Nas!

Was hoping to see both clubs flexing their title credentials but nothing of the sort from either today. Good late business from Arsenal but that overall performance won’t have Pep too worried I shouldn’t think. I see Dec is starting to get used to operating 1) with his team in possession, and 2) further up the pitch. That interception where he reached his leg out (87th minute-ish?) was perfect Rice and might have been really important to the game.

It certainly appears that way. Rumours are that Mark Noble was the one pushing Alvarez, but who really knows? This is too bad. He used to be such a nice young boy. He plays wherever he wants for Canada, but, honestly, it's Canada not Bayern. He's never been a very likely goalscorer at any stage of his development thus far, and I'd say Bayern play him in by far his best position.

Are West Ham the circus team of this summer or what? Rice sold for insane fee, multiple coaches leaving, multiple players wanting out (including Aaron Cresswell--who is refusing to train after 9 seasons of being a perfect pro and extremely loyal servant to the club), Borges signing hijacked at the last minute by Ajax, new technical director reportedly butting heads with Moyes leading to no signings for the first 2 months of the transfer window, now a rush of big money transfers in the space of a few days. And Paqueta. I can barely keep up.

Oh I think Maguire would be perfect for West Ham under David Moyes. But if the club are letting Moyes play out his contract this season, how are potential new managers going to feel about inheriting Maguire and Zouma as their two highly-paid and essentially unsellable centre backs? It limits us to hiring someone who plays in a similar fashion to Moyes, and we've pretty much proven already that Moyes is the best Moyes replacement there is! So sign him up now, is all I mean (or, knowing West Ham, he'll leave at the end of the season, and we'll have a whole squad of Marouane Fellainis on the books for the next 3 seasons and we'll end up with Sean Dyche or maybe a sickening return of Big Sam). When West Ham hired Tim Steidten, I thought that we were going to see a change in our transfer strategy and that we were looking for progressive signings. This remains to be seen, of course, as West Ham have made no first team signings at all yet this window, but we are clearly targeting established PL players. I don't really mind this, personally, as I think that Maguire and James Ward-Prowse are good players and would improve the team. But why do we need a DOF to identify players like them? If our strategy is to play Moyes-ball then we should lock him down to a long-term deal and give him the players he wants. Basically, there just doesn't seem to be a coherent strategy, and I think it leaves West Ham very vulnerable past the end of the coming season.

If we sign Maguire, we might as well also sign Moyes up for another 3 years. And fire the new DOF as well--no sense paying him. Shambles of a club.

Happiness is an impermanent condition. Although, so is life, I suppose. Best to cultivate equanimity.

My grilling skills are such that, even though I’ve been vegetarian for several years, my family still relies on me to cook their animal carcasses to perfection.

Bye bye, Dec! Thanks for everything. It’ll be hard to watch you in an Arsenal shirt, but hopefully you’ll get what you are looking for there.

That seems like an appropriately compelling reason to meditate! Yeah I try to sit for at least 10 minutes every day, no matter what craziness is going on in my life. Longer when circumstances permit. But I have also become very good at micro-dosing mindfulness throughout the day--just a few seconds here and there on an elevator or in line at the grocery store or waiting at a traffic light is enough time to become aware of everything just being exactly as it is. That's great to hear! I never got too far into Zen because I found it a bit rigid (in terms of practice) for my tastes. But I like the theory and koans are pretty intriguing. I imagine much would depend on interpretation, but my (limited, local) experience was not especially compelling. Perhaps the book you recommend will help to change my mind.

That's great that you have found joy in it! I would suggest that you don't think of "shutting down" your mind as an objective of meditation. It may be a consequence of you becoming more aware of your thoughts and feelings, but it is not the purpose of the activity. You cannot control your thoughts only your reaction to them!

Nice! I had long periods of interruption over the years, but have really settled into practice over the last several years. Do you meditate within a particular tradition?

Hello friends old and new, I am curious about talking about people's experiences with mindfulness (and) meditation. Do you have a regular practice? Are you fully enlightened? Have you dabbled in the past? Are you new and have questions for the community? Are you just curious? Are you skeptical? Do you even have a head? Really, do you? I have been meditating for around 25 years, in one tradition or another. Sufism was the first to catch my fancy (and is duly reflected in my endless Nasrudin-related user names), then Taoism, various Buddhist traditions and now mostly non-dual stuff. I would love to have a chat with any and all, at any stage of your practice.

Would be willing to invest in a sologdin tripartate pejorative generator.

I have some experience with an anxious child. Sometimes just encouraging her to talk about what is worrying her, without judgement, without trying to solve the problem, without promising that "everything is going to be okay" helps a lot. She loooooves to talk, so this one is easily done. Just verbalizing her inner state seems to take some of the urgency out of her worries. Sometimes it results in her bawling, but this too seems to help ease the situation when the tears have dried up. What dog-days suggests is very useful, and I would add: keep a little journal of what she is worrying about and when (for me I would just make a quick dated note on my phone), then revisit those past worries periodically with her (when she is not in an anxious state) with the same thoughtful perspective: remember when you were worried about x? did your worries come to pass? and, if so, were they as bad as you imagined? The answer has always been "no" to the second or third question, and sometimes, hilariously, even to the first one! With repetition, (and maturity) she has developed a much healthier perspective. She is skeptical of what she calls her "worrying brain" and she knows that catastrophe is probably not really just around the corner, even though it still sometimes really feels like it is to her.

Well, this certainly explains why there aren't any active darts threads in this forum! I have to say, one thing that I especially like about the darts is that there seems to be a good level of camaraderie among the players. It is usual to see a player offer a fist-bump to his opponent after said opponent throws exceptionally well. And usually both players are smiles and congratulations at the end of a match. It is, after all, only darts. I think that this spirit is seen in the crowds, too, as BFC pointed out. There aren't rival tribes being kept apart by stewards and sections of empty seats. The crowd will often get on players who are throwing against local or national favourites, but it never seems to go too far. No one gets beat up for wearing a Michael Van Gerwen shirt in the Dave Chisnall supporters section. It all seems fairly civilized, despite the costumes and heavy drinking. I realize that this is probably only a consequence of the sport's limited popularity, but it is still nice to watch the players and crowds behave in a sporting fashion. Also *waves*: hi Kair!