TTBs meetup! :)

[manitou]

Asilomar seems to have many different offerings - some where a room will sleep up to 5 - sharing that would be a breeze. Plus, they've got convention services there - larger rooms - for our own seminar, or just a meeting place. I'm more than willing to help out with anything by sharing a room, or being in a larger room that sleeps more - whatever it takes to make this happen. It would truly be nice to spend as much time around each other as we wanted (or not) - Asilomar might be a great choice. The $150 figure, would assumedly be the total; shared would be $75 a night.

 

Or maybe we can find another 'retreat' place that would fit the bill as well. In a retreat setting, we'd all be in the same place, as opposed to driving back and forth - driving back and forth would be less spontaneous and more planned. In a retreat, we could drop in and out of the group as our energy dictates.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Or camping!

 

The rooms which sleep 5 are 2 beds for couples and one pullout bed usually.... while I like my fellow TTBers and all... lololol.

 

$150 for a room all to myself or $60 is quite a different figure. Also I was tempted to let a fellow bum stay in my room for free.

 

Please do keep in mind that there are at least 4 of us (that I know of) where the $75- $150 per night price tag would scare us right off.... compared with $30-$60 shared or no shared.

 

If it is only 4 of us though, that would be easier.

 

I don't want to scare any bums away. We can talk more when I setup a private forum though so everyone can chip in, and we can find out everyone's budget .

[BaguaKicksAss]

Thinking about it some more... how about back to the house or 2 idea? Generally we could get a 4 bedroom house for about $200 per night... then we would also have a large livingroom! And a kitchen in case some folks don't want to eat out every meal. The being able to walk to affordable (mexican lol) restaurants is also a bonus... with retreats you are sort of stuck there with their restaurant pricing (eep!)

 

Though we will have more of an idea when we get everyone together that said yes or maybe and have a bit of a vote and talk about options .

[manitou]

As an aside, I woke up this morning with an idea in my mind re: what to do when we're there. Maybe everyone can bring a photocopied page or two from their favorite reading, be it Daoist, Yogi, Buddhist - whatever. a section you feel is particularly pertinent to your practice or growth. Bring enough copies for everybody. This would give us good topics for discussion, should we choose.

[BaguaKicksAss]

I like that idea! We would definitely get an interesting diversity of writings!

 

Hmmm, some meditation times too perhaps, if everyone is into that.

 

I get this funny feeling that the group of us won't run out of things to talk about during the time lolol.

[thelerner]

If/when the idea gets off the ground and we had enough people, say over 8, it'd be great to set up a couple of 30 minute classes. Anyone with a special expertise or form they'd like to show off would set up a time and schedule.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Most definitely, that would be awesome .

 

We have more than 8, more than 10 I think...

 

More specific planning coming up!

[Mark Foote]

I'm in Petaluma, that's about 2 1/2 hours from Monterey (I think!). Is there a hostel that hosts groups?

 

There is. Here's the scoop, and my guess is this is the most affordable place and probably a lot of fun!

 

New Overnight Rates Starting April-2013:

● Adults (18+)Cost per night Oct-March; $24.00+Tax Special Events: $27.00+Tax April-May; Weekdays (Sun-Wed) $24.00+Tax Weekends (Thu-Sat) & Special Events $27.00+Tax June-September; Weekdays (Sun-Wed) $27.00+Tax Weekends (Thu-Sat) & Special Events $32.00+Tax Non-member Adults pay an extra $3.00 per night.

● Youth (13-17) $18.00+Tax per night.

● Children (0-12) $12.00+Tax per night.

● All children (17 and under) are exempt from membership fees.

● Everyone pays a 10% City of Monterey Transient Occupancy Tax.

Private Room Rates:

Varies by season, special events, weekdays, & weekends

Call Hostel for availability and prices

Accommodations:

● 7 bed men’s dorm

● 8 bed women’s dorm

● 2 co-ed dorms with 16 beds total

● 1 private room with a double bed and 2 single beds

● 1 private room with a 4 single beds

● 1 family room with a double bed and 4 single beds (available for 3 - 6 guests)

*Private rooms: 2 to 3 person minimum (by season)

*Family room: 3 to 4 person minimum (by season)

Group Reservations or private rooms cannot be reserved online and must be reserved directly with the hostel.

 

That's from here: http://montereyhostel.org/?p=Rooms%20and%20Rates

 

April is cold on the coast, not like snow cold but it's damp cold which by many accounts is less tolerable. The wind blows. Might be mostly indoor time. I can seat one other in the Volvo ('83 wagon but the back doors don't open).

 

I'm up for it! I sit in the mornings and at night before bed, usually 30-40 minutes, others could sure join me for that.

[BaguaKicksAss]

The Monterey hostel is a hell of a lot of fun! I stayed there last time to save money and for variety. Very large livingroom, which is very open to people playing instruments. Also a large kitchen. Bike lockers too. The mixed (male/female) dorm has a decent amount of floor space too (practiced my Bagua form there).

 

It would have the benefit over a house in the fact it doesn't require a deposit or cleaning fee (or one person putting up $1000 and others paying them back). If this option gets the highest votes from the folks going, we would definitely want to talk with the hostel people and take over one of the shared dorms probably (well unless some folks would prefer separate male/female ones).

 

Oh, has wifi too LOLOLOL.

 

I looked at the private rooms last time I was there, they tend to have 3-5 beds in each one. So that is another option .

 

Though... some folks might not be too thrilled with the youth hostel idea and like their very own private room. There are about 100 hotels within walking distance of the hostel...

[manitou]

I'm up for absolutely anything. The hostel thing sounds fine to me too...

 

I would need some new jammies, though.

Edited November 12, 2013 by manitou

[BaguaKicksAss]

It would be fun, and sort of an adventure .

 

Though I'm pretty sure some folks would be like uhm hell no lol.

 

Jammies, oooh warm. Fun to sit around in the livingroom in too hehe.

[BaguaKicksAss]

For more specific discussion about location, as well as workshops http://thetaobums.com/forum/315-ttbs-west-coast-meetup-planning/

 

Though everything else can be posted here to keep this thread alive :>.

[Mark Foote]

Double-posting here and on the location thread (to be sure folks here know what's been said there):

 

I suggested the hostel as a matter of practicality and hearing your recommendation, BaguaKicksAss, I think that would be wonderful because everyone could be together and we could still do music and forms. I'll bring the guitar! But I'm open.

 

There's a strong possibility I could only attend weekend days; have to wait and see on that.

[BaguaKicksAss]

I think, I'm going to bring a Go "board" .

 

It's definitely a fun game!

[BaguaKicksAss]

bump .

[manitou]

My memory is horrible. I'm not remembering a 'Location' thread, and I'm not finding it in General Discussion. Is there something going on on that thread?

 

I have an aside question for those who are willing to demonstrate some of their knowledge or skills. Several people have said they'll do something for an 'exchange'. I have a lady friend who considers herself a Reiki master who says the same. I am a healer and a seer, and heal out of love from my heart, because we are all One. Where is it written that there must be an exchange, that something can't just be given for free out of love?

 

Sorry if this sidetracks, but BKA, you're welcome to move this if you want and keep this thread pure. But a few responses would help keep this thread on the board.

[Taomeow]

It's in BKA's PPF -- here:

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/32536-house-hotel-hostel/#entry496436

 

As for giving something as an "exchange" or freely with nothing given back -- this is entirely up to the giver I guess. I usually give more than I get, and chalk it up to the layout of my Four Pillars. (The lucky ones have plenty to give, the less lucky ones have plenty others want to get but no recourse to replenishment, they either have to work on replenishing themselves or get depleted too fast. The most unlucky ones have nothing to give and no way to get.) There's people who can afford to give of themselves freely and there's people who know that they can't -- usually intuitively -- and then there's the majority, people who don't give freely regardless of whether they can afford it or not, simply because the whole culture is the anti-giving, gimme kind and they have never experienced anything else first hand. So, I don't judge. If they feel they can't afford to give freely, this must be true, for whatever reason.

[BaguaKicksAss]

Oh nothing wrong with freebies . It is only me that said exchange for my personal medical qigong healing, as I was told by my teacher that is how it works in that particular system.

 

I think offering free healings, or other things, is awesome .

[BaguaKicksAss]

Funny thing though is, that I have also found the opposite, it is difficult to get people to accept things as gifts/for free... they think something is up, or just feel uncomfy with it.

 

However, sometimes folks just want to help one another :>

[Taomeow]

Yes, I've seen this too -- people don't believe it's a true value if they are not asked to give an arm and a leg to get it.

 

A finance expert calculated about ten years ago that a stay-at-home mom performs services that would cost $160K annually if hired professionals were employed to perform them instead. It's probably much higher today. Yet the general consensus is, she is "doing nothing," and it doesn't occur to the general public (or, occasionally, the working spouse) to respect her work, since no price tag is hanging off its true value. Whereas a "professional" woman making this kind of money doing stuff for whoever is not her own family is respected and thought of as a hard-working successful individual.

[manitou]

Yet the general consensus is, she is "doing nothing," and it doesn't occur to the general public (or, occasionally, the working spouse) to respect her work, since no price tag is hanging off its true value.

 

 

And work the wu-wei magic she does by 'doing nothing', lol.

 

Thanks, TM and BKA, for the clarification on the exchange thing. I would do an exchange if someone felt they needed it, but my heart feels best if done from love.

Edited November 16, 2013 by manitou

[BaguaKicksAss]

Hmmm, lets see, 7 days per week 8-12 hours per day (I'm assuming we are talking childcare here too). Even at $25 p/h I still don't see it... BUT it is way more work than most realize.

[Taomeow]

WoW, $160K?

A quick search yielded a more conservative estimate by Salary.com -- $113,586 but it may have something to do with the part of the country surveyed (the original I seem to recall was from New York/New Jersey):

 

"Moms (and yes, some dads, too) do double duty as chauffeurs, cooks, psychologists, money managers and more, on average clocking a 94-hour work week, according to Salary.com.

Based on the 10 most time consuming tasks listed by more than 6,000 mothers, Salary.com estimated it would cost $113,586 a year to replace them.

 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/value-of-stay-at-home-moms-2013-5#ixzz2kqyqzhzS

Edited November 16, 2013 by Taomeow

[i am]

Hmmm, lets see, 7 days per week 8-12 hours per day (I'm assuming we are talking childcare here too). Even at $25 p/h I still don't see it... BUT it is way more work than most realize.

 

 

Not sure how you're doing the math, but getting to the higher price usually involves figuring in healthcare, leave and retirement costs.

 

There was some big political upheaval in Michigan or Wisconsin about how much school teachers there made. It was well over $100,000. But that included all their benefits. Total misleading number. The salary that would have been advertised for those jobs, and paid before taxes is more like $50,000.

[thelerner]

 

"Moms (and yes, some dads, too) do double duty as chauffeurs, cooks, psychologists, money managers and more, on average clocking a 94-hour

and if we add to that the value of a nightly free sex worker then it'd easily be over $160,000 .