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Million Happy Endings

~ a sometimes intrepid exploration of a virtual world

Million Happy Endings

Tag Archives: life

Blessed Thanksgiving

24 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by riverpearl in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Heterocera, life, Second Life, Thanksgiving, The Atoll, Trainwatchers Station

trainwatchers-station_005

May you have a blessed Thanksgiving if you celebrate it and a blessed day if you do not. Today’s photos were taken at Trainwatcher’s Station, a 512 plot on the Atoll, which exhibits a wonderful spirit that can still be found on the mainland.

From the land description: “For stranded train travelers. To rest, eat, read, wash up and hang your clothes to dry.”trainwatchers-station_002

Trainwatchers Station is in Taeniatum at the location of the previous Trainwatchers Cafe.

In the real world, we’re supposed to have freedom of speech here in the US. That’s one of the reasons people publicly air their lists of grievances. Most of us are becoming aware that things need to change; many of us have known for decades. trainwatchers-station_003

Having endured long term injustices and intense, relentless suffering or simply being ignored too often and too long, it’s challenging for many to temper their speech.

Every which way I turn, there’s someone on social media or in the news who doesn’t know me as an individual, who would likely never have a care or thought about me, who is including me in some blanket statement about people of my gender, race, nationality, generation, sexual orientation, spiritual outlook, “social class”, education level, general political outlook and ability, etc.

After a while it becomes an annoying, saddening, slimy, droning background static.trainwatchers-station_006I have been treated badly and unfairly by all sorts of people. For me personally, most of it has been about my mystery illness which is mostly due to pesticides, heavy metals, viruses and trauma. We live in a world where if someone hasn’t experienced something, it doesn’t exist. It’s so easy to make judgments about someone’s character when there are unknown reasons for apparent behaviors.trainwatchers-station_007My approach is to not deny what is happening, to take responsibility as best I can, to live my life as though it matters, to work for societal and cultural change and to regard and treat others with respect and kindness. I tend to walk away when someone right in front of me doesn’t see or hear me as an individual, won’t get their face out of their electronics or their head out of their ass or obliviously stumbles through their life in a bubble. I don’t know what brought them to that point and I don’t have the energy to work at it.

Second Life ~ where you can bathe while washing your clothes and wave at passing train riders or empty trains.

Second Life ~ where you can bathe while washing your clothes and wave at passing train riders or empty trains.

In our virtual world, when I’m feeling well enough, I like to keep an open mind about people. I have met some lovely avatars here as well as some boors, perverts, emotional vampires, spiritual zombies and those who have no concept of equal footing and sharing. I strive to avoid being unkind and to walk away quickly; I don’t know why and how the human behind the avatar has arrived at that point.

I continue to mostly enjoy SL as a creative outlet no matter how many arrogant, stuck-up, snobby, disparaging, condescending avatars sling around words like “less than stellar, mediocre, monstrosity and the like. I have no intention of slinking away and hiding my learning and experimentation.

Creativity isn’t only for real life professional artists, people with art degrees, people with high end computers, those who work in the tech industry and those who are (at the moment) physically, mentally, emotionally and financially somewhat whole and stable.

Circumstances can change rapidly. A person or one of their loved ones can reach the threshold of their personal rain-barrel effect on this poisoned planet.  trainwatchers-station_009Again, whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, have a blessed day. Keep smiling when you can, keep making stuff and sharing it and please be kind and patient.

Seasons Greetings

25 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by riverpearl in Second Life, secondlife, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Calas Galadhon, life, virtual destinations

Calas Christmas_01Happy Holidays to all, however you may celebrate. Photo taken at Calas Galadhon.

Shhhh….

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by riverpearl in Second Life, secondlife

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Tags

life

EI_10_09_003I’m laughing at my human. She’s been quite busy this past week. She automatically does the SLT + 1 time thing for what I want to do but has also done that more than once for her own first life activities recently. Known for her promptness and attention to not being late for others, she’s in no way wanting to explain the real reason for her lapses.

Writing in a Virtual World

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by riverpearl in Second Life, Virtual Worlds

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life, Story Telling, Writing, writing

sitting on the porch, listening to the crickets and chickens

sitting on the porch, listening to the crickets and chickens

A spiral notebook and a gel pen are my favorites for writing. Another favorite is going to an empty sim with streaming music that I like, writing in chat and copy/pasting to a document that I can clean up later. It’s even better when there are ambient sounds, as in this location that has crickets, a rooster and ducks among other things.

Milestone

30 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by riverpearl in Life, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

blogging, Health, life

Pearl needs some rest.

This is the 183rd post in a row on this blog. Every day for the last six months something has been posted and I’ve learned things and enjoyed some of the other  blogs here.

I’ve decided to skip the month of December. When I began blogging I wasn’t sure if I would stay with it but I’m believing I’ll be back in January. I’ll still be reading here and I want to spend more time inworld than I have been lately.

I’m going to be doing another intense round of physical therapy and there are nervous system things involved. What this means is that I’ll be wanting to sleep a lot more and so I must and so I shall.

This is a special time of year for reflection and focusing on family and loved ones. Of course that is great for all the time but I find constant focus on anything to be tiring these days and compartmentalizing and containerizing is working better for the time being. I digress on something I don’t care at all to explain.

Taking a break from my blog is a good thing as is just playing in SL. I’ll see you around.

Lost Paradise; World Number 3 For Me

29 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by riverpearl in Life, Uncategorized, Virtual Worlds

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

life, Lost Paradise, Writing, writing

Found Myself in Hampton Woods

I first read about Lost Paradise world on Daniel Voyager’s blog and I see it was rated #1 in something or other of the opensim worlds. Last week I set up an account and my avatar’s name is Wren Grey, just as the one in Island Oasis.

Somehow I have the Imprudence viewer for this world and now when I click on SLurls here on the blogs to go into Second Life, Imprudence shows up. I use the LL viewer for Second Life and also have the Island Oasis viewer. It’s difficult for me to figure things out and often I just click wildly on things and hope something good happens.

Lost Paradise looks very neat and tidy and is a good build. I joined the day of their first birthday and they were recovering from griefers so things weren’t quite settled   at the time. I’ve gone back to explore a few times and everything is OK except for that my AO doesn’t work. I’ve tried several copies of it and really am not up for figuring it out but it does bother me to have that noob waddle.

In SL I’m used to buying hair, right-clicking on wear and it goes right on my skull. In this world I had to select where it goes instead of having it in my hand. I’m just saying this is the sort of thing I’ve been messing around with. I actually lost my beginning hair, which I liked. Now I have hair which is better than what is shown in the photo above.

I’ve only talked to one other resident and that was the owner who is kind and helpful as I stood there bald at the time. I didn’t ask for help because I often don’t quite understand quickly.

I can only speculate as to what this world is about and I’m guessing that most people join because they know others who have. Or maybe they just want a very private place to live; there’s a huge prim allowance that comes with land rental. There will likely be some photos here in the future when I do some exploring.

This thing is finally done:

Of course it is dreadful and no one will ever see it. What I’ve learned is that it would be better for me to write short stories for awhile instead of a novel. Also that I need a refresher course in sentence structure and other writing basics. Knowing I have a unique perspective feels good but I have trouble expressing it clearly. Then there’s the thing with my short-term memory and also my short-term memory. I’m kind of kidding about that.

Better Yet…….

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by riverpearl in Second Life, Virtual Worlds

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

life

…..take care of yourselves.

 

Changes Behind the Scenes

17 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by riverpearl in Life, Second Life, Uncategorized, Virtual Worlds

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

awareness, Consciousness, life

Sometimes you just don’t have all the information and you have to be patient.

 

Samsara ~ A Subjective Film Review

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by riverpearl in Life, Uncategorized

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Consciousness, Entertainment, films, life, Reviews, Samsara

Pearl visiting a beautiful home in Second Life which has nothing to do with this real world film.

Last Friday I went to see Samsara, a film by the creators of Baraka which you might  have heard of. Our real, human world looks more amazing and unusual that the virtual world of Second Life sometimes.

I loved this film. It was about an hour and half and seemed longer, in a good way. There’s no narrative with the original music and shows stunning images from all over the globe. It was shot with 65mm film according to the actual movie; the website says 70mm. Shot in twenty five countries over a period of five years, it screened at Sundance last year and is in select theaters now. I saw it in a small art house theater; it must be even more awesome on a bigger screen.

There were unusual things I found beautiful, things I was surprised that I wasn’t disturbed by and I had to examine my feelings about quite a lot of it. It isn’t judgmental and while everything looks artistic it isn’t all pretty.

The natural world shown is beautiful, of course. Some of the areas of civilization that have been affected by natural disasters some time ago and have not been reclaimed are eerily beautiful, interiors frozen in time. I was particularly moved by an old house that was partially filled with silt and sand.

There are people in the film, often staring right at the camera for a long time, mostly unblinking and unsmiling. I don’t know how the creators were allowed to film some of what is shown.  There are amazing shots of ancient, sacred places with modern buildings having satellite dishes nearby. There are shots of crowded, poverty stricken areas with luxury high rise condos next to them, pools on each  balcony.

Many of the beginning scenes have a timeless feel and then there are more images of modern humanity rushing about in a very patterned and creative way, all set to music that is kind of hypnotic. I noticed that I wasn’t feeling too awful about that but the people were beginning to seem….less human. The life-like Asian robots were a little creepy and I began to be on guard somewhat. Then came the scenes in modern factories, food production in poultry, dairy and other meat plants, all looking choreographed and set to music.

There ares scenes of workers in what looks to be a sulfur mine, ladyboys in Thailand and poor, young children sorting through mountains and mountains of disgusting trash, all non-narrated and with the wonderful, original music. Responsibility and awareness regarding interpretation seem to be required of the viewer, which I like.

One of the most amazing scenes to me was a huge group of prison inmates doing a dance routine in the yard. Another was of African villagers that looked as though they’re from another time with traditional huts, all the paint and body modifications yet some are posed with guns–men, women and children.

The military scenes are sobering as are young men on guard duty with clenched fists.

The cinematography is amazing and I was reminded of the wide diversity of expression in this world. Humans seemed to be more fragile and temporary in these settings yet I wasn’t really disturbed or feeling burdened by the time the film was over. A woman near me said that we’re doomed but I didn’t see it that way at all. Likely everyone will have a different perceptions and I can see that this isn’t for everyone. I’m pleased that I got to see this.

A neighbor and I were talking this weekend about the film Cloud Atlas. He made a remark about how intelligent and deep I must be (he didn’t seem to be sarcastic) because I get something other than confusion from these kinds of films. There are many kinds of intelligence and tastes in the world and since I’m trying to not be overly critical of myself I didn’t tell him about how hard it was for me to figure out how to clean the different filters on my new vacuum cleaner.

Second Life Peace Weekend and Spirit Fair 2012

22 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by riverpearl in Life, Second Life, Uncategorized

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Tags

Consciousness, life, spirituality

“Join the celebrations at the three-day International Peace Event at Nirvana Island, held the weekend of September 21–23. Over 40 spiritual organizations, musicians and performers will gather on Nirvana Island in a celebration of peace and unity in honor of the United Nations International Day of Peace, which is a day devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.”

I went for awhile on Friday. There are lots of notecards offered on first arrival. It was pleasing to me that some of the information was available in Arabic, French, Russian, German, Italian and Spanish.

There was a disconnect for me between the mood I was in and the presentations. This fair is listed in the Featured Events and there were several noobs with starter avatars bumping into me and greeting me with “hiiiiiiiii”. I found I needed to ignore them. /me sighs.

Things aren’t always easy.

There was obviously a lot of work, thought and collaboration put into this. If you’re curious about spiritual things there are resources here to point you in directions in a kind of SL way.

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Pearl Grey

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riverpearl

Pearl Grey is an avatar in virtual reality

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