Saturday March 2, 2024
Friday March 1, 2024
Thursday February 29, 2024
Today is a bonus day in all of our lives. It’s pure significance, simply a way of catching up on something that is happening anyway.
Leap years happen because of a “mismatch between the calendar year and Earth’s orbit,” according to NASA. While we think of one year as lasting 365 days, it actually takes a little longer — approximately 365 days and 6 hours — for the Earth to orbit the sun. That extra quarter of a day has to go somewhere, so around every four years, we add 24 hours — or four times six hours — to the calendar.
After Finn, Georgie and I had dinner last night Finn and I went for a stroll from Penestanan Kelod through Penestanan Kaja and were delighted to run into the Kaja Galungan parade where the whole village heads of on a procession with their Barong the walk slowly through the streets.
The sense of community spirit and goodwill in Bali is rubbing off on Finn although his stay here is fast approaching an end, just 2 full days left until his flight leaves on Saturday to return to Melbourne. Georgie and I have another 17 days before we return.
I’m OK on going back to Melbourne this time, it will only be 5 weeks before we leave for Japan for 3 weeks and then another 4 until we return to Bali for the winter.
I am back in Alchemy again this morning. I decided that I would give myself a break this morning from walking. It is important to strike a balance. I will go to the gym later today so that’s enough and even though yesterday was a rest day I still got in over 8000 steps.
Yesterday was Galungan in Bali, a day when Bali gets dressed up and celebrates the defeat of evil and the celebration of all things noble and good. Georgie and I made a relatively long trip to Tabanan to visit our new friend Kristy who is an Australian we have met in the HBOT chamber. She had lived and worked in Asia for almost 2 decades, an interested and resourceful lady who I hope we can stay in touch with. Georgie has really connected with her. She’s probably around Allissa’s age. The skies opened upon the trip back to Penestanan, the clouds were so dark and pregnant with water that when they burst our car almost floated away.
Now I’ll do some work on my website.
Finally I mentioned Dharma and Adharma yesterday, or I think I did. Dharma is all about spiritual growth and adharma is the exact opposite. Something interesting I just found on Wikipedia opened my eyes to a very interesting phenomena that is prevalent on our planet. The blind belief in certain spiritual protocols and entities.
Whatever facilitates spiritual growth is Dharma, and whatever impedes spiritual growth is Adharma. Following an Adharmic path means acting on three vices, which are, pride, contact, and intoxication. Blind faith without regard for spiritual understanding is Adharma.[8] Following the path of Adharma can result in a bad future.
Wednesday February 28, 2024
I’m in Bali often enough to feel a need to begin to understand the basic beliefs, history and ceremonies that abound on this culturally rich island. These beliefs are what make Bali so special. I have only ever really looked from outside as an observer with almost no understanding of the traditions. In some ways it doesn’t even matter what they mean or signify somewhat like our Christmas and Easter myths in the “West”. They are part of the woof and web of any society and help to hold the population together in some sort of agreement and harmony. Anything that celebrates goodness, compassion, care, strong family ties, co-operation, celebration has to be a good thing with positive ramifications. Like fairy tales, rituals are just agreed upon activities that are perpetuated by being passed down from generation to generation, often unquestioned but the simple truth is if they spawn more positiveness and harmony then they have to be a good thing. All races and cultures have celebrations, like we all have music, stories, art in common.
Galungan and Kuningan
As local legend goes, Galungan commemorates a Balinese victory that involves central figures Indra (the Hindu god of thunder, rain and lightning) and the Balinese king, Mayadenawa, who denied his subjects the worship of Hinduism. So powerful was the king that no one could overcome him. The conquest of Java’s Majapahit army back then had little effect. Battles ensued until finally Indra descended from the heavens to defeat the king.
The battle raged in Tampaksiring, Gianyar, where the king was finally subdued. While under siege, he tried to escape through various ways including via supernatural means such as turning into a statue, a stone, and a wild boar. He easily fooled the troops, but not Indra. Mayadenawa then retreated to the jungle leaving behind disguised footsteps, hoping his assailants would not easily track them. Indra’s magic arrow put an end to the rebel king.
The legendary site where he bled to death became a freshwater spring, the current-day site of the Tirta Empul Temple. The king’s slanting footprints gave the name to the valley area, later pronounced as Tampak Siring – ‘slanting footprints’. The Balinese and Majapahit armies honoured Indra, commemorating the defeat of the king as Galungan, the day of victory of dharma over adharma (Adharma[1] is the Sanskrit antonym of dharma. It means “that which is not in accord with the dharma”. Connotations include betrayal, discord, disharmony, unnaturalness, wrongness, evil, immorality, unrighteousness, wickedness, and vice).
The decorative bamboo poles signify upheld Hinduism and wisdom.
So traumatized were the people that they were not easily convinced of the king’s defeat, believing that he had probably used his magic to turn into a statue, tree or even another animal. To overcome public fear, an official announcement of the defeat was made 10 days later, commemorated as the day of Kuningan, which has 2 meanings, ‘to announce’ and ‘of yellow’.
The Balinese celebrate the day of Galungan, which commemorates the triumph of Dharma over Adharma, or good over evil. Second in terms of significance after the Nyepi day of silence or Saka New Year, this observance comes twice a Gregorian year, as the Balinese use a 210-day calendar system known as the pawukon which serves as the basis for daily rituals, temple anniversaries and holidays on the island.
Shortly leading up to Galungan, bamboo poles decorated with young coconut leaf decorations line the streets all over Bali. This is a unique welcome to Bali if you happen to be on the island around this time. The scene usually lasts until Kuningan, another associated observance that comes 10 days after Galungan.
Finn’s Weight Loss Challenge
The seeds have been sewn. We had our meeting with Josh yesterday and Finn has committed himself to participating in the 12 week weight loss challenge. He is genuinely excited but I have to remember that his demons will be taunting him and questioning his motives. We are going to pay a deposit today. The challenge starts on March 4th.
I have to remember that it wont be a bed of roses. There is no doubt that there will be ups and downs along the way. I just have to remember that this is the beginning of a completely new journey in Finn’s life and the best I can hope for is a beginning, a commitment to improve, an effort to make life better. On the other hand if what happens over the next 3 months is a huge success then that will be beyond my wildest dreams and I’m sure Finn’s as well.
I have to be constantly aware of Finn’s current addictions, habits, sleep patterns and current lifestyle. Things that are so deeply imbedded in his psyche and biological functions that they may act as huge obstacles. I hope not but at the same time I have to be prepared.
The simple fact that Finn has agreed and made a commitment to himself has to be enough and I will have to rely on the efficacy of the program itself and whatever input Josh can put into it. All I can do is to be there as a backup for Finn, to help gently and positively to egg him on, to help with his nutrition and meals, to not make him wrong if he falls off the wagon. Anything that I do that blunts his purpose will be counter productive to the end result and even though my intentions may be “noble” I will have to keep a check on how I approach my role in the process.
No false enthusiasm, no stressful demands, no castigation if he eats junk food or breaks his diet or misses a training session.
In many ways the next steps he takes have to be as self determined as they can possibly be because that is the biggest weapon he will have, his own fortitude, determination and aspiration toward his own goal and the future of his life.
I have to accept that this is easier said than done and that even though I want “giant steps” tiny ones may have to suffice.
Tuesday February 27, 2024
Galangun begins tomorrow in Bali, the beginning of 2 weeks of festivities and ceremonies. The family temples are adorned with cloth and new ceremonial umbrellas, the penners rise majestically outside houses and there is a general air of excitement and activity that was not there a week ago.
Georgie and I just returned from a decent walk through Sayan and back to Penestanan, pretty much the same walk that I went on yesterday but not all the way down to the Sayan Market. I’m a bit hot and sweaty after the walk but that is to be expected considering the time as well as the season. The best time to walk long distances is at 6.30am in the morning but Georgie can’t be ready to leave at this time. Shucks!!
Finn and I will have a meeting with Josh Evans at 2 today. I just wrote to Kaye.
Hi Kaye I wrote this for myself and also for the personal trainer/nutritionalist that we are meeting with today. I just thought you may be interested. I’m seeing it as a pivotal point in Finn’s life, almost a make or break kind of situation. He seems really keen but the deal is still not clenched and I’m waiting on how much it will cost. The initial program is a 12 week weight loss challenge, there will be other people involved and the winner …. the person who has the biggest transformation gets his fees and cost of nutritional supplements returned as a reward. It would be soooooo good if Finn could throw himself into it and go all the way. I’ll keep you in the loop on how he’s going, overall he seems to be more keen and serious about this than ever before and having somebody apart from me to be accountable to could work magic. Anyway keep your fingers crossed. I’ll let you know later hoe the meeting goes. The challenge starts on March 4 when Finn will be back on Melbourne but the other participants are from all around the world so all communication will be via zoom and online. I’m getting 9 500 gram sirloin grass fed steaks delivered today. Georgie is going to give eating more protein a go as well. When Finn gets back he plans to buy a big piece of beef that he can cut steaks off.
Monday February 26, 2024
I woke up on the hour last night probably because I was anticipating my alarm going off at 5.40am! I went to bed super early because we were getting up so early and also because I poisoned myself with wheat, gluten and sugar at our brunch yesterday. I’m still out of control when I start something that I shouldn’t, I don’t know how to stop. Compulsive might be a good word to describe it!
Finn and Georgie are about to head off to visit “immigrasi” in Denpasar to get the extension in his visa. To cut a long story short I stuffed up and didn’t think things through when I purchased his plane ticket.
I’m going to go for an early morning walk.
I went for the walk, I stopped off at the coffee shop in Penestanan Kaja and continued across Jalan Sayan into the back gangs down to the Sayan Market and finally back home. By the time I got back I dropped into Alchemy and met Georgie who had just returned from the long trip to Denpasar. The rest of the day has involved a 90 minute massage, some time at home and a short workout and sauna at Paw finished off with dinner at Murni’s.
Finn’s Weight Loss Challenge
Reaching the finishing line of a marathon is a far cry from the initial decision to begin to prepare oneself to even contemplate running one in the first place. My personal marathon began 5 years ago. I was 67 years old. At the time I kept my aspirations a close and guarded secret.. To be honest I couldn’t have even started to confront the end result that I was going for back then. It would have been like looking up at a huge staircase that went up into the clouds. All I could face was to take a few steps at a time and then to reassess my progress without becoming overwhelmed. Now I can look back on the journey and can honestly say that it was all worthwhile. All the effort, the time, the pain, the sacrifice, the money. I found the pot of gold and then realised that the staircase keeps going but the hard work that I have put into it over the past 5 years has make the contemplation of continuing the journey up the staircase more like a pleasant pastime that an arduous challenge. I couldn’t have done it without Georgie, we were so lucky that we had each other to lean on, to inspire each other and to give each other the strength to continue.
The way I see it now, Finn is approaching the bottom of the staircase. This is a daunting place to be, a place that is so easy to look up from and turn your back on. Right now my only goal is for him to begin, have a few wins and decide to continue.. He doesn’t have a partner or twin to go up the stairs with. That’s just the way it is. But he’s got us and I am willing to do anything that is needed to help to inspire him to get the ball rolling and start his own journey out of the hole that he has found himself in. My biggest problem is that I am impatient, I expect instant results, complete commitment. I am not a good teacher.
Finn will have to set his own goals, but as a father I can visualise what my own goals are for him.
“Being a healthy, fit, lean muscular man in his mid 20s who is strong, wise, compassionate with confidence and charisma who can face anything the world throws at him. A man who has the courage and fortitude to be open to learn new things and continue to work hard to improve himself, one who has compassion and love for his fellow man.
OK, that may not be Finn’s goal but I can allow myself to have my own pipe dream.
I am looking at our meeting with Josh and Maverick a couple of days ago as a positive sign from the universe. Finn was so happy afterwards, so fired up, so full of hope, it was as if he was walking on clouds. I sometimes try to understand what he must feel like, what his secret dreams are, what demons yabber in his mind and spread negativity to stop him achieving what he wants from life. I’m sure all parents are like this, maybe not.
The way I’m looking at the current situation is that it is a pivotal moment in time. Finn fluctuates between accepting that he needs help, to believing that he can do it on his own. Unfortunately based on the past decade or so he doesn’t currently seem to have the steam to get the show on the road and continue all on his own. His current group of close friends are uninspiring and he has great difficulty in finding new people who are more aligned with the person that he aspires to be or could be if the right circumstances came along or were created.
From what I know of Finn I’m pretty certain that he sees himself (theoretically) as a strong, decisive warrior type wielding a sword and vanquishing his demons, enemies and opposition along the way. I’m pretty certain that if he can get his feet on the right path that he could become the person he wants to be.
Based on experience there are a few obstacles in the way. Currently he gives up easily, he seems to lack confidence, he has addiction problems and he is significantly overweight. This reflects in his grooming, weight, friendships, inactivity, emotional tone, his cynicism and the fact that he is critical of others.
So here we are in Bali, late February 2024. Finn meets a couple of guys who don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t take drugs, eat healthy clean and nutritious food, are willing to communicate and have big buff muscular bodies, pragmatic men who he aspires to emulate. I see this as an opportunity for him to choose a new pathway, a crossroads moment that currently has him potentially deciding to take a new road but still standing there scratching his head and trying to garner the courage to take his first step. One road leads to the “same old same” while the other is full of uncertainty, the potential of a new life, hard work, a certain amount of pain and challenges but one which has huge rewards at the end.
Maybe I am placing too much importance on this but I see it as a hugely significant moment in his life. The spark seems to be there, all he has to do is light the fuse. It may be a moment that makes or breaks his future happiness and success.
We are having a meeting tomorrow with Josh who is a “ health and fitness” coach, a person who helps guide people toward their goals and dreams, potentially a person who can offer inspiration and accountability for Finn to keep him moving in a positive direction.
Only time will tell.
Finn and I have a pretty positive relationship, I’m quiet certain that he has respect for me and what I have achieved. I am also quite confident that we understand each other and even though there are 5 decades between us we are on the same to at least a similar wavelength.
Sunday February 25, 2024
It’s Sunday in Bali and we are heading off to Byrdhouse in Sanur in a couple of hours to have a Sunday brunch, our second for this trip. We all get somewhat excited on our Sunday brunch days, the excitement lasts until about 2 hours into our nosh up when the crazy high blood sugar/insulin cycle kicks in, but you know what, I recover pretty quickly and go back on the straight and narrow pretty much immediately. Some small transgressions from time to time aren’t going to rock the boat too much but I still have to watch myself because the “jerk that lives in my head” starts allowing me the occasional pisang goreng or block of dark chocolate or even a small slice of bread, none of which do much for my health.
The good news from yesterday is that we ran into Maverick in the sauna and his friend Josh who runs health, nutritional and weight loss programs. Finn connected with Josh and this morning they are going to talk about a program that is going for 12 weeks with the goal of weight loss. Fingers crossed. If this comes off it could be the miracle that we have been waiting for.
The coming week is Galungan and 10 days later Kuningan then as soon as that is over it is Nyepi, some serious Balinese ceremonial days.
Georgie is doing very well on abstaining from the foods and drink that she needs to stop in order to address her gut problems. The bio-resonance may or may not help, that is yet to be seen but I’m mightily impressed with her determinism and fortitude to address these problems.
I have 3 weeks left in Bali for this trip, Finn returns to Melbourne in a week . Georgie and I will be back in Melbourne for about 5 weeks and then we are off on our trip to Japan. I am going to need to get pro-active on finding and booking accomodation as well as coming up with some magic in regard to financing the trip. Josh is coming with us now which as I said will change the whole dynamic of the trip, hopefully for the better.
Josh
Just a few observations. Thanks for making some time on Tuesday to see us. Finn has to go to immigration in Denpasar tomorrow to extend his visa so Tuesday is fabulous. After meeting you yesterday he was on cloud 9. I’m not going to try to get into his head but he seemed to be excited and full of hope. Something happened on the call this morning, he seemed a bit uncertain and confused after the call. I’m not even going to try to understand this but what I reckon is that if we can just keep it super simple for now and get the ball rolling then we will be half way there. I won’t be able to get too involved at Tuesday’s meeting so I’ll say what I think here.
If you could just get his agreement to start the 12 week program, help establish a simple but achievable goal for him, set yourself up as somebody who he will be accountable to and go over estimated costs and procedures plus what is expected of him as far as communication goes I think that would be enough. If he can get through the 12 week program I have a good feeling that will be an amazing start that will serve as a strong foundation for the future.
If you have any questions or advice before we get together on Tuesday please let me know. Gary
Who would want to read a book about beating cancer, overcoming alcoholism and restoring health and fitness when the person writing it is a 72 year old white Australian male?
Good question.
If you have got this far maybe you can contact me and let me know who you are and what you hope to gain by reading my story.
Only 5 years ago I was drinking a large bottle of vodka every day, I was terribly overweight, had a fatty liver, high blood pressure, was pre-diabetic plus my cardio vascular health was highly questionable.
I went cold turkey on February 5th 2019 and flew out of Australia bound for India the very next day. I haven’t had a drink since apart from one hilarious mishap in Italy in 2023. Over the past 5 years I have restored my health, battled and defeated cancer, lost 30 kgs, returned my blood pressure to a perfect level, restored my liver, built up a level of fitness that allows me to do almost any physical activity and now I am working on building up muscle in my body and experimenting with new food and nutrition protocols.
At the beginning of my new lifestyle I admit that I knew pretty much nothing about nutrition and metabolism, hormones, mitochondria and all of the other biological titbits that are now so crucial to my ongoing health although I thought that I had been on the right track most of my life because I didn’t eat red meat and had been vegetarian for decades. My eating habits were not based on actual scientific, nutritional data but more from here-say from my hippy days. To be totally honest I didn’t even know what excessive carbohydrates could do to one’s metabolism or how they affected blood sugar levels and insulin production and to top it all off I ate hardly any protein or good quality fat.
Saturday February 24, 2024
I often wonder why anyone would be inspired to read a book by me. What new knowledge might I have to offer about life, health, happiness? It’s hard for me to get objective to this because I am the centre of my own universe and I can only gauge what’s going on with other people from my own viewpoint.
Now that I don’t have cancer my intense interest in understanding every aspect of it has diminished, not completely but what was once an obsession is now part of a wider interest in health. I have to ask myself the serious question, “Is anybody really interested in cancer or any of the other debilitating diseases until one of them knocks at their own door?”
The answer is “probably not”.
Life is like a long trip down a flowing river. Your boat follows the ebbs and flows of the river and while it moves forward and remains unobstructed there is no real need to understand much about the river or how the boat works, even when it breaks down there will be somebody else to repair it.
The majority of mankind are happy to just live their lives as best they can and adapt to whatever happens. I understand this.
So once again, I ask myself the question, “Why would somebody want to read a book about an old man’s quest to be healthy, fit and happy?”
First of all I will have to put myself back in time to when I found out that I had cancer or even earlier back 5 years to the point in time when I realized that I would probably die if I continued to drink alcohol.
I call it “must be confronted”. A condition whereby you have let something go on for so long that the only thing that can shake you out of your delusion is the fear and threat of death.
I’m pretty convinced that even though it is inevitable that we will all die most of us don’t really want to, although we don’t confront our own mortality until it stares us in the face.
So is it being blindly content with our lot in life? Is it an inability to confront, to assume responsibility, to create our own lives. Is it acceptance without inquisitiveness, simply assuming that this is what happens when the body gets older.
What can you do to get a person to face what is ruining their life, to confront it, to experience a fear of the possibility of things getting worse, to demand an improvement of themselves, to accept help from others and to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps to a place where they are in control and are actively creating a life in which they are active, healthy, fit, continuing to improve, happy and creating a life full of hope, wonder and adventure.
Where do you start? What’s the “hook”, as songwriters call it. Where do you find your audience? What sort of person to do have to be to assume that you have something valid to offer?
The best place to start is to explore my own goal. A goal :
the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.
Helping people isn’t a goal. The goal would be more like “an improved percentage of people who are actively striving to improve their health and happiness through their own determination and activities”.
I’ll stick with that for the time being. It’s a bit broad but at the same time it is a starting point.
So, what would I have to do to achieve this goal and how does it align with my own purpose?
My purpose is to help create a world that is harmonious, compassionate, supportive, equitable and full of creativity and beauty.
This sounds a bit pie in the sky, especially when you compare it to the current “reality” of greed, manipulation, control, delusion but there is nothing wrong with dreaming that a majority of mankind would prefer my version of a world than the one that currently exists.
It starts with “looking, not listening”, questioning, digging deeper, not accepting what the status quo dish up as reality. It is an attitude and most of all it is something worth applying some serious effort toward.
So where do you start?
Something I stumbled across earlier in my life was “2 Rules for happy living”
- Be able to experience anything.
- Cause only those things that others can experience easily.
As much as I try to apply #1 I still struggle but it is the foundation of free speech, the right for all of us to have their own ideas and viewpoints, the key to and freedom to debate and the willingness to share new ideas and discuss things to the point where we might come up with something new and better.
#2 is somewhat harder because every person has their own reality and will guard it, protect it, cling onto it. This is the basis of rightness and wrongness. How do you propose a new idea over an old one. This is where outdated moral codes come into play. There is no point in challenging viewpoints that people hold close to their hearts because that’s like battering down the city gates with a battering ram.
This is where inspiration comes into play. To inspire others by your own actions, by the way you live your own life, by the end result of your own efforts.
Oh shit, this is getting far too philosophical and I’m starting to feel like I’m digging a hole.
About turn!
I just want to write a book that will help people see what I did to overcome cancer, to turn my own life around and to live a life that I am pretty damn happy with. I simply want to write something that might inspire a few people to want to improve their own lives, to take control of their own destiny and to be happy and healthy.
I have the experience, I have the journals, I have a pretty decent result. What I need to do is to begin and to persist and to finish. If my efforts don’t achieve the desired result then I have then choose to try again. It will simply mean that I have to apply myself, to put my shoulder up against the wheel, to overcome the obstacles that I place in my own path.
Friday February 23, 2024
Selamat Pagi to myself and the whole world. I felt a need to be surrounded by people this morning hence my short walk around to Alchemy for a coffee and a sit at my favourite morning table replete with music filling the air and the subliminal humming of scooters outside on Jalan Penestanan.
I created some magic last night but my honesty and the fact that it wouldn’t have been great for our family led me to decide that getting a week long booking at Villa Tusk would have possibly had more negative effects than positives. I really wanted it and at the same time I didn’t want it. I’m going to take it as a win in manifesting some magic. That in itself is worth it’s weight in gold. Then there is the strange phenomena of having a loss when in actual fact I haven’t lost anything that I already had. We could have made it happen, we were all on the same page but overall I think it is best that I just let this go and be content with the fact that I almost made it happen and can do so again.
The correspondence between myself and the guest is below.
Finally, a short note to Purnami.
Good morning Purnami. I do not think the guests will make the booking. I am just happy that we were able to make a little bit of magic. Maybe it is better this way because even though we need the money this is Finn’s last week and also is is Galungan in 5 days. I wrote back again last night but I think that what I said about our air conditioning was enough to lose the booking. Tidak apa apa, our happiness and health is far more important than money. Gary
I just rang Allissa and told her about what happened and she had an interesting viewpoint for me to ponder. We cannot give any hint of desperation to our staff. They have to feel secure. It is not a noble quality to be broke ……
And that the crux of the matter. I think that somewhere hidden in my psyche, deep down running behind or below my consciousness, hidden away from my view, is some old software that says that not having an excess of money is a noble position to be in. I’ve never spotted that before, it just seemed to be part of the woof and warp of my personality which in itself is simply something that I have manufactured along the way and also is something that I can change whenever I choose to. It’s like doing a clean out on the computer and finding some old software that is still unknowingly running in the background. I am me and I can create any persona or viewpoint or belief that I want to. The possibilities are limitless when you strip away the old considerations, especially those that you didn’t even know were there.
This is a significant realisation that seems to have legs of it’s own that might unlock many more doors in my present and future. Maybe it is also something that I have used as a shield, a justification for not having an abundance. The truth is that I am able to have anything that exists anywhere in the universe although I’m not certain whether I have “the Balls” to confront that in it’s entirety right now. But it is something that I can and should work on. Both Georgie and I have to ability to pull off miracles.
We drove down to Kuta today. I haven’t been to Kuta for almost 30 years but may have visited a crappy hotel in Legian in about 2008/9. We didn’t arrive until around 1pm and Wayan dropped us off on Kuta Beach and we walked along the boardwalk for about 15 minutes past the beach boys hawking surfboards, pretending to be your friend and the rather plump masseuses who double as hair braiders. It was somewhat depressing, the beach was filthy and strewn with ugly plastic chairs and shitty beach umbrellas, ugly Australians, all out of shape and not great to look at. As I said, it was depressing. Then we walked across the road and went into generic shopping mall full of generic shops that you would see in shopping centres almost anywhere in the world, crappy food stalls with disinterested staff and ugliness, ugliness everywhere not a stitch of Bali to be seen or found anywhere. Even finding something half decent to eat was almost impossible.
From Mike
Hello, your villa is lovely. I have a few questions: (1) are the bedrooms, bathrooms, living room, and kitchen all fully enclosed and with strong air conditioning? (2) is the wifi strong and stable everywhere on the property? (3) are there any ‘hidden’ problems, like nearby construction, early morning roosters, bad water pressure, smelly toilets, etc? thank you for your patience with these questions! Mike
Hi Mike In answer to your questions. A) There is adequate air conditioning for us but the rooms are not all fully enclosed. The bedrooms are and they are air conditioned, we use the air conditioning in the upstairs bedroom and it works well for us but there are some spots where the warmth can still come in, even though the room is cold at night, in other words there are some gaps. The other 2 bedrooms are fully enclosed. The living room and kitchen area can be closed off and air conditioned. We never use air conditioning ourselves and mainly leave the bifolds open but many of our guests lock up and use the air conditioning effectively. The bathrooms are outdoor bathrooms with the exception of the upstairs one which has bi-fold windows, it is not air-conditioned. 2) The wifi is 100 mbps, we have an extender upstairs and another in the 3rd bedroom. As far as I can tell from my own use the internet is efficient, strong and fine. My son is a gamer so he places some strong demands on it and it still seems pretty good to me. C) There are roosters everywhere in Bali. I don’t personally notice them and we haven’t had any complaints from earlier guests but my wife does notice them from time to time. When the bifolds are closed it cuts back the noise, when it rains heavily there are a chorus of frogs in the surrounding rice paddies. Once again this doesn’t bother me but my son isn’t a big fan. The water pressure is fine, the toilets don’t smell but there are occasional smells from neighbouring properties, I’m used to the smells of Bali but I don’t want to pretend that they don’t exist. As far as construction noises go it’s pretty good at the moment. There is some building going on up the gang (lane) a bit but the noisy work is now finished.
We had planned to start a small renovation tomorrow but we can put a hold on it if you decide to stay.
Based on your questions I’m thinking that your standards are very high. I don’t want to pretend that everything is perfect, it is for me but you may not find it so. I have been as honest as I possibly can. Our main goal is to provide a property that feels like a home and has some heart and soul. I believe that we have achieved this and nearly 100% of our past guests have concurred.
If you do decide to rent the property please let me know ASAP so I can let my workers know that we will be putting off the renovation for a week. We are putting in another entry to the smaller bedroom but this can be put on hold.
Are you currently in Ubud? You would be welcome to come and have a look but the villa wont be properly prepared until 2pm tomorrow. We are from Melbourne, Australia and spend 2 months in Bali and 2 months in Melbourne.
If you could give me a bit of feedback tonight I would greatly appreciate it, as I said we will have to let our contacted know that the landscaping project will need to be put on hold.
Regards Gary
Hi Gary, thanks very much for the clear and candid explanation. We are in Seminyak so Ubud isnt a quick trip. But anyway, being fully enclosed and air conditioned is important to us — we are struggling with the heat and need a cool sanctuary for home. So please don’t delay your renovation (but thank you for the offer). Wishing you continued joy, Mike
Hi Mike Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I understand your predicament in regard to the heat, I’m personally having a hard time with it and I’m pretty much acclimatised to equatorial life. One thing that you may or may not know is that Ubud is several degrees cooler than Seminyak. We recently spent some time in Uluwatu and it almost killed me, the sun was blistering. I just didn’t want to paint a picture with rose coloured glasses about our villa even though we love it and everyone who has ever stayed has also loved it. Having said all that I’m pretty certain that you could get the place cool enough if you fired all the air conditioners up and closed all the doors. Finding “perfectly”great places in Bali isn’t always as easy as it may appear to be. Good luck with finding a suitable location. The beauty with Penestanan (our village) is that it is just a couple of kms from Ubud centre and has a completely different feel as well as being super close to some of the best restaurants that you will find anywhere in Bali. Our host Purnami has run the villa for us for 5 years, our guests adore her, she is wonderful and her husband Made has his own taxi business, he can pick you up if you need a driver to bring you to Ubud. Let me know if you need Purnami’s details to organize this, no matter where you stay. I’m going to hit the sack now but if you have any questions or if I can be of any help please let me know. Gary
Thursday February 22, 2024
Weird dreams of gangsters terminating lives without any remorse. Once the lights go out it’s pretty permanent. The party’s over. This was highlighted yesterday when In received the news of Anthony’s death. I looked back at his emails, the most recent being in late November 2023 and found it hard to believe that a) I didn’t offer help and advice and b) that he’s gone. That’s life though. It must go through a cycle in order to evolve and to be able to cope with new ideas and evolutionary phases. I can see the pragmatism in the system although it leaves little room for egos.
Both Finn and Georgie are having trouble sleeping in Bali. There’s nothing that I can do about this, it’s just an observation.
This morning we are heading to Saba for another session of oxygen. I have a “thick head” this morning, some may call it a headache but it’s not quite that. I’m pretty certain that it will be gone before too long.
Hi Lis
Thanks for updating me last night on Mel’s situation. You are doing a great job helping her, she’s lucky to have you and your wisdom. Let me know when you get your results from the MRI. Have a great day today, we are off to oxygen this morning.
Today’s To Do List
Pay a deposit to Byrdhouse for next Sunday’s brunch.
Do a bit of work on a new entry for Villa Tusk : 2 Bedrooms.
Do more research on AirBnB calendar apps .
Maybe visit John and Shirley.
Wednesday February 21, 2024
Couple of observations this morning. Number 1 is that I didn’t have a repeat of Monday nights amazing marathon sleep although I did get another night over one hour of deep sleep. Number 2 is that I don’t feel as joyful and number 3 is that I think that I have a heat rash which I will really need to keep an eye on. No overheating, no sweaty clothing, lots of cool showers and whatever else helps me cool down and stop my body from overheating.
We have 26 days left in Bali for this trip, my challenge today will be to convince Georgie to buy some tickets for Bali in late June and potentially stay until October. She can fly back for a couple of weeks in the middle if she wants. I also purchased Josh’s plane ticket to Japan. It was excruciating probably because every man and his dog were furiously battling to purchase sale tickets for a Jetstar sale that began yesterday. I almost gave up several times, my god, I wanted to and I should have but I’m like a dog with a bone when I start something, I just won’t give up and I didn’t and I finally got the tickets. I even got seats next to each other on the return flights for Finn and Josh. That’s done now so it’s guaranteed that Finn will have a friend in Japan which will
Possibly change the whole dynamic of the trip. Maybe for the better, maybe not. This is yet to be seen.
Finn had 12 days left in Bali. We have offered for him to stay longer but he has made up his mind to go back to Melbourne on March 3 and hopefully to find a job for 7 weeks.
I am being somewhat solitary on this trip. My desire to spend time with people on a one to one basis isn’t as strong as it has been in the past.
I did meet the guys in Bingin albeit briefly but they did inspire me and more importantly they made me feel good about myself. A rarity in terms of social interaction.
What I have to do today is to set up an AirBnB page for a 2 bedroom version of Villa Tusk which will mean that I can go hell for leather to rent out the main section of the villa while we are renovating the small villa now named Villa Artista. We had a builder come yesterday who will quote us on getting the new entry and stairs done while Komang can work on the plant wall that will divide the villas. Unfortunately Krish doesn’t seem to be on the same page as we are in terms of speed and urgency.
Requiem to Anthony Smith
Sometimes in this day and age the end of a life is heralded by a simple email. As harsh as this is at least you find out. Unexpected is an understatement. I just opened up my emails and there it was “Due to Anthony Smith’s recent sudden death …….” I only ever met Anthony in the flesh once in my life about 15 years ago in Bangkok. He seemed older and wiser than me but in actual fact he was younger and maybe not as wise. The reason I say this is that I’m pretty certain that he had cancer but he didn’t take it as seriously as I did. I wish I could have helped, given him some advice but I didn’t. My connection to Anthony was through art. He was an art dealer but he had letters after his name, unlike me. We became pen pals. He wrote lovely caring responses to my letters. We had planned to meet in Bali at some point but this will never be now.
Our most recent correspondence was only a couple of months ago. I wrote to him asking for advice about Kitti’s art.
I feel a loss, sad and almost griefy for a man that I knew mainly through written communication. I had looked forward to some sweet conversations with him but alas, this will now never come to pass.
What we need for the villa.
- Desk for Bedroom 2
- Chair to go with desk
- Small metal table and 2 chairs for Villa Artista
- Small table and 2 chairs for upstairs bale
- Dining table and 2 modern chairs for Bale in Villa Artista
- Water dispenser : Artista
- Small refrigerator : Artista
- Kitchen bench : Artista
- Spotlights for art in Villa Artista
- Paint colours for bathroom and closet doors : Artista
- Outdoor couch for Villa Artista
- Fans for Villa Artista
- Plants for Villa Artista plant walls.
- New entry for 2 bedroom Villa Tusk
- 2 small rugs for next to bed.
- New lush towels for Villa Artista.
- Mosquito blinds for Villa Artista Bale
- Bamboo blinds for Villa Artista Bale
- Kitchen stuff like blender, toaster and kettle for Villa Artista, maybe microwave.
- Work out paint colours and finishes for Bathroom in Villa Artista
Hi Robin it was good to hear your voice yesterday. Great that Jeff is ploughing ahead with his book. He’s a wise man having you there to push him, direct him and to help co- ordinate things. I really wanted to write a book on my cancer experience, mainly to inspire others to approach the challenge from a more holistic angle but I’m the sort of person who wants things to happen instantly and after several attempts to get the ball rolling I’ve shelved it for now. Maybe I’ll incorporate the cancer thing into a broader book on health and fitness for old “boomers”. Who knows it may be just a pipe dream. I just need to sit down long enough and apply myself. Time will tell. My biggest problem is that the simple act of having the idea is sometimes enough to fuel my inspiration, the flame burns brightly for a while and then peters out until I feel a need to get a fire burning again. Unfortunately I haven’t discovered any music shops in Bali but I will keep my eyes open and if something appears I’ll let you know. Give my regards to Jeff. Maybe our paths will cross again during this trip or sometime in the future but let’s stay in touch.
P.S I found out yesterday that an art dealer I was rather fond of passed away from cancer. I looked back at our last email from November when he told me that he was ill and had a melanoma. Maybe this is a message from the universe that I should re-ignite my desire to “help others” and do something on this book I talk about. I will send the concert link later. What about your music on Spotify, how do I hear it?
Tuesday February 20, 2024
I am bursting with happiness and joy this morning. I went to sleep at 8.30 and woke up just before 5am. I slept all night, no visits to the toilets no waking up at 2 am, 4am. I just slept. I got over an hour of deep sleep and 2 hours of REM. What did I do that was different? I’m not certain. I had at least 2 big glasses of salt and potassium, I went for an early morning walk, I went to the gym and had a sauna, a ate quite a lot of protein, I even had a small block of 85% cacao chocolate and 3 small Pisang goreng. As CNN I said, I don’t know what it was that helped me sleep through the night but I do know that I want to do that every single night. 10 hours in bed for 7 hours sleep is a big price to pay.
Other good news. It looks like Josh will be coming to Japan. Finn seems very happy about this. I sure as hell am. This will
Change the whole dynamic of the trip, so good for Finn. All of a sudden I am excited about going to Japan.
I’m finally over listening to all the bullshit about Scientology. People are frail, fragile, egocentrical. All I am interested in are the insights and experiences of people who were there from the start it at least were on the Apollo. I simply want to string together a history that helps me make sense of the doubts that I had during my period in the bubble. I want to be able to seperate out the activities and idiosyncrasies, the frailties and weaknesses of the people who got caught up in what they all thought was a mission to help save the planet. Looking back now from this point in time and also hearing the stories of the people who were involved helps me find some sort of peace with my involvement.
On another note, a totally different one, we are slowly moving toward a better place with the transformation of Villa Tusk to a 2 villa property. This may end up costing more than we envisaged but ultimately it will help us to rent the villa out to more people , more of the time.
Next step in the link is to get the new building project underway and to get the ball rolling.
I have an unfathomable desire to help. It’s OK but I can’t let it control my actions which in turn will potentially lead me to making mistakes and digging holes that I don’t need dug. I’d I can come into a large sum of money I would definitely love to help my friends in Bali. People like that stupid negative shit in Australia can have no idea of the genuine desire to help others. Solid as a rock, you can’t see past your own ego or get outside your own head. Everyday when I buy my lottery ticket I fantasise about how much money I can win and what I can do with it. Whether I do win or not is a moot point, it’s the fact that I do t want to keep it all for
Myself that I am happy about. Georgie may not understand this and it may not be wise on my behalf but it makes me feel good.
I pulled out my guitar last night. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience that I have had, my fingers felt like concrete blocks and I instantly got sick of the notes that I was capable of playing, then Finn came across and disabused me of my somewhat impossibly egotistical viewpoint that I have the time, patience or ability to go into a huge learning cycle with guitar playing at the age of 72. Why not just face the facts and have a good time and enjoy what ability that I do have to simply communicate some emotion and some of the essence of myself. At least I know that I have that much in me.
I’m out for a walk this morning, if all goes as is planned this will be my only exercise for the day. I’m becoming to compulsive with the gym. I need to take 2 steps back and enjoy the fact that I have put in the hard yards and that I am in the fortunate position to be relatively fit and healthy for my age. If I’m not careful my addictive nature will take over and I will become obsessed with not missing an opportunity to go to the gym. What I have to confront is that this is a pattern. Like work, like alcohol, I use it as a way to have some cohesiveness in my life. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like a I don’t love doing other activities, it’s not even that I don’t do other things. I just cannot afford to become addicted to it which I am prone to do. It’s the nature of the beast.
Lastly, here’s a list of things that need attending to.
Book extra legroom for the Japanese flights.
Find a photographer for the villa.
Find at least one extra platform to put Villa Tusk on.
Finish the 3 Days in Penestanan Project
Do some research into bioresonance.
Win a large prize in Tatts, at least 10 million
Monday February 19, 2024
Stolen moments. They are one of life’s pleasures. I didn’t realise how much I missed my solitary morning walks in and around Ubud. We’ve spent the last month planning a morning walk but by the time Georgie gets up and ready it’s well and truly after 8 am and the sun is beating down on the pavement which is t all that conducive to a brisk morning walk. I’ll have to talk to Georgie and get her agreement that it’s OK for me to set of earlier and get a 60 minute walk in before she even wakes up. Last January I set off up the Tjampuan Ridge almost every morning and arrived at Kastara at 7 am in time for them to open the doors, almost always their first customer for the day, sitting in the bird cage overlooking the jungle and writing whatever came into my head.
I felt a bit sad that Finn is missing Ubud wake up but that’s my perception. At this stage of his life for whatever reason he burns the midnight oil and lives on a different schedule to mine. The only problem we may face is when we are in Japan. The days go so fast and we will need to get an early start every day to visit the places we need to get to. Maybe it will pan out differently if Josh decides to come with us. That’s a plan.
It is almost 5 p.m again. The days fly by. I seem to have hit the wall a bit today. I think I’ve got the beginnings of a heat rash and I’m sure as weary as hell so tomorrow we will have a day off and just hang out. I wouldn’t mind starting the day with an early morning walk and that will be the exercise for the day. No gym, no sauna …. Just a day of R and R.
WE had dinner at Murni’s again tonight. It’s turning out to be one of our favourites. The heat is still quite oppressive. Last February was amazing compared to this year probably because it rained so much and kept the heat down, this year the rain is still there but a lot more sparse.
What I should do is write to Barb.
Dear Barb It’s the beginning of our second month in Bali. Finn mentioned out of the blue that Josh had expressed an interest in coming to Japan with us toward the end of April . I’m pretty certain that we leave on April 23. We would love to have Josh with us. Georgie is in the planning stages and is spending hours looking for accomodation that suits our budget. If Josh does come this will change pretty much the way we go about the trip which is why I am writing to you. The boys being “the boys” the decision may drag on and that will have dire circumstances for the planning and scheduling. Finn is really excited about the trip and I must admit I got quite excited for him when he told me Josh was interested in coming.
What are your thoughts? Do you think that he’ll come? We will need to know in the next week or so in order to book suitable accomodation either for the 3 of us or if Josh does come we’ll need to look for either 2 bedroom accomodation or 2 seperate places.
I’m sure that the boys wouldn’t want us discussing their plans but in this case it’s pretty important that we know what is likely going to happen. We will be away for 3 weeks. We have our flights booked with Jetstar and plan to begin the adventure in Tokyo, Georgie has worked out a loose overall plan which involves 5-6 days in Kyoto and a certain amount of train travel. Also I’m not certain whether Josh has a passport so that’s something that will need to be considered as well.
Could you put your feelers out for me and Susa out what you think might happen. We can adjust our plans accordingly. Both Georgie and I would love to have Josh come on the trip but we’ll need to know soon if he’s coming.
Sunday February 18, 2024, 2024
There are people out there who are full of hate. They may deny it, they may not even be aware of it. What got them into this horrible place in the first place is their own business but to the degree that they use this base emotion to attempt to stop others from prospering, reaching out to others, communicating, enjoying life it then becomes the plight of those of us who see the beauty in life to take some sort of action or to create a strategy.
The first thing I can think of is to not change a thing about yourself. I hate to say it but I believe that a hateful person wants to suck the life force out you, to cut your reach, to inhibit your willingness and desire to communicate. Their weapon is their power to potentially introvert you, to cause you to doubt your own intentions, to question your actions and motivations, to make you feel vain, superficial and superfluous.
To a greater or lesser degree my first reaction is anger but the problem with that is that this is playing right into their game and adds fuel to the weird, destructive fire that burns inside them sapping away their ability to see any beauty or to have any compassion for others. It is so easy to fall into this trap. But I believe that there is absolutely no value in launching an attack against them. In the realm of cause and effect this puts you into the latter category. To get into a anger/hate game with them not only fuels the fire, it also alloys your own power.
To cut a long story short I reckon the best thing is to just ignore them as if they did not exist, as hard as it may be and to just continue to do as well as you possibly can, to be the best version of yourself within your own means and ability, to continue to create, communicate and reach out. To not change a thing about yourself but to remain open to new ideas and to be fluid, to grow and prosper.
Saturday February 17, 2024
I am not as inspired to go for early morning walks like I was a year ago. Maybe this is because of the intensity of my workouts at the gym, maybe not. I’m certainly getting enough exercise for somebody my age so I should feel good about things as opposed to trying to work out something that doesn’t matter all that much.
I had a protein and fat day yesterday …. Pork (Babi Guling) and steak plus one protein drink. Last night I was craving for some carbohydrate and even got into a bit of a funk before I went to bed. I’m really going to have to keep an eye on this and get a bit more disciplined about what goes into my mouth. My next challenge is to get Georgie to become fat adapted.
Don’t get involved in local politics Gary! My compassion and need to help people can easily get me into trouble. I have to ask myself who my most important allies are. My masseuse, Wayan works for Eka. She gets a shitty wage and her financial well being is based on how many massages she does BUT she works for Eka and Eka is an important ally who I cannot afford to piss off. I cant afford to get involved in local politics and must put a stop to any compulsion that I have.
The obvious solution is to win the lottery and bail everyone out. Purnami, Komang, Wayan. I could set up some sort of fund that supplies them with money, maybe a special villa that could generate a certain amount of income for needy friends. I don’t know why I think like this!! But it gives me great pleasure.
The old saying goes “God helps those who help themselves”. Truer words have never been spoken. What I need to be doing is preparing a new AirBnB page for our new 2 person villa as well as looking at exactly what we need to do in order to get it set up so it will be a perfect tiny home for Georgie and I. The main groundwork is now underway. We will need to look at small creature comforts like fans, cooling, a small refrigerator a dining area and a comfortable couch, blinds for the bale, lighting, painting and finally working out a cost that works for AirBnB bookings. Then of course, we will need to get the 3 options of Villa Tusk listed on other sights as well as AirBnB.
Georgie booked us in for 3 diagnostic sessions of bioresonance next Friday. Bioresonance therapy is a holistic, noninvasive way of diagnosing and treating various diseases, which involves the use of electrodes on the skin. The electrodes are connected to an energy wavelength machine called a Bicom device to detect unhealthy frequencies on the cells such as viruses and cancer cells. The Bicom device will then emit a counter-balancing frequency to help the person restore his or her energetic equilibrium.
The cost is around $95 each for our first diagnostic session. We’ll see what happens. I will do as much research as is possible before we go next week. The main purpose will be to address Finn’s obesity and Georgie’s gut problems, I’d like to see if it picks up any cancer in my body but I’m feeling quite confident that this wont be an issue.
Friday February 16, 2024
Today is the turning point in our current trip to Bali. We have been here for a month, now we have one month left before we return to Melbourne.
How has it been in reflection? I’d say fabulous overall. Finn has been with us for 2 weeks, I’ve had a birthday, we’ve eaten an extravagant Sunday brunch at a 5 star hotel, for most of the month both Georgie and I have eaten really well, we’ve been to Uluwatu for 3 nights and visited the Istana twice and Santa once, met some great new people, spent a bit of time with an old friend who was here for a week, gone to the gym or exercised almost every day, done 12 hours of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
I have no idea what we have spent so far but I have kept very accurate records that will be collated at some stage and put on an excel chart.
We are about to leave for HBOT in a few minutes.
Thursday February 15, 2024
5 years or 1826 days ago I went cold turkey on alcohol. I drank my last bottle of vodka the night before and then we hopped on a plane for India and that was that. I had attempted many times over the years to stop drinking but even though I lasted for several months at times I’d always find an excuse to hit the bottle again.
I am a different person now in many ways, far more disciplined, far more healthy and fit and certainly a lot happier. The journey over the past 5 years is all documented in my blog.
I don’t think about drinking alcohol anymore, ever, zilch nada. I still consider myself as an alcoholic, although I am an alcoholic that does not drink alcohol. Nothing is finite so I’m not going to kid myself.
I’ve never once been tempted to have a drink. If somebody offered me $1000 to knock back a glass of vodka I’d laugh at them and tell them where to stick there money.
But, yes …. There is always a but. There has been one unknowing transgression that was no fault of my own. It’s a funny story, one that I’ve told many times but it still has legs. So here goes. One more time.
It happened on June 3, 2023 while we were staying at Lake Como in Italy. Here’s what I wrote in my blog back then.
What unfolded at Lake Como is funny and tragic all at the same time. After a long day of walking Georgie and I stopped by at a small cafe close to our apartment on the outskirts of Bellagio. It wasn’t open when we arrived soWe decided to sit down anyway and wait for the kitchen to open, Georgie chose a Prosecco and I got carried away and decided to have a gelato. Georgie suggested that I have a mineral water as well but I said that I’d just have a water. I had been talking to the waiter who I thought spoke good EnglishAt this moment Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along The Watchtower” started playing on the radio station that they had on, this being one of my favourite pieces of music of all time I got excited. I said to the waiter “It’s OK I don’t need anything I have this perfect view and Jimi Hendrix, what more could I want?”. Then I said “Oh, OK I’ll have that water.” He bought out a glass full of ice and what looked like a mineral water but turned out to be Tonic Water something I don’t normally drink because of the sugar content. I thought to myself that he was being very generous to give me such a big glass almost full of ice.I started to pour it and sure enough I noticed that it had tonic written on the bottle but I poured it anyway and started drinking it. Now it had been almost 4 years since I had drunk tonic water or alcohol and I said to Georgie that it reminded me of when I used to drink a Gin and Tonic and that it was weird because it made me feel a bit strange, I thought it was psychosomatic. To cut a long story short I finished the drink and said something to Georgie and felt like I was slurring my words at which point Georgie asked the waiter what was in the drink. He answered that it was a Gin and Tonic exactly what I had asked for, oh shit! I started making loud noises of shock and horror and he said that I asked for a Jimi Hendrix which was either what they call a Gin and Tonic or it sounds a lot like that, later I realized that there is a gin called Gin Hendricks. He started profusely apologising and saying “Oh, fuck” over and over again as I did as well. I was feeling half pissed by now and walked out onto the street where Georgie joined me to walk back to the apartment where I promptly ate some food and lay down on the bed to sleep off my first alcoholic drink in over 4 years. That was 7 hours ago now and I have survived. I’ll be OK but what I take away from this experience is to double check what I’m asking for in a foreign country. I had no desire to keep drinking or to justify having any more alcohol, I just chalked it up as one of those moments in life that weren’t meant to happen but did.
Wednesday February 14, 2024
Over the past 3 days I’ve had a rare experience that to be quite honest isn’t something that happens to me a great deal.
Let me start by saying that I love communication. This magical ability is something that I find extraordinary. The simple fact that us humans have the ability to share our ideas, observations, feelings, beliefs is astounding. The reality that communication is such a potent tool that connects us to the living things around us, people, plants and animals is a miracle that is so easy to take for granted, it can inspire you to greater heights, enhanced survival, stronger purposes and overall a greater understanding of existence. It can help you to change your habits and behaviour, feel justified in choosing a course in life or just simply feel good about being alive, then there is your communication with yourself and even your own body and to top it off there is your never ending interaction with your environment and nature.
Communication is a skill that can be learned and improved.
Enough of that for now, more later. What I want to write about now is another aspect of communication.
There are 2 distinct camps of people. Those that are “interested” and those that are “interesting”. What am I talking about?
Have you ever run into a person who just talks about themselves and their own interests and hardly ever asks you about yourself or for that matter doesn’t even seem to be aware that you exist! This is the extreme version of an “interesting person”. Then occasionally somebody asks you about you or your viewpoints and slowly draws out titbits about yourself that you might not even realise were there. These people are rarer and from my own experience you normally tend to find the experience quite rewarding and you also tend to have a greater affinity for the person who is expressing a genuine interest in you.
I try really hard to fit into the second camp although I’m not always successful and sometimes blabber about myself a bit too much.
So after all of that verbosity here’s my experience.
It happened last Sunday morning as I was running up a very steep staircase at Bingin Beach on the Bukit Peninsular. We were going to be eating a bigger lunch than normal so I decided that a brisk walk and a bit of intense exercise might be a good way to start the day. My current goal is to improve my overall health, fitness, and strength in order to get full value out of my remaining years so I can pursue adventure, discovery and generally enjoy every moment of life. This is hard work but I really get great pleasure out of it which is a bonus.
Half way up the stairs with music blaring in my ears to help push me on I became aware of loud voices and clapping. I looked up and saw 2 men standing on the steps above me, goading me on, apparently getting great pleasure out of watching an old grey haired man exerting himself so I stopped, took my earbuds out and started talking to them. Here’s the catch line, They were genuinely interested in me, what I was doing, why I was doing it, how old I was, what my viewpoints on health and fitness were, what my background story was. We probably spent about 10 minutes talking, maybe less but I left feeling great. Feeling that somebody else was interested in my well being and existence. I instantly felt a great affinity for both of them and hoped that we would run into each other again before I left to return to Ubud where our home in Bali is situated. After this chance encounter I felt genuinely invigorated and shoved my earphones back in, turned up the music and ploughed to the top of the stairs and walked back to the villa still feeling great.
By chance I did run into them again at a restaurant that was close by the villa we were staying at. I spotted them in the distance with a younger couple and went across to chat with them, my wife Georgie came across and sat down and something else very interesting happened. They expressed the same interest in her as they had in me. We spent about 45 minutes at the table chatting, sharing viewpoints and generally having a great time. On the way back Georgie expressed her viewpoint on the experience and had independently come to the same conclusion that I had. She liked them both a lot and wanted to stay in touch.
That is the power of being “interested” in another human being. I had run into 2 very special people by chance or maybe it was the universe drawing us together. I am rarely on the receiving end of this level of “interest”. Quite often I am so busy asking people I meet about themselves, trying to get them to talk about their lives, their ideas, their children, what music they like …. whatever. I often leave the communication without them asking one question about me. Which by the way, is OK.
What was strengthened by this experience is that one of the greatest gifts you can offer to another person is to acknowledge their existence and to express a genuine interest in them and their life.
A simple but powerful lesson.
Hi Komang We are back home in Penestanan. I hope your are well. I would like to ask you about the project to make a gate and to put the new door and wall in the small villa. Do you think it is possible for you to find some people to help you. You can supervise and tell them what to do, no need for you to do all the hard work. Also they can work 6 days a week if they can. This will mean that they can get the job done faster. Are you OK with the idea of doing this project. We will be here for another 4 weeks and would really like to get it finished before we leave. What do you think? Gary
Hai Komang Kami kembali ke rumah di Penestanan. Kuharap kau baik-baik saja. Aku ingin bertanya padamu tentang proyek untuk membuat gerbang dan menempatkan pintu dan dinding baru di vila kecil. Menurutmu mungkin bagimu untuk menemukan beberapa orang untuk membantumu. Kau bisa mengawasi dan memberitahu mereka apa yang harus dilakukan, tidak perlu kau melakukan semua kerja keras. Mereka juga bisa bekerja 6 hari seminggu jika mereka bisa. Ini berarti mereka bisa menyelesaikan pekerjaan lebih cepat. Kau baik-baik saja dengan ide melakukan proyek ini. Kita akan berada di sini selama 4 minggu lagi dan benar-benar ingin menyelesaikannya sebelum kita pergi. Bagaimana menurutmu? Gary
Hi Julie-Ann This is Gary from Villa Tusk. I’m just writing to say thank you for staying at our Villa and I hope that you and your family had a great time while you were in Penestanan. Purnami mentioned that you were from Melbourne, so are we. She also mentioned that you “live near a mountain”, we live out East at the base of The Dandenong Ranges when we aren’t in Bali. Where do you guys live? I thought that it’s possible that it could be Mount Dandenong. She also mentioned that you had a coffee shop somewhere in Melbourne, if you let me know what it’s called we will pop in sometime when we are home. Enjoy the rest of the time in Bali. My wife loves Sanur so hopefully you will too. We used to stay in Seminyak back in the mid 90s but it’s a bit hectic for me now, I’m in love with Ubud and the people who live here. If you get a chance to write a review on AirBnB we would really appreciate any feedback that you have. Purnami also mentioned that you “misplaced” one of your bags. We’ll keep trying to find it, if you have any ideas on where it might have been left let me know and we’ll follow up. As you possibly know Purnami has tried the cookie shop and your last taxi. Did you possibly have one of our bath towels in the bag, Purnami can’t find one of the towels.
Regards Gary
Tuesday February 13, 2024
Our sojourn in Uluwatu ends today. If all goes well we will go to The Istana for the 3pm session and then head home at around 6. I’m enjoying being down here but I will be glad to return to the milder climate in Penestanan.
We ran into Jeffrey and Robin last night at The Cashew Tree. Could be worthwhile people to keep on my radar, at least I know that they are like minded as far as health and fitness goes although I am not certain of their humanitarian viewpoints for want of a better word but I have a feeling that we might be on the same page there as well. Robin lives in Romania, how exotic is that! Jeffrey on The Gold Coast.
I am sitting on our outdoor dining area waiting for Georgie so we can head of for a morning walk to the beach and a brisk run down to the beach and the gruelling trek back up the steps
10 a.m.
We are back in the Villa after our walk down to the beach and jog up the very steep steps. We sat at one of those beach cafes where tourists get Bali Belly and drank a Bali coffee looking out onto the spherical horizon that flat earth’s need to look at although I’m sure they have it all worked out why it is an arc. Finn and I prepared and cooked 2 of our steaks and I had a whey protein drink. Georgie helped us eat the steaks. Now we can sit around and enjoy the villa for the next 75 minutes until it’s time to check out of the villa.
Monday February 12, 2024
It’s the morning all over again. Yesterday turned out to be great. The only negative thing that happened all day was that my CGM monitor fell off after an hour.
We are heading off to The Istana at 9.30am this morning then back to the villa for a steak. I’ve got to get onto a bit of weight loss although I’m not really feeling fat just heavier than I have been in a couple of years.
It looks like Melanie is coming good based on what Allissa has said. Fingers crossed.
I wonder who will be first to go among more closest friends? It’s something that I have never considered. The truth is that people die, some earlier than others. We have hot our 70s now. Even little Netty will turn 70 this year. I’m not really ready for those sorts of losses just yet in my life so let’s just hope that they all hold on tight for a while.
My balancing act right now is to create an equilibrium between my physical and spiritual health. To be diligent in not falling for the bullshit that is being served up by the establishment and to remain true to my own observations and beliefs in the morality of mankind. I’m happy for others to be at odds with my realities and beliefs as long as they don’t stop me or anyone else having their own viewpoint and to be able to discuss it freely with others or to write whatever they wish on any forum available.
This is a tenuous period for mankind. The evil dudes are ramping up their game. I cant get my head around it and probably never will, all I need to acknowledge is that there is evil as well as compassion.
Bali is a good place to be to get away from the silly games that are being played out in the so called Western World and maybe Asia as well. Even understanding or knowing a bit about the history of our evolution doesn’t answer the burning questions anymore.
What do I want right now?
A bit more money wouldn’t go astray. I’ll happily continue on as is but having no attention on money would make life a lot more pleasant. I want to continue being healthy, strong and fit and looking as good as is possible as my body gets older. I never want to lose my sense of wonder and appreciation for life and the wonderful gift that it is plus the freedom to create constantly whether it be beauty, happiness, adventure, music or art, friendships, good communication, empathy, love …… these are all conscious decisions to create something that isn’t necessarily there until I put them there.
It’s now 1.40pm and we are back from Istana, have cooked and eaten our steaks. The Istana was fabulous. A wee bit more expensive than The Santai but far superior in all ways. The place was full of gorgeous looking people who were surprisingly quite talkative. Sauna is hot and steamy, cold plunge is perfectly cold, about 8 degrees and gives a wonderful contrast to the heat of the sauna. The hot plunge is also a great variance to the cold plunge and the Hanmam is steamy, mystical, dark and hot. We spent 2 1/2 hours there going from the sauna to the cold plunge. I ended up standing on top of the cliff looking out onto the ocean with a beautiful gentle and cool breeze drying me off. What a lovely way to start the day.
Having said all of that I am getting homesick for Ubud. It really is my base, my favourite location, our home.
Hi Rosie I’m sure you are well grooved in to Sydney life again by now, like you never went away! How is Gary doing? We’ve come down to Uluwatu for 3 days. Had a decadent brunch at The Kempinski yesterday followed by a hot and humid sauna and freezing cold plunge in Bingin. It’s been good to have a few days away, it even makes me appreciate Penestanan more.
All is well in Bali as it normally is. The sun comes up and then goes down again. Anyway I hope you are having a ball.
Gary
Hi Flora How are you doing? I imagine that you and John went back up to Queensland to continue your holiday. Bali is going really well. Finn has been here for 2 weeks and will stay for 2 more. We get back mid March. We haven’t really got much further with our building project but hopefully we’ll get something happening in regard to planning permits and getting the ball rolling before we leave. We are in Uluwatu at the moment for 3 days, we came down as we had guests in the villa for 3 nights and there are lots of saunas and cold plunges down here. We also went to The Kempinski Hotel (not far away) for a great Sunday Brunch yesterday to have a late celebration for my birthday and see in the Year of the Dragon. How is John doing? Give him my love.
Talk soon. Gary
Sunday February 11, 2024
We are in our AirBnB in Bingin at Uluwatu. It turned out to be OK apart from the excruciatingly long trip down here. Three and a half hours of stopping and starting, changing direction and generally crawling along. Our driver Kadek was supremely patient and never lost his cool the whole time. After we arrived Georgie and I walked down to the beach which turned out to be lovely. After being in Uluwatu several times I had never visited Bingin Beach. We ate dinner at The Cashew Tree which is virtually next door. The skies opened up while we ate and the children played in the rain. All in all it was a pleasant meal although after cooking a steak on our new dodgy grill pan and eating it at around 3.30 I didn’t even need to eat. The challenge will come today when we visit The Kempinski for our Sunday Brunch Birthday extravaganza.
The one downside is that I slept badly. The air conditioner was cold and blew on me all night, the room was dark in the morning so I ended up sleeping until 8 am and woke up feeling like a dried out prune but still only got 7 1/2 hours sleep. I felt crabby like an old brown bear waking up after hibernating for the winter. I still feel crappy.
My next big decision is whether we go for a walk down to the beach or stay at home until we leave for the Kempinski at 10.30am. We’ll see how it pans out over the next 15 minutes or so. I suspect that we will walk.
Apart from that I am enjoying being at Bingin. I p[lan to put the CGM on again today mainly because it acts as a deterrent to eating the wrong foods which seems counter intuitive based on the fact that we are eating a Sunday brunch today.
7 P.M
We are back at the Villa. Big day of exercise, eating, swimming, sauna/cold plunge. We left home at about 10.30 to get to the Kempinski for a 12 noon start. The food spread was magnificent. We all felt confident of our hunger on the drive to lunch but this didn’t last long. Still we were all able to fit in a decent amount of delicious food thanks to Kaye’s birthday gift of $300. By 3 p.m we were stuffed and retired to the swimming pool for a dunk in the warmish water. By 5 we were at The Santai Spa relatively close to Villa Emily. The sauna isn’t as hot as our sauna at ParQ but it’s a lot more humid so the sweat came easy, on the other hand the cold plunge was really cold but a wonderful relief after the sauna. We did about 3 rounds although I couldn’t stay in the cold plunge for too long due to my feet feeling like they were being dipped in burning oil, a strange and uncomfortable feeling.
Harking back to my comments from this morning, I did set off on a brisk walk down to the beach, down the 100s of steps and back up again. I met a couple of blokes halfway up, we spoke about health and exercise, exchanged WhatsApp numbers and talked about how we wanted to die when the time comes. I took of and ran up the remaining steps non stop to the top. I must admit that by the time I reached to top step I was truly stuffed, then after the walk home I was dripping sweat.
Georgie inserted the new CGM but by the time we had arrived at The Kempinski it had fallen of my arm!! A great day but a bit sad because mt birthday celebrations are now well and truly over although it is the beginning of the Year of the Dragon.
It is Peter Russo’s 71st birthday today. I first met him when he was 15 years old back in 1968 when I was playing guitar with The Woz.
Saturday February 10, 2024
Hi. Julie Anne
I am looking forward to meet you and your family later today. I hope that you will enjoy your stay at Villa Tusk. While you are here you might be interested in having me prepare some breakfasts for you and your family. If so I can send you a link to what is available and prices. I can prepare for you at any time that is suitable. Also we have 2 massage beds and a team of very experienced and capable masseuses. Our massages are genuine traditional massages that will really make a difference to your well being. They also do foot reflexology and deep tissue massage. Once again I can send a link with prices. Lastly I can send you the owners What’sApp if you have any queries about restaurants in the area. It can be tricky to find the right one suitable for your needs. See you soon. ML Eka Purnami
Friday February 9, 2024
The sun is just starting to peak in Bali on this refreshing Ubud morning after a night of thunder and rain.
Finn slipped on the way out last night, grazed his knee, cuts his toes and possibly sprained his ankle. This morning will shed some more light on what happens next as he was limping and in pain last night. I have my fingers crossed for him that it’s not as bad as it seemed.
Georgie and I are off to HBOT again this morning and then tomorrow morning we drive down to Uluwatu to stay at Bingen Beach and eat Sunday Brunch at The Kempinski in Nusa Dua. I’m sort of looking forward to that.
We met a very interesting couple named John and Shirley yesterday via my friend Peter R who live in Jalan Suweta, could be good contacts.
After we get back from Uluwatu I plan on doing 2 things a) getting up early and walking in the mornings and b) moving toward a carnivore diet for myself. I’ve started putting on too much weight from whatever I’m currently doing, not that I’m eating badly but maybe I’m having too many calories with the protein drink and coconut milk plus the 2 daily meals. This new eating regime to attempt to get 150 grams of protein into my body each day is tricky.
It is quiet in Bali. The centre of Ubud is busy with day tourists and the traffic jams still happen but the villas around here seem to be relatively empty. We’ve got to manifest some bookings quick smart for Villa Tusk to get us through the first 2 quarters of 2024.
More later.
Thursday February 8, 2024
I woke up at 4.30 this morning with a horrible leg cramp even though I doused myself with salt yesterday. It’s been a build up of copious sweating over the past 3 weeks, even though I’ve started taking a bit more salt recently and have taken electrolytes daily it looks like I haven’t compensated for what I’m losing in the sauna and generally in this hot and humid weather.
I ate gluten last night, this morning I’ve got that anxious feeling that I get from time to time. Convinced that something has or is going to go awry, self depricating, shitty body image. Maybe it’s a mixture of not enough sleep and gluten. I ate one piece of sour dough toast and a few crupuks!! Also ate beetroot and a bit of potato in my borscht soup at Melalli. This whole food thing is like walking a tight rope. I’m doing everything I can to eat at least 120 grams of protein a day, I possibly need more but obviously whey powder and fresh coconut milk is not the answer because I’m still putting on weight. Maybe the creatine is also having an impact, maybe it’s OK and this is the way I should be but probably not.
I’m in a strange position where I am changing my diet but I lack certainty about what is best to do. I ordered 10 steaks yesterday from a butcher in Denpasar which will be delivered today. I’m going to have to do some serious observation over the coming weeks. Fortunately for the greedy side of my personality and unfortunately for my healthy self we are heading to Uluwatu for the next few days beginning on Saturday, on Sunday we are hitting the Kempinski Sunday Brunch which may prove to be good/bad all in one day of eating but I’ll get over it.
Peter Rousseau arrived in Bali last night, we’ll spend the next couple of days doing stuff together before we head off to Uluwatu.
I’ve spent the past few days trying to find a villa to stay at in Uluwatu. Obviously cost is a factor in my choices but more than that it’s all about what the photos show. Details are pleasant and artistic but infuriating at the same time. What I want to see is how the property actually looks, big panned shots, not manipulated or distorted to make the rooms look bigger although this is tempting. The thing is that choosing a place to stay is stressful! What if you get it wrong? It’s your fault for being too trusting, not reading the reviews, not checking the prices of similar places. Villa Tusk stands head over heals as far as aesthetics go, we have better art, better style, more heart, better garden and overall more love put into the property. How do I improve this? Can I use better words? Better descriptions or explanations? For sure we need to get more photos done and dump some of the earlier photos, the cost of new photography might be relatively expensive but at the same time it will pay off handsomely when people are sweating their way through searching for an Ubud villa while sitting at home in Europe, Australia or the US or anywhere in the world for that matter. I’ve got to go through our site with a fine toothed comb and make it as perfect as possible, as appealing as possible and possibly as economical as possible.
The day is frittering away. I’m listening to a live Steely Dan album from the 90s. I’d forgotten was a remarkable phenomena that they were. I went to the gym, got my meat delivered, had a sauna, eaten lunch with old friends and met new ones, ridden on the back of a scooter in the rain, had a long talk with my daughter, written a dissertation on our AirBnB property and now I’m sitting at my computer writing this with a clay face mask on which is getting tighter and more stingy as time goes on. We have arranged to have dinner at Miro’s in Jalan Bisma with my friend Peter and 3 others plus the Collier family.
Today is the beginning of Finn’s second week in Bali and the beginning of our fourth week.
Wednesday February 7, 2024
Hi Joseph I hope all your “eventfulness “ has been positive. Glad you got your visas sorted. It’s a bit of a mine field getting it all right in Bali but well worth the effort. Now you guys can get on with your music and just enjoying being in Bali. Glad you liked the track, I had to laugh to myself thinking I was getting all modern and the you saying you liked the retro sounds. After 7 decades of listening to music I’m sure to have many ancient influences. I used to play guitar but something happened about a year ago and I stopped playing, my callouses have gone. I’ll send you a track that I did more than 20 years ago with guitar and Roland 505 Groovebox done on an old Tascam 4 track. That’s really retro. When I’m on the plane I use Logic Pro X and just keep going with loops until I’ve got something I’m sort of happy with as a challenge to myself, then I put it through “e-mastered”.
We are having a ball. I had my 72nd birthday on Monday, holy shit! Our son arrived last week. We are heading down to Uluwatu for 3 days this weekend. All in all, life is good.
Tuesday February 6, 2024
My strange ego was shattered last night when we were having dinner at Cupit BBQ close to our villa. A Japanese family sat next to us, their very young daughter looked across at me so I waved back at her. Eventually she got the message with the help of her parents and waved back saying something in Japanese. Her Mum translated and said “She said Grandpa”. So yep, I am officially a “grandpa” even though Gojek drivers and some others sometimes stroke my ego and say I don’t quite look like the old man that I am. LIttle kids don’t get fooled easily. They call a spade a spade.
Even though my actual birthday is officially behind me now the coming week will be filled with “offshoot” celebrations. Peter Rousseau is arriving in a couple of days and it’s his birthday as well on the 11th, there will certainly be fun and games there and then on Sunday we have our family brunch at The Kempinski which we are all very excited about. A day of feasting and celebration.
I was even called an “Elder” by a friend on Facebook yesterday, this was said with the utmost respect and in context to a piece that I had written and shared. I took it as a compliment. In some ways I was delighted by what she wrote.
We are heading to Kasih Ibu again this morning for another round of HBOT, then to the gym/sauna etc.
We are on the cusp of trying out a carnivore diet. I’m listening to as many podcasts as possible to get my head around the basic fundamentals. I’m interested in what results I will get but am more interested in what it might do to help heal Georgie’s gut which has now become chronic after several years of constant diarrhoea. After a soirée at the Kempinski on Sunday we will start intermittent fasting more often and then work out way to a 36 hour fast. I need to get our meat supply organised this week and buy a pan to grill it in. I plan on starting with steak, eggs and bacon plus sardines for me. Maybe a bit of salmon as well …. not the purist form of carnivore but a place to start. I’ll monitor our progress from here and tweek the diet as we go along. We’ll also start with coffee and soda water.
A Note To Lis
Hi Lis I hope your day is going well. We are heading off to HBOT again this morning. Doing a deeper dive down to 18 metres, they are doing a special one fas a “birthday gift” for me. Normally it’s 14 metres, this will be interesting. Sorry I missed your call last night. I was fast asleep. I had a great day yesterday but one of the highlights was getting the message from you in the morning. It means so much to be acknowledged as a father, especially in the way you did. I love that you trust me enough to share your life with me, the ups as well as the downs and it is precious to have you sometimes use me as a sounding board or an ear. I try hard not to give too much advice but sometimes I fall off the wagon. Our relationship is everything I could have wished for Lis.
Monday February 5, 2024
Happy Birthday to me.
It’s only a significance. I know that. A metric to measure time. It’s not at all relevant to me, the true essence of me. Funny thing is that when I think of me I think of the package, not just the essence. Me, my body and my mind. The 3 ingredients that have melded together to create “Gary Collier”. Birthdays are about bodies and to a lesser degree about memories.
Like most things in one’s life they are very personal, by this I mean the feelings, memories, perceptions, pleasure moments, pain, wins, losses …. but on the other hand a birthday is a celebration that you can share with others. A special day to celebrate your own existence and to be celebrated by others.
Anyway, today feels special, actually magical. I don’t really need to do anything amazing, that can happen in the days to come. What the hell, every day is marvellous.
Georgie has given me an Apple Watch for my birthday, a beautiful present that might open up new vistas for me. I’m not certain yet but as the days and weeks unfold I will find out. This is a gift that I am 100% happy with, something that I would have bought for myself but couldn’t really justify it. The hardest thing now is going to be to rebox it , put it away and wait until I have an iPhone that is compatible, patience! Something I don’t have in abundance.
From Ginge
Happy Birthday big brother . 72 means l will turn 62 this year ! We’ve been too after Xmas and winding down from the build up to wedding still .. it’s great it all over and now just back to grandkid duty . Eloise and jack both go to 1/2 days a couple of time a week for kinder now so we had the other little ones while they did orientation days .. lve put on 5 kgs !!! Since wedding and got slack with my eating and no treadmill .. Jake has been great he’s totally dedicated also goes Keizer gym in mornington 3 times a week for strength training ! He was gone before 6 am this morning .. working today we are in Hampton now at a coffee shop pre work .. my fridge is back to no Xmas goodies do l will get back in track as my work pants have popped 3 times already this morning ! 😂crazy how quickly l put on weight if l don’t burn it off .. anyway you look great ! Enjoy your birthday celebrations .. ld be struggling in the humidity
Hi Ginge
Thank you for the birthday wishes. It’s 8am a I also am sitting in a coffee shop just around the cornet from out villa. I like to come here on the mornings that I don’t go walking to sit on my own and write. Georgie will pop around soon.
From Kaye
The big day has arrived !!
Happy birthday Gary, your day to celebrate 🥳
Lots of good wishes for a fantastic day. Have a wonderful lunch , and enjoy all the celebrations.
I will ring later.
🎉🎊🎁🎂🎈
Sunday February 4, 2024
Selamat Pagi (Good morning) on this February morning, the day of my 72nd birthday. I’m in Bali and I am happy and content with my lot in life.
Isn’t that what we all want? A certain level of happiness, health, not too much pain, low stress levels, companionship, someone to share your ideas and love with, a willingness to be there when others need your support and most of all the passion to continue to create life as if you just arrived in this magical moment for the very first time.
I think, from my own experience that when you are a baby life is all so new, that it’s hard to fully appreciate that you’ve once again potentially won the lottery, for me this awareness amplified later in life and continues to do so.
Some may consider earth to be a prison planet, that it may be, but for some reason I feel that I am one of the lucky ones who has had a magical, peaceful and relatively affluent life without too much pain, loss or hardship, beyond the walls of “the prison”. Not that there haven’t been challenges. You need challenges, sliding doors, conundrums, hills to climb, closed doors, blocked roads in order to get stronger and wiser. A perfect life would be perfectly boring and you’d more than likely end up weak and flaccid.
Arriving at the doorway to my 73rd year I don’t feel weak , I don’t feel flacid. I have overcome many obstacles, persisted through pain and loss, enjoyed the moments when everything was almost perfect, those fleeting moments when all the pieces fall into place.
My life has been a series of small plays involving many different characters, places, circumstances. I constantly crave for change. I have always been the main character, does that make me narcissistic? I think not. I have gone to lengths to attempt to understand what this existence must be like for the other players, to garner empathy so that I can offer a certain compassion and care for their happiness and well being as well as my own. This is not to say that I haven’t had selfish moments along the way.
I feel that I have made strong strides toward a greater understanding of what I once considered to be the mysteries of life, maybe I have done this same thing countless times during innumerable lifetimes, then all but forgotten the fruits of my efforts or maybe I have held onto some of the essence of my knowledge and understanding and carried some of it through with me.
It is hard to get objective enough to the game to get an inkling of your own condition, your own worth, your own intentions. All I really know is that I am “me”. You can assume, but your assumptions are only relativite to the reality that you have created for yourself.
I have ended up at this moment in time through a series of planned and random experiences, chance, the throw of the dice, last minute gut-feeling decisions, some more considered than others, some impulsive.
I have a finite amount of time in this current existence. I’m am striving to make the most of each exquisite moment. Who knows what will come next. Maybe I will just continue along my merry way or maybe there will be a dark void.
Whatever will be will be.
Oh and by the way, I plan to live in good health for a least several more decades, if all goes to plan.
Saturday February 3, 2024
Selamat Pagi (Good morning) on this February morning, the day of my 72nd birthday. I’m in Bali and I am happy and content with my lot in life.
Isn’t that what we all want? A certain level of happiness, health, not too much pain, low stress levels, companionship, someone to share your ideas and love with, a willingness to be there when others need your support and most of all the passion to continue to create life as if you just arrived in this magical moment for the very first time.
I think, from my own experience that when you are a baby life is all so new, that it’s hard to fully appreciate that you’ve once again potentially won the lottery, for me this awareness amplified later in life and continues to do so.
Some may consider earth to be a prison planet, that it may be, but for some reason I feel that I am one of the lucky ones who has had a magical, peaceful and relatively affluent life without too much pain, loss or hardship, beyond the walls of “the prison”. Not that there haven’t been challenges. You need challenges, sliding doors, conundrums, hills to climb, closed doors, blocked roads in order to get stronger and wiser. A perfect life would be perfectly boring and you’d more than likely end up weak and flaccid.
Arriving at the doorway to my 73rd year I don’t feel weak , I don’t feel flacid. I have overcome many obstacles, persisted through pain and loss, enjoyed the moments when everything was almost perfect, those fleeting moments when all the pieces fall into place.
My life has been a series of small plays involving many different characters, places, circumstances. I constantly crave for change. I have always been the main character, does that make me narcissistic? I think not. I have gone to lengths to attempt to understand what this existence must be like for the other players, to garner empathy so that I can offer a certain compassion and care for their happiness and well being as well as my own. This is not to say that I haven’t had selfish moments along the way.
I feel that I have made strong strides toward a greater understanding of what I once considered to be the mysteries of life, maybe I have done this same thing countless times during innumerable lifetimes, then all but forgotten the fruits of my efforts or maybe I have held onto some of the essence of my knowledge and understanding and carried some of it through with me.
It is hard to get objective enough to the game to get an inkling of your own condition, your own worth, your own intentions. All I really know is that I am “me”. You can assume, but your assumptions are only relativite to the reality that you have created for yourself.
I have ended up at this moment in time through a series of planned and random experiences, chance, the throw of the dice, last minute gut-feeling decisions, some more considered than others, some impulsive.
I have a finite amount of time in this current existence. I’m am striving to make the most of each exquisite moment. Who knows what will come next. Maybe I will just continue along my merry way or maybe there will be a dark void.
Whatever will be will be.
Oh and by the way, I plan to live in good health for a least several more decades, if all goes to plan.
Hi Kaye
I just want to share with you what it’s like having my new teeth and to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me this experience.
“When something is meant to be you don’t notice it. Like if you had your arm cut off for 10 years and all of a sudden you were given a bionic arm that felt so natural that you had no attention on it.
That’s what it feels like having teeth after more than a decade. So completely natural that they just feel like they have been there forever.
Having said that I fully appreciate that fact that they are there every time I chew something in my mouth or run my tongue over the “full gaps” that now contain teeth as opposed to an abyss.
Plus every time I cast my awareness to my new teeth I am reminded of your generosity in helping to make my mouth complete.
Thank you Kaye. My appreciation for your support is boundless as is my friendship with you.”
Hello Krish
I hope you are well. We have enjoyed working with you and Aryck and hope to continue into the future. We realise that you are very busy and always appreciate any information that you send us. It is very important to us to have good communication with the people we work with, the communication with you during meetings is very enjoyable. We would like to ask if you could respond to our written communication as soon as you possibly are able so we know that we are moving forward and also understand that you have read it. Even if you are busy a small message would be appreciated so we know that you have received the communication. We are hoping to go ahead with the project at Payogan as soon as we have the process done by our notarist. We will be in Bali until March 17 and would like to be able to get the planning permits prepared and underway plus some agreements on quotes and prices for the construction process plus a possible date that we can begin construction. Also a rough schedule on progress payments would be appreciated. Do you think that this is possible? As this is our first project we will have to be very careful with our costs and time management as our plan is to use this first stage to allow us to go onto other projects in the future.
Regards
Gary and Georgie Collier
Hi Charlotte
Unfortunately we leave Bali on March 17 for Melbourne then we head to Japan a few weeks later so we won’t get to Hong Kong for Art Basil. I didn’t factor that one in. Damn!
I’ll take your advice on Kitti’s work and hold out until you give the go ahead. As I said I’m happy to be guided by your knowledge and expertise.
You really should think about having a look at Bali, not so much down south where all the partying happens but around Ubud where you are surrounded by jungle, yoga shalas, healthy restaurants and other rejuvenating activities. We tend to spend 2 months here and then 2 months back in Melbourne which works well for now but I’d love to spend more time in Bali.
What are your plans in Hong Kong during your break from the crazy art world?
Regards
Gary
Friday February 2, 2024
The pitter patter of the rain this morning is getting louder as the minutes tick by. I love it and dislike it at the same time. The dislike is that it prohibits having a morning walk but it’s Bali and the possibility of it stopping is 50/50, not bad odds.
I was a bit disappointed last night to see that I didn’t have some images that I thought I might have on my external hard drives. No big deal really but I had a momentary loss.
I’m a bit devoid of experiences, new interactions and such and as a result I don’t really have too much to write about. I’m contented but not bored. I do much the same each day but I’m happy doing it. My life is relatively idyllic and my stress is low, I’m feeling healthy, happy and fit. This is now part of my everyday lifestyle. I could tweek it, become a touch more regimented but overall I am happy to fill my days with activities that are overall far more positive than negative.
I’m going to have a go at sending one of my tracks to the guys I met yesterday. I don’t usually do this but what the heck, I’m not playing the guitar and maybe I can learn a bit more about digital music.
I’m downstairs waiting for Georgie to come down so we can walk to the gym
Hi Julie Anne
My name is Eka Purnami, most people just call me Purnami. I will be your host during your stay at Villa Tusk. I am looking forward to your arrival. My husband Made has his own taxi service. We can organise to pick you up from the airport or wherever you are staying if you are already in Bali. Does this interest you? If so I can send you prices. I will tell you other details soon about our breakfasts, massages and other services that will be available during you stay at Villa Tusk. Many regards Purnami
Thursday February 1, 2024
The prodigal son has returned to Bali. Finn arrived late last night but I haven’t seen him yet. Georgie stayed up to greet him. I wonder how this will change the dynamic of the upcoming month? I hope it be will be a good experience for all of us.
Finn is far too old now for me to force him to do anything, all I can offer is inspiration. What lays ahead is a road that only he can construct. If I can help I will but I won’t be negatively impacting my own life to help with the heavy digging.
Having said that I am happy to be there for him. To offer support when needed, ears when he needs to talk about stuff and availability when he needs to be with someone.
Enough of that. This is February, it’s my month …. And not just any old February, it is once again The Year of the Dragon. 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012. My seventh Dragon year is about to begin on February 10. I’m in much better shape than the last one both mentally and physically. I had grand delusions last time but they ended in disaster. It’s Finn’s 3rd Dragon year. What’s next? 2036, 2048, 2060. Can I make it this far? It’s possible but not probable.
My job in life now is to stay happy, healthy, strong and fit with enough money to live a decent stress free life. Sounds good doesn’t it. It’s probably too late to set the world on fire but there’s always a slight chance. I am fond of 2s, fond of even numbers, fond of symmetry, fond of harmony and beauty, fond of circles. I am fond of life. That blast of light amidst a sea of blackness. I deep down know that this is t the case really but I also know that it is that way for this version of myself, there have probably been many versions, even the ones carried out on this small planet might number in the 100s. Who knows, I haven’t worked out what the amnesia is all about but I can see it’s purpose. Who in hell would want to rennet eternity. Maybe when we transcend this physical existence on Earth eternity is not a thing anymore. In some ways I know it cannot be. Time is only relevant in regard to the physical universe but when you are in it time is also precious. Do the rules of the physical universe have any impact whatsoever on my overall existence. Probably not but once again, who knows.
It’s just after 10am, I have been on 2 walks so far this morning, both to pretty much the same location. First time on my own and then with Georgie. We met 2 brothers from Byron Shire this morning at cafe Vespa, nice guys, we swapped WhatsApp details.
Finn has slept in but he has woke up now, soon we will be able to plan out our day. One thing for sure is that things have changed.
Wednesday January 31, 2024
Finn arrives tonight, after 2 weeks alone in Bali the dynamic of out time here will change as of tomorrow morning for the next month.
Another think thats happening in the days ahead is Galungan then Nyepi on March 13. Big celebrations all around.
Here are a few things that I need to manifest over the coming days. A decent 4 day booking sometime in February that will finance us to travel to Bali’s west coast for 4 days, signing an agreement on the land so we can get the ball rolling, getting a good quote on the gate to get us into our small villa so we can start renting it out separately as well as staying in it when we come mid year, winning Tattslotto first prize sometime in the next 10 days in one of the bigger draws, something over $10,000,000 would be perfect and would allow me to help out a lot of people. That will do for now although there are many other things that I need to bring into being.
Charlotte from Hong Kong got back to me last night about Kitti’s paintings. It looks like she isn’t going to be working at Phillips for the time being but she seems to have some ideas.
Dear Charlotte
It was a pleasant surprise to get your message last night. We’ve been back in Bali for 2 weeks now, so far it’s been like boot camp… gym, walking, hyperbaric oxygen, saunas/cold plunge, yoga and the occasional massage. By the time we’ve eaten an early dinner we are ready to do a bit of work and then hit the sack!
The Kitti Narod paintings that we own are all stretched (some are also framed) and are in our storage area in Melbourne, One (Kaleidoscope Garden) is in our villa in Bali. They are all in pretty good condition. The swimmers is stretched and framed in a 60mm deep shadow line frame.
I’m really keen to hear your ideas on what you think we might be able to do with these paintings.
I’ll take your sage advice about holding off until the second quarter. I mentioned that I haven’t had much experience with the secondary/auction market so I’m happy to be guided by you.
Regards
Gary
Tuesday 30 January, 2024
I popped an ivermectin this morning, firstly because I was due to take one but possibly because more importantly I may have something brewing or on the other hand , if I’m lucky all I have is the residual effects of a bad night’s sleep and a headache from not enough water. Whichever way I look at it I feel pretty crappy this morning. Time will tell.
There is nothing on our agenda this morning. Georgie has a yoga class this afternoon and I will have a massage. Apart from that we will go to the gym, have a sauna and cold plunge, eat lunch and generally do what we normally do.
It’s early evening now. We have returned from dinner at TYGR, finished eating at 6, right on target.
I ended up coming good today. We went to the gym where I did an energetic hour on the treadmill and 3 rounds in the sauna and cold plunge.
Flora wrote to tell me that her Dad’s funeral was today. I appreciate that.
We had dad’s funeral and send off today. It was very beautiful and our tribute to his life by all of his children and grandchildren encapsulated him to a t.
We made a wonderful video presentation where he was telling his life story at a function only 3 months ago.
Harvey will be putting it up on you tube. I’ll send you the link when I get it. It was the most unconventional Jewish funeral but brilliant.
Xxxxx
Hi Flora Thanks for letting me know. Hey, I wouldn’t expect anything other than an unconventional funeral from you guys. It sounds wonderful, as far as funerals go. It’s nice for people to go off with an uptone farewell, better than tears and remorse. Looking forward to seeing the YouTube presentation. How are you doing? He beat me to it, I often think about making a speech to be played at my funeral but don’t do it because hopefully it’s a long way off.
Yeh I’m ok. I think as time goes on I’ll miss him😢❤️
Yeah, that combination of Thetan, Mind and Body wont happen again for quite some time. I’ve realized that even though we are simply “thetans” the addition of the body and the idiosyncracies that we create throughout a lifetime are what makes each of us so “loveable” (or not). Then there are our own unique memories, special moments that are precious.
Monday 29 January, 2024
Continued from Yesterday
I stuck to my resolution. I have now abstained from alcohol for 5 years, I’ve been on a pretty healthy low carb diet since then as well plus daily exercise, saunas/cold plunges, hyperbaric oxygen. I do constant testing of metrics and use the results to guide myself. My resting heart rate is lower than 60 bpm, blood pressure 120/80 or lower, blood glucose average (A1c) at around 5, energy levels high and I am constantly exposing myself to new information on health and well being. Considering where I began this journey in early 2019 I consider that I am doing very well for an ex-overweight alcoholic on the eve of my 72nd year. I feel that I have decades left in me and that I can maintain this level of fitness and health into my 80s.
A job well done.
General
We head off again in an hour to go to Kasih Ibu Hospital in Saba for another 90 minutes of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This will be our fourth session since arriving and we still have 8 up our sleeves. Georgie will get back into yoga tomorrow so I can squeeze in another massage. After our trip to Saba today we will go straight to ParQ and hit the gym and sauna after an early lunch. That’s going to take pretty much the whole day.
Cardio
Much to my dismay there seems to be a whole new level of Zone 2 exercise that I need to get done each week. Looks like the idea is to get into Zone 2 and stay there for up to an hour at a time. I cant say that I have the correct strategy under my bely just yet but it’s definitely something that I need to learn about. Then there is the dreaded VO2Max training. Apparently it’s 80/20. So 4 hours of Zone 2 cardio per week translates to one hour of full on VO2Max. My knees go weak just thinking about it, plus there’s also the resistance training and balancing stuff. I might just work towards this slowly and learn more along the way.
Sunday 28 January, 2024
Throughout the day I get inspired to write about certain feelings, viewpoints, ideas and then when the morning arrives and I sit down to write I’m either short of time or end up plopping down some words to describe what I did the day before. Nothing wrong with this really although the purpose of me writing all of this down is to explore my innermost viewpoints and observations.
We visited friends for lunch yesterday after a great workout in the the gym followed by a very hot sauna session and cold plunge. We wrapped up the evening with a big salad and some chicken at Tygr.
Bali’s skies opened up while we were eating our dinner. Lucky for us that the rain came tumbling down after we had walked back from Gary and Rosie’s house when we where in the circular interior of Tygr. We arrived home to find all of our doors and windows open (of course) with a few large puddles of water that needed attending to.
Today we head off to Kintamani, a place that I have not visited in at least 2 decades. I don’t think that I will even remember what it was like back then but we need to broaden our knowledge and experience of Bali and visit new locations. We were inspired to visit the west of Bali after listening to Rosie speak about it yesterday, that will have to wait until we get another booking.
This trip to Bali is moving toward it’s second week, the time is flying, I haven’t had a chance to get bored because we are flat out from sunrise until sunset. In the past 10 days I feel quite confident that I have become stronger, lost a bit of fat and overall have improved my general health and well being, which after all is one of my primary goals for being here.
I would very much like to share my experiences with others, especially people around the same age as I am. Telling them what to do isn’t going to cut it. Most people when they reach 70, even 60 become relatively contented with their lives until some health emergency strikes, so what I have to work out is how I can inspire everyday people who are in that age bracket to take a good look at themselves and make a decision to change their lifestyle and spend actual time and effort getting healthy and fit. It’s easy to believe that our story isn’t all that interesting but that’s probably because we are living it and our lives feel normal when in actual fact they are far from that.
It is fast approaching my 72nd birthday as well as the 5th anniversary of my renaissance. Here are a few synonyms that the Thesaurus on my computer throws at me in relation to the concept of renaissance –
Revival, renewal, resurrection, reawakening, re-emergence, reappearance, resurgence, rejuvenation, regeneration, rebirth, new birth, new dawn, new beginning; rare renascence, recrudescence, rejuvenescence.
The past 5 years have embodied all of these.
I knew that I had no option other than making changes to my life style. I had become to a certain degree like an unhealthy plant gone to seed, ready to be ripped out of the garden and discarded. I was still the same “me” that I am now but I lacked self discipline and direction, my “vehicle” needed serious maintenance before it broke down and got cast onto the scrap heap of life. I often felt like shit and sure enough I looked horrible most of the time. This was no way to enter the last decades of my life. So I made a new years resolution to get healthy, I had a few false starts but by mid-February my decision had stuck and I gave up alcohol completely on the eve of my trip to India with Georgie, John and Flora.
Saturday 27 January, 2024
Nothing to write, no time to write it……
Friday 26 January, 2024
Australia is celebrating a public holiday to celebrate the official arrival of the English convicts in Australia. It’s a funny sort of thing to celebrate really, the establishment of a penal colony on the other side of the world and the beginning of the mass destruction of a culture that had existed for 60,000 years. The Europeans have a lot to answer for in terms of uprooting and destroying indigenous cultures from Australia to South America to the USA.
The best laid plans of mice and men fall in a heap when not all concerned are as invested in these plans. I had envisaged getting up early this morning and hopping in a Gojek to Kintamani, this changed to gym first and now it has probably fallen apart completely because Georgie is still lounging in bed and we have no chance of getting to the gym before 9 am which means we shouldn’t arrive in Kintamani until well after the middle of the day.
There are challenges involved when you have to factor other people’s intentions into a plan.
Yesterday turned out to be a big day out really as we left just after 8 and arrived home around 7. I wonder what my expectations are? We are getting a lot of work done to improve our mutual health, not being slack at all, achieving all of the goals that we set for our trip to Bali yet I feel like we should be doing more, having new adventures and finding new places and things to see and do. It’s OK for things to change, for plans to go awry, for flexibility to become an integral part of the process.
Overall we had a wonderful day, a bit of time spent at home in the morning then the gym where I put up my weights. I dod a new InBody reading today, pretty much the same as last time when I arrived, I lost 4 kgs over 10 weeks so if all goes as planned I will return at 81 kg or so. After the gym we did the sauna and cold plunge and then had a healthy salad for lunch at Home Cafe, I then had a haircut at UBS, Indra had returned from Sumatra, well and happy after being at home for 6 months repairing his stomach with his Mum’s natural remedies. He gave me a clean up haircut, not too short but a lot tidier than it was. He gets top points as the No. 1 hairdresser plus I like hime heaps, such a lovely guy. I walked back from UBS and dropped into Casa Luna for a coffee but what I really needed was a piss. Came home after picking up coconut milk and green juice hung around for a little while and ate dinner at Brie, which was beautiful. Full marks to the Russians, they got it right interiors as well as food. The chefs name id Vickory, he is from Sumatra. The head waiter is charming, his name is Jody.
Now we are back home, happy and snug as a bug in a rug. Komang put 3 new lights in the garden on the other side of the pool today, this makes a visual treat of the garden and overall lifts the ambience of the villa at night. It just keeps getting better all the time.
The plan tomorrow is to go to the gym and then to Gary and Rosie’s for lunch, chicken curry cooked by their chef, Jero.
Georgie and I are back on an even loving keel. I really do love her so much, she’a almost my perfect companion even though we have so many points of difference. I’ve spoken to both Finn and Allissa today, especially long talks to Lis due to a few glitches in her universe but she’s strong and resilient.
One thing that I have to do is to get a proposal done for Charlotte at Phillips Auction House in Hong Kong. The sales of Kitti’s painting will be a huge factor in our Bali real estate development plans. I’ll start off with a WhatsApp message today and move forward from there.
Hi Charlotte I imagine you will be back in Hong Kong now, I hope the rest of your UK trip went well. We are back in Bali until mid March. I just wanted to touch base with you and possibly get some guidance and feedback in regard to the collection of Kitti Narod paintings that we have. I understand that the Swimmers is the most likely to sell but we would love to be able to sell all of the paintings throughout this year if at all possible. I think that I shared some of our plans with you during our conversation before Christmas. We have retired from the Gallery business and plan to start up a simple real estate business in Bali to finance the rest of our lives, we are getting the ball rolling on this trip but still need more funds to get the initial project funded. We are hoping that the sale of all or some of the paintings that we own will help move things along. Firstly I’d like to know if Phillips would be interested in putting any of these paintings in upcoming auctions and if so what the procedure will be. Looking forward to hearing from you when you have time. Regards Gary Collier Tusk Gallery
Hi Richard
We are back in Bali, have been back for a week now. I’m so happy to be back although Melbourne was great this time. What about you guys? How was Christmas/New Year? It’s hard to believe that it’s almost 3 months since we saw you.
How are your girls and how is your son’s music career coming along? Penestanan is much the same, Brie, the new restaurant between us and Alchemy had finally opened and surprisingly it is fantastic, there are also a few other new places in Penestanan, happens so fast in Bali. Georgie and I are doing 2 sessions of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy each week which is working out fantastically plus lots of exercise/walking … it’s a bit like boot camp. We are also working on getting our real estate project off the ground. Starting with 2 small villas in Payogan on the other side of Ubud. One for us and one for my daughter. The learning process will be interesting and I hope rewarding. Are you and Emma still interested in talking about a villa in Bali? I haven’t pursued the earlier discussions with you but now that you’ve got some space and time between you and Bali it might be a good time to see if you are still keen to do something. I’ll wait for your answer.
Regards
Gary
Richard got back to me tonight. He’s putting all of his money into renovating his property in Windsor so his investment potential is off the table for now. I’ll keep him up to date on the progress that we make on both Villa Tusk and Villa “Payogan”, our new Japanese themed project.
Review for Viktoria
Viktoria stayed with us for 3 nights in January, she was a perfect guest. We recommend her to any future AirBnB hosts. She was friendly, had great communication and was very considerate of the villa.
Thursday 25 January, 2024
I’m sitting on the foreshore at ByrdHouse in Sanur, sitting under an umbrella but it’s hot in a beach sort of way. Not my favourite place to be but Georgie is very happy to be here. My biggest concern is to stay out of the sun and avoid the extreme UV rays which are everywhere in a place and time like this. We have already done our 90 minutes of HBOT at Kasih Ibu this morning. A strange session, I broke out into a hot sweat half way through, I was drenched, it normalised by the time I got out but my HBOT clothes were drenched. Very strange.
My CGM finally died yesterday afternoon, I was so happy with how it was going. I reckon that it lasted for about 8 days. I’m very happy with the readings that it gave me although I would have loved it to last for the whole time that it was supposed to, 14 days.
It’s just after 2 pm now, sweat dripping down the sides of my torso.
We left Byrds and headed back to Saba to pick up my Oura ring and watch which I had left in the HBOT section of the hospital and then headed to the sauna which was perfect tonight. Nothing like a sauna and cold plunge to wrap up the day.
We ate dinner at Muse, fish curry. Now we are finally home and it’s time for bed again.
A good and big day.
Wednesday 24 January, 2024
CGM
The last 2 CGMs have failed.
3MH00ML190R (STATUS TAEQDP7QK2) BEGAN ON JANUARY 18 AND FAILED ON JANUARY 24.
0M00665Z264 (STATUS TAEQF8YEH7)
3MH…. Worked perfectly for 6 days and then for no apparent reason failed at around 4 pm on January 24.
I am currently in Indonesia, I purchased 3MH… in Melbourne just before leaving on or around 15/1/2024 at Chemist Warehouse in Melbourne. I have 2 spare sensors with me. I have adhered the current sensor with a special adhesive especially designed for Libre 2 and it has worked perfectly to hold it in place. I have screen shots of error log.
I have already been I touch with Abbott customer service about the 0M0066 ……. Serial number sensor. I purchased this some time ago and it never went on my arm, I was told I would get a replacement when I got a doctor’s letter which I now have submitted.
Tuesday 23 January, 2024
I’ve not been feeling great since yesterday. My body has been feeling a bit weary, HRV is down and I’m feeling a few aches probably from the increased weights that I am doing. After the HBOT session yesterday I felt a bit snappy, there’s no way I will work out what happened but life didn’t look so bright, so optimistic and this feeling stayed with me for the rest of the day. I got over 8 hours sleep last night for the first time in ages.
Georgie and I had a few disagreements yesterday but to be honest these were driven by me taking up issues that I normally would just brush off. I also acted ARC broken after each small altercation but this was really just to create an effect. Looking at this objectively it’s easy to see the futility of not staying upbeat most of the time. It’s a decision but once you sink down and become solid then it’s much harder to drag yourself out of the muck plus it’s a lot easier to put attention on “out points” as opposed to “plus points”.
We are leaving ParQ this morning after going to the gym.
Our Russian guest has found herself a long term villa and has decided not to extend her stay which might work out for the best. We made about $1500 profit from our 3 day exile which will help us considerably over the coming weeks.
I’m going to try to get some information for our friend Jose about my treatments.
Evening
We are home at Villa Tusk. Before we left ParQ we went to the gym and sauna. Prior to arriving at the gym we ran into an Australian acquaintance named Jay who we first met around a year ago, he’s building a house near Tampaksiring so we spent about 30 minutes talking to him about the humps he’s coming up against. It’s good to be home again, the villa looked fantastic after 3 days of objectivity. We ate dinner at Murnis Restaurant on the other side of the Tjampuan Bridge. Simple Indonesian food.
Dear Barb
It’s been lovely in Bali but so far we’ve spent most of our time walking, at the gym, Having HBOT, saunas and cold plunges …. A bit like boot camp for oldies!
Can I ask you a favour. Can you take a look at my records and check what the doses/quantities were for my Vitamin C and DCA plus how many times I did them each week. I have met a lovely Spanish guy at HBOT who has been diagnosed with cancer and he’s doing a great job spending every day doing different protocols that hopefully will get him out of trouble. He just wanted to know what I was doing with Vit C and DCA.
Thank Barb
Regards Gary C
Monday 22 January, 2024
It’s hard to believe but we’ve been in Bali for almost one week. So far it’s been all about exercising hard, massage, sauna/cold plunge and HBOT plus eating very well. This has got to be doing something positive for both of us.
So far today all we’ve got in is a 90 plus minute session of HBOT at Kasih Ibu Hospital in Saba about 20 minutes from Ubud. We came back, ate a big healthy salad and both crashed. It’s 3.20 now
Our Ukrainian guest might stay for an extra couple of nights which will bring in a bit more money, the longer the better.
We’ve had a rest/siesta, now it’s time to go to the gym.
Sunday 21 January, 2024
Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) for Non Diabetic
I purchased my first Libre 2 continuous glucose monitor sensor from Abbott a bit over a year ago but in my haste I didn’t read the instructions correctly and ended up with a very expensive sensor that could not be inserted into my arm. I rang Abbott and hit a brick wall, in order to get a replacement I had to get a letter from my Doctor saying I needed it to monitor my Diabetes, which I don’t have. Somewhere along the line this has changed and you can buy the sensors from chemists in Melbourne for $112, expensive as they only last for 2 weeks but theoretically great to get an ongoing snapshot of what is happening throughout the day with your blood sugar levels.
Blood sugar levels as well as ketones were a crucial metric when I was dealing with cancer. My goal was to be as close to 4 for my blood sugar and 4 for my ketones to get a GKI (glucose ketone index) of 1. I was quite often successful in this quest. Now cancer is behind me and hopefully will stay lingering in the darkness not to rear it’s ugly head ever again. I recently did my 5th CTC (circulating tumour cell) test and my reading was down to 1.9 which is excellent and fills me with optimism.
Back to my experience with CGMs. I didn’t do anything for the next year then just before Christmas 2023 I started looking online and noticed that Abbott had a special offer of $15 for a CGM so I told a few fibs and got one. It arrived within a few days and this time my daughter helped me insert the sensor. After an hour it was working, I was thrilled. Once you get it on your arm you need to wait an hour for it to calibrate and communicate with the App which I had downloaded onto my iPhone. The first day was great, I could track my blood sugar throughout the day, observe what effect different foods, exercise and other such things had on my blood sugar. Then the next morning I decided to have a bath. Here’s some advice. Once you have set your sensor up on your arm cover it with a special adhesive safeguard that you can buy on Amazon, there are lots of brands bit essentially it helps to waterproof it and hold it on. I didn’t have this when I had my bath and even though I thought that I’d been careful I was sitting at my desk writing and I noticed that I had a “error” message on the app. The bloody sensor was sitting on the floor next to me and that was the end of that. What a loss that was!
Some general observations
- My blood sugar elevates around the time that I wake up each morning but overall the rise isn’t too high, definitely not a spike. This morning it’s 5.8.
- I tend to have a small spike after dinner each day whereas lunch doesn’t seem to affect me.
- On Sunday I had a spike after eating too many carbs for dinner, blood sugar went up to 8.9 but immediately crashed down to 3
- Most of the time I am between 4 to 6 with no real spikes or maybe one each day to about 9 which comes down pretty quickly.
A Note to Our Current AirBnB Guest
Hi Viktoria
This is Gary from Villa Tusk. Welcome to our Villa. Purnami told me that you liked it, I’m very happy about this. We have tried hard to create a home in Bali that feels warm and friendly and we have loved every stage of creating it. Purnami mentioned that you may be interested in staying a bit longer. We had planned to return after you left but we would be happy for you to stay away until January 31 which is the day that our son will arrive in Bali. Our plan is to stay with him at the villa throughout February for one month. I am not certain exactly what date he leaves but we could then make the villa available to you for as long as you want. We could discuss a longer rental period and agree on a price this works for you. If you do want to discuss this please let me know because as you know we have instant bookings turned on with AirBnB and can get a short term booking very easily which might mess up your plans. For now can you let me know if you would like to stay until January 31, we would take out the AirBnB costs which would make the rent cheaper. Let me know as soon as possible. Purnami will be available to clean and make the beds daily with the exception of one day each week. She is such a lovely person and very helpful. We love her.
Kind Regards
Gary Collier
Villa Tusk
Saturday January 20, 2024
We move out of the Villa tonight for three days in the name of money. We make about $1800, spend about $300 on our accomodation at ParQ which puts us way ahead.
I slept well overall although I woke up a couple of times. It’s almost 7am, we are about to go out on our morning walk. The morning is mild with a slight breeze. Georgie is almost ready, takes a bit longer to get moving when she comes too but the advantages outweigh the wait.
My blood sugar went out the roof last night after the vegan meal that I had a Moksa, bloody “plant based” food, it came back down relatively quickly but was a reminder to eat simple whole food without too many carbs. The CGM is still holding up well in the sauna and cold plunge which I’m delighted about. I had thought that I’d be getting dodgy readings and error messages but this isn’t the case. All is well. I need to write a blog on my experience with the CGM before too long. In actual fact I need to write more actual blogs apart from my daily musings which are more therapeutic than anything else but are also good for my self discipline. I’ll get onto this today or tomorrow.
The ball has started with our real estate project. We may have to cut back a bit on the grandiosity of our new villa as we have limited funds. If all goes well we can get some plans done and apply for a building permit within weeks.
We’ve just returned to the villa from the Moksa walk. I purchased Babi Kecap and Lawar from Nyoman’s Warung on the home stretch. We bumped into Eka and said our hellos, another ritual on arriving in Bali. I’m eating the Babi Kecap and lawar for breakfast. Enak (delicious in Bahasa).
Friday January 19, 2024
I said a little prayer yesterday in the HBOT chamber just before we began our session. I asked the universe for some more money. The end result was a 3 day booking at Villa Tusk which will help us financially toward our upcoming trip to Japan as well as our current stay in Bali. I also won back a percentage of what I spent on yesterday’s lottery ticket. Some things come in small packages. I’ll be working on more complete postulates in future, more complete articulation of what I have chosen to manifest.
We move to ParQ for 3 nights tomorrow so our Russian guest can move in for 3 days, I’m not over the moon excited about the move but at the same time I’m happy that we will make some money plus the logistics of going to the gym will be greatly enhanced. I quite enjoyed our stay in late October when we stayed there for a week.
It has been a big day. Started with a walk up the Tjampuan Ridge at 6.30 am or roundabout, coffee at Kastara and then back to the villa, most of the walk was in light rain. Georgie rushed off to an Alchemy yoga class at 9am and I prepared to have a 90 minute massage from Wayan at the villa. We then headed to “Home’ where we shared a big salad, then into the ParQ reservations office to confirm our 3 day stay. Out the back door and into the gym for a decent workout, not as strenuous as yesterday but good enough. After the workout we went downstairs to the sauna, very hot today and into the cold plunge, very cold today we did 2 rounds of this and then headed back home for a meeting with Krish and Aryck, the builders we are talking to about the project in Payogan. Once we’d wrapped up our meeting we hot footed it to Moksa in a goner and had a relatively early dinner and then walked home. Here we are at 7.45 pm wrapping up our day.
We met a very exotic man named Newman on our walk this morning, an Englishman about my age who has lived in Bali for 25 years. He’s married to a Balinese lady and has 8 year old twins, a boy and a girl who he reads Enid Blyton books to. Georgie got very excited when she found that he was reading the Mallory Heights series to them. He was a real find, a charming and charismatic man with a free spirit and loads of affinity. He moved to Oregon from England earlier in his life and became a saddle maker, now he creates superb masks for carnivale and the Italian theatre. Beautiful creations that he exhibits once a year at an his own exhibition.
Like I said, it has been a big day.
I am really happy with my continuous glucose monitor, fourth time lucky! It’s working perfectly and I’m delighted to report that with a bit of care the hot sauna doesn’t have any real negative effect on it. I wrap a small black hand towel around my arm and this seems to suffice. Part of the trick is to have a special waterproof cover over it that adheres it to my arm, I was very worried that it wouldn’t work under the very hot conditions but my fears have been put to rest for now.
Thursday January 18, 2024
Day 2 of our Bali sojourn which may yet evolve into something permanent. I slept well although got to sleep late by our Bali standards at 10 pm.
Dinner at Home Cafe after the gym and sauna last night was perfect. Clean and healthy food, yum.
Yesterday was almost a perfect first day, it even rained a bit for us toward the end of the day which cooled the air down considerably.
We arrived at Kasih Ibu a bit late today but we just made it in to the chamber in time. We shared it with a Spanish guy named José from the Basque area who is using HBOT to win a battle with cancer, I gave him a link to my blog, hopefully it will help. The session was fabulous. We purchased a package of 10 sessions each and they throw in 2 for free. Each package was $800 which works out to about $65 for each session, amazing by any standards, probably the cheapest HBOT anywhere in the world and it’s still a secret in Bali, hardly anyone knows about it so getting a booking is smooth and easy like a Lonnie Liston Smith track.
After the HBOT session we caught a goner back to ParQ and had lunch at “Home”, then went to the gym and sauna. It’s 4.30 now and we are at home relaxing after a relatively busy day. We just got another booking for 3 days which starts on the 20th so in 2 days we will move to ParQ for 3 nights which will make us about $1700 in exchange for $300 to stay at ParQ so we will be $1400 ahead. Nothing to scoff at. We have another booking in mid February which will give us another boost financially.
Wednesday January 17, 2024
We are half way into our first day back in Bali for 2024.As usual there are a few changes, old buildings knocked down, new ones going up but the essence of Ubud never really changes. I woke up far too early considering the time I finally got to bed after our flight. No big deal. I walked around to Alchemy to start the day, worked on the music track I did on the trip over in the plane. I have a challenge that I’ve been working on since we went to Europe almost a year ago which is to create a random digital music track on each and every flight, so far I have been successful and possibly have about 6 tracks done now. Like everything I do it is spontaneous and begins without a plan, building digital loops until I have a foundation to work with. The tracks all have a special place in my heart. After Alchemy we returned to the villa and unpacked then walked to Zest for lunch.Georgie is now doing a yoga class at Intuitive Flow and I have walked to the other side of Ubud to get a haircut which is where I am writing this. If all goes well I will convince Georgie to hop in a Gojek and meet me here on the way to ParQ and a session at the gym.
The transition from Melbourne to Bali has become very seamless. We arrived at the villa 11 hours after leaving our home in Melbourne. No jagged edges, it’s a real Goldilocks sort of life really.
I spoke to Allissa this morning for some time while I was at Alchemy and had a quick chat to Finn as well.
I have a bit too much attention on my weight. Over the past year I have put on about 7 or so kgs, some is muscle and some fat. I reckon that it won’t be all that hard to shed the adipose fat over the next 2 months. Overall it’s easier in Bali for many reasons, possible the main one is that I won’t have access to cream and low carb so called protein bars.
Finn will come in 2 weeks from today, a very worthwhile trip for him.
I’m now waiting for Georgie to arrive in a Gojek to go to ParQ and join the gym and spa. Everything is going smoothly and stress less. Very happy.
I’ve had my haircut, $8 ! You can’t beat that price. Such good value. He did a great job.
Tuesday January 16, 2024
At last the day of departure has arrived. I haven’t really tried to understand the mechanism of the phenomena of leaving somewhere for a new location. For me it’s all about whether I have everything and that doesn’t just mean clothing, it means everything. While having the essentials is important it’s not the end of the world if I forget something or if I have to wait a bit longer and bring it next time.
Overall we are in a relatively decent position financially, not what you would call “millionaires” but we have enough money to get by over the next 2 months, if we are careful.
My birthday is approaching but for now I just need to enjoy January.
What are my goals for Bali?
- To get our property business off the ground and underway.
- To enjoy being in a simple location with no real stress or responsibility.
- To further improve my fitness both physically (cardio-vascular) and muscles and generally work on the maintenance of my body.
- To explore some new areas of creativity, maybe find some new skill that I have hidden away.
- To generally improve Villa Tusk and the gang.
That’s well and truly enough for 2 months. Body, mind and spirit with a bit of financial viability thrown in for good measure.
The day ahead has quite a few things that need doing but it is more important that I stay calm and don’t worry. Remember, all that matters is happiness, fulfilment and improvement.
Our flight leaves at 5.50pm. We have until 2 pm to get everything well and truly organised.