2009.05.07 19:00 - Playing with life, with reality

Neela Blaisdale: Hi Syl

Sylectra Darwin: Hi Neela!

Sylectra Darwin: how are you?

Neela Blaisdale: Fish?

Sylectra Darwin: yes :)

Neela was referring to the fish "pets" I had swimming around my head in the air.

Sylectra Darwin: Ever been fishing?

Neela Blaisdale: Yes, a few times, I loved the quiet

Sylectra Darwin: in SL or RL?

Neela Blaisdale: in RL, never tried in SL

Sylectra Darwin: Theres a company offering a fishing system here in SL.

Sylectra Darwin: 7Seas, I think.

Sylectra Darwin: Some of my friends have the machine that vends the poles and bait.

Sylectra Darwin: So one day I bought a pole and some bait!

Sylectra Darwin: Nostrum Forder taught me how to fish in her pond.

Sylectra Darwin: When you're a beginner, you might catch one in every three casts.

Neela Blaisdale: What have you been up to Syl?

Sylectra Darwin: I've been getting used to my new home state of NJ

Neela Blaisdale: where did you move from?

Sylectra Darwin: It's been a really nice spring but very rainy and muddy.

Sylectra Darwin: Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Sylectra Darwin: At least I am missing the tornadoes.

Sylectra Darwin: what have you been up to?

Neela Blaisdale: Why did you move?

Sylectra Darwin: I wanted a different life.

Sylectra Darwin: The NYC area has very unique job opportunities.

Sylectra Darwin: I am doing SEO - search engine optimization - a new area for me.

Neela Blaisdale: Different life in what way?

Sylectra Darwin: In almost every way. I had what you'd call a midlife crisis last year.

Sylectra Darwin: I discovered I had many unfulfilled wishes and dreams and that my husband at the time had no intention of living elsewhere than Tulsa.

Sylectra Darwin: After several months of trying to entice him about the idea of moving someplace with a better job market, I finally respectfully said my goodbyes.

Neela Blaisdale: how long were you married?

Sylectra Darwin: We parted amicably in early Fall.

Sylectra Darwin: We were married about 10 years.

Sylectra Darwin: Well, together for that amount - married for about 8

Neela Blaisdale: Kids?

Sylectra Darwin: no.

Sylectra Darwin: dogs and cats.

Neela Blaisdale: :)

Sylectra Darwin: makes it easier, yes.

Neela Blaisdale: How old are you Syl?

Sylectra Darwin: 38

Sylectra Darwin: Now I have a new job and a new home and a new love.

Neela Blaisdale: I'm 57 and still think I'm in a mid life crisis, haven't done much about it

Sylectra Darwin: hehe

Sylectra Darwin: I trust midlife crises, you know why?

Sylectra Darwin: they're honest.

Neela Blaisdale: My youngest goes to college in 1 1/2 yrs so maybe a change then..

Neela Blaisdale: Honest in what way?

Sylectra Darwin: true, that would change things.

Sylectra Darwin: Well, we are always changing.

Sylectra Darwin: If we think that we are not in the midst of changes, that is not the truth.

Sylectra Darwin: The older we get, the greater the potential that a big change is coming.

Sylectra Darwin: My mom passed away of cancer unexpectedly but was sick for a year.

Sylectra Darwin: Then my husband's dad passed away of the same thing.

Sylectra Darwin: Then my grandma passed away.

Sylectra Darwin: It gets you thinking: what do I want to do before I die?

Neela Blaisdale: Yes, a lot of loss..

I gave Neela some of my fish pets which I had caught earlier.

Neela Blaisdale: ty Syl

Sylectra Darwin: Please have some fish.

Sylectra Darwin: You can wear them.

Neela Blaisdale: :)

Sylectra Darwin: Loss is good for you if you handle it with the right frame of mind.

Neela Blaisdale: I notice as I get older I'm starting to feel a lot of pressure about what I want in life...though it's not clear yet what the direction will be

Neela Blaisdale: but definitely a sense of limited time...

Sylectra Darwin: Yes, it's one of the gifts of getting older...appreciation for the preciousness of our time.

Sylectra Darwin: Your fish look lovely :)

Neela Blaisdale: I love them! Thank you

Sylectra Darwin: Apparently, there are unique fish you can only catch in specific locations in SL.

Sylectra Darwin: I went to the 7Seas Web site and read a little bit.

Sylectra Darwin: It turns out that you can aspire to various "levels" in fishing.

Sylectra Darwin: Once you catch so many, you get so many XP points.

Sylectra Darwin: There are people with 300000 XP.

Sylectra Darwin: So for grins I tallied up how much that would cost in Lindens.

Neela Blaisdale: and?

Sylectra Darwin: Long and short, an average of 75 US dollars to reach the hall of fame, or 50000 XP.

Sylectra Darwin: That's a lot of fish. :)

Neela Blaisdale: :)

Neela Blaisdale: pounds of them:)

Sylectra Darwin: Yes, I am only a beginner and I must have a hundred fish in my inventory. Plus some boots!

Neela Blaisdale: Whoops missed the first bell

The mindfulness bell had chimed while we were chatting away and when it notified us that the pause was finished we realized we had missed it.

Sylectra Darwin: oopsy.

Neela Blaisdale: I haven't been to meetings in a while, surprised with so many guardians, only us two here

Neela Blaisdale: There are many new guardians I haven't met...

Sylectra Darwin: Good point, I know what you mean.

Sylectra Darwin: I am glad so many are in the mix, though.

Neela Blaisdale: yes me too

Sylectra Darwin: It's interesting to me that in an environment such as Second Life, we pattern our building and our behavior on what we do in RL

Neela Blaisdale: how so?

Sylectra Darwin: Look at these fish, that swim in the air around our heads.

Sylectra Darwin: Is that not delightful?

Neela Blaisdale: yes, very

Sylectra Darwin: I never tire of watching them.

Sylectra Darwin: They swim in the air. That's cool. Why isn't more of Second Life playful like that?

Sylectra Darwin: For instance, gravity and the convention of sitting.

Sylectra Darwin: Here we are, relying upon the good old laws of gravity so that we may sit on these pillows at the Play as Being Pavilion.

Sylectra Darwin: Why do we need this?

Sylectra Darwin: Why are we on the ground?

Neela Blaisdale: yes we could be floating :)

Sylectra Darwin: Yes. maybe a chain of pillows all connected together so they never get out of chat range from one another.

Sylectra Darwin: Not that that would be a better way, just different.

Sylectra Darwin: But we are so caught up in the way things are in life that we reproduce all its limitations in SL out of a desire to seek familiar comforts.

Sylectra Darwin: We go through doors. Why?

Neela Blaisdale: yes I've noticed that I still dress in a realistic way even here in SL, no wings.....etc

Sylectra Darwin: Me too!

Sylectra Darwin: Someday, someone is going to come up with a totally new way of doing SL architecture.

Sylectra Darwin: And it's going to completely change the way we think about buildings here.

Neela changed her form from human to feline.

Sylectra Darwin: Pretty snow leopard.

Neela Blaisdale: about as fanciful as I get!

Sylectra Darwin: I have a llama. But I don't know if it sits.

Neela Blaisdale: This cat likes fish:)

Sylectra Darwin: nummy.

Sylectra Darwin: Your fish fell off

Neela Blaisdale: maybe when I changed av's?

I began digging through my inventory and shape shifting into the various cats I had available, some of which looked like proper animals and some of which were more cartoony in nature.

Neela Blaisdale: cat night:)

Neela Blaisdale: Cute!

Sylectra Darwin: mrow.

Sylectra Darwin: hehe, that's a wolf.

Sylectra Darwin: I have all these freebie avatars.

Neela Blaisdale: :)

Neela Blaisdale: Bunny!

Sylectra Darwin: that's what they meant by Renamon! OK!

Sylectra Darwin: okay that one is cute.

Neela Blaisdale: Bat cat?

Sylectra Darwin: It's called BMXII Mini Avatar.

It was a cat with purple wings.

Sylectra Darwin: Not sure.

Neela Blaisdale: cute

Sylectra Darwin: My Tail is on fire!

Neela Blaisdale: hehe

Neela Blaisdale: Whoa!

Sylectra Darwin: big huh?

Neela Blaisdale: Very!

I had changed into a large butterfly, filling the pavilion with my wings.

Neela Blaisdale: Do you fly?

Sylectra Darwin: I think so.

Sylectra Darwin: This one I bought at Grendels.

Sylectra Darwin: Actually, flying is not an option. Hmmm

Neela Blaisdale: hehe

Sylectra Darwin: There. I was still sitting.

Neela Blaisdale: Guess you can fly:)

Sylectra Darwin: These flapping wings are distracting though.

Sylectra Darwin: I think this avvie was about 5 bucks.

Sylectra Darwin: 5 Lindens, that is.

Neela Blaisdale: :)

Neela Blaisdale: what is it Syl?

Sylectra Darwin: It's a ringtail named chester.

Neela Blaisdale: what's a ringtail?

Sylectra Darwin: I am thinking it's intended to be a ringtailed lemur.

Sylectra Darwin: Have you seen ?

Neela Blaisdale: Ah...

Sylectra Darwin: This one is not very good.

Neela Blaisdale: Well Syl..time for all good animals to to sleep....

Neela Blaisdale: Cutie:)

Neela Blaisdale: you seem to have an unlimited supply

Sylectra Darwin: I did an obscene amount of collecting when I first joined SL - I didn't have any friends so it's all I did.

Sylectra Darwin: Lately I hardly ever buy anything and the freebie stuff just seems like too much effort.

Neela Blaisdale: yes , inventory can be overwhelming

Sylectra Darwin: Indeed!

Neela Blaisdale: hehe

I changed into my dodo avatar, which I had picked out myself from Grendel's.

Sylectra Darwin: I'm supposed to be a dodo.

Neela Blaisdale: My fish seems to have left me....

Neela Blaisdale: Well Syl, time for me to to sleep..good to see you again:)

Sylectra Darwin: Good to see you too!

Sylectra Darwin: Have an excellent sleep.

Neela Blaisdale: Where do you live Syl? in SL?

Sylectra Darwin: In a place called Blanda.

Sylectra Darwin: How about you?

Neela Blaisdale: Hmmm don't think I've ever been there.

Sylectra Darwin: I would love to show you sometime. IM me when you have time.

Sylectra Darwin: It's a big house.

Neela Blaisdale: I have 2 homes, one in Hikari and one in Majoaa

Sylectra Darwin: Nice!

Neela Blaisdale: Yes I'd love to visit!

Sylectra Darwin: smiles

Neela Blaisdale: Have a good night, sleep well:)

Sylectra Darwin: especially in kitty form!

Neela Blaisdale: hehe

Sylectra Darwin: thank you.

Sylectra Darwin: you too.

Neela Blaisdale: Bye Syl...