Here are a couple more pictures from the Eden project. These were painted by visiting shaman in the Tropical biome.
So what have I been up to?
The Zero Balancing course was hard work - so much so that my hands hurt too much to do the final full ZB on a person so I did it on a skeleton. The skeleton was called Wellington. You can do ZB on a skeleton because the target for most of the moves is bone.
The next day I decided it was finally time to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
and what did I find but that the Dog from the title is called Wellington and the boy telling the story is Christopher Boone - very like bone.... I suspect the author of a little joke here about dogs and bones... and for me it turned out to be a great synchronicity!Then somehow I found myself going through my book shelves and pulling out lots of books that I needed to pass on to someone else. I've put 60 onto Amazon.co.uk's marketplace and took as many as I could carry to a charity shop. And tonight one of my Amazon books has sold - yippee!
I was a bit miffed when I started listing books to discover that although Amazon charge the buyer £2.75 for postage and packing - as the seller I only see £2.32 of that. And of course they take 17.25% of the price paid for the item as well, oh and another 86p... I've been carefully weighing books and trying to figure out what size they'll be when wrapped to work out what I'll be charged at the post office:
Large letter
Length: 353mm max
Width: 250mm max
Thickness: 25mm max
Weight range Second Class
0-100g 37p
101-250g 55p
251-500g 75p
501-750g 109p
Packet
Length: over 353mm
Width: over 250mm
Thickness: over 25mm
Weight range Second Class
0-100g 84p
101-250g 109p
251-500g 139p
501-750g 177p
751-1000g 212p
There are definitely people selling things on amazon who are going to be paying to sell them... for an item listed at 1p the seller receives £1.41 and Amazon make a condition that you use new packing materials... no recycled jiffy bags allowed... plus you must include a receipt... and not many books are going to slip into the large letter category...
Tonight I also parcelled up three books to send to a friend and because one was only a large letter size it turned out to be cheaper to send them as two parcels - of course I'm using recycled packaging for these.
Gosh I've gone all nerdy on postage!
The other thing I've been doing is working out how we might do a small extension to our house... I'll need to get an architect to tell me if there is any mileage in it... I hope it will turn out to be the kind of thing one can get planning permission to do and that won't cost heaps and heaps... its not large but it would improve the flow of the house and give us a wonderful bathroom and ensuite!
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13 comments:
And if you need an accountant I know one in Bath... :)
Seriously, you are inspiring me to think about listing some of my books on Amazon.com. And what did you think of Haddon's book? I found it a light and diverting read, but not shallow. That's a tricky combination to achieve.
Thanks Andrea but I'm just selling my old stuff not going into business - however this morning I've discovered another book has sold so the trip to the post office will be worth while!
Hmm... what was the name of that accountant?
Remember me when you make your first million....charity is always very becoming of the rich!!
I like the artwork!
How could I ever forget you Mr Nomad?
I've thought about selling stuff on-line before, and the shipping maze is what keeps me from following through every time. I'm glad yours are selling well, though.
Love the synchronicity. Is there a website or book that explains about zero balance? If it works on bones, that's something my husband's hip could definitely use.
If we can get re-financed we're thinking of doing some remodeling, too. Must be going around. :)
Love the Eden Project art.
Tinker - I've sold things through ebay before and found it a hassle - at least it doesn't cost me anything to actually list things on Amazon even if they do take a fairly large chunk once sold.
I've just posted about the books available. I find it helps my hips a lot and the person who recommended it to me in the first place uses it keep her hips sorted. Its definitely good for hips - though maybe not all conditions.
What fun you are tinkering with your house too!
and i read the curious dog and i did not like it. apart from the maths conundrums and i liked those. and i buy most books on amazon too. and we also joined an online bookswap. and i can let you have the address. and you can swap books with people. and it is cheaper than amazon because it is not capitalist. and i prefer that.
a poor parody of haddon. ;o)
bookswap is quite good though my missus uses it more than me. essentially, you're just finding the postage which under the new tariffs isn't too bad, I think.
Good parody not bad!
I'd like to know about the online bookswap please.
Hi,
just found your site after Google Alerts popped it up on a search I run for "zero balancing". I'm a somatic practitioner (Licensed massage therapist in Ohio, US, but displaced originally from Scotland), and have taken the ZB Core I. I love it and think it's fantastic stuff.
Interesting that your hands were pretty sore from the class. Was this Core I? Was it holding the fulcrums that was straining you.
It's also interesting that you used a skeleton to practice ZB on. Was this to practice the protocol?
Not trying to sound like I'm spamming, but I've discussed ZB with respects to somatic work on the blog I operate at somatodo.com. I'd love to have your input on some articles. I'm about to put one up discussing why I think there are 5 layers of energy in the body rather than 3.
I look forward to reading more of your ZB experiences.
Thanks for the tips on Amazon book selling - one day I will thin out the bookshelves. Is Amazon a better way to sell books than Ebay?
I like those dancing leaves - new since our trip to Eden in 2003. Cornwall beckons again...
JPM - My main reason for having sore hands was I was getting over a cold (I'd needed a clearing but the timing was a bit tight!) - that and I got something wrong early on...
In this country we do the ZB basic twice, with extras for people taking it a second time - I was taking it a second time but didn't get the extras as I hadn't practiced at all in between - after the first course I thought it wasn't for me - but I'd carried on having ZBs and 18 months later thought it worth doing again. I'm still not sure I'll ever be a ZB practitioner but I've appreciated the whole approach.
I've not heard the term "somatic work". I've also trained in Health Kinesiology and at one point was a Reiki and Seichem master. I've also worked with flower essences a lot, dreams and Shamanic trance.
JN -
Amazon let you list for free - ebay do very occassionally but you have to be alert to their special offers.
Amazon's listing is for 60 days and you can renew for free. Ebay's listing is for a maximum of 10 days and if you don't sell the first time but relist and sell the second time you'll get one lot of listing fees refunded (I think ... I haven't checked recently)
Amazon have a fixed p&p allowance - which means the minimum anyone can pay for a book is £2.75 + 1p.
Ebay let you set your own p&p and some people are extremely greedy! But ebay does have a rule that it shouldn't be unreasonable - that doesn't seem to be policed well.
I've sold lots of books on ebay and the problem is listing - there is no easy way to list, you have to upload your own pictures and describe the books yourself - on amazon it is MUCH faster. So given that this time I have over 60 books to sell (now over 70) I chose amazon as the only practical way to get them listed.
And so far I've sold 4.
5
Ta for the info Caroline, I will have to decide between the whirlwind glamour of ebay and the nononsense practicality of Amazon. It'll be records and CDs more than books for me, I find they're slightly easier to part with.
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