2013.08.02 19:00 - Books and Music

The Guardian for this meeting was stevenaia Michinaga. The comments are by stevenaia Michinaga.

Van Arashi, TwitchyEars Resident, Santoshima Resident and Paradise Tennant joined me this evening

stevenaia Michinaga: Filling in for Luci who's daughter is getting married this weekend, Congratualtions to Luci and her daughter and new son-in-law

stevenaia Michinaga: nice hat San
Santoshima Resident: thank you
stevenaia Michinaga: I like the hair too
Santoshima Resident: they go together, wig and hat are joined as one
stevenaia Michinaga: no wonder they look so good together
Santoshima Resident: i'll give you a LM ... very good virtual hair ... fun place
Santoshima Resident: a sec
stevenaia Michinaga: thanks
stevenaia Michinaga: hello
Santoshima Resident: hi Isabelle :))
stevenaia Michinaga: Hi Prim
Santoshima Resident: and Hey Prim!!
Van Arashi: Sniffs at you!
TwitchyEars Resident: hello
Van Arashi: chews on San's hair
Santoshima Resident: sniffs?

--BELL--

Santoshima Resident: i can appreciate that!
TwitchyEars Resident: shes a fox foxes sniff and dig holes
Van Arashi: does not
Santoshima Resident: shhh
Santoshima Resident: {90 secs ... being peace}
Santoshima Resident: { just while the red line is on and the fountain is misty ... for 90 seconds we pause}
stevenaia Michinaga: have you both been here before? we record our sessions for the group's wikki
stevenaia Michinaga: is it ok to include your comments?
Santoshima Resident: {formality to ask ... both been here many times before}
Santoshima Resident: welcome back!
TwitchyEars Resident: ive met you a few times stevenaia lol
stevenaia Michinaga: smiles, my brain in its usual fog
stevenaia Michinaga: pardon
TwitchyEars Resident: its ok :p
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, I recogognize yu
Santoshima Resident: :)
Santoshima Resident: how is everyone?
TwitchyEars Resident: i have a headache
stevenaia Michinaga: This week's topic Games and Gaming
TwitchyEars Resident: ok other than that
stevenaia Michinaga: end of week, not sure if the week was a game or the weekend will be
Santoshima Resident: maybe both
Santoshima Resident: not sure what the topic meant
stevenaia Michinaga: as usually, it means anything you wnat to define it as
Santoshima Resident: and the "why" of some topics chosen, eludes
Santoshima Resident: what are you reading these days?
TwitchyEars Resident: buddhism mostly for me
TwitchyEars Resident: been thinking lots about reincarnation
TwitchyEars Resident: life itself is a game a classroom
stevenaia Michinaga: strangely I;m still finishing some vacation reading ... the count of Monti Cristo ... sort of about reincarnation
TwitchyEars Resident: like stevenaia said about the topic, life is what you care to define it as
Santoshima Resident: it is, the count reinvents himself
stevenaia Michinaga: nods
stevenaia Michinaga: I suppose everyday can be a sort of reincarnation
TwitchyEars Resident: interesting idea ^^
stevenaia Michinaga: it;s a choice up to you
Santoshima Resident: the game of imagination, re-inventing ourselves
Santoshima Resident: here is a writer i recommend.
Santoshima Resident: looking forward to re-reading her book: The True Story of Ida Johnson [by Sharon Riis]
Santoshima Resident: sadly out-of-print
Santoshima Resident: but
Santoshima Resident: a canadian classic
Santoshima Resident: if ever there were one
Santoshima Resident: hang on ...
Santoshima Resident:

http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/scl/article/view/8137/9194

Santoshima Resident: Sharon Riis
Santoshima Resident: remarkable writer
Santoshima Resident: see also, her book:
Santoshima Resident: Midnight Twilight Tourist Zone
stevenaia Michinaga: thanks
stevenaia Michinaga: will check to see if it's in my spouse's lending library
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Santoshima Resident: i will look forward to also hearing anything you have to say about either of these two books, should you ever read them.
Santoshima Resident: anybody here
TwitchyEars Resident: i am
Santoshima Resident: u
Santoshima Resident: m
Santoshima Resident: same offer goes for anybody here.
Santoshima Resident: read those books ... i'll be happy to talk with you about them, if you want
stevenaia Michinaga: I'll put them on my list
Santoshima Resident: what books are you reading about Buddhism, Isabelle?
TwitchyEars Resident: just reading some older stuff i have i ching, tao te ching, han shan
TwitchyEars Resident: i love han shan cos hes a heretic

--BELL--

stevenaia Michinaga: been reading the tao de ching with a group in RL, a chapter a month for the past 30 months
Van Arashi: toast is done! yay
TwitchyEars Resident: lolol
Santoshima Resident: yay, and yay for the 30 month project
Van Arashi: O.o
stevenaia Michinaga: ongoing
Van Arashi: i can't do anything for 30 months
Santoshima Resident: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: until we reach the end, then start over with , hopefully, a greater understanding
TwitchyEars Resident: read han shan too its really good
stevenaia Michinaga: never heard of it
stevenaia Michinaga: can you say a bit about it?
TwitchyEars Resident: han shan wasnt a real person its most likely a pen name for 2 different monks
TwitchyEars Resident: they wrote a lot of poetry but its like the tao te ching in a way
TwitchyEars Resident: their gist was its possible to find nirvana and lose it again which is what made their writings dangerous and heretical
TwitchyEars Resident: buddhism states nirvana can never be lost
stevenaia Michinaga: well then, can;t against dogma
stevenaia Michinaga: a game with someone else's rules
TwitchyEars Resident:

I dreamed a place where I have come to dwell Cold Mountain says it all Monkeys scream, the valley fog is cold My door blends with the color of the peaks I gather leaves and thatch a hut among the pines Dig a pond and lead a trickle from the brook Long ago I left the world behind Eating ferns I pass the years in peace

People ask the way to Cold Mountain Roads do not go through Summer arrives yet the ice has not melted Though the sun is out it’s foggy and dim How did I arrive here? My mind and yours are not the same When our minds are one You will be here too

I brewed potions in a vain search for life everlasting, I read books, I sang songs of history, And today I've come home to Cold Mountain To pillow my head on the stream and wash my ears with stones.

All the people in the Kuo-ch'ing monastery— They say, "Han-shan is an idiot." "Am I really an idiot:" I reflect. But my reflections fail to solve the question: for I myself do not know who the self is, And how can others know who I am?

TwitchyEars Resident: some of his writings
Santoshima Resident: thank you ~
stevenaia Michinaga: Yes, thank you, I will look into this, adds to list
Santoshima Resident: ditto, thanks
stevenaia Michinaga: I have been reading (doing, practicing) the IChing for several years now and ahve gotten much out of it
Santoshima Resident: a certain sadness ... sense of knowing of passing ...
Santoshima Resident: in that poetry
stevenaia Michinaga: all a nice introduction to poetry
TwitchyEars Resident: i used to think so too san then i found this
TwitchyEars Resident: Death is not extinguishing the light, it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come ~ Robindranath Tagore
Santoshima Resident: nothing wrong with sadness
Santoshima Resident: nice

--BELL--

Santoshima Resident: i have not read either the tao or han shan ... thank you fro the suggestions.
TwitchyEars Resident: tao te ching is easier than i ching
Santoshima Resident: easier?
TwitchyEars Resident: i ching is beyond hard. Confusious said if he could live another 100 years hed only study the i ching
stevenaia Michinaga: it's true
stevenaia Michinaga: hi Para
Paradise Tennant: smiles and waves all round
Santoshima Resident: hello Paradise :)
TwitchyEars Resident: hello
stevenaia Michinaga: we were just talking abut our current reading lists
Santoshima Resident: mine was a looking forward
Santoshima Resident: am ready Tartang Tulku / A Gesture of Balance
Santoshima Resident: very grateful for this book
Santoshima Resident: gentle and direct
TwitchyEars Resident: awwww :)
Santoshima Resident: and very meaningful at present
Paradise Tennant: oooo jots it down :) thanks san will pick it up
TwitchyEars Resident: mindfulness is important
stevenaia Michinaga: they will be in the log :)
TwitchyEars Resident: im learning how to be that
Santoshima Resident: worthy of effort
Santoshima Resident: how're you Paradise?
Paradise Tennant: just waking up smiles came home from work and kind of went out like a light :)
stevenaia Michinaga: the perfect start for a weekend
Paradise Tennant: yes !!! a very big nap :)
TwitchyEars Resident: i like naps that just keep going :P
Paradise Tennant: lovely contemplating 3 days of free time
Santoshima Resident: i like the idea of naps, but have not managed to put into practice
stevenaia Michinaga: I think I took my nap around 3:00
TwitchyEars Resident: yus long weekends are great :D
stevenaia Michinaga: a magic 20 minutes
TwitchyEars Resident: im spending the long weekend being lazy
Paradise Tennant: smiles another worthy effort :)))
Santoshima Resident: :)
Paradise Tennant: do not think we do that enough
Paradise Tennant: time where you do not have to be doing anything :))
stevenaia Michinaga: most productive time
Santoshima Resident: yes!

--BELL--

Paradise Tennant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Gx6CBnWhc&list=SPFF3F248AC60CF19E
Paradise Tennant: lovely little italian prayer :)) amazing how everything sounds so cool in italian :))
Van Arashi: looks fer the toast again o.o
TwitchyEars Resident: hands primmy some salmons
stevenaia Michinaga: ty Para
Santoshima Resident: ty
Paradise Tennant: http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2013/4/kd-lang-performs-The-Valley-on-Q
Paradise Tennant: love cruising for music
TwitchyEars Resident: frazier valley ?
Santoshima Resident: omg i love this!
Santoshima Resident: song
TwitchyEars Resident: what i hate about the coast is everyone calls their valley "the" valley and you never know which one they mean :P
Paradise Tennant: yes one of my favs too .. find it lovely to listen to when .. times are challenging something about it that comforts
Santoshima Resident: it's an incredible rendition
Paradise Tennant: smiles at isabelle
Santoshima Resident: that recording
stevenaia Michinaga: doesn;t seem to load here
stevenaia Michinaga: :(
Santoshima Resident: hmm
Santoshima Resident: check on cbc
Santoshima Resident: radio
Santoshima Resident: the show name is Q
Santoshima Resident: check for kd lang interview
Santoshima Resident: recent
Paradise Tennant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDaumpzzGNs
Paradise Tennant: here is another link for the same song
stevenaia Michinaga: thx, that works

--BELL--

Paradise Tennant: nite nite primmy
Santoshima Resident: bye Primmy
stevenaia Michinaga: night all
Santoshima Resident: night stevie
stevenaia Michinaga: have a good weekend
Santoshima Resident: you too
Paradise Tennant: nite nite stev :)) sweet dreams
TwitchyEars Resident: prim was close to passing out
Santoshima Resident: ohh,
Santoshima Resident: sweet dreams primmy
TwitchyEars Resident: overtired
Paradise Tennant: smiles .. think I will turn in too ... nice to see you isabelle san :)) have a lovely evening :))
Santoshima Resident: me too, good night you two.
Santoshima Resident: thank you
TwitchyEars Resident: sweet dreams
TwitchyEars Resident: ill go look at that art