I experienced shopping bliss this week, and I experienced it at Daiso. Recently one of their stores opened at Westlake Center in downtown Seattle and I went to check it out with a friend.

Oh my goodness. It's like, a Japanese dollar store. Everything is super cheap -- most items are $1.50 -- but doesn't necessarily look or feel cheap. I bought several plastic containers for holding lunch, an awesome pair of salad tongs, a couple placemats, an egg mold, an egg slicer, "stainless steel soap," and a few other things. They had all sorts of beautiful plates and housewares, kitchen supplies, tools, toys, and packaged food. I even dragged Jer there on Saturday, but he wasn't nearly as excited.

Part of my excitement was seeing so many new things and trying to figure out their purpose. Like the thing I think was for cleaning a toilet, based on the picture, but looked like a heel insert. Or the green onion cutter thing, which -- as far as I could tell -- scrapes the base of the vegetable, creating thin strips. Or the plastic hanging thing for the refrigerator to keep your condiment packages in order. I didn't realize how jaded I was in stores where I could understand the words on the packaging. At Daiso, shopping is an adventure.

Also this weekend, I went to hear a free talk on Buddhism and in particular learn more about my selfish mind. Obviously I have a lot to learn on the subject, since all it takes to make me happy is a dollar store and a wall of plastic food containers ripe for the plucking.

I found it an interesting talk though, despite my making light of it. The number one question it raised was: How can I be a better friend to the world? And the answer seemed to lie in managing expectations, intentions, perceptions, and breath.

Wait. Should I have spoiler coded that? I hope I didn't ruin any mysteries of the universe for you. Ruining mystery is probably contrary to my goal of being the world's buddy.