The Guardian for this meeting was Paradise Tennant. Participants included stevenaia, Tess, Observerm, Aphrodite, Bertrum and Storm

stevenaia Michinaga: waves
Paradise Tennant: hiya
stevenaia Michinaga: how was your day?
Paradise Tennant: sorry dog is whining for peanuts :) .. he can never have just a few
Paradise Tennant: a long one but ok

Paradise Tennant: how was yours
--BELL--
stevenaia Michinaga: busy + mom was in hospital w/ operation, she's ok, had operation
stevenaia Michinaga: supposed to but on saturday
Paradise Tennant: oh bet she will want to be home asap
stevenaia Michinaga: she was chatty when I got there, that was good
Paradise Tennant: were you worried ?
stevenaia Michinaga: no, they were just removing broken parts
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles oh to be bionic
stevenaia Michinaga: I'll be right back, I have to reload a new version, my viewer is still misbehaving and and I can;t edit my appearance
Paradise Tennant: ok no worries
stevenaia Michinaga: brb
stevenaia Michinaga: so much for that idea, let me clear my caches
Tess Aristocrat: Hello dear ones :)
stevenaia Michinaga: hi Tess
Paradise Tennant: hiya tess we were about to talk about what we were reading what was on our night stand
Tess Aristocrat: is the build moved?
Tess Aristocrat: you know, I have about three books in my car that I'm reading right now.. Paradise Tennant: which ones ?
Tess Aristocrat: 1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Tess Aristocrat: 2. 'Tough Customer'
Tess Aristocrat: 3. a book called 'Adrenaline'
Tess Aristocrat: I've actually started all three..
Paradise Tennant: like doing that
Tess Aristocrat: lolll
Paradise Tennant: then you just read as to mood kind of like book surfing
Tess Aristocrat: I've been reading a lot in the past few months..
Tess Aristocrat: nods..
Paradise Tennant: hello observerm nice to see you :) would you like to sit with us tonight :)
Tess Aristocrat: I don't see the pavilion here..is it here, or am I just lagging that badly?
Paradise Tennant: wow it is here
Paradise Tennant: you must be lagging very badly
--BELL--
Tess Aristocrat: hahaha
Aphrodite Macbain: Hi there!
Paradise Tennant: hiya aph :)
Aphrodite Macbain: Hi Para, Tess
Tess Aristocrat: Hello :)
Aphrodite Macbain: Cute shoes para
Tess Aristocrat: I may have to relog..
Paradise Tennant: thanks aph
Aphrodite Macbain: Oh - I like the banner!
Paradise Tennant: Tess has lagging issues and stev was here but is relogging too
Aphrodite Macbain: Having problems Tess?
Aphrodite Macbain: Hmm this is happening a lot lately
Tess Aristocrat: nods
Aphrodite Macbain: I should start looking through the wiki to find good quotes
Paradise Tennant: good quotes are always in demand
Aphrodite Macbain: Hiva Stevenaia
stevenaia Michinaga: Hi APh.
Aphrodite Macbain: You're looking quite fetching in your long underwear
stevenaia Michinaga: hmmm
Aphrodite Macbain: teasing
Aphrodite Macbain: less is more?
stevenaia Michinaga: I'm having my typical bi-annual avatar meltdown
stevenaia Michinaga: and I wearing anything else?
Aphrodite Macbain: It must be the heat
Aphrodite Macbain: You are wearing white boots
stevenaia Michinaga: send me a pic
Paradise Tennant: lol
Aphrodite Macbain: kk
Paradise Tennant: poor stev
Aphrodite Macbain: You looked wrapped like a mummy
stevenaia Michinaga: I can't edit my appearance
Aphrodite Macbain: bummer
Aphrodite Macbain: I hate that
Paradise Tennant: have to go to that base avi again
Paradise Tennant: works every time
stevenaia Michinaga: thank for the snapshit
stevenaia Michinaga: shot... ooops
stevenaia Michinaga: lol
stevenaia Michinaga: waves to observerm
Paradise Tennant: character character test test female test male etc
stevenaia Michinaga: nods, but won’t I lose all of me?
Paradise Tennant: yes you have to re do you from the bottom up
Paradise Tennant: should note everything you are wearing
Paradise Tennant: or make an outfit of it
stevenaia Michinaga: nothing show up except the boot :(
Paradise Tennant: lol
Aphrodite Macbain: from your innermost clothing to your outermost clothing
Paradise Tennant: sigh always hate it when that happens
stevenaia Michinaga: it’s my skin and for that take me a while to find, if only I remembered what I saved myself as last time
Aphrodite Macbain: we won’t look
stevenaia Michinaga: lol
Aphrodite Macbain: (I have a "default skin"
stevenaia Michinaga: had this happen once before, reconstructing oneself is not natural
Paradise Tennant: hiya Bertrum nice to see you :)
stevenaia Michinaga: hi Bertrum
Aphrodite Macbain: One day my computer opened on SL and I was wearing EVRYTHING in my inventory
stevenaia Michinaga: wow
Aphrodite Macbain: Took me ages to unload it
Bertrum Resident: hi everyone
Aphrodite Macbain: Hi Bertrum
Paradise Tennant: ok how many items are in your inventory aph ? stev ?
Paradise Tennant: bertrum ?
stevenaia Michinaga: 6581, many many pics
Aphrodite Macbain: I had also loaded on some animations that came with a champagne glass
Paradise Tennant: 24,328
Aphrodite Macbain: and I was staggering around under this load of clothing, drunk as a lord
Paradise Tennant: lol mostly plants
Aphrodite Macbain: It was really funny
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Aphrodite Macbain: How often do you change your clothes bertrum?
Aphrodite Macbain: Paradise, have you met Bertrum?
--BELL--
Aphrodite Macbain: I think he is IM-ing
Paradise Tennant: yes
Paradise Tennant: going to repost and excerpt from a book review which I thought might make a good starting point to discussion
Aphrodite Macbain: Listens
stevenaia Michinaga: I'm going to the roof and recreate myself,
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Paradise Tennant: ternal Echoes Exploring Our Yearning to Belong John O'Donohue Cliff Street Books 03/00 Paperback $13.00 ISBN: 0060955589 In this juicy, imaginative, and devotional follow-up to his international bestseller Anam Cara, poet and Catholic scholar John O'Donohue probes the creative tension between longing and belonging — the universal yearnings to discover intimacy and to find shelter for the soul. In a richly poetic and philosophical style, O'Donohue taps into ancient Celtic teachings to unravel the mysteries and the meanings of presence (the flame of longing), suffering (the dark valley of broken belonging), prayer (a bridge between longing and belonging), and absence (where longing still lingers). The genuine yearnings we all have cannot be met by the functionalism of Western culture that kills presence or by the engines of consumerism where quantity is the divinity and advertising the liturgy. Instead, we can find nourishment for the soul in belongin [19:05] Paradise Tennant: g to the earth, in cheri
Paradise Tennant: shing home as the cradle of destiny, and in exploring our longing for the divine. O'Donohue celebrates prayer as a wondrous way of being and acting. He sees it as "the narrative of the soul" and "a door into your own eternity." And he honors the beauty and realism of Christianity for its tradition of embracing and transfiguring "the fire-path of great suffering." The spiritual life is rooted in yearning, and John O'Donohue's Eternal Echoes mines this treasure with great gusto, intensity,
Paradise Tennant: not necessarily discuss the book because I know I have not read it yet not sure who else has
Paradise Tennant: but it touches on a great them
Paradise Tennant: our need to belong .. our yearnings to be part of something
Aphrodite Macbain: part of something...
Aphrodite Macbain: anything? or something we value?
Aphrodite Macbain: or a group of people with a common purpose?
Paradise Tennant: what we end up part of . is so often the end result of so many little choices find it bewildering
Aphrodite Macbain: yes and, speaking for myself, those choices keep changing
Paradise Tennant: can be any of the above aph anything you yearn for
Aphrodite Macbain: In other words connected to something beyond our individual selves
Aphrodite Macbain: It's hard to find in this world where people are isolated from each other
Paradise Tennant: precisely
Aphrodite Macbain: Putman called it "Bowling Alone"
Paradise Tennant: like that term
Aphrodite Macbain: there is a big reduction of groups and associations in the western world
Aphrodite Macbain: so there used to be bowling clubs - now people bowl alone
Aphrodite Macbain: a handy metaphor
Paradise Tennant: http://bowlingalone.com/
Aphrodite Macbain: nods, yes, that one
Aphrodite Macbain: I use it in the course i teach on community building
Paradise Tennant: that must be a really interesting course aph
Aphrodite Macbain: Bertrum-have you read it?
Paradise Tennant: how do you community build ?
Aphrodite Macbain: in many ways.
Bertrum Resident: No, I haven't read it.
Aphrodite Macbain: It's a large field.
Aphrodite Macbain: I have ttied to build community using the arts
Aphrodite Macbain: You build the community's capacity for self actualization, for creating good citizens, for dealing with racism, , isolation, etc
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: hiya storm
Storm Nordwind: Hi there!
Aphrodite Macbain: building bridges wamongf different constituencies
Aphrodite Macbain: Hey Stormy
Paradise Tennant: we are talking of our yearning to belong to something to be part of something and aph is just describing a course she teaches on community building
Bertrum Resident: What is the age group for your target audience?
Storm Nordwind: Ah thank you
Aphrodite Macbain: For 12 years I worked in a community centre that organized programs that encouraged community collaboration in arts projects-theatre, performances, exhibitions
Aphrodite Macbain: They are usually cultural professionals or students
Aphrodite Macbain: so range from about 18-65
Aphrodite Macbain: It can be transformative.
Paradise Tennant: do you remember any really powerful moments you would like to share
Aphrodite Macbain: At the community centre (www.roundhouse,ca) we worked with kids, youth, seniors
Aphrodite Macbain: There are many
Bertrum Resident: I would guess that one approach probably would not work--would not different approaches. Was that a challenge for you?
Bertrum Resident: would need different
Aphrodite Macbain: I created a community dance group that brought together profssional dancers and choreographers
Aphrodite Macbain: and jointly a performance -Raven of the Railway - was collaboratively creatd and presented.
Aphrodite Macbain: Yes bertrum- we were learning as we went along.
Aphrodite Macbain: It was a sort of lab environment, testing to see how things could work
--BELL--
Aphrodite Macbain: Sometimes things bombed- mainly because the professional artist had a hard time working with non professionals
Aphrodite Macbain: It takes a very special artist to be able to be humble enough to put the public first
Aphrodite Macbain: *takes
Aphrodite Macbain: ?
Aphrodite Macbain: wb Tess
Bertrum Resident: Hi Tess.
Tess Aristocrat: hi :)
Storm Nordwind: I think it takes a special kind of anyone to put others first :)
Aphrodite Macbain: nods and grins
Paradise Tennant: yes
Aphrodite Macbain: But when they did, magic happened
Tess Aristocrat: How are you all doing?
Aphrodite Macbain: Fine Tess. You?
Aphrodite Macbain: It is amazing the innate talent people have- especialy kids
Tess Aristocrat: hehe..well, i can see the pavillion now
Aphrodite Macbain: don’t fall into the pool
Aphrodite Macbain: Storm - I notice you have been up late recently. Are you working on a project?
Storm Nordwind: late?
Aphrodite Macbain: well, around 9 or 10
Aphrodite Macbain: I usually check in quickly before I go to bed
Storm Nordwind: It varies. I rebuilt my guardian plot. And I also negotiated away the particle generator that had plagued the land behind the Cafe for 5 years. :)
Paradise Tennant: virtually productive :)
Aphrodite Macbain: Didn't know there was a particle generator - what was its purpose?
Storm Nordwind: Well it had been put there by the creator before I arrived here, four and a half years ago.
Storm Nordwind: It was his art project that was supposed to help sell his commercial stuff
Storm Nordwind: But it extended 12m into my land on each side
Aphrodite Macbain: I can imagine how hard it was to remove if it wasn't yours
Storm Nordwind: The main thing was the person was almost never in-world anymore
Aphrodite Macbain: You must have hired some good virtual negotiators
Storm Nordwind: But I spent a couple of hours with him last night
Storm Nordwind: So the area to the west of the Kira Cafe is rather nicer now
Aphrodite Macbain: Great- a 4th anniversary project!
Aphrodite Macbain: Thank you
Paradise Tennant: ok I have a question for you .. to ponder .. what way has PAB changed you if it has changed you
Storm Nordwind: And I put a version of the Kuan Yin oracle in a new temple on my plot. Keeps me off the streets ;)
Aphrodite Macbain: I will look tomorrow
Aphrodite Macbain: I dont think SL has changed me but it has broadened my reading and given me access to some wonderful people
Aphrodite Macbain: and allowed me to be creative in areas that were unknown to me prviously
Aphrodite Macbain: Has it changed you para?
Paradise Tennant: well I think so I was thinking particularly about being involved in pab
Paradise Tennant: I think it has
Aphrodite Macbain: ah, well my answer is the same
Paradise Tennant: as you say broadened my exposure and understanding
Aphrodite Macbain: It has also taken up a lot of time from RL
Aphrodite Macbain: which is a problem but my fault
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: well don't really consider it any different than rl really
Aphrodite Macbain: I think I have gained 5lbs in PaB
Paradise Tennant: lol
Aphrodite Macbain: Hi steve- you look great
Aphrodite Macbain: Nice colour
stevenaia Michinaga: smiles, a hurculean effort
Aphrodite Macbain squeezes Stevenaia's muscles
Tess Aristocrat: haha..you and me both, Stevie
Tess Aristocrat: I've been out most of the hour as well
Aphrodite Macbain: It's 8pm Time for me to poof.
Storm Nordwind waves
Paradise Tennant: smiles I am sorry I am going to have to go .. have an anxious pup :)
Paradise Tennant: nite aph
Aphrodite Macbain: Bye
Aphrodite Macbain: Bye! beings
Tess Aristocrat: Night Aph :)
Bertrum Resident: Bye Paradise.
Paradise Tennant: thanks :) for the company and the conversation :)
Bertrum Resident: Bye Aph
Tess Aristocrat: bye Para :)
Tess Aristocrat: I guess I'm out too..lol
Tess Aristocrat: you guys take care :)
stevenaia Michinaga: night tess, PAra, Alp
Storm Nordwind has to go and put some notices around the condo complex
stevenaia Michinaga: enjoy
Storm Nordwind: :)
Storm Nordwind: Namaste