and some more

I paint, therefore I Ham

Not so much of a catch up as nothing much to report apart from having a birthday which was pretty good .. usual .. Mayfair .. yum yum !!

Made a determination at the start of the year to do something creative. This determination seemed likely to fade into oblivion when we were asked as part of our Buddhist group to donate something on the subject of 'my mentor and I', for a book to be published. My initial thought was a poem as I've done a bit of that in the past with moderate success ..... well I quite like them anyway lol ( see http://www.lulu.com/content/761774 ), but I decided to have a go at something I've wanted to do for a while and have always enjoyed looking at in galleries .. I decided to paint !!! So far I've done two things, the first for this project and the second just a general thing .... I've got a feeling I may enjoy reading teh comments ... NOT !!!!! lol

Summer Course of course

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With all the dampness and recent rain, it was great to be able to travel down to Knebworth for the Mens Regional Buddhist Summer Course. Pretty good turnout from Nottingham with only one or two of the regulars unable to make it. Feedback was that it was a really great meeting and well worth the long journey and I'd have to agree with that .. especially the lecture by Robert Samuels which was probably the best lecture that I've heard yet and which clarified that this Buddhist practise is about battling our own inner negativities every day and to win in our lives, whatever that means for each of us. He emphasised that it's not about being 'nice' and 'peaceful' but involves a daily challenge to live our own 'human revolution'. He also emphasised that the practise is not just about chanting but about encouraging others too .. not even necessarily to practise, but to encourage people to believe that they have what we call 'buddhahood' in them .. ie their own best self .. to encourage them to challenge their own lives to be happy ( not a great word but meant in a 'not grinning stupidly' way .. ).

Anyway .. great day and like most others, I suspect, I went away redetermined to strengthen my practise.

A few days after that I went over to Lincolnshire to see my Mum .. which was pretty relaxing as she lives in a village so all quiet .. birdsong and all that. Had an hour in Boston .. or Bostonski as the locals are calling it. What a dead looking place it is now too .. lots of 'pound' shops including one called 'It must be stolen' !! Ironically, the most interesting bit now is the once almost dead area of West Street which seems to have sprung up a basic tapas bar along with several Polish grill places and cafes .... Will probably try to pop in one one time.





Last night was also the second in the Jazz season at Bonington which was pretty good .. probably around a 7.5 out of 10 ... Much of it was a bit low key and one tempo'd for me but they did end up with a few excellent tracks including a version of Horis Silver's 'Song for my father' ... Interestingly, they had a female drummer... wasn't too sure about her until near the end when she seemed to relax and played really well .. seemed a bit stilted for much of it though but that could have been the style that they wanted perhaps. All in all a good night though and I managed to keep the whisky intake to a reasonable level ;)

It's the end of Summer as we know it (unofficially anyway)

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Only unofficially because cricket season hasn't ended yet .. quite !!

But also, unofficially as last night marked the start of the new Jazz season though in a bit of a 'warm up' way. The realMcCoy ie the Jazzsteps gigs start tomorrow, but last night saw Simon Spillet appear at the Fiveways pub in Nottingham with a local backing band. On the whole a pretty good night for £6 and the backing band are pretty decent too. A couple of negatives was the beer was awful so whisky was drunk unsurprisingly. Also half way through the second set, a woman in front of us passed out causing a bit of a panic. Anyway, we managed to carry her outside (still in her chair !!) and after getting some fresh air she seemed to recover ok. One of the guys with her kept saying to us ... "don't get old .. don't get old" ... cheers mate :).

It's nice to be somewhere, where at nearly 50, you'r by far the youngest there lol

And that's it really .. hectic week or so coming upo including a long trip to Knebworth on Sunday for a Buddhist course .... should be good though.

More soon ....

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The BIG catch Up

Jeeeze .. it's really been a while since I posted here .. well properly anyway !! Nearly 6 weeks .. so a little re-cap to catch up ...

CRICKET
Bit ofa usual 'summer' thing here .. actually got a bit of decent weather for a few games and saw some good cricket. Unfortunately, with the 20/20, most of the cricket I like, gets squeezed in the start and end of the season when it's wetter !!

FOOD
Had a bit of a pani as the Mayfir seemed closed when I went past on the bus, but turned out Mike was away for a week so had a bit of a Mayfair break ... didn't last long though .. and had some great food (as always) although too much wine (and a visit to the poacher afterwards) meant I couldn't remember too much about it.

Also managed to visita couple of other places; The Memsaab which Ild been to about 10 year ago andwhile ok, thought was heavily over rated. This time, I ordered the fish curry ...quite frankly, thought it wa pretty horrible .. and expensive .. that said, several others had different curries and enjoyed but I didn't enjoy teh place either really and won't be heading back in a hurry.

On a positive note, I did go to a new Tapas bar in Nottingham called 'Iberico' ( http://www.ibericotapas.com/ ) which isn't very heavily advertised but is excellent. It's a bit on the pricey side but compared to the rubbish that La Tasca serves, is well worth a visit. The food comes reasonably quickly and is nicely presented if a little pretetntious ... Also pretentious is that the waiters tell you how things should be eaten which actually is quite comical when it comes from an East European waitress .. 'please to eat the gooseberries after the fish please' :). But I would definitely go there again.


BUDDHISM
Nothing too much to report here .. been going to West Bridgford Meetings which I've enjoyed .. also been doing a little 'home visiting' after years of getting over the phobia .. actualy it's quite easy once I stopped calling them 'home visits' and just said I was going to chant with someone !

Had a couple of excellent Study lectures .. one from Michelle Lamb and one from Jason Jarrett ho does the Buddhist podcasts. In fact if you go to http://abuddhistpodcast.com/ you can hear the Studio Version of the study he gave in Nottingham.

Currently managing to do around an hour each day so all pretty good there at the moment.

And I think that's about it ..... Just a couple of vids ... the Buddhist One again just so I don't lose it and a Greek TV one .. sweeeeeet ;)



YOUNG AND BUDDHIST

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Watch live video from Antileech on Justin.tv

Buddhist Interview

yeah yeah .. I know I haven't posted in ages but here's a little video I found to keep you going .. worth a watch.



YOUNG AND BUDDHIST

Leonard Cohen

After 15 years I think, when I saw him last, Leonard Cohen is playing the UK and while I didn't get tickets to see him (though if he adds Nottingham I will !) I was looking forward to seeing him on TV from Glastonbury but apparently he or his manahement wouldn't let it be filmed (maybe a dvd coming out later ?).

Anyway .. a few people filmed it off the screen from Glastonbury .. so enjoy :)

What can I say ??

That's a good question .. I'm starting to feel a little guilty about not posting but it kind of reminds me of when I first started work and used to keep a diary which predominantly said:

Got up
Went to work
Practised Drums
Went to Pub

Exciting life eh ;)

So that's why no posts I guess, though I've done some Buddhisty stuff such as going to Taplow a couple of weeks back for a lecture to Study Lecturers (likely I'll be doing one in, well... half of one, in September .. scarey !!). The lecture was by European Womens leader .. Mrs Takahashi and was really good, though it was a full day and by the third lecture in the afternoon there were a few 'sleepers' around teh place :-). There's also been a New members day for people practising less than 2 years (but open to all members). That was more succesful than I expected and we had 60 people in one room .. just a normal sized one .. pretty warm that was.

Anyway .. I think I'm now coming out of my period of Mourning for Harold leaving Neighbours and I'll leave you with a tribute to him

It's the end of the world as we know it

Today I'm feeling sad because the Big Bang Theory season finished last night :(

Finally, at last and arghhhhh

Finally

I got my tokubetsu gohonzon enshrined !! I received it last October I believe and for one reason and another I didn't get it enshrined, but finally I had a little ceremony last Friday and then went over the pub where I drank too much and then drank whisky after coming back and felt like crap all the next day and did no work !!!

At Last !!

The cricket season started at Trent Bridge. I went down for a one day game on the sunday after going to Kosen Rufu gongyo. I was a bit late and missed 2 wickets. I watched a few overs then went to the co-op to get some food and when I got back, 2 more wickets had gone !! Anyway .. Northants ended up with a pretty low total which Notts beat with relative ease. Have to say though that I can't understand why people prefer one day cricket to County Cricket .. Apart from the last 4 overs, I found the game pretty dull.

Arghhhhh !!

While it was raining at the criocket, I walked past the physio room and trhey were offering free blood pressure checks so I thought 'why not' .. Much to my surprise I discovered I've got high blood pressure !!! 160/100 .. Nothing to worry about apparently but probably a good idea to keep it in mind re diet/exercise etc ..... Can I do that at the Mayfair tonight ?? Not so much battered food or wine ... mmmmm tell will tell ;)

An Important Ceremony

I know what some of you are thinking ... but you're wrong .. this ceremony happened a few days ago and it's called 'The Washing of the Hat Ceremony' and is my official marking of the start of the County Cricket season.

All season, I wear my hat to the cricket .. without a wash so as you can imagine, it's a bit nasty b the end of the year (but let's face it, County Cricket ain't a place to pick up chicks .. ya dig lol :-) ... So every year at the start of the season, I give it a ritual wash .. God I can't believe how sad this is sounding as I write this :-) .

Anyway .. the season got off to a good start with a win at Kent which is good as Notts may struggle a bit this year so all points will come in handy.

Ok .. enough sad man talk ... on with work now.

Before and After

A couple of Buddhist Podcasts

Just a quick 'stop gap' post ... but I came across this excellent 2 part podcast by Dr. Eric Hauber, Vice General Director of SGI-USA on the Buddhist perspective of Life and Death ... Found it really interesting and well done ... pretty suitable for people who know little about Buddhism too. Oh .. and if you want to know the Buddhist view of sex, listen to the the Q&A's at the end :-)

Part 1

Part 2

4 eyes good 2 eyes bad

Oh Bollox .. !!!

I've just trodden on my glasses and bent them out of shape !!!

Now I've got to walk around looking like freakin Kermit until they're fixed .. grrrrrrr

Buddhist Interview

Found this randomly .. it's a video interview by the Washington Post with Bill Aiken who is US Vice General Director of Soka Gakkai International .. though you might find it interesting .. shame about the military ad first though :O

Another post shock .. and a new(ish) book

I recently book the book 'The Reluctant Buddhist' written by TV presenter William Woolard ( used to present Tommorow's World for those of you old enough to remember !).

I have to say that I was very impressed by the book and I think I'm going to be recommending it for new people to read, even before Buddha in Your Mirror.

Although it's not strictly an introductory book as such, it covers his own journey from sceptic to a long practising member and I'm sure many members will identify with many of the things he mentions. It does cover all the usual introduction points, though I would have liked at least a brief explanation of SGI which he does mention, and also Daisaku Ikeda, but doesn't go into any detail on them, which is a shame as a brief history would have been really helpful for new people.

That said, he explains very clearly, the difference between this and other forms of Buddhism, in that this practise is not an 'other world' practise, but is firmly rooted in daily life and designed to move our lives forward.

I've just started to re-read it but for me, it's a great book.

Ta da .... !!!!!!

Nag Nag Nag .... jeeze, just because I haven't posted here, you'd think I'd left the country lol ... Ok .. well truth told it's only one person who is sooo bored at work that he needs to read my blogs .. You know who you are lol.

So .. what have I been up to .. not a lot, truth told. I've taken on a work from home job which takes 2 hours a day and that seems to have impacted fairly heavily on my free time which is irritating, but helps pay the bills so I shouldn't moan I guess. Apart from that .. well , quite a bit of jazz including the excellent John Donaldson and the Partisans, been to the Mayfair a fair few times (now, there's a surprise huh !). Also been out for a couple of meals .. one of which was after a Kosen Rufu meeting and cooked by Makato, a Japanese chef (aided by his mad dog Iggy !) .. Real simple meal with sushi to start and sea bass steamed with herbs and soy .. sounds so simple but it was perfectly cooked. The other one was at Easter at Emily's .. with her Dad and lodger .. funnily enough .. Sea Bass again .. all nicely done .. though she did manage to almost caramalise the frozen lemon mueringe (spelling ?) pie lol.

And I seem finally to have a date for my tokubetsu enshrinement ... May 1st ... good day really as it's also International Workers day and as I used to take the Morning Star and the guy enshrining used to be an SWP member, it's probably appropriate.

I can't even remember when I received the Tokubetsu but probably around October last year and I finally got the Butsudan (cabinet) for it last week and you can see the pictures below.

Ok ... that enough for now Simon ;-) ?

On the move !!

Only kidding .. I'm going nowhere, but I have finally moved my Gohonzon into the living room ready for when I finally enshrine the new one ... about bleedin time too !!

I've been umming and ahhing over whether to move it but I think it's best away from my PC so don't keep checking my e-mail, plus it has been in my office which is increasingly looking like an office .. ie very untidy. I do at least keep my room reeeeasonably tidy in comparison so I'll try it there for a while. Could probably use a higher table but it will do for now.

That's what friends are for !!

Been a while since I posted .. I've been so busy .. that's what you get for chanting about money I guess .. I was hoping for a lottery win ;-)

Anyway .. in case you think I have no friends, I thought I'd show you what I found stuck on my PC by one of my friends .. thank you Charmain :-)

update and quote

Just a brief post as it's been a week or more and not too much to post really. I've been making a concious effort to bring in more money by actually getting up early and working reasonably solidly. I'm also starting a part time work from home thing next week .. just a couple of hours a day at first but expect that to rise to three or so in teh near future which will just about cover my rent which is always a priority !! My official title I believe is 'editor' .. how cool is that :-)

Received an e-mail from a fellow Buddhist in Brazil today who sent me a quote someone had given him so I thought I;d share it as it's a bit of a 'thinker'


TIME DOESN`T EXIST IN BUDDHISM, PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME JUST DOESN`T EXIST. DEPRESSION, ANGER AND SO ON EXIST IN PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME ( WHICH HUMANS CREATED, A WRISTWATCH FOR EXAMPLE DEPICTS HUMAN CREATED TIME…). OUR BUDDHISM EXISTS IN THE NOW. THE PRESENT MOMENT ONLY. THEREFORE OUR SUFFERING, OUR DEPRESSIONS ARE ILLUSORY. FIGMENTS OF THE PAST OR THE FUTURE, WHICH IS PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME. THAT’S NOT BUDDHISM SHE SAID. WE DON`T NEED TO WAIT TO BE HAPPY, WE CAN BE HAPPY NOW. SHE SAID TO CHANT FOR THE THINGS WE WANT TO BE HAPPY RIGHT NOW AND WE WILL RECEIVE THEM, RIGHT NOW. OUR HUMAN REVOLUTION IS FIRSTLY ABOUT OUR OWN LIVES. OUR HAPPINESS. ONCE WE BEGIN TO CHANT IN THE “NOW” AND DROP THE PAST OR FUTURE OUR LIVES BECOME `ONE` WITH THE UNIVERSE AND OUR HAPPINESS IS ABSOLUTE, NOT RELATIVE. THE SECRET IS IN THE POWER OF “NOW”.

The land of Gilad

Had to post this because if you've never seen Gilad Atzmon then you really should.

They say that genius and madness are closely linked and this guy definitely falls into that category ! Before he played his set, there was support from Sarah Gillespie who, I have to say, I didn't really like much at all .. she just seemed to be a mix of other people to me .. looked like Courtney LOve with dark hair and influenced by Kate Nash, Mott the Hoople and the Cranberries amongst others ... I spoke to a few people afterwards and the suspicion was that there were 2 reasons she got the gig ... and they were both resting on her guitar as she sang !!!

But anyway on to Gilad ... An Israeli who hates Israel (and Tony Blair) and has a Palestinian Drummer Asif Sirkis ... this guy is a brilliant Jazz Musician .. and in my opinion, especially when he plays it with the Middle Eastern influences .. I just get lost in those .. or maybe that's the whisky. However .... Gilad being Gilad ... he'll suddenly meander off into an almost techno dance track (and dance like your favourite uncle !!) ... he also recently seems to have taken to pressing a few buttons on a keyboard to make it squeal too .. but it wouldn't be a Gilad gig without that ...

He's also a bit of a joker too .. referring to his band (The Orient House Ensemble) as 'the refuejews' .. claimed that he had a prostrate problem and a song was entitled 'waiting for peace' (get it ?) .. I guess it's the way that he tells 'em too :-)

Anyway .. great gig .. one I'd always try to see ...

Have a listen anyway .. not everyone's cuppa I guess but a definite one off !!




Or a three part documentary if you want more ....

Grrrrrrrrrrr

I'm angry ... well .. just a little bit and at myself !!

A few years ago, I left the place I worked to concentrate on the web design and on the whole it's been ok. Two main problems though .. firstly, I probably make about 85% of what I NEED to earn and have subsidised through loans/credit cards etc and it's got to the point where I need to do something about it ! .. The second thing is that basically I live the life of a pensioner, sometimes not going outside for days !!

Last night I just got really pissed off with myself and stuck a big note in front of my Gohonzon basically saying 'get a life' !! So this morning, instead of my usual getting up around 10am (or later), I got up at 8am with the intention of working more, though the reality is that I'm blogging and faffing about but I'd probably have done that anyway. I do need to get in the habit of getting up earlier though so I'll try to stick to that.

Re the money side, I definitely need a second income and would also like to be more selective about the web jobs I take on. I'd like to go back to when I enjoyed doing web design rather than having to do it to pay the bills !! So with that in mind, I'm currently going through the process of doing some online tests for a company that does business research via the web and then inputting the data on their database. If I do 4 hours a day of that and with even just half of my usual web income, I'd be just about ok, and the reality is that my web income would probably not drop much at all so I'd be a lot better off financially which would be a weight off my mind.

The problem with that though is that I'm still going to be stuck at home, though I suppose the income would mean (providing I keep getting up at 8!) that I can pop out for a couple of hours in the afternoon, which will be nice with Spring not too far away.

I'm also setting up a few web sites using amazon associates so that when people click a book (like on the right of the blog) and buy something from them, I get a few % of the sale ... probably won't bring in large sums but if I do a few sites it might work .. apparently some people earn 1000s but I'm sure they study it carefully ... Hopefully I'll bring a couple of hundred in eventually though it definitely takes time.

Anyway .. that's 1 1/2 hours wasted now so better actually do some work :-)

I'll keep you posted.

and wow .. how 'karmic' is that .. I was just looking for something when a Buddhist book opened up and I read the following quote:

"Intertia is subtle, it creeps up unnoticed. One who forgets about daily renewal and improvement, snugly content with the status quo, is already in its grips."

mmmm time to change methinks !!!!

Taplow part 2

And another trip to Taplow at the weekend but for a single day this time for the HQ and Chapter Leaders meeting. The morning was a regional one and generally fairly practical rather than inspiring but a few interesting things did come up.

The afternoon was more a general meeting and was absolutely packed which I guess shows how SGI-UK is growing in numbers.

Just a few pints from it (arrghh I mean points .. a freudian slip there :-) .. I've still got to type up the previous weekends notes too but for now anyway !!!

1. There are 2 types of daimoku (chanting) .. 'Offensive' (as in attacking) daimoku which is where we put our own personal goals and determinations in line with others happiness and there is 'defensive' daimoku where we simply chant for our own desires. The latter tends to shrink our lives more whereas 'offensive' daimoku expands it.
   


2. Important to encourage others (as well as ourselves of course !) to attend Study meetings and to get engaged in discussion meetings and to take an active rather than passive role in SGI-UK.
   


3. Yas encouraged us to be ourselves and never to 'pretend' that we understand something based on someone else's belief .. he encouraged us to understand things personally and if we didn't, then to talk to others about it to understand more.
   
4. Be aware of our own negative thoughts and challenge them before they determine how our lives will be.

That's kind of it .. a lot of the stuff was practical really for leaders etc so not really for here.

And that's it for now I think .. need to work again ... but have just made a perfect cup of Greek coffee so I took a photo :-)

Ooops .. update

Just a daimoku update for my own record while I remember !

days 4 - target (mins) - 1148 - done so far (mins) -- 949

(behind by 199 mins)

Tired after Taplow

Well .. actually not too badly tired as I was lucky enough to share a room with only one person ... and they didn't snore so got a reasonably ok nights sleep.

The course itself was really good and I definitely feel that I learned a lot on it and one thing especially about my own practise .... but that can wait for a discussion meeting ;-)

I'll be typing up some notes and will post any appropriate ones here when I get round to it.

Had a couple of good nights in the canteen afterwards .. especially when one member produced some whisky .. though I didn't think so the next day !!

Anyway ... here's a few photos for now, including one of Taplow at 7am .. see .. I do see that time sometimes .. also Alan and Annette playing at being 11 again sending each other dirty text jokes ... and I'm NOT posting those here lol. I'll post some better pics when I get them from a couple of people who took some on the course itself.

All my bags are packed ..... (pt 76)

Just a quick post really as I'm away for a few days and I know there are a few of you looking forward to my exciting installments .. yaaaaawn !!

Should actually have something to post worth posting (I hope) next week as I'm away at our Buddhist HQ & Chapter Leaders Course at Taplow this weekend .. which should be interesting ... and also usually means lack of sleep and early mornings .. no weekend lie in for me this weekend .. sob :(

Anyway .. looking forward to it and though it's pretty, I really hope Taplow doesn't look like this !!!!!!





















More next week

days 9 - target (mins) - 738 - done so far (mins) -- 597

Yum and eeeuch too much sugar mannnnn

Yesterday was our HQ kick off day ... not really a lot to report though it was a good day .. generally pretty relaxed.

It was also close to the guy who established SGI's 80th birthday so an excuse for a bit of a cake fest ... I felt so sugared out, I came home and actually made a salad .. in winter !!!!




















days 8 - target (mins) - 656 - done so far (mins) -- 512

Daimoku Target Update

Just an update as much for my records as anything until I find some better way to do it !


days 5 - target (mins) - 410 - done so far (mins) -- 260

New Year

Happy New Year all ....

Well I guess this is the bit where I put down my determinations for 2008 though they don't really differ from last year to be honest. The only newish one really is the amount of daimoku to be done. For the last 6 months of last year I chanted an average of 1 1/4 hours a day which was more than double what I was doing (though it took a marathon at the end to hit that target !), and on the whole, it wasn't too difficult so I'm setting a year long target this year of a nice round 500 hours .. which works out at 1 hour and 21 or 22 mins. I'll have a look round to see if I can find some sitre or other to log my progress and keep it as a permanent link on the right but for now I'll log it at the bottom (already 45 mins behind lol).

Anyway ... I reckon these are my key determinations for the year:

1. Finally sort my finances out and get some sort of order
2. Find a relationship
3. Chant 500 hours during the year
4. Keep going to gym but increase a bit (more swim less jacuzzi !)
5. Have some sort of holiday

That's that .. but I've also decided to have a monthly concrete determinations and for January they are:

1. Hang on in there financially .. it's going to be a really tough month (tax man !)
2. Enshrine my Tokubetsu Gohonzon one way or another !
3. Spend 20 mins per day at least to flat sorting (throwout/clean)

So that's it so far and with a target daimoku after 2 days of approx 2.75 hours, I;ve done 2 so a bit to catch up on already :)