Just the Gist

Sariputta, one of Gotama Siddhattha’s first and foremost disciples, possessed the particular skill of extracting the essence out of teachings and concepts, and also speaking in such a precise manner. In one sutta he says: “Speak a little or a lot, but tell me just the gist. The gist is what I want. What use is a lot of rhetoric?”

Methinks he’s got a point. While I am still on the opposite end of rhetoric habits, I will now try to tell you just the gistWolfi of what has been going on in my recent weeks:

London. I spent another five wonderful days in London with my beloved girlfriend. This time the weather was more typical (lots of rain), so we visited some exhibitions and museums. The highlight was a louder-than-expected noise that I made in the National Gallery – now is that where the term “arty-farty” comes from? ;-)

Reunion. Upon returning back to Graz, I went to the 10-year-reunion of my former classmates. Both to and from the venue I lost my path while riding my new bicycle. What to do after such an outburst of scatterbrained confusion?

Puregg. The perfect remedy: a Vipassana retreat with Hannes Huber in Puregg! This time I shared 7 days of silence, yoga and meditation with Pepi, Hannes and 9 fellow meditators. Later I will describe this wonderful experience in more detail. For the time being, I invite you to read my entries from last year’s retreat: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6].

CERN. In Summer 2007 I will spend three months in France/Switzerland to work at CERN (programming in Python). Hooray! In a few days I’ll be on the train to Geneva. Extensive reports are about to follow here. :-)

Miscellaneous. I came in 2nd at a recent KaraNet photo contest – yay! And my father has just become the first and only Austrian “Master of Homeopathy”. And I love my new MacBook which will be very useful in Summer. And a dear friend of mine is getting married soon. And … I am blathering too much. Good night! :-)

3 thoughts on “Just the Gist

  1. I recently (Jan 2008) started a blog. My hope is to get my thoughts out of my scatter-brain and into an organized medium. I Googled other blogs with interests common to mine and found one I thoroughly appreciate: yours. I hope you don’t mind me linking your blog to mine, I’m trying to use everything I can to explain who/what I am.
    Also, I like “Nightwish”. They’re a great group. I seem to have more favorite songs from their “Once” album than any other.

  2. Hi Dusk,

    I feel pleasantly surprised and very honoured! :-)

    Of course I don’t mind you linking to your blog – I appreciate it, and I’m sure other readers will do so too.

    May I ask what it is that you appreciate about my writings (apart from common interests)?

    Your comment inspires me to publish some new content. Maybe I’ll reduce the number of drafts, and/or write about the many changes that are taking place right now, and/or publish some recent poetry …

    Anyway, thank you for your comment and link – enjoy blogging!

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