2010.01.24 08:00 - Guardian Session: Ways of Sharing

Today's guardian meeting was attended by eight guardians: Adams, doug, Eden, Eliza, Maxine, Riddle, Storm, and Zen, a very good number considering ten guardians were in Malta on retreat! We covered quite a lot of ground, in topics ranging from happiness over the Five Bells Pub, to behind-the-scenes workings on a PaB Handbook. We all agreed that Eden will be missed while in India, and at the very end we discussed Ways of Sharing. :)

Eden Haiku: Hey!
Maxine Walden: hi, Eden, Eliza
Eden Haiku: I'M gald to hear the bells are back Eliza!
Eliza Madrigal: Maxine, when I first saw you, it looked as though you were wearing horizontal stripes....
Maxine Walden: yes, bells are nice
Eliza Madrigal: Thanks Maxine
Maxine Walden: you know, I saw that , horizontal stripes, in me yesterday as well!! Not sure what that was/is about
Eden Haiku: Sweeet!
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: hah... just for you Eden :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Zen :)
Eden Haiku: hello Zen!
Eliza Madrigal: (delayed text, sorry)
Zen Arado: Hi all :)
Maxine Walden: hi, Zen
Maxine Walden: hi, doug
doug Sosa: hi all.
Zen Arado: Hi Doug
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Doug

Eden reads the logs... :)

Eden Haiku: May I suggest a round of apllause for Eliza who celebrated her 1st anniversary of rezzing yesterday?
Eliza Madrigal smiles. Thank you Eden :)))))
Maxine Walden: wow, Eliza, great!
Eliza Madrigal: Many changes in one little year
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Maxine Walden: Does it seem a year, Eliza?
Eliza Madrigal: It seems simultaneously a decade and a moment
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Maxine Walden: !!
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Riddle :)
Maxine Walden: hi, Riddle
doug Sosa: :)
Riddle Sideways: HI EveryBody
Eden Haiku: Hi Riddle.

India...

Eliza Madrigal: Eden, you'll be travelling soon. We'll miss you
Eden Haiku: I will miss you even more!
Zen Arado: another week?
Eden Haiku: Yes, leaving on February 1st.
Riddle Sideways: where do you go?
Eliza Madrigal: But, as with current retreaters, we'll look forward to stories!
Zen Arado: Hi Riddle
Eden Haiku: India Riddle, for six weeks.
Riddle Sideways: wow, envy
Eden Haiku: ;-)
Eliza Madrigal gets hungry
Maxine Walden: traveling in India, or staying moreless on one or two places?
Eden Haiku: Lots of places Mxine. South and NOrth: quite complex for travelling light. Will need warm clocthes in the Himalayas ...
Maxine Walden: hmm, sounds like the trip of a lifetime!
Eliza Madrigal: Indeed
Eden Haiku: delhi, Varanasi, Madurai, Hyderabad, Dharamsala and a few more places...
Maxine Walden: wow!
Riddle Sideways: such a diverse country. need lots of time to see it
Maxine Walden: indeed
Zen Arado: I have a friend who did a trip like that
Zen Arado: with Brandon Bayes
Eden Haiku: I lived for almost two years in India and I have never seen the Gange yet nor the Himalayas so...
Eliza Madrigal: Oh My
Zen Arado: it is a big place
Zen Arado: a lot of poverty too
Eden Haiku: And very complex. Which I like!
doug Sosa: taj mahal?
Eden Haiku: Yes, good Tonglen pratice...
Eden Haiku: Taj Mahal I have seen. More wonderful than I thought.
Zen Arado: would need a lot of Tonglen to take in all that suffering
Maxine Walden: We'll really want to hear about your experience, Eden.
Zen Arado: though poverty is not necessarily suffering?
Eden Haiku: I parcticed the Tonglen that mkes you absorb your own future suffering especially for India,,, otherwise, itis too much.
Zen Arado: ah yes
Eliza Madrigal: Interesting question Zen... along the lines of what IS poverty and what IS suffering... wide range
Riddle Sideways: yes, please Blog/Journal your travels so we can read.
Eliza Madrigal knows impoverished peopole living in million dollar homes
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Zen Arado: yes true

Maxine calls for guardian topics...

Maxine Walden: Do we have guardian issues we would like to bring...maybe in terms of things we are touching on now?
Zen Arado: spiritually impoverished
Eden Haiku: True, I have seen very happy poor people in India. They love each other so much, they stay alive and well even with nothing.
Eliza Madrigal nods.. many kinds of riches available

The Five Bells Pub... 

Eliza Madrigal: Hm, for guardian issues, I'm thankful for the warm pub!
Eliza Madrigal: Its been fun to gather there, though I haven't made happy hour times exactly
Eden Haiku: Yes, the pub is a great meeting place!
Maxine Walden: nice space isn't it
Zen Arado: we need more ppl to us it though I think
Eden Haiku: The ticking of the clock, the mist, the carckling fire, so nice!
Zen Arado: critical mass - as Pema calls it
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Riddle Sideways: I miss as many pub as pab meetings :(
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, but the chances are higher now, Riddle
Maxine Walden: ah, Riddle
Zen Arado: we all went to it after pab meeting on Friday
Zen Arado: was nice to relax unrecorded!
Eliza Madrigal: I just read that the fire crackles more at the 15 minutes? Didn't realize that...
Eliza Madrigal: what a marvelous idea
Eden Haiku: Yes, and if we start making an habit to check the pub when we are in-world, we might have more opportunities to meet each other.
Zen Arado: yes good idea
Eden Haiku: I love the fact that is vocal-chat friendly too!

doug Sosa: "Seeing so much poverty everywhere makes me think that God is not rich. He gives the appearance of it, but I suspect some financial difficulties." [Victor Hugo, "Les Misérables," 1862]

Eden Haiku: ;-) good quote!
Eliza Madrigal: What a great quote, Doug
Eliza Madrigal: Thanks
Maxine Walden: :), doug. Thanks for the quote
doug Sosa: _/\_

Session filling and organizational detail...

Eliza Madrigal: Hm, and otherwise, Thanks to everyone filling in for sessions this week while our friends are gathering :)
Maxine Walden: yes, and good thanks to Eliza and Lia for shepherding that fillin
Eden Haiku: Yes!
Eliza Madrigal: :) It may be too much to send updates each time... but it is easy to lose track
Eliza Madrigal: Thank you :)
Zen Arado: yes thanks
Eden Haiku: We understand that Eliza, no problem...
Eliza Madrigal: :)

New Guardian Instructons...

Zen Arado: just thinking that the instructions for new guardians could do with updating
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, you are right Zen. That's in the works!!
Zen Arado: Hi Storm
Maxine Walden: hi, Storm
Riddle Sideways: Hi Storm
Eden Haiku: Good morning Storm!
doug Sosa: :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Storm! :)
Storm Nordwind: Good morning all. Apologies for being late
Maxine Walden: np
Riddle Sideways: I think I should reread the GoC instructions
Eden Haiku: We were saying how much we apperciate the Five bells pub.
Eliza Madrigal: No worries at all. We've celebrating the pub, discussed India a bit, and talked about sessions filling.
Eliza Madrigal: Zen just mentioned that updating the new guardian instructions would be a good idea
Storm Nordwind: I'm so glad you all like the Five Bells pub!
Eden Haiku: And Eliza first rezzing anniversary yesterday

The cozy scale...

Maxine Walden: another masterwork, Storm, on a cozy scale
Riddle Sideways: ah, the all important cozy scale
Eliza Madrigal: hehehehe
Zen Arado: yes it is a great place
Storm Nordwind: But congratulations Eliza.
Eliza Madrigal: Zen do you have specific thoughts on how best to update the new guardian instructions?
Eliza Madrigal: Thank you Storm :)
Storm Nordwind recalls that his first entry to SL, with a different avatar, was nearly 4 years ago
Eliza Madrigal: oh my
Zen Arado: well..a lot of the instructions about deleting timestamps etc are unnecessary now
Eliza Madrigal: Zen, yes true. They are *mostly* unnecessary... unless posting a log like today's for instance
Zen Arado: and I didn't know about needing a password to post a log
Eliza Madrigal: or if the auto-logger has a glitch

Good to honor our Village Elders... :)

Eden Haiku: You are one the wise men of our tribe Storm;-)
Zen Arado: and I didn't know how to join the playasbeing group until last week
Storm Nordwind: Elder perhaps, Eden. Wise... hmmm... who can say? :)
Eden Haiku: ;-)
Eliza Madrigal: Oooh, Thanks Zen! These are some of the things we've been addressing behind the scenes too... making sure there are back-ups when a volunteer gets busy, etc
Zen Arado: you forget your initial problems but others will experience them again
Eliza Madrigal nods
Storm Nordwind: Fresh eyes are always good
Maxine Walden: indeed so
Eden Haiku: Resizing of pictures to be posted in the logs should be mentioned too.
Storm Nordwind chuckles
Zen Arado: ah I haven't tried to do that yet
Eliza Madrigal: In the agenda for the last WG meeting, one may notice the mention of a PaB 'handbook', which is a high priority
Eliza Madrigal nods to Eden
Eden Haiku: That is easy then. Says she...
Eden Haiku: Coud help you with it if you like.
Eliza Madrigal has not done that either!
Eden Haiku: handbook?
Eliza Madrigal: resizing pictures...
Eliza Madrigal: But yes Eden. A handbook so that the various volunteer roles would be clearly outlined...
Eliza Madrigal: including new guardian instructions :)
Eliza Madrigal: I guess it is something that has to be continually updated 'with the times'
Eliza Madrigal: :)

First Time jitters...

Zen Arado: I wonder if some find it daunting to take a session for the first time and therefore tend to avoid it?
Riddle Sideways: didn't we all that first time?
Eliza Madrigal nods
Zen Arado: sure :)
Eden Haiku: I did...
Zen Arado: still do :)
Fael Illyar is Online
Eden Haiku: It takes a few times... but it does become easier Zen.
Eliza Madrigal was most nervous about "What if a new visitor comes and I have to 'explain' PaB?" Thankful for notes and the joining in of others : )
Storm Nordwind: I agree with that Eliza. That's quite a biggy
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Zen Arado: I made a complete mess of that first time
Zen Arado: forgot to ask about recording permission
Zen Arado: and forgot to give times
Riddle Sideways: one of my first session, I had trouble moving into the tea house
Storm Nordwind would like a system them that highlights who is new and who isn't, saving asking or searching through logs
Riddle Sideways: held seeson outside
Maxine Walden: me too, Storm.!
Eliza Madrigal nods @ Storm, and wishes she was there for Riddle's outside session :)
Eden Haiku: I,m sure you created a new trend Riidle. Classroom outside is always a favorite!
Zen Arado: yes - a lot of guardians I have never met
Eden Haiku: True Zen. We fill a little weird greeting old-timers with our little talk about recording permission...
Maxine Walden: Guess I could check their 'SL birthday' on their profile, and then make an educated guess, but that doesn't always occur to me
Eden Haiku: How could we tag newcomers without making a big fuss about it?
Storm Nordwind: Flame-thrower? ;)
Eden Haiku: And without having them feel like outsiders...
Maxine Walden: ?? Storm?
Eden Haiku: Or wearing a yellow star...
Eliza Madrigal nods at not having them feel like outsiders, not at flame throwers...
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Storm Nordwind: Good point Eden :)
Eliza Madrigal thinks of the snitches
Eden Haiku: Sighs. Storm is defintely not a wise man...
Eliza Madrigal: or sneeches
Zen Arado: it should say 'playasbeing' on their profile if they are a guardian at least
Eliza Madrigal: yes, star-bellied sneeches...

For those curious, I will post a bit of the Sneetches at the end of the log.

Eliza Madrigal: Yes that's mostly true Zen.
Eden Haiku: Looking p in Webster...
Maxine Walden: We may need to consult Dr Seuss here...not sure if everyone knows who he is
Eliza Madrigal: :))
Zen Arado: heard of him
Riddle Sideways: :)

Maxine's description of Dr Seuss is spot on...

Maxine Walden: Dr S wrote many children's books about fantastic characters who remind us of parts of ourselves, not always nice parts...
Maxine Walden: but sort of endearing...
Eliza Madrigal: The Sneetches are a story of conforming and not conforming/ insiders/outsiders
Maxine Walden: Ah, Eliza, thanks, had forgotten
Zen Arado: funny he never seemed to catch on in the UK...
Eliza Madrigal: very wise stories really
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Adams! :)
Eden Haiku: Ah thanks, The Webster had no clue...
Zen Arado: Hi Adams
Maxine Walden: hi, Adams
Eliza Madrigal: I don't think most people mind beings asked about the recording, honestly... and it gives a way to engage/break ice anyway... 'official business'
Riddle Sideways: Hi abig
Adams Rubble waves to everyone quietly
Eliza Madrigal: :)

Gracious non-conformers... 

Eden Haiku: Yes, and old-timers or guardians are always gracious about being asked.
Maxine Walden: Adams, we are talking about how to discern newcomers in PaB sessions from guardians we might not know...
Eden Haiku: So we might have a non-problem here ;-)
Eliza Madrigal: graciousness might be another 'personality type' of likely pab guardians ...
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Riddle Sideways: I would fail a graciousness test
Adams Rubble: hehe. no way Riddle
Eliza Madrigal: how so?! Not at all
Eden Haiku: You would Riidle? How so?
Riddle Sideways: :)
Maxine Walden: See, Riddle, we don't agree
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eden Haiku: We have our moods, that is fr sure. If Zen asks me permission to record when I come back fromm my trip, I intend on being VERY rude!
Zen Arado: :)
Eliza Madrigal: hahahaha
Zen Arado: I'll do it for badness then !
Eden Haiku: A rebel!
Zen Arado: I feel a bit disappointed when no one else turns up at a session
Zen Arado: Eliza had an interesting take on that
Eliza Madrigal: "Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't"
Zen Arado: thoughts?
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Zen Arado: yes
Maxine Walden: sometimes hard to not take personally others not coming to a session
Zen Arado: it's only ego I know
Eden Haiku: I remember reading a chat log where Calvino, in this situation, wrote a kind of blog (talking to himself) that was quite interesting.
Eden Haiku: *Calvino
Zen Arado: yes...I was thinking of doing something like that
Eliza Madrigal: Riddle has logs like that too... love those.
Zen Arado: or giving a little Zen teaching
Eliza Madrigal: I often put in a poem or something... not always
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, sure Zen! :)
Eden Haiku: So you could consider th absence of others as an invitation to talk to everybody on the log!
Zen Arado: nobody HAS to read it after all :)
Maxine Walden: yes, Eden
Eliza Madrigal: exactly!
Zen Arado: yes
Eden Haiku: No, but many do.
Riddle Sideways: I didn't mean to, but the master listener begs for conversion
Eliza Madrigal: And Storm often inserts pictures...
Storm Nordwind is wary of doing that
Eden Haiku: Conversation ?
Riddle Sideways: yes
Eliza Madrigal: Once, I was talking to the listener and someone arrived who enjoyed giving me a hard time... had a field day :)
Zen Arado: yes it seems disappointed too !
Eden Haiku: Waring of talking to yourself in front of everyone?
Eliza Madrigal: hehehe
Eden Haiku: Afraid we will think you are a silly fool?
Eden Haiku: We already do ;-)
Eden Haiku: Oh! Eliza, that must have been difficult.

The many options for playing with 'empty' sessions...  

Storm Nordwind: No. It seems to me that it needs to be like a haiku, a statement of what is, rather than a loaded description of opinion. Since what is in such an empty session is very simple, it would seem inappropriate for me to give a teaching or somesuch.
Eden Haiku: Yes, I see your point Storm.
Maxine Walden: I like that idea, Storm. A kind of practice in expressing 'the moment'
Eliza Madrigal: Well, I had to stop and kind of agree, Eden, then got tickled with myself that a normally reserved person now errs on the side of 'silly'
Zen Arado: have to practice haiku I guess :)
Eliza Madrigal: I can see how either would be fine... call it a 'sharing' rather than 'teaching' perhaps...
Storm Nordwind: Several of us have the ability to come over as authoritarian. We are respected despite ourselves. I would hate to take unwitting advantage of that.
Eden Haiku: Yes, and outpouring something very perosnal could happen as well in the moment...
Eliza Madrigal: Hmm, yes interesting points
Zen Arado: I worry about that too Storm
Zen Arado: since I find myself falling back into my old 'training Instructor' role
Storm Nordwind: Perhaps authoritarian is the wrong word, but we are certainly seen as authorities, and some carry that demeanor, either consciously or unconsciously.
Zen Arado: pedantic anyway
Eliza Madrigal: So those of us who aren't respected are the only ones who should teach... heheh
Eliza Madrigal: (kidding)
Maxine Walden: authoritative perhaps, Storm
Eden Haiku: I would not worry about that Storm and Zen, we do not seems authoritarians to me. Not at all ;-)
Storm Nordwind: Thnk you Maxine. My dictionary is obviously offline today!
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Maxine Walden: :)
Eliza Madrigal: yes, I'd love to come across a Storm teaching in a log....
Eden Haiku: me too !
Riddle Sideways: have not seen one
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Zen Arado: yes....don't forget you don't have a captive audience
Zen Arado: ppl don't have to read it
Storm Nordwind: But there's more to it than that. You get a reputation, possibly not one you'd care to foster, that may inhibit readers reading you in the future when it's more useful perhaps
Eden Haiku: I see.
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, yes... or the ability just to be peer-to-peer as 'sharers'
Zen Arado: mmmm...yes, you are not open to correction either....I take your point
Eliza Madrigal: restful, dropping roles
Maxine Walden: very good points, Storm and Eliza
Adams Rubble: To follow up on Eliza, talking about our experiences
Eliza Madrigal: yes, our direct experiences... hmmm
Maxine Walden: which involves our being discerning about what is our experience and what might be creeping opinions, etc
Eliza Madrigal nods
Gaya Ethaniel is Online
Eliza Madrigal: something that really makes PaB special
Eliza Madrigal: unique may be a better word
doug Sosa: slips out :)
Maxine Walden: yes, eliza
Maxine Walden: yes, I have to go as well. Nice discussion!
Eliza Madrigal: Thank you Maxine, everyone :)
Adams Rubble: bye Maxine
Eden Haiku: BYe
Maxine Walden is Offline
Zen Arado: bye Maxine
Eliza Madrigal: Yes very nice discussion today... lots to consider
Eden Haiku: Guess I will be going back to my work now. Nice discussion indeed! Have a nice day everyone!
Eliza Madrigal is taking notes re the 'new guardian instructions'
Adams Rubble: bye Eden
Storm Nordwind: You too Eden :)
Zen Arado: bye Eden
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Eden :) Happy Working
Zen Arado: guess I'll go too
Riddle Sideways: yes bye all and thanks
Adams Rubble: bye everyone
Storm Nordwind: Bye all
Zen Arado: bye everyone :)
Eliza Madrigal: Have a lovely day everyone! Bye

As promised, here is a snippet from Wiki which gives a good outline of Dr. Seuss's wonderful tale which I was reminded of listening to a teaching recently:

This story is a lesson on the senselessness in prejudice and discrimination.

Sneetches are a group of vaguely avian yellow creatures who live on a beach. Some Sneetches have a green star on their bellies, and in the beginning of the story the absence of a star is the basis for discrimination. Sneetches who have stars on their bellies are part of the "in crowd", while Sneetches without stars are shunned and consequently mopey.

In the story, a "fix-it-up chappie" named Sylvester McMonkey McBean appears, driving a cart of strange machines. He offers the Sneetches without stars a chance to have them by going through his Star-On machine, for three dollars. The treatment is instantly popular, but this upsets the original star-bellied Sneetches, as they are in danger of losing their method for discriminating between Sneetches. Then McBean tells them about his Star-Off machine, costing ten dollars. The Sneetches formerly with stars happily pay the money to have them removed in order to remain special.

However, McBean does not share the prejudices of the Sneetches, and allows the recently starred Sneetches through this machine as well. Ultimately this escalates, with the Sneetches running from one machine to the next,

"until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew

whether this one was that one or that one was this one

or which one was what one... or what one was who."

(( Other Seussical recommendations I would offer especially for grown-ups, are "The Lorax" (who speaks for the trees), "Oh the Places You'll Go", and "Horton Hears a Who" ))