Tag: Kieran

They will crawl up in your skin and they will come out from the walls, if you let them – 13th February 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

What do you believe that others do not?

– A daily writing prompt from stoameditation.com

I believe in fairness, justice, learning, compassion etc…  but so do many other people….

Perhaps there are things that other people believe that I do not, such as gods, more money will make you more happy etc…  Many people believe those things too though.

I feel like this is a trick question and should force you to contemplate all the things you do believe.  When you examine them all maybe there will be something there that no one else believes?

Is there anything that one person might believe that no one else believes though?  Even something obscure is likely to be believed by another person somewhere in the world. As you voice it for the very first time, someone else might agree!

What about this? Is there something you used to believe that you no longer do? When you stop believing something you sometimes block it out and disown it as if you never really believed it. Did I used to believe in ghosts? Some strange things happened that I couldn’t explain then but can explain now. Is that just learning and growing away from ignorance? Is it possible to grow so far away from ignorance, to be able to explain everything, to no longer have any beliefs? Is that some sort of nirvana the Buddhists idealise?

If you believe we live in a simulation then do you really know that one foot goes in front of another when you are walking or do you just believe it is so?

This stupid question has raised more than I’ve been able to answer. Ok, good. Keep the old brain ticking.

I’m off to start on my list of things I believe.

Who called?
What the hell did they say?
Get off the telephone right now
Don’t throw another minute away

Karate – There Are Ghosts

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful that I don’t have to teach at school for the next two days. Even though it was a late notification and bad planning it’s good for me anyways.

To-do list

  • Finish Kieran’s letter today! ✅
  • Study TOEFL templates ½
  • Connect with someone ✅
  • Random act of kindness ✅
  • Clear videos and emails ✅

I really enjoyed being able to sit in the quiet classroom and finish off Kieran’s letter as well as read a few other things and make some random notes. I skipped out in the afternoon so we could do some much-needed shopping. I don’t know if anyone will say anything tomorrow about not being there the whole day but it does feel a bit unreasonable to expect us to stay the whole day when there is nothing much to do.

It’s the constant annoying frustration of disorganisation and I am learning more to go with the flow.

Spent another enjoyable hour talking with Bruce and thinking of strategies to help him improve. I’m afraid it may be a long journey for him and I don’t want him to think that I’m just milking him for money so I will do my best to facilitate with what he needs to pass his exam.

I was calm and collected for the whole day and employed some of the techniques from the Smiling Mind meditations – becoming conscious of breathing and practising focus on people communicating – not just words but facial and body language, interactions within groups etc. When in those group communications I could have paused longer and forfeited my stories to enjoy theirs more. If I have that opportunity again tomorrow I will practice this.

Tomorrow I will spend all day reading, writing, learning and thinking.

The Chiang Rai Alternative Hour #19 – 4th January 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Music from R. Stevie Moore, Alamaailman Vasarat, Kustomized, Sun City Girls, The Monkees, Flesh Narc, Beastie Boys, Cheer-Accident, Milk Burp, Different I’s, Logic Circuit, The Skatallites, Rebel Truth, GIRTH, Mahavita, Toy Dolls, The Woolies, Angelic Upstarts, Lost Nation and Bleach.

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for our visitors who fill our home with action and variation. It’s nice to be able to share our experiences with other people.

From commonplace book

I’m much more interested in being a hero than a professional.

Billy Childish

To-do list

  • Get out of your own head and talk to people ½
  • Compliment people ½
  • Do something nice for someone
  • Upload TCRAH ✅
  • Write to Kieran and Chrissie ✅
  • Write blog about making friends

A busy and productive day – time ran away too quickly.

Mam and her family enjoyed breakfast and within an hour we had students.

I feel more confident today and have mostly pushed the negative from yesterday out of my mind. This was helped a lot by getting down my thoughts when writing to Kieran and Chrissie.

I was happy to receive a reply from Jochen. Well-considered and thoughtful ideas to my questions particularly about children. I look forward to composing a reply. He has also agreed to do some recorded responses for the podcast which provides me with the challenge to prepare and execute that.

I didn’t manage to do all the things on my list today, perhaps overreaching. I need to take into account that recording a new podcast can take up to three hours.

My self-control was only minimally tested today when Amy wanted to go to a local shop to buy some clothes for the funeral tomorrow. I was fine with this, to be honest – it was necessary. I do feel a little that I am sick at the moment though but mostly just dizziness and not affecting my mood.

We have a 5 am wake-up tomorrow and I hope I can get some extra sleep on the drive to Chiang Mai. I’m somewhat prepared with things to listen to on my phone and things to read. I don’t anticipate any other free time tomorrow.

Something I could have done better with today would have been to help Amy more with things around the house. I’m very lucky that she cooks and cleans for me all the time. It gives me lots of free time and I often feel somewhat selfish for that.

Koji is very good at skipping – 1st December 2004

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

restful day today, took a trip to the top of brooklyn hill and saw the views from the windmill. a huge blue still day.

down to the beachfront to have lunch in the sun. the sea was calm and we watched for dolphins, but got side-tracked by great food. it was beautiful to be a bit out of the city and yukari, jj and koji all seemed to enjoy the space.

had a nap when we came home and when jj and koji got up, they went and did skipping with the children on the footpath. koji is very good at skipping.

we went down to the cross bar for sound check at 7pm; it went quickly and smoothly and then went for turkish food for tea.

blow up dolls were on first, at times sounding rock and at other times early 80s influences came out. they have tightened up considerably since the last i saw them, and a few brave audience members got the dancing going.

the users were next, popular around wellington at the moment after the release of a recent cd, this group appealed to large parts of the crowd. at times crampsish, and at other 1960s rock & roll infused trash rock, a very slight and tight set. 

the audience had swollen considerably and the room was now looking really full. by the time limited express (has gone?) took the stage, the room was packed. many people who came to the tuesday night had returned to see them again. it was an impressive sight for the middle of the week. it was a hard set though; the band had several technical problems that had developed since sound check. yukari was having a lot of problems with her pedals and jj was breaking strings. but from an audience perspective you couldn’t tell that there were difficulties. the performance seemed even more intense and powerful than the previous night. yukari still has a sore throat but this did not seem to hinder her efforts.

halfway through the set, jj announced that they were going to donate a portion of the money they made from merchandise to the local anti-bypass action group. yukari, jj and koji all were interested in this local issue and felt they would like to help somehow.

the show reached its conclusion with huge energy, the audience calling for more, more. yukari took the mike and explained that all their gear was now broken and they could not play anymore, but asked the audience to remember them and come and see them when they next come this way.

a lot of merchandise was sold after the show, the tzadik album ‘feeds you’ was sold out, the single, tenzenmen albums, and t-shirts were all being bought as well. although it was hard for the band, it was a fantastic finish to such a short visit. i’m sure many will remember them and will anticipate and look forward to their return. i shall.

koji – “last night  was last gig in new zealand . i was very excited for many people coming.”
jj – “i regret because our last night show was not good. i wanted to play more exciting show. so I would like to come again new zealand certainly!!! ps – we appreciate wonderful kierans family!! thank you so much.”
yukari – “they took us to go around in daytime. very happy! because I can got clean air and nice nature view! on stage, i had some troubles, but  I enjoyed so much!”

It was on Tuesday – 30th November 2004

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

happy with lucky food bar & the greasy poorz and ditzy squall

the day seems to slip by easily. in the afternoon we cruise around cuba street, checking out record shops and eating.

at 5 we have a radio interview at radio active. we opened the interview with a track being played from the tenzenmen release eccentrics #2. sadly the interviewer was a bit of a dork and wasn’t very successful at getting the best out of us. but the music seemed to say it all and one listener we spoke too later said limited express (has gone?) came across really well but the interviewer didn’t look so good!!

later after more eating, we crammed the car full of gear and made our way down to a club called happy. set up and sound check was smooth and then all we had to do was wait. tuesday night is a shit night for a gig in most towns, but yeah to wellington and a good crowd came out to see limited express (has gone?)’s first gig in new Zealand.

lucky food bar and the greasy poorz were first up; the line-up was turntables, vocals and guitar. johnny marks was the vocalist and was almost diamanda galas in performance, an impressive first set.

ditzy squall followed up. a tight three piece dishing out uppy angular songs that bounced between shellac-like trance to choppy ‘blink and you miss it’. by the end of the set people were up the front dancing away and anticipation was building for limited express (has gone?).

the crowd had filled out nicely by the time jj, yukari and koji took the stage and ripped into their first number with all the energy you could hope for. all heads stayed turned on the band while they played and people danced and danced during the length of their set. the band finished with yukari bouncing in and out of the audience, then minus bass, and jj was on top of the piano at the side of the stage.

the audience hollered for more, an unusual sight for a tuesday night and the band returned to the stage in response for a rapturous encore and performed 2 more songs. some cds were sold and people hung around basking in the glow of a most excellent first night.

jj – “i am glad to meet wonderful family. so we played nice show today. today we want to introduce japanese new music to more new zealand people.”
yukari – “kieran, chrissie and their daughter are pretty good!!! i love so much! it was on tuesday, but many people came to our show! thanks a lot! i was excited!”
koji – “i was not nervous – kieran, chrissie and their family was very kind for us so we could play great gig.”

Boundless energy – 29th November 2024

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

we all grudgingly drag ourselves up this morning and almost silently navigate our way to the taxi and the airport where limited express (has gone?) head off to wellington for a couple of days and i head back to sydney in anticipation of the final show on dec 2nd which should be an absolute cracker!

over to kieran:
great to have limited express (has gone?) here at last. they arrive weary but happy to be here. they crash with us and fall in love with the kids. we talk briefly about the plans for the next few days, but good food and few beers and the boundless energy of the kids soon pushes anything serious into the background. we all sleep really well.