Polly and I went to see my Brucie baby Friday afternoon...I LOVED IT!!!! I won't get into my evaluation of all the Die Hard movies, but I was a little worried about this one because I didn't like the third one very much. And although this Die Hard was a little more over the top than usual, at least Bruce didn't slap any fake hair on his head...
I'll stop now. I was like a little kid going into the theater. Then, later that night, standing in the Harry Potter line for 2 and a half hours, Polly was the little kid. She got the 7th and final Harry Potter book. I, however, not that thrilled. It was fun though, seeing all the kids dressed up and waiting in line for A BOOK! Not a video game, not a movie, but an actual printed book. Amazing.
And although nothing that exciting has happened out here in Dublin Suburbia, I mowed the lawn yesterday. Yes, I know, who cares, Right? Well, after going to get the mower out of the shed, I came back in to tell Polly that we had a problem. The mower didn't have any wheels. She said "Oh yea, it's a hover one"...what? I know I've been out of touch with the world for awhile, but it hasn't been THAT long. Apparently the UK has used these for years. It's an electric mower that blows air out the bottom and hovers over the ground. It sounds like a leaf blower, but quieter. It was quite the experience. I wanted to call Dad immediately. Unfortunately, it didn't cut the grass very well, so it took me double the time, but oh well.
That's about it. I'm off to Chrysalis in about an hour and will be back in the Spiritual world. I'll talk to you on the flip side.
Love-Reebs
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Goodbye Dzogchen Beara
I left Dzogchen Beara a little over a week ago with my friend Polly. We are house sitting for another DZB friend, David, outside of Dublin. It's been great having our own space again...and a Television. It's the first TV I've watched in 6 months and found that crap gets aired EVERYWHERE! Actually, it's mostly American shows. We watched "Dancing with the Stars", season 350, the other night...Yikes! I was, however, pleasantly surprised to see that DIE HARD 4 HAS BEEN MADE AND RELEASED!!!!!!!!!(If I could bold or enlarge the type anymore, I would, just to show how excited I am). What better welcome back to the 21st century, than by Bruce himself...heaven. So, I shall be dragging Polly to splurge on a matinee with me in the next few days. Then, as if television and a movie AND Bruce isn't enough for me, friday night, we're going to stand in line at the book store because Polly wants a copy of the new Harry Potter book. It's official, I am back. I feel like I am emerging from a cave like a blind cave fish or something.
And as exciting as all that may sound, it will come to a dramatic end on Sunday. Polly and I went for an interview today at a Holistic Retreat Center, to volunteer for my last 2 weeks in Ireland. It is an amazing place, but again, in the middle of nowhere. This time in County Wicklow, about an hour from Dublin. The name of it is Chrysalis and I can't think of a better way to end this trip. They don't have a phone or internet for me to use, so I'm not sure if I'll get back online before I leave for home. There is a local library with free internet access and I will have 2 days off, so we will see. But if not, I will update when I get back to the States to let you all know that I made it safe and sound. (That's IF anyone's still reading this blog).
The Pics are of the Dzogchen Beara entrance sign, Me and Blockhead, the resident Hostel Dog, Some friends sitting around playing a bit o' music, Polly, the Goof, with David behind her, me with my friend, Emma, and Vince behind us, and a Lotus flower from the Lotus pond at DZB.
I'll see you all soon. Love-Reebs
Friday, July 6, 2007
Dropped of the face of the Earth...again
So, the Summer retreat with Rinpoche came and went. The Center needed the computer cabin for transcribers, so we had no access to the internet for about 2 weeks. But I'm back in the little tin computer hut in the woods. WHOOHOO!
The Retreat was unlike anything I've ever experinced. I got caught up in the organization of allocating 150 one hour jobs to 150 people, with another volunteer named Polly. It was quite a monster of a job and Polly and I wanted to basically throw ourselves off the cliffs by the time the retreat started. On top of that, we had our own daily jobs to do. During the Retreat I ran breakfast, which was estimated to be for 50-60 people at 7:30am. My manager put me on breakfast because she thought I liked to get up early...we're obviously really close. It wasn't until 3 or 4 days in, when I made a random comment of needing someone to basically flip my mattress in the morning to get me out of bed, that she revealed her reasoning behind that decision. I have no idea what EVER gave her the impression I was a morning person.
Anyway, moving on...I got to go to quite a few teachings, but the Rinpoche actually made it a point to humiliate people publically (how Buddhist of him) and extend the teachings as long as he wanted to. And as much as I LOVE public humiliation, I would rather it be self inflicted and NOT in front of over 200 people on a mindful Buddhist retreat. So, sorry, no humiliating stories.
A few days before the Retreat started, when Polly and I were holding each other back from hurling our bodies into the Sea, we decided to go on an adventure. We left one morning and decided to go hitching and see how far we could get. The first few people that picked us up weren't that amusing, except, if you remember way back to the man who asked me if I could recommend a good cheese in the supermarket, and found it hysterical...well, his nephew was one of our first lifts. It's so small town here. Then, outside of Bantry, we got a lift from a man in his sixties, on his way to Skibbereen. Yes, Mom and Aunt Nancy, I made it to good ole Skibs. It was an adorable place, much bigger than Castletownebere, but for some reason I thought it was on the sea. We went to an Art show that really had a vague resemblance to Art and had a pint in one of the local pubs. But, the interesting part is that, on our way back to Castletowne, we got a lift from the same bloke, Chris, that brought us to Skibs. And for the next 4 HOURS he became our tour guide. He drove us all over Mizen head and Sheep's head peninsula's and basically abducted us (sarcasm). We kept saying that we really wanted to get back, but he was so bored and starving for company that he just kept driving. We started to doubt that we'd ever get back. But alas, he finally let us go and we got one last lift from the most interesting people I've ever met in my life...Gypsies. Or as they're called over here, Travelers. They smoked with the windows closed, spoke loudly and with the strongest accents ever and told stories of their 17 brothers and sisters. They asked us a million questions about the "settled world" and asked me if NY and America were two different places. They even offered us some swigs out of their communal bottle of Coke. It was amazing. They drove us all the way back to Castletownebere, where we decided to have a pint to go over the days events. I think we may hitch again somewhere tomorrow. It's fun.
On to more important info. I just realized that it's been so long since I've put a blog up, that I haven't told you when I'm coming back. My flight lands on August 7. I'm comin' home. Get ready America, you are about to be reMartzified!
I'm actually leaving DZB on Monday and going to Dublin to housesit for a friend, with Polly. That's for 2 weeks and then we're going to look for another Volunteer opportunity for my last 2 weeks here. We're looking at some conservation work in Killarney National Park, but who knows where we'll end up. I swear I could circle the Globe just by meeting and talking to people at DZB, but I am afraid I have run out o' money. Next time.
I miss and Love you-Reebs
The Retreat was unlike anything I've ever experinced. I got caught up in the organization of allocating 150 one hour jobs to 150 people, with another volunteer named Polly. It was quite a monster of a job and Polly and I wanted to basically throw ourselves off the cliffs by the time the retreat started. On top of that, we had our own daily jobs to do. During the Retreat I ran breakfast, which was estimated to be for 50-60 people at 7:30am. My manager put me on breakfast because she thought I liked to get up early...we're obviously really close. It wasn't until 3 or 4 days in, when I made a random comment of needing someone to basically flip my mattress in the morning to get me out of bed, that she revealed her reasoning behind that decision. I have no idea what EVER gave her the impression I was a morning person.
Anyway, moving on...I got to go to quite a few teachings, but the Rinpoche actually made it a point to humiliate people publically (how Buddhist of him) and extend the teachings as long as he wanted to. And as much as I LOVE public humiliation, I would rather it be self inflicted and NOT in front of over 200 people on a mindful Buddhist retreat. So, sorry, no humiliating stories.
A few days before the Retreat started, when Polly and I were holding each other back from hurling our bodies into the Sea, we decided to go on an adventure. We left one morning and decided to go hitching and see how far we could get. The first few people that picked us up weren't that amusing, except, if you remember way back to the man who asked me if I could recommend a good cheese in the supermarket, and found it hysterical...well, his nephew was one of our first lifts. It's so small town here. Then, outside of Bantry, we got a lift from a man in his sixties, on his way to Skibbereen. Yes, Mom and Aunt Nancy, I made it to good ole Skibs. It was an adorable place, much bigger than Castletownebere, but for some reason I thought it was on the sea. We went to an Art show that really had a vague resemblance to Art and had a pint in one of the local pubs. But, the interesting part is that, on our way back to Castletowne, we got a lift from the same bloke, Chris, that brought us to Skibs. And for the next 4 HOURS he became our tour guide. He drove us all over Mizen head and Sheep's head peninsula's and basically abducted us (sarcasm). We kept saying that we really wanted to get back, but he was so bored and starving for company that he just kept driving. We started to doubt that we'd ever get back. But alas, he finally let us go and we got one last lift from the most interesting people I've ever met in my life...Gypsies. Or as they're called over here, Travelers. They smoked with the windows closed, spoke loudly and with the strongest accents ever and told stories of their 17 brothers and sisters. They asked us a million questions about the "settled world" and asked me if NY and America were two different places. They even offered us some swigs out of their communal bottle of Coke. It was amazing. They drove us all the way back to Castletownebere, where we decided to have a pint to go over the days events. I think we may hitch again somewhere tomorrow. It's fun.
On to more important info. I just realized that it's been so long since I've put a blog up, that I haven't told you when I'm coming back. My flight lands on August 7. I'm comin' home. Get ready America, you are about to be reMartzified!
I'm actually leaving DZB on Monday and going to Dublin to housesit for a friend, with Polly. That's for 2 weeks and then we're going to look for another Volunteer opportunity for my last 2 weeks here. We're looking at some conservation work in Killarney National Park, but who knows where we'll end up. I swear I could circle the Globe just by meeting and talking to people at DZB, but I am afraid I have run out o' money. Next time.
I miss and Love you-Reebs
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)