I was alone at the Pavilion for a while. Quite unusual for my 7pm shifts. One visitor came by. I told him about PaB and he was quite interested. But he was also cautious not to have his first visit shown on blog, so that part of conversation was not here.
Then Fred showed up and he made a good guess of why not many people came tonight.
Pia Iger: Hi, Fred
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: good evening
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: how are you doing? sorry i'm late.
Pia Iger: just start. a bit quiet tonight.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: quiet sun night shift, huh? Peaceful.
Pia Iger: yes, rarely so quiet, my shifts were usually crowded.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: everyone is probably stuck in Fourth of July traffic
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: or recovering from sun and bbq?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (in this country, at least)
He started to talk about the weekend experience.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: nice. i actually went rafting this weekend.
Pia Iger: white water?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i forget if i ever shared this connection, but there are times when you are rafting when its best for no one to row...
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (yup. well, more like off-white)
Pia Iger: :)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: when you are in exactly the right place, and all that rowing will do is throw your off course
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: reminded me of some conversations here
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i forget the term - wei wu?
Pia Iger: or "follow the flow"
Pia Iger: Wu Wei is right word too.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. the old dylsexia
Pia Iger: not too bad, at least I understood.
Pia Iger: how many ppl on a raft?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: they fit 6-8, but ours only had 4. we flew ;-)
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: it was kinda back to nature. they had released a dam...
Pia Iger: Ah.. dam.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: anyway, as close as you can get out on the east coast
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh
Pia Iger: so speedy..
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: quite fun. we lucked out on the weather, though in retrospect i am redder than i would have been if it rained
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: how was your weekend?
Pia Iger: can't complain.
Pia Iger: just watched the Wimbledon final this afternoon.
Pia Iger: was very emotional to me
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i didn't watch, but heard it was an upset of some sort
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: (hopefully not too upseting)
Pia Iger: very. Federer played so hard, but lost.
I was gonna say that the sports games can be our good chances to practice letting go, and not taking results too seriously. Sort of as an epitome of real life.
Fred changed the topic to PaB practice.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i find that trying to maintain the practice is much different during the week from the weekends, especially when traveling
Pia Iger: true, in the office, my pc gave me a reminder every 15 min.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: has it carried over outside the office? in teh evenings & weekends?
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: or, do you just forget more often? I do.
Pia Iger: I do a little, but as you said, easier to forget.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: are you a long time student of buddism/zen?
Pia Iger: not at all.
Pia Iger: Just start to read about them after I came here for PaB
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: how did you fall into this? I don't think i ever got to hear your story
Pia Iger: gotcha, not reading blog!!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: not DAILY
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but, if you point me at the right day, i'll do my homework
Pia Iger: just kidding.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh. i tried, at first
About our blog.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: it was overwhelming
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: and, weird. these conversations are sometimes ephemeral
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: don't always make as much sense reading them over afterwards
Pia Iger: you mean the blog entry of meeting you participate, don't make sense?
Pia Iger: or those you were not present.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: right. i haven't found them as valuable
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i actually wonder what the blog is like for a newcomer. quite daunting, i would imagine.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i mean, its daunting to me too, but i don't try to follow every post.
Pia Iger: I heard some ppl say that, some pply said interesting.
Pia Iger: I got into this the same way as you.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: that's another one of those places where 1% time tax is multiplied..
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: head first? off the deep end?
Pia Iger: I am not following.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: kidding. talking about ways into PaB
Pia Iger: I attended Piet's talk , then start to read blog.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: which talk?
Pia Iger: I read 2 months' blog before coming to SL.
Pia Iger: a talk in a spiritual group.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: pretty wild. Word of mouth has traveled, it seems.
Pia Iger: agree. but I sort of find blog interesting.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: i still read it, just not, religiously
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: not sure what draws me to a particular post. the slug matters
About time we spend on PaB. Meanwhile, Pema dropped in from his RL train ride.
Pia Iger: I imagine you can read pretty fast.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: well, faster than the session runs, that's true
Pia Iger: you are right, we are paying more than 1% tax time.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: that's ok. i think in the balance, there is far more time we get to "write off " as a consequence
Pia Iger: you do think so?
Pia Iger: not a tricky question.
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: hi pema
Pema Pera: Hi Fred and Pia!
Pia Iger: Hi, Pema, shining third eye
Pema Pera: ah, yes, haha
Pema Pera: from the guardian meeting yesterday
Pema Pera: but don't let me interrupt your conversation!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: err, yeah, so more than 1% total, but net, maybe it works out?
Pia Iger: what is net?
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Friedrich Ochsenhorn: the difference, between time otherwise spent. this wasn't meant to be very precise
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: we were just talking about how PaB is often more than 1%, if you add up the extracurricular activities, like trying to follow the blog
Pema Pera: oh yeah, tell me about it lol!
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: heh.
Pema Pera: for me it has been half my life it feels by now . . .
Pia Iger: haha
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: but, then i joked that, in the balance, you get to "write off" more of the rest of your time. it becomes tax dedcutable.
Pema Pera: hehehe
Pema Pera: I should have stared at April 15, not April 1 . . . . . .
Pia Iger: haha
Pema Pera: but still, the beauty of it is that it is possible for anyone to do it only for a few minutes a day
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: like the rabbit from Alice in wonderland?
Pema Pera: so the threshold is lower than for any other reality exploration I know of
Pema Pera: whether in science or spirituality or anything philosophical
Pema Pera: the rest is incremental
Pema Pera: optional
Pema Pera: but often -- yes -- very time consuming :-)
Pema Pera: like many things in SL though
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: anyhows, nice chatting. i'm gonna tp
Friedrich Ochsenhorn: g'night.
Pema Pera: g'night Fred!
Pia Iger: gnite. Fred.
Pema talked with me about posting the blog on Wiki directly, then he had to get off the train, and SL.