Can't We Change?

I made a giant cookie jar right next to my friend's giant tea party. Is that a good thing? (^_^)y

Translation please....?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jig- I don't understand... Why would you complain about content and lack of creativity? Creativity here is where ever you turn. You yourself have beautiful art galleries - we do wonderful things here everyday- The Cancer donations thing going on right now, the social interaction, the building - the chance to meet people (hello!!! Introspective now- ) people you would never have had the opportunity to encounter. The personal growth enabled by SL is monumental - yes there is tons of inanities - but it is part of the human equation.

Even mangled posts like the one above have some meaning if one takes the time to ferret it out. And as far as the undying Thread - there is a lot of silliness but there is even a bit of content - and large helpings of not so pg mild erotica to boot- oh yeas - and boots - point is, it is a great representation of our collective imaginings as well.

Jig, if you need a fresh shot of difference to improve SL for you recently- try something different. I needed a new thing lately- some of the shine had worn off.. trying that now- when RL gets dull you don't crawl back into bed and give up- you find a new direction. Lots of us here have directions. Others are here for a good time- different strokes for different folks.

Did I ever say welcome home, Jig?
Your questions and posts always make us think.

Is there something wrong with suburbia? Last night at home, I met the people who are building a house behind mine. My neighbor was with us and we spent about an hour talking about nothing and everything and trying to finish off my home brewed beer -- my keg-fridge died sometime while I was in Canada, oh well. Tonight we are having a block party. The smokers were already going when I left for work. I have a nice life. What the vritual worlds allow me to do is have the same neighborhood feel with friends from different parts of the world. I would say different cultures but but the internet is a culture all it's own.

Welcome to blue collar suburbia. It's not as bad as people might think.

The OP is of the mind that creativity is defined by her narrow definitions, anything not along those lines has no merit. This has been exhibited before, and she is entitled to her opinions. As far as The Thread goes, a look at the list of threads started by her in the past, removes her right to declare any thread inane and useless, in my opinion. The Thread has many things: Silliness,insanity, insight, friendship, information and a lot of my money. She makes some valid points, but as is often the case, the way she presents them turns off a lot of us from listening to her.

I had some deeper thoughts I was going to share on my take of this but decided to go this route. Couldn't pass it up.

A Buddhist goes up to a hot dog vendor and says,

"Make me one with everything."

He pays for the hot dog with a twenty, and asks for change back, but the vendor replies,

"Change comes from within."


If you are unhappy with what you are making with your time in world see the above.
kthxbi

I'm actually rather tickled by the concept of our real lives tending toward some greener, more selfless, ecological sort of existence...

...while our demands for excess, bling, tawdry crap and inappropriate behaviour are all dumped into cyberspace - our sins washed away every weekend when the asset server glitches and wipes them all

Let's take a ride, run with the dogs tonight, in suburbia...

I too am going through a phase where I feel reluctant to tell people in FL that I spend time in SL but the OP has made me think and I think I'm going to come out of the virtual closet and start defending SL to all and sundry.

The reason is that yes, SL is a mess but it is a truer reflection of the human condition than FL.

Here you can learn to create..sure your first stuff will be crappy and the malls reflect that but in FL it may be that those people would not explore their creativity at all...better to explore here than to not create at all. But the joy of creating is in the doing and in FL too many children have had their creativity crushed because "it wasn't good enough".

As far as the porn goes, it was a shock to me when I first joined SL and I had no idea what kind of fetishes existed but the fact I didn't know didn't mean they don't exist in FL. Why sweep them under the carpet? Frankly now if the local mayor is a furry that is fine with me..why not? Being in SL made me realize that how people have sex is really not as important as whether they are smart and kind.

I think SL is fine the way it is because it is superior to FL in that it allows what really is...most people's creations will be less than stellar and people get it on in weird ways..but isn't that the truth? And isn't it better to face that?

If we don't like what we see about ourselves, don't blame the mirror. blame whatever judge told us we weren't right the way we are.

Is the glass half full, or half empty, and who decides?

The half empties say SL is one big Florida strip mall selling poor quality t-shirts, at least where it isn't a cesspit of porn and depravity.

The half fulls say SL is a magical place, where a thought becomes reality and imagination takes form.

You can look at the same place, and see two different things. If that's true, maybe the fault lies in your vision, not the place?

Take the "inane" 11,000 post thread. Jig sees it as a useless timewaster. Those of us who enjoy it see it as a way to have a good time with our friends...a perfectly acceptable, even laudable activity. We're laughing and joking and having an absolutely marvelous time.

Jig does have a point, and it applies to RL as much as SL. Human nature is flawed. We all fall short of where we ought to be...morally, intellectually, spiritually, creatively. His point is simple: Everyone Ought To Always Try To Do Better. I agree with that 100%. The other part, about who decides what's "better", is wrong, IMO. This is a battle that every individual must fight with themselves.

SL is an experiment. Phil said, "I wonder what would happen if we made a big, empty box, and some tools to make stuff, and then threw a whole lot of people in there. What would they do?" Perfect freedom. Well, almost...there are restrictions, but darn few. New ones only get added in cases of extreme need (like the threat of some government action).

What DID happen is a very accurate reflection of human nature. Some are good, some are bad. There are Makers, Takers, and Fakers, saints and sinners. In fact, it's Life. Some things are better than RL...fewer financial constraints, perfect weather, teleporting, flying. Some things are worse...no sense of touch or smell or taste there, no ecology that works independently of us. There's anonymity, which removes a lot of social constraints we see in RL, leaving people to depend on their own internal moral compasses.

My rezday was yesterday, and I used it to talk to friends and to reflect on where I've been and what I've learned in the past year in SL. I say: The world is a magical place. There are some bad people, but many more good ones. There are some bad builds and bad content, but the number of good things created per capita is higher here than it is in RL. There is porn and debasement and hurt and betrayal, but there is also love and caring and sharing and loyalty and commitment.

I say the glass is half full...and that it will always be replenished.

Lindal Kidd

Happy rez day, Lindal !

Happy Rez day Lindal!! SL is a classier, prettier place with you in it.

Happy Rez Day, Lindal! Nice post

i work with my brother in law in my fathers business..he has given me a hard time about spending so much time on the computer and soo much time on secondlife and i need to start doing this and start doing that..
all day long he stops what he is doing to look at the stockmaret and gas prices and gold prices and silver ect.
then shares how bad the country is doing and how in so many months or years the U.S is gonna be bankrupt..
i mean he is obsessed with it to the point it drives his whole family nuts..his kids my sister..
i tell him..you call me obsessed?

i live in the bibe belt and surrounded by people telling me how i should think all the time or should act all the time..if it's not getting the religious end of time thing it is world economy or the changes going on to make this one world order.god every time i hear one world order i shut off the ears right then and their and think of something else while they spew.

what gives anyone the right to tell us we have to be ashamed of coming into secondlife verses their vices.. I am soo tired of being preached to..i mean to me freedom is getting away from people that won't shut up about having to be a certain type of person or things having to be a certain way..
to say the truth it only inspires me to prove them wrong..
sorry if this sounds like a frustrating post but my hardcore republican Christian brother in law just left..it seems the only way i can shut him up when he starts talking about this has porn in it and that has porn in it so you mut be into porn..
i say to him ..so a man thinketh so he does..that usually shuts him up.

You can only be ashamed of what you do if you let people make you feel ashamed. Don't give them that power.

exactly..life is so much better when you know you are intune and can spot out someone trying to change you..
alot of the worlds problems come from people and communities that try to mold people to them..you have hate and prejudgment and color blindess twards others not like you..heck you can be the same color and still hate because they are not from where you live..it's just silly..
myself i am chiricahua apache..my father never raised me to hate people for things from the past or to try to follow the patterns of everyone else..the true power is finding yourself and what makes you shine in your own special way in this world so you can share with others not jump into a barrel of the same exact carbon copies..
he used to tell me this story every time i felt like slipping and giving in or could see that i was and it would ground me every time and put me back on track.
it's called Two Wolves..

An old Cherokee chief is teaching his grandson about life:

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

"One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.

"The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope,
serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

"This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old chief simply replied, "The one you feed."

he has a way of just telling things over and over and making them sound like you have heard them for the first time.=)

Suggestions from the OP, seeing as it's her thread?

We aren't on her "Intellectual" level.....

It was worth reading through all of this to find out one thing:

Happy Rez Day Lindal!

Wish I had known but better late than never!

/me throws out kisses!

Happy Rez Day Lindal!

Or is it just another dirty dish I have to wash?

Tell that to the arresting officer.

the glass has fallen onto the street and broken.

You can still stand proudly as he reads your rights to you.

I suggest that the Forum "players" take a trip INTO the Secondlife world and actually engage themselves in "living" there more then just simply occasionally - not returning back to the forum but interacting with the thousands that have never heard of the forums and dont care about them. It's a very different vision that the Lindens promote actually IN the virtual world than is being discussed by apparent "experts" in the forums. I think that is essential to understanding what I was discussing. Fun is fine, silliness is fine, but I am really concerned that we are wasting an opportunity to make a good idea REALLY work for us as a meeting place and a shared environment. The Forums are NOT secondlife. If you really care deeply about this virtuality then you will apply yourselves to in-world issues that are serious ones whether we like them or not.

Is there something wrong with the idea of the Residents of Second Life deciding for themselves what they want?

Within the last 10 days, I've been to a wedding, walked on the moon, driven a submarine, talked to a dolphin and danced with my fiancee. In-world is diverse enough whether I go there or here .. and here is a meeting place anyway.