Origins of the ROOMOFZEN

First, I want to thank all of our readers who have stopped by and contributed to our little page here. Its hard to believe that what began as a humble email chain a few years ago has evolved into a full blown blog…with real actual readers! In a little under three months time we have reached our 1000th visitor to the page, I speak for everyone here at roomofzen when I say this: Sick.

Now many of you already know us, you know what we are all about, what makes us tick. Some of you have only stumbled upon this page looking for an online seminar in eastern spirituality, and while we provide a form of “spirituality” here it is surely not what you were expecting to find when you entered “room of zen” into your search engine. We have received a few emails from people we do not know and who don’t know us, which is nice, as long as they haven’t managed to somehow hack into our computers and steal our identities. Take this little note we received this week from Mason Cajka: “go eat a piglet”. We have no idea who this guy is or what he means by “go eat a piglet” but we are honored to receive his and all of your emails at roomofzen@gmail.com. That’s a true story.

In speaking with the oracle this past week it was noted that we were fast approaching our 1000th visitor to the site and that in honor of our moving forward we should take some time to look back…into the deep past unto the origins of the roomofzen. In doing so we will enlighten you as to why we have come to be, and what we stand for, our motivations, our inspirations, our flatulations. I would call our beginnings humble but that would make a mockery of all that we stand for. Our beginnings were badass, in fact, as the prophet Brian Adams once sang “those were the best days of my life”, and he was in fact talking about us, not the summer of 1969, everyone knows that was code.

Over the next few days we will be hearing from many of the founders of this movement, their personal pilgrimages to the oracle, the zen room, the bathroom with very low toilets. We will talk about how these things came to be. All will be revealed. There will be tales of heroism, chicken wings, beer, and indoor volleyball. There will be tales of laughter, tales of sorrow, and things that really don’t make sense at all. But look closer friends…for in our beginnings lies the keys to our future.

I will only speak for myself when I recount the days and events that led to my introduction with a little place called Winners Sports Grill in Brunswick, Maine. It was my senior year at Bowdoin College. My days were carefree, my demeanor devil-may-care always wanted to say that). I often slept late and wore sweatpants. I enjoyed fine programming of Animal Planet and the Discovery Channel, occasionally breaking from the rigamorole of daily life to engage in consumption of boxed wine, and/or video games. This was a time when men were men, when cut off shirts still meant something, when anyone would have been honored to sport a moustache into the dining hall during lunch.

Sundays, traditionally a day of rest as far as I were concerned were devoted to football. Now I had become somewhat of a homebody during Sundays at this time in my life. My friends and I often lounged about indoors, hoping to last the day with out being recognized as “that guy who rode that shopping cart into Union St” or “one of the guys who tackled each other during late night dining”. No, stealth was of the essence. So it took a little bit of prodding to convince me to venture out one Sunday along with some great great men to Winners. What happened next proceeded to blow my mind.

I can only speak for myself, and admittedly there are others among us who were more instrumental in locating and enjoying this fine establishment long before I ever stepped foot in those hallowed halls. Over the next few days you will hear from them. Their stories are simply amazing. I can only say that Winners was not only a place, it was a state of mind. If you could bottle the magic of those Sundays and sell it, you would have a bunch of bottles of some really fucking awesome shit for sale. Fans of all teams were welcome, everyone was free to root and enjoy as they pleased, this is the type of environment we seek to foster here at roomofzen, this is the essence of what we do. If you ever find yourself in Brunswick, Maine, stop in to Winners and enjoy the ambience. It is a special place.

Thank you to everyone who has stopped by to check us out over the past few months, an extra big thanks to those of you who have taken the time to write in, it brings a little joy to our lives. And keep coming back, and tell a friend, and don’t forget to have your pets spayed and neutered.

Nothing says "Awesome...we've got a thousand hits!" like a Squirrel playing a banjo on a river bank. This is by far my most badass contribution to the blog.