I have loads of blogs/social networking accounts, few of which I’ve written even a couple of entries for. You name it, I’ve probably got it: Livejournal, Xanga, Myspace, Facebook… Syphilis. Just kidding about that last one, by the way. And no, I don’t think it’s funny to make fun of people who do have it. That’s right down there with kicking puppies and denying disturbingly cute British orphans 2nd servings of gruel. Where was I?
Anyway, I have a ton of that stuff. And now for a few months I’ve been exploring the strange, strange, yet bizarrely compelling world of Second Life. Joy and pixie stix, dude. I can barely fly correctly and my wardrobe reminds me of something straight out of Cirque Du Soleil (excellent show, by the way). But for all my pain-in-the-ass cracking wise (haha..my mind wanders south), I must admit that I am so totally addicted now.
And so that brings me back to this darn thing that I spent hours making a header for. I feel it important to point out that I don’t really look like that (It’s the wonders of Photoshop and lighting, dears). I’m wearing a skin that I found who knows where and sadly haven’t been able to find a reasonably priced replacement for. And no, a quality one really wouldn’t cost me much and I’ve seen loads I’ve been tempted to spend a whopping two or three dollars on. But I’m still new and the idea of online money transactions have always made me uncomfortable. I’m not opposed to the idea completely, not as much as when I began.
However, I do have a tendency to move from one online phenomenon to another. My addictions are intense but more often than not fleeting. I never delete accounts but at the same time I may disappear for half a year at any given moment, unless someone’s really pro-active about dragging me back into it. At my apartment I’m known as a bit of a dealer when it comes to these things. I get excited at the idea of bringing new people in and teaching them what I know but only for as long as it takes the training wheels to come off.
Honestly, I’m astonished I stuck this SL thing out for as long as I have. My own roommate (the reason I joined in the first place) lasted just a few hours, decided she couldn’t be bothered to learn how to navigate a whole new world (pardon my Disney), and never returned. So it was up to me to figure things out for myself. It was tough going at first, but thanks to some helpful landmarks and a foxy shape given to me after a chance encounter with a club owner I was off to a good start.
I hit the freebies hot spots immediately, intrigued and completely overwhelmed by the wealth of 0L stuff floating around in-World. I quickly realized that stuff in Second Life was not so different from the way it is in first. You usually only get what you pay for. And so I began dabbling absentmindedly in the task of making my own darn skin. It was actually a little too hard for me. Or rather, as I mentioned earlier, I’m incurably lazy.
Designing is hard work and though I have been known to get fancy with the Photoshop I know very little about creating realistic looking textures and folds. The UV maps and grids and rainbow color boundaries made me feel as if I’d fallen through the looking glass and some schmuck worm with a pipe and his cat was offering me a hit (No thanks, man. I’m a college drunkard, not a druggie). Needless to say, I gave up and made a couple of easy and hideous t-shirts instead.
My first good friend that I met in-World was a random guy I ran into at a strip club that was hosting a best in -insert color here- contest. He dealt me the most unusual compliment I’d ever received and to this day I’m still not sure if I can believe him. “You don’t really look like a newbie.” My jaw could have dropped to the ground and through the floor below me, after which it would most likely strike some poor unsuspecting college student in the head and send him straight to the emergency room where he’d spend weeks in recovery. Gee, thanks dude, look at the crummy Lifetime movie you almost inspired! No one tell Sally Field, okay? Thank goodness I don’t pick up that channel on my tv. I only get as high as 30 something before I’m attacked by a static storm.
Since meeting that first friend it’s been one heck of a trip. I’ve learned a lot but nothing more valuable than the fact that I’ve still got loads more to figure out. The only way I’ve managed to get this far is with an open mind. It’s not all the PTA would have you believe it is, really. And anyway, who wants to bet half of the moms or dads on those sorts of committees are escorts or aliens or leopleodons or something else altogether on SL? Maybe all three?
That’s the beauty and curse of the second world, you can really truly be anything you want. But hopefully, deep down, you are still yourself if you know what I mean. I know I am. In-World I’m extremely shy. I rarely speak up first. The only instance being during a camping session when I realized, much to my amusement and delight, that I was sitting next to a large pink teddy bear with the sweetest looking button nose. Well that was the sort of girly-girl moment opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. I immediately gushed at how cute she was and learned a bit about the girl behind the plushy exterior in the process.
Turns out she was from Korea and thought I was “very beautiful” (I was completely flattered). We talked for a bit and afterward I befriended her. She is still so positively adorable. See what happens when you speak up? Good things happen. Maybe not all the time, but in the long run.
So I bet you’re asking yourself now, how’s she going to wrap this all up? I dunno. So I guess this is how: DONE! W00t! Hooray! *smiles* I’m new to actually following through with all this, y’know?
