Last posts on engagement

Deeper Voices

2008-05-08T02:20:00+02:00

I read Barbara Bash's True Nature: An Illustrated Journal of Four Seasons in Solitude (2004) today while sitting in the sun with the dog. It's a simple, lavishly watercolour-illustrated journal of a retreat in the woods, taken during seven days in Summer, seven in Spring, seven in Fall, and ending with seven days in Winter. She's a Buddhist (Chögyam Trungpa is her meditation teacher) who is struggling with fatigue, fear of the dark, a need to do, a certain restlessness, loneliness, self-doubt.

This first journal entry reminds me of the 'grief' I wrote about yesterday:

"My insides are heavy. There are voices tisking and shuddering at such laziness, but I am listening to deeper voices."

That's how I feel. I can hear the voices that tisk and shudder, and, I can hear voices from a deeper place, and I am listening to them.

In Winter, she says something that seemed to me to reframe the dilemma a friend expressed earlier in the day:

"Here in this cabin for six days these demons of pressure and critique can be -- what? Loved? Banished? Teased? Ignored? Put down for a nap? ... It has been a day of doubt. The wind of my mind blew me around. Here's the dilemma -- to articulate the confusion, describe it, know it -- or to label it 'thinking,' let it go and return to the breath. I walk both paths."

It seems it's often a question of whether to engage with the confusion -- to work with the pain, resentment, desire for connection, longing for affinity, fear of disappointment, hope, lack of trust -- or to recognise that those feelings, opinions, beliefs, reactions, and thoughts are just 'thinking' -- they're transitory, they're a fantasy our mind weaves, they can be released. Yes. We do both.

CONGRATS ADRIAN!

2007-08-16T22:10:17+02:00

News from Adrian (a517d0gg):

There has been an RFI on recent changes to my romantic status.On Sunday, August 5th, I asked Ruth, my girlfriend, to marry me, and she said yes. Actually I didn't really ask her, I just slipped the ring on her finger while we were watching our little bonfire down at the beach in the Finger Lakes. I guess I don't have the panache of TDAXP, but then again if I had asked her on my blog she never would have seen the question! We'll get married next summer.We are planning to have the reception at the Rochester Science Museum. A cocktail hour in a room with a wooly mammoth in the middle - I'm excited.Now back to your regular programming (of political rants and soccer videos).

CONGRATULATIONS!

Initial Consultation

2007-06-19T19:40:00+02:00

Lady of tdaxp and I paid a visit to the Wolzen Law Office, a member of the American Immigration Lawyer Association lawyer in Lincoln, Nebraska. We were impressed -- the consultation took about 70 minutes, and questions we did not know that we had were answered.The initial consultation lasted about 70 minutes, and went over future steps, both free things that can be done today and more involved things in a few years time.Because the USCIS is raising its fees at the end of July expect some movement on our part before then.

Les Mines aujourd'hui

2007-06-12T12:40:00+02:00

Les mines antipersonnel et autres restes explosifs de guerre continuent à représenter une menace, à mutiler et à tuer sans discrimination bien après la fin des hostilités. Elles sont en outre un obstacle à la reconstruction et à la relance économique après conflit. Les mines ont pour particularité de causer des blessures graves, notamment l’amputation d’un ou de plusieurs membres, et de toucher, la plupart du temps, les populations civiles. Handicapés à vie, les survivants de ces engins ont besoin d’une assistance à long terme.Les gouvernements ont réagi à la crise humanitaire provoquée par les mines antipersonnel et les restes explosifs de guerre en limitant l’emploi des mines terrestres dans le Protocole de 1996, en interdisant les mines antipersonnel dans la Convention d’Ottawa de 1997, et en définissant les responsabilités en matière d’élimination des restes explosifs de guerre après les hostilités, dans le Protocole de 2003. Ces trois instruments constituent le cadre juridique international visant à prévenir et atténuer les souffrances humaines causées par les mines antipersonnel et les restes explosifs de guerre.

Les Mines, c'est quoi ?

2007-06-09T12:50:00+02:00

Les mines sont reparties en trois grandes familles en fonction de leur emploi : > mine antichar > mine antipersonnel > mine marineQuelles sont les méthodes de mise en œuvre ?> Les mines terrestres sont des armes qui ont initialement été placées manuellement sur le terrain. Elles sont généralement camouflées et placées sur des zones tactiquement intéressantes.> Il existe néanmoins des semeurs de mines aérien. Il s'agit de conteneurs embarqués sur des avions ou des hélicoptères qui permettent de disperser des milliers de mines (en général antipersonnelles) sur une large zone en quelques secondes.> À noter qu'il existe aussi dans la nomenclature internationale des bombes à sous-munitions (BASM) produisant des effets proches des mines antipersonnel. Il s'agit de containers d'explosifs, souvent largués par voie aérienne, censés avoir un effet immédiat. De fait, une proportion non-négligeable des sous-munitions contenues, dispersées sur plusieurs hectares, n'explosent pas au moment de leur impact (de 5% à 30% d'un contenu d'un millier de petites bombes par conteneur), et restent déclenchables ultérieurement dans les mêmes conditions que les mines antipersonnel. La différence est importante puisque l'emploi de ces BASM n'est pas régi par le traité d'Ottawa, et ne fait l'objet ni d'interdiction au plan mondial, ni de reconnaissance en tant que «résidus de guerre», susceptible de donner lieu à déclaration cartographique, nettoyage, ou réparation.

Props

2007-05-16T05:48:45+02:00

Many thanks to Brendan, Mark, and Sean for their posts celebrating the engagement, and of course to everyone who left their kind words and comments.

Ni hao from the happy couple!

Gotta go -- checkout in 13 12 minutes!

Let's spend our lives together

2007-05-14T15:10:00+02:00

I write many things, but I do not know how to write it.I don't know how to say it.And you know my voice -- you would not want me to try to sing it!Unlike you I am not an artist. I cannot draw it or paint it.More than I can write, say, sing, draw, or paint,I love you.Feifei,Will you marry me?