....a second life?

I did something I told myself I wouldn't do..
I allowed a friend  to entice me to join Second Life

that's me at the empty church...it really was beautiful...the angel was amazing...

For those of you who don't know about Second Life
 and I wouldn't have if I didn't visit Alex Nobles wonderful sites to read her really, really excellent and thought provoking writing....spiritual and otherwise...
she often uses "postcards" from her travels through Second Life...
between what I've seen there and my friend's encouragement
 I decided to check it out myself.

this was fun, you know I love to dance....he sync'd us


Second Life has a zillion member created virtual worlds,
with 40,000 or so members traveling through those worlds....
I've only seen a few.

I've teleported to a meditation garden where a BIG Teddy Bear seemed to be in deep meditation...a church, not a soul around.....a couple of dance clubs..Machu Picchu, drum circles, clothing stores and bookstores, coffee houses.....a fairy crossing where I left my avatar to sleep for the night and found her the next night stripped of her clothes??
.....all but the dance clubs were virtually empty.

meditation garden


 Creativity abounds and at the moment that is my fascination....the creativity and the wonderment that people spend hours and hours and hours creating, and living in their second lives...


The Fun
When you arrive in Second Life you get to create your avatar...
the being who will live your second life..
You get a basic model and get to redo everything, eyebrows and eye color, lips and nose size, you can be a My Little Pony or a Teddy Bear, pretty much anything you can imagine.  You can lift and shape your breasts, your butt and mold your hips, flatten your tummy, lengthen or shorten your legs, arms and neck, choose your foot size, choose the style and color of your hair....or from what I can gather you can buy a 'skin' and turn yourself into a very sexy Barbie doll....it seems to be 'the look', but of course I want my own look so
one of my daughters and I created my avatar and it was quite entertaining...
endless combos and possibilities.
There seems to be no way to make yourself old...lol

...that's me in another incarnation...the hair and skirt move as though it's real...only better.


When you arrive in Second Life and are given a limited number of things, but you can shop.
So the first thing I did after trying to learn to walk
.(harder than you might think..dancing is much simpler, as is flying.  I still have the newbie 'duck walk'....not sure how you get rid of it) 
was to look for stores with free clothes...
You can buy clothes and people do use real money to buy a virtual wardrobe as well as land and homes and the things to make them livable....


All you have to do is push a button to 'teleport'' your avatar to a store or any location...
Unfortunately once she lands she has to walk.....I've walked her into walls and through walls, off of bridges and into ponds, off of cliffs.....she can fly...but flying presents landing issues...
She's landed in the ocean, flat on her face and butt first on another avatars head...
if he noticed he didn't make an issue of it...lol.
It seems opportunities to embarrass my avatar abound and there is judgement there just like in the real world.

I landed here unexpectedly....is the Universe giving me a message??


But back to shopping.....just teleport to a store.... click what you like and it goes straight to the closet or if you choose onto the avatar......for this woman who loved to play dress-up as a child, this part of Second Life is fun.


and look at this invitation....


'Afterhours at the Fitzgerald subscrib o matic' has sent you a message from Second Life:
BEATLES ENCORE @ AFTERHOURS AT THE FITZGERALD 8-10PM SLT!!!
Our SEXY DJ BRIDGIT is doing a Beatles Encore. The timeless, well-known music that we all love and brings back such wonderful memories.  Put on your finest formal wear and come join us for this great event beginning at 8pm SLT until who knows when Bridgit will stop!  The limo is running and just waiting for you to slide in for a trip to a fabulous evening with loved ones, friends, and maybe even enemies!


Now tell me that isn't tempting?...dancing the night away to the Beatles....?
but I would have to shop for a gown....

I think I found the end of the earth..


.However, fun or not, Second Life  is a real life time sucker, complicated for someone like me who has trouble with my Face Book page...
it also feels a little lonely...
my friend hasn't been there since I joined...
Second Life also feels a little sad........
but it is a curiosity...

and I feel the draw to investigate it a little more...
I'll send postcards. 
xo

.....soul sister

Sister Wind

Brother Soul

Sister Soul

Brother Wind

Where do you come from?

Where do you live?

And where do you go from here?

I can hear you Sister

I can feel you Brother

..but grasping....

you can't be held....

pasesi paeses

...happy, happy, joy, joy

   

Happy is having someone buy a Spirit Figure….a call from Timberline saying, “one of your dolls just sold to a….”  Joy is when I am actually part of the experience…when I am there to connect with the person who has connected to one of my figures…..

Joy and happiness are different.

Happy can be faked….I often put on a happy face to go out into the world…and I suppose that is a good and acceptable thing to do.  Art shows and social events are an example of putting on a happy face.  Art shows can be hard, and I’m basically a hermit so social events can leave me drained.  But I’ve also discovered a time with my happy face on can lead to happy.  A rewarding experience…faking it can lead to real moments of happiness.

But joy, joy is different. For me it is a full body thing.
Not too very long ago I visited Yosemite Park….We went to Glacier Point….maybe you’ve been there?  

It is one of those places that brings me to tears, makes me shake a little…
I can feel Spirit from my nose to my toes.  
It brings me to a place of joy even as it makes me feel so small, insignificant in my petty worries and fears,moments of loneliness….it is a release.  
And somehow it is a filling up with love...joy…an invisible connection to all that is….A recognition that we are all in this together….humans seeking connection…it is connection that brings me joy.  

Joy is the connections with others on this crazy ride..
It is when the shield between us comes down.  


Isn't it what we are all seeking, rather or not we put it into words?  
Those moments when we look into each others eyes and see that they really see us?  And we can see them?  When the soul shines through and you know you are not alone.  When you feel that trust and love of knowing we have shared experiences of life and love.  When you know for however briefly that they have experienced the same hopes, dreams and fears, joy and sadness?  The times when we know we are more alike than separate?
When you feel each others hearts?
Trust and believe.
See their truth.

Lately I’ve been doing a little experiment…I’ve been looking into peoples eyes….when I walk down the street I try to make eye contact….it’s been interesting….Some people will look away quickly…if feels almost fearful.  Some people will look but not acknowledge any change…but then there are those people who will nod or smile and there is that momentary connect…’hey, fellow human, what a journey, huh?’….
it is a little moment of joy that almost makes me skip…

And this is part of the experiment too…I’ve started to really look at those people who serve me when I go about my day.  The ones that are often invisible to me.....he cashiers and waitresses, the clerks and the service people…I've been looking in their eyes and really asking, “How are you today?”  
It’s leading to some really interesting conversations…people want to share....and I'm finding some of these people aren't at all who I thought they were.

You might ask why this experiment?  Well it is interesting, and for someone as curious about so much it engages me.  
But on a bigger scale it is connection that I see so absent in the world.  
In my view we have become a world of US and Them and until this changes there will be no peace on earth….I need to start seeing the humanity in others…having those heart to heart, eye to eye moments more often…
it brings joy. little joys can fill me up....Make it easier to find my happy face.

....flash mob

I belong to a group of four...

we are all artists...

digital collage

mixed media collage

fiber artist

and me

mixed media fiber artist

We are planning to do a four woman show next year...

We are meeting on a regular basis to explore different ways to promote ourselves and the amazing number of really phenomenal artists here in the foothills near 

Yosemite National Park

There are more of us here per capita than anywhere else in California.

We've tossed around many ideas...

and decided our first event will be a Flash Mob...

all artists and art lovers are welcome and wanted....

So please mark your calendar

come and support the arts.

You'll have a good time and so will we.

No telling who might show up to take your photo, paint your portrait, dance, play a flute, ask you to model.

and there will be food!!

See you there??

Gallery Row

north of Oakhurst  on Hwy 41

....a man??

A real woman always keeps her house clean and organized, 

the laundry basket is always empty.

 She's always well dressed, hair done. 

She never swears, and behaves gracefully in all situations and all circumstances. 

She has more than enough patience to take care of her family, 

always has a smile on her lips, and a kind word for everyone.

Post this as your status if you too, 

have just realized that you might be a man....

from  FB

I'm sorry, so sorry, please accept my apology....

I had to make an apology yesterday...

What made the apology particularly important is that I had hurt someones feelings...

it wasn't what I had said, it was my attitude, it was a lack of grace on my part....
preoccupied with my own thoughts and feelings, I displayed annoyance at the uninvited interruption.

and it caused the person I hurt to flee..

 I had time to think about how I'd behaved while I waited for my opportunity to say, 

"I'm so very sorry''   

I know enough not to do the 'I'm sorry but," apology, but I was curious about what makes an  apology a chance for growth...... what's a good apology made of...?

I found rules...
apology rules...there is an apology website...
where I found the following..


a proper apology should always include the following
..A detailed account of the situation
..acknowledgement of the hurt or damage done
..taking responsibility for the situation
..recognition of your role in the event
..a statement of regret
...asking for forgiveness
..a promise that it won't happen again
..a for of restitution whenever possible..


and some quotes

A stiff apology is a second insult. The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.

~G.K. Chesterton\

Never ruin an apology with an excuse. 

~Kimberly Johnson.

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize. 

~Walt Whitman

A good apology is like antibiotic, a bad apology is like rubbing salt in the wound.

 -Randy Pausch



and when my opportunity to make amends for my thoughtlessness came, I covered all the rules...and we both felt better....
closer
a sweeter kind of close as I listened to their expression of the experience...
and they knew I cared.
amazing how some rules work sometimes
lol


Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift. 

~Margaret Lee Runbeck

...love as the sum

Maybe that’s what it all comes down to….
love, not as a surge of passion, 

but as a choice to commit to something, someone, 
no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way….

and maybe making that choice again and again, day in and day out,

 year to year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all…

Love is the sum of our chooices, the strength of our commitments,

 the ties that bind us together…

Emily Griffin

....prayer

she  lost the boundaries between herself and the prayer.....

mixing together they became the same thing....
rather than confusing her, 

it changed her and she was never the same again. 

terri st. cloud 

be still.....

be silent

no language

be still

no movement


sister friend

bother friend

arms at sides

silent 
still

listen

put down your weapons

words and guns

wash your hands

still

silent
death
stop

be done

stop silent still


sesi paes

.....we are the possible

“A Brave And Startling Truth”
 
“We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth
And when we come to it
To the day of peacemaking
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms

We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines

When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear

When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.”

Maya Angelou
 “A Brave and Startling Truth”

....listen to Her heartbeat

from my sister friend Angela at

A note from your Mother

...rumi, the moon and me

At night, I open the window and ask the moon to come and press its face against mine.

Breathe into me

Close the language door and open the love window.

The moon won't use the door, only the window...

Rumi

...when did you stop?

‎"In some shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask six questions: 

When did you stop dancing? 

When did you stop singing?  
When did you stop believing?
When did you stop loving?

When did you stop being enchanted by stories? 

When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?" 

- Gabrielle Roth

...the verdict

I rarely turn to corporate news, Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, etc.,

 When I want to know what is going on in the world. 

I prefer to get my news via independent media...the kind with no corporate advertising, no corporate dollars attached to dictate what will get aired....

But even with a self-imposed limit to what I watch, 

I could not avoid hearing about the tragic Casey/Caylee Anthony case...

I was at Timberline helping to hang our new Yosemite show yesterday and when the verdict came in phones started to ring.  

Casey was found not guilty..

BIG news it would seem.  

Maybe the most important and life altering news of the century.

I do understand why people got caught up in this tragic tale...a beautiful little girl dead...young mom accused and found guilty in the court of public opinion,  family secrets and lies...

a real life drama with every detail on air....and if Mom didn't do it...who did?

...the drama continues....

and the news media will soak it for every sordid detail while ignoring the bigger tragedies taking place every day all around us.

I play the 'what if' game with two of my artist friends...

it is a great way to source creative energy...

we throw out everything and anything ....so

WHAT IF? 

every day for a month, a year, even a week, the news media threw out the real state of children in the world. What if every news show obsessed over every heart breaking detail of what a vast number of children experience as reality...the starvation, the abuse, the deaths at the hands of adults, at the hands of warring governments, the child sex trade, child pornography, children without clean water and healthcare, 

What if we heard the real effects of poverty on children every day...What if it was made real instead of just numbers......

Would our heads explode with the pain of it?

...with the realization we are all responsible?

Would their stories catch our interest in a way that would move us to speak out, maybe even act for change, demand it!!.....

Would we be appalled, Outraged! as so many are with the 

not guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony case?  

Would we be enraged enough to make the world governments go on trail for turning their backs on the suffering of children all over the planet? 

Would we find our compassion???

  .I wonder?

.

,,,,in dreams

In dreams we do so many things
We set aside the rules we know
And fly the world so high
In great and shining rings

If only we could always live in dreams
If only we could make of life
What, in dreams, it seems

Real World..Will Jennings;Richard Kerr

I just like it....xo