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[Elizabeth123]

Oh my gosh, Weezel, that was haunting and beautiful. And the ending brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much for sharing.

I think you should post this in Ariadne's forum, if you haven't already. I'm sure the agons would want to see it.

[Shad0]

 Re: [BLOG] Ariadne has a parallel vision

[Weezel]

Thanks for comments everyone.. What it wound up becoming wasn't what I started off thinking it would be.

I highly encourage each of you to take the time to reflect on something on your lives as well.

The personal register isn't on line yet, but that shouldn't stop you.

[DavFlamerock]

Agreed. I would finish my video of MY run, but alas, my sister has obtained the recording (she has stuff of hers on that tape as well for school) and so it is on hold. That and I need to get a cable so that I can work on this stuff at home--every other day at school isn't working out for me.

In the meantime, I suppose I'll just copy my writeup from the IG forums in case someone missed it (or so we can have them all in one place). BTW, I ran this on the 19th.

So this morning, it being my birthday, I figured "since it's my birthday, this is the perfect time to do a labyrinth run. It's most likely that the other me's would want to meld worlds on my birthday, besides that it's a special day... It should work perfectly. Plus that gets me practice for the run tomorrow."

Actually I thought that the day we found Chapter 19. But I also knew right away that we wouldn't have a register up in time (by yesterday), so I would have to make my own temporary register. I decided on the place--my backyard--and pulled out a big ball of fingerknitted yarn from when I was in sixth grade to be my clew. Then I made my scroll. Then I made my temporary register. Basically I nabbed a sheet of paper and wrote in big letters

"Temporary Register"
"Dav Flamerock"
"My Backyard, a labyrinth made of yarn or rocks"
"April 19, 2008"

And I carried that in my back pocket up until today. Basically my thinking was this: The registers need to be inside each city's omphalos. The omphalos are in the same place on every world. Therefore, those omphaloi are the same in every world. I think we've agreed that the omphaloi are like anchors between worlds--if we have a register in an omphalos, then whatever we put on the register would be the same in every world--and the various worlds probably have some way of letting you know if your name shows up on the register. So the point of the register is so that the YOU in another world knows to do the run at the given time and place.

Well in chapter whatever-it-was, we learned that through athletic synchronization, you can make yourself a living Omphalos. So by that logic... if I could do athletic synchronization, I could let the other ME know to do the personal labyrinth and wa'la! You have your personal labyrinth. On Wednesday I tried athletic synchronization when I went to a dance practice. It was tough (mostly because we're a spontaneous team). So then on Thursday and Friday I practiced my practice labyrinth, so that A) I could make sure the layout and stuff would work and B) so that I could get the message to the other me. I discovered a few things on those days, when I did those runs. 1) My 'rope' was just long enough to make a single 3-circuit labyrinth without cutting it (I had to double-back and such) 2) doing a labyrinth run/walk/whatever on a steep slope is tough. 3) I had certain thoughts and feelings on those walks that grew on each other. Before I give the rundown of my 3 walks, I should give you the rundown of my scroll. Here it is (since I'm having trouble with my video camera)

"January 10, 2007 (approximately)"
"Do I ask Madeleine (my current girlfriend) to Winter Ball?"
"YES: Current world. I fall in love with her, begin dating her."
"NO: Alternate world. I don't fall in love with her and we remain merely friends."

That will help you understand some of what I felt/thought/sensed on my runs. As for the runs themselves, here they are.

Thursday walk: I first do a labyrinth walk/run/experience. No revelations or anything. The only interesting bit from that run was that I walked away with a feeling inside me that I was part of something big. Something really really big.

Friday walk: I'm more familiar with it this time. The setup goes more quickly. I walk it several times--then I jog it. I tried a couple times with my eyes closed... not really workin, since I don't know when I go off-track and it's on a slope and dirt and grass and stuff. Which brings me to my revelations/etc from this walk:
-I couldn't shake the feeling that my life in the alternate reality of my scroll's decision was less happy than me right now. Somehow that's not surprising.
-I felt entirely certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that my athletic-coordination-omphalos-register thing had worked.
-I was jogging it and I discovered something strange. With athletic synchronization, such as the labyrinths, where does chance fit into this? On my third jog, I slipped and fell while rounding a corner. Did the other ME slip and fall too? Did he not? Did that fall create a new world? I had no control about it--did it break my athletic coordination?


Saturday walk: The actual-full-time business. I try to film myself laying out the labyrinth but I need two hands... so I ultimately ditch that idea and merely lay it out. Then I begin to walk. I walk most of it, jog some of it, and walk again. I have a few understandings (no visions, so not quite like Ariadne) which I will attempt to write down here. So because in this other world I never fell in love with my current girlfriend, certain things which I remember through the stories I wrote would not have happened. For one, my two favorite short stories, called "Chapter 419" and "The Sacrifice of Love," were both inspired by certain events that either have come or will come regarding Madeleine. I felt repeatedly that the other ME wrote less love tragedies and more supernatural horror, more akin to Lovecraft. At one point I imagined myself with "demons of my own" almost like Pickman in "Pickman's Model." I felt that the other ME was less happy and optimistic with life, more terrified with it... but as an artist, I reveled in it. Also, minor notes about this--I think I dropped a lot of my interest in singing--an interest Madeleine also shares and as such cultivates in me.
Strangely, near the end, I also had an odd thought, that was more touching on a THIRD reality that I may have experienced for a moment. What if this had happened and instead I had gotten a different girlfriend? A few names entered my head, but based on the question I sought to answer, the only feasible one wasn't feasible. But it gave me a different question I may use on a different run.

In all, this was an amazing experience and I totally recommend other people do it. Once we get the register up it'll be easy, but to some degree it really does work, the whole merging minds and realiies. I feel better somehow, having picked up parts of this other me. I feel more complete. This should put aside any doubt you may have . And I'll try to get an awesome video up ASAP, although I can't promise that it'll be anywhere near as good as LHall's

D. Flamerock