b. Xirana Oximoxi

Xirana Oximoxi

Xirana and I met at her studio. It was a real treat sneaking looks at her art on display as we talked. First we get settled in. 

Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): hello!! :-) welcome :)
Adams Rubble: thank you
Adams Rubble: Good to see you :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): good to see you too :)
Adams Rubble: nice place you have
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): if you like here is ok...but if you prefer another place it's also ok for me
Adams Rubble: and a very pretty dress :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): ty :)
Adams Rubble: this is great. where should we sit?
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): do you like it here?
Adams Rubble: yes

I ended up in a seating posture that had my feet on her chair.

Adams Rubble: whoops
Adams Rubble: excuse my shoes
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): we can chose
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): why? what happens with your shoes...they look nice with you outfit
Adams Rubble: my shoes are on your chair
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): ahhh no problem.... there is also an animation with the shoes on the table ....not very polite, but I am not the creator
Adams Rubble: :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): :)
Adams Rubble: I will keep them on the chair :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): perfect :)
Adams Rubble: :)

Having finished with my shoes, I ask my first questions about Xirana's finding of, and introduction to, PaBPlay as Being

Adams Rubble: OK here goes
Adams Rubble: The first question is a multi-part query as way of introduction. How did you discover Play as Being? When did you come to a PaB session? What made you come back after your first session? When did you become a guardian?

Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): I discovered Play as Being thanks to Yaku. We usually met at a German chat, he told me about the group and invited me to come. I found it interesting to have a place to discuss about so different topics related to life in general and also to talk about more daily matters. I also found it amazing to be meeting and talking with interesting people from around the world just sitting in front of my computer.

There were also art proposals and, thanks to Sunshine and her building classes, I learned a bit more how to create with the tools of SL, so I came quite oft to the meetings and finally one day I received an invite from Eliza to become a ‘guardian’.  I don’t remember exactly when, but it was probably around 5 or 6 years ago.

Adams Rubble: We are fortunate you found PaB :)
Adams Rubble: Was Pema still here when you arrived?
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): yes...he welcomed me in private email too, if I am not wrong :)
Adams Rubble: :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): there were a lot of things to discover about what the group is and how it works...I remember reading quite a few chat logs and other parts of the wiki
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): it gives a breath to understand what we are talking or doing...to be more aware of it
Adams Rubble: yes, exactly

Xirana's name

Adams Rubble: May I ask the significance of your choice of the name Xirana?
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): well...it comes from my dog...she is called Xira. When I subscribed to SL I had not thought about a special name to be used here, I did not know all what SL can be
Adams Rubble: :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): I mean, how it becomes part of our rl too
Adams Rubble: yes
Adams Rubble: funny how that ends up
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): but I don't mind identifying with my dog...:)
Adams Rubble: :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): :)

Back to PaB

Adams Rubble: What is the most important aspect of PaB to you?

Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): The most important aspect of PaB for me is the group. I learn from them. It’s a large group and I don’t know most of the guardians, but I feel a very special friendship with the ones that I have met more oft and with whom I have talked and shared more activitites. Also, I think that, in general, people are very respectful with different points of view, a behaviour I do appreciate as a way to enrich the group.

Adams Rubble: I asked the guardians who had an earlier interview what they learned from Pema or other guardians. Do you have any favorite things you learned that you might like to share?

Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): well....at the moment I don't find easy to answer this question..but I would say that  all things related to meditation were not usual for me, and I found the 9 second pause rule interesting...even if I don't practice it

Adams Rubble: sadly for Pema none of us have managed to keep up the 9 seconds

I have always found Xirana to be a well-grounded person in our sessions so I ask Xirana a question about this

Adams Rubble: Where do you find your inner peace?

Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): I live in a very quiet place surrounded by nature. I enjoy walking with my dogs every morning and every afternoon. Things like taking care of my mother, who has Alzheimer's, makes me feel how fragile is our life, how silly we behave most of the time and how we waste so much time with worries about things that are not really important. I am able to appreciate small things in all senses and I think I am not pushed by the pressure of our main society values, like success and money.

Adams Rubble: Thank you
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): you're very welcome :)
Adams Rubble: It is so hard for many people to slow down and appreciate what is around them
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): yes...and specially if you live in an environment that does not help at all
Adams Rubble nods
Adams Rubble: Did you always live in a rural area; you seem so cosmopolitan :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): my parents come from a rural area, I've been always fond of livign there....I lived in Barcelona too, but came back to the country as soon as possible
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): or to be more exact, when I lost a job and had to start a new way in my life
Adams Rubble: ohhh, sorry you lost your job
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): no problem Adams, it was good for me
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): I started studying again and painting and so on
Adams Rubble: Is that when you decided to become an artist?
Adams Rubble: ahh, you answered before I asked :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): I decided to be more professional, but I've been always painting
Adams Rubble: :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): :-)

Art and PaB

Adams Rubble: Does PaB affect your art or does art affect your PaB?

Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): Some art projects have been suggestive and inspiring for me and as I consider that my experiences in SL are also RL experiences, and my art comes from all of them, my answer to the first part of this question is yes.

Related to second part of the question, art is also the cause I come less to SL. At the moment I am more concentrated in learning how to draw comic strips and new ways of ‘telling stories’, so it also affects my PaB.

If I understand ‘Play as Being’ not just related to the group but also related to the way I am, the answer will be ‘yes’ too. Creativity for me is a circular process, it gets its fuel from experiences and emotions but at the same time, when you try to draw them, the drawings, sketches, or colours you are using, open and suggest new ways to explore.

Adams Rubble: I like the idea of the circular process
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): it really is
Adams Rubble: Pema used to talk about the circular process of our explorations
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): nice
Adams Rubble: each time around we understand a little better
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): and I remember also when he wrote his book about time...we talked in a session about the 'circular time' ..as some cultures understand it
Adams Rubble: oh yes
Adams Rubble: we all experience that in the seasons
Adams Rubble: and every day too :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): yes, exactly...but we usually see 'time' as something linear
Adams Rubble nods
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): it's a cultural matter :)
Adams Rubble: Sometimes political stuff interferes with our view of how the linear is supposed to go :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): yes! That too! :)

Changes in PaB and Second Life

Adams Rubble: Have you noticed changes in Play as Being in the past two years?

Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): I think some changes have happened. There are less fewer people coming. I also I think that people prefer to come to special events or activities. I am not sure if it is just my feeling because I do participate less too, so maybe I am wrong.

Adams Rubble: Yes, fewer people are active in PaB and in SL too for that matter
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): Yes..I agree, it is general to SL.
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): A lot of artists I usually met are not more here...some have emigrated to other 3D Worlds, more cheap than SL..
Adams Rubble: Yes, so may people have moved on

Projects

Adams Rubble: I know you did a beautiful pavilion design. What other projects have you worked on in the past two years in Second Life.

Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): I’ve been doing exhibits of my paintings regularly and lately, as I‘ve started to write and draw children’s books, I’ve also made some presentations of the books in SL. I do also participate in Art projects of a German Group I usually go to. The last project is called ‘Traume Bauen’ (Building Dreams). My work for the project tries to represent the fragility of dreams, but also the need to persist in the struggle to achieve them, related to a dream of a world in peace.

Adams Rubble: That sounds interesting
Adams Rubble: The dream of world peace seems a bit like a collective dream, is that what you mean?
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): yes...it is a group that organises great activitites too...and I like the openings because each artists talk about his work...not like other openings where the gallerists tries to attract people with a concert
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): yes...it is my dream too, but it is a collective dream
Adams Rubble: The best way to achieve I guess is if we all dream together :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): yes...dreaming together can make it strong and is the only way
Adams Rubble: To paraphrase Bob Dylan, you can have peace in my dream if I can have peace in your dream :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): very nice quote :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): it's like Ubuntu too...I learned it in PaB with Sunshine..."I am because you are"
Adams Rubble: :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): we need each other to be...or differently said...we are our connections :)
Adams Rubble: yes, all connected
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): all people that share some feelings and believes
Adams Rubble: as Buddhists say, we all want to be happy--we just need to learn a skillway to do it and that is compassion for others
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): ah yes...I remember a session with Storm explaining to me how to understand 'compassion'  :)
Adams Rubble: :)

Adams Rubble: I have been enjoying your peacocks and butterflies :)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): :) I am glad you enjoy them :)

I always like to give people a chance to ask their own question

Adams Rubble: What question did I not ask that you would have asked yourself?
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): I am still looking for the answer to this question! :-)
Adams Rubble: heh heh
Adams Rubble: I understand.
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): :)
Adams Rubble: Let's turn it around
Adams Rubble: do you have any questions you want to ask me?
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): it is not a question....but a 'constatación' ...I think PaB is also thanks to you and the way to treat every guardian, your interest and your kindness :-)
Adams Rubble: awww, thank you

A Nice Gesture  and an Impromptu Spanish Lesson

Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): (I look for 'constatar'...moment)
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): (I can not find the correct translation for 'constatar'...but I want to mean..I have noticed, felt..I am aware of...)
Adams Rubble puts down her Spanish dictionary. Would a way of saying it in English be "comment"
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): constatar= to check
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): but we use it in a kind of metaphorical way...
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): I try to say..that I have felt your interst in all guardians, your interest in what we do...and that's a very important point to feel part of the group too
Adams Rubble: It is very kind of you to say that, Xirana
Xirana (xirana.oximoxi): I say it because I feel it :)
Adams Rubble: You have added much to the group and I would be foolish except to treat you with the respect you deserve :

With that we wished each other well and departed into our respective (linear/circular/other) time zones.

(Note four of the photos were taken by me and two by Xirana)