on bringing the kids here. You asshole, die and rot in hell! I hope you get what you deserve!

I'm no Buddhist

I'm no Buddhist or not a follower of Buddha's teachings, but I strongly believe he was on to something. Since elementary school I've taken his words to heart and try ever so hard to live righteously. But like any human, I too fall and have my dark days. It's those good days that holds me up, it's those bad days that makes me stronger.

Buddha believes that we are created born to live with sorrow and suffering. Suffering is brought upon by selfish desires and can only be eliminated by living in accordance to "Dharma", meaning to live a righteous life or to follow a virtuous path.

According to Buddha, the way to deliverance is summed up into four noble truths:

1. The universality of suffering - People discover through rebirth, aging, and death that life is full of sorrow. We suffer this sorrow until deliverance is achieved.

2. The origin of suffering - Suffering is caused by the false desires of the senses that have been deceived into clinging to the impermanent world. The quest for immortality further aggravates human suffering.

3. The overcoming of suffering - If false desires cause suffering, then the desires need to be suppressed, abandoned, or rejected in order to nullify their effects. Ignorance of the way of deliverance and the delusion that there is a permanent self are the primary cause of suffering.

4. The way leading to the suppression of suffering - The noble eightfold path is a sacred path with eight branches called right views of understanding, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct or action, right livelihood, right effort or endeavor, right mind control or concentration, and right mindfulness. These eight branches are not stages that can be lived out in succession or isolation from one another. They are different dimensions of a total way of life. Buddha did not deny the existence of gods, he taught that the worship of gods obstructed one's quest for nirvana. To him the gods inhabit the cosmos and are impermanent like all of us, so they too must escape rebirth through nirvana.

I think finding out the truth is something he lived and died for. We too, sooner later find out the truth, that our world is not perfect. We are born and is living under pain and suffering, even religion is a never ending struggle of faith. If by chance enlightenment can be achieved, then imagine a world free from physical bonds. No bounds as long as there are minds and thought.