10h00 - 12h00 ~~~ Brunch and writing the philosophy of everything on one page or painting ~~~ Bedrock



I would have been at Bedrock's on time, were it not for the fact that my bike lock was not where it was supposed to be. Espresso. Breakfast (excellent). More espresso.



We went to find a bit of nature in order to focus on the philosophical side. Watched small children playing and old women sitting. And unusual people running around in circles. And a guy waving his arms and legs around in a thinly veiled attempt to impress any passing women that might cite 'new age' among their interests. We hung around a playground like the kind of people that shouldn't be in playgrounds at at 11am on Sunday. Have they started this early or are they still up from last night? The philosophy of everything was more-or-less agreed upon instantly, but the exact phrasing was debated at length. After peer-review, we'll post it in this thread. I'm just giving a bit of advanced warning because all other philosophers should probably start looking for new jobs right about now.



Back to Bedrock's for Dutch Gin.



At this point I got given a worrying piece of information by Bedrock's wife: Bains des Paquis was the coldest place to swim in the whole of the Geneva area. Great planning there, Frankie (see below).



Thanks Bedrock!
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 00:08

12h00 - 14h00 ~~~ Swimming in the lake at Bains des Paquis ~~~ Frankie



How many of you? How many of you said Hayes, you'll never get in that lake in November? Well I'm not gonna name you here but I will remember.



Frankie and I met at Bains des Paquis, with me just running about 5 minutes late. Nervous laughter and jokes about being drunk. It appeared that at least 10 other people thought it was a non-mental enough idea to jump in the lake at that time; there were others. Walking down to the most obvious swimming area, we encountered Megg, conspicuously 'sleeping' on a bench.



Frankie convinced someone to let us into some area where some special key was needed. I changed into worlds least cool swimming shorts and was hoping for a bit of casual conversation to postpone it, but Frankie was off in the lead -- eager to get back to the icy waters of Costa Rica. One step. Two steps. Up to his knees and he was in. Immediately. Like that. Obviously I couldn't be shown up for the coward I am so I followed like an oversize but cuter than average duckling. At least 20 seconds of panic-breathing ensued but after, I dunno, maybe a dozen strokes the heart-attack phase seemed to have passed. I was probably within 200 beats per minute. A few small circles then back to the steps; there is such a thing as overdoing it, you know. We were probably only in the water for around 2 minutes but it was sufficient, just as Mrs Bedrock had described, to make your skin burn.



Leaving Bain des Paquis, we 'coincidentally' run into Divagirl. Hi Divagirl, what are you doing here? Oh, er, yeah, ummm, me? Hahaha! Just meeting someone for lunch. Yeah, meeting someone for lunch, that's it... Convincing... Sticking to her story she went in but she was spotted leaving just 5 minutes later. Stalkers should make allowances for the amount of time it takes the stalkee to unlock a bike.



Thanks Frankie!



(more tomorrow)
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 00:38

ahhaha..hayes you're a scream!
I've been called a few things in my life...but never a stalker...i'll never boil any child's pet bunny rabbit :D

FYI, my friends were ahead of me.....they just had a change of heart ;)..
nonetheless, it was great bumping into you and friankie...:D

can't wait to read the rest of it.

cheers!

divagirl, Nov 4, 2008 @ 00:57

Hayes - I think this is one of the most interesting activities Ive seen in a while, and Im really looking forward to reading about the rest of your day.

I can see this turning into an international phenomenon man - having someone else decide everything for you is the ultimate freedom.

Thanks alot, and please hurry up with the stories of the other time slots :-0

Oded
SiteAdmin Oded, Nov 4, 2008 @ 01:46

Yes Hayes... do tell about your 14:00 ~ 15:30 slot :) and make it extra amusing :D.  or do i have to wait till tomrow to find out?
YouMeCo, Nov 4, 2008 @ 01:51

[quote][b]

divagirl (03/11/2008)[/b]



FYI, my friends were ahead of me.....they just had a change of heart ;)..

[/quote]



Yeah yeah, Divagirl. Face. Ain't. Listenin'. The schedule was posted. The partial nudity of two young men. I saw that telephoto lens under your arm. ;)
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 10:10

[quote][b]

SiteAdmin (04/11/2008)[/b]

I can see this turning into an international phenomenon man - having someone else decide everything for you isthe ultimate freedom.

[/quote]



As in you're only free when your back is well and truly against the wall? When you have zero options left? Hayes is just another word for nothing left to lose? The difficulty is that letting someone else decide everything for you is bad faith. At least if you convince yourself you're free in doing it. It's a philosophical minefield.



A global phenomenon? I was in two minds about whether I could squeeze another one out of Glocals.
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 10:21

[quote][b]

YouMeCo (04/11/2008)[/b]

Yes Hayes... do tell about your 14:00 ~ 15:30 slot :) and make it extra amusing :D. or do i have to wait till tomrow to find out?[/quote]



Easy, Tigress! You want it pronto andextra amusing? Sheesh. OK.





14h00 - 16h00 ~~~ *** NO-SHOW *** ~~~ YouKnowWhoYouAre



Well, not a no-show per say, I just wrote that to red-rag Tinkie a bit. I had a couple of hours' warning, so I couldn't complain too much. Secretly I wasn't all that pissed about it since I could head home, nom a quick sandwich and have a shower (since I had been in the lake, you know, IN THE LAKE). So I just sat down in front of the computer to check any message and bling... bling... blingblingbling!!. The person in question doesn't like copy-pasting of PM, so I'll paraphrase and condense:



YouMeCo: why aren't you swimming in the lake?

Me: done it! Now my 2 o'clock didn't show so I'm home

YouMeCo: they're having dim sum at Mandarin

Me: OMG, no! who are they anyway? and isn't that horribly expensive?

YouMeCo: no, it's OK

Me: < something else, I can't remember. It probably amount to no, I'm not doing that. >

YouMeCo: You want coffee?



If you refer to paragraph 5 of the rules, you'd see I couldn't turn down a slot provided it hadn't been taken and wasn't insane. So after a very quich shower indeed, my 14:00 turned into:





~14h50 - ~15h40 ~~~ Coffee and chatting ~~~ YouMeCo



I realise I didn't know what YouMeCo's second name was -- fortunately there was only one person in the building whose first name began with a Y.



We drank some coffee and watched, IIRC, the X-factor. Actually I don't think we did watch any of the X-factor. We chatted about YouMeCo's favourite website: Facebook, and gossiped about the Facebook Halloween party -- who passed out, whose costume wasn't up to much, who was seen getting it on with whom. I didn't know any of these people since I'm not on Facebook. We talked about islands in the Caribbean sea and the pros and cons of Club Med. We talked about boys that chat with you late at night, (timezone depending). We talked about the very very big and the very very small. And how since one is utterly governed by the other it's not paradoxical to think of them in the same way. We talked about the difference in bicycle manufacture in Japan and Taiwan (it may not actually have been Taiwan) and we pumped up the tire on YouMeCo's bike. She was last seen heading up Rue de Lyon in search of foliage.



Thanks YouMeCo!

hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 10:43

[quote][b]

isa413 (04/11/2008)[/b]

Tell me Hayes, was it just a coincidence you picked the Sunday I was travelling back to Africa[/quote]



Of course it wasn't coincidence. I thought that if I offered you two hours of Hayes time to do what you wanted, you would have missed the flight and decided to stay.
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 10:46

[quote][b]

isa413 (04/11/2008)[/b]

We shall never know ;)

[/quote]



What do you mean we will never know? We know now! Entertaining Hayes was a free-for-all. You had the chance and you blew it. :dejected:
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 11:44

16h00 - 18h00 ~~~ Throwing water balloons at cars. Playing with some light installation and filming ~~~ gkellum



I arrived at Parc des Bastions ten minutes early and had a bit a stroll. Checked out the four dudes of the reformation. It was a beautiful afternoon.



This activity was first hampered by the fact that gkellum was scared to throw water balloons at cars, citing some legal technicality. So the first half was out. He also managed to not to get hold of the video camera, so the second half was out too.



We met at Parc des Bastions and played checkers. This however, was hampered by the fact that gkellum didn't know how to play checkers and neither did I. So we formulated a rule-set that sounded semi-convincing and began playing. We ignored the people that pointed and laughed at our checkerboard with pieces all over the place. What kind of children's version are they playing? We ignored the other boards where all the pieces were on the same colour and moving diagonally. We knew better than them. Unfortunately, while the gameplay in our version may have been superior, we hadn't decided upon the criteria on which someone was declared the winner. So after about 45 minutes of 'checkers' we decided that I had won and we went for tea in La Ferblanterie.



Sitting at the bar. Nice. Warn. Casual. Conversation mainly centred on how to mould covers for lamps out of a substance that's a bit like resin. And whether Johnny Walker and Colonel Sanders were the same guy. And whether you were supposed to scoop out the mint from the tea before drinking or just strain it through pursed lips. And quiche.



Thanks gkellum!
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 12:13

18h00 - 20h00 ~~~ Feeding the homeless ~~~ Via Mozambique but with zero Glocals (I don't think)



Wow, I actually managed to fit something worthwhile into my day! This was in the bus that's permanently fixed at the back of Cornavin. By the beginning of les Grottes.



A totally great 2 hours. Two organisers: Laurent and Cynthia. All the preparations seemed to have been taken care of before I arrived (they had been there since 16h00). Pasta boiled and a huge vat of sauce was bubbling away on the fifty year old gas stove. All that needed to be done was getting the food out of the kitchen and into the stomachs of the people gathering outside.



Cynthia handled the early phases: sorting the plates and preparing and applying the salad. I'm sure she did loads more but I was too confused to really tell what was going on. To the salad I added pasta and some tuna and tomato sauce. (I tried to get the proportions right and do as I had been told but at the end there was a fair bit of sauce left over.) Then another girl whose name I have unfortunately forgotten applied the finishing touches: cheese, bread, plus serviettes and forks and handed it all over. I didn't actually taste any of food but it looked and smelled good. I was impressed.



Second portions, and numerous subsequent second portions were handed over. Second portions swelled to the size of first portions. People said it was tasty. All the food disappeared. I was amazed by how the amount of pasta seemed have been judge 100% correctly: people were coming back all the time but when the last second portion was handed over, the front of the bus was deserted. I don't think they knew we were out, I think that just the right amount had been prepared.



Laurent and Cynthia were wearing the same stripy scarf. I meant to ask if it meant anything but I forgot.



130 plates. Not bad. I'd really like to draw attention to the work that these people do because it's A1+.



Thanks Mozambique!
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 12:39

20h00 - 22h00 (actually 00h15) ~~~ Cocktails and boardgames ~~~ RR_2



From the invitation:

[quote]"I make the best cocktails".

[/quote]



Sold! That's the 8 o'clock sorted, then!



It also said something like "It'll be me, my husband, and our monkey". So what we're looking at is cocktails with a married couple. We're all on the same page here, right? We all know what cocktails with an unknown married couple means. The word begins with three and it's not the cool kind. I suppose the 'pet monkey' was some kind of euphemism. Anyhow, rules are rules and I had to accept, despite the risk of finding myself attached to something.



Indeed, it did start in a pretty unnerving manner: different female voices on the phone and the intercom, one of which was obviously false; doors that opened by themselves. In actuality the monkey was a euphemism for something: it was a euphemism for Megg. For the third time that day.



What a lot of drinks! Out they come, all the important ones... I've never seen so many different drinks outside of a bar. And what a lot of board-games!!! RR_2 needs not one but two large pieces of dedicated furniture to house them all. This kind of commitment deserves a feature in a magazine.



One cocktail in Blue Curacao ends up in drinks that it shouldn't go in but it doesn't really matter. Games are fun!! Significantly more fun than I remember. Gamers will be disappointed to learn that I don't remember the name of the main game we played, although it did involve comments like "you get wood all the time" which I still find infinitely amusing although nobody else noticed at the time. Calm down, readers, you can also get erz or sheep(s) or lehm quite a lot as well. I think I came second from last but I can handle that. It's not last and I don't think anyone counted.



After a few warm-up rounds of one-on-one games in which I didn't know the rules, I found my pace and won two in a row. Consequently I had to leave. (Although that could have been because it was 2:20 hours after the end of my slot.



Then I cycled home in the rain.



Thanks RR_2!

hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 12:58

- Fin -
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 13:06

[quote][b]

tinkie (04/11/2008)[/b]

Any pictures? Any video? Any evidence this really happened?[/quote]



Divagirl has almost certainly has some photos, you could ask her. Although I suspect she'll deny it.



No, the difficulty is that Charlotta has a camera with a large memory card but has taken it away to Sweland. That means I *could* have taken the old camera with the shitty memory card that only holds 6 photographs. I had actually planned to go buy a new card on Saturday, but then I spent 12 hours at work instead and when I got the shopping centre in Chavannes des Bois, they wouldn't let me in. Since I had 7 things to do on Sunday and a camera that could only hold 6 photos, I decided there wasn't really much point. So no. But if you can't trust your fellow posters, who can you trust? Have those discussions about building trust on Glocals taught you nothing?



Not a single one of my hosts has posted anything! (apart from YouMeCo.) That's a disgrace.
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 17:32

Ahh so Charlotta is in Sweden... That's why she didn't respond to the text message I sent her earlier today... I was hoping to stop by the gallery to further discuss the mystery of whether Colonel Sanders and Johnny Walker are indeed one and the same person. ;)
gkellum, Nov 4, 2008 @ 19:07

dear hayes,
For the record, diva's never actually TAKE pictures..they just pose for them:D:D:D. 
For the rest on this thread...as proof, when I met hayes on sunday, he had wet hair.;)....and that can only mean one thing .......:D

cheers


divagirl, Nov 4, 2008 @ 19:31

[quote][b]

bedrock (04/11/2008)[/b]

Glocals is a community of fun-loving, international and intelligent people who engage in banter and debate online to generate mutual understanding, and undertake activities together based on that understanding. Whereas initially I liked your idea to "entertain Hayes", I now see that asking others to organize an activity for you is, well, rather passive and uninventive. Could you not think of one single and simple activity to propose?[/quote]



I see that for your central premise you are (presumably) referring to Nir_ (2008a,b,c; see also SiteAdmin 2007 Annual Review and references therein). However, the separation between these claims and the data returned by the January 2008 census diverge by sufficient magnitude so as to lay a heavier burden on the logical and semantic resources of the English language than it can be expected to bear (Hayes 2008, & your very own priv. comm.). In fact the only adjective for which the claims and the data could be described as broadly consistent is 'international'. The only shred of ground I am prepared to concede here is the reference to my inventiveness when contrasted against the plethora of offers for hiking and drinking. Indeed that was, to some extent, remiss.





[quote][b]

bedrock (04/11/2008)[/b]

As regards our meeting, you have few words to spare for time as a contradication in ontology, or the basis of morality in dialectic systems, which we discussed at length, yet I do see that you emphasise the espresso, twice. While it is understood that we are still working on our paper, I now begin to see that you do still subscribe to idealistic a priori postulates, whereas you admitted that Schopenhauer gave that argument the final blow (you yourself brought up WaWuV, p174-175!!!!).[/quote]



Rot! You're so stuck in the past! It was you falling back to clear fallacy of Heideggerian principle (sic; and not for the first time, I might add) of logic being a direct function of the elucidation of Being that caused me to reference Schopenhaur even obliquely (see e.g. White 1992). And with regard to morality, Hegel himself had admitted he had been over-optimistic on this front before his death. The inconsistency of your method was even demonstrated to be self-contradictory using the semi-analytical approach of de Satuy et al. (1998).



The reference to espresso is clearly a mechanism by which to convey the elementary structure to the casual reader who, as I outlined in reference to your previous statement above, is likely unequipped to comprehend all but the most lowbrow popularisation.





[quote][b]

bedrock (04/11/2008)[/b]

I do agree that the espresso was delicious, and I do regret not having gone with you to the Paquis to see you insert your gracious half-naked body into the water, but, frankly, I am still grappling with that change of mind, and wonder whether our fundamental belief systems are compatible for future joint activities.

[/quote]





Here perhaps we can agree; I am also concerned about how fruitful future collaborations of this nature can be. Frankly, I find your reluctance to leave behind the teaching your undergraduate supervisors disappointing. You know the difference between deadwood and bedrock?
hayes, Nov 4, 2008 @ 20:21

Hayes, 

Your Sunday inverted member activity was a wonderful idea and very imaginative and I am truly amazed - and delighted of course - that you included Feeding the Homeless.  You dont even know me and, into the bargain, I didnt participate.   Cynthia and Laurent are amazing and organize this every Sunday for the Scout Movement (stripy scarves!) with the help of volunteers to chop and prepare from 4-6 and to serve from 6-8.   Your description makes it sound easy though it is hard work in rather difficult conditions.   It is the only place in Geneva the homeless can get a meal on a Sunday so a million thanks for accepting to help and getting your arms deep in pasta, tuna and tomato sauce - it really is a shame we dont have a photo to immortalize that moment ..   : ).   And now we all know what you will be doing every Sunday ..    Thanks again.    Cheers.   Mozambique
mozambique, Nov 4, 2008 @ 21:01

[quote][b]

gkellum (04/11/2008)[/b]

Ahh so Charlotta is in Sweden... That's why she didn't respond to the text message I sent her earlier today... I was hoping to stop by the gallery to further discuss the mystery of whether Colonel Sanders and Johnny Walker are indeed one and the same person. ;)[/quote]



Hmmm... I've been contemplating the same possibility. This could be an interesting discussion and seems like a great topic to kill that slow going gallery-sitting time with. I've sent you a text message (with some incorrect information) but since you haven't replied I figured that communicating via Hayes' member activity review thread would be a more efficient way to get a reply. :)

Will be at the gallery on Friday from 17h.
charlotta, Nov 6, 2008 @ 00:30

[quote][b]

mozambique (04/11/2008)[/b]



and delighted of course - that you includedFeeding the Homeless. You dont even know me and, into the bargain, I didnt participate.

[/quote]



Thanks Mozambique! It certainly wasn't the point to just do normal things with people I know. I hoped that when people saw the nature of it, they would put in a little effort to come up with something unusual for 2 hours. I wanted to see how diverse the day would become and it worked pretty well. Your activity made it a whole lot better, and actually made me feel like I was doing something useful. Which is so extremely rare nowadays.



I guess it was a bit hard but I only did a half shift. There's really not much space in that kitchen and if you're standing with the pots as I was then it's pretty hot. And the floor isn't flat and the facilities aren't exactly modern. I guess if you're there for the full four hours, chopping, cooking and then serving it must be exhausting. But I only did 1/2 that so I got off lightly.



I really enjoyed it. I don't really know if I'm supposed to urge other people to help -- I don't know how it works -- but if I am, then I do. It's really really worthwhile.
hayes, Nov 7, 2008 @ 12:54

I admire so much the work you do for the homeless. I know everyone has a vey busy schedule. but may i suggest also http://www.autisme.ch/portail/index.php ...

just in case you have an 2 spare hours per week ... or even if you intend to go watch a movie, just take them along with you.

you will never feel better! even from a selfish perspective! forget about the joy you give them and would put you in tears afterwards, you can never imagine how good you feel to bring so much joy to someone ...
Arina, Nov 7, 2008 @ 13:28