2008.10.04 07:00 - Space Opened Up

Pia Iger as guardian and prepared this light and fun log.

Wol was standing in the pavilion. I noticed she was better dressed for the new season.

Pia Iger: hello, Wol,
Wol Euler: oh, sorry Pia, I had a script windows open and couldn't see you or the chat area :-(
Wol Euler: hello, happy Saturday
Pia Iger: You look warm, with shawl, boots. Weather changed, I feel chilly with what my AV wear...
Wol Euler smiles. actually, you may be right, that is very likely why I chose this outfit!
Wol Euler: it's odd to bedressing for winter in this perpetual California ...
Pia Iger: but the typists outside the screen do feel the cold.
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Wol Euler: and the avs too, sometimes. I have thought "I'm not dressed for this weather" as my av stood in a snowy field.
Wol Euler gave you !_Ce Cubic effect, Chantilly (112, 138, 28).
Wol Euler: that's the store this came from-
Pia Iger: I remember you said that before. Now I feel it. Pia was born this spring. She just start to feel the season:)
Wol Euler smiles.

Wol introduced a research group to me.

Wol Euler: it's called "embodiment", and if you are interested, there's a group lead by a RL sociologist that meets irregularly to discuss body and identity and SL.
Wol Euler: "Avatar Research Identity Group" in my profile
Pia Iger: ty. I just joined myself.
Wol Euler: :-)
Pia Iger: Is there anything interesting in their discussion?
Wol Euler: oh yes, fascinating. There isn't a website as far as I know, because Rivka is an RL academic and is stuck in the "publish to keep your job" trap.
Wol Euler: but the sessions are all logged, and you can get the transcript of any of them by asking her or Keris or Beta, the assistant's.
Wol Euler: she talks a lot about gender and identity, how these are constructed in RL and how SL lets us reflect that or change it.
Wol Euler: very similar to the discussion Threedee and Adelene are having in installments at their PaB sessions :-)
Pia Iger: SL gives us chances to challenge the gender and identity role we thought were solid in RL.
Wol Euler: yep
Pia Iger: it is clearer here, they are just what we have, not what we are.
Wol Euler: look at Fael/Quel or Gaya/Umbriel, or Adamses. They were all surprised to discover that the alt is a different personality.
Wol Euler: same with me and my alts (I have two now :-)
Wol Euler: they are quite different from "me".
Wol Euler: they have talents that the others do not share, and that are sometimes not available to me in RL :-)
Wol Euler: but yet it is all part of RL-Me, nobody else is in this room typing.
Pia Iger: different gender/physical appearance, evoke or awake different personality.
Pia Iger: If I am a beefy male AV, I will associate different behaviors and character to it. very likely.
Wol Euler nods.
Pia Iger: sort of like, outside form can impact what kind of our inside content to surface, to be active. No proper form, some personalities will be dormant.
Wol Euler: yep, and these inner contents can be very surprising.
Pia Iger: it remind me of Pema said: You are who you think you are.
Pia Iger: are not
Wol Euler: yes :-)
Wol Euler: where does the "not" fit?
Pia Iger: We think we know who we are in RL, but there are so much of us we did not know. SL gives some example that we have facets we don't know .
Wol Euler nods
Pia Iger: We are beyond the gender, social role we have in RL.
Wol Euler: which is worth discovering.

I related the discovery to PaB.

Pia Iger: recently it came to me, PaB opens a new dimension to my mind. the new space of living. (SL is similar to the new space, but only a part of it).
Pia Iger: I just have a strong sense of new space opened up, and I can wander inside it. (then I think, mmm, SL is kind of like that kind of new space)
Pia Iger: Hi, Corvi
Wol Euler: hello Corvi, nice to see you.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Hiya
Wol Euler: Pia, that is interesting. Where is the space that you feel? is it "around" you, does the world feel wider than it was?
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Hiya
Pia Iger: the space is revealed in my mind, not physical, but I can 'see' with my "inner eyes" (borrowed from Corvi's tag)
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Gaya's words.
Wol Euler: that is interesting, because I find that the YSBS has expanded my idea of "my surroundings", I see less of myself sitting there and more of what is around me. Very similar, really.
Pia Iger: yes, similar.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: I think of SL as travelling....and in that way, I have had a similar idea of "new space"
Pia Iger: agree, SL is a new dimension.
Pia Iger: where your inner self can travel
Wol Euler: yep. Whenever I hear someone say that SL is a game, I think "they don't get it."
Wol Euler: or rather, they are using it very differently.
Pia Iger: They don't know what they are missing!!
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Corvuscorva Nightfire: With some of the same effects..you can BECOME without the expectations of home, family, friends...and even your own.
Wol Euler: yes.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Even the shell that you start with...it too can be shed for a while.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: at least parts of it.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: So that one can try on "male/female" "bird" "cat"
Wol Euler nods. we were talking about stretching the soul earlier, like yoga stretches and loosens the body.
Corvuscorva Nightfire smiles.
Wol Euler: Darwin Mizner of AVid said "For me the [Second Life] avatar is the "physical" embodiment of the mind that controls it. The avatar is in this sense a more accurate portrayal of one's soul than is the arbitrary real-life body."
Wol Euler: we are pretty much stuck with our RL bodies, but here ... anything is possible.
Pia Iger: SL gives more flexibility of expressing yourself. RL is more restrictive.
Corvuscorva Nightfire grins and dances on her mat, then plops down, happily.
Pia Iger: haha
Wol Euler: hehehehe

Uh oh... I did not see this coming.

Wol Euler gave you onigokko.
Wol Euler: wear them :-)
Pia Iger: shall we wear?
Corvuscorva Nightfire giggles. Lets.
Wol Euler: (invisible, harmless)
Pia Iger: I know the consequence.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: hahahhah
Wol Euler: hehehehe
Corvuscorva Nightfire: yeah....sure.
Wol Euler: onigokko
Wol Euler: stop
Corvuscorva Nightfire giggles and runs.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: and plops back down.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: onigokko
Corvuscorva Nightfire: stop
Wol Euler: ah yes :-)
Corvuscorva Nightfire giggles, runs, watches running and plops.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: hahahahaha

How about more Sat morning workout?

Pia Iger: any other dances?
Corvuscorva Nightfire gave you Fabulous Dance.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: this is just a dance..but one of my favorites.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: somehow seems particularly joyful....
Wol Euler: it's like the kids dances in Peanuts.
Corvuscorva Nightfire giggles..yep.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: I dance at all the sl clubs like this...
Corvuscorva Nightfire: no matter what the music..hehehheh
Wol Euler: heheheh
Corvuscorva Nightfire: except the slow songs.
Pia Iger: you guys all have cool boots. I am bare foot.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: mmm.....I like the bare feet..perfect.
Wol Euler: oh, let me give you a landmark. Maitreya makes great boots and shoes.

Both of them gave me many landmarks of stores (which I omitted from the log).
Still dancing, Corvi picked up our previous topic.

Corvuscorva Nightfire: I have gotten two concrete gifts from "space opened up in sl" no, three.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: One - I like touch better.
Wol Euler: ah :-)
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Two-I am easier with being "Seen" or "noticed" by strangers.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Three-It's easier for me to be my "real" self at work...where I speak to about a hundred people a day.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Hard for an introvert.
Wol Euler smiles. Very good!
Corvuscorva Nightfire grins.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: It's been a good trip so far.
Corvuscorva Nightfire watches Wol dance on the table...
Wol Euler: hehehe
Wol Euler: and in it, too.
Corvuscorva Nightfire snickers.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: yeah
Pia Iger: cuz here is less consequential than RL. We are bolder in contacting with others.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Bet I wouldn't catch YOU doing that in rl...*pokes Wol*
Corvuscorva Nightfire nods to Pia.
Wol Euler: you#re right.
Pia Iger: in RL, like NYC, you'd better avoid eye contact with strangers.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: Very true.
Corvuscorva Nightfire nods.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: I am terrible at that...in the south, one MUST do eye contact.
Corvuscorva Nightfire: I startle people in NY.
Wol Euler: if RL had "mute" buttons and the ability to TP away from idiots, and you could simply sit down to prevent any violence
Corvuscorva Nightfire giggles.
Wol Euler: well, life would be very different.
Wol Euler: oh, yes, eye contact rules differ greatly between cultures
Corvuscorva Nightfire imagines all the times in her own life that "MUTE" and "TP" could have come in handy.
Wol Euler: heheheh
Corvuscorva Nightfire smiles.

Afterwards, we sat down and talked more of SL shopping.