The Guardian for this meeting was Maxine Walden. The comments are by Maxine Walden. Pema and Maxine continue discussion re recent reading of Time, Space and Knowledge. This session, focussed initially on the notion of thawing out kicks off an interesting and lively discussion.
Maxine Walden: hi, Eliza
Eos Amaterasu: ~~
Maxine Walden: Eos waves again
Eliza Madrigal is tickled to make today's session
Maxine Walden: happy you could as well, Eliza
Eliza Madrigal: :) Thank you
Maxine Walden: interesting session we had this morning, I thought, guardian session
Eliza Madrigal: yes, a path made moment by moment
Maxine Walden: indeed!
Eos Amaterasu: nice way to describe our path, Eliza
Maxine Walden: for some reason, I have lost the way to make the fountain diminish. How do I do it?
Yakuzza Lethecus: hi gaya
Eliza Madrigal: " .9 low"
Maxine Walden: hi, gaya
Eos Amaterasu has also forgotten
Eliza Madrigal: oh wait... not .
Gaya Ethaniel: Hello everyone :)
Maxine Walden: .9 low
Eliza Madrigal: "/9 low"
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Gaya :))
Maxine Walden: thanks!!!
Eos Amaterasu: Hi Gaya
Eliza Madrigal: That's one command I remember... I am decisive about wanting to see everyone's av faces
Yakuzza Lethecus: welcome riddle
Gaya Ethaniel: Hello Riddle :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Riddle :)
Maxine Walden: :)) Eliza
Riddle Sideways: Hi All
Maxine Walden: hi, Riddle
Gaya Ethaniel: Riddle is on at 1 pm :)
Maxine Walden: Riddle is on?
Eos Amaterasu: Kettle?
Riddle Sideways: :)
Gaya Ethaniel: :D
Gaya Ethaniel: online I meant :)
Maxine Walden: ah...thanks
Gaya Ethaniel: Hello Pema :)
Maxine Walden: We were going to talk more about TSK this session, not quite sure where Pema is...ah there he is coming online
Eliza Madrigal: Riddle, I think you would have enjoyed this morning's session... very free-style :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Pema :)
Maxine Walden: hi, Pema
Riddle Sideways: been a long weekend, could not make this AM
Riddle Sideways: Hi Pema
Pema Pera: hi everybody -- sorry, took me forever to get into SL . . .
Pema Pera: (could be my hotel internet connection)
Maxine Walden: ah, can be a problem sometimes, getting into SL
Maxine Walden: so many possible vulnerabilities ...
Pema Pera: yes, this is our third and last, for now at least, TSK theme session
Eos Amaterasu worries about Kabuki WiFi
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Pema Pera: generally Kabuki WiFi has been excellent
Eliza Madrigal sees tech addicted retreaters panicking....
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Maxine Walden: you having problems Eos?
Pema Pera: but today there is a cherry blossom weekend with much going on
Pema Pera: which might be the reason
Maxine Walden: ah...
Eos Amaterasu: ^_^
Gaya Ethaniel: A parade next Sunday isn't it?
Pema Pera: I guess half of us here will soon use the Kabuki WiFi!
Eliza Madrigal: oh Pema, I know you're excited to see us, but wow a parade? :))))
Pema Pera: I count four so far . . .
Eos Amaterasu went to a Cherry Blossom tea session this past Friday
Gaya Ethaniel: lol ... that Internet thingy ...
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Eliza Madrigal sits on her hands
Yakuzza Lethecus: hi bleu
Gaya Ethaniel: Hello Blue :)
Maxine Walden: hi, bleu
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Bleu (typing with my nose)
Pema Pera: hi Bleu!
Gaya Ethaniel: lol
Eos Amaterasu is impressed; hi Bleu
Maxine Walden: impressed with nose-typing, eos?
Gaya Ethaniel: wwahhh I'm giggling a lot.
Eos Amaterasu: yes
Eos Amaterasu: perhaps Eliza needs an iPad
Maxine Walden: hmmm
Pema Pera holding backroom dealing discussions with the parade people to extend their presence for another week
Eliza Madrigal: hehehe
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Eos Amaterasu imagines all kinds of creatures trouping thru the Hotel Kabuki
Maxine Walden: urban retreats may involve many interesting unanticipated activities, Pema
Riddle Sideways: ok, ya'll are Being too silly
Pema Pera: did I tell you that Stim was playing the big drum?
Eos Amaterasu: heh heh
Gaya Ethaniel: No thought he may juggle? :)
Maxine Walden: WOW, what an image, really!!??
Eliza Madrigal guffaws
Pema Pera: hahaha
Pema Pera: just visualizing
Pema Pera: perhaps a triangle?
Gaya Ethaniel: Sorry I can't visualise rofl
Eliza Madrigal: that's my instrument...
Eos Amaterasu: Ding an sich
Maxine Walden: ah....urban retreats stimulate lots of images...can better imagine a triangle
Gaya Ethaniel: lol Eliza
Eliza Madrigal: with my nose :)
Gaya Ethaniel: lol Maxine
Pema Pera: well, now that we have done a good job at "thawing" -- that is actually the topic for today
Bleu Oleander: ha!
Pema Pera: "thawing out"
Gaya Ethaniel: I think we should start otherwise I may have a serious tummy ache.
Maxine Walden: ..from laughing, Gaya?
Pema Pera: I sent a one-paragraph intro to the email group
Eliza Madrigal: nice segue Pema
Yakuzza Lethecus: :)
Gaya Ethaniel: mhm :)
Pema Pera: here it is:
Pema Pera: Our way of relating to our bodies is often very rigid and tends to restrict our potential as embodied beings. Our attitudes and investigations of the body often perpetuate either a mechanical or a `ghost in the machine' perspective. These same attitudes in many ways ensure that `knowing' will not change or mature qualitatively and will remain a rather isolated occurrence in a basically unknowing world. The `self' is the only thing that is allowed to `know' in such a picture. Everything that supposedly surrounds and interacts with it must be seen as objects which are merely `known'. However, this rather frozen picture can be thawed. It is possible to allow a greater measure of liveliness, clarity, and intimacy with our surroundings to replace the isolated appearances of `body', `mind', and `world'.
Maxine Walden: yes, had a couple of thoughts after your introductory paragraph, Pema
Pema Pera: please go ahead, Maxine!
Yakuzza Lethecus: ara :)
--BELL--
Maxine Walden: which come from my experience with TSK
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Ara, I will give you a note
Maxine Walden: OK. Going beyond the realm of our bodies and 'things' that we possess or controll...
Maxine Walden: toward trusting in the opening and letting go...
Maxine Walden: trusting which takes some attentiveness...
Maxine Walden: because to our body-bound selves there seems to be a terror of loss or of becoming lost...
Maxine Walden: which 'owning' and 'controlling' objects, freezing images, etc, tries to circumvent.
Maxine Walden: Realization of these incipient terrors of loss and of being lost
Maxine Walden: have helped me to trust and to be open
Maxine Walden: And I have noticed that when I 'fall away' from the openness
Maxine Walden: and from the trust to be open, that in those situations of falling away I have for some reason become anxious
Maxine Walden: And that anxiety may trigger the old owning, controlling tendencies which close me down from the place of trust and faith
Maxine Walden: So, when I can remain open and trusting there comes a background sense of trust, faith which seem comforting, embracing and seems to feeback into the openness...in a wonderful circular way. (will stop here for now)
Maxine Walden: hope this does not seem divergent from the
Maxine Walden: thawing out...realization of the fears that lead to freezing seem so pertinent to the thawing out
Pema Pera: oh no, Maxine, not at all -- and let's open the floor right away; does anyone want to respond?
Gaya Ethaniel: Well we did recently talked about momentum from positive/negative feedback loops so I can understand what Maxine says a little :)
Maxine Walden: hi, Mick
Bleu Oleander: dynamic engagement comes to mind rather than frozen relationships
Eliza Madrigal: yes still musing on "feeding trust back into the openness"... lovely
Mickorod Renard: Hi Guys
Bleu Oleander: fluid
Darren Islar: to me fear is the most important factor in not being open and it seems to occur at the moment you're openess grows
Darren Islar: something is holding you back to step into that
Riddle Sideways: The "Thawing" process is so much more gentle too. Not a harsh jump over an abiss
Riddle Sideways: we can try a little and get some little rewards
Darren Islar: thawing, need to look that up
Gaya Ethaniel: Fear is a powerful weapon of 'self' presevation as in being static.
Darren Islar: yes and fear is a body-thing
Darren Islar: it protects body and ego
Darren Islar: not the mind
Maxine Walden: openning up to trust is much softer than the fear it balances...and yet when we can trust we can so overcome the harshness of fear
Eos Amaterasu: opening to trust has some quality of giving up also
Darren Islar: (ah, nice word, thawing)
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Pema Pera: (ontdooien)
Gaya Ethaniel: Surrender?
Eos Amaterasu: Yes, even in micro-bits
Darren Islar: yes, and giving up seems to be the hard part :-)
Gaya Ethaniel: hm ... maybe offering is a good word there instead.
Riddle Sideways: Surrender is a big scary word
Eos Amaterasu: offering openness?
Riddle Sideways: thawing to opening is much smaller
Gaya Ethaniel: Offering small sense of self ... for it to go sit where it truly belongs :)
Eos Amaterasu: surrender to the bud on the twig
Maxine Walden: to the new spring growth, tender as it is?
Darren Islar: to go back a little: @ maxine, sometimes it is a good thing to take the fear seriously
Mickorod Renard: it reminds me a little of salvation
Maxine Walden: Sometimes, yes, Darren, but in the TSK practice, we are trying to open to a reality beyond the 'fears' of our body selves
Darren Islar: ok
Darren Islar: understood
Maxine Walden: at least that is my current experience
Darren Islar: different discussion :-)
Maxine Walden: :)
Eos Amaterasu: how so salvation, Mick?
Gaya Ethaniel savours the buds still :)
Mickorod Renard: well, sometimes it comes about, that what u held dear becomes of no value,,at this point you become free of restraints
Darren Islar: but to me it feels fear is always there, ego no doubt, but still
--BELL--
Mickorod Renard: with that freedom you discover something
Maxine Walden: the TSK approach might suggest, Darren, that you view the fear as a surface, and try to envision it on a microscopic scael which would reveal it as filled with spaces, as are all surfaces, and to allow the spaces to open and to open...changing the opaque fear to a dissolvable space
Darren Islar: that means you sometimes need to be open to fear, to the resistance itself
Bleu Oleander: "this rather frozen picture can be thawed. It is possible to allow a greater measure of liveliness, clarity, and intimacy with our surroundings to replace the isolated appearances of `body', `mind', and `world'." isn't he saying that it's the picture of a separate mind, body and world that is frozen and that we can come to see the mind, body and world as in a fluid, dynamic relationsip?
Darren Islar: that seem to work for me
Riddle Sideways: yes, seems to me too
Maxine Walden: yes, bleu, that dynamism is a thawing
Bleu Oleander: is it a new way of seeing?
Eos Amaterasu: my mind and my heart is not just in my brain or my body, and is not just "mine"
Bleu Oleander: and so a new way of being?
Maxine Walden: yes, with eyes focused at a different level of reality
Darren Islar: one things always disolves into something different
Darren Islar: it comes and goes and is always fluid
Pema Pera: yes, Eos and Bleu, the idea of separation is being thawed out
Eliza Madrigal nods @ Bleu.... like trusting in the strength of water though it seems at first glance weaker than rock...
Darren Islar: to me that is why you can work with fear
Gaya Ethaniel: I think what Darren says re: opening to fear/resistance is part of the thawing process because one needs to appreciate fear etc. too.
Bleu Oleander: we can be seen as in this world and of this world
Maxine Walden: to appreciate, gaya, and not be gripped by fear or other intense emotions?
Gaya Ethaniel: Surely the fluid and dynamic relationship includes rather than excludes things.
Darren Islar: makng it part of yourself and by doing so making space, because it doesn't eat up all of you anymore
Darren Islar: I get gipped by fear if I don;t pay attention to it
Maxine Walden: maybe that is a vulnerability we all have, Darren
Riddle Sideways: and the frozen and rigid relationship excludes rather then includes
Gaya Ethaniel: See fear for what it is I guess ... hear its messages whatever that may be then how even they also express the fundamental operation of the universe :)
Maxine Walden: right, Riddle
Riddle Sideways: a thawing eases the rigidity
Darren Islar: last rmark: fear is trying to let you do the opposite, so I need to include it
arabella Ella: i am sure fear is a vulnerability we all have to greater or lesser degrees
arabella Ella: and different people cope with fear differently ... but the approach you are describing is interesting ...
Gaya Ethaniel: Though I have to say I often found messages 'wrong' :)
Bleu Oleander: is seeing the relationships between mind, body and world in a new way fearful?
Darren Islar: meaning Gaya?
Eos Amaterasu: It should be
Pema Pera: :)
Bleu Oleander: seems exhilerating to me
Gaya Ethaniel: Fear isn't very intelligent ... how it arises is the interesting part I've found out.
Eos Amaterasu: I mean, if it makes any diference to you really it should inspire a bit of fear
Maxine Walden: and as we can come to appreciate the 'knowingness' of TSK, an ever-present quietly abiding presence, then those other concerns can really fall away
Pema Pera: letting go of the old shelter is scary . . . liking dropping a previous skin to grow a wider one
Gaya Ethaniel: And it does point to something but actually messages have been wrong. As with anger, I normally read as 'take note' here.
Darren Islar: I think the fear comes before the 'new' seeing, over and over again
Maxine Walden: fear of the new, of giving up the familiar...
Darren Islar: because the 'new' seeing is also coming and going and needs to grow
Bleu Oleander: seems more natural and not fearful to me, perhaps diff for other?
Pema Pera: so thawing and dropping and complementary -- drawing is perhaps milder, but also more drawn-out; sometimes you want to rip off a band-aid, rather than sloooowly remove it
Darren Islar: :-)
Riddle Sideways: so dripping and thawing are 2 tools
Gaya Ethaniel: Yes, 'go easy' message :)
Riddle Sideways: use the proper one at a proper time
Darren Islar: nice typo: dripping
Pema Pera: yes, Gaya, many ways to interpret fear, but looking through it may not be much related to interpreting
Gaya Ethaniel: ol
Riddle Sideways: *dropping
Pema Pera: nice ice image: dripping and thawing :)
Gaya Ethaniel: mhm actual messages have been off the mark, like Darren says it often turns us away when we actually have to pay attention.
Eliza Madrigal: seems to have much relevance to the knowledges discussion, also, as not freezing/containing knowledge(s) to keep... allowing them to be thawed out in warmth of Great knowledge .. whole-istic ( @Ara : ) )
arabella Ella: yes
--BELL--
Darren Islar: I like the ice-thing: dripping and thawing, won't forget it any more :-)
Maxine Walden: :)
Pema Pera: PaB's version of Plato's cave
Pema Pera: with stalactites
Maxine Walden: !!
Darren Islar: :-)
Riddle Sideways: :)
Gaya Ethaniel imagines icicles dripping and thawing around the cave entrance :)
Pema Pera: and ice cream?
Riddle Sideways: how many fear stalactites will drop? :)
Darren Islar: (would have been a nice piece of art :-))
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Qt :) will give you a note
Gaya Ethaniel: Yes I am eating icecream inside the cave :)
Qt Core: hi all, ty eliza
Pema Pera: yes, much be confusing for Qt to enter this discussion . . .
Gaya Ethaniel: lol
Pema Pera: we're just chilling
Gaya Ethaniel: Probably Eliza doing onigokko around the fire, thawing both of us out.
Darren Islar: thankfully :-)
Qt Core: nice, i usually fear i am the one confusing ;-)
arabella Ella: i was thinking ... different approaches to death ... one fearful ... one with submission and acceptance ... different perspectives
Riddle Sideways: and thanks for completing the circle QT
Eliza Madrigal: heeh Gaya... who told you about that?! hahaha
Gaya Ethaniel: :P
Pema Pera: onigok
Eliza Madrigal: onigrokko
Eos Amaterasu: stalactites turning to ice cream cones
Eos Amaterasu: onigrotto
Yakuzza Lethecus: onigokk0
Pema Pera: o my gokko
Gaya Ethaniel: rofl
Pema Pera: playing with . . . ice
Darren Islar: :-)))))
Maxine Walden: fear melting to something delicious and nourishing...
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, reading Ara's comment, indeed....
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Riddle Sideways: once again ya'll have gone tooo silly
Eos Amaterasu: who would have thawt?
Riddle Sideways: oooooo
Pema Pera: :-)
Maxine Walden: :))) groan, eos
Pema Pera: thaw it, man!
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Eliza Madrigal: you will be our voice of reason Riddle? balance? :)
Riddle Sideways: :)
Darren Islar: those are really two different perspectives, I agree with you Ara, so fear is important to learn to deal with and to learn to let the opennes in
Darren Islar: trusting the change you are goint through
arabella Ella: it is not easy though Darren as we all know ... fear is generally there when we face something uncertain or unknown
Pema Pera: and as Maxine mentioned, one way to deal with fear is to look close-up and to see then that it already is full of holes . . . .
arabella Ella: when we cannot 'predict' a good outcome
Darren Islar: and I think that thinking about death is really showing how difficult that can be
Darren Islar: I agree both with ara and Pema
arabella Ella: yes ... but i did some reading on the tibetan book of the dead and there are some very interesting issues raised
Gaya Ethaniel: Hello Wol :)
Wol Euler sneaks in silently.
Eliza Madrigal: sometimes we confuse worry for preparation...
arabella Ella: Hiya Wol!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Wol :)
Bleu Oleander: hi Wol
Darren Islar: hi Wol
Mickorod Renard: good point Eliza
Gaya Ethaniel: Please say more Eliza?
arabella Ella: but again ... there is also psychological fear which appears to arise as a result of factors which we cannot identify and which at times appears to be physiological ... and which is even more difficult to deal with
Eliza Madrigal: Hm, just considering that we often go over and over things... trying to cover all the angles... maybe its a type of freezing
Gaya Ethaniel: :)
Eliza Madrigal: so facing in openness... feeding trust into openness as Maxine so eloquently phrased, seems inspiring...
Maxine Walden: it certainly narrows our focus to do so, Eliza, and that narrowing is likely a freezing
Eliza Madrigal: practicing that
arabella Ella: so IMHO there is fear which as Pema said is full of holes when we look closely and other 'fears' which are like a thick blanket of fog
arabella Ella: more difficul
Darren Islar: (@ ara, sometimes my fatigue can be so severe that my body makes up a lot of stress-hormones, they produce fear on a psychological level and because the body is going to give up these hormones, it is really difficult to 'beat' the fear)
Pema Pera: ah, but fog only looks solid from a distance . . . .
Darren Islar: (so I agree)
Eliza Madrigal nods
arabella Ella: @Darren yes those are the most difficult types of fear to deal with i find too
arabella Ella: but we need not give up hope :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Samanta... welcome to Play as Being... will give you a note about the group :)
Eliza Madrigal: (or not)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Gaya Ethaniel: I guess developing capacity to stay with fear long enough to approach the fog is important.
arabella Ella: @ Pema ... I meant like lost, isolated, in the midst of the fog with no bearings whatsoever
Darren Islar: I heard a teacher once say: our mind sometimes seems like a copier, going over and over the same old thought
--BELL--
Gaya Ethaniel: But again I hear Stim in my head, pick an easy-one :)
Darren Islar: (@ ara, I won't, though I need to say that hope sometimes is the bringer of fear, living between hope and fear)
Pema Pera: Allowing and accepting ourselves to "get lost" is another form of thawing, perhaps, Ara
Pema Pera: difficult as it may be sometimes
arabella Ella: :)
Maxine Walden: ah, I see the hour is over; have another meeting to go to. Great discussion!
Pema Pera: thanks, Maxine!
Eliza Madrigal: :) Thank you Maxine!
Darren Islar: yes it was
Riddle Sideways: yes, great discussion
Pema Pera: I'll have to leave soon too
Darren Islar: thanks everyone
Pema Pera: Good seeing you all
Bleu Oleander: tks Maxine, bfn
Qt Core: bye Maxine
Yakuzza Lethecus: take carre everyone
Bleu Oleander: bye Pema
arabella Ella: thanks Maxine bye
Wol Euler: bye maxine
Pema Pera: and nice to see Wol, Gaya, Eos, and Eliza, whom I will see in a week in RL!
Eos Amaterasu: bye gang
Mickorod Renard: bye anyone leaving
Eliza Madrigal: Thank you Pema, Eos everyone, yes nice discussion
Bleu Oleander: bye everyone :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Bye :)
Wol Euler cheers
Wol Euler: bye for now :)
Eliza Madrigal: See you soon Pema... don't let lost in the parades
Eliza Madrigal: heheh
Riddle Sideways: bye all
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Riddle :)
arabella Ella: parades?
Darren Islar: lost in paradise?
Eliza Madrigal: Ara, Pema is in Japan town, and there are parades... were joking a bit about that in the beginning....
Eliza Madrigal: Stim playing drums....
Mickorod Renard: Hi Gaya,,how are you?
Gaya Ethaniel: There is Cherry Bolossom Festival going on in San Francisco atm :)
Gaya Ethaniel: I'm good, thank you! How about you?
arabella Ella: ah ... was thinking perhaps of Dutch celebrations on queen's birthday
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Mickorod Renard: I am good too,,well in a naughty way of course
Gaya Ethaniel: heheheh
Darren Islar: april 30th
Darren Islar: but I don't think Pema wil attend :-)
arabella Ella: ah i thought it was this time of the year ... was amazing in amsterdam one year seeing all the shops all in orange
arabella Ella: :)
Darren Islar: Amsterdam is a good place to be at that day yes
arabella Ella: i was not actually there on the day ... must have been a day or two before
Darren Islar: well on the day itself it is very crowdy
arabella Ella: but the party mood had begun
Darren Islar: but Queensday will be different this year
arabella Ella: yes? why?
Darren Islar: for last year there has been an attempt to harm the royal family
Mickorod Renard: owww
arabella Ella: oh how terrible
Darren Islar: a car driving throug the crowd of people, just missing the buss
Darren Islar: several people died
arabella Ella: oh yes now i remember ... terrible
Darren Islar: it wont mess up the party in Amsterdam though :-)
arabella Ella: yes
arabella Ella: it is amazing though how dutch royalty is held in such high esteem by the people
arabella Ella: i remember working with dutch tourists here and they would all wear orange ribbons on the day
Darren Islar: well, it got a lot to do with the attitude of the Queen
arabella Ella: yes i guess so
Darren Islar: I wonder what happens if she steps back
arabella Ella: yes ... who knows
Mickorod Renard: have the orange symbolism something to do with protistantism/lutharism?
Darren Islar: but even the non-royalist have respect for the queen
Eliza Madrigal: spose I should get going... many sessions today and not done yet (eden reading poetry at spirit of the senses tonight),,,
arabella Ella: yes
Gaya Ethaniel: See you later Eliza :)
Darren Islar: only in Ireland
Mickorod Renard: bye Eliza
Wol Euler: 'night eliza, take care
Darren Islar: bye eliza
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Gaya :)) Bye Everyone! Night
arabella Ella: oh yes Eliza pity that is on so late ... 4am my time ... so my regrets!
Wol Euler: enjoy the readoing
Qt Core: bye eliza
Wol Euler: -o
Gaya Ethaniel: I'd better get going too. Nice seeing you all, have fun :)
arabella Ella: bye Gaya
Eliza Madrigal: Thanks... am sure they'll do another soon :)
Wol Euler: bye gayabunny
Darren Islar: yes, it was a great discussion
Darren Islar: bye gaya
Mickorod Renard: nice to see a few faces that I havnt seen a while
Wol Euler waves
Mickorod Renard: Hi Wol
Darren Islar: I have my first date tonight and she seems to be online.
Darren Islar: So I better not keep her waiting :-)
Wol Euler: wooooo.
arabella Ella: cool ... wish you luck ... :)
Wol Euler: off you go!
Darren Islar: chow
Mickorod Renard: bye Daerren
arabella Ella: So Wol you must be looking forward to the SF retreat i guess
--BELL--
Wol Euler: yes indeed, very much so.
Qt Core: you know, the more i read about it here the more i think this TSK book would be u a useful reading ;-)
arabella Ella: do you reckon you will be fixing the details for the october retreat soon Wol?
Wol Euler: I hope so, but due to the SF retreat I won't be able to check the place I am considering for anohter two weeks
arabella Ella: ah ok i see
Wol Euler: the dates are fixed, the only questions are where we'll be staying, and teh price
arabella Ella: i need to work on my budget and the sooner we know, then we can book flights etc
arabella Ella: and early booked flights are generally cheaper
Wol Euler: ok, I'll get on it as soon as I'm back
arabella Ella: thanks ... no pressure!
Wol Euler: :)
Wol Euler: I should go, I'm tired out today. Goodnight all, take care.
arabella Ella: nite Wol take care!
Qt Core: bye wol, sleep well
arabella Ella: Are you considering coming to the October retreat in Germany Qt?
Qt Core: i don't think
arabella Ella: Oh
arabella Ella: well i think you said you have another trip to an eclipse soon dont you?
Qt Core: beside the logistic at home (the main obstacle) i'm quite worried by the language barrier, my spoken (and listened) english are much worse than my read and written one
Qt Core: in nomember 2012
arabella Ella: i would not worry about your language Qt
Qt Core: (if there will be one... trip, the eclipse is there)
arabella Ella: I could be your personal interpreter
arabella Ella: he he
Qt Core: :-)
arabella Ella: posso capire tutto in inglese, italiano e tedesco ... :)
Qt Core: i'm imagining myself going around with a notepad and a pencil all day ;-)
arabella Ella: or an i phone with Babel
Qt Core: you know, ordering something at a restaurant is quite different than a discussion
arabella Ella: yes but do you know that Germany (from my experience) is full of italians especially in restaurants?
Qt Core: (note to self start to use voice more ;-))
Qt Core: yes but most betrayed real italian cusine for german taste ;-)
arabella Ella: well yes ... like pasta al dente is not the same in germany
arabella Ella: altho once in Aosta i was served al dente which was practically raw ... hard i mean
Qt Core: the northern you go the more cooked it is (even in italy)
Mickorod Renard: I been to Aosta
Qt Core: being from lombardy i like it a little more cooked, and rice too
arabella Ella: yes but your 'more cooked' is still very al dente for most non italians
Qt Core: probably ;-)
arabella Ella: it is amazing though how italian cuisine and italian cheffs have spread so much world wide
Mickorod Renard: I have to go home now
arabella Ella: i must go now i am quite tired, notte Qt, bye Mick
Mickorod Renard: see u soon Qt
Qt Core: bye Mick, Ara
Mickorod Renard: bye Ara