ebonypearl

We created an LJ Community for woodspirits over a year ago, but since we were still under the mistaken impression that it should be run exactly like a youth club, with meetings, and officers, and all of that - it really didn't go anywhere.

As part of WoodSpirits reincarnation as a truly adult organization, we are reviving the LJ community. boogieshoes has offered to be one of the moderators.

We have a number of badge descriptions up at WoodSpirits. Sometime this weekend, we'll probably start adding some art. We've purchased 15 gigs of space for downloadable artwork, so hopefully we have enough.

We need volunteers to help write badge descriptions (the ones listed are ones we already have, so if you know or do something else or want to create a badge over a topic not listed, please feel free to offer one up at either woodspirits or WoodSpirits. We could definitely use some help in creating .gifs or .jpgs to download from WoodSpirits. We could use mentors, too.

If you want to be a mentor, be sure to provide us with contact information you don't mind sharing on the internet - a link to a journal, an email you set up just for WoodSpirits, or something.

Help out as much or as little as you want, because this is an adult organization created just for fun. If it isn't fun with WoodSpirits, you shouldn't be doing it. If it is fun, then enjoy yourself, go hog wild crazy with fun!

ebonypearl

The Science Scouts have a number of nifty badges I think we could emulate for WoodSpirits - or at least use as a starting oint for crafting new badges for WoodSpirits. I am particularly looking at the "I Blog about Science" and "Talking Science" badges.

ebonypearl

Earning Pearls is easy in WoodSpirits.

What, exactly, are Pearls?

Pearls are awards won for completing activities. They are called Pearls, but they can be any kind of bead purchased at the store - from pony beads or seed beads to actual pearls. As long as they have a hole through them and can be sewn onto something else (or strung, no reason why Pearls can't be worn as jewelry as well as sewn on), we call it a Pearl (for "Pearls of Pleasure"). If anyone wants to argue for some other name, please feel free to present your arguments. WoodSpirits is new enough not to have any hard and fast rules yet.

As adults, we are expected to be honorable about the Pearls we earn. To that end, buying Pearls (and here, I mean any kind of bead, really) is also easy. We trust that the Pearls sewn onto banners, standards, baldrics, vests, etc. are ones the displayer actually earned, but nobody's going to check up on you about it.

Now, to the earning of them.

Right now, we don't have standards for this color Pearl meaning that sort of activitiy. All Pearls are pretty equal, regardless of their appearance or priciness. In CampFire, they earn wooden beads in special colors and shapes to represent categories of activities. I suppose someday we might reach that point, too, where we want to separate out the colors and shapes for categories of activities. For now, though, buy a pack of pearls or beads, and award yourself one for completing an activity. Behind the cut is a list of activities that count towards earning Pearls. Please feel free to add to this list. I'll collect the suggestions and put them over on the WoodSpirits Wiki.

( Read more... )

This shold you give a slight start on earning your very own Pearls.

ebonypearl

Kicking around things we could do as part of WoodSpirits, we came up with the idea of starting our very own Mardi Gras Krewe. It's a bit late to actually do this for real this year, but it's a possibility for next year.

So, introducing Krewe do Zuiex - For all pet animals, from the exotic to the quixotic: ferrets, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, dogs, birds, cats, even fish are welcome to parade with us! All pets must be accompanied by a human escort, and all participants must be in costume whether they march on foot or pose on a float. All participants must have a parade tag to be able to march in the parade. All pets are welcome - regardless of their past. That's why each animal must be accompanied by a human escort.

All floats must be powered by human muscle alone, motorized enhancements. Floats can be very very small - a child's little red wagon, a wheelbarrow, a wheeled pet carrier, and as large as can be pulled or pushed by human muscle alone and still fit in a single lane of a city street and make the corners.

Because we liked the idea of a Krewe donating part of the proceeds to a charity, and because we are all intimiately familiar with Itzl as a service dog, we want the charity funds (assuming we have any) to go to programs which help people get service animals - not just dogs. There are service cats, ferrets, macaws, monkeys, ponies, and others. All service animals deserve support, and people who need service animals really need them.

So, we're looking around for a variety of service animal organizations to whom we may donate when we reach the stage of having funds to donate.

That made it easy to decide which animals would be able to join the Royal Court. Service animals, of course! Any and all service animals are welcome to join Krewe do Zieux with their human partners and parade in it as part of the Royal Court. The King and Queen of the Krewe do Zieux would be chosen from among the Royal Court.

We'd have a Pawty in the Park with food, music, the Royal Pavilion for the Royal Court, booths with information on service animals, more booths with pet supplies and such, and booths with information on caring for pets.

And we think even pet fish and small rodents and tiny lizards have a right to march in this parade and be a part of this Krewe. Recognizing that small critters are best displayed in public in cages or aquariums, we would relax the one human escort/one animal rule and permit more than one small creature in the container. Aquariums might be an interesting part of the parade, don't you think?

There's still a lot of detail to work out, and my long, long ago association with the Krewe of Bacchus (the year Bob Hope was King of the Krewe of Bacchus, that's how long ago) leaves me with only vague memories of the structure of operating a Krewe year round.

We named it "Krewe" because that's the traditional spelling in New Orleans for such an organization, "do" because we're doing it, and "zieux" because that's a American faux-Frenchified way of saying it's all about the critters.

ebonypearl

Heya, and welcome to WoodSpirits!

If you haven't checked out the wiki, which contains the nuts and bolts of joining WoodSpirits, please do so when you can.

That said, this list is for WoodSpirits members to chatter about their activities, share ideas, plot meetings, make reports on activities and events, and post about any pearls or patches earned.

Community rules are pretty simple:

Nice Matters, so be nice.

This is an adults-only list, but since LJ doesn't seem to have an adults-only setting, keep the verbiage reasonably cleanish. If I think you've crossed the line for rough or unclean language, I will be the one to point it out to you. I would appreciate it if the language offends you that you tell me and not make a snarky post on the community list. Let's aim for minimal disruption and mature behavior, because we are adults.

Since this is a community list and not a chatroom or an IM, we have plenty of time to proofread our posts, so do try for a high degree of correct spelling and grammar - and that includes punctuation and easy paragraph separation. Typos make it through, we understand that, but excessive typos and really bad grammar will get you moderated and your posts edited.

Try to keep posts on topic. Since this is a list for adults having fun, that's pretty open and wide-ranging. The boundaries would be if it would be considered TMI by your grandmother - ie, no discussions about bodily functions or fluids, no discussins that would border on or be outright illegal or libellous, no discussions about difficult relationships or trolling for personal relationships. I think there are communities for thigns like that. This list is for the type of fun and games that would involve chalk or finger paints or popsickle sticks and glue, of public activities like board games, camping, theatrical performances, wine tastings, coffee cuppings, field trips to the chocolate factory or the dairy or similar activities.

We can share craft ideas, recipes, field trip ideas, patch designs, and other related topics.

We can also discuss business related to WoodSpirits - what kinds of activities should get a pearl, and what kind qualify for a patch, committees for planning multi-group camp-outs, kind of like the Scout Jamborees, creating new offices and duties for those offices, city/county/state regulations that may impact on our fun, designing awards ceremonies and suggetions for displaying individual and group awards, and other such things.

That's pretty much it. The goal is to have fun, to earn recognitions, and to do it with other people.