Summer, Ephemeria & Cycles

And its September once again…

Where did time go?

Summer went by like a gush of wind and all its left are the tingling sensations in your skin, memories of what you felt in that brief moment in time.

It’s back to work now. Full time. Full projects. Full schedule. Plenty of deadlines. Some projects and wishes too. Fall is nearing by, with leafs lavishing the ground and stripping down the trees for the cold weather that starts to blow over us. Summer’09 is nearly a memory of the past. Good memories. Very good indeed.

Sure… the wall isn’t painted yet…

Sure… it was not enough…

Of course it could have been more…

But it was unique alright. And for that a treasure to keep.

Perhaps the end was more nostalgic then I wished it to be so. But in perspective it was inevitable to feel blue with the days passing and the realization of what was to come clearer every day.

It’s now over an year that Pumpkin & I met in-world. Over an year since we hooked up unofficially… and 53 weeks since we officially partnered inworld. That’s a whole year plus some spare days. It doesn’t feel like that long… but it also feels like it has been like that since ever.

We ended up hardly doing anything to celebrate the day with all the blues hitting us with the incoming summer vacations end… it was a pity actually… we did spend a hell of a great Summer and even feeling like an ephemera sensation, it marks a point in time I’m proud of.

Let’s see what time will hold for us in the meantime…

Afterall, from what I’ve heard… each year that goes by tends to hold an individual package of Summer inside.

Summer’s Almost Gone – The Doors

Summer’s almost gone,
Summer’s almost gone,
Almost gone,
Yeah, it’s almost gone.
Where will we be
When the summer’s gone?

Morning found us calmly unaware,
Noon burned gold into our hair,
At night we swam at laughin’ sea
When summer’s gone, where will we be?
Where will we be?
Where will we be?

Morning found us calmly unaware,
Noon burned gold into our hair,
At night, we swam at laughin’ sea
When summer’s gone, where will we be?

Summer’s almost gone,
Summer’s almost gone.
We had some good times,
But they’re gone,
The winter’s comin’ on,
Summer’s almost gone.

Wall of Life

I don’t know much about art. I either like it or I don’t. That’s it essentially. Pollock’s paintings (above and below) are, from what I’ve gathered the subject of high praise and much debated arguments on whether that is art or just blots of paint on a canvas that a monkey could do too. Of course… there’s the argument that a monkey could indeed do art too which would raise quite a few interesting questions, but that’s not my point.

Personally… On the surface I don’t see much on these painting. Reading a book that by chance brought these painting in to discussion made me curious about them and somehow open my eyes to look at them with a different perspective.

No… I don’t see a pink elephant blissfully jumping from lily-pad to lily-pad on these, not no ulterior interpretation of Humanity struggle to overcome their meaningless trifling. It does however makes me wonder about time and life.

I often used to see the World in a stylized black and white painting. Good and Evil. Right or Wrong. Yay or Nay. Eh… so much for those simple times. Now its all a blur of grays. Hard to see where Pure White or Pure Black exist… they might be there, maybe I just need to look harder… maybe not.

Time on the other hand. Well… it keeps running. You may have noticed it yourself. Were I a super-hero (or villain) and had the possibility to choose my special power I would pick the power to stop or manipulate time. Just the idea of being able to freeze a moment in time… *sigh*… it would be indescribable.

Problem is, that’s not the way the game’s played. You’re thrown in to the deep end and the clock is ticking. Sure, you’ll make bad decisions, you’ll never grasp the bigger picture, you’ll miss important events or hints that flash by you. Opportunities are flying by you as you go… You either grasp them or you don’t… You might do well… you might end up worst…

Is there a pause? Is there a goal? Is there a pattern we’re missing? Am I missing it? Or is it not there, everywhere we look?

Hmmm… I can almost feel that I can grasp it (whatever it may be) sometimes. I never can though, at least so far. I doubt I ever will. I could keep making plans, re-assecing opinions, decisions, objectives and so on… where would I end up? Eh… I think John said it right in one simple sentence:

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

So I look again at these apparently confusing paintings and I wonder again: Are they random burst of a mad man delusion… or are they just a depiction of the nature of time and life? Yes.. it looks chaotic, its erratic and extremely complex. However… it somehow works. There’s order within the chaos. There’s beauty even.

Guess we just don’t see the bigger picture.

But… if we did…

Would we understand it and appreciate it?

Sci-Fi and Fantasie Grid Wide Hunt… yeah right…

I’m not one to normally trash other people’s work… unless it really does annoy me, but this so called “Sci-Fi” and “Fantasie” Grid Wide Hunt… c’mon, you got to be kidding me!!!

Science fiction is a genre that involves (amongst many other things) the impact of scientific developments in society, which leads to such brilliant things as robots taking over Humanity, space ships, time-travel, aliens and so many other things…

Fantasy is even more broader (even Science fiction is a type of fantasy), though its generally used to coin a particular genre of fantastic medieval stories, ussualy involving dragons, fairies, knights, sorcerers and so on…

THIS hunt… well… it is Fiction alright… but not Science nor Fantasy.

Truth be told I’ve only been to 1/3 of the locations… so there’s hope an actual Sci-fi or Fantasy store may pop up… (Ok… I’ve seen 2 or 3 sort of sci-fi stores already … out of 30!!) But really… couldn’t they choose a PROPER name for a hunt instead of a misleading name?

*sigh*

With so many great fantasy & science fiction stores in SL… how did they come up with *these* … places? Seriously… It’s awful… avoid it. Unless you’re hunt addict and you have done ALL the other hunts going on this month…. and even so… hmmm, I’d give it a second thought.

So I’ve sayeth.

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PS: in case you still want to check it, you might want to check out Lexi Vargas blog, where he’s been compiling a hint list for this particulary hunt.

Virtual Dreams aren’t just made of pixels

A rendering of virtual personas or a projection of real emotions?

I have little doubts about it.

Changing Tides

Life is full of changes. I end up undergoing a few even if I claim not to enjoy change that much. In the past weeks… well, two months almost since my last post, many changes took place, small or not so small, who can tell? I’d been eager to write but failed to find time or inspiration to do so, so… this will end up short but at least it will come out, as a smoke sign that this blog is still kicking… or at least dragging itself

Anyway, I went to watch Carmina Burana a few weeks ago. It was nice and a differente evening. You can hear the full concert (from another orquestra & choir & location) below.

- Lyrics here -

Besides that… well… life takes its turns, that’s for sure. Some we have no power over them, other we do. After over 13 months working at Sweethearts Jazz Club in SL I gave up my job as a host there (I was one of the oldest ones still working there). It was kind of sad and I’d been dragging that decision over and over… but eventually it was the right thing to do. It no longer felt like fun and only as work for me lately. I didn’t like that. When I first started there, the money was much less and I worked much longer hours… but it ended up being more rewarding. This of course is also due to my own personality I guess, ‘cuz I tend to prefer small intimate places other then large big and crowded venues. Plus, my RL work was cramping me free time and it was a constant struggle to get home and spend two hours there when I had so much else to do.

*Sigh*

Anyway… I’ve met lots of interesting people working there at Sweethearts. Made a few friends. Learned a few things. About me… about others. It was a worthwhile experience… and looking back, I feel much more relieved having left it. I wasn’t doing a great job anymore, just punching the card and the keyboard… new blood will surely do a better job then I was doing in these final months I worked there.

Aside from that FreeLife Magazine has been on a way extended hiatus for… pfff…. way too long. Not that I would have much time to write from them though Yet, I miss writing for them. It was such a cool experience… oh well, like the opening from Carmina Burana says… “O Fortuna, like the moon, you are changeable, ever waxing and waning;” Such is one’s life, new things arriving, old ones vanishing… eh…

Hmmm…. anyway talking about RL, a few twists and turns happen there too.

I got my own car now Its neat. Still getting used to the idea though. My personal life is also taking unexpected steps forward… never thought I’d be where I am right now an year ago. Eh… an year ago. Time’s funny. How all the dates, celebrations and events seem to blend in to a collective memory, distorting time and our perception of it… Summer’s here. That’s for sure. Where we’ll we been in one year’s time? Pfff…. I can’t even begin to guess…

Such is life… one day at a time and each day seems shorter and shorter. Can’t get enough time to do all I wanted to do. Maybe I just need to organize myself a little better. Grow up a little more perhaps. Live a little more… eh… many things have happen, I just didn’t wrote them…

Anyway… Hope I can get back in to a more regular posting scheme

Cheers

הללויה

On SL Partnership Proposal Limitations

I claim to be a somewhat romantic person.

Of course that is open to discussion by those that suffer the consequences of my romanticism (or lack of it) so I won’t diddle about it much more then that. But asides from that small matter… one has tickled me for quite some time and I’ve been holding this thought in my mind for quite a bit.

In Second Life people can get partnered with another avatar.

Meaning something from being a casual couple, boyfriends, a couple, a married couple, fuck partner, soul mates, master/slave… heck, who knows what else? For me, it means that the other person is not just a friend anymore, it has grown way past that, and the two of us have become romantically involved… which in time can lead to share more and more things, living together and just let your imagination flow…

Anyway, my rant is about the process of asking for a Partnership in SL !

Sure, you can plan an all grand display of affection in-world for the big moment and ask your to-be partner the big question, or go for a intimate and felt display of emotion… either way, to make it official you need to inform (and pay a small amount) to Linden Labs so they can add the new information to both your profiles stating to the Metaverse that the two of you are now partners, for good or for worst !!

So… what goes wrong?

No, its not the amount you have to pay, its actually a quite symbolic payment you have to pay (10L$ each)… What goes wrong, and displays an apparent lack of romance flair from LL, is:

The amount of characters you can put in your partnership proposal !!

Yep. That’s true. You’re limited in space (and quite so I must add) to what you can say to your beloved one to ask her/him/it if they would like to partner with yourself. Having used that lovely form myself, that you need to fill in to become partners in Second Life, I’ve ended up battling with my own words and inspiration to find a way to say all that I wanted in such a crumpled little space.

I ended up just proposing with a teaser, and sending her a notecard with the full version later on.

It’s annoying to be cramped up in space when you wanna express your feelings. Feelings are hard to squeeze in to just a few words since they surpass simple words so easyly… maybe its just my verbosity, I dunno. I just can’t understand what’s the technical impairment of adding larger limits to a form that it is just used to send that very same text to the other persons’ email. C’mon…. it’s an e-mail, its not like you’re going to pay extra money for crossing the 1000 words per email… *mumbles a bit*

If not enough… you can’t access your proposal after sending it!!

GAH!!! Ok, maybe its just a pet peeve of mine, but I like to keep records of my things, things I wrote, things I’ve read and enjoyed, things with sentimental value… yeah, so I like to keep records of that, call me crazy. But noooo… you can’t access your proposal after hitting the send button. You DO get a lovely reply back (if your proposal is accepted, otherwise it might not be so lovely) from your loved one. And yes, that one I can safely keep in my email… but frankly: couldn’t they just add a tiny feature for you to recall it out too?

All I ask is:

• Increase the text space in the Partnership Proposal Form (we’re trying to propose for crying out loud!!)

and

• Don’t throw it to the trash (let us keep it for memory lane ! Please?)

Sincerely, one passionate SL Avatar

My Career Path

Snagged from Summer’s Blog

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The Dewey Color System® is the world’s first and only validated, color-based personality career testing instrument. Based on our experience and your interests, your best suited occupations are listed below.
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Best Occupational Category
You’re a CREATOR
Key Words:
Nonconforming, Impulsive, Expressive, Romantic, Intuitive, Sensitive, and Emotional

These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or places where they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas.

CREATOR OCCUPATIONS
Suggested careers are Advertising Executive, Architect, Web Designer, Creative Director, Public Relations, Fine or Commercial Artist, Interior Decorator, Lawyer, Librarian, Musician, Reporter, Art Teacher, Broadcaster, Technical Writer, English Teacher, Architect, Photographer, Medical Illustrator, Corporate Trainer, Author, Editor, Landscape Architect, Exhibit Builder, and Package Designer.

CREATOR WORKPLACES
Consider workplaces where you can create and improve beauty and aesthetic qualities. Unstructured, flexible organizations that allow self-expression work best with your free-spirited nature.

Suggested Creator workplaces are advertising, public relations, and interior decorating firms; artistic studios, theaters and concert halls; institutions that teach crafts, universities, music, and dance schools. Other workplaces to consider are art institutes, museums, libraries, and galleries.
2nd Best Occupational Category
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You’re an ORGANIZER
Key Words:
Self-Control, Practical, Self-Contained, Orderly, Systematic, Precise, and Accurate

These conservative appearing, plotting-types enjoy organizing, data systems, accounting, detail, and accuracy. They often enjoy mathematics and data management activities such as accounting and investment management. Persistence and patience allows them to do detailed paperwork, operate office machines, write business reports, and make charts and graphs.

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Like Summer did I also found it quite interesting and suprisingly results arrising from an apparently unrelated test. Kinky how these things work… You could be surprised with the results. And its quite easy and fast to do!

Anyway, check Summer’s Blog or just follow the direct link here

My Personality

I’ve found this on someone else’s blog, can’t remember which one (sorry ’bout that), and I followed the link and ended up doing my own personality profile as well.

I have to admit I never was one to appreciate psychology that much, but I’ve been noticing over the years that they do have some interesting tools and do get some interesting results with them. This, well… this is a generic tool, but its impressive how you can relate so much with the final results and how other people perceive likewise with those same characteristics.

You can do your own test by signing for free in here – www.mypersonality.info – It’s free and easy enough to do, try it out !!

It’s interesting to do this. Of course you don’t get YOUR personality profile in my opinion, but you do get the profile of the personality you think YOU have… others that know you closely enough should be the judges as to if this is accurate to the person they imagine you to be (hence, another subjective analysis).

That’s the quirky thing about these tests. Subjectivity. They aren’t possible to do without it. Their results depend on the taker’s honesty and understanding of his own personality, and on the reader’s own gullibility to believe in the honesty of the test result and they’re own understanding of the taker’s personality, which, once again, is often due to subjectivity, given the background knowledge they have of each other. Curious topic never the less.

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Anyway… I’m an Introvert person, that’s for sure. Always been, though I’m slightly changing over the years. And though in occasions I can take the role of the group’s clown, I’m an introvert person at hearth no matter what.

Between Sensing and Intuition, things get very tricky, though I agree with the global overview on the final result… yet, depending on where I take the test (ie: in other websites for instances) I tend to get slight different results. Most commonly I tend to shift between an INFP and an ISFP (which tend to be somewhat similar in my opinion though). Which is interesting since I feel I hone characteristic from both intuition and sensing spheres…

Thinking vs Feeling though… eh, this one knocks me out actually. I’m always get the Feeling person result. This is quite odd since I tend to see myself as a logical person most of the times, plus, working as a wanna-be scientist I do tend to act and think, once again, that I’m more on the thinking side then on the feeling side… yet, the more I take different variants of this test I always fall on the Feeling sphere, even if with not very preeminent results. Guess its partially a mix, though more geared to feelings then thinking…

Finally, Perceiving. Another one I keep getting the same result over and over… Yet again, I feel that its also a mix of both sides, though shifted to the P side of it… maybe its just my name. ehehh…

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What about your personality?

(no words needed)

Once a Single Man’s Dream…

…And 45 Years Later…

Kind of gives you hope doesn’t it?