The Transcendent Rainbow Cafe - social space for LGBTI members

[Paul]

It would be so great to have a thread here where we can chat about almost anything. We can have fun, tell jokes, share stories, you name it!

There's a "BB Cafe" thread in the general area where lots of people chat daily and have established some nice light hearted conversations, it's treated as if it's a real cafe, there's even virtual baked goods and coffee!

Let's create a chat here for anyone to join, in particular the GLBTIQ community to let their collective hair down and chill out. It's a safe space to be yourself.

We just need a name 🙂

[Jo8049]

Hi Mudcakes's , I posted one here last night but was unsure if it went through . Maybe it will arrive ?

I would love a place to just chat and share . Hopefully make some new friends . This is a place in which I feel safe .

Love and hugs to all , Jo W

[Mudcakes]

Random thought, I met this girl years ago and when we met she straight out asked me what my orientation was and I said straight, little did I know this girl would make me realise that I was bi. God irony am I right. 😂

[Jo8049]

Good morning Mudcakes's . I have found so many dips bumps twists and turns I did not expect or could have foreseen . It is early days for me and I am discovering just how carefully I must examine what I say and do before launching it into the world around me now. Of course you should anyway I guess out of respect in every way, ( I always did but the scrutiny is much more intense now ) . I try my best . A bit of your topic , the unexpected up's and downs . Happy surprises I hope .

Lol to all , Jo

[Aaronsis]

Hey Jo and all

This is my first time to the cafe so I am very excited to be here with you lovely people.

As I am a straight cis gender female I hadn't thought to come to this cafe before but seeing that you are here Jo and wanting to chat I thought I would stop in and say hi and meet some new people.

Thank you for having me and I look forward to chatting and to meeting you all and having some great conversations that I can see you are doing here.

Hugs to you all and hope today is a good one for you

Sarah xx

[Jo8049]

Hi Sarah , I am glad you are here . Thank you .Do hope you are well happy and your day and past weekend and Valentines day were good also.

Have you been on the BB Cafe in the other forums . I have been there after Quirkywords told me about it , is good for chatting but I must say that I am more comfortable here ( for some discussions ). There had been little interest in chatting it seemed in this Cafe or even most of the LGBTIQ forums( by chatting I mean a little bit lighter banter ) . Probably this was,set up for people to chat but be a bit more free with their openness ? Maybe just not used to the other one yet .

Tell me which place you prefer and we can do that . I don't have any specific things to talk about I don't think at present . This journey is huge and goes in bursts it seems . A lot to learn , and even tiring enough that I get 3 or 4 hours solid sleep + another 1or2 in a night . Your company has been very comforting to me . Its a bit of a bugger being so isolated but I have been for a long time here as I have always been different so coming out to myself didn't make the isolation any different ?

Tall me where you want to chat and I will see you there , here or the other one .

Lol and hugs Jo

[Aaronsis]

Hey Jo

I am doing well and have had a pretty quiet weekend, as you probably have had too if you are in Melbourne/Vic and are going through this mini lockdown.

This is my first time really in the cafe so thank you for inviting me, it is so great to chat to you and I hope to be able to share with you how you are feeling and what is going on for you, even just in your everyday life, whatever it is you want to chat about. I am so happy to hear that you feel comfortable here, it really is a very awesome space and let's you chat about whatever really, without judgement or criticism.

You are very right in that this is a nice space just to have some light conversation and if you want to talk about "heavier" things we can do that too.

Our journeys do have bursts or good and bursts of weird and bursts of sad and bursts of excitement, that is the very essence of life in that things to change, just as things may seem like they will not get better, somehow they just do, even if it is ever so small. Having sleep that is impacted by thinking or feeling is very hard to manage but I am happy to hear that you are managing to get some sleep, and that is fantastic. Do you have some things that you have found to have helped in this or some techniques that you use to have been able to relax and fall asleep?

Once again I am so happy to hear that you have found comfort in chatting with me, I am enjoying chatting to you too.

Hugs to you and happy Monday.

Sarah xx

[Jo8049]

Hi Sarah , am glad your here . I will tell you my sleep secret . I found out that I over produce quartersol ( spelling ??? ) in my body . That is I think the fight or flight thing . It peaks in the body after your rem sleep ( the deep bit ) and after rem you come up almost to the surface . I always wake after it and if I lay in bed and go back to sleep I have devastating night mares and wake usually in the fetal position completely nauseous . So this feeds you into depression via anxiety to combat this I get up at whatever time this ( usually between 0230 and 0400 ) is . ( had years on an antidepressant and changed to another early last year and it disagreed with me . Very sick , lost 9 kg in a week . All the health people I could contact were unavailable that week . Anyway I had serotonin syndrome . Was not nice . Had to stop drug immediately and was a month before Clinical Psychiatrist could come out so by then I was OK and I decided I would go drug free .

Long story ( apologies ) any way fatigue from yuky sleep was the trigger for the dark days so had to work it out. I am an avid cyclist ( not out here though . another story ) I have an awesome recumbent trike and it is on rollers in front of TV . So I get up very early and do get up things then feed my little dog and pedal for at least 2 hours then 20 min sit-ups pushups and stretches . Have breaky and its still only about 7 . ( go to bed early though , head down around 8 )

Live 610 km from Brisbane on the edge of the outback . A bit long this one , you might go to sleep halfway through .

Take great care , stay safe , be haply and thanks for listening .

Lol , hugs & xxx Jo & little dog

[Aaronsis]

Hi Jo and big hugs to little dog too xxx

Wow that is alot to learn about yourself and your sleeping and what impacts it, but how wonderful that you did find this out and that you have learnt so very much about yourself and what is happening inside of you...it is so very interesting how the smallest of things can have the biggest impacts...also in a positive way too, so I try to remember that even the smallest of good things can make the biggest impact in a day too.

I did not know about Cortisol and had to look it up, it is so very cool to learn new things and I thank you for my lesson in the "flight or fight" hormone and how it can effect people, very interesting indeed.

I am blown away by your cycling, wow, you sure do get some kilometers done in a day....I was exhausted just reading how much exercise you do, well done though and I am really trying hard to increase the amount in my day...even just walks help so very much.

Please do not apologize for the length or the content of your messages, I would love to hear what you were going to say about living 610 km from Brisbane. Living on the edge of the outback sounds wonderful, I would love to hear all about it..no sleeping here..lol

Hope to chat to you some more, I am in Melbourne locked down...well to a degree as I can still work so am going into the office when I have to but that is about it...but we can exercise for 2 hours a day so I might get out there after work tonight and get some air in my lungs.

Hugs to you and your little furry friend little dog xx

Sarah xxxx

[Jo8049]

Hi Sarah , hope all is well and as peaceful as possible for you . Obviously days have positives and negatives but it is good if the positives rule .

Hey walking is awesome , uses so many of the muscles in the body . I like walking although we ( little dog and I ) don't do enough at home . Work takes us all over the country and LD has her favourite toilet stops and walks all over . I don't want to elaborate much more on the work as I don't know who might read this . One day perhaps there may be a more secure way to chat and I will be,able to fill the gaps for you ? I do contract work . It is usually enjoyable , but sometimes not.

With exercise only do what is comfortable . I try not to eat to much fat but being that fat is flavour you know what sometimes happens . Try to do more with veg . Am definitely a food lover . Like the food channel , we only have the SBS one on the satellite . It's good though . Just by watching that you learn about methods of cooking , flavours and flavour matching etc . I try very hard to turn ordinary food into something a few levels up that you enjoy eating .

A few folk out here think I'm mad ( ? ) for the effort I put into food that I eat. When I have the time I love to do it . Being alone and a very long way from gourmet supplies it is not practical to have a huge pantry so mostly I just work with basic fresh food that is available .

If your not vegetarian you would probably like my very slow cooked smoked pork belly . Some turn out better than others , all are very nice though .

Just before Xmas 2019 I recall on our way to Kununurra stopping for the night at 3 Ways ( 19 km north of Tennant Creek . Sitting beside the vehicles in our folding chairs , discussing food ( this guy was a foodie to ) eating slices of my pork , he was sipping a can of beer and I cider with my little mate in my lap . The huge summer storm coming at us timed it right ( awesome lightning ) and sent us to bed when we had finished drinks and pork .

Thanks for listening , living alone sometimes you do overrun where you probably should pull up .

Lol as always to you Sarah and anyone else who red so much ,

Hugs and love XXX. Jo W & LD

[Aaronsis]

Hey Jo

How good is today??? The weather is perfect and the news that we will leave lockdown tonight...what a rippa!

I have been doing some walking and yes, it is great but I think I need to up the anti a bit and I would really like to be able to go for a run one day, well I guess I like the idea of how that sounds but not sure this old body is up for it...but I guess I can try.

Your cooking sounds amazing and your interest in food and what goes into your body is brilliant. I spent some time as a vegan last year and felt so very wonderful for it, it was a lot of planning and food prep and making sure that I had things available to me when I needed them, then COVID hit and it was all a bit too much, not sure why but just sort of left it. It is not mad at all to put effort into food, it is what nourishes us and it has to look good as well as taste good, the better we can do both the more we enjoy it I think!

The slow cooked smoked pork belly sounds out of this world and I was so very jealous to be reading about that...it sounds so incredibly delish!

Your recollection of that night on your way to Kununurra sounds like a perfect night, I love a storm and watching the lightening and listening to the thunder and to be out in the middle of nowhere and to experience that with some amazing food and your little dog..wow..what a treat!

Never apologize for chatting here and talking too much, I am happy to listen and am really enjoying talking with you, you sound like you have had some wonderful experiences in life and I would love to hear about as much as you would like to share. I think that is the beauty of this place, we chat to so many different people and learn about all sorts of different things, it truly is a blessing to be here ...even if sometimes we are drawn here from pain or suffering, that does not mean it has to be all hard and heavy conversation.

I hope today is a great one for you, the weather is amazing outside and am looking forward to getting out there in a few hours.

Hugs

Sarah