2009.03.31 01:00 - Newcomers and oldtimers - or remembering Pema's hair

The Guardian for this meeting was Wester Kiranov. The comments are by Wester Kiranov.

Pema came in just after me, and we had just time to exchange a few Dutch sentences before Bertrum and Trevor joined us.

Pema Pera: hoi Wester!
Wester Kiranov: hoi pema!
Pema Pera: hoe staat het leven?
Wester Kiranov: ik probeer wat tijd te vinden om dat scribe ding te doen... het is niet het schrijven, vooral het lezen neemt zoveel tijd
Pema Pera: onze Nederlandse conversaties zijn in het algemeen wel heel kort hier, hahaha
Pema Pera: hi Bert!
Wester Kiranov: hi bertrum
Pema Pera: ja, ik weet het . . . ik stel het zeer op prijs!
Bertrum Quan: Hi Pema, Wester
Pema Pera: I see that Threedee left his "pattern" object here, yesterday evening
Wester Kiranov: oh, is that what it is?
Trevor Berensohn: Good eve =)
Pema Pera: hi Trevor!
Wester Kiranov: hi trevor
Trevor Berensohn: Have I missed anything?
Pema Pera: Ah, the old Trevor appearance!
Pema Pera: no, not really
Trevor Berensohn: Haha indeed
Pema Pera: a few sentences in Dutch, while Wester and I were here at first :-)
Pema Pera: about the hard work that scribes are facing, as Wester noticed
Pema Pera: having to read 12 logs in a row
Trevor Berensohn: Ah amazing
Pema Pera: http://playasbeing.wik.is/PaB_Scribe_Project
Trevor Berensohn: So many projects =)

Pema started a conversation about the time when we had just joined SL.

Pema Pera: Bert and West, this is what Trev looked like while we were still gathering in the tea house in Rieul, almost a year ago
Pema Pera: Yes, indeed, Trev!
Pema Pera: You had just entered SL around that time, hadn't you, Trevor?
Trevor Berensohn: Oh yes just a few weeks I think
Pema Pera: Ah yes, born April 18, 2008, indeed!
Pema Pera: two and a half weeks after we got started
Trevor Berensohn: Bumped into things all the time then heh
Pema Pera: and your visit to the tea house was one of the first things you did, I believe
Trevor Berensohn: Still do, really
Pema Pera: yeah, well, that's how we learn!
Trevor Berensohn: Oh yes I was surprised at how embarrassed I was
Pema Pera: :)
Trevor Berensohn: Didn't know SL could be so "real"
Pema Pera has similar memories of his first group's meeting
Trevor Berensohn: ahem
Pema Pera: yes
Pema Pera: I went to a meeting at SciLands
Pema Pera: a group of science oriented sims
Trevor Berensohn: Ah
Pema Pera: for my first group meeting
Pema Pera: and it had just become dark
Pema Pera: I did not know anybody
Pema Pera: and I did not know how to turn on daylight for myself
Pema Pera: and I was terrified notknowing which chair to sit on
Pema Pera: afraid I would sit on top of someone else in the darkness
Trevor Berensohn: lol I think I wore a box my first week
Wester Kiranov: I had a similar "dark" experience the first times in kira cafe
Trevor Berensohn: didn't know how to take it off
Pema Pera: yes, pretty terrifying :-)
Pema Pera: hehe, not yet "out of the box" yourself!
Trevor Berensohn: Yes it's amazing the adrenaline of those firsts here
Wester Kiranov: just didn't know how to turn the light on
Trevor Berensohn: Ha indeed
Pema Pera: yes, testifying indeed to the reality of virtuality
Trevor Berensohn: seemingly so..
Pema Pera: like immigrating into a new country
Pema Pera: and not yet having figured out the new etiquette and manners
Trevor Berensohn: Haha but sure to put your foot in it
Trevor Berensohn: so to speak
Pema Pera: :-)
Wester Kiranov: yes, new etiquette and manners - difficult
Trevor Berensohn: Just another formality of the silliness of it all
Wester Kiranov: I have only just learned that weird things can happen if you click on someone elses furniture
Trevor Berensohn: Your conversation with the lion was interesting, Pema
Trevor Berensohn: Haha did you get "animated"?
Pema Pera: hehe, I often do, Trev!
Trevor Berensohn: Ahhh
Pema Pera: like what, Trevor (weird things can happen if you click on someone elses furniture) ?
Trevor Berensohn: I think I lost my SL virginity that way
Wester Kiranov: well, someone had a different idea of what it means to "play piano"
Trevor Berensohn: And was bittne by a vampire!(?)
Trevor Berensohn: Oh dear
Pema Pera pondering those snippets of adventure
Trevor Berensohn: Was it a happy tune?
Wester Kiranov: i think so - but I did get out pretty quickly
Trevor Berensohn: Hmmm I feel like the newcomer here again
Wester Kiranov: how so?
Trevor Berensohn: All these new um faces, it's wonderful
Trevor Berensohn: Oh and a different pavilion
Trevor Berensohn: But Pema's hair is still the same
Trevor Berensohn takes comfort in that
Pema Pera: It took a few weeks to get my current hair; I thought that when we met I might have had quite different hair, and that this came a bit later -- would have to check :-)
Trevor Berensohn: Hmmm not much later
Trevor Berensohn: Yes that first time.. short hair
Trevor Berensohn: I had forgotten!
Pema Pera: ah, yes, first the tea house, then the other pavilion, then this one
Pema Pera: yes, not much later
Trevor Berensohn: It's funny what is remembered & what isn't

The conversation naturally moved to the nature of PaB and the reality of SL, RL, dreams (DL?) and what else may be behind that.

Bertrum Quan: what is it like Pema attending all 4 sessions in a day?
Pema Pera: it's interesting to see the whole dynamic unfolding, day after day, 6 hours after 6 hours
Pema Pera: the difference between knowing and seeing/experiencing
Pema Pera: of course I know there are 4 sessions a day, but having actually seen/felt it now for five days is quite different
Trevor Berensohn: Hmmm
Pema Pera: like I mentioned at an earlier session: knowing that the US is three thousand miles across in distance, and then driving a car across it :-)
Bertrum Quan: does this intensity of the relity of the virtual change the reality/illusion of RL?
Trevor Berensohn: Makes me think of my first experience of the Grand Canyon, Pema
Pema Pera: ah, yes, I can see that, Trev, how was that?
Pema Pera: I think so, Bert
Pema Pera: It puts it into more of a perspective
Trevor Berensohn: Breathtaking! I'm usually scared of heights, but not then/there
Trevor Berensohn: Yes I appreciate this different way of experiencing
Trevor Berensohn: Makes it easier to "step outside" of my First Life while in it
Bertrum Quan: Pema, can you discuss the added perspective in RL?
Pema Pera: hmmm, many aspects
Pema Pera: for one thing, it shows RL as just one possibility of many
Pema Pera: like waking up from a dream, you may wonder what it be like to wake up from ordinary reality in turn
Pema Pera: similarly
Pema Pera: returning from SL to RL
Pema Pera: I sometimes wonder what it would be like to take the next step :-)
Trevor Berensohn resists the urge to stretch & yawn
Bertrum Quan: And what might be that next step?
Pema Pera: well, waking up from our narrow identifications to a wider kind of freedom
Trevor Berensohn: Hmmm sounds like more than one step..
Trevor Berensohn: Or maybe just one BIG one heh
Pema Pera: yes, first some glimpses
Pema Pera: then more and more, and clearer and clearer
Pema Pera: but what can I see, I feel I'm just getting started myself :-)
Pema Pera: and right now, I think I'll go back to bed to get some more sleep . . . .
Pema Pera: great talking with you all, Bertrum, Wester, Trevor!
Trevor Berensohn: Awww
Trevor Berensohn: Good to see you Pema
Pema Pera: See you soon
Wester Kiranov: see you soon too
Bertrum Quan: happy dreams, Pema.
Trevor Berensohn: And good to meet y'all too
Wester Kiranov: bye pema, sleep well
Pema Pera: perhaps I'll dream about waking up from various realms :-)
Wester Kiranov: that little sentence made my head spin
Trevor Berensohn: lol
Trevor Berensohn: Mine does that often
Bertrum Quan: Need to call it a night... 'night Wester, Trevor
Trevor Berensohn: Have a good one, Bertrum
Wester Kiranov: bye bertum, sleep well
Trevor Berensohn: I really like this new pavilion
Wester Kiranov: what was the old one like?
Trevor Berensohn: Hmmm it's not still around?
Wester Kiranov: I don't know
Trevor Berensohn: I thought it was but perhaps not
Trevor Berensohn: It was a bit more square, but nice too
Trevor Berensohn: This feels more spacious
Wester Kiranov: but this one is really nice, lots of space
Trevor Berensohn: Good form for the function =)
Trevor Berensohn: Haha jinx!
Wester Kiranov: yup
Trevor Berensohn: Empty minds think alike heh
Trevor Berensohn: ;-)
Trevor Berensohn: Well I should finish up in SL & get to bed soon
Wester Kiranov: sleep well then
Trevor Berensohn: I look forward to seeing you again soon
Wester Kiranov: so do i
Trevor Berensohn: May we both have interesting dreams until then