"Es war alles für die Katz."

In German, we have this saying: "Es war alles für die Katz", which means it was all a waste of time.

All the effort and planning for something can fall apart in a second and then you see how it was all for nothing. You most definitely see this in the voting process this year. Everyone wastes time. I know I do. I’d like to waste less time, but doing that requires identifying which time is wasted. And that’s a tricky question.

Some people may say we waste time in Second Life, but do we really? Is it not time spent to fill our mental being with activities that otherwise would result in boredom? So what is wasted time? I’ve come to like this definition: Time is wasted when it’s neither enjoyed nor spent in pursuit of some larger life goal.

Cats spend a lot of time sleeping and that is because they enjoy this and it may look boring to us (well a good nap does not hurt anyone). There is a purpose for all this napping is to save the energy for hunting at night, because that is their goal to hunt their prey.

We are too critical of ourselves and others and put things in a waste of time category because it means nothing to us. Stop doing this. Your time is your time and nobody else's. We all have our own path. Sometimes it is with the people we are with and sometimes it is alone. Either way, our time is our time and we all have a certain time we will be here. Some of us are here for many years, others are very short-lived, like ideas that blow away in the wind. One thing is to remember it was not wasted or for "the Katz" (Katze= cat in German).

Stop the worries about what to wear and what you still need to do. One thing is clear if you are breathing right now, that is a good thing. 

Projects come and go and even if they pile up, do not sweat the small stuff for now. Take your time and smell the virtual flowers in Second Life!!!

 

Come and travel with me (and you don't need a mask)

"Let me take you on a trip around the world and back and you won't have to move..." 

In today's situation travel has become a bit more difficult to do. I know I was supposed to spend the holidays in Germany this year and that, of course, will not happen. My nephew just said well you can teach from here your online classes. Sounds too good to be true and realistically thinking it is.

This does not mean I have to be stuck here, there are hundreds of things to explore in Second Life. There really is and you can almost smell the ocean air and the pine in the forest.

One thing that kept me here in Second Life was the opportunity to teleport instantly from one place to another and here is the great thing you actually meet the people from the different countries as well. I met fellow Germans and we would talk and laugh in our native language. I met people from other countries who shared how to say hello and also some of the first words you learn in any language how to say the profanities. I know, maybe that is not what I come here for, I do come here for the culture.

You can also build your own destination. The sky is the limit, although I am not sure how high you can build in the skies of a sim. Anyone knows that answer, let me know.

"Let me show you the world in my eyes
I'll take you to the highest mountain
to the depths of the deepest sea."

You can start your journey here at the Retreat in Second Life. 

Books Are not Dead

Reading books has many benefits even in these tech times, we still can get joy out of reading a book.

Don't know what to read? Stop by every Wednesday (noon SLT) at the Second Life Book Club. Here you will meet the author and his/her insight on books and listen to some fun reading all hosted by Draxtor Depres.

Health is just one of the benefits of reading; it has benefits for other aspects of your life as well. These advantages help to make readers well-rounded individuals. Those who write, know the importance of reading books. Whether you write things for work or just for fun, heavy reading can improve your writing skills and abilities. There are several ways in which it can help strengthen your writing styles and skills, and each of these ways happens without you even realizing it.

When I started college I suddenly realized that I had a difficult time reading the textbooks. Words would swim together and looked upside down and quickly out of wood I would read doom.
I was not aware of dyslexia in those days but during my university studies, it became ever so clear to me. 

I appreciate reading books now because the more I read the better I get. For someone with dyslexia, there is no better way to fight this unless you read and read lots. Did you know that reading books can also help with your sleep? No, this doesn’t mean that it helps you fall asleep, but it does contribute to improving your overall sleep quality, pattern, and restfulness. Reading, since it enables you to relax and de-stress, can help pull you into a deep and peaceful sleep. That sounds like it might be too good to be true, but reading can, in fact, help you fall asleep.

There you go...so give it a try and stop by at noon on Wednesday and find out which author will join.

Expand your knowledge and vocabulary and read. I am an ESL person, which means English as a second language and by reading I truly understood words and their meanings much better. I was able to graduate and become a teacher and books had much to do with this.

I Invite you to join me :)

I would like to invite friends and others to come and share their views about Covid 19 and how Second Life has impacted them and perhaps helped them to cope with it.

This will be part of a research project based in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine 

Researchers: Tom Boellstorff, Evan Conaway, Chandra Middleton, and Sandy Wenger Filmmaker: Bernhard Drax aka Draxtor filmed here in Second Life.

Here are a few rules:
Be respectful and let people talk as they let you talk :)

Be on-time November 5th at 10 AM SLT

Come and find us at the Retreat

Get on your horse or other transportation and teleport down...

Lollygagging

When it comes to the craft of magick you never want to lollygag around.

Did you know:
You certainly didn't want to be known as a lollygagger at the beginning of the 20th century. Back then, lollygag was slang for "fooling around" (sexually, that is). That sense of lollygag was in use as long ago as 1868, and it probably originated as an alteration of the older (and more dawdlingly innocent) lallygag. Nowadays, lollygag doesn't usually carry such naughty connotations, but back in 1946, one Navy captain considered lollygagging enough of a problem to issue this stern warning: "Lovemaking and lollygagging are hereby strictly forbidden... The holding of hands, osculation, and constant embracing of WAVES [Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service], corpsmen or civilians and sailors, or any combination of male and female personnel is a violation of naval discipline...."

I guess it means the same when I dillydally the time away because I rather not think about work.
Bathroom breaks and other excuses for dillydallying give your heart rate a chance to return to normal. So take advantage of them. In these teetering times, we need to take these moments and break away from the actuality of madness and come to some chimera of what is real in every sense but what is also as wide as your imagination can take you. I am talking about Second Life. Not a game, nothing like that, although you could play games here if you like. Your vision of whatever it is can be realized here. 

So come on over here and put on your best gown and sit for some Sunday afternoon coffee and pastries. Envision yourself in a safe zone of peace and tranquility. Do all your lollygagging and dillydallying here. Create your own enticing place that persuades you to drown your mental health with joy and contentment just like that bathroom break that turns your heart rate back to normal. You will be transformed and feel so much better. Come see me at the Retreat here in Second Life. I will leave a light on for you. :)

Just take life day by day

Famous queens as Hatshepsut, Tiye, Nefertiti, and Nefertari were powerful women who were not simply wives but who ran the pharaoh’s palace and exercised significant political power. Although pharaohs could marry many wives, only one was allowed to bear the title ‘Great Queen’.

I am sure none of these women had to do many chores that I have neglected in these last few months of the C19. Weird that with being at home I have more time for a little housework than mousework, but it is not happening. 

We’re tired of being cooped up, tired of being careful, tired of being scared. Our collective fatigue is making some people careless – one reason COVID-19 is rising sharply again throughout the planet.

How can we cope? It goes back to the simple things like going outside and getting some air, feeling the sun and the wind. 

Talking to people who go through similar feelings can also help. Second Life is a great place to start because here you will find people from all over the world and you can get an understanding of what they go through. We are all in this together on so many levels.

One of the complications of the pandemic is that fatigue has made some people careless about masks and social distancing, which is one of the reasons COVID-19 cases have risen. With others, it’s not just carelessness, it’s angry resistance. 

“Social media plays a role in this. Don’t get caught up trading posts with people you disagree with. It will just make you more angry or scared.”

Stay calm and be grateful for what you do have. The more you do this, the easier it gets. Try being in the moment. You’re right here, in this chair, breathing and looking around. We put ourselves through a lot of unnecessary misery projecting into the future or ruminating about the past. For now, just take life day by day.

~ pictures taken at Blue Orange 4th Birthday Bash Egyptian Style.

Every Moment we have...

 ...is a chance for something new.

So I had the opportunity to go to the Blue Orange 4th Birthday Bash Egyptian Style. Blue Orange 4th B-Day Bash - Party Like the Pharaohs in the 4th Century...A Special Built by Patrick Page and Tralala Loordes. * Blue Orange is a skyborne “underground” club surrounded by art spaces lined with art by Ini and Gitu Aura.

Elliott and right behind him to the left Queen Tralala and to the right Patrick Page.

The sim will be open for a limited time to enjoy and may you want some pictures here. It is well worth a visit. 

The music was a mix of Egyptian style and other instrumental sounds that were very fitting to the theme around the place. All presented to us by Gitu Aura. 

Ini herself was there as the black cat. Imagine living in a time and place where every home 

was teeming with tiny, dangerous beasts. Some new threat lurked at every corner: asps hiding in clay jars, rats spoiling massive amounts of stored grain, venomous scorpions creeping under cradles. In this time and place– Ancient Egypt– one creature existed that could make the world safe from these little monsters: the cat.

The same graceful creatures that now sleep on our pillows were life-saving companions to the people of ancient Egypt. It’s no wonder that generations of Egyptians were drawn to worship them.

Bastet (Ini) was a goddess who could become a cat.

We tend to joke about how cats feel entitled to worship. Anyone who’s ever known a spoiled tomcat knows that cats have never forgotten the days when they were worshiped. The worship of cats in ancient Egypt was well-founded. Cats once saved lives by defending families from vermin. Without them, civilization as we know it might have never survived!

You learn new things every day and that is good, because without learning what do we have? Nothing! The sim is really nicely decorated and you feel like you are there at the times when ancient Egyptians held a celebration.  Art from ancient Egypt shows statues and paintings of every type of feline. Cats were so special that those who killed them, even by accident, were sentenced to death.

I will share some more pictures in my next blog entry.