2008.09.10 01:00 - An Ethaniel Brigade

That night, at 1 am SLT, I (Pema) found Fael, Gaya and Vertigo when I arrived at the pavilion.

Pema Pera: Hi there!
Fael Illyar: Hi Pema :)
Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
Pema Pera: Good seeing you again, Vertigo, and Gaya and Fael!
Vertigo Ethaniel: ah pema, hello!
Pema Pera: (I'm very slooooowly rezzing)
Fael Illyar: rezzing is slow today :)
Gaya Ethaniel can't see Pema yet no
Vertigo Ethaniel: i can!
Fael Illyar: I can too :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Now I can
Pema Pera: Or I could greet you as "hi Ethaniels and Fael!"
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Gaya Ethaniel nudges her cousin to sit by her
Vertigo Ethaniel: hehe
Vertigo Ethaniel: we need like 10 more of us
Pema Pera: wow, an Ethaniel brigade!
Faenik: ah :)
Fael Illyar: :)
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Pema Pera: You are in New Zealand, right, Vertigo?
Vertigo Ethaniel: yup thats right
Pema Pera: so that means it is 8 pm for you now?
Vertigo Ethaniel: correct
Pema Pera: I'm in Japan right now
Vertigo Ethaniel: ah, very nice
Pema Pera: 5 pm here
Vertigo Ethaniel: im envious
Gaya Ethaniel is also envious
Pema Pera: well, if you come over to Kyoto, I can take you to a nice kaiseki restaurant!
Pema Pera: all of you :)
Fael Illyar: :)
Pema Pera: and we can let Fael order for us
Vertigo Ethaniel: does it do donkatsu? yum!
Gaya Ethaniel: Ah.. you are in Kyoto. I will take you up on that Pema
Fael Illyar wonders how to teleport there from here.

This brought us into toher considerations concerning fast transportation.

Pema Pera: any time, Gaya :-)
Gaya Ethaniel: Ramen for me
Pema Pera: haha, yes
Gaya Ethaniel: Thank you Pema
Pema Pera: The Earth needs a few more worm holes
Gaya Ethaniel laughs
Vertigo Ethaniel: must invent a teleport device...
Gaya Ethaniel: Yes I thought about drilling one from UK to down under
Pema Pera imagines the UN sessions dedicated to where to place the wormholes
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Gaya Ethaniel: Jump gates!
Vertigo Ethaniel: yes please do gaya! i need to explore that side of the world!
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Fael Illyar: :)
Gaya Ethaniel: Will get on to it soon then Vertigo
Vertigo Ethaniel: ok!
Pema Pera: will take 45 minutes in free fall, one way, Gaya
Gaya Ethaniel: Would it really? Wow...
Gaya Ethaniel: Quicker than sonic jet huh
Pema Pera: same time as a flight around the world in orbit
Pema Pera: oh yes, sure
Gaya Ethaniel: Ah... ok
Pema Pera: the path is shorter than around, but you slow down in the middle
Vertigo Ethaniel: true, LEO orbit time is 90 minutes
Gaya Ethaniel: Ah okay
Faenik: なるほど^^
Pema Pera: ECO
Fael Illyar imagines falling free fall to Japan for 45 minutes ... might be a bit scary
Pema Pera: Earth Center Orbit?
Vertigo Ethaniel: lol
Gaya Ethaniel smiles
Pema Pera: very ecological! No fuel required, just fall . . .
Fael Illyar: yes, you just need something to move the center of gravity suitably :P
Gaya Ethaniel: By the way, I realised something doing 9 sec this morning
Fael Illyar: 9 sec? what did you realize?
Gaya Ethaniel needs to leave in 5 minutes
Pema Pera: well, that's the same in (almost) all green solutions: AFTER a miracle happens, you safe x y z (fuel, energy, etc)
Fael Illyar: heh, yes :)
Fael Illyar: Hi Kristen :)
Gaya Ethaniel: I saw my eyes blinking... my body has its own ways I realised and was be able to see my physical entity as I see Gaya here
Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
Pema Pera: like electric cars (but what about the batteries?) etc
Pema Pera: hi Kristen!
Vertigo Ethaniel: namaste, kristen
Kristen Lefevre: hey guys :-)

Kristen joined us, but she remained like a white cloud for me for a long time.

Faenik loves wells!
Fael Illyar: Ah, that sounds nice :)
Vertigo Ethaniel: interesting gaya!
Gaya Ethaniel: Before today I was very much attached to my RL self in both mind/body sense
Kristen Lefevre: might not stay long
Kristen Lefevre: just wanted to drop in
Gaya Ethaniel: Nice to see you at any rate Kristen
Pema Pera: always nice to see you Kristen
Pema Pera: even if you're a while nebula
Kristen Lefevre: you also gaya, fael, pema
Kristen Lefevre: and vertigo :-)
Vertigo Ethaniel: good to meet you!
Kristen Lefevre: while nebula?
Kristen Lefevre: lo, what?
Pema Pera: *white
Pema Pera: sorry
Kristen Lefevre: ah, a cloud
Pema Pera: a white pulsing cloud of mist
Pema Pera: SL is slow again today
Kristen Lefevre: its really glitchy nowadays
Pema Pera: are you in Europe too, Kristen, or a night owl in the US?
Kristen Lefevre: night owl
Pema Pera: :-)
Kristen Lefevre: I'm near albany in ny
Pema Pera: I'm an afternoon owl in Japan right now
Kristen Lefevre: right on
Kristen Lefevre: japan must be nice
Pema Pera: yes, I just invited everyone for dinner
Pema Pera: they said yes, but I still have to see them coming over . . . .
Vertigo Ethaniel: katsu don! :D
Pema Pera: (^_^)
Faenik: なるほど^^
Kristen Lefevre: lol, is time informal in japan?
Kristen Lefevre: like people show up whenever?
Pema Pera: well, . . . depends who you hang out with, I guess ^^
Kristen Lefevre: yeah...just that some cultures have that kind of orientation to time
Kristen Lefevre: like appalachians, for instance
Pema Pera: Japanese trains are very precise though
Kristen Lefevre: be there at 9 o'clock might mean people come at 9:30
Pema Pera: their schedule is indicated in half minutes
Pema Pera: some trains depart at 5:05 pm, some at 5:05 1/2 pm
Kristen Lefevre: wow, very precise
Pema Pera: when they have two trains every five minutes, they don't want to bunch them
Gaya Ethaniel: Unfortunately I need to run. Good day/evening all.
Gaya Ethaniel: _/!\_
Kristen Lefevre: guess not
Pema Pera: tc Gaya!
Kristen Lefevre: take care gaya
Vertigo Ethaniel: good to see you again gaya... gasho!
Fael Illyar: See you later Gaya :)

Gaya left us, and Vertigo showed Kristen how to do gasho while drinking green tea, and keeping the tea cup in between one's hands :-)

Kristen Lefevre: what is gasho?
Pema Pera: a Japanese expression for bowing
Kristen Lefevre: ok
Pema Pera: Gaya's picture is two hands folded together
Pema Pera: with somehow an exclamation mark coming in :)
Kristen Lefevre: ah, like the Buddhists do
Pema Pera: I mean bowing with folded hands, to be precise
Kristen Lefevre: :-)
Vertigo Ethaniel: like this
Kristen Lefevre: oh ok
Kristen Lefevre: cool
Pema Pera: but usually without the tea cup in between the hands
Vertigo Ethaniel: :)
Kristen Lefevre: yeah that could get messy
Pema Pera: _/U\_
Fael Illyar: Yes, the tea cup is ... not part of the gesture :)
Faenik: なるほど^^
Kristen Lefevre: lol
Pema Pera: messy? Then: _/C\_
Pema Pera: or _/Co\_
Kristen Lefevre: hey let me change real quick
Kristen Lefevre: i don't really like this outfit
Pema Pera: :)
Fael Illyar: :)
Pema Pera: I thought it was the tea spilling!
Faenik: ah :)
Pema Pera: Anything new, Fael?
Kristen Lefevre: lol, now we can boogie
Pema Pera: ah, you have changed now for me, Kristen -- from a cloud into a Kristen!
Fael Illyar: new, yes but somehow most things that are new now are things that I prefer talking about in private.
Kristen Lefevre: haha, must have had to go in appearance then
Fael Illyar: :)
Kristen Lefevre: now I'm a dico star
Fael Illyar: rebaking does that. changing clothes causes it to happen
Kristen Lefevre: lol, I never dress for the occasion
Vertigo Ethaniel: hehe
Kristen Lefevre: ah ok
Kristen Lefevre: so thats what rebake means
Pema Pera thinks about an old Rolling Stones song: Get off my cloud
Kristen Lefevre grins
Fael Illyar smiles about the song name.

Kristen noticed that somehow her avatar and mine where looking at each other quite directly. I know that avatars follow the direction of where you put your mouse, and my local chat window happened to be above her head on my screen, which was probably the reason that my gaze continued to be in her direction. Kristen then returned my gaze and we got into a staring game.

Kristen Lefevre: lol, stares back at Pema
Kristen Lefevre: who will flinch first?
Pema Pera: :)
Faenik: could be
Kristen Lefevre: lol, me!
Pema Pera: gotcha!
Kristen Lefevre looks off into the void
Kristen Lefevre: what was that pill you gave me?
Pema Pera: you'll never remember . . . .
Kristen Lefevre: :-)
Vertigo Ethaniel pokes fael
Fael Illyar meeps.
Kristen Lefevre: brb, grabbing a snack
Fael Illyar: well, I'm wearing cheetah ears today :P
Pema Pera: I wonder what Faenik thinks about the new competition!
Fael Illyar: competition?
Vertigo Ethaniel: a new cat in the hood!
Pema Pera: Faenik's ears are often a topic of conversation
Pema Pera: at least by Faenik
Fael Illyar: :)
Fael Illyar 's ears raise up and look like she's listening attentively.
Pema Pera: :-)
Pema Pera: ready to pounce?
Kristen Lefevre is back
Faenik: why not?
Pema Pera: wb!
Kristen Lefevre: ty
Pema Pera: btw, on our Play as Being wiki we've been gathering excerpts of our many sessions, during the last few weeks
Pema Pera: http://playasbeing.wik.is/PaB_log_excerpts is the web site
Pema Pera: it offers a quick way to get some idea of what we're talking about here
Pema Pera: on those days that we don't talk about worms and cheetahs and such
Fael Illyar: Yes, we're on topic sometimes too :)
Pema Pera: I just noticed a new "quick peek" part that I hadn't seen yet
Kristen Lefevre: hey, can I join the group?
Kristen Lefevre: or is that just for leaders
Fael Illyar: We only have a group for Guardians.
Kristen Lefevre: ah ok
Pema Pera: yes, the guardians are the "greeters"
Pema Pera: more than "leaders"
Pema Pera: :)
Kristen Lefevre: ok, no worries
Kristen Lefevre: just wondered
Pema Pera: fine!
Pema Pera: when people come here regularly and are interested in the kind of practice we do
Pema Pera: we often ask them after a while whether they would like to join us a "guardian"
Kristen Lefevre: cool
Kristen Lefevre is eating a cherry turnover
Kristen Lefevre: well, excuse me all
Kristen Lefevre: I must attend to another affair :-)
Kristen Lefevre: it was nice as always
Fael Illyar: Ok, see you later Kristen :)
Vertigo Ethaniel: ohh
Kristen Lefevre: bye fael
Vertigo Ethaniel: bye kristen
Kristen Lefevre: bye pema, bye vertigo ;-)

After a while I noticed that my internet connection had dropped. I restarted my connection and logged out and in again into SL.

Vertigo Ethaniel: pema disappeared D:
Fael Illyar: Yes ... looks like a crash
Vertigo Ethaniel: yea... so fael, you are japanese?
Fael Illyar: No, Finnish ... well, in SL sort of Japanese :)
Vertigo Ethaniel: ahh ok
Fael Illyar: you?
Vertigo Ethaniel: im from new zealand
Fael Illyar does speak Japanese though.
Vertigo Ethaniel: and sort of japanese in SL :P
Fael Illyar: :)
Fael Illyar: wb Pema :)
Pema Pera: funny, I saw the lines spoken by others, but not by myself
Pema Pera: does that mean that you saw my lines or not, I wonder?
Fael Illyar: perhaps not
Pema Pera: Fael, could you send me the last couple minutes, while I was gone, and a bit before?
Faenik: なるほど^^
Fael Illyar: at least, I didn't see you say bye to Kristen
Fael Illyar: sure
Pema Pera: ah! Good point, I did say goodbye
Pema Pera: Vertigo, we just started talking about guardians
Fael Illyar gave you pab log portion.
Pema Pera: thanks, Fael!

I then pasted Fael's log lines into the conversation above, to keep a continuous log.

Vertigo Ethaniel: im a bit of a SL noob... im part of the Zen Retreat group... is that not the PaB group?
Vertigo Ethaniel: or am i joining something different here
Pema Pera: no, that is separate
Pema Pera: the PaB group is described on http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/
Pema Pera: and we are playing with explorations of "Being" -- hence the name Play as Being
Pema Pera: our mean form of exploring is to take those little 9-sec breaks that I'm sure you've heard us talking about
Pema Pera: once every 15 miutes or whatever you prefer
Fael Illyar: most people give the wiki link to new people nowadays.
Vertigo Ethaniel: yupyup
Pema Pera: btw, for adding you to the google group, can you give me your email address?
Vertigo Ethaniel: yes sure
Pema Pera: either one has the URL or the other
Pema Pera: http://playasbeing.wik.is/ is for the wiki
Pema Pera: The Zen Retreat group sits nearby, but that is more specifically Buddhist
Vertigo Ethaniel: i see
Pema Pera: whereas Play as Being is more general; actually several of our guardians are not particularly interested in any religion or form of spritituality, although most are
Vertigo Ethaniel: yup, understand now
Pema Pera: what is common to us is an interest in exploring reality, directly, here and now, experientially

Vertigo and Fael and I talked a bit more about PaB's guardian system, and when asked, Vertigo showed interest in becoming a guardian. A quick email discussion with the guardian group, the next day, would confirm my guess that there was a consensus to invite Vertigo as a guardian.

Pema Pera: so some come from a scientific angle, others from a philosophical one, etc
Fael Illyar is not really interested in "belonging" to a major religion or form of spirituality.
Vertigo Ethaniel: yup im very similar fael
Faenik: ah :)
Pema Pera: have you explored some forms of contemplation or meditation or the like, Vertigo?
Faenik: なるほど^^
Vertigo Ethaniel: some yes... ive done short meditation, and some other unorthodox forms of self exploration
Pema Pera: I bet not as short as our 9-seconds though :-)
Faenik: indeed?
Fael Illyar finds orthodox and unorthodox somewhat meaningless when it comes to self exploration.
Fael Illyar: you use what works for you.
Vertigo Ethaniel: no, 9 sec is fairly short alright :)
Vertigo Ethaniel: i usually go somewhere i feel at peace, like in a park, away from other people
Pema Pera: yes, that can be very inspiring
Faenik is a hairy black ball with eyes and ears.
Vertigo Ethaniel pats Faenik
Pema Pera wonders whether Faenik ever goes away from people . . .
Pema Pera: Ah, it's 6 pm here no, have to get up to get to my dinner appointment
Pema Pera: good seeing you both again!
Pema Pera: I'll get back to you in a day or so, Vertigo
Vertigo Ethaniel: good to talk to you again mate
Vertigo Ethaniel: righto
Pema Pera: bfn
Vertigo Ethaniel: and cheers for the invite too!
Pema Pera: yw!