As I start this blog post the tournament is on pause at 04:57am AEST Wednesday July 27th, 2016. And there are three of us left in the Pokerstars $22 bounty builder tournament that started at 21:30 AEST on Tuesday 26th July, 2016.
We have just agreed to a deal for a three way equal split of the prize money for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. There are still a couple of bounties to be won so we have to play out the tournament to conclusion. We are the final 3 from 1,311 runners and will each receive $1540.88 USD.
Coming on the back of one of my better days at Crown Casino I am now hopeful that my downswing may be coming to an end. Although I won't really know until September as I'm off to Sydney tomorrow and there will be no poker from now through to September as I'll be serving at Blackheath Vipassana meditation centre. There is a 30 day course being run during August - starting Sunday 31st July and the centre is treating the course as a lockdown type course. Which means no contact with the outside world during that period - emergencies excepted. So no internet poker or use of computers.
Phew. Finished second. Which was a tad unfortunate as there was around $700 in bounties at stake but I'm still happy with second. Now I can toodle off to bed at 06:01 am.
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
It's Wednesday so it must be a new AirBnB
And this time I'm on the Watergardens rail line for the first time. Gettting off at Tottenham. This place is comfortable and I got to use the lounge by myself and binge watch TV for the first time in a long time. Mine host was out for the night. Friendly with a great smile and no one else here apart from the host and myself.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Sleeping with a machine
When my ex and I broke up one of the hardest parts of the break up was learning how to sleep alone again. The comfort of having a cuddle at night, every night for the best part of 30 years, is a strong hormonal buzz to lose.
I put weight on, increasing from around 89kg to about 95Kg. And while I knew I snored a bit at 89kg, I know I snored a lot more at 95Kg. And some mornings would wake up feeling hung over. This was disconcerting as I'd stopped drinking in April 2013. There is a bloke I know in Sydney who had been using a CPAP machine around 2011 and he claimed that after he started using it that he had experienced an increase in his energy levels.
So earlier this year I went in search of a sleep physician. And found one in the form or Dr Adrian Chazan. A sleep study was organized, with the advice being given that I should look at taking a taxi home as I was going to look a bit like a wired up suicide bomber.
For the night the study took place I thought that I had a reasonable nights sleep. And that I wasn't going to show a lot in the study. Well that was an incorrect assumption. I had an AHI average for the night of 17/hour. With peaks of 48/hour during REM sleep. Which basically means I was having hypopnea (or apnea but for me it was hypopnea). With a drop in Oxygen saturation in my blood from 96% to 93%. And I had been snoring.
Follow up time with Dr Chazan and initially I was looking at a mouth guard type of fitting for my mouth. But that was going to cost around $1800 and I may have had to go onto a CPAP machine anyway. So I ended up trying a CPAP machine and then purchasing a machine, with a total cost of trial and machine being around $1200.
And now I've had the machine for a couple of months. Took a while to become adjusted to using it, but I am finding that I'm falling asleep quite easily and staying asleep quite easily.
After my first month of use I went back to CPAP Australia to have the data that is saved by the machine reviewed. And the pattern of my breathing for the week or so prior to my review showed I had been breathing in a pattern called "Cheynes-Stokes" breathing. However, that period also co-incided with my sitting a Vipassana meditation course. And I was consciously trying to meditate as much as possible, including when I was lying in bed at night while trying to sleep. I had been conscious of the machine trying to force me to breath when I wasn't ready to breath during some of those nights.
The pattern was of a little concern to the guy doing a review so I'm off for another review next week to see whether that pattern still holds when I'm not on a meditation course.
Overall I believe the cost of getting a machine to improve my sleep experience has been well worth while. An added bonus is that it will decrease the chances that I will snore. But not eliminate the chance of snoring. The machine is a fixed pressure machine, which means if I get a respiratory infection, my chance of snoring increases. If I had a variable pressure auto-adjusting machine, my chance of snoring would decrease dramatically.
One of the side benefits of having moved to Melbourne is that I am doing a lot more walking and eating less most days. With the result that I have lost somewhere between 8 to 10 Kg over the past 6 months. I have measured my weight at my last AirBnB and the results were between 85Kg to 87Kg. Weights I haven't seen for about 6 or 7 years.
I put weight on, increasing from around 89kg to about 95Kg. And while I knew I snored a bit at 89kg, I know I snored a lot more at 95Kg. And some mornings would wake up feeling hung over. This was disconcerting as I'd stopped drinking in April 2013. There is a bloke I know in Sydney who had been using a CPAP machine around 2011 and he claimed that after he started using it that he had experienced an increase in his energy levels.
So earlier this year I went in search of a sleep physician. And found one in the form or Dr Adrian Chazan. A sleep study was organized, with the advice being given that I should look at taking a taxi home as I was going to look a bit like a wired up suicide bomber.
For the night the study took place I thought that I had a reasonable nights sleep. And that I wasn't going to show a lot in the study. Well that was an incorrect assumption. I had an AHI average for the night of 17/hour. With peaks of 48/hour during REM sleep. Which basically means I was having hypopnea (or apnea but for me it was hypopnea). With a drop in Oxygen saturation in my blood from 96% to 93%. And I had been snoring.
Follow up time with Dr Chazan and initially I was looking at a mouth guard type of fitting for my mouth. But that was going to cost around $1800 and I may have had to go onto a CPAP machine anyway. So I ended up trying a CPAP machine and then purchasing a machine, with a total cost of trial and machine being around $1200.
And now I've had the machine for a couple of months. Took a while to become adjusted to using it, but I am finding that I'm falling asleep quite easily and staying asleep quite easily.
After my first month of use I went back to CPAP Australia to have the data that is saved by the machine reviewed. And the pattern of my breathing for the week or so prior to my review showed I had been breathing in a pattern called "Cheynes-Stokes" breathing. However, that period also co-incided with my sitting a Vipassana meditation course. And I was consciously trying to meditate as much as possible, including when I was lying in bed at night while trying to sleep. I had been conscious of the machine trying to force me to breath when I wasn't ready to breath during some of those nights.
The pattern was of a little concern to the guy doing a review so I'm off for another review next week to see whether that pattern still holds when I'm not on a meditation course.
Overall I believe the cost of getting a machine to improve my sleep experience has been well worth while. An added bonus is that it will decrease the chances that I will snore. But not eliminate the chance of snoring. The machine is a fixed pressure machine, which means if I get a respiratory infection, my chance of snoring increases. If I had a variable pressure auto-adjusting machine, my chance of snoring would decrease dramatically.
One of the side benefits of having moved to Melbourne is that I am doing a lot more walking and eating less most days. With the result that I have lost somewhere between 8 to 10 Kg over the past 6 months. I have measured my weight at my last AirBnB and the results were between 85Kg to 87Kg. Weights I haven't seen for about 6 or 7 years.
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Longest Session... How did that happen?
On Saturday 16th at around 4:00 pm I sat down at a 1/3 table at Crown Casino. A little over 29 hours later I exited Crown after a 29 odd hour session.... Feeling a little jaded around the 04:00 am mark but remarkably awake most of the rest of the time. Over that period of time I had a few swings up and down, eventually leaving about $150 down for the session. There were two others at the table that played for over 24 hours. One left about $1000 up. the other about $500 down. The guy who left with $1000 more than he started with was drinking alcohol at a reasonably steady rate over the course of his session, with regular breaks for a cigarette. During the course of our session we touched on our meditation practices. I found out that he has a regular practice. And claimed to spent up to 7 hours a day on a bhuddist meditation practice. He had been on one 10 day Vipassana course, but that was not the type of meditation he regularly practiced. I was bemused as to the experience of watching him consuming alcohol and sitting down smelling of cigarette smoke but also claiming to be a pretty intensive meditator. Maybe he binges. And this was a gambling, alcohol, cigarette binge. This guy was in his 40's, unemployed, and lived with a cat. There was some concern expressed by him about his moggy getting a little hungry. But he stayed on another 10 hours or so from when concern was first expressed
The other guy was a fairly young guy who played well but ran into some nutted hands when he had the second nuts. Where as the older guy seemed to be hitting most hands and being paid off. And when he didn't hit he got out of the hand cheaply.
I found myself in the wierd situation of believing I was meditation with eyes open during the last 4 or 5 hours of the experience. Overall it was a good experience, even it if was not profitable. Upon returning to my AirBnB in Glenbervie I was very glad to reacquaint myelf with the shower. If it wasn't for the fact that I was getting concerned about the whiff of body odour I may have been emitting I might have stayed on. Though, once in bed, there was little trouble falling to sleep and staying there for a good 8 to 9 hours.
This is an experience I will try to avoid repeating in the near to medium term. Being 57 years old and pulling an all-night poker session is likely to be a negative EV experience in the long run.
The other guy was a fairly young guy who played well but ran into some nutted hands when he had the second nuts. Where as the older guy seemed to be hitting most hands and being paid off. And when he didn't hit he got out of the hand cheaply.
I found myself in the wierd situation of believing I was meditation with eyes open during the last 4 or 5 hours of the experience. Overall it was a good experience, even it if was not profitable. Upon returning to my AirBnB in Glenbervie I was very glad to reacquaint myelf with the shower. If it wasn't for the fact that I was getting concerned about the whiff of body odour I may have been emitting I might have stayed on. Though, once in bed, there was little trouble falling to sleep and staying there for a good 8 to 9 hours.
This is an experience I will try to avoid repeating in the near to medium term. Being 57 years old and pulling an all-night poker session is likely to be a negative EV experience in the long run.
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Playing some live tournaments for a change
Given my poor play and results in live cash I've decided to give live tournaments a try for a while.
This Wednesday's $350 tournament at Crown draws a field of around 45 - 50 people. And tonight 48 runners took their seats. I was a little active early but there was too much action in multi-way pots that I had whiffed completely and after a couple of hours play (6 levels of 20 minutes each) I was below average.
Coming back after the break on level 7 with the blinds 500/1000 with 100 ante I woke up with QcQd in the Hijack. An active younger guy opened to 2200 from UTG+2 nine handed. He started the hand with about 23,000 chips. I shoved my 11,600 stack and the action folded back around to him. The sense I had from my peripheral vision was that he was very unhappy with the shove. And, after some thought, reluctantly called. I insta-flipped the Ladies and he showed Ah7h. Which was not in the range I had put him on. With the sick look he had on his face I was thinking of small pocket pairs - say in the range 44 - 88. And if he had an Ax hand I would have placed the bottom of his range at A9 suited. Well, the proverbial Ace on the river landed and I was out of there.
Given the texture of the flop, which was Jack high and no hearts, I think that if I had 3bet to half my stack and then shoved the flop I would have taken down the pot on the flop. And I wonder whether that is a lower variance route that I should think about. With this particular guy my assessment after this hand is that he hadn't observed how tight I had been playing and had me on a much wider range than is my actual range. So, if I wake up with QQ again I'll be wanting to get it in against his open raises.
It won't be the last time I get my money in good and end up having to get up from the table, sling my bag over my shoulder and walk off wondering why the universe can decide to pay the fish off for their poor play.
This Wednesday's $350 tournament at Crown draws a field of around 45 - 50 people. And tonight 48 runners took their seats. I was a little active early but there was too much action in multi-way pots that I had whiffed completely and after a couple of hours play (6 levels of 20 minutes each) I was below average.
Coming back after the break on level 7 with the blinds 500/1000 with 100 ante I woke up with QcQd in the Hijack. An active younger guy opened to 2200 from UTG+2 nine handed. He started the hand with about 23,000 chips. I shoved my 11,600 stack and the action folded back around to him. The sense I had from my peripheral vision was that he was very unhappy with the shove. And, after some thought, reluctantly called. I insta-flipped the Ladies and he showed Ah7h. Which was not in the range I had put him on. With the sick look he had on his face I was thinking of small pocket pairs - say in the range 44 - 88. And if he had an Ax hand I would have placed the bottom of his range at A9 suited. Well, the proverbial Ace on the river landed and I was out of there.
Given the texture of the flop, which was Jack high and no hearts, I think that if I had 3bet to half my stack and then shoved the flop I would have taken down the pot on the flop. And I wonder whether that is a lower variance route that I should think about. With this particular guy my assessment after this hand is that he hadn't observed how tight I had been playing and had me on a much wider range than is my actual range. So, if I wake up with QQ again I'll be wanting to get it in against his open raises.
It won't be the last time I get my money in good and end up having to get up from the table, sling my bag over my shoulder and walk off wondering why the universe can decide to pay the fish off for their poor play.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Anniversary of my last day skiing whizzes by
July 11th 2012 was the day that both my sons and I ascended to the summit of Mt Ruapehu on a sunny winter's day. Hard work at the time but the feeling was good. And very pleasantly wasted when we skiied down. The lifts had stopped working by the time we scooted over the last of the ski-field and we had vast expanses of snow to ourselves.
The next day July 12th was bright and sunny with great snow. And it was in the afternoon when I took the valley T-bar up, was having a chat whilst perched on the right hand side of the T-bar, when I was distracted by a young lass falling off in the dismount area. Unfortunately I then lost control and my left ski did not release. With the result that my left knee was munted.
That was the last time I went skiing. Just over 4 years ago now. And I am gun shy. One too many injuries now. Combine the knee injury with injuring my left shoulder once and my right shoulder twice and the pain has combined to tell me something.
While there was physical pain on that trip there was also some mental pain and grief at the fact that my ex was not on this trip. There had only been one previous trip to the snow with my boys when my ex had not been with us. That was in 2006 when she attended a 10 day Vipassana course during the ski season and I took the boys to Serac ski lodge. Change in life is constant. And all good things eventually come to an end. The period in our lives when we went to the ski lodge as a family was perhaps the best of times for our family unit. With today being an especially cold day here in Melbourne I am reminded of previous winters when we would be spending a week of the July school vacation period at Serac lodge. I miss those times of no internet access.
The next day July 12th was bright and sunny with great snow. And it was in the afternoon when I took the valley T-bar up, was having a chat whilst perched on the right hand side of the T-bar, when I was distracted by a young lass falling off in the dismount area. Unfortunately I then lost control and my left ski did not release. With the result that my left knee was munted.
That was the last time I went skiing. Just over 4 years ago now. And I am gun shy. One too many injuries now. Combine the knee injury with injuring my left shoulder once and my right shoulder twice and the pain has combined to tell me something.
While there was physical pain on that trip there was also some mental pain and grief at the fact that my ex was not on this trip. There had only been one previous trip to the snow with my boys when my ex had not been with us. That was in 2006 when she attended a 10 day Vipassana course during the ski season and I took the boys to Serac ski lodge. Change in life is constant. And all good things eventually come to an end. The period in our lives when we went to the ski lodge as a family was perhaps the best of times for our family unit. With today being an especially cold day here in Melbourne I am reminded of previous winters when we would be spending a week of the July school vacation period at Serac lodge. I miss those times of no internet access.
Glenbervie AirBnB - the German influence
Today I exited an AirBnB in Moreland that helped me decompress out of the Vipassana rabbit hole. Facility wise a nice enough place. As it was on a main road the cost was lower than it would have been for an equivalent place on a quieter street. A pleasant enough couple in their 40's with two sausage dogs being the substitute children (at least in my mind). These guys have been doing the AirBnB thing for some time now.
And with a sign in the toilet that stated "Please put used toilet paper down the toilet and not in the rubbish bin" I wondered what experience had led them to place that sign in the throne room....
For some reason the blinds were drawn most of the day in the living room and the kitchen. Which made the atmosphere a bit gloomy and oppressive. In contrast the place I've moved into in Glenbervie is on a side street with some noise from passing trains but much less noise compared to the place in Moreland I've moved out of. And the blinds are drawn!!. Much nicer feel to the house.
The hosts are a gay couple from France who are flying out tomorrow to catch up with their families as they have decided to try and stay in Australia as long as possible. And this trip is their opportunity to catch up with their families for possibly the last time for the next couple of years. The hosts have managed to arrange for an asian couple who look to be in their late 20's / early 30's to take over their room. And there are four Germans occupying two other bedrooms in this 4 bedroom house - two guys travelling together and a couple. The guys will be taking off to Cairns on the coming Monday. And I cannot say I blame them. Today Melbourne turned very cold and windy with some rain. Truly winter weather.
Have yet to interact with the asian couple to any degree. And the Germans all seem pleasant.
And with a sign in the toilet that stated "Please put used toilet paper down the toilet and not in the rubbish bin" I wondered what experience had led them to place that sign in the throne room....
For some reason the blinds were drawn most of the day in the living room and the kitchen. Which made the atmosphere a bit gloomy and oppressive. In contrast the place I've moved into in Glenbervie is on a side street with some noise from passing trains but much less noise compared to the place in Moreland I've moved out of. And the blinds are drawn!!. Much nicer feel to the house.
The hosts are a gay couple from France who are flying out tomorrow to catch up with their families as they have decided to try and stay in Australia as long as possible. And this trip is their opportunity to catch up with their families for possibly the last time for the next couple of years. The hosts have managed to arrange for an asian couple who look to be in their late 20's / early 30's to take over their room. And there are four Germans occupying two other bedrooms in this 4 bedroom house - two guys travelling together and a couple. The guys will be taking off to Cairns on the coming Monday. And I cannot say I blame them. Today Melbourne turned very cold and windy with some rain. Truly winter weather.
Have yet to interact with the asian couple to any degree. And the Germans all seem pleasant.
Resolutions post Vipassana Rabbit hole
Operating on the assumption that if I document these resolutions publicly on this blog I stand more chance of making these resolutions happen, even if no one is reading this blog, here goes nothing;
A couple of guys at Vipassana told me that registering for Centrelink was an activity that I could perform online and didn't have to go in to register. My initial attempt last night failed so I'll give it another crack tonight and if that fails I will toodle into a Centrelink office to see if I can register there.
With respect to looking for work that might be an interesting experience. Given I have been pursuing the life of a recreational poker player over the past 3 years and have not held down a paid position over that time there is an obvious gap in my resume.
- Buy a van - say an aged Toyota Hiace - and start sleeping in it to decrease the amount of money I'm spending on accommodation
- Investigate registering with Centrelink to see whether that may be a possible source of supplemental income
- Start looking for work
A couple of guys at Vipassana told me that registering for Centrelink was an activity that I could perform online and didn't have to go in to register. My initial attempt last night failed so I'll give it another crack tonight and if that fails I will toodle into a Centrelink office to see if I can register there.
With respect to looking for work that might be an interesting experience. Given I have been pursuing the life of a recreational poker player over the past 3 years and have not held down a paid position over that time there is an obvious gap in my resume.
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Dealing with Variance
Pft. What a day of negative variance in the pokerstars world.
Min cashed a few tournaments online. Seemed to keep getting my chips in ahead only to be sucked out on.
Raised all-in on the flop with KK on a Qd9d3c flop after BB donk bet about 25% pot. He calls for his tournament life with 2nd pair (J9o) and spikes two pair on the river. Maybe he thought I had a flush draw... though it was pretty much a snap call. Seemed to me that his bet was like the type of blocking bet a flush draw would put out to try to buy a cheap turn card, and maybe even take down the pot if my hand was Ak and had whiffed.
Then another tournament where I had about 20BB with AQs and min-raised. Called by Hijack and Button. SB raises to 15BB. I shove. Hijack calls with 6d4d. SB calls (cannot raise as my shove wasn't big enough) Flop comes Ac8d4h. SB shoves for another 25BB with QQ. Hijack calls with bottom pair and back door Flush draw on an Ace high board where there has been a 3bet and a 4bet shove and spikes trips on the river to take down the pot. My AQ suited is no good.. 6d4d > AhQh > QQ. Two hands previously I had 3bet / called a 4bet shove with KK and lost to an Ace on the turn (AKs > KK). Poker can be such a biatch.
And now I get to do it all over again tomorrow.
In amongst the negative variance I decided to apply to serve on a 30 day course that will take up most of August at Blackheath - assuming I am accepted. Plus I've found the gumtree and carsale websites where I've started to look at the ads for vans.
Min cashed a few tournaments online. Seemed to keep getting my chips in ahead only to be sucked out on.
Raised all-in on the flop with KK on a Qd9d3c flop after BB donk bet about 25% pot. He calls for his tournament life with 2nd pair (J9o) and spikes two pair on the river. Maybe he thought I had a flush draw... though it was pretty much a snap call. Seemed to me that his bet was like the type of blocking bet a flush draw would put out to try to buy a cheap turn card, and maybe even take down the pot if my hand was Ak and had whiffed.
Then another tournament where I had about 20BB with AQs and min-raised. Called by Hijack and Button. SB raises to 15BB. I shove. Hijack calls with 6d4d. SB calls (cannot raise as my shove wasn't big enough) Flop comes Ac8d4h. SB shoves for another 25BB with QQ. Hijack calls with bottom pair and back door Flush draw on an Ace high board where there has been a 3bet and a 4bet shove and spikes trips on the river to take down the pot. My AQ suited is no good.. 6d4d > AhQh > QQ. Two hands previously I had 3bet / called a 4bet shove with KK and lost to an Ace on the turn (AKs > KK). Poker can be such a biatch.
And now I get to do it all over again tomorrow.
In amongst the negative variance I decided to apply to serve on a 30 day course that will take up most of August at Blackheath - assuming I am accepted. Plus I've found the gumtree and carsale websites where I've started to look at the ads for vans.
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Unintentionally Going Down the Rabbit Hole
After the worst downswing I've had playing poker during late May/early June I took myself back off to Blackheath's Dhamma Bhumi Vipassana center to have a break and hopefully increase my mental fitness by way of increased daily meditation.
This time there was an excess of servers at the start of the course. From the center's perspective, if more servers turn up than are needed for kitchen duty, then there are always tasks ready to go outside the kitchen. My preference would be the kitchen over gardening or building work and luckily I found myself in the group assigned to the kitchen.
One of the other servers in the initial kitchen team was an elderly farmer, I would guess around 67 - 70 years of age, who had lost his son unexpectedly to a heart condition about a year ago, and he had decided to come and serve at Vipassana to help himself deal with the anniversary. As I was talking to him he also revealed that he had two children and that his daughter had pre-deceased his son approximately 8 years ago from a brain aneurysm. This fellow lasted less than a day in the kitchen as, after the teacher became aware of his story decided that he needed to sit and meditate rather than serve.
The kitchen co-ordinator, Chelsea, (with kitchen co-ordinator being a PC term chosen by the Vipassana center as kitchen manager carries connotations of power) proved to be the best person I've seen in this role in my (pretty limited) experience. Her partner, Nick (or Nicholas?) was the male manager. This was an added bonus as Nick spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen helping out. Both seemed to be the sort of people who would be extremely competent in their outside jobs and great people to work with.
The rest of the crew were ok people
And of course, there was Ken, the long-time server who has been spending a lot of time mentoring new teams in the kitchen this year. During a discussion with Ken about what my plans were, Ken chose to push me into applying for the SatiPatthana that followed the June 14th course. After some hesitation I chose to apply to sit.
"Going Down the Rabbit Hole" is a term I use to describe what I feel can happen when I am sitting a course. When I am serving the three 1 hour meditation sessions are usually pretty focused and I feel I get a lot out of my meditation sittings during the time I serve. When I sit a course I find I day-dream a lot as, instead of three 1 hour sessions, I have approximately 10 - 12 hours during which I can meditate....And it is the day-dreaming that leads me down the rabbit-hole into examining nooks and crannies of my memory from years past. Each sit is different with different nooks and crannies. Plus there are new ones that have been developed during the interval between sits. For example, a whole new tunnel has been excavated over the past six months or so with my experiences AirBnBing around the suburbs of Melbourne. And my dismal play at poker.
This time there was an excess of servers at the start of the course. From the center's perspective, if more servers turn up than are needed for kitchen duty, then there are always tasks ready to go outside the kitchen. My preference would be the kitchen over gardening or building work and luckily I found myself in the group assigned to the kitchen.
One of the other servers in the initial kitchen team was an elderly farmer, I would guess around 67 - 70 years of age, who had lost his son unexpectedly to a heart condition about a year ago, and he had decided to come and serve at Vipassana to help himself deal with the anniversary. As I was talking to him he also revealed that he had two children and that his daughter had pre-deceased his son approximately 8 years ago from a brain aneurysm. This fellow lasted less than a day in the kitchen as, after the teacher became aware of his story decided that he needed to sit and meditate rather than serve.
The kitchen co-ordinator, Chelsea, (with kitchen co-ordinator being a PC term chosen by the Vipassana center as kitchen manager carries connotations of power) proved to be the best person I've seen in this role in my (pretty limited) experience. Her partner, Nick (or Nicholas?) was the male manager. This was an added bonus as Nick spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen helping out. Both seemed to be the sort of people who would be extremely competent in their outside jobs and great people to work with.
The rest of the crew were ok people
- Tash - a beauty consultant. About 37 years old from Sydney
- Josh - an aspiring rock star from Melbourne who had his 28th birthday on the Satti course that followed
- Duke - an outdoors education guy, in his late 20's who had been living in his Toyota Hiace van for the past couple of years in and around the Blue Mountains locality
- Sugata - a Japanese lady with minimal English skills. To my horror she made Porridge pudding twice with leftover porridge. The first day she made porridge pudding is the day I stopped eating porridge at the center. To save $2 worth of porridge she spent about $20 of the center's supplies of coconut milk, sugar and other ingredients.
- Nadine - a Canadian from the French speaking part of Canada.
- Andy - another Canadian. Became unwell during the course and switched to sitting the last part of the course
- Jesse - 30 ish Aussie guy who worked in the shipping industry. Has his skipper's ticket and has strong views on the hollowing out of Aussie jobs in the shipping industry.
- Tamara - hard worker based out of Sydney. Never had a conversation with her so didn't get to know anything of her back story
- Morgan - part time server who served the first 5 days or so. Mainly worked painting in pagoda. But when he gave a hand at breakfast wash-up, man was he fast and productive
- Paul - German marketing guy on a working visa (I think). Another part-time server who served in the kitchen for the first 5 days.
- Stirling - the 67 -70 year old Farmer with the tale of woe mentioned above. Lovely guy.
- Jaimie - stayed for about a day and a half. Wanted to sit the following Satipatthana course but revealed information in his serving application that disqualified him from both serving and sitting the Satipatthana. He had been involved with teaching Yoga in India (or a teaching yoga course - not sure of the exact details. But from the managements view he was now only able to sit a 10 day course. One of the stranger things. He was a great guy. Very productive in the kitchen. But when he was informed he couldn't serve or sit the following course he chose to leave.
And of course, there was Ken, the long-time server who has been spending a lot of time mentoring new teams in the kitchen this year. During a discussion with Ken about what my plans were, Ken chose to push me into applying for the SatiPatthana that followed the June 14th course. After some hesitation I chose to apply to sit.
"Going Down the Rabbit Hole" is a term I use to describe what I feel can happen when I am sitting a course. When I am serving the three 1 hour meditation sessions are usually pretty focused and I feel I get a lot out of my meditation sittings during the time I serve. When I sit a course I find I day-dream a lot as, instead of three 1 hour sessions, I have approximately 10 - 12 hours during which I can meditate....And it is the day-dreaming that leads me down the rabbit-hole into examining nooks and crannies of my memory from years past. Each sit is different with different nooks and crannies. Plus there are new ones that have been developed during the interval between sits. For example, a whole new tunnel has been excavated over the past six months or so with my experiences AirBnBing around the suburbs of Melbourne. And my dismal play at poker.
The AirBnB urban farm experience in early June
On June 14th I exited the sustainable urban farm I had been staying at for the first two weeks of June, leaving the 55 year-old urban hippy and his 30-ish German partner and their 17 month old son behind and headed off to Blackheath Vipassana cente.
The urban farm was located in Pascoe Vale. Pretty conveniently located about 1km from a train station in one direction and a similar distance to a tram stop in another direction. The block of land the house is on is a pretty standard size for the area but is well crowded with items that provide sustenance to the family living there. With a trout pool in the front yard, fruit trees here and there, a vegie garden out the back, a chook pen in the backyard and a beehive, this homestead provides for the inhabitants in more ways than your average homestead.
The host, Paul, was a fairly interesting dude, with a bit of a hard edge. For example, there were a couple of French tourists in their 20's staying there as part of the Helpx (I think) program. Basically a work-exchange program where people can exchange four hours labour per day for food and board. I had seen these guys doing some work around the place on the day I arrived, and had seen Paul take them out for a full 8 hours work with his mobile saw-mill operation. On the day in question I arose around 8:15 am and the guys were milling around in the kitchen while Paul finished his breakfast. About 20 minutes later I had returned to my room, Paul and the French tourists had just moved outside and were just outside the front door but I could hear most of what was being said. I overheard an exchange between Paul and the French tourists that went something like:
Paul: "You know I'm sick of it!. You guys can go. I want you out of here by tomorrow. You can have today for free but I want you gone tomorrow. You should have been working an hour ago and we get out here and you are looking at your phone!"
I never saw the French guys again. And Paul acted like nothing had happened. And I never asked what had happened. Secrets
As I was an AirBnB guest who had already paid for the time I was spending there I wasn't worried about being kicked out. But the incident left a little of a sour taste. Neither of the French guys had particularly strong English language skills. But they were pleasant and smiled a lot.
Paul had recently purchased a Lucas mobile saw mill and had advertised a little on the gumtree website. And he had started to make friends with council arborists. The mobile saw mill gives the councils another option with respect to trees that have either fallen over or have to be taken out. Currently they feed the trees into a wood-chipper for mulch or chop them up for firewood. With the mobile saw mill they have the ability to get Paul in and convert the tree into more valuable lumber.
The renovations in the home were not your standard renovations. With parts of the kitchen bench area being provided by some the trees that Paul had milled. There was a pellet fed stove/oven in the kitchen that was hooked up to provide wetback warmed water to heaters in the bedrooms. And a couple of rooms had been retrofitted straw bale insulation style. The walls reminded me of a cave. All curvy and hard.
The bedroom I was in had a "New York loft" style bed. In other words, the bed could be pulled up to the roof via a motorized system. But it was inconvenient to a large extent as it made accessing the computer desk to feel like being in a low cave. A bit claustrophobic if you were going to spend any length of time on the laptop.
Overall an interesting experience.
The urban farm was located in Pascoe Vale. Pretty conveniently located about 1km from a train station in one direction and a similar distance to a tram stop in another direction. The block of land the house is on is a pretty standard size for the area but is well crowded with items that provide sustenance to the family living there. With a trout pool in the front yard, fruit trees here and there, a vegie garden out the back, a chook pen in the backyard and a beehive, this homestead provides for the inhabitants in more ways than your average homestead.
The host, Paul, was a fairly interesting dude, with a bit of a hard edge. For example, there were a couple of French tourists in their 20's staying there as part of the Helpx (I think) program. Basically a work-exchange program where people can exchange four hours labour per day for food and board. I had seen these guys doing some work around the place on the day I arrived, and had seen Paul take them out for a full 8 hours work with his mobile saw-mill operation. On the day in question I arose around 8:15 am and the guys were milling around in the kitchen while Paul finished his breakfast. About 20 minutes later I had returned to my room, Paul and the French tourists had just moved outside and were just outside the front door but I could hear most of what was being said. I overheard an exchange between Paul and the French tourists that went something like:
Paul: "You know I'm sick of it!. You guys can go. I want you out of here by tomorrow. You can have today for free but I want you gone tomorrow. You should have been working an hour ago and we get out here and you are looking at your phone!"
I never saw the French guys again. And Paul acted like nothing had happened. And I never asked what had happened. Secrets
As I was an AirBnB guest who had already paid for the time I was spending there I wasn't worried about being kicked out. But the incident left a little of a sour taste. Neither of the French guys had particularly strong English language skills. But they were pleasant and smiled a lot.
Paul had recently purchased a Lucas mobile saw mill and had advertised a little on the gumtree website. And he had started to make friends with council arborists. The mobile saw mill gives the councils another option with respect to trees that have either fallen over or have to be taken out. Currently they feed the trees into a wood-chipper for mulch or chop them up for firewood. With the mobile saw mill they have the ability to get Paul in and convert the tree into more valuable lumber.
The renovations in the home were not your standard renovations. With parts of the kitchen bench area being provided by some the trees that Paul had milled. There was a pellet fed stove/oven in the kitchen that was hooked up to provide wetback warmed water to heaters in the bedrooms. And a couple of rooms had been retrofitted straw bale insulation style. The walls reminded me of a cave. All curvy and hard.
The bedroom I was in had a "New York loft" style bed. In other words, the bed could be pulled up to the roof via a motorized system. But it was inconvenient to a large extent as it made accessing the computer desk to feel like being in a low cave. A bit claustrophobic if you were going to spend any length of time on the laptop.
Overall an interesting experience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)