Celtic Ceilidh in NDG on February 28th 2009

This is the show I'll be performing this coming weekend. I hope you can make it!

The Anglican Church of St. Columba
4020 Hingston Avenue
(corner Notre-Dame-de-Grace Ave)
Montreal, Quebec
(514) 486-1753
mrogers@montreal.anglican.ca

Celtic Ceilidh
Saturday, February 28
from 6:00 pm until 10:30 pm.
Tickets $12 for adults (children free)

The evening will start off with a dinner including Irish Stew and
Oatbread, and a special Irish dessert. Beer and wine will also be
available for purchase.

John David "Hobbes" Hickey, a professional storyteller, will entertain
us in the time-honoured Celtic tradition. Also included in the
festivities will be a Celtic band led by Jim McDermott who will invite
us to share in the excitement of a traditional Celtic ceilidh,
including music, dance, jokes and stories.

There will also be an opportunity to admire and purchase the works of
skilled craftspeople at a mini-marketplace at the beginning of the
evening.

Shamless Plug

Go check out my new streaming story on my StoryBlog:

http://shorteningtheroad.blogspot.com/

Musical selection from class

Here's a list of the music that you heard in class during your improvisational exercise:

Team Fortress 2 theme song
Half-Life 2, episode 2 - Song 25
Spit'n Flankers -- Dust Rhinos
El Baile del Puma -- the Paperboys
Mumbles -- Clark Terry/Oscar Peterson
Parade -- Dragon Ritual Drummers

Experiencing energy on purpose

Big shout out to John and Rosanne for guest speaking in the class, teaching the students about grounding, centering, and taking note of the energy flow. Everyone had an experience of some kind, some more intense than others.

Training your mind and body to recognize energy flow takes practice. When people do it for the first time, either nothing will happen or everything will happen. The trick is taking note of what happens without over-analyzing it too much. If you notice your hands are tingling slightly, that's good. Focusing on that tingling will pull your meditative mind away from its attempt at sustaining awareness, which is the definition of distraction ("Oooh... shiny!").

We also got into some great discussion on the Wiccan Rede and the charges of the God and Goddess. Every time I got through those passages and the students discuss them, I get new insight. It's very cool.

Next week will be very exciting because John will return to the class to do more energy exercises. Because we're up in the room above the shop, we now have the room to move more freely about. I'm curious to see what people's experiences will be.

New class in 2009!

I had my first class with my new set of students, all nine of them! Nine! This is my largest group so far and I hope they all stick it out until the end of the course.

My new resolution for this group is to be on time for class, which is a bit of a challenge since my client is two traffic jams away. But when I tried to complain about this, my student Syl replied with "Awww... shall I call you a WAAAAAHHHHmbulance?" True enough.

So Wednesday will be my half-day or full day off from work. I'll go into work in the morning, leave around noon, and make my way into the city. I'll either meet up with folks or just take my laptop with me so I can keep working with a pint within comfortable reach.

The first class was great! Everyone has great energy and enthusiasm, so I'm looking forward to some hearty discussion and debate over the next 18 weeks. I have a couple of CMS teachers who are guest-teaching for the next couple of weeks so we can try out the energy exercises, so that'll be fun.

I'll also try to update this blog more often. Check back soon!