2010.03.02 13:00 - How to see a Lama

The Guardian for this meeting was Storm Nordwind. The comments are by Storm Nordwind.

I started the meeting as normal around the pool, but then I decided to reduce the size of the space and make it a little more cozy.

Qt Core: hi storm
Storm Nordwind: Hi Qt
Storm Nordwind: If you would like to stand, I will reduce the circle. I don't expect many today
Qt Core: pema was here some ten minutes ago but puffed when greeted
Qt Core: he's back
Storm Nordwind: There are two other meetings going on elsewhere right now!
Qt Core: ohh
Storm Nordwind: I think I should be at one!
Storm Nordwind: Hey ho!
--BELL--
Qt Core: i try not to read the kira meeting topics... to not feel bad to not go there (and to not increase my sl time)
Storm Nordwind: If you went to every workshop and other event or meeting, it would be a full time job!

We are fairly quiet. There are long pauses. But, from where I was sitting, none of these seem awkward. :)

Eliza Madrigal: Hi Storm, Qt :)
Storm Nordwind: Good afternoon Eliza
Qt Core: i sometimes switch between loving the internet as i'm virtual omniscent with its help and hating it as i will never be able to read it all
Qt Core: Hi Eliza
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Sharon :))
SophiaSharon Larnia: Hi :))
Qt Core: hi sophiasharon
Eliza Madrigal: dramatic new look, very pretty
Storm Nordwind: "Virtually omniscient" ... what would we do with all that awareness I wonder :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: me?
Storm Nordwind: Hi Sharon :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Qt Core: recite pi to the nth decimal as to not think about ourselves ?
SophiaSharon Larnia: thanks Eliza :)
Storm Nordwind: (And you look studious with the glasses Eliza)
Eliza Madrigal: Thanks! Hope it works!
SophiaSharon Larnia: :) Eliza
Wol Euler: evening all

Wol's new avatar gets us talking and teasing a little!

Eliza Madrigal: Hi Wol!!
SophiaSharon Larnia: Hi Wol :)
Qt Core: hi wol
Eliza Madrigal: You make a particularly good Navi, Wol :)
Wol Euler smiles. Thank you
SophiaSharon Larnia: indeed
Storm Nordwind is impressed
Wol Euler: I modified the body quite a bit
Storm Nordwind is easily impressed
SophiaSharon Larnia is too
Wol Euler: go ahead, take the wind out of my sails
Storm Nordwind chuckles
Eliza Madrigal: hehe
Qt Core: i still can't free my mind by the basic question ... why blue, must ask Cameron ;-)
Wol Euler: heheheh
SophiaSharon Larnia: let me know what he says! ;)
Wol Euler: perhaps because other colours had social/historical implications?
Wol Euler: colonialism and all that
SophiaSharon Larnia: maybe, but smurfs are blue (but short and round)
Qt Core: new ipothesys, blue, white from the forest intelligence/soul and red from dragons/fire/explosion... usa colors ?
Qt Core: still better the smurfs 2.0 idea ;-)
SophiaSharon Larnia: heheh
Eliza Madrigal: smurfs gone wild
Wol Euler: or perhaps he asked his daughter, aged 5, and she said "blue!"
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, most likely :) All great ideas probably happen in similar ways...
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes maybe! hahah
Qt Core: that's better
--BELL--
Wol Euler: sorry, I interrupted your discussion. please continue
Eliza Madrigal: Not at all, Wol :)
Storm Nordwind scrolls back and finds almost nothing :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: laughs
Storm Nordwind: Perhaps you would honor us by starting one Wol?
Eliza Madrigal: we worked on that quite a while, too
Eliza Madrigal giggles (kidding)
Qt Core: yeah, just mentioned omniscence, almost nothing ;-)
SophiaSharon Larnia: funny, i scroll back in my head and find almost nothing
Eliza Madrigal: hahaha
Storm Nordwind: haha!!!
SophiaSharon Larnia: stopped us in our tracks QT :)

Something is trying to jog Wol's memory.

Wol Euler: I was reading logs at lunchbreak today and something caught my eye, but I can'T remembver what it was :(
Eliza Madrigal: Hm, guardian session?
Eliza Madrigal: That was quite powerful this week I thought
SophiaSharon Larnia: 'old' or 'new'
Wol Euler: fairly newish
SophiaSharon Larnia: nods

But it will have to wait. Meanwhile Zon arrives and gives us quite a shock. All is not well it seems...

Wol Euler: hello zon
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Zon :)
Wol Euler: wow, what a change!
Zon Quar: hi, this new viewer is difficult
Wol Euler: you're in the beta viewer?
Zon Quar: yup
SophiaSharon Larnia: eek!
SophiaSharon Larnia: the camera controls are awful
Zon Quar: i dont even know how to stand up..lol
Wol Euler: yes! I hated them!°
Wol Euler: they changed everything :/
Qt Core: i'd like to know why they separated local/nearby chat and other chats/im/conferences
SophiaSharon Larnia: back to the drawing board LL!!
Storm Nordwind wasn't aware that the old viewer was broken
Wol Euler: I hope you'll both make comments to LL about the viewer? That is the purpose of beta tests :)
Wol Euler: it isn't.
Qt Core: tried it on sunday on another os just not to risk mixing old and new
SophiaSharon Larnia: progress Storm...progress ;(
Storm Nordwind sighs
Wol Euler: the new one has some betternesses, granted, but it's less useable IMHO
Zon Quar: wow..wol is looking good
Wol Euler smiles. thank you!
Qt Core: it seem it try to be more like a website than a program
SophiaSharon Larnia does not know of these betternesses, except for the outfit folder, or which she made her own
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes social media vs whatever it is now

The elephant in the room...

Storm Nordwind: (Is it just me, or is Zon looking very strange indeed?)
Zon Quar: starnge but good
Zon Quar: lol
SophiaSharon Larnia: Zon has no face
Storm Nordwind: Half a face for me
Wol Euler: oh wow
Eliza Madrigal: oops... always forget to change the box to save a texture...
Zon Quar: i cant even se myself
Qt Core: i haven't found yet MY picks in it
Zon Quar: im a cloud
Eliza Madrigal: yes... half face and something like an egg
Storm Nordwind: Let me take a snapshot
SophiaSharon Larnia: ah, its just appearance though, right ?
Wol Euler: beat you to it storm :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Wol Euler: yes, it's a viewer oddity.
Zon Quar: yes my soul is whole
Wol Euler: rebaking might solve it, ctrl-alt-r
Eliza Madrigal giggles @ Zon
--BELL--
Wol Euler: how do you see yourself?
Zon Quar: LOL
Zon Quar: i am strange
Eliza Madrigal: heheh
Eliza Madrigal: Nice to have friends who will be honest with you...
Eliza Madrigal laughs
Zon Quar: but i didnt know im that strange
Wol Euler: I wonder whether it's because of the new viewer
Wol Euler: there is an alpha (transparency) layer in clothes now, in the beta, perhaps that is what's gone wrong
Eliza Madrigal: that sometimes happens anyway doesn't it... think Mick was 'off' one day?
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes Eliza! In RL, only you friends usually tell you if you have tp on your shoe or something
Wol Euler: :)
Eliza Madrigal grins... thank you for getting that, Sharon! :)

I upload the snapshot and it seems everyone is seeing Zon the same thing. But not so Zon himself for long, because either he or his new viewer gives it up as a bad job and disappears from Second Life.

Storm Nordwind: That's what you look like to me Zon
Eliza Madrigal concurs
Wol Euler nods.
Qt Core: same for me
Wol Euler: so the problem is definitely in his viewer
Wol Euler: mis-rendering him
Storm Nordwind: and ruthing him I think
Wol Euler: that too, now that you mention it :)
Storm Nordwind: Let's put the picture on a cushion, in his memory

Wol Euler: how odd, I take genderswapping so much for granted that I didn't really register his female body
SophiaSharon Larnia: hahahaha
SophiaSharon Larnia: (to storm)
Eliza Madrigal: :))
Wol Euler grins.
Eliza Madrigal thinks this is a new level of stretching... playing 'dolls' with avatars....
SophiaSharon Larnia: uh oh :)

Qt has an intriguing question.

Qt Core: how many meta level we are up from plain old reality ?
Eliza Madrigal: box in a box in a box in a box.... but if all the boxes are open....
Storm Nordwind: If you can show me plain old reality first, I'll tell you! :)
Qt Core: ;-)
Wol Euler: snap!
SophiaSharon Larnia: is dizzy now

Memory - and excitement - has returned to Wol.

Wol Euler: I've remembered what it was that got me excited at lunchtime, btw.
Eliza Madrigal: Oh!
Storm Nordwind: Great - please tell!
Wol Euler: reading about our friend Eden in Dharamsala.
Wol Euler sighs.
Wol Euler: I want to go too.
Wol Euler pouts
Eliza Madrigal: :) She's been wonderful about piping in updates
Wol Euler: indeed

The group of us has been regularly dazzled by Eden's postings on twitter. Talk of nearby mountains brings up my home and a future retreat around here.

Storm Nordwind: Jealousy is relative it seems. She sent me an email saying how wonderful it must be (for me) to live in the mountains all the time
Wol Euler laughs.
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes, what I've read has been rich in descriptions, although with fewer words
SophiaSharon Larnia: oooh you live in the mountains? (is jealous too :) )
Eliza Madrigal thinks it would be wonderful to live in the mountains too... but does remember the roads and the itty bitty railings...
Storm Nordwind: I live in Denver. The mountains rise immediately to the west and stretch the entire western horizon
SophiaSharon Larnia: and the hills are alive with music..... hahaha
Wol Euler: :)
Storm Nordwind: You get used to those Eliza. It's very Darwinian!
Eliza Madrigal: Colorado truly is spectacular... one of those places everyone should visit perhaps
Storm Nordwind: Next year in the fall we shall have a retreat there. Come and join me!
Eliza Madrigal smiles... yes I was so young when there... and as a passenger I think one is more nervous!
Eliza Madrigal will make her best attempt... even if she has to drive... heheh
Wol Euler: woo!
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: Actually I always hesitate to say what I'm going to do.... hard to see beyond my nose some days
Eliza Madrigal: (sorry bell)
Storm Nordwind smiles at a case in point :)
Eliza Madrigal laughs, See! :)

How to see a Lama? It seems there are various ways and various places. Wol is inspired to try.

Wol Euler: I found out that HH will be giving a public talk in Zurich in early April, the Sunday before the retreat. I'm tempted to go.
Storm Nordwind: How far is that from where you are Wol?
Wol Euler: 3 hrs in the train, not far at all
Wol Euler: (fast trains :)
Storm Nordwind: Wow
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, wow, yes good to try! I couldn't get tickets when he spoke nearby a few weeks ago
SophiaSharon Larnia: im sorry, HH?
Storm Nordwind: I watched his spring talk streamed live on the web
Wol Euler: the Dalai Lama
Wol Euler: one falls into the jargon so easily :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: oh. his holiness
Wol Euler: I read that Storm, that must have been great.
SophiaSharon Larnia: i saw him in bethlehem pa
SophiaSharon Larnia: for 6 days
Eliza Madrigal: Nice :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: well, i was so new i didnt know what any of it was
SophiaSharon Larnia: and am not sure why i bought a 6day pass
Eliza Madrigal: :)))
Wol Euler smiles. The moment was right.
Wol Euler: one must recognize these moments when they happen.
Wol Euler: so if you'll excuse me for a sec, I'll go afk and book a ticket.

Wol exits. Will she return?

Eliza Madrigal: :))
SophiaSharon Larnia: at the time, i just thought it was something id never get a chance to do again
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Calvino :)
Storm Nordwind: Hi Cal
SophiaSharon Larnia: HI Calvino
Qt Core: hi calvino
Calvino Rabeni: hello
Eliza Madrigal: I have felt affected by friends going to see him
SophiaSharon Larnia: Zon's virtual vitual self joins us
Storm Nordwind: And more reliably than he did before too
Eliza Madrigal: How goes your visit, Calvino?
Calvino Rabeni: SSL - it looks like life imitating art imitating life ...
Eliza Madrigal: hehehe
SophiaSharon Larnia: rolling that thought around my head
Calvino Rabeni: I'm enjoying the visit !
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: What fascinating topics have you covered? hehe
Calvino Rabeni: And I did want to report, I've joined the rest of the human race now and seen the movie about the tall blue people :)
Eliza Madrigal: !!
Eliza Madrigal: Congratulations
SophiaSharon Larnia: heheh I wasn't that very last one to see it, yes!! Laughs

Actually your scribe and guardian still hasn't seen it, but didn't own up during this session, at least not at the time! (He's more looking forward to Tim Burton's coming offering.)

Eliza Madrigal: So you can SEE us now?
Calvino Rabeni: IAS is very interdisciplinary - lots of talk over meals with subjects like the concept of trauma, and the meaning of the cold war
Eliza Madrigal: interesting
Calvino Rabeni: The latter in person of the last ambassador to the USSR, if I remember correctly
SophiaSharon Larnia: what kind of trauma
Eliza Madrigal: yes, interesting that you said the 'concept' of trauma.. as though it were in question?
Calvino Rabeni: Art, politics, physics, math get familiar with ne another :)
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, "concept of"
Calvino Rabeni: Lag
SophiaSharon Larnia: well, trauma's experienced by the self can impede spiritual awakenings, so ive read :)
Storm Nordwind: Would you please excuse me. I have another meeting to go to on the hour
SophiaSharon Larnia: and on a experiential level, is true
Eliza Madrigal: Interesting... You know Fael shared a link in a session Monday... You may want to find it Sharon... near to that subject bi-polar vs spiritual awakenings
Qt Core: np, have fun storm
Eliza Madrigal: I have to go too! :)

Eliza and I slip away to another meeting.

Calvino Rabeni: Taoists know, any mountain has a light and a dark side
Storm Nordwind: Namaste
Calvino Rabeni: Bye storm
Eliza Madrigal: Hugs and Bye all
Qt Core: bye eliza
--BELL--
SophiaSharon Larnia: bye Storm :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: and Eliza
SophiaSharon Larnia: have to go too take care :))
Calvino Rabeni: The "light" is on the one side of the mountain is awareness
Calvino Rabeni: bye!
SophiaSharon Larnia: would like to talk about that later though :))
Qt Core: bye sophia
Calvino Rabeni: Sure, it is interesting
Calvino Rabeni: take care
SophiaSharon Larnia: bye ;)

Wol returns from her quest with tickets freshly quivering in her excited blue hand!

Wol Euler cheers.
Wol Euler: I'm going to see the Dalai Lama on April 11.
Qt Core: got your train ?
Wol Euler: and my place in the stadium
Wol Euler beams.
Calvino Rabeni: Remember your telescope
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Wol Euler: my opera glasses actually :)
Qt Core: and i never even see the Pope (not that i'd like to see this one, the previous, maybe)
Wol Euler: Pope Ratzi? meh.
Wol Euler: even more reactionary than the others.
Qt Core: it may be a sin but i love the pic with him and the star war emperor ;-)
Wol Euler chuckles
Wol Euler: his links to the Dark Side are, alas, undeniable.
Qt Core: i had hopes about him for the first couple months
Wol Euler: well, I must leave you, my dears. Business to attend to.
Wol Euler: take care, be happy, enjoy the evening
Calvino Rabeni: be well
--BELL--
Qt Core: bye wol, have fun
Calvino Rabeni: I will be off also
Qt Core: same here , my bed awaits me
Calvino Rabeni: bye then
Qt Core: bye