Catching up with a Vipassana meditator

Today I caught up with Disco Drew, a guy who served with me at Blackheath Vipassana meditation centre in August. We spent most of the afternoon having a chat, then toodled off for a walk in the general direction of Northcote until Disco decided to board a tram and we went our separate ways. Disco was smitten with an infatuation for one of the female servers during our stint together in August, and I received an update on how his infatuation had played out. Unfortunately for Disco, the object of his desire did not return his feelings. The lady in question and Disco both ended up at Pomona meditation centre where they both sat a Satti Pattana course. Fate conspired to have them both seated as close as they could possibly be given the segregated nature of the seating in the meditation hall. They were both in the same row and both seated as close to the middle of their row as they could be, with only the aisle down the centre of the hall separating them.

I let Disco bend my ear while he gave me his view of the anguish he had been through as he came to the realization that his feelings were not being returned. He has intellectually accepted that the chance of the two of them being romantically entwined is close to zero, but emotionally he has a ways to go before the flame of desire flickers and dies.

While we were chatting, we were approached by a beggar looking for a few coins. Disco gave him the change from his coffee purchase. The beggar looked like he had been dealt a hard hand with respect to physical disability and we noted that there was always someone else who was in a worse state or worse off than we were in. Internally I noted that I felt gratitude that I was not in the state of anguish that Disco was in, and that he was probably going to be in for another 3 to 12 months. Hopefully he will get over his grief for his doomed infatuation sooner rather than later. But having been in a fairly bleak state for several years after splitting with my ex, I certainly hope that Disco moves on sooner rather than later.

Having met the lady in question I understand how Disco could have fallen for her. Some of her personality attributes reminded me of my ex at her best.  And if she was a few years younger and my eldest son was a few years older I would be tempted to consider match making.

Habit review

The major improvements for my life this year have been the improvement in some habits and the establishment of new habits

• Meditation. At the start of 2016 I was meditating most days for around 30 minutes. With the aid of several stints at the Blackheat Vipassana meditation centre, most days I'm meditating for one hour first thing in the morning.  While I am happy that I have managed to increase the amount of time I mediate each day, I am even happier that the quality of the meditation has improved.
• Weight. Starting the year at 95Kg, my BMI was 31. Officially obese. Now down to 88Kg. With the change in lifestyle bought about by constantly changing residence, I am no longer able to raid a fridge or pantry. This new feature of my lifestyle, in and of itself, has led to a lower food consumption pattern. Add in the walking about the place, with a change to a ketogenic / modified atkins diet, driven by several episodes on the Tim Ferriss podcast where Dom D'Agostino banged on about the benefits of a ketogenic diet, and the odds begin tipping towards some weight loss. For a period in the middle of the year I was vegetarian. But the vegetarian period ended when I chose to pursue the MAD (Modified Atkins Diet).
• Flexibility. Inspired by the information regarding Tiny Habits, and several episodes of the Tim Ferriss podcast devoted to Gynmastic bodies, I've added some stretching to my morning routine. The cue to do my daily stretching is tied to the end of my morning meditation session. After which I'm giving my hamstrings a stretch, with the aim of being able, eventually, to be able to get my head down to my knee when stretching my hamstrings and my glutes. Having started and stopped many times previously, I'm hopeful I will continue this endeavour for at least 9 months. The information from the Tim Ferriss podcast was that somewhere around 220 days is the time I need to persist at this to get some sustainable change. If I am able to be persistent in this endeavour, then sometime mid 2017 I will hopefully be getting my head to my knee.
• Poker study. Could do better.  I'm currently attending a 10 week course run by Alexander Fitzgerald. Five weeks in, with five weeks to go. A two hour webinar every Sunday morning kicking off at 05:00 am local time.  Not the most convenient of times, but luckily, most weeks Alex will send out the pre-recorded webinar in advance. And I get to sleep for an extra couple of hours, then join the webinar for question time. The major change to my game has been that I now take notes at the table on my ipad. On as many hands as possible. And especially if there is a showdown.  This will, eventually, become easier with practice. But initially there is much mental energy to be spent in keeping up with the game and taking notes. The major benefit is that I'm picking up much more information about the betting patterns and lines taken by various players. And in poker, information is power.

Off to Coburg

Time to decamp from this Tottenham/Footscray abode and head off to Coburg.  A decent amount of poker study  over the past week.

Back to see my sleep doctor as my GP wasn't prepared to sign off on my fitness to drive until I had seen him. He was ok with my driving. And has now turned me into one of his flock. He will get to shear some funds from my bank account each year to re-confirm that I am ok to drive.

Today is Friday. And tonight there is a $175 freezeout at Crown. I'll give that a crack to see if any of the theory that Alexander Fitzgerald has been dispensing has stuck.

A study day and a disappointing GP visit

Part of the process for converting my NSW drivers license to a Victorian drivers license is that, as I had ticked the box informing Vic Roads that I was on a medication for a heart condition, I needed to get a medical certificate.  And that I had four weeks to obtain said certificate otherwise the license may be suspended or cancelled.

I was aware the GP I have been seeing was ultra cautious and risk adverse and knew he wouldn't sign off on my being fit for driving unless I had seen a cardiologist. Early last week I checked in with a cardiologist and asked him for his opinion on whether I was fit to drive. And he said words to the effect of "No Problemo".  Unfortunately the correspondence from his office had yet to hit the GP's office so was unable to get my Vic Roads certificate today. The 28 day grace period expires tomorrow so I'll be off to Vic Roads to have a chat about getting a possible extension.

Other than that have been watching some Poker videos from Alexander Fitzgerald.  Seem to be learning a fair bit. With the biggest change to my play live being a lot more observant. And when in a tournament jotting down notes on most hands has helped me stay observant and nutting the different betting patterns of some of the players.  Early days though and there is a lot more work to be done to improve my observational ability. And the ability to nut out what different bets from different players mean.

The morning meditation habit seems to be well embedded now. And I'm finding it relatively easy to sit for 45 minutes without fidgeting. Still making myself sit most days for a full hour.  This is a good thing.

AirBnB host warning signs

And so it came to pass that the AirBnB I insta-booked for last Thursday threw up some warning signs that I will take heed of next time

a) No reviews
b) No response to my AirBnB message requesting information regarding a convenient time to arrive
c) No response to my txt message requesting the same information

In future, should this happen, I will abort the day before and book somewhere else. Ended up having to store my luggage at Southern Cross station, spend all night at Crown Casino, and try booking three more places before landing a spot.

Just to add some icing to the cake, the host arranged to put my key in a plain envelope in the letterbox as they would be out until about 9:00 pm.... And when I got there the envelope contained his business card but no key. The key had somehow slipped out of the envelope and was under the table in the living room.....  Having been rained on while trudging towards his place from the train station, spending a couple of hours languishing on the porch swatting away mosquitoes wasn't my favorite use of time on that particular Friday evening.

On the bright side, I've stayed at this AirBnB before and the host is a pleasant chap. And though it isn't my favorite AirBnB, it is much better than being with out a bed for the night.

Finally, Four hours of Poker study in the one day

Many, many podcasts and other sources have hammered home that, to improve, a decent chunk of each week must be spent studying. And that if the Study:Playing ratio is tilted too far towards the Playing side, then the odds are favouring no or little improvement. Alex Fitzgerald advocates at least an hour a day of deliberate study followed by deliberate practice. It's sort of funny for me, a 57 year old, late to Poker player, being inspired and studying what a passionate 27 year old Poker professional has to say. But it makes sense.

Like many habits, I suspect that the study habit will take quite some time to bed down. I have been gradually working towards more study each day. And have been managing at least an hour a day on four to five days per week. But if I want to get better, I believe that I need to up the amount of time I spend studying and reviewing my play. If I can achieve two hours per day on five days of the week, for ten hours study per week, I will accept that as a short term goal. Ultimately, I would like to study an average of at least 15 hours per week. Which will be a difficult goal for me to achieve. However, should that goal be achieved, then I believe the payoff will be well worth it.

Booked my next AirBnB and it will be back to Northcote on Thursday for 12 days. Hopefully that will be a good place to land in.

Sunday was a much better day

So after my rare crap day on Saturday, Sunday turned out to be a much more pleasant day. Off to an old AirBnB to pick up my Vic Roads driver's license. Or so I thought. Turned out to be a letter asking me to have a medical certificate provided by a doctor stating whether I am fit to drive or not. Seems the box I ticked stating I was on regular medication for a heart condition triggered that clause.

Luckily I have somehow finally managed to have arranged a visit to a cardiologist tomorrow. And once that is done it will be back to my GP to get the certificate filled in. Confident that I'll get a pass mark as it is more or less a visit to establish a relationship with someone who can monitor my medication for suspected Atrial Fibrillation etc.

Plus my bro sent me a touching base email. And in the to and fro of the exchange of emails we had yesterday he revealed that his birth mother had left him her house, car and contents. Te Bro had re-established contact some time ago now and had helped his birth mother through the aftermath of the suicide of his half sister. Which left Te Bro as her only surviving descendant. She had a brother apparently, and Te Bro felt a bit guilty about receiving the inheritance, but when he was at her house dealing with the aftermath, the next door neighbours let him know that his birth mother had stated many times to them that she intended to look after Te Bro in her will. I am pleased for him. From being a naughty boy in his teens and 20's, Te Bro morphed into a rough diamond with, compared to me, quite a few saintly qualities. I often offer his example up as an example that people can, and do, change their shonky behaviour patterns if they pass through the right circumstances.  He deserves some good karma.

Body clock wise I am all over the place. Into bed at around 01:00 am. Awake at 7 ish. Meditated for about an hour. Then back to sleep for another 3 hours.  And while writing this the clock is a few minutes off 1:00pm, but I am feeling great inside.

And if it is Monday, it is time to book my next AirBnB....

A rare crap day

Today was a rare crap day where I just felt vaguely unwell most of the day and came back to the AirBnB for a nap. Made me realize how precarious my existence is. With out a permanent base of residence and jumping from AirBnB to AirBnB I'd be in trouble if I had a serious dose of the flu or worse.

However, after a nap from 6pm to 7pm, I woke feeling much better physically. Although for some reason I thought I had made a mistake with setting the alarm and had slept through to 7:00 am Sunday am... A total of 13 hours.  Took me several groggy headed minutes to work out it was still Saturday. Which was nice. As today is a diet cheat day and I'd purchased some food I wanted to consume today rather than tomorrow.

The Modified Atkins diet is the diet I'm giving a crack, with a cheat day thrown in once a week. After listening to the Tim Ferriss episodes on a ketogenic diet, and some of the comments that a Modified Atkins Diet seems to give many of the same benefits, but is much easier to adhere to, I've decided to give the MAD a crack.

So no bread, rice, chips (aka fries), tomato sauce or other foods that I know have carbs in them. I'm starting to get used to eating an avocado with LSA sprinkled over it most mornings. And have found that coffee with coconut oil is a beverage that I'm quite partial to. And that I now need to consider acquiring a spoon to add to my luggage. Although there is a possibility that just pouring the hot coffee into the coconut oil jar so as to dissolve some of the coconut, then tipping it back into the cup, may prove to be an acceptable work around. But next time I'm passing an op-shop, such as a Vinnies, I'll pop in to see whether they have cutlery.

I chose not to play the Main Event of the APPT event in Melbourne. I gave the satellites a fair crack and didn't make it. In most of the satellites I felt I played alright. And in two of them, I had a very decent chance of getting a ticket and got two outered on the river when I would have otherwise been in a very good spot.

Such is poker. As the pokerstars environment is reminding me tonight. 

Have been working my way through an Alex Fitzgerald webinar on live poker. And will continue working into the wee hours until I have got through it. While the length of the Webinar is 2 hours 15 minutes, I take considerable longer to get through it as I'm creating a mind map as I go. To try to give myself the best opportunity to absorb the material. And to have a "cheat sheet" that I can whizz through at a later stage

Lovely Day in Melbourne

Just a beautiful day in Melbourne. Pity my poker results haven't done well over the past couple of days. I managed to come 7th out of 175 on Mondays $400 tournament. But have busted out of the satellites I've been playing for the Main Event.  Twice with Aces being busted. Once by AQs and once by J9o.  All in Preflop with the AQ Vs AA hand. And he rivered a full house with a Q on the flop and a Q on the River.  The J9 hand called me from the BB. With a J high board and no draw he called after I jammed the flop with a low SPR.  And on the River he made trips.

Sigh.  In both cases I would have had a reasonable stack if I'd won those hands, with an excellent chance of getting a ticket.

In two minds whether to enter the Main tomorrow.  Will ponder on this over night. And see how I go.  Running a little bad online just now as well. Got it in with AsQs Vs Ah7c. Flopped 8h4s5s - I have nut flush draw and he needs to hit any non-spade 7 or 6 (5 outs times four means on that flop I have around 80% equity).  He naturally hits 7d on the turn.

Part of my job is to just take these beats in my stride and work to get a stack where those types of beats don't matter so much. Have yet to work that out.

Met the house cat at the new place I'm in. And this cat is not nearly as neurotic as some of the cats I've met on my AirBnB journey. A bit of a fattie. but a nice enough cat.

The toilet has an interesting trap for new people to the house. You have to lift the lid and pull the mechanism up to get it to flush. Pushing the button does not work.

Out of North Coburg to Brighton

Returned to Melbourne from my Sydney house sit a week ago and landed in an AirBnB in North Coburg. Great atmosphere to the place. Hosted by  a classic Anglo Australian who is training as a builder and has a penchant for littering his yard with cars - most 30 years or more older. With his prize possession being a Ford (?) from the 1950s. He has a 1970s campervan parked in his drive that he is working on and uses that as his bedroom. Apparently he was running the front bedroom as a dorm but had that shut down after a visit by the council. He didn't put up a fight as he didn't want them to look too closely at the alterations he had made to the house. Which pretty much were all in the dodgy realm with respect to council consent. The place had a feel like a student flat from my university days in terms of housing standard, but it had a really nice feel to the place which was in large part due to the hosts zen like personality.

And now I've dropped my luggage into my new AirBnB in Brighton.  And where as the North Coburg residence was about 1km from the train station, this new residence is about 40m from a tram stop... So much less likely to lose weight in my new AirBnB.

The Melbourne APPT tournament series has been in play from last Thursday - Oct 6. The main event starts tomorrow with Flight 1 of Day 1.  There are two flights on day 1 with Day 2 being on Sunday.  I've tried to satellite in a couple of time at low value satellites with a combination of no luck in a turbo environment.  I'll give it one more crack today and if I miss out will sit out the main.

Have played in three tournaments and have cashed in one - placing 7th out of 175 runners.  Feel pretty good about that. Was surviving as a short stack from the point where there were about 30+ runners left. With 18 players being paid, getting through to 7th was a result I ended up being pretty happy about. I could easily have been out without cashing.

On the kiddie front I have had an excellent update email from #1 son.  He seems to be in a good place in his life and balancing his University work with social activities and exercise in a nice blend.  And with respect to #2 son I"ve stumbled across some information that may help him with his chronic headaches. He has been having regular headaches since his mid-teens and has been on long term medication to try to ameliorate the symptoms.  I've sent off the information to #2 son and the ex.  The ex replied but no reply from #2 son.  I often send off emails to #2 son with links that I think he might find interesting or useful. But almost never get an acknowledgement that the email has been received. And once again I'm reminded of the saying that the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour.   I'm hopeful that there is something in the information I sent that will be of use to him.

Every time I move AirBnB's I check to see if the black dog is accompanying me out the door. And it seems that I might have shaken the black dog's trail, at least, for a bit. An unusual feeling after such a bleak period post bust up with the ex.  But happy.