The Healers' Outreach Retreat (Second Life): Add your experiences here!

[ghaelen]

We have an Outreach Retreat set up now in Second Life.  We've rented two parcels in the Eder D'uru island, which is set up as a cavern-like environment.  The Healers' parcels are on the south-east corner, which allows us to watch the sunrise (and moonrise).  Dagda showed me how to terraform, and I am so enamored with it that I went a little overboard (into the water, lol).  I played around with some rocks, used a little magic, and put them out into the water so we can all sit out on the water.  The parcel is open to the water and down a little path you can also exit to the lakeside.  There are a few trees, grasses, and other plants there, and a high plateau where we can sit and hold sessions.

We are limited a bit in the number of objects we can place (actually, we're limited in the number of blocks, or primitives, that we use to build any objects) so Jane and I have been taking Dagda's building class.  We learn how to make objects, manipulate them, and how to do it using the fewest prims.  It has been great fun.

We also learned we can pipe music into the parcels, so that in the future LC can play music right there.  We can also listen to meditation music in the background and either text chat or use voice chat for meditations, talk circles, or storytelling.

Yesterday, Dagda and Tai set up a ferry dock for us.  Dagda and Nadnerb make it work.  Jane, Tai, and I walked about on it but didn't try doing cannonballs into the lake yet.  We made sure to ask for a railing...

[ghaelen]

On June 13, the Healers hosted our first event called the Silk Road Journey/Event.  LC was the mastermind behind this wonderful event, which was hosted on the Mall Rooftop in the Eder D'uru cavern island.  It was such a lovely time that the three plus hours sped by unnoticed.  As the music took our caravan group from the far east along the Silk Road to western europe, LC (as Ktadhn) told us a story of the sights, sounds, trials, dangers, and joys of travel with a large group.  Aside from the fact that my camel and I argued much of the way, it was an adventurous journey and we all made several new and fast friends. 

Tailahr decorated the Mall Roof with a fountain, an interactive silk road map and gave us lots of places to sit.  After the event was over she gave us a lovely imager with several pictures from the event on it already. Here are a couple pictures from my own collection.

[ghaelen]

Building classes have been very helpful in preparing the Retreat for Visitors.  The last two weeks have rather been a blur between learning how to build, using what I've learned in the retreat, homework (isn't the semester over?) and other logistical activities necessary just to get the retreat up and going.  I never realized how many details there are that have to be considered in simply plunking some rocks down to sit on.  The flow, the plants (oh please, not the plastic ones!), the trees that wave in the breeze, and the colors on each object.

Then there is the "simple" matter of forming the group (GoH Outreach Retreat Group).  Simple, suuuure... simple and then I break it.  I break it because it want it to say just the right thing for each person, but of course I don't know what I'm doing and it really needs to be done before the Silk Road event, and then wha... oh dear.

Thank goodness for Tai.  This will assuredly NOT be the last time I say that, lol.

"Hit reset," she says.  Reset... Reset?  Really, just hit reset?  Well look at that, un-broken.  Wouldn't it be nice if most of the broken things in our lives could be mended with just a "reset?"  

Jane came by and approved of many changes before they were final.  That was quite helpful.  She and I spent some lovely hours sitting on that silly mobius strip going round and round like we had good sense.  Talk, build, discuss, move, sit, talk, rotate, talk....  She's ahead of me right now in getting her homework done.  I phoofed out this weekend and just cannot make myself do it.  Prof. Dagda will not be happy.  I think I may have to hide behind her tomorrow.

I'm sitting on the ledge of the window in the glass house that Ruby gave me for the retreat.  I'm sitting here enjoying the breeze, looking alternately through the floor at the pond below and then out over the swinging bridge she also gave the retreat.  It is just the coolest view.  She came to plop her ol' self down with us and has parked the traveling cart up there on the surface.  I can't wait for the first time we all gather up there to sit around the fire pit and tell stories.  Good thing she put that fence around the pool -- someone (not mentioning any names like L.C. or anything) might fall through it and into the bottom of the pond down here.  

The crater I caused when I tried to dig up and move that one plant sure didn't let me use a reset button.  Whew, what a sit-u-a-tion.  Kept the plant, deleted the floor....   Ruby laughed her tail off as soon as she stopped running (for her life, that is).  I fell headlong into Eder D'uru and, yep, splat, right onto the bridge.  (I really like that splat btw).  When I finally realized just what it was that had transpired I got back up there as fast as possible.  There she was, digging around for the rest of the office.  She'd pulled most of it out of the hole, but now she was able to see the "hole" darn thing.  I did manage to replace the patch of dirt I'd inadvertently excavated and after both of us breathed a sign of relief, she finished setting up the CCNE office.

Today's Meet & Greet in the Retreat gave no indication that any chaos, crises, nor darned-near-catastrophies had taken place. That is a good thing.  People came and explored the retreat, Ktahdn played wonderful music again, and I discovered I have a voice, can speak, and the voice chat actually works.  Onward and upward to the next big adventure.  I sure am glad someone is hosting those meditation sessions -- I could really use to relax!

[RubyOdegee]

I am not sure whether this is the proper place to put this.  The mod can move it, if its not.  

Today's healing put me to sleep.  That is a good thing.  For days I've been working to pull things together at CCNE, sometimes too wired up to do anything at all right.  You know how it goes, the sound doesn't work with the audio.  The remote directed lights don't work with the remote directed stage curtains.  You can unpack the box that stuff is stored in and pack it back up, but the next time you unpack it looks different.  Gremlins eat away at the wood crates.

Anyway, my neck and shoulders were killing me this morning.  I complained about all sorts of aches and pains.  Then I went to the retreat.  No more than 15 minutes into it, I was sound asleep, so soft and melodic was Ghaelen's voice, and the exercises that went with.  Next time I will listen more carefully to what she teaches me, but today I appreciate the nap I took at the retreat, and on the benefactor's soft brown sofa with a blanket thrown over top of me.

I slept for three hours.  I haven't slept for three hours straight without waking, tossing and turning for 2 weeks!

Thank you Ghaelen.  I wasn't gone, by the way.  I left my avie sat there by the water, but the Linden transportation company could hear me snoring and took me topside (OFF).

I will drink Mateo's coffee the next time we meet up.  GOOD Job all around.

EDIT:  Someone said something about the tai chi outfit, you can get them free, if you go to the store that sells the script balls.  DON'T BUY THE SCRIPT BALLS.  I have a whole set I'll drop for anyone who wants to use 11 or fewer at a time.  (I got the kit instead of the solo version in error) ) It would be fun to do Tai Chi together sometime.