On a Second Life

A card, when given, is dragged on the ground to open, or to rezz.

Finally, having rezzed my tiki island properly, and filling in water all around it, I cozily lazed down the sand with an old friend. Then work at the land firm was crazy, as SL was lagging so bad, and I'm a cloud. Tried relogging until another friend IM'd me if I was okay, probably filling his screen with my online/offline status notification. He was an old old friend of mine whom I chanced upon at the land office looking for land and so I asked him how it was going at his home building. He said that he got some problems on the window of his bar, some rezzing mishap probably like what I just encountered. As he never saw yet my new place, we met there for a short chat. Then we hopped in to Dream Isle, where the sunset on his dancing hall simply got me. As he also met YS before, I asked if we can have a reunion of sorts. We went back a long long way, around April of this year then lost contact till the day he poofed in looking for land..

Lately, I've been exploring the Garden of Da Vinci. It promises one the best of a lot of worlds, from the swirling giant squid over our head as you find yourself underwater, to upon flying above, landing on a number of magical islands with a few surprises. Imagine finding a magic carpet that takes you to a deserted tent, beside an oasis? Or touching an old pirate's mast to reveal a junk, ready to sail you to the next pirate's hideaway? Then hovering over a small tiki hut nestled on a clump of sand, I saw it perfect for my sunset fishing spot.

A tint on my virtual pocket at 3,450L, it will fit nicely on my small plot, and at 99 prims a real jewel. So I teleported to the prefab store, located on an airy Grecian tower, and if not looking at the stuff for sale you will be looking down a fiery volcanic island.

Down the beach, I cleared the deckchairs, a few grass, and oh, I love killing that peacock! Perhaps because its colors uses more prims than anything else, and that realistic sound it emits. Dragging the most expensive thing I ever bought from my inventory down the ground, I right click on it to open the contents, then copying back to inventory. Yes, that's the way it works in this grid.

Now all the contents in one folder, I selected that one object rez-all it says, and presto!

The openspace where I have my home, have finally upgraded to a regular sim, and so I teleported to Beachcomber Oasis.
The new lay-out seems refreshing, on the west side was a tall apartment building, aparently for rent, and down the lobby was the tier boxes. No more individual boxes to remind you of rents in your own backyard.
To get the best spot, i flew around while the sun was forced on sunset. From the old 4096sqm, with the upgrade i stand to get a 1024sqm with my old prim count of 234.Maybe this time i will try to extend my two week's rental rebate into a month, if I get a cozy 512sqm spot. I've been using my place mostly for fishing anyways. I just have to find a place adjoining a common-use waters. And there it was, after hovering over my old corner, I found my new place. Perfect, the sunset was right in my front of blue waters with flying dolphins. It was right in the middle of the sim in front of the the tall apartment building. And the 7S fishing server even works in my side of the sea. I invited a friend right over, rezzed a couple of deck chairs and tested my luck! A white ragged fish came right away.
While on it my friend asked if I already have a house. I said no, I haven't seen one that I fancy, and I don't wish to use my old one. He replied that is his problem at the moment too, finding the perfect house. He is an old friend of mine and much as he like having houses, i think he also associate them with his girl of the moment. And you read that right, he is in between relationships right now, haha. He said that he could even use a tent for now, as he had lived in a lot of houses already, all sort perhaps. I said that with my limited prims, maybe that is all I could put up here. Maybe not. Maybe I'll let it open like it is. I have no water boundary on one side, its a corner lot and I wonder how is my new neighbor going to be. If I run out of prims maybe i will get it too. But then again, maybe not.

And then he congratulated me on my promotion as land manager and offered to buy me shoes, so we went shopping. Then i had to get back to work. Yes I work at least 20 hours a week on a second life, so isn't it great I also got a good fishing spot to relax on?

A new friend recently took me to the best place he ever explored, the Da Vinci Garden.I was just about to start my day but he was ending his, so we spent a few time underwater, watched the giant squid sway over our heads, then popped out of water to land on a small island. In it lies an Alladin's carpet, ready to take anyone on a desert, but we parted here, he on his bed and me to my new post as land manager.

I was nearly ending my shift when YS came online. I gave her the landmark, and turning the dock over I met her there.

Then i showed her the magic carpet, and soon i was on a desert! While waiting for her, i charmed the snakes.

While she tried belly dancing inside the tent, a mirage happened, who else but LW appeared on the oasis!


I showed him the carpet that will lead us back to the island. Too bad it only affords one rider, but there seems to be a bounty of carpets, you can even take one home.

I must find the tip jar of this generous garden keeper, and I haven't seen yet a single one. Touching the pirate's sunken flag, a boat rezzes to take us to the nearby island. While i got a big one, i let him take me to a smaller sail.

Another small hideaway with surprises! We lost each other exploring the huts, and soon we settled meditating on a tree.

Oh how time flies, it was time for me to get back to the real world and fetch our son, while he, one real-time zone away, needs a trip to the market.

SL is a wonderful place to meet reality, and I wonder if YS, on EST, had fallen asleep on her keyboard, hehe, after all, it was nearly dawn in her part of the globe.

A friend of mine told me about him, coming new to play in SL. At that time I was on site showing land to a client, who also happens to be a long-lost friend of mine. So we settled in one of the newly-bought plots at Dream Isle and got to know each other.

Well, for a newbie he does not look scary at all, in fact there was a bit of character already beneath those shades. Only 2 weeks old, I said he will qualify to join the Learn Avatar program that my real estate firm is offering new residents. By attending 2 classes each week, a noob like him could learn almost everything there is to know about living a life in SL, plus a chance to live on a free house and lot while with the program.

Around here you also get to celebrate one's birth, or rezz day as the virtual world puts it. I've turned one year! Ahh, all the things to look back..A year ago someone I knew many years back popped into my yahoo messenger and said hi. After keeping in touch where each other's lives had been, he told me about Second Life. I've read about it from some internet article feed, held my interest for a while and then without delving into it longer, here comes who I will call Big Brother.

Gearing Up
I hardly spent time at Orientation Island. Big Brother teleported me down Faery Crossing and asks me to dance under the bridge. Well, after he tossed a few items in my inventory, like a new skin, a shape, a few clothing, a black anime hair and, a hint of my Real Life (RL), a piece of an eyeglass. I was smoothly transformed from my newbie standard-issued avatar into a decent Second Life resident.

My machine was not ready, I lacked the recommended system requirements, as a result the menu hardly appears, when Big Brother would coach me on the technicalities of living a well, second life. I had to upgrade my work pc's memory, acquire a fairly good laptop, which means, more than a gig's memory.

The Lonely Treks
While waiting for the right hardware, I decided to appear invisible to Big Brother, who is slowly losing his patience for my clumsy falls, crashing, lagging, and appearing like a complete cybermoron.


The showcase communities from the SL website are a good place to start. In my search for live music, I came into a wonderful place by the beach, the Irie Vibes. By this time I had wandered all over Faery Crossing, the home location Big Brother set for me, enjoyed the streaming Celtic music, but I craved for the vibrant breeze by the sea, the atmosphere I grew up with, that I decided to move on.


I became a 15-minute dancer. That's how I earned my first Lindens. Once I was into one of those dancing pads and another camper noticed I have no shoes on, that she sent a set of shiny stilletos. I used my swirly colors around me, and we exchanged stuff like a wand of bubbles.


In between dancing for money i'd get back to the Landmarks Big Brother gave for free stuff. And that's where I met another girl, who gave me a set of nice capris (later became my favorites) and a better skin. Later i've watch her move her sofas, as she was decorating her own place.


Lonely No More


From my RL, LW joined me on SL. He was home for the Christmas vacation and so we were able to play together for a while. Later when he went back to work in Cambodia, we will spend our time in SL, chatting while we look at our avatars dance, fly, explore together, from the familiar beaches to the ballrooms of castles, the mountains. And oh, the many places to shop together!


I just won a horrendous amount of money at an sploder ball at one of the hopping dancefloors, that I declared camping days to be over. And another one, YS joined from RL. And another one..


Entanglements


It's amazing to realize how I was able to stay out of any attachments, considering that I managed myself to get not into not just a few entanglements. I'm not sure how prominent I wore my collar of unavailability, or maybe I was playing too hard to catch. There had been a couple of one-time, two-night stands, as when you were trying everything eventually you had to go under. It should be fun, leave the drama to the real world elsewhere. I still remember the first time, and the next one...and then after he took me shopping I never saw him again. Hey, there are more than 50 thousand residents online at any given time, are you sure he will be missed?

And my dancing days! First of all I love the vibes in that open hall, and the streaming music is really relaxing that one day I found myself alone dancing with this guy. Then another dancer popped in and mistook us for a couple. That's how we started getting to know each other. Most of the time he loved dancing, mingling with the crowd. Some of the days I'll just watch him dance away while I laze on the lounge, and hey there are others on the easy chair too, who could initiate an IM while you could go on and on on the public chat. YS, by this time had already met the love of her SL, brought him at this kind of mayhem for me to meet. I was into my first SL drama, and I got her into it as well.

Then after a long long time, by this time I was working as a land broker, that he popped in the office looking for land to buy. While we were on site I had to go, and left him again. I said we must get back later on. Though I doubt if he would soon, considering now the pattern that the SL stars had laid for us.


And the second time that someone asked me to see a future home, for a life together I would hope, it was a fortuitous day like no other. It afforded me a look at a real life scam, with real life monetary value, that is all so true in SL.

My new friend had bought over ebay auction a piece of land, and though surprised to find that it had a house in it as well, was more amazed to learn that someone run away with his real money and the true owner of the land was eating him alive for trespassing in her property. And he brought me to hear all this drama, the owner teleporting a staff from linden lab to settle the matter. I stood my ground, he was glad I was by his side. The following day he got a replacement land from linden lab, and while on it some girl got to him too. You bet in SL life moves in circles too, one day you're up and the next day you're down.

Looking back now, I guess the reason while we seem to mess each other up is because I also met someone at about the same time that I met him.

And this one we instantly seemed to like each other ( I can feel) but things have soon left the boundaries of SL and moved to ym. It had gone real. The first time I saw him on webcam he crept into my dreams that night, naked. One night he got drunk and took me off his list, and then we saw each other by chance on a lonely park, and profusely thanking the robotic stars above got back talking together again. And then one day, and I was'nt even drunk, these are the days he said he was not drinking anymore, I said bye, he said bye. And after that, admiring my manners having improved, I deleted him off SL, and ym as well. Now I miss him like hell.



Eventually he took me (or did I followed him?) to an exclusive naturist resort. There were beach guards all around to see that the rules were being followed, and I jumped right on the water knowing I still have a few clothing on. Then I logged off. No better easy way out than that, trust me. The following day, I logged back on the same spot, and pretty soon the guards were on me again. But the fellow who was in the pool was quicker, he left after he opened my profile, and offered me a teleport to his home, where we got to know each other, with our cloths on. This one's more complicated, always busy as he builds a lot in SL. But hey I found someone who's not looking for entanglement, that's why the first time he landed on my list, he stayed.

Touching Base
After more than a half year of exploring, hanging out on somebody's parks, beaches, accidentally finding a house on a sunken treasure chest,I decided to get a home of my own. By now I have saved enough to afford one on my own.



I copied the streaming music of my favorite garden park, terraformed a large chunk of land into fishing water, and I'm off fishing when not entertaining friends over.


Music, Zen and the Art of Hunting a Job


Its good to hear live music and feel the vibes of a crowded place on the comfort of your favorite chair, there's lots and lots of that happening around, you only got to give a little linden love in appreciation of the good times had.

I met a few friends that way. But sometimes even with a solo access to a broadband, the connection or SL itself will lag behind. I enjoyed my brief work as an events host for a show like that, much since its being taped for webcast. But the Sim had to go, or whatever went wrong that I am left to find a new job. You see I have a basic account, which means I infuse no real dollars in order to be in the game. Let SL pay for SL, hence I need to work for my linden dollar. Down at the camping park, I saw an ad for a job at the learning experience, a 6-sim wide free learning university. I applied for the bottom post of a campus guide.

When I first tp'd in, little did I know that the guy I chanced upon was the owner. See how we are alike in the color of attire and hair. In zen-speak that is an auspicious moment, some sort of a-ha this is no coincidence kind of thing happening. I was meant for this job. He showed me where to drop my notecard application. He told me to get in touch with his staff. I had a very long tour of the wide campus, even if the staff and I had a huge time difference. I tp'd the nudist in his ass down the waterfall and told him i'll be working here, and he complimented me by showing off a a new asian set of clothing he got. And then when I finally got to it, my time turned out to be a graveyard shift hardly anyone comes by, that I had to tp a friend over so I can have company. In RL he is a restless young man but he kindly stayed till I'm off shift. And then, after all these good start, you bet I blew it all up. After all the readings I did of the various hippogroups (any kind of learning group you can imagine a real university to have), even perusing the award-winning blogs of the owner, to almost inviting him to join my facebook(he was asking for it! Having developed a few facebook applications) he was asking me whoever hired the hell of me. The point was, I asked his assistant to clock me in for the first time, when he was supposed to be doing that. The poor lady, whom I have never met before, did when I asked her to, perhaps seeing me on his list as a staff. Well, the other lady who took me to a tour asked me to find her if she or the owner is offline. Which I just did, and yes I was warned that the owner had a temper during the tour.


I just never knew, after all the voice interview he did, he still wants to see me before I clock in, perhaps to compare which of us had the better shade of platinum hair. But he'll never get get to that, as I doubt if he had a tangerine.

So, having lost a job without really having one, I went back to my old camping ground and decided to pursue a different calling, that of a land realtor. I tp'd in site and saw the billboards of their staff, and clicked on one online. I was told to drop a notecard of application. Then I waited, then I did a follow-up. The owner was very accomodating, but her time and I were very different she wants me to be trained by her staff. And they proved to be busy as well. I decided to hang on. The week went by, and well into the next week that decided to file an application for RGF Estates. I got a quick reply, attended an onsite sale, introduced to the rest of the trainees and before the end of the week I had my first sale.

It was my beginner's luck. And six weeks on the job I was able to save up, still a broker but that's all right. Learned a lot of stuff, the firm went by more like the real thing.

Now i'm keeping to my 20 hours a week load, had changed the type of house, still enjoys fishing and thinking of different house again. Maybe I could do with a cave this time..and raining outside..so will it be an open-sided cave since I like the open air so much..

You would probably be surprised to learn that one night someone asked me out for dinner.
But by this time, i had more or less convinced myself that in the virtual world of Second Life, your limit is your imagination. Since I was still on the dock when I got the invitation by IM, i teleported in my work dress. No time to shop for one on such a short and surprising notice.
The place I landed into was anything like you could ever see in your good neighborhood, there were one couple dining already. After a short hellos and a bit longer rezzing, my date would later comment on the million pixels that my sari contains, we settled on a small table for two. Alas, all are done by the push of a button now, or shall I say, click of a mouse, we ordered champagne to start a night of good meal and conversation.
Oh, the menu and choices were so lovely I thought i clicked twice on dessert, as I could not bring myself not to sample all those cakes. And more wine please. We even said hellos and exchanged pleasantries with the other couple who moved later by the bar. His gift of a pet tribble, extended to the couple as well, was amusingly funny I had a great time out.

it would have never worked between us anyways

After so much exploring i finally made up my mind to dump all the things that i accumulated on a corner. Not that i was able to clutter my inventory with a lot of things. I will always be a beach girl, so i found myself an openspace down Solace Beach, and used one of the installed houses in it. Although the BuddhaBeats house was what convinved me to get my own place, i found it rather small for the 4096 sqm that i'm moving into.

My second bait bucket still almost full, I've levelled up. From angler, as I earned 20XP, i became a naturalist and will be able to unlock ultra rare fish. It was raining that day, as i found at Straylight(210, 100, 8) a secluded nook near the falls, with only 3 boxes to sit on.

Among the sunken treasures

Hidden from the Solace shores

An old ragged box with dirty holes

I took at the sandbox on Witch Shores

But lo, like a lamp once kissed

Through time like a dream drifted

Fezzes before my islander friend

Now as my primitive own.

A vampire on a castle
An alien on a space station
A peaceful she-pirate on foot
Loom on a new unknown
In this freakin' wonderful
Virtual world.

The flounder is a diabolical side-winder. You won't even see him coming until you step on him. Just try to stay in his really big blind spot. I named this lil' fella happily swimming on my shoulders Sleepyhead.
The following day i decided to get a professional fishing rod from 7Seas, and not a minute after casting I caught an uncommon fish: Blue Catfish.
My lucky charm indeed.

So you wanna get a second life? Well, see if you have a first one, and quite sure what's it about, that first, real life. So you don't make a mess out of your another chance.

I'll use mine to explore, see places from the comfort of my keyboard. Its really an awesome experience to get to a Sim that's tastefully done, the streaming music in sync with the time, the ambiance that a particular place wants its visitors to imbibe. I keep coming back to places like that, and I've known some. I and my man, who live an hour time-zone away from each other, after webcam-chats on yahoo messenger, would then get inworld into SL. Since I went online, never known a place that would be more fun. All imaginations gone unleashed, some breathtaking, and well, some are pretty bad. But I haven't got yet to telling anyone to better spend a few linden and buy other people's creations. I must confess I haven't been able to add to the mayhem, the curiosity to build is getting in but I haven't gone to that. Not yet.

I'll use mine to explore, get out of myself. It's amazing how others perceive their own second lives. Some fantasize themselves into a roleplay, going back in time, or even simply, living a fairy tale. There are slaves, because there are masters. Others are so busy making a linden dollar, and I tell you, there are a lot of opportunities, just like in the real world. Some are here to play, have fun. Its getting interesting for me to see myself in a pixel-generated avatar reinvent everything, from flexi-hairs to how tall I can be.

I'll use mine to explore, meet new people. Just like in the real world, things here can get pretty real too. The meeting of the minds, the chance meeting on a lonely nook, the connection. Packed dancehalls, jammed live concerts, and even on the camping pad are people all over the globe. Once one asked me how many I got on my contact list, and was shocked when I replied that I got less than ten, while he got a hundred and fifty. He got sad when along the way he got taken off that list. Well, I was trying to explore. Less lag if you got less inventory. Travel light.

I was exploring Athena Isle when I chanced upon Tukso Okey's live performance, due in an hour. In public chat the show producer, Cybergrrl Oh was looking for someone to distribute complimentary shirt to the audience. After which she hired me to be Music Arts on The Isle hostess for the following week's events, with additional task to invite the audience to join the group.

During my early days, I went camping for money, then got lucky on an sploder in one of the dance halls. It ended my camping days for a while, and I was able to gear up. Then while camping, somebody asked me for 1000L$ to spy on someone. Well, just go to this sim and see if he was with someone he's not supposed to be with anymore. It's that simple. I must have done a good job that I got double the rate proposed! While exploring on my new set of clothes with a hair that changes into 76 color tones, I got hired for a half-hour..

I appear out of nowhere
hover over mountains
savor sights yet unseen
in this land of make believe
then i vanish, i explore.