Lisa Tilson

I spent most of today outside of my box expanding my horizons. I went to my first web conference (my first anything conference) called Northern Voice 2008.  There, I learned things about blogging and social media on the Internet that I don’t entirely understand the basics for. I went alone (which means I had to make friends with people I wouldn’t normally get the chance to be around and thus have a really hard time relating to with such a basic technical awareness!).  Next, then I came home to update my blog software, only to find myself learning command line, of all things! I will talk more about command line in another post as it is its own little box.

Northern Voice is a conference about the voices of the web, blogging - live, video, micro and otherwise, pod-casting (weee!), social media, wiki, tagging, stats etc. Today’s schedule had two streams: either spend time in the 101 section learning about each type of media or attend the random sessions of interest pertaining to the media. Myself, having never had formal instruction in any of the above, decided that it would be best to establish the basics. Wrong. The basics meant: why should you blog? what is a podcast, what is a wiki? was therefore, believe it or not, below my skill set! So, I hit up the instructors for pod-casting tutelage on the lunch break and learned how to fix my broken podcast, which now works but is incredibly slow to upload due to the formatting of the file (I believe). Tomorrow I will learn about how to make that more efficient. To be honest, if the only thing I come away from this conference knowing is how to get my podcast up on my site, I will be more than happy. My one suggestion would be that they have 200 level courses for those who want to develop basic skills in the function of their media of choice and consequently make the sessions longer.

Tomorrow there is a whole gamut of things on the NV08 schedule, I am mostly interested in the future of social media (for Yoga West) and getting published (book to blog or blog to book). Then I have a choice, I can stay for the afternoon events, or I can go to the library to participate in a workshop on fantasy writing called “Possible Worlds”. Since I will have enough to run with on the blogging front I think it will be time for a break for computers - writing workshop it is then.

I am going to go and rest my brain, here’s to renewed zeal for the blogosphere!

L.

A full 24 hours late.

No fancy jingle.

Slightly monotone voice from either inexperience or nervousness. Or both.

Very sweaty armpits (see above).

Texts that were perhaps less than developed.

Not bad for the first podcast. I am really excited about the next one, now that the first is over with. The first time is always the most uncomfortable. I hope you enjoy it, and if you didn’t, check back after about five… I should have mastered the process by that time!

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Lisa’s First Podcast

 

 Starting Now: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I vaguely recall a Yogi Bhajan lecture that compared persuing a spiritual practise to digging a hole. He said that if you constantly start new holes, you never actually get there. So, if you want to get there, eventually you have to pick a hole and stick with it. This makes complete sense. Physically, the earth is round, and so any hole, if dug perpendicular to the earth will evenutally end up in the center, thus all holes leading to the same place. Theologically, most religions and spiritual practices come down to roughly the same principals, its just about the story that suits you best. This is not to say that occasionally you won’t hit bedrock and have to call for a larger shovel, it just means that if you stick with one, eventually you will get there, and some therefore, are slower than others.

The hole also brings to mind the tag line from the film “What The Bleep Do We Know?”, how far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?, which of course brings to mind Alice in Wonderland (another story all together, or should I say hole?) Anyway, back to the tag line. Today I considered the question deeply. I have some pretty strong, double blind study style evidence that proves to me that a lot of things are possible, for example, astral projection or the ability to see, feel and interact with energy. I say prove to me, because the evidence is such that I understand it, others may or may not feel the same way. Everytime I get a hit of this, it strengthens my belief that perhaps there is even more to be seen out there.

Where am I going with this? Well, I have been trying out different spiritual tools, and today I am curious about the moon and its effects, and in the same vein, the planets. From my research, I have come to understand fairly competently the moons effects the ocean, and how the phases of the moon work, simple science. Furthermore, I can understand that if the moon effects the ocean, planting according to the moon would effect the growth and yield of your crops (Its no secret, its all over the farmers almanac.) However, there are a lot of people who invest in the idea that the moon effects people, their energy and the outcome of decisions, plans, ideas etc. I have definately experienced full moons that are out of hand, nothing going according to plan, people not communicating and whatnot. In fact, I find more and more that at least the full moon makes quite a significant impact on my life - it definately effects my menstrual cycle. So what about the other phases?

Today I found some information that states the best time to start an endevore, is on the new moon. Immediately, the podcast came to mind. The podcast did not come together last week weekend, not at all. Full moon. The full moon is a little intense for most new ideas, the energy being a little bit overkill (that makes sense, I was I little bit… shall we say, busy?) And what about this weekend, the waning quarter: banishing energy… getting rid of negativity, bad habits. Technically the New moon is the best time for this new project. Shall we wait?
Reasons why waiting would be a good idea:

1. I’m not even done writing yet (I can see why other podcasters invite contributers) and I haven’t even been lazy about it.
2. I don’t completely understand the technical aspect (will I ever?)
3. I got an intuitive hit during the Reiki Share tonight that I should wait.
4. The moon.

Reasons to dive in and air this weekend:

1. I said I was going to.
2. …

I am not one to take something as the word of god until I have really tested it out in my life, so this moon idea still needs to marinade for a while. Hmmm. Three to one then. It looks like I need to follow my intuition instead of waiting until Saturday at midnight like last weekend. I am going to wait. I’m going to give this moon thing a try.

On the bright side, I can blog more this weekend!

PS this weekend I am changing the website to: www.lisatilson.com. We will, however, be redirecting traffic from this URL, so both will work.

I committed to airing my first podcast today, and today I am finally willing to admit that it isn’t going to happen. In fact, I knew that the very notion of starting a new job and doing my first podcast in the same week was completely insane on wednesday, possibly sooner, but I allowed my sometimes unrealistic belief that “anything is possible” to reign.

Here I am to tell you that the first episode will air on the third quarter, next Sunday, December 2nd, 2007.