On a Second Life

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..