As previously mentioned, I set myself a target to average 1 1/4 hours a day of daimoku (chanting nam myoho renge kyo) three months ago and I'm a bit behind schedule, with just Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday left to do it in.
Thought I'd keep updating here how the final countdown is going and to motivate myself to do it !!!
Target Time to Chant over last 4 Days - 17 hours
Time each day so far:
Friday - 2 hours
Saturday - 3 hours
Sunday - 6 hours
Monday - 6 hours so far
Remaining Time to chant - 0 hour
Yipppeeeee finally finished .. now to watch the last 7 episodes of season 7 of Buffy .. what a way to end the year eh ;)
Turkey and Tantrums !!
Well, thank f@#k that's all over for another year !!
I'd hoped and perhaps naively expected that this Xmas wouldn't be tooooo bad and up until Boxing Day night it was tolerable ... albeit dull and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too hot at my Sisters .. Then Boxing Day came and with it came my 14 1/2 year old neice's tantrums .. big time !!!! Jeeze .. I'm pleased I don't have kids I can tell you !!
Finally got home yesterday afternnon. I'd only been gone 2 and a bit days but it felt like a life sentence !!! I usually enjot the bit between Xmas and New Year but got to say that I'm feeling a bit negative at the moment on all fronts really. Money I'd expected to come in hasn't materialised and to top it all, Orange took my payment out twice which means I'm really going to struggle to pay my rent in a few days time. On top of that, I feel a bit under the weather .. I've had a bad back/hip for a couple of weeks and though it's eased, it's still there ... I slept like crap last night too and all that's on top of eating way too many sweet things that make me feel like crap ... so healthy food for a few days and lots of water to flush it out my system I think !!
In some ways, I think this is also down to setting some determinations about three months ago to happen by the end of the year .. two key ones being to be financially secure .. well, see above re that !! The other was to be in a relationship .... mmmm long way off that one !!! All that was combined with a determination to do 75mins chanting each day which I was doing fine at until I had a temporary dip in my practise .... This has left me with 17 hours to do in 4 days if I'm to do it .. and I've done about 45 mins so far so I'm a long way behind .... Guess I know what I'll be doing New Years eve !!!!
So, with the spirit of 'never giving up until the end', I'm going to try to hit my chanting target and hopefully something will change on other fronts .... I'll keep you posted !!!
I'd hoped and perhaps naively expected that this Xmas wouldn't be tooooo bad and up until Boxing Day night it was tolerable ... albeit dull and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too hot at my Sisters .. Then Boxing Day came and with it came my 14 1/2 year old neice's tantrums .. big time !!!! Jeeze .. I'm pleased I don't have kids I can tell you !!
Finally got home yesterday afternnon. I'd only been gone 2 and a bit days but it felt like a life sentence !!! I usually enjot the bit between Xmas and New Year but got to say that I'm feeling a bit negative at the moment on all fronts really. Money I'd expected to come in hasn't materialised and to top it all, Orange took my payment out twice which means I'm really going to struggle to pay my rent in a few days time. On top of that, I feel a bit under the weather .. I've had a bad back/hip for a couple of weeks and though it's eased, it's still there ... I slept like crap last night too and all that's on top of eating way too many sweet things that make me feel like crap ... so healthy food for a few days and lots of water to flush it out my system I think !!
In some ways, I think this is also down to setting some determinations about three months ago to happen by the end of the year .. two key ones being to be financially secure .. well, see above re that !! The other was to be in a relationship .... mmmm long way off that one !!! All that was combined with a determination to do 75mins chanting each day which I was doing fine at until I had a temporary dip in my practise .... This has left me with 17 hours to do in 4 days if I'm to do it .. and I've done about 45 mins so far so I'm a long way behind .... Guess I know what I'll be doing New Years eve !!!!
So, with the spirit of 'never giving up until the end', I'm going to try to hit my chanting target and hopefully something will change on other fronts .... I'll keep you posted !!!
Bah Humbug !!!
Well ... I thought I'd better say it .. I mean it's so close now to that dreaded time of year ... shuddderrr !!! As always, I'll be pleased when it's over and I can look forward to possibly 8 months before it's rammed down our throats again.
Actually started my Xmas shopping today and was pleasantly surprised how few people were in town .. maybe they really aren't spending this year !!
Well .. at least there's the consolation of one more Mayfair before Xmas .. this Friday .. big Yum ... it's usually a glutton fest this one with definite puddings of battered fruit and ice cream .. surprised the Glaswegians didn't get there first !!!
Oh well .. I'll leave the (somewhat crude) last words to Eric Idle
Actually started my Xmas shopping today and was pleasantly surprised how few people were in town .. maybe they really aren't spending this year !!
Well .. at least there's the consolation of one more Mayfair before Xmas .. this Friday .. big Yum ... it's usually a glutton fest this one with definite puddings of battered fruit and ice cream .. surprised the Glaswegians didn't get there first !!!
Oh well .. I'll leave the (somewhat crude) last words to Eric Idle
A Jazztastic night
Funny day really .. the first e-mail I opened in the morning was telling me that Toni Kofi was unable to play at the Jazz at the Bonington in the evening due to gastric flu (actually, the e-mail went into slightly more detail than that .. but .. eeeewwww !!). That was a big blow as I'd been looking forward to see him play.
Brian rang me later to say that Brian Edwards was standing in for him ... I thought WHO ????? I was pretty cautious as stand ins haven't always been great, but this guy was brilliant .. especially as he only had a few hours notice and virtually no practise. There were a couple of small cock ups but that was to be expected and were only loose endings and who cares about that. I was really pleased that the Bonington crowd gave him a great reception and I think he was impressed.
He has some music on his myspace site at http://www.myspace.com/noggmuzikif you fancy a listen .. and pic below:
Brian rang me later to say that Brian Edwards was standing in for him ... I thought WHO ????? I was pretty cautious as stand ins haven't always been great, but this guy was brilliant .. especially as he only had a few hours notice and virtually no practise. There were a couple of small cock ups but that was to be expected and were only loose endings and who cares about that. I was really pleased that the Bonington crowd gave him a great reception and I think he was impressed.
He has some music on his myspace site at http://www.myspace.com/noggmuzikif you fancy a listen .. and pic below:
So Popular !!
A classic track murdered yet again by the Midget Submarines .. Last song of the evening/band .. ever !! Except that we we're all pretty well oiled by then (as you can probably tell) .. we did come back an hour or more later but thankfully I don't think that was filmed !!
Right .. all sing along now .....
Right .. all sing along now .....
Negativity
Nah .. not really .. just idleness .. foul weather and lack of drive today ... Not really done much at all and it's 5.30pm and I've only done 15 mins chanting so about to do some more .. but for now .. I'll dedicate one of my fave Nirvana songs to my idleness :-)
Bahhh Grrrrrrr jazz moan
Oh deary deary me I think the expression is !! What a dissapointment the jazz was last night and I was really looking forward to kicking back with some live jazz and some whisky ... Now the whisky was ok but the Jazz !!!!! Get in your time machine and go back to the mid seventies just before punk happened and visit your local university concert place .. yep that's it the ones with guys with long hair and scarves ... then look up on the stage and see 4 self indulgent prog rock musicians who throw a bit of jazz in .. and you've about got the picture. They even did 'see emily play' and destroyed it ... some of it sounded like holiday camp jazz or advert music ... I'd like to find something positive to say but I really struggled last night. I didn't expect purist jazz but thought it could be interesting as he does get rave reviews, though for the life of me I can't see why .. but anyway ... it's over .. definitely the only below par one this season I'm pleased to say .. and looking forward to Tony Kofi next week for the last one of the season.
Oh .. and if the music wasn't bad enough .. look at what he was wearing !!!!!!!
Just a wee catch up
Nothing really to report post gig apart from much after gig embarrassment but at least it's all in the past now :). Have felt a bit down this last week, though not too sure why, though I'm sure my financial situation doesn't help ! Have finally decided to deal with that though and have filled in a job application today ... only an admin job (part time) but it's for Victim Support so could be quite interesting .. got to be better than shelf filling anyway !!
What else has happened ... Oh yes .. Guy Barker orchestra at the Jazz on Sunday which was pretty good, though unusually I didn't like the second half as much .. could be a coincidence that I wasn't drinking that night maybe ;-).
Anyway .. I made a determination to chant for three hours today and I'm on one and five mins at the moment so I doubt I'll get there but I'll do 2 anyway which is not too bad. I'm behind on my target for the last three months where i made a determination to average 1 1/4 hours a day .. I would have been ok if I hadn't had a 'mardy' for a week or so when I hardly chanted at all .. so now I've got 15 hours to make up before the new year .. on top of 1 1/4 hours a day .. yikes !!!
So ,,,, onwards and ....... blah blah blah
What else has happened ... Oh yes .. Guy Barker orchestra at the Jazz on Sunday which was pretty good, though unusually I didn't like the second half as much .. could be a coincidence that I wasn't drinking that night maybe ;-).
Anyway .. I made a determination to chant for three hours today and I'm on one and five mins at the moment so I doubt I'll get there but I'll do 2 anyway which is not too bad. I'm behind on my target for the last three months where i made a determination to average 1 1/4 hours a day .. I would have been ok if I hadn't had a 'mardy' for a week or so when I hardly chanted at all .. so now I've got 15 hours to make up before the new year .. on top of 1 1/4 hours a day .. yikes !!!
So ,,,, onwards and ....... blah blah blah
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
