Personal
Personal reflections, comments about things I've been doing, etc.
Remembering Soj
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 06/07/2008 - 12:06
So, what do you wear to a memorial service in Second Life? This morning is the memorial service for The Sojourner. If I were attending in real life, I would find the solemnest suit I can find. Yet this is Second Life. When I appear in human shape, it is a very simple avatar, with simple clothing, blue jeans and a T-shirt.
I ran into this situation sometime ago, when I went to a pajama party in Second Life. Not having any good pajamas for the pajama party, I chose to go as a small black cat. I was agile, running around the party, dragging a pillow behind me and knocking over guest after guest. Being low to the ground, it was hard for the other guests to stop me and there were numerous cries about that damned cat.
One person that I tripped up numerous times that evening was Gentle Heron. Afterwards, she approached me and said that she hoped I didn’t take all of the complaints personally. To her, it was all part of some sorely needed relief. I appreciated her concern and explained that it was all part of the fun for me as well, and if I thought people were genuinely upset, I would have changed back to human form.
Gentle spoke a little bit about this group she was part of, The Heron Society. She explained that people in the group were having a difficult time. A friend had recently committed suicide and everyone was busy supporting one another. The pajama party with the fun of a cat running around knocking people over, was just the sort of outlet she needed.
Gentle and I became fast friends after this, and from her, I learned a lot about the caring community in Second Life. There are many people struggling with many disabilities and Second Life is a place for them to gather and find support, friendship, and the chance to dance, fly, swim, or simply chase a cat around at a pajama party.
One of the people Gentle introduced me to was The Sojourner. Soj, as she was called her many friends had survived multiple strokes. She gathered with others to help them deal with their own struggles and helped build an important community called Dreams.
When I spoke about the memorial service, Gentle thought that coming as a cat would be appropriate. After all, the ability to come as you are and be accepted is so important in caring communities.
Nonetheless, I arrived at the memorial service in my human shape. I saw Gentle sitting on a bench and I though of her need for comfort, and I know how comforting it is to pat a cat. I looked at women in elegant black dresses, and I decided that it would be best to be at the memorial service for Soj as a black cat. As we waited for the service to begin, people handed out red armbands entitled “Wearing my heart on my sleeve for Soj”. I added this to my outfit.
The memorial service started off with Grace McDunnough, who chose a human shape and an elegant black dress, singing a wonderful song. Then Pathfinder Linden spoke about how he met The Sojourner many years ago and how they worked together to form the Dreams community. I’m not sure exactly how I would describe Pathfinder’s outfit other than to say it was only vaguely humanoid.
After Pathfinder, many other people added comments about how wonderful Soj was and about how much she brought to the community of people in Second Life, and perhaps that gives us a clue into what to wear to a memorial service in Second Life.
Wear your heart on your sleeve, show the people around you how much you care. Bring a little of the compassion that Soj brought to Second Life. Bring it to the memorial service, and then bring it with you beyond Second Life. Don’t worry about what you look like, what you’re wearing, or what sort of disabilities might hinder you. Instead focus on being a caring person, the way Soj was, and the way so many of the friends she has touched are.
I’m Engaged!
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 06/06/2008 - 09:18Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I’ve looked at love that way
Recently, I’ve been spending time reading blogs that I find via EntreCard. You will note that I said, ‘reading’, and not just ‘clicking on’. You see, I want to hear what other people are saying. I might not comment a lot, but what I read adds into my background thinking.
As an example, I seem to recall a post, or perhaps a few posts about people getting engaged. There is this excitement, “OMG! I’m engaged!” People post about where the question was popped or perhaps the picture of a shiny new ring. Do you remember that dizzy dancing way you felt when you became engaged? Well, how about being ‘engaged’ in the blogs that you read?
For me, my engagement in blogs is related to my engagement in politics. My wife and I, who have been married for seven and a half years, are engaged. That may sound strange, and that may be unfortunate. Husbands and wives need to stay engaged with each other after the courtship. We are not only engaged with one another, but we are also very engaged in politics. She works for Common Cause, which has a tag line of ‘Holding Power Accountable’. That is a very important way to remain engaged. A week or so ago, Bob Edgar, the president of Common Cause came to speak in Connecticut. He met with bloggers before hand and we had a great discussion with him. He has a strong message of being engaged that deserves a blog post of its own.
Back in 2003, we were very engaged in Gov. Dean’s Presidential bid. When he ended his campaign, he urged his supporters to be engaged, to do more than just vote. So, Kim ran for State Representative and I managed the campaign. When Ned Lamont came along, he got many people engaged in politics and Kim and I both worked on his campaign. Ned has remained engaged and spoke last night at Central Connecticut State University. I spoke with others involved with politics, policy and higher education, ant those discussions deserve a blog post or two of their own as well.
While my wife and I have been engaged elsewhere, the Obama campaign has done great work in engaging new people in the political process. I hope many of them will remain engaged after the general election is over.
So, back to my blog. I’m engaged. I’m engaged in other blogs, a wide selection of blogs, the blogs of people who are engaged in the lives of their families, their pets, their businesses, their lives and the spiritual aspects of their lives. Hopefully, some of my blog posts help people connect different parts of these engagements.
Are you engaged?
What does Katatemoto mean?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 06/04/2008 - 14:09When Fiona first came to understand that certain letters strung together in a particular order spelled certain words, she would randomly ask, “What does K-K-D-A-E-B-D-G-E-G spell?” She was disappointed that the random combination of letters rarely made recognizable words. So, I suggested that we try to make it easier and do only three letter words, where the second letter was A. With this, she often came up with words and was quite happy.
This came to mind to day when I visited Zental Floss. Laura has a game where you substitute letter from your name to a combination of letters for making a ‘Japanese name’. Using that, I came up with ‘Katatemoto’ was my ‘Japanese name’.
I thought of sending this off to my eldest daughter who is fairly advanced in her Japanese to ask her if that meant anything. It reminded me of my Fiona’s favorite game. It also reminded me of another popular game online where you figure out your stripper name. I guess you could combine them to come up with a Geisha Girl name. So, instead of just sending it off as an email, I thought it might be a fun little blog post. I’ll send this along to my eldest daughter, if only to get a virtual roll of the eyes.
What is your ‘Japanese name’?
Bronchitis
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 23:44My lungs ache, they burn from the coughing.
The pressure in my head grows, it feels like it will explode.
The sinus infection has expanded to include bronchitis.
Who will deliver me from my distress?
At the pharmacy, I struggle to find enough money for my medicine.
At home, sleep evades me as I wait for the drugs to take effect.
The weariness of my bones seeps into my soul.
Overload
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 06/02/2008 - 14:01I had a fairly productive morning. I worked on several websites and wrote some good code. Yet there are so many other things going on today as well. The Games for Change 5th Annual Festival gets underway today. I went a few years ago, but just don’t have time.
Tomorrow, the State Elections Enforcement Commission is holding a press conference about the Citizens' Election Program for 2008 General Election at the Capital. I would love to get to that, but I don’t think I’ll have time. At the end of the week, the 2008 National Conference for Media Reform will begin and I’ll have to miss that as well.
I have lots to do, many blog posts to write, websites to work on, as well as simply keeping things together at home, and I have very little energy. I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon and besides getting my regular prescriptions renewed, we’ll see if something can be done to get past my headaches and congestion.
More later.
