Dear Diary

Dear Diary,

It's been so long since I've suffered from insomnia that I just don't know what to do with myself. When I was a kid I'd wander the house on sleepless nights at least once a month. Now it happens once a year at most. So I figured I'd sign on to A2K and see what I've been missing when I'm too busy to poke around. I stumbled in here and read through a few posts but I didn't get too far before I started getting drowsy. (Please, don't anyone think that's a reflection on their posts.) I suppose it had become a habit in my Abuzz days when I had troouble getting to sleep. No, it was before my Abuzz days....when I was daticng the insomniac....LOL We'd email each other whenever either of us awoke and couldn't get back to sleep. We often missed each other by mere minutes. <sigh> I suppose the sleeplessness is a sign of some sort. Either I need to start practicing yoga more faithfully again or I'm just not getting enough solitaire.

Dear Diary,

We went to Quimbaya, Department of Quindio this weekend and rafted the river Rio De La Vieja on a raft made of bamboo (Guadua) logs lashed together. The river is cold and great for swimming. There are some mild rapids that are fun to float through wearing your required live jacket then you can hop back on the raft and warm up in the sun. Our poleman was a darn near profesional comedian and had us in stitches when we weren't in the water. The scenery is rolling, steep hills with mixed forest and pasture dotted with those white Bramhas. Some of the prettiest countryside I've seen in Colombia. In the twelve or so kilometers we floated we didn't pass a single house. Really pristine. To get there you have to take a bus to the town of Quimbaya about four and a half hours from Cali. It's a little ways past Armenia which you can see from the bus down in the vally as you're passing by. Quimbaya looks like a happening town. I saw four bars and a discoteca along just one block facing the plaza. Lots of young chicas patroling hmmm...Ah, where was I? Oh yes so the outfitters meet you there and transport you in (Colombian made) Willys Jeep to the riverside lodge about another half hour on winding country roads. You have a great dinner tipica of the region and spend the night in comfortable beds but have to share the room with other tourists as each has three or four beds. My wife was a little put off at first but ours was a three bed room and our room mate was a quiet old guy in his seventies. She ended up not minding at all. Lunch on the float was rice, chicken, potato and yuca wrapped in banana leaves. Very tasty.

Pitter,
You just H A V E TO G E T a digital camera and post some pictures. I believe you could sell a collection of your postings and pics....seriously.

Maple
he does post them at the MF site.

Dear Diary
Dear Diary,

Tonight I am very concerned. An American friend of mine who has been living here in Colombia about four months went missing today. His soon to be wife with whom he lives said he went to an internet cafe this morning at about 8:30. The employees said he left after about ten minutes but he didn't make it back to their apartment which is only a block and a half away. He's a complete homebody and seldom goes anywhere with out his future wife. There were no accidents in that area today. We'll be sitting by the phone.

wow Pitter - could it be a kidnapping?
hope things turn out and it's just a mix-up

Husker here's an update. My friend is home safe and sound but pretty roughed up. Turns out three guys threw him in a car as he left the internet cafe this morning then drove around all day trying to find out how to get more money out of him and find out where he lives. They spoke no English and he speaks little Spanish. They let him out of the car early this evening minus his documentation and shoes. Evidently the intent was just robbery and not kidnapping.

Glad it turned out now worse that it did.

Thanks Husker. Most Americans here say never travel out of the cities except by plane. A European friend who lives out in a mountain village says he's afraid to come to the city...too dangerous. Looks like he's right.

Dear Diary,
The Grandson has dubbed me PAW, that is his translation from grandpa. I am becoming his designated playmate; a role I enjoy.

How many A2K gatherings are now in the mill? Are they all listed under North America and Europe?

Dear Diary,

So much has happened since I last spoke to you, but I think I can divide the events into 2 major parts.

My surgery - I went into the hospital on Fri afternoon. The hospital is very nice, and the staff was absolutely lovely, even when they were hooking me up to all kinds of weird looking monitors (Damn it, I am here just to take a tooth out innit ??) But I guess, they have to give you yr money's worth ( and 350 quid a night, just for the room is a LOT of money). But when two good looking (male) nurses turned up at 1700 hrs and asked me to take off all my clothes and don a gown (which was open at the back) was the first time my brow furrowed. Imagine if something ..errr..umm..would have decided to rear its head then - how embarassing it would have been !! But I guess the fear of going under the knife was far greater than any other thought when seeing eye candy in a semi nude state. But they chatted all the way through the (pretty eye pleasing, but still grim) corridors, calling my trolley as a "limo" In the anesthetic room, they inserted that thingie in my hand through which they inject IV fluids and it really really hurt. Then my surgeon came to say hi, sort of the hangman before he tightens the noose, and then my anesthetist turned up (and he was an Indian), so I gave a couple of choice hindi abuses to the needle in my arm, and he just smiled and told me to wait for a minute.

The next thing I knew was that I opened my eyes in the recovery room, abt an hour and 3/4s had passed since the time the Indian bloke asked me to wait a minute, my mouth was hurting like mad and every one was smiling at me. Seeing my puzzled look, I was told that the first thing I asked while I was coming to was for someone to kiss me, so that I can determine whether or not I still have feelings left in my lips and tongue - which caused an amusing moment in the recovery room, while making me blush (I think). But the pain was bad, so they kept topping up my blood with morphine and chasing it with salt water, after which I adopted a smiling, glazed I don't give a f*** look. I was kept in the hospital overnight (and had a dinner of lovely mango sorbet) but could not sleep properly as they kept popping in to take the readings of the weird BP monitor which fired up every hour or so and squeezed my arm like anything. (Btw, if anyone of you are fond of getting squeezed, I strongly suggest you invest in one of them). But they disconnected it at arnd 0200 after seeing that I am not gonna die on them, and I could get some sleep, only to be woken up at 0600 hrs for, guess what, another squeeze, this time for the handover between the night shift and the morning shift. But the pain was much less, and after spending an agonizing half day in the hospital, getting bored out of my skull, I was finally allowed to go home !!

My job - Some of you knew that I was trying for a transfer to Hungary. They finally offered me the transfer but not on an international package (which I was asking for) but on a local package (which I rejected). The difference between the two packages was abt $4000 a month, which I really needed to maintain my setup in LOndon, while maintaining a similar lifestyle in Budapest. So I guess I am stuck in London for sometime again. My mentor says to be patient and wait till the current cost pressures on the organization ease up and then try again. He says people do want me, but the cost at which I come is not very realistic in the current economic scenario. Well, look at the brighter side of things. I still have a job, unlike many others, since redundancies are almost a daily occurence in the bank now.

Life is being taken at a relaxed pace now. Since now I know that I am not going to Hungary, I can start taking my current job more seriously. Am dating a wonderful guy (ok, I have just had one date with him, but I am seeing him again tomorrow) and since I have come off antibiotics and painkillers now, I can drink properly again. So all in all it is not bad. Was a bit depressed after the Hungary fiasco, but my mom had some words of wisdom for me, asking me not to be too ambitious, telling me that I have attained quite a bit at an early age, and to count my blessings. Nothing like a good dressing down from yr mom, no matter what yr age is, to see things in their proper light !!

Hugz

Gautam,
Interesting report...loved the details. You and Pitter could put out a book of your personal experiences.

Glad you're better Gautam, and getting to know someone better too!

Dear Diary,
Dear Diary,

I think I think too much...if that makes sense...but I do love writing things down, so hence my release now is my little journal I carry everywhere with me for moments of inspiration or boredom or madness...pretty much anything. I hope everyone else doesn't mind, but I thought I would share some of my rants with you..this is my way of documenting my personal thoughts and life which I have been filling with thought, poems and pictures since I was 14:

Written mid 2002:
"Something has clicked inside of me which tells me everything is OK. Something from deep inside has reached out and placed a hand in mine, reassured me, that even in change is good. My happiness is in my hands, my destiny, my peace, yet reaching it is harder than I ever thought it would be. My own definition of spiritual and emotional peace has changed. It used to be the praise I received, the pats on the back. Now it is just being allowed to be me. To just live and be happy, to smile a genuine smile unscathed by a disapproving glance, to be able to hold the one I love in my arms. To be there for others if they are lost. To just be...at peace with the world."


Written end of 2002:
"Bring to me the strength to acept what I have and what I cannot have. What I have:
1. Mental and physical health
2. Infinite love and caring inside
3. A basic goodness
4. A connection to the spiritual world
5. Faith in learning and that everything happens for a reason

I have the ability to be happy but want to achieve it on a minimalistic scale, not chasing unstable goals which can be taken away.

Your mind can be either your best friend or your worst enemy!"

I will add more to these when I wish to share my them...I hope they made sense!!

Thanks, great forum idea

Carrie

Hey Maple leaf - will u buy my book if I wrote one (it probably would be rated 18, but I think most of A2K members should not have a problem with it)

Gautam,
Sure, I'd buy one.

Carrie,
I love your prose. IMO, serving up your soul is always good reading.

Mapleleaf I bet you could put together an interesting book too. One doesn't have to be in exotic place to have thoughts and experiences to write about that interest the rest of us.

That's true, but you have a flair for writing...descriptive...flowing...alive.

I think a little more soul serving may be due soon...:-)

You want fries with that?
I just love filet of soul.
You are what you eat, y'know,
and I'd like some spirit to go.

Dear Diary,

Uh. I don't know what to write.
What do I write? C'mon, I'm sposed to write something.
What's the right thing to say here?
Damn. I suck at this.
I keep a journal sometimes, but a diary, I don't know.
I've never kept a diary before.
What if somebody sees it?
What then? It all seems so ... so ... online.
I don't want to be online. That's like a machine buzzing in the window.
I'd rather not have to write anything, because having to, have to,
that's like the performance of Riggoletto by C-3PO.
It scores well but lacks ... soul.
Am I to become electron? That's no good.
So Diary, if you really want me to write,
why don't we just cut all the BS and talk about you instead.
Are you made of paper or what?
Tell me about your family. Is the mainframe still going?
Nice interface, you've got GUI.
Psshh, this'll never work.
I don't even know you. You're just a website,
and me, I'm a ... I'm a ... not a website. Something else.
Something different I don't know yet, but I wouldn't tell you anyways
because you're so quiet and all you do is sit there.
Never trust the quiet ones.
They always listen.
Okay, I'm gonna go for a walk now,
and when I come back ... well, why don't you just sit here and wait then.
You have a very nice online morning, and
good luck with the new hardware.
You don't drink coffee do you? Mmm, didn't think so.