sun, surf and maroubra

Marcus and I (or Marc as he's now known, since he's a bit older and more mature) took a drive down to Maroubra today. It was the first time I've been to Maroubra ever and the first time in a long time that I'd been out for a surf. I was up early to head to my local cafe for sour dough fruit toast and a long black with hot milk on the side...which has become my standard order there, coz it's soooo good. The coffee's a double shot, nice and strong, served in a glass, when you hold the coffee up to the light, you can't see through it - that's strong coffee :) the guys at the cafe work so hard, they're chinese malaysian (?) and open every day at 6, even christmas day, new years day, chinese new years day and have picked up a great trade in about 5 months

maroubra was totally different than what I'd imagined, from what i'd heard of the place. it's a long, beautiful white beach. there wasn't much in the way of rips or currents, well patrolled and good little waves too. I was out on my big foamie board which was good for a bit of fun. so inspired that i'm planning to head back tomorrow with my "real" board and get stuck into it early

marc and Jo are looking to buy a unit, they've been house hunting for a while. So Marc and I chatted about that a lot, since it's their first place and I've had a few goes at it, in Perth, Adelaide and Sydney...if this visa comes through and all goes well in the UK, I might add London to that list...we'll see

good peaches and floury nectarines

the stone fruit season is over half way over, but i got a juicy, delicious peach today...and a floury, uninspiring nectarine...i flipped out a bit after feeling some fruit, choosing a couple, figured i wasn't the first person to do that, made me feel a bit queasy, but i'm going good...so far

met up with Kristell, a French SAP consultant this morning, to see what she was up to, there's a few things round Sydney which she might be right for...then

practised down at North Sydney, standing postures in the extra room while Angelika and the apprentices had their weekly Friday lesson...then seated, up to Navasana in the main room. It was a hot day but I think I've shaken the worst of my flu/ virus thing (touching wood) after a couple of steak nights, i feel pretty strong...

then I met up with Kylie, a Dutch Indonesian (more Dutch) recruiter in North Sydney. Kylie's been at it for over 10 years, and is pretty efficient at the whole thing, asks the right questions, is focussed and smart...i like the way she operates :)

then...train to Redfern and walk to internet cafe to do some emailing and print out a new application form for practising in mysore, hoping to practise there from april 10th to...early july, nearly 3 months all up...

and, it's 7 weeks and 6 days until the UK Consulate reckons they'll have my visa sorted, one way or the other...

got an appetite for some hilltop hoods, which is what i'm listening to right now...tight lyrics and sounds from my Adelaide boys!

Ashley's story

today i lodged my application for a UK Tier 1 Highly Skilled, Points Based System Visa in Canberra, after staying with my cousin Michael and his wife Nicole and dogs Roger and Pauline.

I'd driven down yesterday - Wednesday, and done a full dry run out to the UK consulate, out near the Canberra Airport. There's a heap of construction going on out there, the Business Park which is home to the consulate is brand new and there's a lot of road works going on out there too...

anyhow, it was really, really hot on the drive down...no airconditioning didn't help :(

i've been fighting a bug for the past week, which morphed from general lethargy, to headache, sneezing, coughing, runny nose...not great at the best of times, but the heat made it really uncomfortable...

all this is a prelude to my "appointment" at the consulate. i gave myself plenty of time to get there...so i thought...got there in time to find out that the appointments weren't valid and there were 2 other people waiting in front of me.

my thinking on the way there was that things tend to go well if you give yourself plenty of time and are well organised...my visa application feels pretty well spot on. so, even arriving there and finding out that the appointments had been stuffed up, i fell ok about the situation.

Ashley was doing it tough. He was there with his mum. He'd flown back from the UK the day before. He has a job over there and a flat...and an ex girlfriend, who had him on a spousal visa, which didn't hold up when they split up. So, he was back in Aus applying for the same visa as me. He seemed pretty jetlagged and a bit out of it, turns out he was expecting the application to go through a lot quicker than the UK consulate can actually do it - Ashley thought 2 weeks, he was told minimum 8 weeks, which is the same thing they told me. So, my travel plans are now that I leave oz for India around early April to give the visa plenty of time to get through... i hope

then a hot drive back and a short practise to settle things down again

and some more steak for dinner (had one last night too), to get myself pepped up again, been lacking some pep lately

this was all after the docs arrived back from my UK visa agent on tuesday at about 1030...not exactly sure why i went through the agent, needless to say i won't be doing it again, if possible

and enjoyed a chinese new years eve meal with our vietnamese neighbours and watched jelena dokic win her fourth round australian open match...

catchup blogging...

the dread...

i'm a bit lethargic at the moment, a symptom of a non specific affliction that hits me now and then...i simply don't know what it is...it's usually round for between 3 days and a week...best thing for it is usually sleep

i'm off to my Chinese neighbour's place at 7pm for dinner...exciting as it is the eve of the Chinese New Year and Australia Day eve also...trying to figure out what to take along at such an auspicious time, i've come up with some red gerbras - red's prominent in Chinese culture and some wine, which was recommended on some web site for a gift for Chinese New Year...along with practical things like ipods, laptops, electronic organisers...i'm going with a bottle of wine - it's Linh and Chi - Chi's doing his Phd in Economics, which I'm a bit envious of...though looking at the guy, he looks like he's working so hard to get through it, he looks drained most times I see him...or maybe that's just Chi?

i went and practised at NSY by myself at around midday, it was a short practise, but i concentrated on my surya namaskar's and breathing a lot, so it was a nice practise...and i kind of felt some kind of improvement on the funk i've been in with this illness, which i'm calling the dread...

though, i'm trying hard to see these hard times as opportunities for awareness and enquiry - maybe the hard times in our lives are the best times for growth...or maybe i just need to rest

standing in the way of control...

i made a startling admission to my friend Emma today - i'm a real control freak...but wait, there's more - i'm also very impatient...i know, potent combination

i've just finished reading "eat, pray, love" and it's inspired me to make time for some more seated meditation...and, over the last couple of days i've given it a go...it feels great, sit down for 10 minutes, bringining awareness to the breath...those inevitable thoughts conspire to occupy the mind, but bring the attention back gently...10 minutes later you feel like you've had a mental spring clean...you can clearly see some of your old thought patterns come along, with the attendent emotions attached to alter your mood and outlook...but having this time seems to give these things space to dissipate...without the space the pressure of living seems to strengthen them in your mind and/ or change them to suit the latest set of circumstances...so, i guess, dissipating them kind of helps lessen the samskaras or embedded thought patterns which are ingrained in our psyche, somewhere, closely linked, it would seem, to our ego, or material sense of self...

to use a different metaphor, it's kind of like giving the house a good clean out every day...i might even find time this weekend for a good ol fashioned spring clear....

mangoes and coffee

my favourite barista no longer works across from our yoga school...today i found out why - the cafe owner isn't going to give her any more work, she's not sacking her, but won't give her any more work...i'm not sure of the difference?

dropped off Zenit Solutions 2008 accounts and tax return and the new classes of shares for Gautam and I...went to NAB Newtown to get the branch manager to sign off on my statements for 2008, as part of my UK visa application...almost there...next wednesday I'm down to Canberra to lodge my docs in person...

didn't practise today, which i always have a problem with...not happy when i don't

oh, and there was a nice mango for lunch and a couple of really good coffees to help me through the day :)

struggling against the impossible...

today was hot in sydney today...and that special kind of Sydney hot with a palpable amount of humidity...so much so that when i was driving home from yoga at midday, i was sweating as much as i might after a good half hour in a sauna...admittedly i'd just been practising some vigourous yoga and i was in a car that had been out in the sun for about 3 hours

i got home with the intention of putting a huge dent into the work of writing the document for the workshop from yesterday...but after having lunch and some chai, i was spent - lethargic, tired and a bit down on the world...so i picked up "eat, pray, love" and read a bit...the author is now in india at the ashram and having a hard time meditating, but coming to a few realisations that i have, in different words...my struggling in my career doesn't push the world along - the struggles i feel in my work are a lot to do with the struggles in my thinking and are burdens that are self made, and are very heavy to carry around...in fact, the best way for me to put my best actions and intents out into the world are for me to be rested and balanced and not devote so much mental and emotional energy to working things out in my head

i had this same feeling with working on my UK work visa - that's something I'd poured so much mental energy into and now i was being paranoid about tracking the package that i'd sent (which, as it turned out was very close to it's destination - i'd just been checking the wrong part of the web site for my consignment - domestic instead of international)

so, today, i was finally not working on getting ready for a workshop, or getting my visa together, or organising my trip...the sense of relief, much like the humidity, was palpable :)

back to it...

back to work today, at least paid work...getting my uk visa details together has been a lot of running round...

working for a baked goods milling company in their product development area...quite interesting and good to be back in the thick of some good solid work...thoroughly enjoyed it too...the dynamic worked pretty well, expended a fair bit of effort leading the discussion, but found that i could open the discussion to the other 2 folks, for them to take up the effort

i do like being independent though - Extend (my old employer) have got me in to do the work, it's nice to be able to do about 3 days worth of work over 2 weeks, take my time preparing and analysing, rather than being thrown from one job to another and feeling like i'm barely keeping my head above water...

i'm pretty paranoid about the visa. reckon i've checked the TNT web site for my consignment about 50 times...the only action on it is that it says that the consignment was picked up yesterday at 2.50...i'm hanging out to see it move somewhere else

though, i'm pretty happy also to take things easy through summer, get the visa well and truly sorted, then head over to India for a good look around...most especially Mysore :)))

the heat is on...

muggy sydney weather agrees with me, though having to get around the city sometimes doesn't. Sunday (yesterday) took me out to my business partner's house in Kings Langley via the M4 and M7. pretty efficient motorways.

i was out there in my quest for the UK Tier 1 Points Based General Work Visa. I say quest because that is actually what it feels like, making the search for the Holy Grail and Frodo's jaunt to destroy the one ring that rules them all pale in comparison for the search for the UK work visa...

maybe it's my suspicion that the universe isn't exactly working with me (i was going to say mistrust, but that's too strong a word). it seems that this process is a perfect example of me being able to convince myself that things are going to go against me...and, somehow feeling guilty about applying - as if my details and information aren't authentic...maybe this is a symptom of western society, it's members feel as if the "system" sees them as guilty, until proven innocent? reading all the information on the web about applying makes you feel like a criminal - if you lodge fraudulent information, you'll be refused entry for the next 10 years...

maybe thats part of the idea - make the process very complex and sometimes unclear, thus increasing the barrier to gaining the visa a little bit, so you have to be really committed and organised to be successful?

i don't know, most of the time it just leaves me feeling anxious...but i guess anxiety is an existential symptom...there's always something to be worried about, though, in most cases, we're not worried about "what is" but something that might happen...hmmm...

the catchup blog

i'm starting to appreciate the rigours of the committed blogger...remembering to put up a post everyday, the pressure's kind of on when you insinuate in your blog title that it's going to be daily...ah well...

friday night Tiffany and I went to a Japanese Ramen noodle restaurant in The Galleries Victoria in the city...really great fresh food...then walked down Pitt St towards the Opera House against a backdrop of Sydney festival bits and pieces going on and the general buzz of a Friday night in Sydney in summer on a coolish humid evening...

for future reference, that walk is spectacular - down Pitt past the fancy hotels and offices on the left hand side...the Opera House drew my attention, then, as you're walking along the buildings finish and the bridge looms large to the left as you amble towards the Opera House...

We had some interesting discussions about what makes us happy in our life and do we think we know ourselves. Tiffany's opinion on me is that I change my behaviour when I meet someone knew, which I shouldn't do. It's a fair point, though I think everyone tries to present themselves in a certain light in any situation - this is probably part of ego deception - i think i present this way in the world, when other people's perception might be completely different...i guess the way to deal with this is to recognise how you try to present...but not get too caught up in thinking about it too much...the recognition is a pretty valid process and it leads to some kind of truth or authenticity in knowing that you're attempting to present yourself.

I also got the third degree about how much i practise yoga and the way it limits me in some areas - staying out late at night, for example...and how I still seem confused about what makes me happy and what's important and acting authentically...if i'd been practising yoga for 6 or 7 years and i'm still not clear on these things, is it worth backing down a bit?

i guess some of the yoga philosophy talks about these questions, that when you're practising there will be a lot of uncertainty...it's not a linear progression at all...and that's definitely what i've experienced :) there are elements of faith that what you're doing will mean changes, sometimes it's hard to see whether these changes are good or bad - though these concepts are pretty abstract and subjective anyway - things are neither good nor bad, it's thinking that makes them so - the notion that things are what they are - this is what is...

underlying all this though, subtely and sometimes in such small increments, sometimes in large increments, i feel progress that is real...this to me is proof of the course that i'm following :)

trying to articulate this progress though, is...hmmm maybe a waste of energy?

forms...forms...then some more forms

in the world of form i had a full form day...filling out UK visa forms, at least most of the process is online now and the forms are relatively slick...that didn't save me spending 3 hours filling them out and 22 pages printing them out...

tomorrow, i'm off to the UK Consulate General Office in Sydney to get my biometrics done...i'm picturing something from mission impossible or james bond...more likely bond, since it's a UK visa :)

also impressed with the RTA, took less than half an hour to get my new 5 year driver's license...i had reason to pause today because my last NSW license was for 5 years, meaning another reminder that I'd been here 5 years...plenty of time methinks...and time to move on, for sure

the southerly busted the heat wave we'd been having at about 4 this arvo, right now the flat's opened right up and the southerly is gusting gustily and bringing some nice cool air to the city...ahhhhhhhhhhhh

my practise this morning was pretty tired, practised the full primary sequence. i was tired and grumpy...and distracted...my shoulders were riding up all over the place, but i got picked up for it in Dandasana and Ubaya Pandagusthasana...something to work on :)

beauty of bureacracy...

my Indian tourist visa now occupies a whole page in my passport, the singular most impressive entry in the passport, in an orderly kind of way. the rest of the stamps from korea, uk and turkey are haphazard, sometimes barely legible...the Indian visa is a work of art

work's now started in earnest for my UK work visa, through which there's a few hoops to jump...and after all that i have to schedule a biometric session...what bodily measurements will they be recording to identify me in future?

sydney's a scorcher, at 40 celcius...104 for the other people...!

working hard for the money...

after a short and pretty tired practise this morning, time for some breakfast at Blues Point Cafe, across the road from North Sydney Yoga. It's in a great spot, I really enjoy the scrambed eggs there...Dawie, from Extend called me about some work...my first work for 2009

and I tracked my India visa online, it's now ready for pickup in Clarence St in the city...3 day turnaround from when I lodged last Friday morning...efficient, transparent...there should be more of it!

i read this morning a little about venezuela and yesterday about Cuba and how their countries are faring politically and economically...and also about an American guy who predicted the problems in the world geopolitically with the clash of liberal democracy, under the American model, with other models around the world...seems that all the tensions that have been taking place between America...and, well everyone, specially the Arab world, Latin America...Russia...yep everyone may be due for a huge shake up, the time seems ripe - a reasonably leftist President, the American economy rudderless, in massive amounts of debt, confused and in recession - well the world's in recession really - meaning production is about to fall drastically, prices should be stable, but no one can get credit to make any more stuff...people are wary about paying too much for assets...what's the shift going to be? which industries will lead economies out of recession? looks like the onus is on governments, through fiscal policy to kick things into gear - the gear we seem to be in at the moment is probably neutral, facing uphill so more than anything moving backwards...the question then becomes which governments have the cash and what should they be spending money on - infrastructure - green energy initiatives, communications infrastructure - so Aus's National Broadband Network might be very, very, very well timed...

bondi mini trip...

so today i took a mini travel out to bondi, with my mate Emma. it went quite well, we arrived safely, after travelling from Newtown and enjoyed a swim on a 25 degree Sydney day. The water was summer warm...then up for a shop on the main shop strip...thing...followed by a white chocolate icecream...

on the whole a rather successful mini excursion, in preparation for my planned 10 months of travelling

i think i'll break my blog into sections. the first part being pretty much what happened during the blog period...the second being about some yoga and philosophy and stuff...

so, for any readers of the blog, they can read the bits of interest

part 2 - today in my practise i was having thoughts about what i called the phantom self - that idea you have of yourself that may be totally at odds with reality and the way other people perceive you...i kind of equated it with ego, but i think ego is too narrow a word to describe the phantom self. this phantom self is a bit like the phantom menace i suppose, though i'm not going to go into further conjecture today

Jan 11 - international travel preparation

so now i'm in preparation mode for the big trip...for those who know me even a bit well, you'll know my preparation routine borders on obsessive :) today is a test run at packing and all's gone well...so far

Est Departure Date = February 15, 2009
Next Vaccination = February 4, 2009

i'm writing my blog today with my headlamp on, my good friend Polly gave me some tips on stuff to take