Friday, December 27, 2019

God Frequency - Letter to David


Dear David,

One fine morning a few weeks ago I was out for my routine 7 mile walk, which starts out in Lake Shore East Park, and preparing to do a shoulder exercise on one of the stone fountain shelves I glance toward the ground and see this -


I pick up this fine looking treasure bag, and forgetting Emerson's dictum "upon finding a treasure I would leave it untouched", I commit the folly of inspecting, smelling, stuff it quickly into my pocket and continue on my way. Pulling it out a few times as I go along to make sure I am not mistaken with what I now have in my possession, when I board the elevator to the 16th floor a fed ex delivery man gets on for the ride and he looks over at me and says "that's the best smelling cologne, what is it?" I apologize and reply "so sorry, that's workout sweat stinking this place up." "No no I'm serious, it smells amazing." I recall the treasure in my pocket and pull it out and hand it to the delivery man and say "I think you mean this."  He takes a whiff and says "yea, that's it."

And so the angels and demons watching over my karma decide to give me access to something, something interesting, and I buy rolling papers and watch a youtube video on how to roll a joint but my joint is so bad that I waste an entire bud and the high is poor and quick, like paying a visit to a prostitute who is tired and jaded because you are her 3rd customer of the night and you roll out of the musty bed feeling cheap and used. I freshen up the experience by using half the buds in the bag to make cannabis butter and soon after I am gazing into an 8"x8" pan of chocolate brownies cooked with the green tinted stuff.

For the past few weeks I have been on a continuous high from the brownies. During this time of intoxication I have experimented with different types of activities to determine if I approach any of them differently and in a new way. I traveled to Hammond to play in a world series of poker event and played five consecutive days, the highlight being a cash in one of the series tournaments. I participated in a chess tournament and uncorked one of my best games, a king's gambit (I played the white pieces) which ended when my opponent resigned on move 20 in this position -



I wrote 2 short stories in three days, one on gambling and the other about sex (what else is there in life?)  Definitely not professional, but I believe them to be decent when compared against my other efforts.

I read a few books, Keep the Aspidistra Flying by Orwell, Great Soul (biography of Gandhi), a Tibetan book on meditation, Sade's 120 Days of Sodom, Klein and Wagner by Hesse, Bukowski short stories. I have the vague impression they were all high as a space ship when writing, or that they had access to the frequency which my mind can get close to while high on the brownies.

I did a week of "walking doubles" - doing the 7 mile route at both dawn and dusk. It was during this activity that I felt the angels and demons had their fancy tickled because when I would reach the Lake Shore Path my mind would more often than not access what I call the "God Frequency", a state of mind where a third eye is opened, "the third eye gets the pie" right?  I could now reach things which have for a long while been distant and locked, interesting things - time, space, material, the intertwining of life and death.I felt the immense terror which will surely accompany me a few moments before the arrival of the departure time of awareness. Even though I spend most of my moments in acceptance of imminent death, I cannot feel the intense fear and terror in my normal moments and so I am lulled into a soporific state of, if not exactly denial, a miles long distance between myself and death.  During last night's walk the colors were rich as butter and time stretched out and with each step an eternity of will and thoughts flooded my perceptions and my muscles were a soft mass of pleasure. I stopped at Trader Joe's and dodged the Friday evening crowd and at the counter the clerk gave me the look of eternity. The trees and the geese, the dogs and the soggy grass let it be known that they are inside of me and I inside of them and a switching of consciousness is easily achieved. No-Time went on forever and a squirrel looked up at me and said don't forget to blink.

This morning I was out somewhat late on the walking path and by miraculous luck I latched onto a point close to the God Frequency, and then I remembered! Thirty years ago I had discovered this frequency by accident and for a blissful two days was plugged into a type of cosmic consciousness where doubt is dulled and one walks finely balanced between the finite and the infinite, one foot in the here and now, the other stretched out far into space where philosophy, religion, history and art mix with the soul, a cosmic soup which never goes dry. Thirty years passed where I was always on the hunt, searching for the frequency where dreams come out into the light, but always falling short of the mark. I meditated, read the words of the sages and gurus, the past thirty years having been lived on the energy spawned in the wake of that light and precise balancing act. As I walked through Lincoln Park among the old trees and the snowy fields I landed close to the God Frequency, the point and place where ideas, images, stories and music originate. Thirty fucking years! I was certain I would never find it again, that long side-wise glimpse of the angels and demons laughing and dancing, pulling the strings of wonderful and awful karma. I don't have to worry about having enough time because time is plentiful on the God Frequency, I can be all things and all places and all people and that horrible stench of the turbulent time river rolling ever onward is just a drop of salty ocean water, where consciousness is light as air and bodies come and go with the winter wind.

On the beach I get into push up position and my muscles are relaxed and my mind covers the galaxy and my fingers dig into the sand 1,2,3,4,5.....when am I going to stop, will my arms get sluggish, 6,7,8,9... there is no resistance, I can do 100 push ups with the ease of taking 100 steps. Welcome to the God Frequency so say the angels and the demons, I stand up fresh and happy ready for anything, even the terror of those final moments when I walk upon the bridge which connects life and death -




Banzai!

Finding a smooth flat stone, I hold it in hand, excited, confident, and let it fly......oh my god, there it goes, skimming the surface, skip skip skip, a perfect balance achieved and the stone is hurtling unimpeded, lost, gone, forever and ever flying to the stars.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Wine and the End of the World

The end of summer and I drink wine and reflect on life and the world and how it will all soon be coming to an end. A few billion living things caged on a spinning rock going around a fire ball, everything connected and a true miracle that the connectedness allowed for an expansion of consciousness, a way to be grateful for time, space, and material. But as Buddha explained a few years ago, death awaits all, even the earth and the sun. And so on this first night of Autumn I give thanks for a life which once thrived and is now approaching its destiny. Death, with an open heart I accept thee.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Flash Aborted, Chess Revived

During my 2 mile run and 4 mile walk this morning my mind was occupied with the flash project, and I discovered that many images and memories from the past, along with concomitant emotions, were being brought to my consciousness, things which I have not recalled for many years. I found my mind becoming overwhelmed with the totality of my life's experiences, the changes which have occurred, not only on the outside, but inside as well. I was wondering if I should write about the many negative experiences of my existence, which of course all deal with people who targeted me with negative energy. I began recalling these people and even to think about them goes against my idea that hell beings should not be brought into my consciousness, even if they are standing in front of me I should be conscious not of them due to their immense negative energy, but focusing on positive things instead. But if I am going to skip and gloss over these negative hell beings, I am not sure the flash project will accomplish what it sets out to do, which is to record the important experiences of my life so that by the time I reach the end of the sequence of events the whole will come into a sharp picture and conclusions can be drawn. I am sorry to say that these hell beings who targeted me with negative energy did influence how I perceive life, and indeed, they are the reason I consider the world to be a hellish place - as Sartre once wrote, what is hell, but people? Not wanting to give hell beings an inch of space inside my consciousness, I have therefore decided to abandon the project, why think of hell beings when I can be cultivating positive energy instead?

And so it is back again to meditating upon chess from day to day, along with running and walking and reading. Chess being a metaphor for life, with its ups and downs and mistakes and occasional triumphs, is an activity which will bring positive energy to my life and allow me to flow in the river of time with a creative satisfaction. Until something better comes along I will continue to study chess books at the library and play in occasional competitions.

Monday, July 15, 2019

Flash - Introduction

I played in a couple of small chess tournaments over the weekend and had a fun time with below average results but each game was a rich tapestry of desire fused with logic. I don't plan on playing many more tournaments and would like to spend the rest of my free days preparing for death. For months I have been undecided on how I would like to go about this, this preparation for the most mysterious and fearsome transition. Tonight as I was reading Sartre's The Reprieve, it occurred to me that I could prepare for death by writing about my life, it won't so much be an autobiography as a collection of moments which would most likely flash before my mind's eye during my final moments on earth. I decided that an appropriate title for this would be Flash, and I will write segments of which the duration is 1 year's time. I will thus have 53 Flash entries. The goal is that by the time I finish writing the 53rd entry I will have come to some conclusions about my life and that somehow this will help me prepare for death.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Summer Break

My Lenovo laptop stopped working so I for the past few days I have not had access to this site. Today I walked to Best Buy on Michigan Ave and purchased a new Lenovo for a little over $200, not a bad price because these little laptops should last ~3 years.

Because I have lost a few days of writing I have decided to end the consecutive daily entries for the summer, the posts were usually small and repetitive so I am not losing much, I will write entries when I feel the need to.

Sunday, July 7, 2019

Monk Life - Day 23

Ran 2 miles under a toxic white sky, air was cool. Did not do much for the rest of the day. Started reading The Winter of Our Discontent, Steinbeck's final novel.

Saturday, July 6, 2019

Monk Life - Day 22

Played the CCC #41 Plus Score today, took a bye in rd 2 and skipped the final round due to fatigue. Drew a 1660 player in rd 1 and lost to a 1905 player in rd 3. In rd 3 I played the King's Gambit from the white side for the first time in a tournament, I surprised myself by holding a slight edge throughout the middle game and even had a chance for a winning game but I missed the move, which I looked at but upon looking at my oppionent's reply I decided against it but after computer checking the line I needed to look one move further to find that I had a killer reply. When time got down to under 10 minutes I could no longer think long on any one move and this caused the usual problems of miscalculation and I blundered away a good game. Even though I have not played competitvely in 4 months I feel my chess studies are allowing me to improve and gain a deeper undestanding of this fascinating and complex game.

CCC #41, July 6, 2019, round 3.

J/A. Jarath - 

1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 exf4 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Qe2+ Qe7 6.Bxd7+ Nxd7 7.d4 O-O-O 8.
Bxf4 Qb4+ 9.c3 Qa5 10.Nf3 Ngf6 11.O-O Qxd5 12.Nbd2 Bd6 13.Bxd6 Qxd6 14.Qc4
Rhf8 15.Rae1 Nb6 16.Qb5 Nfd5 17.Ne5 a6 18.Qd3 f6 19.Nec4 Nxc4 20.Nxc4 Qc6 21.
Nd2 h6 22.Qf5+ Kb8 23.Re6 Qd7 24.Rfe1 g5 25.g3 Ka7 26.c4? (the losing move, made in time trouble)  Nf4 27.gxf4 Qxd4+ 28. Kh1 Qxd2 29.R6e2 Qd6 30.fxg5 hxg5 *




Friday, July 5, 2019

Monk Life - Day 21

I did a lot of walking the past 2 weeks and this caused my feet to get blisters and also a slight injury to a toe, so today I took it easy and walked to the library to study chess. Checked out my favorite chess book, Psychology in Chess by N Krogius, always an inspiration to read prior to a tournament.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g67 Mieses/Rubinstein (J)
Read Psychology in Chess -
Tal/Gligoric; Tal/Rosetto; Ilyin-Z/Nenarokov 1922;
Ilyin-Z/Nenarokov 1923 (J)



Thursday, July 4, 2019

Monk Life -Day 20

Returned home and walked to a Nepalese restaurant with a friend for a nice meal, then we walked along the lake and watched the fireworks. Read more from Aagaard. Will go to the library tomorrow to pick up a couple of chess books I put on hold.

Read Aagaard Attacking Manual I -
Karolyi/Hector; Najdorf/Gliksberg;
Yusupov/Ivanchuk (J)

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Monk Life - Day 19

Visiting my parent's today, will stay until tomorrow. Read a bit of Aagaard's Attacking Manual I.

Read Aagaard Attacking Manual I -
Nicklich/Junge; Hector/Mortensen;
Persson/Grooten (J)

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Monk Life - Day 18

My laptop battery is going dead so it will be difficult to keep things up to date here, will try my best.

Monday, July 1, 2019

Monk Life - Day 17

No running to let the toe cramp and blisters heal, but managed to walk 12 miles and decided to register for my first chess tournament since the Vietnam Saigon FIDE International, the Chicago Chess Center Plus Score #40, open section, Saturday, July 6, g65, d5, 4 rounds.

Sunday, June 30, 2019

Monk Life - Day 16

Left foot has 2 blisters and right foot has a bad toe cramp so I took the day off from running, was still able to walk 6 morning miles and in the afternoon walked to library to study chess.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g65 Tarrasch/Rubinstein g 66 Grunfeld/Rubinstein (J)
Read GM Performance by Polugaevsky -
g21 Pol/Romanishin (J)

Saturday, June 29, 2019

Monk Life - Day 15

Sky alternating between white and blue with summer air finally reaching a warm level. Ran 5 miles then walked to chess pavillion and played 10 games, with a score of 7 wins 1 draw, 2 losses against 3 old men.

Half way through The Razor's Edge, just as good on the second reading as the first.

Friday, June 28, 2019

Monk Life - Day 14

Did a double walk today, 7 miles in the morning followed by 6 miles in the afternoon, stopped at the chess pavillion again and played an old eastern European guy, winning 5 and losing 1, same score as yesterday. Sky was pure white today, no blue, the atmosphere is dead, the scientists have killed the earth, not much anyone can do now but live life to the fullest and count down the days to death.

That being said I think it is a fair viewpoint considering the state of the earth and the age of my body to adopt an attitude that today will be my final day on earth. It brings a strong sense of pleasure and vigor to the day, and fear is nowhere to be found. If I happen to make it to bed at night I tell myself it will be my final sleep and I will not be waking up, and if I do happen to wake up in the morning then I begin the death process again. I had a similar way of viewing life in my early 20's and I really sucked the marrow out of life during that time and perhaps I can do something similar this time around.

If this is my final entry, you will know why.

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Monk Life - Day 13

Warm day, ran 5 miles which is the furthest I have run since returning to the states in mid-march. Was feeling energetic because of the warm air and although the sky was white with toxic material I still managed to feel decent enough so went for a 6 mile walk after lunch and a nap and stopped at the chess pavilion and played a couple of old Ukrainian men, winning 5 and losing 1, played well enough and my studies of Rubinstein's games has given me a confidence boost.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Monk Life -Day 12

The days are getting warm,but the skies are poisoned with airplane filler, blue sky, or should have been this morning, but the 80% was covered in a fine covering of toxic material which blocked the sunlight. While Europe bakes with 100 degree temps, the midwest USA thanks to the military is soaked in toxic moist air.

Because of the first warm day of the 2019 (after 7 months of waiting) I did a double walk, total 13 miles.

Read more of The Razor's Edge.

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Monk Life - Day 11

Blue sky for much of the day, then gray clouds and rain in the afternoon, when the sky is clear the sun's intensity is stronger than in the past.

Read the first part of The Razor's Edge by Maugham.

Monday, June 24, 2019

Monk Life - Day 10

Walked outside at 6:30, 5 minutes later I returned home due to gray and white sky and threat of rain, I slept for 3 hours then went outside and walked 7 miles under white skies, not a shade of blue to be seen.

During the walk I found myself losing confidence in my individual future due to not having any idea of how to proceed and what kind of decisions to make regarding how to survive regarding the obtaining of money. I knew it was the curse of having a somewhat fuzzy awareness of possible future events, which leads to attempting to steer current events so that future events will be favorable, and when I deduce that most possible outcomes are likely to be unfavorable I have to work to avoid despair. So I focused on my breathing and the present moment and decided to let the future fall where it may, that I do not have the insight and the genius to find ways to get money other than the meanest of ways, that of low wage work.


 Artifact, 1986


  Artifact, 1998



  Artifact, 1993



 Artifact, 1992

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Monk Life - Day 9

Ran a quick 2 1/2 miles under a sky covered in toxic filler, when I got home I was planning to read a book along the riverwalk but the sky became darker and it rained and there was not a bit of sun to be seen for the entire day. So this is what the end days are, a destroying of light, back into a dark hole of nothingness. So be it.

As my body approaches its end point I have realized that I need to focus upon how I want to proceed during my final span of days. When I take a summary view of things I come up with the following -

I have lived my life with death mostly present in the side mirror of consciousness, and because I have been moving along the path for more than 50 years I have to remind myself that although I have stayed ahead of death for a long while, one day it is going to get into my blind spot and overtake me. Sensing that my body is in decline with its energy and mass and with death sensing my slowness it is going to speed up so I believe I don't have much time left in the race.

The way I have lived in relation to survival is to work whatever random job I could get and this aspect of my life has relied heavily on chance, luck, and fortune or lack of it. As each year passes I sense that my store of good luck is running out and will soon be gone, which means that the ability to exchange my time for money is going to be heavily diminished, thus leaving me without a way to continue living with secure shelter and food.

Instead of being inspired to look for a wage job I have instead been considering the choices which are available to my consciousness. Working a wage job for so many years has dulled my perception to the reality that at any moment I have an infinite amount of choices available, and yet because of the nature of working in the same space and at the same time, the choices I choose to be aware of are so narrow that I end up choosing similar things day after day. If my life's days were a continuum of chess games, instead of playing a variety of openings I have chosen to play the same opening thousands of times. And now with death stepping closer and currently not being constrained to a single point in space and time due to not working a wage job, I have recently become aware again that I can play something other than 1e4. The reason most people choose 1e4, instead of say, 1 b4, is that 1 e4 is known to lead to a safe and predictable game with good chances of success. If one were close to death, however, success no longer means extending one's days but rather making the most of the small amount of days remaining. If I wanted to go out in a flare of crazy light I could play 1a3 and be guaranteed an unusual outcome, akin to jumping off a bridge, not much chance for survival and cause of death could be considered suicide. So putting 1a3 aside, there are safer alternatives which can still lead to curious and new ways to perceive the unfolding of a series of days.

And so I am thinking about changing my life's opening, but at the moment I have no concrete ideas about what I should do. Having just completed an unusual opening by traveling to SE Asia for 4 months, I am wondering what else could be done. If I wanted to I could wake up tomorrow and start walking in a random direction and not return home for a week, seeing where my feet take me. Having just written that I now feel a flow of chilled energy surge through me, that choice of opening seems quite interesting and possible, it is just one of many things I could do tomorrow, yet I will most likely play 1 e4 and walk the lakeshore path for 2 hours, return home for lunch, nap, read, and make an entry here.

Time is short, I should not fear doing something out of the ordinary.



 Artifact, 1991


Artifact, 2004

Saturday, June 22, 2019

Monk Life - Day 8

White skies with the air temperature in the 70's, which at this time of year would be cool, but this is the warmest it has been in weeks. I had a nice walk in the morning, decided not to do chess study today. Maybe I will diminish the amount of time I am spending on the sessions due to the fact I don't plan on playing major tournaments anytime soon. I do enjoy the meditative aspect of the study sessions, when I study a master chess game I feel I am getting a glimpse of an unusual meditation taking place on a 64 square board.

In the afternoon I walked to the nearby park and sat on a bench and read Confession of a Buddhist Atheist, then in the evening I went to Millennium Park and listened to a free classical music concert while reading more of the book.

Because I won't be able to keep the many boxes of photographs which I recently received from my ex-wife, I have decided to photograph as many as I can, hopefully one per day, and post them here so that after they are gone for good I can still look at some of them here on this site.


 Artifact, 1997




Friday, June 21, 2019

Monk Life - Day 7

Woke up this morning earlier than usual, which over the past few weeks has been getting later and later due to no sun and cold temperatures, but my consciouness sensed a blue sky and a visible sun and so I was out by 7:15am and even though I gaining weight due to winter-like climate I was able to run 4 miles, 3 miles at a faster than normal pace, my energy and a uncalled for joy carried me effortlessly along the lakeshore path. By the time I returned home the sky had been covered 100% by the airplane toxic materials and the sun was gone and the blue sky and wonderful colors of the earth had been obliterated.

My energy and joy dropped precipitously and I had the idea, which I have always known on a sub-conscious level, that the entire reason my life has been happy and good is for a simple reason - an unobstructed sun and a blue sky. All of my best memories revolve around this point, that even though I believe that the place where I was born and the body I am inhabiting is a function of a hell realm, what has kept me from despair and constant sorrow is the beauty of the environment. Many don't rely on, or need, or are even aware of this aspect of the hell realm, and therefore obtain their reason for being in other things, such as status, power, and wealth. The reason I do not desire these things, which exist strictly on a social and ideational level, is my focus on the feeling of harmony I have with the external natural world, hence my gravitation to writers such as Emerson and Thoreau, and the artists Van Gogh and Wolf Khan.

I am reminded of a film scene where a young man asks an old man who is homeless and bound to a wheelchair, "why do you go on, how do you not desire to just die?" The old man looks up at the handsome youth and smiles with a look of gratitude and says "look up, I see the sun shining, I go on living because of that." I understand the old man's sentiment, he has nothing, not even the use of his legs, yet he still gets joy from the sun and a clean blue sky.

Unfortunately I now find myself on a dying earth, nature and animals and birds and insects being destroyed daily, and along with it the sight of the sun, the warmth it gives, and the beauty of a clear sky. The scientists have destroyed the world with their inventions and now they are trying to save it with more inventions, but their ideas and plans are not working and the soul of the world goes on dying. There is no reason yet to change my belief that the place where my consciousness currently resides is a hell realm, and I guess it is only apt that I end my days here with little joy and energy, in a white cave of darkness.

Now at the library studying chess.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g63 Rubinstein/Tarrasch; g 64 Rubinstein/Hromadka




Thursday, June 20, 2019

Monk Life - Day 6

First day of summer, longest day of the year, sky was completely white the entire day, rain, cold, windy, I stayed indoors and did not leave the condo. The earth is dying, a terminal cancer patient and the radical cure, dropping toxic materials into the sky to block the sun, is similar to a person taking chemo-radiation, poisoning the body in a last attempt to salvage a few extra breaths. There is no hope, nothing to wish for anymore. Death is coming, which is not unusual, but the odd thing is life and death will be no more after this generation is gone.


Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Monk Life - Day 5

Ran 2.5 miles under pure white toxic sky, not a particle of blue the entire day, and the temperature was in the 50's but felt like 40. Weather experimentation by the government is not only unethical, it is a colossal failure, it will not stop abrupt climate change and the toxicity of the method is going to dumb down and kill off all living things on the earth.

Walked to the library after the run and then in the evening I watched a Mozart concert at Millennium Park in the cold rain, the dusky sky glowing white and gray. The earth is no longer beautiful and it even has a foreign feel to it, as if I have been transported to another planet.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g62 Rubinstein/Bogoljubowg; g63 Rub/Tarrasch (J)

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Monk Life - Day 3

Sky a pure white, cold, walked to the track and did some exercises, then walked to the library for chess study. When I left the library at 1:30pm I saw the sky was blue, first time in days, but in all directions the toxic materials dropped by airplanes could be seen. I slept for 3 hours when I got home, got up and read a few books, then fell asleep.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g61 Reti/Rubinstein (J)

Monday, June 17, 2019

Monk Life - Day 2

The days have been cold, the skies completely white, have not seen the sun in days, not even a speck of blue. These are the end days so I continue to sow peace inside my mind.

Due to lack of sun and warmth my energy has been flagging, most in this city of toxicity is undoubtedly filled with various ailments. I tried to run yesterday but failed due to the lack of sun and heat, today I wore winter clothing and willed myself to run 2 1/2 miles. Was too tired to walk to the library so slept for 3 hours in the afternoon. Took a walk in the evening and ended up going to the library without my chess set, I just wanted to wander about the books and checked out 4 books, 2 by Maugham and 2 by Jules Renard.

Meditated a short time today after my long nap, it is easier to do when I am don't have to follow a strict schedule. Incense arrived today, it will perhaps motivate me to meditate for longer periods of time because I like to time meditation sessions based on the burning of one stick.


Sunday, June 16, 2019

Monk Life Re-start - Day 1

After 1 week of a very feeble attempt at following the monk schedule I created for myself, which was supposed to last for 3 months, I have decided to put an end to it. I am reminded of a schedule I made when I was a college student, which lasted about the same amount of time, I realized then that a schedule set in stone does not fit well with how I like to live my life, which is a constant monitoring of inner and outer life, and deciding each day how best to proceed. And so like then, today I give myself the freedom to cancel the schedule and to start fresh. I value freedom and if a schedule of my own making begins to feel like slavery, then I should acknowledge my mistake and  move on.

So what now? The point of the schedule was to put my mind more at ease, my inner life more in harmony with the external world. I see now that before the schedule I was living quite well, within and without, so although I am always searching for ways to grow more at peace, the old method of going from day to day and following the whims of the moment is fine and it works, so I will be returning to that for now. Running/walking in the mornings, chess study at the library at some point in the day, and if I feel the need, I have plenty of time to sit and meditate.

Perhaps sitting meditation is not that important to me in the present as it was 30 years ago, and if I think about it, back then I did not follow any schedule and my time spent sitting was minimal, what I really worked hard on was focusing on the breath at all hours of the day or night, with whatever I was doing. The sitting was more a luxury for me due to my limited time due to working and going to school full time, and yet this did not prevent me from having mind-shattering insights.

I have learned that there is no one way or right way to practice meditation and zen, each person has to figure out what brings harmony and peace, and then if the desire is there, to work on gaining more of it.

So I will be running and walking and studying chess and reading and eating and napping, all done when the timing is right. My schedule will be the no-schedule.

Saturday, June 15, 2019

Monk Life - Day 6

I am having trouble adjusting my mind to the monk schedule. I now consider the smallest time spent meditating or doing prostrations to be a success. I have to look at this endeavor as not something pleasant and easy, but an activity which my mind rebels against and thus it is going to need a lot of will power to follow the schedule. I will remain positive and continue to try.

No library study today, the sky was white, gloomy, cold, I walked in the afternoon rain, it was all I could manage to do.

Friday, June 14, 2019

Monk Life - Day 5

Ran 4 miles in the morning then walked to the library for 4 hours of chess study. I had a breakthrough insight on my 4 mile walk after the run, I decided to make the damaged and dying sky a positive rather than a sad negative, and I decided to achieve this allowing the toxic white materials in the sky to remind me that death to all is imminent, and thus I need to focus my mind on my breath so that I may achieve inner clarity and peace. So the thing which so disturbs me is now going to be my meditation bell, and it being a daily constant, always there in the sky, will be the best tolling bell of all, bringing me back to the present moment, knowing that there will not be many moments left to come.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g60 Rubinstein/Spielmann (J)

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Monk Life - Day 4

Flat gray sky with rain, cold, which made me stay indoors most of the day. Meditated one short session. In the late afternoon the sky turned blue and I went for a walk to the zoo. No library chess session today, but studied one game at home.

Read Nezhmetdinov's Best Games -
g4 Nezh/Konstantinov (J)

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Monk Life - Day 3

Gray, cold white toxic sky. It seems odd to always be writing about the end of the earth, they dying of everything upon it being imminent, but I am not the only one, I was reading last night the Dalai Lama 2017 book A Call for Revolution, and in it he states the sames thing, that the earth is dying and unless there is a radical human revolution nothing can save it. Ah well, I guess the positive thing about this is I am trying my best to create an inner revolution within myself.

Ran 2 1/2 miles then meditated in the late morning, ate lunch, napped, then walked to the library for chess study.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g58 Thomas/Rubinstein; g59 Rubinstein/Alekhine(J)
Read GM Performance by Polugaevsky -
g20 Chikovani/Pol (J)

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Monk Life - Day 2

Had a good first day of monk life, walking 6 miles in the morning followed by a short meditation session in the mid morning. I ordered incense sticks which should arrive next week, it will be easier to get into a timed meditation routine when sitting for the length of one burned stick.

After eating lunch and a nap I put in a second meditation session followed by a walk to the library and chess study session. I played Dmitry 3 games, the first game we started on move 9 from a Spanish closed variation (picking up from a Yates/Rubinstein game, 1922).

 I was looking through my collection of old photos and artifacts and found a painting I made -


 Artifact, 2000

Monday, June 10, 2019

Monk Life - Day 1

3 month Schedule :  June 11 - September 10, 2019

6:00am 6:30am - 30 minutes - wake/wash up
6:30am- 9:30am - 3 hours body exercising - running/walking
9:30am-11:30am - meditation practice
11:30am-1:00pm - daily meal
1:00-4:30pm - library chess study
4:30-5:30pm - meditation practice
5:30-7:30pm - light meal, rest
7:30-10:30pm - zen study/reading spiritual books


Individual conduct during 3 month schedule - 

1) No killing
2) No stealing
3) Speak the truth 

4) Moderation with food
5) Cultivate gratitude, kindness, and compassion
6) Give 100% effort in all endeavors 
7) Sexual abstinence

 
 






Full Time - Day 44

This will be the final entry for the Full Time title because I have decided to put my remaining free months to a different use. Today I will make a formal decision to follow a meditation schedule of my own making. I will post the schedule once I create it. The important part is to make a commitment and then watch what unfolds. Once a commitment is made the mind and will become determined to see it through. The time frame for the intial schedule will be 3 months, anything longer and circumstances might arrive to break up my time.

A very rare morning, a somewhat clear blue sky with true clouds, I ran 4 miles and on the walk back I darted up 2 flights of stairs at the Columbus/Wacker intersection, something I have not done in many years. I am not optimistic about the return of a blue sky, it is like a dying man getting a short reprieve of a feel-good day, short lived and an anomaly.

Both Rubinstein games today were elegant and superb.


Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g55 Wolf/Rubinstein; g56 Rubinstein/Tarrasch (J)

Sunday, June 9, 2019

Full Time - Day 43

A stone cold day, flat white, something quite new to the earth experience. Was completely floored by the lack of sun and decided to stay indoors, no library study today, decided to test my studies by playing a series of g10's on Lichess, played decent, my sense of timing and piece placement is becoming more accurate and refined.

Stopped at blues fest in the evening at Millennium Park, heard good blues chops and then walked back home.

Saturday, June 8, 2019

Full Time - Day 42

Walked in the early morning, the sky blue with no clouds, when the walk was over 90 minutes later 3/4 of the sky was covered in toxic materials dropped by airplanes. I have noticed that the covering always begins in the east, following the sun's path, if by design then the geo-engineers they have figured out a way to push the particles around and plan to always keep the sun covered in a gauzy white poison. I am trying my best not to feel too bad about the state of the earth, today I had the insight that the earth is a living thing which has ups and downs in health, the current state of its health is poor, a type of cancer which is eating away it's life slowly but surely. Like death with animals or people it has to be accepted, so I now think of those end days of the earth's health in the 1970's-80's as memories to cherish, when there were more animals and birds and bugs, when the sky was blue everyday with no airplane spraying, when walking around in the woods I could capture a bit of the vigor and health for myself. These days there is nothing to be gotten, it is like holding the hand of an old lady, nothing but stories of past lives and now it is just waiting for inevitable death.

Just finishing up library chess study now, a good session with interesting games.

g53 Rub/Tarrasch; g54 Rub/Telchmann (J)
Read GM Performance by Polugaevsky -
g19 Pol/Larsen (J)

Friday, June 7, 2019

Full Time Day 41

Ran 2.5 miles under a white sky and then walked to the library for chess study.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g51 Rubinstein/Marco; g52 Rubinstein/Maroczy (J)
Read Nezhmetdinov's Best Games -
g2 Korchmar/Nezh (J)

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Full Time - Day 40

My birthday today, bought a piece of German chocolate cake before walking to the library. Sky was pure white, toxic, not a speck of blue anywhere. This part of the earth has become a cold mess from the geo-engineering experiment, does not really matter, everything is dying, and plain to see that humans are a drowning man grabbing at a straw which is not there.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g49 Rubinstein/Maroczy; g 50 Euwe/Rubinstein (J)

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Full Time - Day 39

Nothing new, white toxic sky and cold day. Walked to library for chess study.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g47 Rubinstein/Tarrasch g48 Reti/Rubinstein(J)
utube chess - Polgar/Epishin 1996 -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1l-ARsNTHI
Read Nezhmetdinov's Best Games -
g1 - Samsonov/Nezh (J)

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Full Time - Day 38

No chess study today, had a visit from my ex-wife Rachel, who wanted to wish me a happy birthday by taking me out to lunch, and also giving to me all of my film negatives and black and white photographic prints which I had been storing at her house for many years. Now I am stuck with 20 boxes of pictures and 10 binders filled with negs. Maybe I will make digital pics of some of the photos and post the artifacts here little by little.

The morning was white, cold, and toxic, filled with aluminum rain, after leaving the Indian restaurant in the early afternoon the rain had stopped and the sunlight tried to appear but the white skies persisted of course, at least a bit of warmth escaped into the day.

Monday, June 3, 2019

Full Time - Day 37

Ran 2.5 miles under a white toxic sky then walked to the library for chess study. One block before arriving at the library I was greeted by two young missionaries who asked if I would like to visit their church, I politely declined but did mention the story of having found the book Kisses from Katie while traveling in Indonesia. Once inside the library the usual few hours of chess study.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g45 Rubinstein/Schlecter; g46 Rubinstein/Schlecter (J)
Read GM Performance by Polugaevsky -
g18 Pol/Vasyukov (J)

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Full Time - Day 36

Walked the Navy Pier route in the morning and then walked to the library for a chess study session. Rare day of blue sky, yet very cold for the month of June.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g43 Gottesduner/Rub' g44 Regedzinsky/Rub (J)
Read GM Performance by Polugaevsky -
g17 Balashov/Pol (J)

Saturday, June 1, 2019

Full Time - Day 35

Ran 2.5 miles and then walked to the library for chess study, the entire day, from sun up to sun down was white, a white toxic sky and a white sun. No blue, no clouds, just a white screen of poison in the sky. The earth has become a dying hell.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g41 Factor/Rub; g42 Belitzmann/Rub (J)
Read GM Performance by Polugaevsky -
g15 Pol/Pfleger; g16 Pol/Gheorghiu (J)



Friday, May 31, 2019

Full Time - Day 34

Walked to the library under a white toxic sky, a blue sky and a bare sun no longer a reality on earth. Studied 2 hours of chess.

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g39 Rubinstein/Duras g40 Rub/Marshall (J)

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Full Time - Day 33 part II

Came across this random journal entry from 2016, when I was just beginning my chess quest -

Feb 17, 2016

Took the Howard train and 97 bus transfer to the Evanston Chess Club tonight. Arrived early and helped M set up the boards then watched her play through a Candidates game between Fisher/Larsen 1971, Denver. Half way through the game a man joined us in analyzing the game, and I admit I was irritated by his manner and words, one of those chess know-it-alls, bragging seemingly to build his own self worth. Does he realize how much a single snapshot in that game contains? He went on and on, his words exhibiting not only his arrogance, but also his ignorance. When G walked in M suggested I play him, but the loudmouth braggart said "no, I'm playing G". I did not say anything to that, and ended up playing S. Encountering this kind of ignorance/arrogance is a reason for me to shun attending club nights, and sticking to tournaments where people are forced to be quiet during play.

After playing S a few games the casual blitz round robin started, I did ok, but ended up a bit scattered once my clock was below one minute. When I played the braggart it was pleasant enough, but he had the awful habit of speaking out my moves when they caused him surprise. He played a good game and beat me, but he missed some kill shot moves to put me away sooner. I'd guess he is a grade B player, which is decent enough, but his attitude is grade F.

Dealing with people like F isn't too difficult, and although I am complaining about him in this entry, I realize that his words, just like mine and everyone else's, are meaningless clouds which quickly scatter and disappear - mere illusions meant to deceive with both their beauty and ugliness. The thing I need to keep in mind is that all words are deceptions, and although I can form judgments about the state of someone's mind through his actions and words, when it comes to the final analysis I know the judgments are inaccurate and the best thing to do is to always let go of the impressions, as easily as the words themselves let go of their own flimsy reality.

Full Time - Day 33

Ran 4 miles at 7:00am and the sky was gray and the air cool, then walked to the library for 4 hours of chess study, a man named Dmitry asked to play, he was decent with tactics but his openings and positional sense was below standard, in the middle game I had built up a strong position against his un-castled king and was threatening Bxd3 -


Dmitry made his move, Nc1, I wrote it down and continued playing, not realizing that Nc1 is an illegal move.



After Nc1 I lost the thread of the game and made a number of poor moves and lost the rook on b2 in exchange for his bishop. Later in the game I was teetering on the ledge of defeat when I was gifted with a chess miracle, checkmating Dmitry with a rook and 2 bishops, a karmic gift to perhaps make up for Nc1!

Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g38 Tarrasch/Rubinstein (J)
Library game - Dmitry/J
Read First Steps : Caro Kann (Martin) -
g55 Anderson/Hawkins (J)



Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Full Time - Day 32

Cold and gray in the morning with a bit of blue peaking through, enough to remind me of more beautiful and healthy times. Walked the Navy Pier route then walked to the library for a 5 hour chess study session. A man named Jawanza stopped at my table for a game, he played a tight hedge hog position as white so I had to think hard about how to proceed and find a strategy to exploit it. I had a satisfying moment when I found an indirect way to defend against 27.Nc3, creating a pin on his bishop at c2, I was not too surprised when he quickly played 27.Nc3 because he tended not to think too long on any move so after 27...RxN the game was technically over.

Jawanza/J -

1.g3 Nf6 2.Bg2 d5 3.b3 g6 4.Bb2 Bg7 5.d3 O-O 6.Nd2 c5 7.e3 Bg4 8.f3 Bd7 9.Qe2
Na6 10.O-O-O Qa5 11.d4 Bb5 12.Qe1 c4 13.Nb1 Qc7 14.b4 c3 15.Nxc3 Rac8 16.a3
Bc4 17.Rd2 Nb8 18.Nge2 a5 19.b5 a4 20.Bh3 e6 21.g4 Qa5 22.g5 Ne8 23.f4 Nc7 24.
Ng3 Nxb5 25.Nxb5 Qxb5 26.Ne2 Ba2 27.Nc3 Rxc3 28.Bf1 Qb6 29.Rd3 Rxd3 30.Bxd3
Rc8 31.c3 Bc4 32.Bc2 Bb3 33.h4 Bxc2 34.Kxc2 Qb3+ 35.Kc1 Bf8 36.h5 Bxa3 37.Qd2
Rxc3+ 38.Qxc3 Qxc3+ 39.Kd1 Qxb2 40.Rf1 Bb4 41.hxg6 Qd2#   0-1




Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g37 Speilmann/Rubinstein (J)
Library game - Jawanza/J
Read Application of Chess Theory (Geller) -
g12 Geller/Vatnikov (J)

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Full Time - Day 31

A cold rainy toxic sky day, nothing unusual for the year 2019, which marks the year that is the beginning of the end of life on earth. If something positive can be said about it, from an individual perspective, it is that being aware of impending death I am reminded to live each day as mindfully and aware as possible, to take not a single conscious moment for granted.

Walked Navy Pier route in the early morning and then walked to the library for a productive 6 hour chess study session. A man named Jerome stopped at my table and asked to play a couple of games, I had played him last week, he thanked me after the game and said "that was great therapy, I came to the library to clear my head, now I can't remember why I was so angry". Today I asked him if he was having a better day and he said not so much, his 90 year old mother was giving him cause for concern. He sat down and these were the games -

game 1 -

Jerome/white  J/black  Sicilian Defense

1.e4 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Be2 e6 5.d3 Be7 6.Be3 O-O 7.Qd2 d5 8.exd5 exd5 9.
cxd5 Nxd5 10.Qc1 Nxe3 11.Qxe3 Nd4 12.Qc1 Bg5 13.Qd1 Bf5 14.Nf3 Nxe2 15.Nxe2
Qa5+ 16.Qd2 Bxd2+ 17.Nxd2 Bxd3  0-1

 game 2 -

J/white   Jerome/black  Philidor Defense

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Qe7 4. O-O Nc6
5. d4 Bd7 6. dxe5 Nxe5 7. Bd5 c6 8. Bb3 Be6
9. Nd4 Bxb3 10. axb3 Nf6 11. Nf5 Qc7 12. Bf4 O-O-O
13. Nd2 g6 14. Ne3 Nh5 15. Bxe5 dxe5 16. Rxa7 Kb8
17. Qa1 Kc8 18. Ra8+ Kd7 19. Rxd8+ Qxd8 20. Ndc4 Bc5
21. Rd1+ Kc7 22. Rxd8 1-0


Read First Steps : Caro Kann (Martin) -
g53 Stebbings/Trois; g54 Itkis/Van Wely (J)
Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g35 Rub/Schlecter g36 Schlecter/Rubinstein(J)
Read GM Performance by Polugaevsky -
g13 Pol/Rossetto; g14 Pol/Bilek (J)

Monday, May 27, 2019

Full Time - Day 30

Holiday so the library was closed, ran 2.5 miles in the morning under a blanket of toxic material, sky white, moon barely visible. Studied chess at home today.

Study M's cherry blossom g rd 2-5 (J)
Read First Steps : Caro Kann (Martin) -
g51 Riazantsev/Jakovenko; g52 Sambuev/Gonzalez (J)

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Full Time - Day 29

Artificial toxic sky covering today creating a sunblock which lowers the temperature at the earth's surface. Walked to the library under the mucky sky and had a typical chess study session.

Read First Steps : Caro Kann (Martin) -
g49 Portisch/Wade; g50 Harini/Amin (J)
Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g34 Rub/Alekhine (J)
Study M's cherry blossom g rd 1 (J)

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Full Time - Day 28

Ran 2 1/2 miles in the mid morning then walked to the library under a rare blue sky day, although the sky was streaked with numerous toxic airplane trails nonetheless. Quiet in the library, had a good study session.

Read First Steps : Caro Kann (Martin) -
g47 Rodshtein/Arkell; g48 Glacomini/Adly (J)
Read Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces -
g33 Rub/Lowenfish (J)