Just an Update

Haven't posted a while so thought I'd just update, though not a lot has happened really .. it's mainly been a case of Heat, Cricket and Buddhist Meetings. The heat has been good though a couple of days off would suit me ok but getting used to it nicely.

Last couple of Buddhist Meetings have been good too with over 25 at our last discussion meeting .. Thankfully, there was a big garden we could go into for the meeting after the chanting .... it was pretty damn hot in the room.

And the cricket .... Well .. we've reached the final of the 20/20 with a devastating victory over Northants which saw a very surreal run out and Lance Klusener nearly scoring a six with the bat when it slipped form his hand and travelled about 25 yards .. don't see that every day !

Currently playing league leaders Lancashire at home and after winning the toss, we struggled a while and lost a few wickets quickly but a brilliant 150 from David Hussey backed by Mark Ealham gave us 397 in the first innings and then managed to bowl Lancs out for 200. Currently in the second innings we're 94 for 5 which isn't great but is still a lead of 291 on a deteriorating wicket and hopefullyu we can add to that. Should be a victyory for Notts ... though we're quite capable of stuffing up !!

Anyway ... woke early today so instead of slobbing around in bed, I;ve decided to get on with some work and hopefully get down the cricket earlier.

Old Fogie

Was told yesterday that I'm an old fogie by Charmain .. charming .. Kids today huh !!

And that on the same day that I was handed a flyer for some club .. sorry Klub I think it should be. I noticed about 6 years ago that as I walked past these people handing out flyers, that they started to withdraw their flyers .. Think that was the point I realised middle age was approaching ... so it was nice to get one yesterday though buggered if I'll be going :-)

Hot sticky, sweaty and grumpy today so more when I'm in a better mood

phew ... what a scorch ... errr wait .. it's raining !

Just a few lines while I'm waiting for my cuppa to brew .. Bit of a late start today .. bit surprised that I slept in as I felt pretty hot and uncomfortable last night. Mind you, feeling a bit grumpy so I'm guessing it wasn't good sleep.

Been a hot few days this last week. I know that after sitting in it over the weekend at cricket I was getting ready for a cooler day or two and I woke this morning to find it's raining .. Normally, I'd be well pissed off, but it should freshen things up.

Been putting off starting a job which I'm going to crack on with as soon as I've done my late morning gongyo.

Warne Unspun

Well .. a great day of cricket yesterday ... tense and interesting rather than exciting. I honestly expected Notts to lose but hoped for a draw. In the end they nearly actually won the match which would have been a hell of a victory ... sad it wasn't to be but was still a good game.

Been a rushed few days with cricket in the daytime and buddhism or booze in the evening so I'm looking forward to a more relaxed week though I've got 2 more Buddhist Meetings this week but at least I can get some work done in the day and hopefully squeeze a swim or two and coffee in too.

And on that note ... on with the work !

Spin or not to spin

Very brief one as it's the last day of the county match - Notts V Hampshire. Hampshire definitely have the upper hand but it's been a pretty engrossing game really .. the final day leaves Notts needing 360 to win .. do-able but not very likely .. more likely to be a hanging in there kind of match trying not to lose all the wickets before end of play and scratch a draw out of the game, but realistically, with Shane Warme bowling at us ... not looking good.

Been a hectic few days with last night being the only night I've had in for ages and this week is similar .. with 3 Buddhist meetings including the Basics one tonight !!

Anyway .. gongyo now then off to the crickt to frazzle in the sun .... again !!!

There's Always a Crux !

Bit of a late start this morning. I don't know why but I felt really shattered yesterday .. maybe it was the early coffee and subsequent come down but by the time the evening came, I really didn't want to go to the Buddhist Meeting but forced myself. Sometimes you just know you're not going to enjoy it and the first 20 mins of the chanting were dreadful, I couldn't hear the rythm due to a member who chants very strangely an emphasises it wrongly which threw me. All ended up ok though .. so I guess that was just one of those obstacles :)

Received the Monthly Guidance this morning and one bit stood out for me which was a quote by the second president Josei Toda who said "There is always a crux, a key point in every situation. Be sure never to miss it!".

That's quite pertinent to me really. I recognise that point and when it comes, I usually do what I do in times like that ... revert to playing the class fool ... Now there's something to chant about !!

Anyway .. It's a late start today .. needed to sleep in a bit especially as I woke about 5 having some weird dreams about calling the emergency services who told me to stop calling them all the time .. I think the implication was that I'd accidentaly called them on my mobile too many times and they wouldn't respond to me now ... !!! I'm sure there's a message in it somewhere !! Good job I don't analyse dreams eh !! I personally think that dreams are like a release valve for fears and phobias ... get them out your system while you're asleep .. sounds good to me !!

Early Start

Woke quite early today which is good I guess. And making a bit of an earlier start - partly as I've finished series 5 of Buffy DVDs so not watching one of those before getting up (sad !), but also arranged to meet Charmain for coffee in town at 10.30am. Must admit that I moaned about it being so early, then it hit me that most people are actually up and have been in work for a couple of hours by then ... the joys (and pitfalls) of working from home !

Another good night at the cricket last night with Notts winning quite comfortably and getting through to the semi finals of the 20/20 competition for the first time. In theory, have an easy draw too so hopefully will get to the finals day.

Busy few days coming up with our planning meeting tonight (poss followed by a beer), meal tomorrow night and Study on Friday (poss followed by beer), Meal on Saturday night too .... Don't think at the minute that I've anything on Sunday so hope to chill out then and let my liver recover.

Right .. gongyo now ........

Faith, Practise & Study

Just a quick post before I do morning Gongyo (Buddhist Practise) later than usual, but I listened to a podcast last night which was a Buddhist Study by Jason Jarrett which clarified the Faith/Practise/Study aspect which sometimes seems convuluted and complicated. He quoted Something from Daisaku Ikeda which (paraphrased) said:

Faith
Faith is to believe in the Buddha nature of all people, whoever they are

Practise
Practise is to awaken the Buddhahood in ourselves and also in others

Study
Study is to study the philosophy of respecting the lives of all human beings


Thought that was pretty good and to the point ... so on to gongyo .. maybe more later

Forza Italia

Well .. it's all over and Italy win .. yesssssssssssssssssssssssss !!!! ... All in all, not a great game though but Italy probably just about deserved it .. even if only for that stupid head butt by Zidane ,.. !!

Man of the tournament for me was Fabio Cannavaro

and that's my blog for the day .. I'm taking note of todays guidance .. espeically the bit that says
"It all comes down to hard work, to tenacious efforts" .. So that's it .. I'm working hard (ish) today :)

Lazy Sunday Afternoon (and morning)

Well .. many of yesterday's best laid plans didn't come to fruition. Received a text from Emily to meet for coffee at 4pm. Thankfully, experience has taught ne to be prepared for those being a looonnng eveing ans ure enough, we ended up drinking wine until closing time more or less ! One good thing about going drinking with her is that I do at least go to places I probably wouldn't go to .. and you definitely see some sites !! Plenty of stag and hen nights out too !

Anyway .... definitely feeling a bit jaded today so it's going to be an easy one .... about to go back to bed at 11.30am to watch more Buffy DVD with a cuppa, then I'll try to do a min of half hour chanting before having a late brunch in front of TV as there's a decent film on this afternoon ... Harvey.














Then of course it's the World Cup final this evening ... cmon Italy !!!!!!

Back in the City

And posting this mainly as I'm feeling lethargic and putting off going into town. My instinct today is to lounge around the flat, which incidentally, is much cleaner after my cleaning binge .. must keep it this way !. The weather has been so hot which is great but sleeping has been more difficult and it's catching up with me now .. but I will go out shortly .. grab a coffee and listen to my downloaded Buddhist Podcasts while I watch the world go by.

Had a decent day at my Mums though I'm always pleased to get back to Nottingham .. I really find my old home town dull and boring ...

Had a few beers last night too which was good but that may well be why I'm feeling jaded today ... oh well .. nothing much spoiling I guess.

Have made a new 'general' determination to 'open and revive' my life on a daily basis when chanting .. ie get out of the apathy I tend to have so I think I'll chant a bit now then shoot off into town for a while .... I'll post more whene there's actually something to say ... I know you're life is dull Ken, but if you find this interesting .. it's time to worry :-)

And I'm back

Got back late afternoon ... and rushing out for a beer soon ... more coming soon

Clean and Go

Thought I'd post before I do morning gongyo .. just briefly. Last day in Nottingham for a couple of days as I;m going back to Lincolnshire to visit my Mum .. Always pleased to get back to Nottingham though ... it's way too quiet where she lives ... wouldn't be so bad if it was on teh coast or something but just a dull little comuter village .. could never live anywhere like that again !

Anyway .. alst night was a good night sports wise ... after Notts bowled Leicestershire out for 136 they really struggled and were well behind the run rate .. until. ... Mark Ealham came into bat and battered 4 sixes and a 4 off 5 balls .. pretty spectacular to watch .. ! Then came home and watched the 2nd half of Germany v Italy in the World cup .. which ran to extra time with Italy scoring 2 excellent goals in the last minute of extra time .. really pleased as I've got a team to support in the final now .. and if the football is even half as good as that match, it should be a cracker !!

I can't believe I wrote that .. I'm not even especially sporty !!!

Well .. apart from dental visit in a couple of hours time, I'm hoping to clear up a few web jobs today before I go and also intending to have a major clean/throw out .... It's only a small falt and I tend to hord .. it's kind of got to the point where looking at the flat pisses me off .. so it's time for a clean/throw binge :-)

So ... gongyo then get on with it :-)

Where's my slide ??

My Slideshow's gone ... sob ... but Simon's still got his there .. hippy grrrrrr !!

Weird day ... had intended to do loads and it started ok but faded into nothing really. Still, got the critical stuff out the way .. just need to update my web design site ( www.chant4.co.uk ) with new clients and stuff then have a sit in the sun before showering and off to the next 20/20 cricket match. Bit annoying that it clashes with Italy's World Cup match as I fancied watching that .. hope Italy win the cup .... Guess I feel a bit of allegiance to them as I used to watch a lot of Italian Football when it was on Channel 4 .. wish it still was .. wouldn't have to watch so much push and rush football like the Premier league then !!

Hopefully a more interesting day tomorrow ... though there's a filling at the dentists in the morning .. that'll be fun .... NOT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And still it boils ...

Another hot day, though thankfully, my flat is reasonably cool which makes work bearable. It does help, mind, being able to nip out for a swim at lunchtime .. keeps me fit AND cools me down.

Fairly pleased with progress today so far .. have managed to keep fairly focussed and am trying to clear up a few bits of work before Thursday as I'm going to visit my mum for a couple of days. Definitely need to get some new work soon though as the current batch is coming to a close. Don't mind a short break but can't afford a long one !

Heading to town now .. going to upgrade my phone .. only because my old one is playing up though ... guess I'll have to figure out how to use the new ones. Just looked at the models I;m thinking of ... all the blurb mentions MP3/Camera/E-mail ... doesn't even mention the phone aspect of it .. !! Modern technology eh !!

Will grab a coffee while I'm there .. looks like we may get a few days of rain so I may as well get the sun while it's here.

Sunday Bloody Hot Sunday

So hot today .. but lovely .. apart from the not sleeping too well bit of course .. Still after yesterdays chanting when I managed to do about 3/4 hour and today I went to Kosen Rufu so have already done an hour ... Don't know why I always struggle to do 10 mins .. always feels so much better after doing more.

Anyway .. one good thing is that England are out of the World Cup so we won't have to watch any more crap football hopefully ... Also won't have to listen to the crap on the news .. latest is that Rooney shouldn't have been sent off becuase it was for the push on Ronaldho ... people seem angry that he wasn't sent off for the stamp on the testicles of the Portugese guy just because the ref didn't SEE it.. Fact is that he DID it though so why people are moaning I;ve no idea ...

Anyway ... our neighbour took his flag down yesterday so that makes the gardens look nicer :-)

Went to the Chill in the Park festival .. for about 10 mins .. pretty dull .. just drunks, drugs and drums ... too many hippies ;-) .. So I headed into town for a long cofee and listened to some more rembetika ... I'm on a mission to get more people to hear that .. so here's a link to a track by Markos Vamvakaris one of the best.

Right .. shower now to cool down, then a cuppa before doing some more chanting, maybe some work and a bit of TV

And again ...

Another win last night by Notts against Yorkshire .. looked a bit shaky at one point but we did it .. can't believe we're actually doing quite well in the 20/20 competition .. most unlike Notts !

Anyway .. just a short post as my day plan has already gone to pot .. probably because I decided to watch that THIRD episode of Buffy before I got out of bed and it's now after mid day and I still haven't done that gongyo that I promised myself I would do ... the intention was to do a good half hour and I still might but I need to tidy and eat and get into town in just over an hour or it won't be worth going as I want to be back in time to watch England get knocked out of the World Cup by Portugal, though if that happens I pity the poor Portugese population of my old home town Boston (lincs not USA) .. Last time Portugal beat us, the local morons rioted burning places down .. it was already a dump before that anyway .. but it did confirm that there had been a nasty rascist streak in a lot of the people there ... It now apparently has the largest Portugese population outside of London .. not bad for a town of 30,000. Also, quite a few East Europeans living there now .... For too long it's been a 'whites only' kind of town .. not any more .. and the local morons hate it .. Come on Portugal :-)

Anyway .. must do Gongyo now and head into town .. I want to sit in the sun a while with a coffee listening to the Rembetika MP3s I've downloaded this morning ...

By the way ... hope you like the slideshow :-)

SGI President Ikeda's Daily Encouragement for July 1
"Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion," the Daishonin says (The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 119). It is by chanting powerful daimoku, like a lion's roar, that we can move the Buddhist deities, the protective forces of the universe. The voice is very important-it has profound power. While naturally being careful not to disturb your neighbors, I hope you will endeavor to chant cheerful and powerful daimoku that reaches all the Buddhist deities and Buddhas throughout the 10 directions.