Attending were Zen, Alma, Tura, and Eliza.
Albuquerque Festival
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Zen :)
Zen (Zen Arado): Hi Eliza :)
Eliza Madrigal: How's it going?
Zen (Zen Arado): not bad thanks
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Zen (Zen Arado): and with you?
Eliza Madrigal: bumpy day
Zen (Zen Arado): I had a bumpy morning
Eliza Madrigal: oh?
Zen (Zen Arado): just careworker things
Eliza Madrigal: ah, sigh
Zen (Zen Arado): was just listening to Eckhart
Eliza Madrigal: What did he say? :)
Zen (Zen Arado): He was talking about how much we need obstacles and problems
Eliza Madrigal: "the pinched part in your back is just a story" :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Tura, look cute :)
Tura Brezoianu: hi, thanks :)
Zen (Zen Arado): it's what makes us develop and wake up
Zen (Zen Arado): Hi Tura
Eliza Madrigal: or go back to bed, hhehe
Eliza Madrigal: :) am kidding.... my bumpy day talking ^.^
Zen (Zen Arado): yes :-)
Zen (Zen Arado): no I just want to get out of bed nowadays
Eliza Madrigal: that must be very tough at times, esp when they are off schedule
Zen (Zen Arado): I don't find bed a comfortable place anymore
Eliza Madrigal nods, understood
Eliza Madrigal: mine would be more comfortable if I'd kick the dog out
Zen (Zen Arado): I keep getting this positive/negative Stuff
Eliza Madrigal: how so?
Zen (Zen Arado): you have to be positive :-)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Alma :)
Zen (Zen Arado): most people seem to still believe that
Zen (Zen Arado): Hi Alma :)
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): hi Eliza, Tura, Zen
Eliza Madrigal: that would make a good session topic Zen, all on its own
Tura Brezoianu: hi Alma
Zen (Zen Arado): yes
Zen (Zen Arado): there is some truth in it I guess
Zen (Zen Arado): we mustn't be negative :-)
Eliza Madrigal nods... that's why, it isn't something you can just dismiss, but taken to extremes it leaves people quite alone
"all right" and "fine"
Eliza Madrigal: How are you doing Tura, Alma?
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): all right
Tura Brezoianu: fine
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Tura Brezoianu: "all right", "fine", can be easy ways of not saying anything
Eliza Madrigal nods
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): true
Zen (Zen Arado): being positive
Zen (Zen Arado): :-)
Eliza Madrigal: the only insights are if you know someone well enough, who usually says GREAT then one day they say all right
Eliza Madrigal: still hard to tell :) or own up to it if someone follows up with "you sure?"
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): didn't sleep well last night, and busier than I would like to be today
Eliza Madrigal: same, terrible sleep!
Zen (Zen Arado): life never goes the way we want it to
Zen (Zen Arado): no matter who you are
Eliza Madrigal: :) days of thwarted intentions
Eliza Madrigal: But... there are dreams
Zen (Zen Arado): they say "Sweet dreams"
Fragmentary Impressions
Tura Brezoianu: not had many of those lately, at least, nothing I have more than fragmentary impressions of
Eliza Madrigal: do you think there's a reason for that Tura?
Tura Brezoianu: I don't know. I generally don't wake up very well. It takes about half an hour after heaving myself out of bed before I'm really awake
Eliza Madrigal: so you think the memories run away on that boundary?
Tura Brezoianu: In that state it's difficult to summon up the intention to hang onto them and drag them out into the daylight
Eliza Madrigal nods
Zen (Zen Arado): or put them onto a recorder
Eliza Madrigal: may be why the dreams that we have after waking and going back to sleep are more sturdy to remember
Eliza Madrigal: I think fragments are dreams too, though
Eliza Madrigal: and even just feeling fragments
Zen (Zen Arado): Little fragments can also be important
Eliza Madrigal: What about you Zen?
The Carrying Wind
Zen (Zen Arado): some nights I have three dreams
Zen (Zen Arado): other nights, nothing
Zen (Zen Arado): it says that some nights my subconscious decides to present me with something
Zen (Zen Arado): it has something to tell me
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): some of my dreams seem to want to be recalled, while others seem to say, "no, leave me alone"
Eliza Madrigal has wondered if you've thought more about the basket dream
Eliza Madrigal: like the way you say that Alma, fitting :)
Zen (Zen Arado): I listened to a radio programme the other day and they were talking about going up in hot air balloons
Zen (Zen Arado): and I suddenly realised that that's where I got the big wicker basket image from
Eliza Madrigal: oooh
Zen (Zen Arado): I would love to go up in one of them
Eliza Madrigal: they're fun in SL too
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): I have one in my inventory somewhere
Zen (Zen Arado): yes but the real-life sensation will be terrific
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): haven't used it in years
Zen (Zen Arado): would be
Zen (Zen Arado): like floating away
Eliza Madrigal: does seem like fun... is a big bucket list item for my sister
Zen (Zen Arado): so gentle and peaceful
Eliza Madrigal: true, not a vehicle that needs to get somewhere
Zen (Zen Arado): no destination
Eliza Madrigal: nice :)
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): go where the wind takes you
Zen (Zen Arado): I don't think they ever bother to have balloon races do they?
Eliza Madrigal hears that song, up up and away...
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, yes I think they do, but not sure if they take them very seriously
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): I drove through Albuquerque once when they were having their big annual balloon festival. ... dozens of balloons in the air all at the same time
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): quite a sight
Eliza Madrigal: must have been lovely
Zen (Zen Arado): You really need flat country for them don't you?
Eliza Madrigal: they used to have small events here at the airforce base
Eliza Madrigal: would take the kids when they were little
Eliza Madrigal: but yes, guess it is pretty flat here :))
Eliza Madrigal: nice follow up on that though, thanks Zen
Eliza Madrigal: How's dreaming Alma?
Eliza Madrigal clicks
Eliza Madrigal: they get so close to each other
Zen (Zen Arado): Beautiful – psychedelic
Zen (Zen Arado): makes me think of the Beatles somehow
Zen (Zen Arado): Sgt Pepper
Complex Gadgetry
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): I found a toy in a dream a couple of nights ago
Zen (Zen Arado): oh?
Eliza Madrigal listens
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): a flying toy
Eliza Madrigal: what was it like?
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): sorry, this is kind of long
Eliza Madrigal: no worries at all :)
Eliza Madrigal expands window
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): While I am outside, I find a toy that someone has lost or discarded on the ground near the base of a tree. It is called a "spinner". You pull a string, which spins a disk that has vanes like a helicopter. The disk then flies up into the air. I find the disk part first. I think it is broken, but on looking at it more closely, I see it is intact. Then, lying on the ground nearby, I see the part with the string that spins the disk. I pick it up and look at it closely. It has many buttons and switches on it. Some of them are supposed to indicate how high the disk has flown, and whether it flew higher or lower than you expected. Once the disk starts spinning fast enough, there is a button you press to launch it. I don't know if it still can spin the disk fast enough for it to fly. I'd like to try it out, but I don't want to do it right here and now, because I'm not sure how high it might fly if it does manage to take off. I look inside the base of the toy. There is something written there that says you can use
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): a pin to make holes in it that will turn it into a pair of glasses (?).
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): [end]
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): there are actually toys like this in real life
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): but this dream toy was more complicated
Eliza Madrigal: there are fairy toys that work this way
Eliza Madrigal: such a neat dream, and yes definitely not so complex
Zen (Zen Arado): I remember something like that when I was a kid
Tura Brezoianu: I had one of those. No buttons and switches though.
Zen (Zen Arado): but I think you just pulled the string to launch it
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): the dream was very real. I could hold and examine the toy closely at great length
Eliza Madrigal: I'm beginning to overlap dreams that have the component of looking closely, into a lucid category
Eliza Madrigal: because it kicks in a greater control and vividness, even without thinking "I'm dreaming"
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): it's like the dream was trying to give me something, but I wasn't quite sure what to do with it
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala) nods at Eliza
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): yes, those dreams seem distinct
Augmented Seeing
Zen (Zen Arado): I watch tech programs and there is lots about drones in them
Zen (Zen Arado): which your dream reminds me of
Eliza Madrigal nods
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): yes, Zen. it is like a low-tech drone
Eliza Madrigal: symbolically, it makes me think of some talent or activity that still might fly with some intention
Zen (Zen Arado): I think drones are going to be a big thing in the future
Zen (Zen Arado): a big part of the future in all sorts of ways
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): the end of the dream, the part about the pin holes, was odd
Eliza Madrigal: and funny in a way
Eliza Madrigal: "drink me"
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): seemed to suggest the toy could be used to gain a different type of vision. it made me think about using a pin hole viewer to watch an eclipse
Tura Brezoianu: "look through me"
Eliza Madrigal: yes :))
Eliza Madrigal: an aid for clarity
Eliza Madrigal: or spy toy
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): yes
Zen (Zen Arado): more clarity about something?
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): I remember as a kid making pin-hole "cameras", which would project a faint image of a scene inside a box
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): that might relate to dream images
Eliza Madrigal: indeed
Eliza Madrigal: found objects are notable too, because they imply there was a previous owner
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): yes
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): implies the toy is not really mine, at least not yet
Eliza Madrigal: well you take the effort to see that it isn't broken, and that the parts are there, which someone else didn't do
Eliza Madrigal: unless in your next dream they are there and say hey thanks! :))
Birds (yes, those birds)
Eliza Madrigal: I had a neat dream this week but somehow never wrote it onto the computer
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): do you recall any of it?
Eliza Madrigal: I did log it into my regular dream journal, but it may take a while for me to type if I try
Eliza Madrigal: one part of it...
Eliza Madrigal: I was standing outside when 1 bird - a duck like but taller, bird - walks up to me
Eliza Madrigal: I look down and it has lots of babies (ducklings, I could say, but really it didn't look like a known bird)
Eliza Madrigal: then it walks away and another one comes behind it
Eliza Madrigal: but this one is even more interesting... long legs and thin, but sort of like a partridge and a swan together
Eliza Madrigal: and this one has lots and lots of small birds... they are almond shaped, and very pretty, white and gold, and not too plumy
Eliza Madrigal: behind it comes this little animal
Eliza Madrigal: and the person with me says oh no that's a skunk
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): :)
Eliza Madrigal: but I think, no it isn't, it is really cute...
Zen (Zen Arado): :-)
Eliza Madrigal: but I look close and there is a swirl on its back, but not a white swirl... almost the same color as the fur...
Eliza Madrigal: so we decide to walk into a house or a shed (only saw the threshold)
Eliza Madrigal: and we let all the birds (there were more than two sets but the two are the only ones I remember vividly) in with us
Eliza Madrigal: then close out the skunk gently
Eliza Madrigal: (done)
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): what a lovely dream
Eliza Madrigal: I was left feeling like I was going to go back for the skunk
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): I had a skunk move into my tool shed several years ago
Eliza Madrigal: very strange symbolically, but beautiful animals
Eliza Madrigal: oh dear :)
Tura Brezoianu: a conference of birds?
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): ah!
Zen (Zen Arado): :-)
Eliza Madrigal: right!! lol
Zen (Zen Arado): maybe something about a disruptive influence on family?
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): birds are sometimes symbols of spirit
Zen (Zen Arado): Skunks only seem to exist in parts of America?
Eliza Madrigal: I think Tura's right that it must have something to do with the CotB book too... but (then) that's my question really... why the skunk?
Eliza Madrigal: I once had to bathe in tomato juice because of a skunk
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): it was something that someone else thought was stinky, but you saw it differently
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): skunks are fairly common in urban areas in the US
Eliza Madrigal: when I woke up, I looked up partridges and some of the definitions were beautiful, wisdom and such. others not too flattering
Eliza Madrigal: also maybe it wasn't a total skunk... or maybe we (the other person and I) were wrong
Zen (Zen Arado): I love that poem about wild geese
Eliza Madrigal: Mary Oliver <3
Zen (Zen Arado): yes
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): dream animals are shape shifters ... I had a fish turn into a lion in one dream
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): oh, I love that poem too
[ to anyone unfamiliar, Mary Oliver reading her poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv_4xmh_WtE The first time I read this poem, it was shared with me by an early PaB-er, Neela ]
Eliza Madrigal: have had dreams where I was an animal before... very cool
Eliza Madrigal: but now that Tura pointed out the book I think it must be at least the inspiration for why the birds were so beautiful
Eliza Madrigal: I finished the book with a sense of that
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): maybe the skunk was trying to crash the birds' party ;)
Eliza Madrigal: heheh
Eliza Madrigal: maybe it was my dog interrupting my concentration
Eliza Madrigal laughs
Eliza Madrigal: there were other dreams, but like you Zen, they seem to come maybe two days out of several
Zen (Zen Arado): I start to notice how many dreams I have when I am in a group or when I am alone
Eliza Madrigal: see a pattern?
Zen (Zen Arado): it's just a reflection of my past life I guess
Zen (Zen Arado): I often went on holidays with groups
Zen (Zen Arado): and I went to a lot of university summer schools which were a high point in my life
Eliza Madrigal: wonderful to have those experiences
Zen (Zen Arado): I was away on holidays with a group. It's all a bit jumbled but there was a lift that went backwards and then up. I was having trouble with my clothes. Some of the guys started a fight with some of the locals and I was getting dragged into it. Then I remember a guy using a yo-yo. Apparently we had all been given them but mine wasn't working too well. The guy was laughing at me trying to get mine to work. I found that the string hadn't been tied on properly.
Zen (Zen Arado): done
Zen (Zen Arado): yo-yos :-)
Eliza Madrigal: omgoodness... strings and round gadgets like in Alma's dream
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): another spinning toy
Zen (Zen Arado): there was a big craze for them when I was about 12 or 13 years old
Eliza Madrigal: did your friends often get into scuffles Zen?
Zen (Zen Arado): I had one tied a special way so that it would stop at the bottom and then you gave it flick and it came up again
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Zen (Zen Arado): no not really
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): I was never much good with yoyos
Eliza Madrigal: I liked them a lot too... had a light up one
Eliza Madrigal: back then they had competitions too
Zen (Zen Arado): oh, mine was just ordinary :-)
Eliza Madrigal: :))
Eliza Madrigal: I remember watching TV articles and being just awestruck by the people doing tricks... seems funny now
Eliza Madrigal: odd to be doing that in a group though?
Zen (Zen Arado): yes it doesn't seem like something an adult should do
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Zen (Zen Arado): it probably pointed to how senseless most of the things I did were
Eliza Madrigal: do wonder about it
Zen (Zen Arado): and yet how serious I took them
Eliza Madrigal: did you?
Zen (Zen Arado): all of that hard work and study
Eliza Madrigal: fascinating objects this session :)
Eliza Madrigal: I feel 1000% more cheerful
Zen (Zen Arado): Alma reminded me of that team
Eliza Madrigal: dreams themes and pictures from these sessions seem to be floating around us now when we are here
Eliza Madrigal: will close the sessing by ringing the bell, thanks very much for this time
Tura Brezoianu: thank you all
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): thank you Eliza, Zen, and Tura
Zen (Zen Arado): Dragon stopped working there
Eliza Madrigal: ah back on line :)
Zen (Zen Arado): thanks everybody
Four Bridges
Eliza Madrigal: Tura, I meant to ask, is Four Bridges still around (see your shirt)?
Zen (Zen Arado): it starts running type backwards
Eliza Madrigal: testy dragon
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): I should get going. ... got more to do today.
Eliza Madrigal: hope the rest of the day has rest too, Alma
Eliza Madrigal: bfn
Alma di Masala (Almadi Masala): bye, have a good week
Zen (Zen Arado): byee everyone
Tura Brezoianu: It hasn't been in SL for some years, I think, although there is a web site with a recent announcement on it
Eliza Madrigal: bye Zen :)
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, that's good to know... really liked that place
Eliza Madrigal: Hm, well it is something!
Eliza Madrigal: I'll try to keep checking it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVLoc6FrLi0
(bonus gift for those who read the logs) edited 20:58, 12 Jun 2018
Uncanny that, the evening before, I'd played the promo video for rapturerejects (qv) (NSFW)!
hahaha
I was in the bath tub just now, and instead of dozing off for an hour or so, I wrote the following. (That notepad has started to follow me everywhere.) I suspect the images from the videos must have got to me! Anyway, here it is...
Rejects
We are the ones who were left behind
When the angels came, on plumes of light,
And the ground opened, and demons came
With smoke, devouring all in sight.
Though not quite all. We few remain.
A muted crew to steer the world.
And culled of good and bad we've grown
To see each other's faults and shrug
And see our own and just get on with life.
Some say we'll wait a thousand years
Before whatever next arrives.
A book contained it all!
But no one knows,
And we don't care.
We find our world is quiet now,
A gentle rhythm fallen into.
Year on year we till the earth,
And dress our children,
Light our fires,
Write new songs,
Forget the ages.
Could it be
We were the lucky ones?
~ Storm 2018-06-14
Lucky indeed!
Mother was visiting and went for a drive to and around Orlando toward the airport.
Turned north and the long straight road opened up to the sky filled with a dozen hot air balloons. Mother had not read it in the newspaper, so was a complete surprise to happen on. Her eyes got SO big and she was hopping up and down in excitement. Pointing and shouting.
Years later, got into one of those baskets.
They are quite big and sturdy.
Then magic happens and as the balloon goes up the basket gets smaller and flimsy.