2010.03.12 01:00 - Cookies for Avalokiteshvara

Wol Euler was guardian for this session.

Eden was sitting in the Playgoda as I arrived.

Wol Euler: hello eden! welcome home
Eden Haiku: Hi Wol!
Eden Haiku: Thank you ;-)

--BELL--

Wol Euler: I've loved reading your tweets from India
Eden Haiku: It was a pleasure to write them, thank you!
Eden Haiku: How are you doing these days?
Wol Euler: drowning in work. This is about the third PaB session I've attended in two weeks, because I am usually still at work at 10pm my time :/
Wol Euler: otherwise well, thanks :)
Eden Haiku: Just read about the depression you experienced after the retreat. I did experienced something like that after intense practice when I was living in an ashram. Strange phenomenon.
Wol Euler nods. Thank you, it's good to hear that one is not alone in that.
Eden Haiku: I have no understanding of why these things happen but to welcome them seems the only way.
Wol Euler nods again.
Wol Euler: knowing that they *may* happen is an advantage, one might be less dismayed if it does.
Eden Haiku: As to welcome being drowned in work ;-)
Wol Euler: heheheh
Wol Euler: As Elton John famously said, "I'd rather have ham in my sandwich than cheese, but complaining won't do any good."
Eden Haiku: I remember something called "pink cloud" in spiritual practice... Cheese sandwiches only ;-)
Wol Euler: :)

I launch straight into the most important question. 

Wol Euler: how was the food in India?
Eden Haiku: So good!
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: mostly vegetarian/vegan?
Eden Haiku: A paradise for a vegetarian!
Wol Euler nods.
Eden Haiku: dal and bhasmati rice and chapatis and banana pancakes fopr breakfast.
Wol Euler: mmmmmmmm
Wol Euler holds out an empty plate with a pleading expression
Eden Haiku: And then momos in Dharamsala, mostly tibetan food at the end of the trip.
Eden Haiku: Yes, please have some more chai with samosas and rassmallah!
Wol Euler: ((haven't had breakfast yet, I slept through the alarm and barely made it here))
Eden Haiku: Oh, you are the GOC then?
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Wol Euler: um, if this is Friday I am. If not, I'm in trouble at the office :)
Eden Haiku: Yes, it is Friday, I know that much...
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: you must be deep in some exotic kind of jetlag?
Eden Haiku: I,m in the middle of the night, went to bed so early that I woke up.
Wol Euler: heh
Eden Haiku: But I will have to catch up sleep, I have an appointment this afternoon.
Eden Haiku: But please, feel free to fix yourself some breakfast while I sit here a while.
Wol Euler: thank you :) tea is ready, I'll butter some toast and be right back
Eden Haiku: Sure dear!

--BELL--

Wol Euler: back, nomming
Eden Haiku: wb
Wol Euler: ty
Eden Haiku: nomming?
Wol Euler: internet-speak for "eating" :)
Wol Euler: as in mmmmmm nom nom nom nom
Eden Haiku: oh!
Wol Euler grins. One of those odd things that develop in communities
Eden Haiku: Nom nom well, Wol!
Wol Euler smiles. It isn't chai and dal, but it'll keep me going for a while

There is no tsampa. 

Eden Haiku: My eating pattern is disrupted by jet-lag. I crave breakfast at all times of day!
Eden Haiku: Tsampa mostly.
Eden Haiku: And there is no tsampa here ;-)
Wol Euler: :(
Wol Euler: could you make it yourself?
Eden Haiku: What time to you start at your job?
Eden Haiku: I would need to find the barley flour, and then yes.
Eden Haiku: I discoverd tsampa very recently, a few days ago only.
Wol Euler: I googled and found a Swiss supplier. I'm sure it exists in Canada too, but if not I could order it for you
Eden Haiku: They serve it with dried fruits and nuts in Dharamsala, a wonder!
Wol Euler: and you can make polenta with it too:)
Wol Euler: (it says here)
Eden Haiku: Oh thanks, I will certainly find some here.
Eden Haiku: Looks like polenta a bit but whitish and sweet,

Eden brings up a memory of tsampa that gives me a title. 

Eden Haiku: When I took Avalokiteshvara empowerment with His Holiness in Montreal around 1992
Eden Haiku: He said: we usually give Avalokiteshvara some tsampa but as we don,t have it here, we will give him cookies.
Wol Euler: heheheheheh
Eden Haiku: I'm still laughing...
Wol Euler: me too.
Wol Euler: but he's right, surely. The point is to share what you have, to give of what is available.
Eden Haiku: I was then concerned beacuse we were supposed to visualize Avalokiteshvara and I had then never seen any picture of him...
Eden Haiku: So I substitute some other Toibetan deity (Manjushri) as a cookie replacement... I supposed it would work as well...
Eden Haiku: I'm so "by the book" sometimes, it was a good lesson for me!
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: I want to hear all about India, and about Dharamsala, but I feel greedy asking you questions when there's only me to hear the answers
Wol Euler: the others will want to know too

On to the second great topic. 

Eden Haiku: Is it sill snowing in Stuttgart?
Wol Euler: yes, alas.
Wol Euler: again/still
Eden Haiku: No?
Eden Haiku: It was so bitterly cold in Amsterdam two days ago, I could not believe it!
Wol Euler nods
Eden Haiku: Europe had a very difficult winter!
Wol Euler: this is almost unprecedented.
Eden Haiku: And here, my friend is telling me it has been mild and spring-like!
Wol Euler: it hardly ever snows in Stuttgart, and the snow never lasts this long on the ground
Wol Euler: it was mild here, for nearly two weeks.
Eden Haiku: And in Delhi they suffer terrible cold in January.
Wol Euler: two saturdays ago, we sat outdoors in the garden in just sweaters, drinking coffee in sunshine
Wol Euler: and now this!!!!?!?
Eden Haiku: Must be disconcerting
Wol Euler: annoying :)

--BELL--

Eden Haiku: And must make things difficult to go to work? Streets? Shoveling?
Wol Euler: and I feel sorry for the birds, hopping about hungry looking for the food that's buried 3 inches deep
Eden Haiku: Poor birds, yes. Nature suffers too.

Climatic change: just because it's cold right now doesn't mean global warming isn't happening. 

Eden Haiku: These are warning signs of something so wrong and yet...we do mainly nothing about it.
Wol Euler: agreed!
Wol Euler: my fear is that people look at the cold weather and think "well, global warming is a crock" and go out and buy another big car
Eden Haiku: We will wake up and it will be too late...
Wol Euler: we need to rename GW to something like "irreversible unpredictable catastrophic climatic change"
Wol Euler: because that is the point
Eden Haiku: Yes, big cars. In India, in small small country roads, they have these big big cars!
Wol Euler nods
Wol Euler: heh, an image came to me. Us telling them not to build/buy huge gas-guzzling cars is like a notorious drug-user, now grown old and wise, telling kids not to do drugs
Wol Euler: they just laugh
Eden Haiku: They do just laugh yes...
Eden Haiku: Understandable.
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Eden Haiku: And yet, they are more than one billion...
Eden Haiku: Wondering where all this is going...
Wol Euler: nowhere nice, I fear.
Wol Euler: it's the tragedy of the commons on a global scale
Eden Haiku: Individullay, it is hard to find a starting point. What could I do?
Wol Euler: oh, there are things that people can do. Buy locally grown food, walk or take the bus
Wol Euler: it's probably easier for city dwellers
Eden Haiku: I do not own a car and I don't drive, so I feel I'm doing something.
Wol Euler nods
Wol Euler: the next big thing is to stay out of airplanes :)
Eden Haiku: But then I fly and I drink bottled water...
Wol Euler: in terms of "carbon footprint"
Eden Haiku: Could buy my carbon footprint yes. I did not...
Wol Euler: I'm not sure about the validity of applying the carbon footprint to flying.
Eden Haiku: But we feel silly don,t we, trying to do somethiong at our tiny level when the whole picture is so wrong...
Wol Euler: if there is a plane is going from Frankfurt to Toronto anyway, then it makes no appreciable difference to the world whether I am on it or not
Wol Euler: so I might as well be there.
Eden Haiku: Ah yes... ;-)
Wol Euler: but I will take the train to Berlin and back, and give up an entire day to a 90 minute meeting, rather than flying there
Wol Euler: that one can do.
Eden Haiku: They are supposed to create environmental friendly programs with this carbon footprints money...
Wol Euler: in Germany there are federal programs to retrofit insulation and better windows and solar heating/power to housing
Wol Euler: the government will pay half of the costs, basically
Eden Haiku: Yes, we have those around here too.
Wol Euler: and if your solar roof panels produce more electricity than you consume, the grid buys the excess from you

Building for the environment. 

Eden Haiku: That is a start. As an architect, you must deal with these plans a lot?
Wol Euler: actually, no, we don't do housing.
Wol Euler: but energy effiency is important.
Eden Haiku: Ah! Buildings?
Wol Euler: triple glazing, 8 inches of high-density insulation, waste heat recovery ...
Eden Haiku: Oh oh...
Wol Euler: we are working on a swimming pool complex right now, about the least energy-efficient type of building there is :)
Wol Euler: but we try.
Eden Haiku: Especially in a snowbound Germany...
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Wol Euler: btw you asked earlier when I start work. I've been working 9:30 to 11:00 for two weeks
Wol Euler: including weekends
Eden Haiku: Was nice talking with you, I better try to catch some sleep...
Wol Euler: yes, eden, you have some catching up to do!
Eden Haiku: Yes, I heard about that. That is a lot of work Wol, take care of your health...
Wol Euler: it's lovely to see you again, welcome back.

--BELL--

Eden Haiku: I had some burn out years ago and it is really tough to come back from it...
Wol Euler nods.
Eden Haiku: Thank you . Have a very nice day!
Wol Euler: I'll try
Wol Euler: and I hope you find some tsampa

Lisa arrives as Eden leaves. 

Wol Euler: hello liza
Liza Deischer: hi Wol, Eden
Eden Haiku: Will keep you posted about tsampa! hello Liza, I was on my way back to sleep!
Liza Deischer: bye eden
Liza Deischer: bit late I guess
Wol Euler: sleep well
Liza Deischer: :-)
Wol Euler: heh
Wol Euler: not to worry :)
Liza Deischer: I'm afraid I just got up :-)
Wol Euler: good for you!
Wol Euler: wish I could say the same.
Liza Deischer: I can imagine
Wol Euler: I nearly missed my session, slept through the alarm
Liza Deischer: then you must be very tired
Wol Euler nods.
Liza Deischer: which isn't a surprise I guess
Liza Deischer: You're okay?
Wol Euler: I think so, yes.
Wol Euler: and you?
Liza Deischer: yes
Liza Deischer: I was very tired last week
Wol Euler: mmm?
Liza Deischer: having asked too much form myself
Liza Deischer: but slowly feeling better
Wol Euler: good
Liza Deischer: and starting to sleep better too :-)
Wol Euler: very good :)
Liza Deischer: but if I sink through my physical resistents, it also has consequences on the psychological level
Wol Euler: oh yes, definitely.
Liza Deischer: so I'm glad I passed that
Liza Deischer: you don't need to work today?
Wol Euler: yes, I do, just not yet. The office accepts my Friday mornings off for SL
Wol Euler: though they probably think I'm mad
Liza Deischer: oh, thats great
Liza Deischer: heheh
Wol Euler: well they can hardly complain given the amount of overtime that I'm doing.
Liza Deischer: no, they can't
Wol Euler: I would love to work to the rule of my contract! to start and finish exactly on time
Liza Deischer: yes, I understand
Liza Deischer: Except for the times that you really have something different to do
Liza Deischer: like today
Liza Deischer: you never know what your day is going to look like
Wol Euler: yep
Wol Euler: which is good in a way, I don't think I'd be happy as a worker on an assembly line
Liza Deischer: true too
Wol Euler smiles. Although, actually, I have done that before, and it wasn't bad at all :)
Liza Deischer: :-)
Wol Euler: because after a half hour or so your body does the work by itself,and your mind is absolutely free
Liza Deischer: so there is something in it for you, you like
Liza Deischer: okay.....interesting
Wol Euler: oh yes, I love the job, it's only the excess of hours that upset me
Liza Deischer: what is it you do exactly?
Wol Euler: I'm an architect
Wol Euler: right now we are producing tender documents (lists of instructions and quantities of materials basically)
Wol Euler: for a project which started on site in January
Wol Euler: so there is a significant deadline pressure to get them finished
Wol Euler: the following trades have to be ready to go as soon as the concrete is poured
Wol Euler: and many of them have very long lead-in times, steelwork has to be cut and welded etc
Liza Deischer: Yes, I understand
Wol Euler: six and a half tonnes of tiles have to be ordered and delivered :)
Liza Deischer: wow :-)
Liza Deischer: how big is the project?
Wol Euler: it's fascinating, I am learning so much
Wol Euler: a swimming pool/health complex, two big pools + kiddies' pool, saunas, solarium, a little restaurant
Liza Deischer: learning is always a nice component of a good job
Wol Euler: the budget is only 10 million Euros, which is very tight for a building of this scope
Wol Euler: so a lot of our effort goes into reducing costs, finding cheaper materials and faster building processes
Liza Deischer: and ask a lot of tiles :-)
Liza Deischer: Ah, yes, that can be fascinating
Wol Euler: :)

--BELL--

Wol Euler: the paradox is that architects are paid a percentage of the building cost.
Liza Deischer: :-)
Wol Euler: so the harder we work to reduce costs, the less we earn!
Liza Deischer: ouch
Wol Euler: really :)
Liza Deischer: but at the same time, because of doing so you got the job
Wol Euler: well, we won the job in a competition, but yes.
Liza Deischer: oh okay
Wol Euler: we won the competition in part because our proposal was cheaper than other firms' projects
Liza Deischer: ah
Wol Euler: and prettier too, of course, but the money was the key factor
Liza Deischer: :-)

A third topic: avatars and identities. 

Liza Deischer: something completely different Wol
Wol Euler grins hopefully
Liza Deischer: do you wear white hair or is it my viewer
Wol Euler: my hair is white :)
Wol Euler: but everyting else is black
Liza Deischer: great because it looks good on you :-)
Wol Euler: ty :)
Liza Deischer: sorry Isuppose I haven't got a good topic today :-)
Wol Euler: I used to wear white hair all the time when I first rezzed
Wol Euler: but switched to that dark red about a year ago
Liza Deischer: ah, so back to basics
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Wol Euler: also: I made another alt recently and have been experimenting with aesthetics with her
Liza Deischer: both are looking good on you, but white is a little bit more different
Wol Euler: very pure and minimal
Wol Euler: a nearly-white skin, she wears only black and white clothes, hair, accessories
Wol Euler: and her appearnce is rubbing off on me :)
Liza Deischer: yes, obviously
Liza Deischer: alts do influence each other
Liza Deischer: I noticed
Liza Deischer: myself
Wol Euler: ah :)
Wol Euler: it's funny how distinct they are from each other
Liza Deischer: yes, that too
Liza Deischer: but parts I work out with one alt, I see it getting imbedded (in a different way though) in other alts
Wol Euler: it's like they teach each other what they learn :)
Liza Deischer: yes :-)
Wol Euler: brb, tea
Liza Deischer: :-)
Wol Euler: I forgot that it was stewing
Liza Deischer: I do that a lot of times, forgetting about things like that :-)
Wol Euler: :)
Wol Euler: how many alts do you have?

--BELL--

Liza Deischer: I was talking about alts :-), but it is actually one, male
Liza Deischer: I have a strong male-side in me
Wol Euler nods
Wol Euler: I guess it feels very different being him?
Liza Deischer: It gives me the opportunity to get to know that side better
Liza Deischer: yes it does, in a way that suprised me
Wol Euler: :)
Liza Deischer: he is so more relaxed
Liza Deischer: the kind of guy that like to take his shoes off and walk along the beach feeling the sand under his feat
Wol Euler smiles.
Liza Deischer: sensitive though, but in a different way
Wol Euler: and normal-you doesn't do that?
Liza Deischer: well, not enought
Wol Euler nods
Liza Deischer: my live hasn't been easy
Wol Euler: perhaps you will, now that he has shown you how
Wol Euler: that happens a lot
Liza Deischer: and because of my fatigue I'm very limited in what I can do
Wol Euler: there's even a word for it: backformation
Liza Deischer: yes, it reflects on me, definetely
Liza Deischer: backformation, hmmm
Wol Euler: oh, sorry, I wrote across your last lines. Liza, I'm sorry to hear it
Liza Deischer: that's okay
Liza Deischer: To me sl is also a new window on live
Wol Euler nods.
Liza Deischer: in which I can do things that aren't possible in real life
Wol Euler: mmhmm
Liza Deischer: so for now, I settle with the sand and the beach on sl :-)
Wol Euler: many people do that here
Wol Euler: but to go back a step, almost everyone I speak to says that their alt is more relaxed than their original av
Wol Euler: calmer, more open, more experimental
Wol Euler: braver
Liza Deischer: yes, I have been trying to understand why, but actually it is obvious
Wol Euler: I think that our first av here is *ourselves* projected into the world
Wol Euler: the second (third fourth …) is free of that baggage
Wol Euler: it doesn't have the burden of being us, as it were
Liza Deischer: exactly, my thoughts too
Liza Deischer: but it is nice to see that if you 'split' that part from yourself, how strong it can be
Wol Euler: I would never have suspected the strength and the depth, and the joy, of my other-gendered personality side without SL
Liza Deischer: YES :-)
Wol Euler: splitting, yes, like taking a shoot from a crowded pot and giving it a pot of its own to grow in :)
Liza Deischer: :-)
Wol Euler: it allows us to focus on that other bit, which in the normal daily life is such a small voice
Wol Euler: Maxine talks about "minority personalities"
Wol Euler: that is what a successful alt is, the expresssion of a minority personality
Liza Deischer: yes, in by doing so, making it stronger
Wol Euler nods.

--BELL--

Liza Deischer: I have a feeling you have quite a number of alts :-)
Wol Euler: five :)
Wol Euler: but only three of us are really active
Wol Euler: one is purely for business, she never really developed into a person
Liza Deischer: three of 'us' :-)
Wol Euler: :)
Wol Euler: yes, we are an Us.
Liza Deischer: hmmm, maybe you're right
Wol Euler: me and the business one are alts of my original, but the other two are definitely MY alts, they feel no relation to my original
Liza Deischer: only aspects of yourself
Wol Euler: sure :)
Liza Deischer: because it is still an 'us'
Wol Euler: but why "only"? :)
Wol Euler: they are aspects of various Me's
Liza Deischer: that is because you confused me a bit: 'no relation to my original'
Wol Euler: oh, I see, sorry. I was thinking of that like family structures
Wol Euler: original is grandparent, business and I are the children, the new two are grandchildren
Liza Deischer: :-)
Wol Euler: they are only distantly related to grandparent, whereas I feel more attached to him
Liza Deischer: you probably refering to the 'growing' part
Wol Euler: ah, yes, good idea.
Wol Euler: they reflect the changes in RL-Me since I began in SL
Wol Euler: that feels true.
Liza Deischer: that should be right I guess
Liza Deischer: thinking of it, I think my alt is younger too
Wol Euler smiles
Liza Deischer: more 'fresh' :-)
Liza Deischer: still 'crispy' hahah
Wol Euler: heheheheheheh
Liza Deischer: well, I hope to see my grandchildren to grow up one day :-)
Wol Euler nods. I wish you that, Liza.
Wol Euler: are you working on the step inbetween? :)
Liza Deischer: the step in between?
Wol Euler: the children
Liza Deischer: ah, no not yet
Wol Euler: or did you mean SL grandchildren?
Liza Deischer: yes, the latter
Wol Euler sighs. Misunderstood that, sorry.
Liza Deischer: I don't have children, I'm too old to get then, and never wanted them
Wol Euler nods.
Liza Deischer: that sounds a bit rude
Liza Deischer: but I never I had the feeling of wanting a child
Wol Euler nods
Liza Deischer: it is just not there
Liza Deischer: how about you?
Wol Euler: no children, but did and do want them.
Wol Euler: I am very good with kids, I think I would have made a good parent
Wol Euler: so perhaps I will be a good aunt instead
Liza Deischer: :-)
Liza Deischer: no chance anymore of getting them :-)

--BELL--

Wol Euler: Liza, I'm sorry, but time is passing and I do need to get to work
Liza Deischer: sure, no problem
Liza Deischer: but I liked our chat
Wol Euler: me too, I'm glad to have seen you again
Wol Euler: take care, be happy
Liza Deischer: same to you wol