Tyler, I wish I could have made a difference...

******************************Where we come from****************************** ********************************************************************** Why did Tyler Clementi die? - http://bit.ly/8X7vUq

There is so much I will never understand......such callousness from children so young.

Yes, at 18 years old we are technically adults... but it takes some of us a very long time to perhaps understand that just because something can be done...doesn't mean it should be done.

Tyler you will be missed by your parents for forever....The rest of us will forget all too soon.

I can only hope that someday those that were so callous will remember you... and that the enormity of their actions will become clear when their own children are born.

The video below speaks to my heart....

I wish I could forgive them.... maybe in awhile... For what it's worth, I can't forgive just yet...

I still have so far to go

And so it goes

Today, I wish I could love all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

One Hundred & Forty Characters

Most often, the title of a post comes to me as the post unfolds. This one is, for some reason, different...and I've no clue why. The base topic is something that's been running around in my head for weeks, maybe months............. That's not true...this thought has been with me since mid 2007.

I suppose I may finally have enough information to process it now.....Virtual world relationships. Yes, some of these are pixel sex intimate...some are intimate in a deep friendship way...some are adversarial, some of us have a "relationship" with Secondlife.... all can be described as relationships.

One hundred forty characters. Twitter. (Cell text at one hundred sixty).

It seems that so much of our informational lives today comes in very small "bytes "... One or two short sentences. How could our feelings be said in short bursts?

I recently found a very comprehensive article on relationships written by Josue Habana, it was complete and it wasn't one hundred forty characters. His article covers some of the things that have gone on in his life in recent years, and some of these things can apply to us all.

It would seem to be impossible to generalize about Secondlife relationships but one of the common things is how often the participates are young in virtual worlds. Not always though...I met a woman today that told me she has been "married" four times in Secondlife................since January 2007!

I have believed for some years now that perhaps the biggest problem with any relationship here is the lack of visual clues...we miss those telling moments when things just don't "look" right.

A good friend of mine has had to struggle with some of that these last few days. Often when things aren't working out comes the guilt trips (don't you feel sorry for how I, "Gave you my heart") etc.

Then comes the anger when they start stalking...hanging just outside your parcel... and often resorting to griefing or false abuse reports.

Estates are wonderful, my kids come to me with stories like that.... First I suggest they mute the idiots and then I estate ban said idiots.

The other way relationships are sometimes a problem is represented by a another close friend of mine. This girl is one that I met when I was mentoring on the old help Islands... she ended up coming to Benares, met people that became close friends, and developed a special relationship with a slightly older person that took great interest in her.

No matter how long you've been in Secondlife I think there is always that special place for those that come to Secondlife with you..or become one of your first friends. For various real life reasons my friend ended up moving to a place where cable internet wasn't an option...and so took a "sabbatical" from Secondlife for a few months. Upon her return she found that her slightly older friend had moved on in Secondlife. While that was something she could accept....what she did have a problem with was when her friend returned as and alt and with virtualy no explanation just reportedly said. "Hello, just passing by...I no longer hang out here...see ya!"

One Hundred and Forty Characters? {There were a couple of other details concerning rl identity stuff}...but the part that bothered my friend was the seeming "announcement for shock value" and pooof! What had happened to a year of friendship, of closeness, of the intimacy that comes with deep friendship?......... One hundred and forty characters?

For me this world is as real as the one I wake up in everyday... my friends here are as genuine as any I've ever had and the pain I feel when I lose a friend here is just as real as any anywhere.

I will continue to try and live an ethical life...in all worlds...I think it's important.

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namste

नमस्ते

A Thank You to so many...

******************** Where we come from ****************************************************************************************** This past week has been one of many shades of emotion for me, assuming emotions come in shades.

We lost a great guy this week***

I had people return to Secondlife after being absent much too long***

I've had a chance to offer a bit of the experience that sometimes comes with age to a much younger friend***

10,000 people have looked at this blog!...I have asked and I know who this visitor was, but it's their story to tell if they choose***

There was a chance to grow a little bit myself yesterday***

******************************************************************

Adric is only gone from this current incarnation...I hope those of you that share a different religious philosophy from mine will accept that that's what I believe.

A dear friend that is young enough to be my grand daughter has been struggling with inter personal relationships here... those can be difficult enough in real life and perhaps even more difficult here because of the lack of visual clues when interacting with another. I hope any input I gave was couched in love and experience.

During the past week I had Laurali re-enter my life, Andor slipped in for a peek, and Jakob suddenly popped into view in my yard. When people leave our lives, be it for a period of this lifetime or for eternity, it leaves a vacant space... a space that will heal over... but we always know that they are gone. ******

My closest friends in all worlds understand that while I may put on a great front... social situations are not easily undertaken... but as with many things, just moving past my feelings and actually doing those things that I'm not comfortable with is the key to learning how to get comfortable. The party at Benares is a great example... the tremendous positive feedback I received from so many both during and after the event let me relax and enjoy the show.

A thank you to all that attended... all the music in the world wouldn't be entertainment if it were experienced in a vacuum.

I want to give a very special shout out to those that made it work...

Porter Paquot... I've said before, all of us can sing...most of us shouldn't. Porter is one that can truly sing and entertain, listening to her and actually listening to how she takes a song and grows with it and makes it her own is something.

Hexxie and Madame...The Born Again Pagans, just sitting down and jamming... making all of us feel that we are sitting there in Amsterdam at the magic studios "being". I first heard them at soror's tier party some weeks ago and knew I had to hear them again.

There will be images available of the party... Breye has sent me some that I haven't looked at yet, and I know Gramps was taking images as well. I'll let you kno when and who!

If you were there... the reason it all went so perfectly was loegan Magic, the owner of the Kasbah and Speakeasy live music venues in Secondlife. I had discussed with Porter about suggestions for putting on this event and she mentioned loegan. It goes back to something I learned so many years ago...any time some one does something for a living....there's a trick to it or we would all do it.******

******************** Visitor number 10,000 ****************** This is a result of a few things... first among those things are those of you that log in and visit this page.

I just looked, according to this page there were 50 million blogs in July 2006, and I know some get tens of thousands of visitors everyday... I will certainly never have that much to say. That I say anything about myself or Secondlife that so many of you are interested in is something I would never have believed 14 months ago.

I try to write something every other day.... and I hope I write about things that are relevant in our lives...not just word clutter.

And so it goes

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

This is Just a Visit...Enjoy it

*************************Where we come from************************ I awoke early this morning thinking about how ephemeral any life is.

I've learned few things really well in life... I guess that's why I try to study life so completely. One of the life lessons I have learned is that I don't have to know "how" I know things...I need to know "when" I know things.

Something was very different this morning... First I awoke thinking about a purported conversation Lord Buddha had with three monks. He asked the monks how often they thought about death....

One said he thought about death every day, "Not enough", was the reply.

The second said with every bite of food, "Not enough"...

The third said he thought about death with every breath in and every breath out, "Perfect".

I don't intend for this post to be negative or a downer... this is about life, great glorious life!

After I logged in to Twitter I saw we had lost Adric Antfarm http://www.adric.us/.

I saw again in my life that sometimes I guess I feel things. I don't pretend to think that I "knew" his moment of death because I didn't...it's just that a couple of days ago I started thinking about all of our lives.

In this past week I have had several people return to my life. People that I didn't think had necessarily passed on.... just that our paths had separated in such a way that we would no longer meet in this life. My personal belief is that I keep doing these lives until I get it right... and just as I don't remember my hour of birth... I don't remember my last death.

If we stop and think about it...with in excess of five billion people in the world the chances of meeting any single person are very low. I feel such privilege at being able to live with the technology of today, I can log on to Secondlife and instantly connect, often in an intimate fashion, with those of you that if nothing else I financially couldn't afford to visit.

I wrote a few days ago that Laurali had returned to not only Secondlife, but Benares as well. Andor has returned to Secondlife recently... actually he came to the Islands last evening to look at Barbara's architectural efforts on the West homestead, Andy didn't stop and chat...and I can perhaps imagine why. Leaving any life or place we love can be to some degree painful or we wouldn't be human. I've recently seen Jakob on line..I did send an IM...no response is just that, no response. There are any number of reasons for that, none of which are personal.

I recently read something from Jack Kornfield about how I need to, "Listen with an open mind, but don't try to remember this stuff. There's no quiz at the end."

That's hard for me...I thirst for knowledge... I might be better served in just listening to all of your hearts.

And so it goes

Adric I know you can hear us, we miss you.

My love to you, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

This is a Wonderful Life

**** Where we come from; Nagano, Japan & Guarante Do Norte, Brasil ****

This is a wonderful life.

Last night after I logged off and started thinking about what had happened and what I had experienced here in Secondlife during the latest loggin I saw ever more clearly just how wonderful this virtual world has been to me and for me. Keep in mind that at 68 in my other "real life" world I am, in most cases invisible, that's just a fact of life that we will all experience as we age. In Secondlife I exist as ageless, I am loved, respected by many, and sometimes listened to... All of that was certainly clear last evening.

At loggin I saw several old IMs that needed an answer, a group notice that Porter Paquot was performing, I got and IM from Laurali who I had not heard from in a few months, a few "Hi's", plus someone TPed in to chat. We both TPed to where Porter was singing and a bit later I found myself holding multiple IM conversations, current chats, listening to the music, and welcoming a couple of nooblets that wandered in. Never mind the technology...that was more human interaction than I had experienced all day...this virtual world helps keep me experiencing life at a level I had never dreamed possible.

******Below is Laurali, my other SL daughter....looking at her rezz date last eve (610 days), She is now as SL old as I was when we met on one of the old Help Islands. Twenty months is a lot longer in Secondlife than the number would seem to indicate. Lauri has had real life stuff going on...ended up moving to Canada's maritime coast where the only Internet connection was dial up and so was missing from my family for way too long. She's back in Ontario now and I'm so thrilled she is home again at Benares. ******

While Laurali and I were reminiscing over those that had moved on at Benares I got an IM from Barbara, so Lauri and I TPed out to see her and the new build she's started.

The trip was a touch bittersweet for Laurali...Barbara now owns the parcel previously held by Lauri...Lauri was the very first land owner on the West sim.****** Barbara below, sans her sunglasses =^..^=

Barbara is from Berlin and a student of architecture....It shows as the three of us stood chatting and looking out over one of the nicest sunset views in Secondlife.

Below you see day two of her current build. Among my multitasking last evening was a wonderful long chat with Hexx Triskaidekaphobia.(and yes, I can spell it without reference!) What a wonderful guy... he sounds as excited about playing Benares as I am to have him. I recently linked a video of a performance... you might want to take a look at this website ... Look at the options on left hand edge of blog for links to videos and free music downloads.

While Hexxie and Madame are scheduled to perform from 3 to 4... he asked me if it was OK to run over =^..^=...how could anyone say no!

If you haved missed the previous announcement: details at this link,

http://brinda-benares.blogspot.com/2010/09/party-time.html

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Party Time!

Yes, I've missed a day or so... what with the medical stuff (that's now looking like it's behind me) and then the PC stuff...sheeesh.

As with everything in any life it has been a time of intense learning.

A brief quote from one of my favorite authors Richard Bach , from the book Illusions. "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts."************

I wanted to get this post in early.... loegan Magic has finalised the music for next weeks party at Benares, The date is Saturday September 25th 2010

We will open with Porter Paquot at 2PM SLT and then "The Born Again Pagans" with Hexxie at 3 PM SLT, {I've posted videos below}.

This party is 'Just Because'... I hope to see all of those I know in Secondlife come.

I plan on sending out personal invitations to all my friends as well as those of you that I only know because maybe I read your blogs...after all one learns a lot about people when you read a lot of what they have to say.

*************************Porter Paquot!!!*********************

**********"The Born Again Pagans" with Hexx Triskaidekaphobia********

Fantastic musicians and vocalists!!! Come join us.

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Party!.. Accents... Broken Stuff...

This post will be a little disjointed.. my apologies ahead of time! {This was added later...you'll see}. ************** I've decided that I'd like to have a show/party at Benares. I first contacted Porter Paquot about performing and she thought it was a great idea. Next I talked to leogan Magic, the owner of The Kasbah and The Speakeasy music venues and asked him to handle the details. I learned a long time ago that anytime someone does something professional...there's a trick to it or we would all do it. This morning I contacted Hexx Triskaidekaphobia from The Born Again Pagans to see if he and Madame would be interested and I'm happy to say he was enthusiastic about the idea. BTW check out, "Run For The Money"...free MP3! The tentative date/time will be Saturday the 25th of this month...likely start time will be 3 PM SLT. I will be confirming that date and time as we go forward. ************** It's a day later....and what a day! PC ate a memory card...had to format hard drive (so I'm back to resetting EVERYTHING!). Of course the graphics card wasn't original so had to go to Nvidia for latest driver. Antivirus had to be re loaded... Programs reloaded... There was one very bright moment...at least it was a moment that totally put a smile on my face. When I tried to load the Emergence viewer I got a notice about 'side by side' something and it wouldn't load, see blah blah blah heh heh. A bit later I wandered around until I found the Emergence viewer support blog and reading some of it I saw something about going to Emergence folder and changing Emergence.config to emergence.exe.config.......The darned thing loaded! Now while that may not blow your whistle...it amazes the heck out of me. You're reading this from someone that couldn't copy/paste three years ago. *************** Had an interesting thought today as I was talking to HP support. Recently there was something said on one of the blogs I follow about those of us that speak English with an accent. I don't remember exactly now...but I think it was some absurd remark about one of the Emerald group that is likely from "down under". Personally I've always loved that accent...I say accent because it is only an accent if it's not your local vernacular. When I called HP support the gentleman I spoke to was Indian.... I was certain of that simply because of the time I recently spent in India. What was so interesting to me was his attitude when I asked him where he was located. I could almost detect a cautionary tone when he told me India... and then I could hear another change in his voice when I told him that I had just been there and how much I loved India. This gentleman was a true professional... he spent nearly an hour with me while I fumbled through removing memory cards and tried to follow his instructions so he could diagnose the problems. Now while I'm sure that I didn't get any special service, I also certain that he enjoyed helping me...I could hear it in his voice and his goodbye. It takes so little to help another have a better day. And that brings me to voice in Secondlife... I find so much reason to not use voice...by anyone except those such as Paisley Beebe in her TV interviews...or those in the music business. Never mind those of us with speech impediments... voice is just another place where some of us find differences. Text is a great leveler here... in my travels through the world the USA is often the place where I see so much of a "superior attitude" when it comes to those that don't sound exactly like the locals. Says so much about our attitude....sadly in a negative way. And so it goes I love you all, brinda Namaste नमस्ते

Random thoughts, Links, & Where we come from...

A page of random thoughts, a lot of links, another image of where we come from, and an introduction to a wonderful young woman. My mind is such a jumble today...I sometimes wonder how I wasted so much of my life. Never mind what our parents or some trusted adult tried to tell many of us... as I age I can more clearly see both the path I chose as well as appreciate the truth of a lot of the homilys they proferred... Remember youth is wasted on the young? Along with the recent medical problems {those seem to be slowly mending, btw} there just seems to be a lot to do. I understand now what those of my friends that retired before I did meant when they said they wondered how they ever found time to work. Real life stuff goes on...all that domestic stuff... the cat, laundry, shopping, housework. I really need, and dread, to go visit my Mother in Arizona... it's not the 8 hour drive... it's the guilt I allow myself to feel because I really don't want to go. It's a very long story that likely isn't appropriate for this forum. Then there are virtual worlds, Benares, blogs, social events, my friends needs..... Why, I could whine for hours =^..^=. Truthfully Secondlife has perhaps been one of the two or three most life changing experiences of my life. Links...... Please take time to look at these links to a couple of soror Nishi's recent posts... the first links to her post and slide show of her art show yesterday at IBM. The second link is video/slide done by a friend of soror's referencing prior work. Enjoy.... http://sorornishi.blogspot.com/2010/09/soror-nishi-tree-of-trees.html?spref=tw http://sorornishi.blogspot.com/2010/09/magoo-soror-dreaming.html?spref=tw ************** Where one of you comes from... aerial view of Jakarta, Indonesia.

My visitors communications tower is several kms east of downtown, but this shot perhaps gives a clear view of the size and complexity of one of the worlds most populous nations. ************

A couple of months ago I had another chance to do what I so love in Secondlife... to help mentor a new resident. The young womans name is Victoria Lenoirre {Vic}... bright, caring, articulate, so much of what I wasn't at her age. Here's another link , (told you there would be a lot!), she started this over a year ago, long before she came to Secondlife.... http://luz-in-darkness.blogspot.com/2010/09/weekend-and-some-thoughts.html

***********

I'm going to drag myself to the beach today...I wish I felt well enough to hike south to near the border fence with Mexico... it's a quiet place, just the birds and the ocean surf.

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Believe.......... Try

Still hard to walk... but things are improving, I'm not buying a ticket to Varanasi just yet. Hope to find my newest project today or this evening...her name is Ling and she lives in China. If I can find her today... this will be day two for her, I've already got her off of viewer 2.ought oh and logged in with 1.23.5 I sure wonder what "study" The Benevolent Monarchy did assessing 2.ought oh...without fail, every nooblet I have download 1.23.5 goes, "Wow, this is a lot easier". ***************** I want to thank phaylen Fairchild for the link this morning on Twitter for the video below. I cried like a baby...such a beautiful story.

First, AM Radio....Second,Wondering about stuff

Just a short post today... I still feel like heck, serious infections just really whip my butt. The day started out well enough....Victoria, Bubbles, and I went to AM Radios sim..... Such an interesting place.

************************************* While I was there I got an IM from Boyd about the newest "Message of the Day"... you know that rather shameless message from The Benevolent Monarchy you see as you log on. Boyd gave me the link...it was a place where there is free advertising for all manner of land sales and rentals. Well...yes, it's free... provided you own 25 sims minimum.

My first clue I might be in over my head was one of two very large signs advertising that a certain company had over 17 million meters of land for sale/rent.

It's my choice to have roughly half my main island as public land so that leaves approx 32,000 meters for rent/sale. There is another 10,000 meters of homestead land that's available, and that leaves approx. 50,000 meters in open water for each homestead.

I have recently read that there are roughly 13000 estate owners, one of which has 1500 regions.

Curious, if you own 25 sims...do you need The Benevolent Monarchy to give you free advertising?

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

KT Tunstall

Just because I love this song.... I've likely replayed it several times this morning and for what ever reason it allows me to escape "me" for a minute. I've some medical stuff going on suddenly.... it's funny how much my mother tells me that comes true, as in "Getting old ain't for sissies". BTW...guess this should have been added to Mondays blog =^..^= I hope you enjoy. And so it goes My love to you all, brinda Namaste नमस्ते

Love

I have never seen or heard of a place, lifestyle, or experience that generates the intensity of this thing that is Secondlife and believe me, I have had some intensive experiences. I won't brag, complain or provide details...some of my close friends here know a few of those experiences and I'm sure over this past year I've posted a few on this blog. I was just looking, trying to find which of the Secondlife bloggers had posted such a great quote about who stays in Secondlife. As usual, I read so many I can never find the quotes I want. I think it was Grace McDunnough that has posted several stories that ring true as to why some of us stay...why, we for lack of a better term, "fall in love" with Secondlife. Love...We all have our own idea of what that can be......... My first log in was on dial up... all I could do was stand there at the telehub on the old Orientation Island, but as I looked around, I knew this was what I wanted... where I felt I belonged. There are many kinds of love in Secondlife just as here are in any life. My friend soror Nishi loves to create fantastic works of NPIRL (not possible in real life) art, look at this display from some weeks ago. Porter Paquot, one of my residents, not only loves Secondlife, she loves performing live music here as well. We have those that love writing the Linden Scripting Language, the scripts that makes stuff "do" things. There is also personal love... if you are any at all interested in both "how it was" circa 2003, and in a wonderful love story, take a look at this story from Pituca FairChang. True love of the intimate sexual kind in Secondlife can be a joy... and such a sadness. My experience here after over 3 years is that no matter how intense the feeling of that love, it rarely lasts and often drives one or both out of this world. I have had a wonderful chance here to love people... not the pixel sex love, or the obviously romantic thirty minute hugging animation. I've had the chance to be involved with people... I've had the chance to help people... I've had the chance to mentor people... I've had the chance to make a difference... Very recently I was told that I am loved... Wow! ********** And so it goes I love you all, brinda Namaste नमस्ते

Where Some of you Come from...& a Thank You

Shameless self promotion....almost thirteen months ago when I started this blog I had no idea that it would ever be anything more than my own personal diary, and while it has been that, I am amazed and humbled by what has happened. Just before I opened this window, I looked at the last visitor...look at the visit number at the top of the first image below. In my wildest dreams I would never have imagined that so many of you would have thought I had anything to say...{maybe you don't and your reading me for entertainment!} =^..^= I recently changed site meters, I was using Blog Patrol but a little too much down time and less than effective support just finally encouraged me to change. Many if not all of these sites offer free counters and so it's hard to get upset when stuff happens. The meter you see at the bottom left of this page has a ton more information and makes for interesting reading for me. Some of that information follows. A bit about security and your information...all websites we visit get our IP address, that's how they return our search pages. In the interest of privacy I edited the address below as well as the lat./longitude. The image below that is of my location, if you were to map my IP...the Cox cable office is 10 Kms away, and that image of Otay mountain where the tower is might be 20 Kms plus.

The communications tower at Otay Mountain is probably twenty/twenty 5 Kms away, I'm on the far horizon just where those low hills in Mexico flatten out at the coast. Btw, while I would never post your IP were I to learn it...if you would like mine just IM me, I'll look it up for you. Also, unless you live underneath your ISP communications tower...your IP isn't your house.

Below here I've posted a few images of some of the many places where this site is read. Just like Secondlife it's self, these images are of places over much of the world and represent cultures that we get such a fantastic chance to experience here in Secondlife.

My visitors come from five continents including: Canada, USA, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Scotland, UK, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Romania, Italy, Turkey, Japan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Australia...and if I've missed your country my sincere apologies.

********************

A small town in Texas, USA...there are three of you inside 30 Kms there =^..^= Again, I edited out the street names since this is a small town.

Kansas USA...my guess is the communications tower is very close, this location is near a couple of small towns. Below is my dear friend Twinkles home town...Dhaka, Bangladesh Norrkoping, Sweden The home of another close friend Bucharest, Romania...I know who lives here as well, my first Secondlife friend! West Central Germany... Marla, South Australia...Look for Marla on the map, it's a very long ways out. While I know who this isn't, (Paisley Beebe is a Sidney girl)..{unless it's a "summer" home}. This location shows me how a person from South Australia can walk up to me in Secondlife and we can sit and chat 'face to face'. *****************

Again, thank you all that read this blog. I hope that my initial goal in 2009 of doing a blog that doesn't rant, rave, scream at people, or troll will continue...life is much too short, and people are too precious...even the ones that I can't agree with.

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Mr Lincoln's Love...

OK...I don't want to get into specific details... you know all those, "Who shot John". In this last year I've found myself spending a fair amount of time reading blogs, forums, books, and hate mail...well not the last, or at least not hate mail directed at me. As I have said before there's enough blather going on about the... "Viewer Crisis"...that I'm not going to pick a winner or loser. Pick a viewer, there are crises perceived in all. Why do so many seem to forget...we don't pay for these viewers. Slow frame rates?....don't use it. Malicious code?...don't use it. You hate the devs?... don't use it. Search is broken with xxxxx?... don't use it. Your husband, wife, ex, {pick one} uses "X" and you wouldn't be caught dead with that "X" tag over your head?...don't use it. See a pattern here?..... Along with the "viewer crises" we have the hate and discontent spewing from so many keyboards. The Internet allows all of us to do and say things that we wouldn't do or say face to face, at least to some. My history prior to my sobriety date of March 3,1989 was one of alcohol and drug induced behaviors...I wasn't a nice person and since I didn't care, if someone had spoken to me the way I see some write here on the Internet............well suffice it to say I wouldn't be writing this now. I got an IM from a friend of mine a couple days ago...It was a "what if" IM. You know, what if I do so and so? I made a suggestion about what I saw and felt about the "what if" and I'm sure I wasn't the only person that was asked. The most important part was they asked. I've learned so slowly that if I can take even 15 minutes, I can formulate a response that will at least keep me out of court. The Internet always seems to have the answers we seek, but the answer may not be a 'truth'. I know for myself, I tend to follow statements that bolster my original premise...I think that's just being human. Yesterday I saw something that I hadn't heard before, or even thought of. I'm quite a fan of Abraham Lincoln, I was raised in Springfield where Lincoln owned his only home, where his farewell speech was delivered, and where he's buried. Take a look at this post from Crap Mariner, it's an interesting look at Mr. Lincolns philosophy, and is such a great answer to hate and hate mail. ************* My dear friend Ling has something she repeats often..."Secondlife is supposed to be fun". That isn't a plug for Prince Phillips fast-easy-fun, it just makes sense. It's a mantra I preach to all nooblets..."Remember the first rule of Secondlife, have fun". I am the first to remind myself that I've turned into somewhat of an idealist in my old age. We in Secondlife have such a wonderful opportunity to help move the world we live in forward into a better understanding of each others cultures. As my friend CM says, just leave them laughing...I find it's really hard to hate when I'm laughing. Let's all try to take at least one small step in the direction of patience and understanding...darn it, it's important. And so it goes I love you all, brinda Namaste नमस्ते