Week 17 – A few more coins in the Karmic fountain

This song is for my daughter, who for some reason really likes this track. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I have the original album (Waterloo) in vinyl, maybe if my daughter is good when she comes and visits me in September I might dig out the album and play it for her. That’s after I have finished explaining to her what a record player is… Worrying part in a way for me is pretty soon I’ll need to explain to her what a CD player is… Plus all those cassettes I have gathering dust in the corner of my cupboard.

Miss J, this is a record player, and no my house is NOT a museum, at least not yet…

BTW, this weekend signals a new episode in the life of the Capt., yes my new little pussy cat arrives on Saturday (hopefully). I have been lusting after a pussy for years (minds out of gutter please!), well ever since my family’s last lovely black and white cat quietly passed away.

Timmins, the black and white pussy cat…

Pussy cats have been in my family for years actually, in fact here is a picture of my dad with his cat before he went off to the Second World War.

He was also called Timmins, as were all our family’s cats.

Dad then went off and joined the Artillery and served in North Africa.

There’s my dad, back row, 3^rd from the left, with the slightly cheeky grin, he was a naughty boy…

Anyway, back to Timmins the 1^st, my dad was away for over 5 years, and old Timmins hung on until he came back. He lasted just 4-5 months after that, and dad was apparently really upset when he passed away. Timmins really made an impression on my dad. Our family was almost never without a cat for as long as I can remember. So I’ve waited a few years dad, but finally I’ve gotten around to carrying on the family tradition (Mum does have a cat, and he is a real rascal).

My dad, well as I said, he was a bit of a lad, or slightly naughty. I think he was lucky to snag my mum. Dad was a bit of a dancer, and my mum loved dancing, they met at a dance hall in Sydney.

Here is mum walking down the to my granddad’s store, which was at the old Paddy’s Market in Haymarket Sydney. The photo was taken sometime before the war. My poppy own a large green grocers business at the markets, mum used to do the books. Apparently she was often wolf whistled when she walked to work, she claimed not to like it, but I think she really loved it…

Mum was cute I think… Love the gloves, the hat and the net stuff…

The end result was this…

Yes that’s a little Capt. Savage, at home in our backyard…

So enough of my family, on to the Karmic score.

I have I think said all I need to say about our (Rose and my) week in Karma. You can check out our respective blogs for more details, for Rose see http://butimbeautiful.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/the-karmic-challenge-week-17-guru-fred-speaks/ and for my efforts see https://captsavage.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/week-of-karmic-action-week-17/

And the points… I was tempted to give all of Rose’s point to Guru Fred, whose wisdom is never-ending… But here is the Capt. Savage view, objections can be sent to WhoCares@GuruFredsAshram.com.au

		Rose		The Capt.
Week No.	Week Ending	Rose’s Weekly Tally	Rose’s Running Total	Capt’s Weekly Tally	Capt’s Running Total
10	30/05/2012	5	151	15	90
11	6/06/2012	10	161	10	100
12	13/06/2012	0	161	10	110
13	20/06/2012	20	181	20	130
14	27/06/2012	25	206	25	155
15	4/07/2012	200	406	50	205
16	11/07/2012	10	416	15	220
17	18/07/2012	10	426	50	270

(Note, I gave myself a couple of extra points for this week, Carpe Diem, Rose)

Bring on Week 18, and let’s see what chaos a pussy cat can do…

Capt. Savage

(Finally the Capt. has his own furry little pussy)

The Karmic Challenge – Week 16

The Karmic Challenge – Week 16.

Oscar was one of a number of dogs rescued from a puppy factory in central Victoria. Dogs had been neglected to the point that they required urgent veterinary care. ….Days later and recovering from surgery, Oscar was returned by authorities to the very people who failed to provide veterinary care and who had neglected all their dogs, not only Oscar. They have never been charged with cruelty.

THIS is Oscar, just rescued.

_______________________________________________________________

On 9 July 2011, 18 months after being returned to the puppy factory, Oscar was saved once again. His recovery has been gradual given the psychological and physical trauma he endured for five years of his life. Oscar is now safe….but there are still thousands of ‘Oscars’ hidden away on factory farms treated as breeding machines to supply the pet industry.

And this is Oscar now!

_________________________________________________________

This post is more about a worthwhile cause than about the Karmic Challenge, so I thought I’d better share it, as tomorrow I am going to plaster little posters and hand out leaflets about the horrible practice of puppy farming, for more details see Rose’s post or http://www.oscarslaw.org

Thanks for sharing this Rose, hopefully this campaign makes a difference, i.e. the Oscar’s Law campaign that is.

CS

Karma and a week lost in a very wet paradise

What Noosa Main Beach is supposed to look like…

In search of Karma on the Sunshine Coast with my kids and the master Karma Collector Rose

“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

I have just come back from a very wet week at what normally is a beach paradise, namely the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. Every 3 months I make a pilgrimage up to visit my kids who now live in Queensland with my ex-wife. Generally it’s a pleasant trip, with warm or hot days, lots of time spent at the beach, it’s quite simply a week usually spent in paradise.

So you get used to believing the advertising campaigns, where Queensland is described as ‘beautiful one day and perfect the next’, I went through this in my last post ‘good weather for ducks‘, so I won’t go back over old ground. But my last post was on the Tuesday of last week. Well it didn’t really stop raining until I pack everything up and drove my kids back to their mother’s place on Friday.

However regardless of the weather my kids had heaps of fun, as did I, and I believe so did Rose too (with the kids anyway). Also being stuck inside gave me plenty of chances to practice my new vice, namely playing the guitar, or at least torturing others while I practice.

Jade ‘enjoying’ my guitar playing

So how about Karma Capt?

Well I have to admit I felt like I was collecting Karma by the bucket load with the smiles coming from the kids, mostly Miss J who simply loved jumping in the water, mostly the heated spa however, Mr B is made of stronger stuff and stoically insisted in jumping into the pool. Now this was supposed to be a heated pool, but I think that as in my previous post the heating was simply there to melt the larger icebergs.

But the one who deserves all of the Karma is Rose. While she mostly avoided the pool whenever possible, she definitely is not in the slightest bit Eskimo, she did force a smile and put up with most of everything my kids chucked at her. Only on one or two occasions did she have to escape, one of those was her epic expedition to Noosa Heads (walking), but I think that she may actually have been escaping me and my damn guitar.

She also gave up a week with her kids, her animals, and even (god forbid) blogging mostly… She was starting to be a bit strung out by the end of the week, like a drug addict going cold turkey. And I must also mention that for almost the whole week before our epic trip she had the worst case of Lurgi, and was still swallowing buckets of antibiotics and generally rattling round like a pill bottle when we drove up to Queensland.

SO A BIG THANK YOU TO YOU ROSE – Maybe 100 Points… what do you think.

Rose and Miss J in the heated spa… where was I, well with the polar bears in the pool with my eskimo son Mr B…

For me, well I think I deserve some points, but they are my kids, so I suppose being nice to them isn’t too much of an effort.

And I should get some points for giving my ex-wife a kid free week to spend surrounded by washing and the other bi-products of having 3 kids to look after. I’m imagining her crumpled in a corner breathing heavy sighs of relief and perhaps slipping off for a quick massage somewhere, or god forbid getting a sleep-in.

So maybe I could get 25 points for spending the week with them?

This week however has been a bit of a disaster work-wise for me…

I have been a bit sleep deprived, my kids have been working me over, tag team wrestling style. My daughter likes to read before going to sleep, but I suspect it’s actually a tactic to get daddy to let her stay up later. Most nights she doesn’t get to sleep until well after 10pm. Then Mr J, my little downs boy, well he just LOVES waking up at around 4-4.30am every morning… So I think on my best night I got maybe 5 hours sleep. Now I can’t complain, my kids are a pretty happy lot, and don’t grumble (much), they are actually pretty easy-going (just like me).

Here is a stock picture of someone practicing my new work appreciation technique

So this week I got back to work and pretty much sat in my office looking absent mindedly at people, and pretending to be awake. On Tuesday morning it all caught up with me and I slept in (badly). The only reason I woke up was that another member of my team rang me on my mobile to say they weren’t coming into work. The call finally raised me from my zombie like, living dead state, and nearly fell out of bed when I saw the time. I then had to drag myself into work to face the music from my boss (arrogantus on steriodicus), who practically handed me a leave form.

Will I go back to the ‘Sunshine Coast’ again? Or will I take Queensland to court for false advertising?

Well of course I will, as the song says, ‘2 out of 3 ain’t bad’, and the previous 2 visits had been just fantastic. Even this visit was fun if wet, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed getting soaking wet more, nor jumped in as many puddles.

Will Rose ever accompany me on one of these expeditions again?

To be honest I have no idea, but I SO appreciated her help and company, that I’d pay her to come next time. But at least if I take anybody else with me to help, I now have the gold standard to compare to… Thanks Rose you are a STAR.

In September the kids are coming down to visit me, and I’m going to take them somewhere where I am hoping it’s also cold and wet, but at least it will be my choice and it will involve snow hopefully next time. At Christmas I am planning to take them back to the Sunshine Coast, when I am sure it’s paradise status will be restored. Plus in Sept when the kids come to my place I may be able to persuade Rose to jump in the pool with the kids again, or perhaps visit the beach with them, if I am a really good boy, just maybe…

Capt. Savage

(Slightly sleep deprived, but still a happy chappy, or maybe just feeling crappy for being back at work…)

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Good weather for ducks!!!

Ok, so why the pictures of ducks and floods Capt. Savage? And why ducks and floods in Queensland?

Well I am on holidays with my three kids up in Queensland, on the “Sunshine Coast’ which, according to the advertising campaigns extolling the virtues of Queensland, is ‘Beautiful one day and Perfect the next’. And it must be true, because I drove past the sign below on the way to Queensland.

I’m also here with Rose, who is part wood duck I think, but I’ll get to that story later. It has been great having her here as an extra set of hands, well actually it has been fantastic (thanks Rose!!), and also my daughter is no longer the only girl which is great for her too (plus for me).

(this sign should be enough evidence for me to take Queensland to court for false advertising!

Yep, since Rose, the kids and I arrived here it practically hasn’t stopped raining. Sunny it isn’t, but has it been bad all the time?

Well to be totally honest it hasn’t been that bad at all, once I got over the idea that you have to keep dry. Rose was the first one to get over that fact it was raining all the time. She is a very independent soul really, and decided to take off to the shops. The day before she had gone with my daughter in my car (but apparently hated it). Now I quite like my car, it’s comfortable, it’s large and bloke-ish due to it largeness (us guys are into our SUVs). But not Rose, to her it’s apparently like driving a Sherman tank… Not the most pleasant or easy experience for her (she drives a zippy little buzzbox thing).

Here is someone driving a Sherman tank… And don’t those big goggles look sooooo cute

Now with all of this wet weather we have spent quite bit of time indoors at the holiday unit we are staying at, and in shopping centres, and in the car, and in fact anywhere where it wasn’t wet (except by our choosing). We had even managed to jump in the heated pool at the place we are staying at, although heated is a loose term in this case. I think that there was just enough heating to reduce the incidence of polar bears and icebergs to close to zero, but not much else…

Nope, there were no polar bears or balding old men in our swimming pool (apart from me)

So Rose was getting a bit of cabin fever, she is not really an indoors kind of women I’ve noticed, so sick of being in prison with me, she decided to dash off for a spot of shopping (you know girls can’t help themselves). Just then the manager of the resort, which is a loose term in Queensland describing anything vaguely like accommodation, paid a visit attempting to find the cartoon network on the satellite channels (the kids had some of Rose’s cabin fever too). Rose said she wouldn’t mind going to the nearby shops and asked how could she get there, well apparently there was a ferry service, she could take me car (the Sherman tank), there was a bus, and of course you could always walk (only around 20-30 minutes). But as the man pointed out, it was raining.

Rose, never one for the easier option, decided to walk, the fact that it hadn’t stopped raining or looked likely to wasn’t going to deter Rose the Amazon. So on went her all-weather anorak, and into the storm strode Rose.

This could have been Rose except her coat wasn’t Red…

So an hour or two later a drowned rat turned up at the door to the unit, shopping expedition complete, puddles forming everywhere she stood, and triumphant having found suitable gifts for her family and even an adorable little butterfly necklace for my little cutiepie (Miss J).

But the image of a rain-soaked Rose, well it was kind of infectious. After lunch we were persuaded to go for a little walk outside with the intrepid explorer Rose. The fact that the rain was still pouring down, well did we care? Well to begin with YES, and once it started to come down heavier I thought enough is enough, let’s go back inside.

But instead we discovered that once you get a little bit wet, why should you stop there, soon we were all walking along the waterfront getting thoroughly drenched. Next we were starting to splash in puddles, then jump in them, and in the end we were walking in the gutters just to get a bit more wet.

This was us, off jumping in puddles

My kids haven’t had so much fun in ages and we ran, jumped, danced, sang our way along the street just having a ball. We even went jumping down onto the beach sand and were even tempted to jump straight into the water (but we held off on that one). But it is amazing that once you are soaked, getting a little bit wetter doesn’t bother you at all.

So what do you do when you are thoroughly soaked, well you jump into the pool don’t you. Or better still you jump into a hot tub, which is where we all ended up.

Rose was probably hoping that this dude was in the hot tub rather than me, but we all have to make sacrifices…

So was our wet old Tuesday on the Sunshine Coast fun? You bet…

Will we be doing it again? Yep can’t wait, the kids had a great time, and so did dad. I’m not so sure about Rose, but the hot tub was warm which maybe helped to defrost her a bit from her epic wetland tour.

And before I forget, there has been Karma Karma by the bucketload… Yep I’ll do a Karma post tonight, more to tell.

CS

(just 3 more days in paradise with the kids and Rose left)

12 weeks in Karma, or in search of it anyway!

Great song (at least I think so), not sure what it has to do with Karma, but nothing I am doing lately seems too Karmic, but some of its fun so who cares!!!

Boy George was one of my favourite singers when I was a young bloke going to discos. Not that it’s a particularly good disco dancing song, but I was a young bloke growing up in the country and I was still making the transition from Olivia Newton John and John Denver, so pop music sounded pretty good to me back then.

Also I was so naive that I thought Boy George was actually a girl, well until one of mates started laughing at me and asked me why I had his (I thought her) picture on my bedroom wall. What troubles me the most about that is that Boy George wasn’t really a very attractive woman, well if you look at him as being a woman?

Boy George, come on he’s a bit girlish… Or maybe I need stronger glasses

But this post is supposed to be about Karma gathering, so I suppose I had better get back on message. This week has been as busy as all heck so far, my life at the moment seems to be one long string of panicky crisis strung together by moments of fear (of the next crisis). No hang on, that’s just my work life at the moment, the rest of my life is in a slightly better place. But of late the work-life balance has been a bit more like the WORK–life balance, which is or has been a bit of a pain in the butt.

Someone else with a pain in the butt, wish I had a set of teeth like those…

So I can almost hear some of you shouting at me (yes that’s you Rose), if my job sucks so much why don’t I just get another one!!! Well I did a bit of research and maybe I have a case of eleutherophobia, of what? Yep I had nothing better to do but look up fears, and it’s the fear of freedom, cause at the moment I am feeling a bit like a galley-slave tied to an oar, with my boss above me whipping me to go faster…

Now if I was going to be a galley-slave, please let me look like Charlton…

The worst part about my job is that everyone (include my mum) thinks I get it way too easy anyway, and that a bit of a good old whipping across my back couldn’t do much harm, the curse of being a public servant. Actually being a ‘public servant’ in Australia is pretty much akin to being one of the untouchable in India. Except where I live (Canberra) where it’s kind of like a leper colony for public servants, nowhere else in Australia can we gather in numbers without the fear of persecution.

Oops Sorry, seem to have got stuck on a Hollywood theme somehow! But didn’t Sean Connery play a great part in this movie!

Damn, I was talking about my week in Karma wasn’t I, so I suppose I had better get back to the theme. It actually wasn’t too bad a week for me and Karma, well ignoring the fact that work is like being tied up on a rotisserie and being slowly barbecued that is.

Now here is a man on a spit, now don’t ask why… I don’t get it either, but for more you can watch the home movie http://www.iskratv.com/home_videos/6208b_023/

SO Karma

This week I finally managed to get to talk to my mother, she has new hearing aids and actually could hear me.

I did a good deed as well for an old woman who was blind, or at least badly visually impaired. I was at the supermarket doing a bit of late shopping on my way from slaving on the galley (i.e. work). As I was checking my shopping through the self-service area, and by the way I really hate self-service check-out, but that’s another story.

The dreaded self-service checkout, they are spreading across Australia like a plague just as ATM/Cash Machines did in the 1980’s.

Back to the old woman, I noticed the woman with a white stick pushing a trolley towards the doors. She kept banging into things, and looked totally frustrated. But nobody did anything to help her, and plenty of people including me could see she was in trouble. So I thought, why don’t I just lend her a hand. It was so easy to just help her push the trolley back to the trolley collection bay outside and then off she went with lots of ‘thanks sonny’ etc. Man she must have been blind to think I was young enough to be called ‘sonny’, but I felt good for doing very little. The rest of the selfish lot continued to ignore each other in at the checkout, I suppose that’s part of the new internet driven human condition.

So Rose maybe I should get 10 points for that?

Then there was our epic trip to the snow fields, where I heroically offered to drive down and act as the token male. It was such a torment being outnumbered 3 to 1 by females, all vegetarians, all intelligent, I felt like the man on the skewer. I stoically tolerated all that happened to me, including being dragged kicking and screaming up into the snowy heights of Mt Kosciusko (and yes I know it now is spelled with a Z).

Here is a picture of my chief tormentor, doing her impression of a human statue (impressive)

Actually I had a really good time down at the snow, nice and relaxing, lots of good healthy discussions and time out in the fresh air. Plus the unit we stayed in was fantastic and I’d love to stay there again if the opportunity presents itself. Also the scenery down at Thredbo was lovely, in fact the whole resort is really picturesque.

The lounge room at Billies

The outside of Billies

So seeing as I had a great time, perhaps I should be thanking the three ladies for allowing me to accompany them (too right they’d say). It was a relaxing and pleasant weekend really, even being the taxi driver for the girls was pretty easy actually. Plus I now know how to fit snow chains to my car (not that I actually needed them).

Maybe Zero points, because I’d have to give them to Rose for letting me tag along. Thanks Rose!!!

The Eskimo bride, an interesting concept!

By the way there was an Eskimo, or maybe I think Japanese, wedding party up at the top of the mountain in the snow, just out of sight the groom was getting out of his ski gear which revealed his tuxedo, very cool both metaphorically and physically I thought. The poor bride however sat patiently freezing to death while the photographer took photos.

This is where Rose and I had coffee and scones, and witness the Eskimo wedding party, yes we were slumming it at the highest restaurant in Australia… (great views, good coffee, not bad scones)

There wasn’t nearly this much snow there last weekend by the way

Rose also forced me to watch a Sacha Baron Cohen film, yes she dragged me upstairs, practically tied me to the chair, shoved match sticks in place to hold my eyes open, and then made me watch Ali G Indahouse… Actually if you are game you REALLY should watch it as it’s a real HOOT (embarrassing really)

Promo clip for Ali G Indahouse… Thanks Rose I loved it…

Now I’m not going to claim many points this week, but on Friday I disappear to Queensland to visit my kids for the week. I am planning to collect Karma like Lance Armstrong full of performance enhancing drugs, which won’t be much of an effort because I love my kids. Rose will also be collecting heaps of Karma points as well, but I’ll let her describe her experiences.

I’ll be posting the points up after Rose does her post, which maybe be delayed this week as she is feeling as sick as a dog with the flu, hope she get better soon!!!

Capt. Savage

(BTW I don’t think Lance used performance enhancing drugs)

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Karma Karma Karma, maybe if I say it enough, it will come?

Maybe my quest for Karma is a mad as the plot in this Kevin Costner film? 

Costner’s character builds a baseball field in the middle of a corn fields, his character’s corn field, all the while he is being visited by the ghosts of long dead American baseball heroes (note Rose, they were all males). The tag line from the movie was ‘if you build it they will come’. So now I’m wondering, if Rose and I do good deeds will the Karma actually come???

A Week 11 Poem (why not)

So Rose, to reinvigorate our aims

Here’s my week 11 state of the game

Now according to the Dalai Lama

There are rules to follow to gather Karma

Not that I’ve always followed rules

Not even when I went to school

My mum and dad used to despair

You see I wasn’t always a cuddly bear

My friends they also thought me a pain

Or maybe just a bit insane

But never mind what they all thought

I really wasn’t too bad a sort

But lately I have realised my bad

It’s made me feel a little sad

So Karma gathering, now that’s my aim

Just maybe I’ll never be the same

So thank you Rose, for this fine quest

Let’s see which one of us does the best

But just to clarify our aims

The score points, well it’s not the game

You see self-improvement, now that’s the goal

To do otherwise won’t help our souls!!!

 

Here are the Dalai Lama’s rules for Karma gathering

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s: – Respect for self, – Respect for others and – Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
20. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

(Refer to http://www.spiritualnow.com/articles/25/1/20-Ways-to-Get-Good-Karma/Page1.html/)

Plus apparently you can ask the Dalai Lama questions using the link below, just in case the totally insightful advice from Rose and I just isn’t enough for you! (go figure Rose)

Ask The Dalai Lama a Question (go on I dare you)

Now where was I?

Oh that’s right, week 11 and the score…

The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur, I’ve been busy doing everything EXCEPT focussing on gathering Karma. I’ve also neglected my blogs, my Facebook page, my Twitter account, my life has kind of been full of well, LIFE, you know, that physical stuff that happens OUTSIDE of my apartment/flat/unit/appartamento/appartement (relevant word depends on where in the world you live). So last week I went out with my bestie Rose to listen to a guitarist/songwriter, this is my Facebook post (and no I won’t put in the link, I’m trying to stay anonymous)

My Facebook post…

“I went to a new venue in Canberra I’ve never been to before, Smiths Alternative Bookshop in the city with my best friend Rose, it was an interesting night with dinner at a little bar/restaurant in Alinga St (can’t even remember its name) and then to the bookshop for a session with a guitarist/singer/songwriter called Brendan Gallagher, you can check him out at http://www.brendangallagher.com.au/fr_home.cfm, was a pretty laid back night, not what I had planned, but great guitar work and Brendan did 2 sets filled in with a running conversational style about himself and his music. Not a bad way to spend the evening.

Yes Rose and I were (TaDa) — at Smiths Alternative Bookshop

And here is a picture of Brendan (he looked a lot rougher on the night)

The interesting coincidence in picking this show was that Brendan also fronts a band called Karma County, now that’s a Karmic coincidence, and he played a few of his Karma County songs on the night. So we, Rose and I, ended up collecting Karma (musically) without even knowing it. If you visit the website you can opt to listen to some of Brendan’s songs as they play in an endless loop while you are visiting his website.

Actually the weekend was spent gathering Karma, I took two women out (very nice of me) apart from enjoying the company of the blogoliscuous Rose, that’s got to be worth points (them putting up with me).

So it was a good weekend overall? Well yes it was, I spoke to my daughter, that always cheers me up no end. I would have spoken to my mum as well, but she has managed to break her hearing aids, and here I was thinking how rude of mum not answering her phone on the weekend.

 

Maybe mum needs a set of these?

Now Rose and I are about to disappear to visit the snow fields, which is quite a quest for Australia (not a very snowy country). And I must point out it’s not for our own benefit, but for her daughter and her friend. We of course won’t enjoy it one bit (not half)… Rose I believe, intends to stay indoors, stay warm, read, lay about and generally do a human interpretation of a vegetable (couldn’t be a cow, cause she doesn’t eat meat, plus, well she just isn’t one).

Me? Well I’m tempted to wander outside and see the wildlife at the ski resort (mostly women wrapped in layers of furry stuff I think). Plus there is talk that the two of us may venture out one night and continue our quest for dating mediocrity or our endless search for rejection.

 

Yep, I know, it’s such an easy quest, I just ask a question of a girl and chances are…

So how in Karma did we do???

 

Note that on Week 8, I gave Rose bonus points because she spoiled me rotten for my birthday (and I loved it). Me, well I think I’ve reach 100 (is that fair Rose?). Some may say, a sweet guy like me should get points just for breathing, but maybe I’ve been looking in the mirror too much (ego is not a dirty word).

(Ego is not a dirty word, classic Aussie band Skyhooks from 1975)

And Yes Rose, I have turned the page, back to weekly Karma posts, back to chasing Rejections, back to the blogosphere and my virtual existence…

Capt. Savage (Been out in the real world and it scared the bejesus out of me)

Another week of Karma Gathering

(The Dalai Lama, even he has his moments)

Gathering Karma, who thought it would be so tiring or hard!!! But Rose and I set out on this journey, and I am not a quitter, although this week was a bit of a struggle, Karma gathering wise.

Rose however has had a wonderful week full of full of stellar achievements. Maybe the benefits of her Karma efforts have come to fruition early. Well deserved I say!!! But for me the struggle continues, well not that much of a struggle, but I was trying for dramatic…

Ok, now I admit it, I have been a bit of a naughty self-indulgent boy of late, especially this week while on base. It’s hard to be too Karma-ish, when every night you are having dinner served to you at the officer’s club. 3 meals a day for 7 days makes it easy for see why so many older Army officers are having their own battles of the bulge.

Plus I went crazy, bought myself new clothes, a washing machine, a new mobile phone and finally an iPad, which I am typing on right now. Bit hedonistic I know, but what the heck, and my daughter is just going to love it… She has been pestering me to get one of the apple things, and I just can’t say no to her… Which is fine now when she’s 8, but maybe I should start learning to say no soon, just maybe (but us part-time dads really struggle with this concept).

So what did I do all week, if I wasn’t Karma gathering? Well marching around the base, following orders, listening to lectures, taking tests, yep I was at a week long Army training school. Fun you may think, but the Army has researched all of the alternatives and refined the art of total boredom. But I was with a great bunch of people, well mostly, but maybe that’s a story for another post.

So how did I go in the Karma gathering stakes while stuck behind the walls of the Army barracks, well I was kind of nice to the staff at the mess, was very polite to the senior officers (but that’s kind of expected). I was generous with the guys when we went out for dinner on Friday night and took them to a great Italian restaurant a friend had recommended. Plus caught Men in Black III, which was an act of Karmic Excellence, as I totally resisted the urge to criticise the ancient and decrepit Tommy Lee Jones or the silly 3D stuff. apparently I should have seen Borat’s latest creation ‘the dictator’, which is apparently hilarious, although considering I’ve seen the original Borat movie I am struggling to see how this could be so.

So actually I don’t think I deserve any points this week, but next week I am back in the game and Rose and I will also soon be commencing our great dating game of death, or is that taking a spin on the great rejection game. I’m really looking forward to going somewhere, trying to chat up ladies, getting slapped and well laughing about it. For once I’ll be out doing what us guys do best, without performance pressure… Can’t wait…

Plus for once a post without many pictures… Why you may ask? Well obviously I haven’t figured out how the hell to do that yet with this iPad thingy, but have no fear!!! Soon my posts will be flooded with badly chosen and totally irrelevant stock photos.

And ok, by the weekend I will update the Karma stats Rose, promise…

Capt. Savage
(No Karma to been seen here, but there is always next week)

Well another week and I have missed posting my week in Karma, so thanks Rose for this. Somehow I have always been busy doing something else. When I get back home I’ll post something, currently I am in Melbourne on Army duties, but loved the post Rose 🙂

The Karma Challenge – Week 8 (Disaster Strikes!)

The Karma Challenge – Week 8 (Disaster Strikes!).

In every challenge, there is a moment when the challenger takes on too much and comes crashing down on her karmic arse.

If I get run over now I’ll probably be reincarnated as a lonely witchetty-grub in a camp-ful of hungry indigenous people who’ve signed up for a traditional cuisine challenge with Bear Grylls.

So – last week I promised myself I’d go a whole week without saying anything nasty. For the non-Buddhists among you, Right Speech is the third tenet of Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. As the Buddha saith:

Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.

Trailertrash Deluxe, of whom I’ve spoken before, isn’t a fan of Right Speech, and I kinda get where he’s coming from (I think). I’m not that into BEING nasty but I really love being free to TALK nasty (just a little, sometimes) – plus that kind of talk’s a lot less boring than the nice kind (again, just a little, sometimes?).

Anyway, I tried. The results were..just nasty….

See the link above for the rest of Rose’s excellent and hilarious post, it’s pretty bloody funny as usual!!!

This week was a bit busy for me, as it was my birthday (also mother’s day on the same day).

Another week of Karma gathering, but I think it was a race to the bottom for Rose and I… Although I did do some good deeds… Rose was wonderful to me this week BTW… She made dinner for me, took me to the opera (Carmen) and then we had desert (and by that I mean fruit with cream and chocolate)… She’s me best friend… And I really appreciated being spoilt like that.

Now I am going to be a bit naughty and do my week 8 post tomorrow night, but in the meantime here is another sublime contribution from my best friend, the beautiful, the talented, the author, and the soon to be male stalking, Rose …

CS

(A lovely likeness of the Beautiful Rose)

Karmic Challenge Week 7

(Buddha has been around for a long time)

 In the Upajjhatthana Sutta (AN 5.57), the Buddha states:

“I am the owner of my karma.

I inherit my karma.

I am born of my karma.

I am related to my karma.

I live supported by my karma.

Whatever karma I create,

whether good or evil,

that I shall inherit”

So, another week of Karma gathering has gone by, and I’ve learned a bit as well… For ages I thought that Karma was a Buddhist only thing, well turns out I was wrong… As apparently it pre-dates it, this extract is from my extensive Google-ing, i.e. Wikipedia, “A concept of karma (along with samsara and moksha) may originate in the shramana tradition of which Buddhism and Jainism are continuations.” Refer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma/

Now why am I bothered with this, well I’m hoping to earn merit by my scholarly pursuits, because I certainly didn’t earn it from good deeds this week?

Well maybe I got a little Karmic some of the time, I spoke to my daughter and who enjoyed getting my letter, photos etc. this week, But I think that I already feel good enough about that, so maybe = Zero Karma points (but lots of warm fuzzies…), no my daughter did love the extra effort = 10 points

(My little cutie doing what all daughters should do, riding a cow…)

Plus, I went and had dinner with a really dear friend’s mum, which was great as she is the lovely est lady and pretty unreal for someone who’s over 90. I love my own mum to death, and I’m going off for the day to visit her this coming weekend, but she isn’t travelling nearly as well. But again, I enjoyed the experience and the meal, so maybe the merit has already been earned again, so = Zero points

This week I went for my first guitar lesson and had to wait until the student before me finished, which was interesting as this person was a lot further on than me. I at this moment am able to pick up the guitar, strum it (badly) and I’ve now learnt one key E Minor, which is a start I suppose.

Anyway, where was I, yeah, sitting on the lounge waiting, when up jumps this cute little terrier, presents his tummy and expects instant scratching. Now I’m familiar with this routine as my friend Rose’s puppies are also the occasional beneficiary of my tummy scratching expertise.

So Again, I had a good time, even after I’d stopped scratching the puppy and started scratching the guitar (at least I’m not learning the violin like my daughter).

So once again = Zero points + 10 points for the puppy loving = 10 points

(He was such a cutie)

On the score of my musical talents (or lack of them), so far I have tried to learn the piano, violin, sang in a choir (apparently my rhythm was good), played (very badly) the bag pipes and now the guitar… Maybe I should be handing out merit points to those who are game enough to put up with my musical tormenting (something akin to waterboarding).

So maybe I get points for NOT returning to the bagpipes? Or maybe not…

(That’s it; bagpipes are so easy to play)

And this could have been if I actually had talent or maybe was game enough to get this many tattoos…

And Yes Rose, I managed not to be rude to anyone this week (only just), but look out world my filter is off and I’m ready to rumble… But maybe I deserve 5 points for that = 5 points

On the score of the Great Karmic Challenge, here is Rose’s contribution…

http://butimbeautiful.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/the-karma-challenge-week-7/

Seems that neither of us had a really good week of Karma gathering, but I kind of agree with her, namely…

“Oh who cares about points really….”

Well you know Rose, I do care!!!

And for your heroic efforts in locating you errant puppy Coolac,

I think that definitely deserves some points = 10 points

(Here is Coolac dripping wet from a swim in the dam near Rose’s place, Gucci is the cute furry thing…)

Plus for making your mum cliché, well at least 5 points I think (maybe extra seeing as you, her and your relatives appear to have lived thru the experience) = 5 + (5 for everyone surviving) = 10 points

So I think we are even for this week, or maybe Status Quo even…

		Rose		The Capt.
Week No.	Week Ending	Rose’s Weekly Tally	Rose’s Running Total	Capt’s Weekly Tally	Capt’s Running Total
0	21/03/2012	0	0	-7	-7
1	28/03/2012	12	12	13	6
2	4/04/2012	15	27	18	24
3	11/04/2012	10	37	11	35
4	18/04/2012	10	47	11	46
5	25/04/2012	4	51	-3	43
6	2/05/2012	15	66	12	55
7	9/05/2012	20	86	25	80

 (Don’t worry, and I know you won’t be, but you are still the Karmic Champion)

So what’s in store for this coming week…

Rose is going to do more charity work by befriending an old person, I have to hand it to her, she’s an inspiration really…

And me?

Well, next week I am sponsoring a child through World Vision

And I’m buying a t-shirt, but not one as noble as Rose’s perhaps…

Hope everyone has a great week!!!

J

Capt. Savage

(Yep that’s me… a full on Narcissist)