The Guardian for this meeting was Zen Arado. The comments are by Zen Arado. Present were Alfred Kelberry, Raffila Millgrove, Storm Nordwind, Yakuzza Lethucus and myself.

Holiday Travel:

Zen Arado: light is funny here
Zen Arado: are you going to Venice Yaku?
Yakuzza Lethecus: i am interested, i wouldn´t go to venice for myself alone but a meetup is a great reason
Zen Arado: yes
Zen Arado: I would love to go there
Yakuzza Lethecus: hehe, i before even had checked from where i could have flown to belfast, there was a cheap direct flight from amsterdam, but i don´t know i will have time and vacation
Zen Arado: yeh but not enough people interested in coming to Belfast
Yakuzza Lethecus: i am not sure i could also just give an attendance propability
Yakuzza Lethecus: but it´s at least reachable from the airport from which i usually fly to sweden

Zen Arado: you could go to Venice by train?
Yakuzza Lethecus: nah, ryanair from an aiport close to the dutch border
Zen Arado: long drive
Yakuzza Lethecus: it´s also a lot cheaper, but don´t know about the time of the year
Zen Arado: too
Zen Arado: oh?
Zen Arado: trains used to be cheap
Yakuzza Lethecus: not in germany, only with special offers
Yakuzza Lethecus: it´s silly i just bought a flight for 14€ to sweden in both directions last friday, but that is really unusual cheap, still 30-40 euro happens a lot with ryanair, but they have bad workingconditions for theire employee´s and alike
Zen Arado: wow cheap
Zen Arado: I don't like Ryanair
Zen Arado: they don't accomodate disabled people
Zen Arado: but neither do any budget airlines
Zen Arado: I tried to fly with Easyjet to London 2 years ago
Zen Arado: when I told them I was disabled they wouldn't let me fly with them
Zen Arado: said i wouldn't be able to get out of plane in an emergency
Yakuzza Lethecus: well, isn´t that even against the law ?
Zen Arado: I don't knw
Yakuzza Lethecus: sure the security argument
Yakuzza Lethecus: :(
Zen Arado: I had to fly Aer Lingus which was much more expensive
Yakuzza Lethecus: i got to go to a different sim
Zen Arado: ok Yeku
Yakuzza Lethecus: see you soon zen
Zen Arado: byee:)

Art of Being and other exhibitions:

Zen Arado: Hi Storm :)
Storm Nordwind: Hi Zen. Surprised to find you all alone.
Zen Arado: Yaku and Riddle were here but was region restart
Storm Nordwind: Ah... so the affliction has swapped from Rioddle to you!
Storm Nordwind: *Riddle
Zen Arado: yes happens Wed afternoons atm
Storm Nordwind: Interesting... I don't normally sit here. I'm seeing a whole new context behind my avatar!
Zen Arado: :)
Zen Arado: funny how we sit in same palce
Zen Arado: creatures of habit
Storm Nordwind: There's method in my madness... As GOC I normally sit on the south side so I can see people arriving. But this is nice.
Zen Arado: Wb Rafila :)

Storm Nordwind: Hi Raffila!
Raffila Millgrove: ty Zen
Raffila Millgrove: hi.. wandered off there and crashed.
Zen Arado: I find ppl usually arrive on the South side
Zen Arado: planty of entries for Art of Being storm
Storm Nordwind: Yes. Wonderful! 12 already. More than half-full
Raffila Millgrove: are they in that dome?
Zen Arado: yes
Storm Nordwind: Yes. please feel free to take a peek
Zen Arado: I am getting a lot of invitations for exhibitions atm
Raffila Millgrove: hi boxy.
Zen Arado: it can be a lot of work
Alfred Kelberry: hi :)
Zen Arado: Hi Alf :)
Storm Nordwind: That sounds great Zen. Your talent is being recognized. :)
Alfred Kelberry: nice techie description there, storm
Storm Nordwind: Hi Alfred
Zen Arado: but don't sell much
Zen Arado: :(
Storm Nordwind: Thank you Alfred. Hope it's useful to some.
Zen Arado: have one comimg up and proceeds go to charity
Zen Arado: with a singr at opening
Alfred Kelberry: selling paintings?
Zen Arado: yes
Alfred Kelberry: in rl?
Zen Arado: nah in SL
Alfred Kelberry: what charity is it?
Zen Arado: have only ever done one one-man exhibition in RL
Alfred Kelberry: you should hang out with gallery owners more :)
Zen Arado: 'War Child'
Zen Arado: don't know what that is
Zen Arado: will check
Zen Arado: only got card earlier
Zen Arado: the guy is charging 50% commission
Storm Nordwind: Thanks Zen.
Zen Arado: but matters little
Alfred Kelberry: this ghostie girl looks quite charming :)
Zen Arado: yes :)
Raffila Millgrove: 50 percent? yikes.
Zen Arado: ok if it goes to charity
Raffila Millgrove: oh that's 50 to you and 50 to the charity?
Zen Arado: money is so strange in SL
Storm Nordwind: I think the gallery I visit most is Studio 33, run by Monroe Snook. Great turnover of high quality talent there. And of course there's the monthly UWA contests which can be great fun - if very varied.
Zen Arado: yes
Raffila Millgrove: ah that's seems great then.
Zen Arado: head that name
Zen Arado: Rose Theatre is good
Storm Nordwind: Fabulous place to visit, and to keep on going back every few weeks.
Raffila Millgrove: you have a LM Storm?
Storm Nordwind: Sure. Please hold on
Zen Arado: ever been there Storm?
Alfred Kelberry: storm, you didn't strike me as a gallery socialite :)
Raffila Millgrove: ty
Alfred Kelberry: i guess it's your tech background
Zen Arado: Storm has a lot of backgrounds :)
Storm Nordwind: Not sure I have Zen. And Alfred, I'm an artist as well as an engineer (if poor in both!). So I appreciate good stuff. (And I'm married to a professional artist.) But socialite? Not me ! :)
Alfred Kelberry: being married to an artist certainly helps :)
Zen Arado: Rose has great building textures
Storm Nordwind: Cool - thanks Zen. Always useful.
 

Polymath:

Zen Arado: better to use verbs than nouns to describe ourselves maybe
Zen Arado: I prefer 'I paint' to 'I am an artist'
Storm Nordwind: Verbs emphasize transience more too :)
Zen Arado: yes
Zen Arado: nouns seem to freeze and stereotype us
Alfred Kelberry: storm, even though i've seen and heard you play guitar and do other creative things, you're still a techie guy for me :)
Storm Nordwind: Even "polymath" (or Renaissance man) gets applied to me ... and yet despite its apparent versatility and flexibility, it still cocoons.
Zen Arado: I suppose playing music and painting are Techie in a way too
Zen Arado: remembers Leonardo da Vinci
Alfred Kelberry: playing music, yes, zen. quite a few geeks are into that.
Zen Arado: we have to specialize so much these days
Storm Nordwind: I have a book somewhere that uses da Vinci as a personal growth role model^{See comment #1}
Zen Arado: he was into everything
Alfred Kelberry: it's like old days warriors that had to master both battle and composing poems
Zen Arado: nowadays he would do a PhD in some speciallty
Zen Arado: wouldn't have had time for painting perhaps
Zen Arado: some say he didn't finish anything though
Zen Arado: dabbled too much
Zen Arado: something of a dabbler myself
Zen Arado: why not?
Zen Arado: just doing things fo the sheer enjoyment of it
Zen Arado: we seem to have lost that art
Zen Arado: ?
Alfred Kelberry: *not comfortable with "role models"*
Storm Nordwind: We learn much through dabbling, though I dare say, we're calling it "play" here! ;-)
Zen Arado: me neither Boxy
Zen Arado: all unique
Zen Arado: inventors are dabblers in a way?
Zen Arado: creativity isn't easy to order up to a scchedule
Zen Arado: is it?
Alfred Kelberry: storm, btw, whenever i turn to awk or sed, they don't stop pleasantly surprise me - powerful little tools :)
Storm Nordwind: awk was my favorite :)
Storm Nordwind points out Boxy is talking UNIX-speak :)
Zen Arado: ah ok
Zen Arado: lost me
Zen Arado: :)
Raffila Millgrove: me too
Raffila Millgrove: but then again.. i am often lost.
Raffila Millgrove: right now i think i have to go someplace.
Zen Arado: me too

Zen Arado: lost souls :)
Storm Nordwind: Better to be lost Raffila than to think you're found but in the wrong place!
Zen Arado: I better go too
Raffila Millgrove: bye.
Zen Arado: yes Storm :)
Storm Nordwind waves
Zen Arado: bye and thanks all for coming :)
Raffila Millgrove: have a great day, eve.. all

Forms of Creativity:

Alfred Kelberry: zen, creativity... i usually associate it with a work of art like a painting or a poem. those i find difficult or even sometimes impossible to master. but then, there's also creativity in a clever algorithm. yet we don't think of it as creative :)
Alfred Kelberry: er... at least storm is left to read it :)
Storm Nordwind: I think it's creative. It has a different audience to appreciate it.
Alfred Kelberry: yes, but not something a person thinks of when he hears "creative"
Storm Nordwind: But people think that software is a left-brained thing and that creativty is only right-brained.
Storm Nordwind: However, I had a successful career being right-brained in software!
Alfred Kelberry: i don't share the brain duality concept :)
Storm Nordwind: Proving it's possibly to think irrationally and non-linearly and still write good code!
Storm Nordwind: *possible
Alfred Kelberry: it can be harmful in fact. telling a kid - boy, you're left-brained, no art school for you.
Storm Nordwind: Sure. There is separation, but there is also integration.
Storm Nordwind: Or in my case: you're right brained. You can't be an engineer
Alfred Kelberry: :)
Storm Nordwind: Anyway, I shall go inspect the Art Dome for new exhibits to label.
Alfred Kelberry: yea, be good :)
Storm Nordwind: And if I can't be good, then be careful - right? ;)
Alfred Kelberry: btw, bruce is having a surgery soon
Storm Nordwind: Oh!
Alfred Kelberry: just seen him online and had a quick chat
Alfred Kelberry: it was scheduled on tomorrow, but postponed due to insurance formalities
Alfred Kelberry: just think our good thoughts would be helpful here
Storm Nordwind: Not quite
Storm Nordwind: Good thoughts never go amiss
Alfred Kelberry: riddle, no. i was in time this time :)
Alfred Kelberry: anyhow, i'm off for now
Storm Nordwind: Me too. Bye both
Storm Nordwind waves
Alfred Kelberry: good thoughts to bruce!