President Obama SUPERFAN
Published 15 June 2011This photo is a couple of months old, but I found it again in my Read It Later list last night and I laughed as hard as I did when I first found it:
(Pic from BuzzFeed)
And because I’ve eaten too much sugar today,
and because Obama has cancelled 2 trips to Australia on me
and because Dani took a great pic for me to pinch for this purpose
I made this:
Sorry. What’s been seen cannot be unseen.
But I’m cacking myself here. Hee! Look how tall I am compared to everyone else!
Blogging as a means to a more reflective life
Published 12 June 2011Earlier this week I spent some time with a wise old man called Tony. He was trying to teach me about living a more reflective and meditative life.
To live life wholly.
Tony’s pretty smart, and he’s been studying this kind of stuff for 40+ years. But admitted to me “after all these years I’m still trying to bloody well perfect it”.
But amongst all the wise-ness (that’s the technical term) that he was sharing with me, Â one thing that Tony asked me to work on was to spend some time each day on being reflective, maybe even meditative. He suggested spending 5 minutes every night to stop and focus.
What has happened today?
Who did I meet?
Did opportunities pass me by?
Did I make a difference?
Tony says that by spending this time reflecting, it becomes a form of meditation. It’s so rare these days for me to sit still long enough to ponder what’s happening in my life. By giving myself the opportunity to reflect, it prepares my mind for true meditation. To clear my mind of all thought.
And through all his advice and wisdom, all I could think was how blogging is a form of reflection.
It’s the act of giving yourself the time to think things through, to ponder your daily actions and interactions. Your opinions; your passions.
Isn’t that what we do with blogging? Or at least try to?
My blog is the story of my life. My blog allows me to reflect on the story of my life…
I know it sounds like I’m stating the obvious, but this new angle has really struck a chord with me. And those times I spend, sitting at my keyboard, staring at the monitor, but not really staring at anything…. I’m actually on the path to meditation.
I was contemplating explaining my lightbulb moment to Tony, but realised that not even a wise old man like Tony would understand the tools of modern day meditation. Heh.
Do you find your blog is helping you to be more reflective? Even meditative?
May you see what you see through different eyes
Hear what you hear with different ears.
May you taste what you have never tasted before, and go further than youself.
Too often we are not present to the beauty, love and grace that brims within the ordinary moments of our lives.
Our lives come laden with riches,
But we are not sufficiently present to what is there.
- Masai prayer
Happy Caturday: Mah Jong kitteh
Published 11 June 2011Elvis loves hanging out at our dining table. Even though it’s in the coldest part of the house, he sits on his cat tree that we keep in the dining area. And just sits.
He finds it pretty exciting when we sit at the dining table (doesn’t happen too often) and even moar exciting if Jarod and Liz are there with us. (He loves Jarod and Liz very very much)
Especially if we spend a couple of hours playing Mah Jong:
He alternated between sitting on his tree (which he’s doing here) and sitting on Liz’s lap.
It’s just a shame that he can’t help us to play the game :)
(If you want to join in with Caturday, go for it! I’m not having any luck finding a cool linky-hook up system that’s free and painless. I started making a button instead, but I, um, got bored. Just tell me if you do a Caturday post so I can come and check it out!)
HAPPY CATURDAY!
A bunch of bloggers hanging out in Darlo #helloevents
Published 5 June 2011Last night was the Sydney meet for Hello Blogger Events, held at the Pocket Bar in Darlo.
It was lovely to see Dani and Cait again and I met Tony and Christine for the first time. What a loverly bunch!
I lugged my D80 into town with my big fat 18-135mm on it… and the best photos I could get were on the AUTO setting. Can you believe it?
Pocket Bar is part of an art gallery, so the bar was… well, artistically decorated. Ahem. Cait was the first to say something about it!
Things pretty much went downhill once Dani produced the props.
You know you’re in a trendy bar when the cops make a routine visit. Thankfully feathers and plastic sunnies aren’t illegal substances.
You might find it hard to believe, but we did manage to talk about blogging amongst all this…
“What’s the best way to target your market with Facebook ads to ensure a high click-through rate?”
Bloggers are completely normal people who don’t stand out amongst the general public…
“What are your thoughts on your preferred ad network?”
“Is it true that moving from Blogger to WordPress could increase my traffic by 40%?”
(Not a great photo of Leigh, me and Tony, the one Dani took is way betterer!)
Leigh and I shared this jug of something Sangria-like. It cost us $50 and we got about 3 glasses each out of it. Very easy to drink. We may have bought another jug to share with Dani. AHEM!
Saucy minx!
Don’t ask why we were checking under the couch cushions… but we were impressed that it was a Brescia couch!
Thanks to Dani and Hello Events for a great night! There were lots of laughs amongst the blogging talk.
Though I must confess that I’m struggling to understand the notes I wrote down ;)
Are you gonna come along to the next one?
Caturday: and now you can join in too!
Published 4 June 2011Doesn’t Elvis look pretty in his new bow? Blue is his favourite colour, too
NEW! Due to popular demand (okay, so three of you suggested it), I’ve grabbed a linky-style thingy so you can join in :)
My NEW site!
"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all"
—Dale Carnegie
"Never eat more than you can lift"
—Miss Piggy
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