"Your World...Your Imagination"

The title of this post comes from Linden Lab some time ago...I don't remember seeing it recently. Before I get too far down the line here....Just as a matter of record. While this blog isn't on Linden servers and isn't constrained by *not repeating personal information thats not posted on a persons public profile*....I certainly will always observe your anonymity. I was reading anothers blog this AM...where the current post was about what people do in Secondlife...{where we can be anybody or anything we choose.} Only one of the things I treasure about our place is that we have a sense of community..or I hope that all of you do. While we do have some of you that do RP...you leave it there when you "come home". Actually theres only one of you that I do know what RP she's into. And that's as it should be...no *big brother* needed. We have several real life couples here, and I think another couple coming , as well as a lot of singles. We are nearing the last quarter of the year... a time for holidays. If there's a group desire for a social event please let me kno. Last year we did a halloween party. That brings me to my prim story...Most of you find out that so often we need/want more *stuff* than we have prims for. I have finally found an upper limit for me......{finally!}...it's 22500 prim. Last year Lala did the halloween decorations...mainside gets 15000 prims. I ended up with 6 prims left. Not 6000. 6! ROFL Last year I did a photo album scrapbook....If you would like a copy just let me kno...or........... Start sending photos to Mamie Alter. I'm also thinking of asking a person I know here to go around and get some pictures of both your places as well as you yourself..I want to make a new one that has all of the ppl that are here now as well as the "How It Used to Be". Please set full permissions on any photos as well as names. A special thank you to Skyler...she's taken someone new under her wing...I believe thats so important here. Ling has "killed " the hard drive in her PC :-(.... If anyone wants/needs to reach her you can either leave an "off topic" comment here. Or leave me either an in world note...or an Email RL at brinda.allen.sl@ Gmail.com and I'll see that she gets it. Brook Sutton was here the other day.... saw her on a visitors sensor. Brook is a friend from when we first came to Benares. She stayed with Ling for a few months before going on in Secondlife... :-) Since I still see her coming to see what we're doing, I kno she too has left a lil piece of her here. For that I'm so grateful. OK...that's enough chatter today... Always know that you are so loved, brinda Namaste

Bits and Pieces

Just a few random thoughts... There's something that we all hear in so many ways throughout our lives...and today I find it so funny that, at least for me, I didn't truley *hear* it. A very good close friend of mine in real life calls this phenomena, "The gift of ears". I'm thinking of a song lyric from long ago that..."Just because you can see the stars doesn't mean you can see the light". {Boy is that the story of my life! :-) } Where I'm going with this has to do with volunteering our time and resources both in Secondlife as well as real life. As some of you know I have two great passions here in Secondlife. One is this labour of love called Benares. I hope a place of love and compassion ...a place of peace...a place of fun. I have been so blessed by having so many residents contribute to this dream...not only financialy...but in the prevailing attitude. I get such great pleasure from seeing the fantastic effort and talent so many put into their place here in Benares...I get to watch ppl riding vehicles around the sim...see Jakob running a jetski across 3 sims...Allie and Laurali doing the things that young college age girls do...ppl shooting themselves out of cannons. And yes..the occaisional gunfight...{where no one got angry} =^..^=. My other passion is showing new ppl that there are those in Secondlife that are willing to help. As I've mentioned before..I was given the gift of friendship a few weeks into this life...a charter member helped to make me feel that I did...*belong*. I've met two ppl in the last couple days that have been such a joy to work with...Skyler and Rosemary. Perhaps the thing that's made any help I've given them so enjoyable is they have..."The gift of ears". They both have extensive experience in other virtual venues and understand that the easiest way to have a measure of early success in anything we do is to listen to those that have gone before us. There are a few things that I've learned in offering help. One is that if the other person just goes AFK and doesn't ask or apologise...or just goes off into inventory and won't listen?....I don't get upset. I offered.... that's it. I gladly just dump all of the free folders I have that can help... and move along...no life revolves around me. The other thing equally important for me is a lack of expectations...any help is offered freely...no one ever owes me anything. And because no one *owes me anything* ........ I get everything. =^..^= As always, I love you all, brinda Namaste PS: In previous mentions of those that do so much for the good of all I've chatted about 'Caro'..If you have a few minutes... Please check out this URL. This is just one of the things that some of our residents do here. http:/www.rezlibris.com/institutions-a-organizations/info-island/481-alliance-virtual-libray-goes-back-to-the-basics.html

Growing

Had a chance today to see a couple things that give me much joy. First was when Skyler sent me an IM early to perhaps give her some pointers/advice/help on rezzing some sealife she had gotten for her beach. Now when I came to SL.. I wasn't about to ask for any advice/help/pointers...{my gosh.. what if they think I don't know}...ROFL. You see a default nooblet? They don't know! When I get there, the dolphin was a creation that I hadn't seen before. My best efforts at trying to position it were to no avail... darn thing had a mind of it's own. Over the next perhaps 15 minutes though, I watched as Skyler figured it out. All the *help* she got from me was an "atta girl". And so often that's what we really need. More about this in a few lines. Real life called and I logged for a bit...when I returned I saw one of my newer friends at our guest house. I love to see new ppl come here and take up our offer to use that facility. The sign on the front says it quite clearly... "Everybody needs a place where they belong". While it's possible to have a Secondlife with a free account and no parcel or group land, for most of us it just feels right to have somewhere we can just.. *be*. OK..A few lines later =^..^= Linden Lab is, if not slowly deleting the Secondlife Mentors program, reducing it to just a few. Mentors have gone from 7000 or so to around 1500 or less today... and there are no new ones coming. Power corrupts...absolute power etc. ...many Mentors just ended up with the title for the status. Some, and BTW...I have a list of the ones I've worked with...are ones that are here to help... I know there are many others. Many of these Mentors are just doing the Mentors program...IE: showing ppl where to look in the knowledge base for the.. *how to*...there is a place and a need for that. I love to see brand new avatars ... stop and chat for a bit... show them how to delete that darn pink dress...give them a few free clothes, a pair of sparkly heels, some decent hair styles, a few info notecards, and a skin that isn't like grade school paste :-). Send them to NCI hubs..or Hyles..or Help Ppl... anywhere but the *Welcome Areas*.. And listen to how they talk now that their self esteem has gone up. Secondlife or real life...how we look and dress has a lot of impact on how we feel about ourselves and those around us. There are a lot of ways to contribute here...Boyd I've mentioned before...his thing is... *someone that listens*. Rarely found alone. Breye...always busy... works so hard at helping ppl enjoy the *Wild West*. Makes Secondlife easier for so many. I've a former resident that spent quite a few L$ repaying debts that a former significant other created. This took her months, they wern't her debts, and she had to earn that money in Secondlife... That kind of ethics improves life for us all. Some days I really feel that there is hope.... that the future can and has started here...that if we work at it-- just a little....it can work. Love always, brinda Namaste

Transitions

That old saw about, 'The more things change ..the more they remain the same'. I have had a remarkable chance in Secondlife to have a front row seat to watch change. Change in others as well as change in myself. Some changes seem at first to be growth...some I guess might be growth in an odd direction. Which is the *correct* direction? Probably only seen clearly in retrospect. New things. New people coming...some just passing thru...Skyler staying. One thing I've seen before, and it's always the same, is that moment of fear, panic, and yes, joy...when we rezz our first house. It happened to me certainly! Gosh that seems so long ago...{the panic when I accidentaly deleted the second floor I clearly remember as well lol}. Thank you Minke Bailey..(she was there in minutes to fix it). If you see a tiny bunny running around.. stop and say "Hi".. thats Bubbles... Bubbles is from Sweden and so very funny...Guess I'll need to go get more flags for the telehub. Polys birthday... A year in Secondlife seems a lot longer experience wise than a year real time...certainly for many of us there's an intensity here that we don't see RL. I suspect almost all that see this blog know Poly...I am blessed by having her both as a friend and as someone passionate about Benares. BTW....If you see her at log in?... haha.. please give her a few minutes before we all bomb her with our percieved problems via IMs :-). I remember her first "hello" at Isabel. There's another member of this team that rarely gets any.. *airtime*.. Ling. And most of you don't get the chance to see behind the scene to see her input. I was reminded of her a couple times this past week. As she has said ,Ling often watches from afar. It's not a question of dispassionate observation...I think it's allowing ppl to grow at there own pace. More than once she has opened her own home to new ppl...given them a place to stay and grow. Always a dear friend...and a much better judge of ppl than I will ever be. I remember our first meeting at Apollo. My SL daughter has had to learn about how we all suffer from having a terminal illness...growing old. She lost her Godmother a couple weeks ago. Lala, I love you and treasure watching you grow up. While, when we're young, we see a death as such a terrible thing...as the years go by... this passing becomes just, "the way things are". That's enough rambling for today...I am so glad to see your comments. I have had a few of you comment to me personally as well. I believe that we all are better served by communication. There are situations that have happened everywhere...Benares included...that would have possibly turned out differently had my communication skills have been better. Maybe better late than never. I love you all, brinda Namaste

Happy versus Right

It's usually hard for me the figure out that line between being...* RIGHT!*...and being happy. Recently my struggle with that has resurfaced. One of the original things I read from Linden Lab was their motto, "Your World..Your Imagination". I came to Secondlife nearly 900 days ago and while my first days and weeks here were not... 'happy joyous and free'...I wasn't griefed, teased, or spoken to badly. Sadly that's not everyones situation...all one has to do is go stand around at MooseBeach info hub or Waterhead welcome area for awhile and watch and listen. I bought my first estate parcel at Arrazura around June 2007, about three or four weeks after I came to SL. It was such an experience...I met Lala, Twinkle, and Ling while I was there and got my first lesson in prim control..{or the lack there of}. All of those ppl came to the mainland with me and together we built a nearly third sim beautiful open landscaped area for all to enjoy with rental houses surrounding the park. I was happy. And then I had my first experience with ppl that..."Their World..Their Imagination"... concept was much different than mine. Griefers. Self replicating prims...obscene particle spamm. After spending an inordinate amount of money it became clear to me that while I was acting.. *right*.. just abuse reporting the situations and never getting actively involved... it wasn't where I could be happy. And so the idea for Benares was born. My theme here, and the operating policy has been based on peace and love. And for almost the entire existence of this sim we have been so blessed with residents that embody those qualities........ While there are others..{and I will get around to chat with all of you I promise}......I had a chance to chat with a couple of residents yesterday who both carry those ideals. Early in the day I got an IM from a resident that lives as far east as our estate goes. Andor is wonderful, a person that treasures his privacy here, and when I set up the East sim we specifically made a parcel out there that I was sure he would like. If anyone is flying around and see's him out there...stop by and say hello. He's created a fantastic garden... {look for the beehive..I had no idea} :-). Go as far east as you can....look for him. Then last eve Desire came up to my front yard for a chat. Desire is another that doesn't spend a lot of time into anyone elses business. Beautiful, quiet, loves building. Amazed me early on....I looked at a walkway she was creating that mite be a lil high on prims...I sent her a mega prim and a texture....next day I saw she had used it and perfectly mapped the texture. She was about a week old! She had "party neighbors" for a week or so....never a word.. just read the covenant and put up a nicely textured wall so she didn't have to possibly offend anyone. The other side... Stuff I just don't get. Ppl that constantly seem to be a pain where I sit. One of my good friends has a great line in her profile "likes and dislikes"... she dislikes ppl that have a profile line that says they are, "drama free"...(rarely). I have 'issues' with ppl that come to our home and prim litter, or create scripts that don't seem to have an "off switch". Ppl that come to a place I have spent literally several thousand USD and try to coax ppl to leave for their own selfish reasons. Ppl that go to nooblet locations and grief, harass, or waste resources. We have an opportunity in Secondlife to create as close to a perfect world as we will ever see. Why waste such an opportunity? I have a friend in SL..someone thats been here since 2004...a person that has done much to improve this experience for all of us. There's just one thing that I see as a problem....{for him}...I'm sure it's a learning experience for me. At what point would I rather be *right* rather than *happy*? Attachment is pain. It's not always an easy choice.
I guess I'm not finished here =^..^=
I love you all, brinda
Namaste

नमस्ते

The Right Thing? I Hope.

I try so hard to do the *right thing*...I wish I could tell you that it's what I learned as a young child. Actually it's stuff I hope i've learned from paying an incredible amount of *pillow tax* over a lot of years. Sometimes I wish {just for a moment} that I could easily return to the ideas that kept me alive for so many years of abusing myself and everyone around me. Last eve I had to do things that I've put off for some months...I neednt go into a lot of details...theres just a couple of residents left that would remember the original situation anyway. When I meet new ppl...ppl just sometimes minutes old here in SL...in some ways it's like having a new child. You have some children that come, grow incredibly fast, and leave home almost as quickly. You have others that enter your life and stay for so long. And yes...sometimes you get children that may decide that the opportunity here is not for them. All share a piece of my heart...and whether they leave quickly or slowly... as the text on the tori gate over the walkway to the south shore says, we all leave a part of ourselves here on this island. A day or so ago one of those 'children' has decided to pursue a dream that has taken her to a place in SL where she can realize that dream. I'm OK with that...she's following the first rule I try to express to all new ppl....."Have Fun". (I have that in quotes 'cause I got that from my friend Ling). Am I sad?..absolutely. Am I happy? Sure...cause I want all to be happy. Will I miss her? you bet! The *right thing*.... I have had to face the apparent fact that not everyone has my best interests at heart....{what a suprise huh?}. I posted on anothers blog yesterday that I attempt to live here in SL with this philosophy. If I like, respect, and I can help you , I will. If I end up not liking you, if I don't respect you, I will leave you and everything about you alone. There are at last count something like 32000 regions in Secondlife...there isn't time to visit them all.... and there certainly isn't time to attempt to interfere in anothers life. While I have stopped ppl from coming to Benares...It's always been a situation where I felt the interests of all the residents was {and is} the most important thing. Abuse someone here...you're outta here! Try to crash or seriously lag the sim? pooof! I have recently had to take a look at whether someones actions cause me personal financial loss. I think perhaps they did. Residents pay me real money to have a beautiful, fun place to enjoy SL. I have a responsiblity to provide all of you with great service. Thats why there are managers here from about 5AM SLT...{Ling Hotshot}...Me, off and on during the day and eve, and Polyhistor till the wee hours. And I have a responsibilty to provide you with an island to log into. Rest assured.... this estate isn't going anywhere. The *right thing*? I've stopped a former member from coming here. As well as removed that person and another from the group. Only twice before have I ever removed someone from this group. I don't like this....it doesn't feel good....and I'm hoping that it was the *right thing*. I love you all, brinda Namaste

Old Friends & New

Had to re-Edit this post...Sometimes I wonder if I will ever find stuff as easy as some of you seem to be able to do :-). Old friends:...I did get a chance to chat with Twinkle a day or so ago. Many of you today have never met her...and yet Twinkles the reason we have a place today called Benares. She was my second friend here in SL... and likely the most patient person I kno. When she and I met, I had about 90 days experience w/PCs. Had no idea of even basic things like copy & paste..{not much better now lol}. Imagine how difficult it could be to teach someone the basics of PC use *plus* SL from 12000 miles away! {and yes..there were times I wanted to strangle her! :-) }. Twinkle, Ling, Lala and myself had a place on Lythria and after dealing with constant griefing for some months I decided to buy this estate. I knew I didn't have the tech skills to handle this, but Twinkle promised me she would stay for a year until I could take care of myself, & she did! After she ceased having an active part in running Benares I found out that she had done this for all of us while having a lousy bandwidth PB {no media, draw under 64 meters, all in all a less than desireable SL experience. While it like to broke my heart when Twin started spending most of her time in real life...I had to realize that if she hadn't, I would never have grown. Today Twinkle has graduated from college with a degree in engineering, works for the Bangladeshy government at a power station near Dhaka, still has a small place up at 700 here, plus a rental 1024 parcel on the south shore. I am forever grateful for Twinkle Villota...a lot of why I feel about Secondlife as I do comes because her. New Friends: I had, as always, a great time recently meeting and working with new ppl. One is Deb00 ... she came to SL from another VW ,'Moove". Shes such a joy :-)... she goes exploring... IMs me wanting to come and chat about what her experiences were. Seems a very open young woman, I hope she stays. Another fun time for me was being able to personally do a lil *search and locate*...I was able to find a rather busy french sim for Lotus...Lotus had spent a few days off and on on HI217. And she really felt she would be happier where French was common. We found an avie that was able to steer us to just what Lotus needed. Benares friends:.... I've chatted with a few of you here on the island concerning using this blog as a way for all of you to perhaps post about stuff going on with you...or to just be *in touch* with our neighbors. While some of you were close friends before you came, we have a couple that truly treasure their privacy. We are a lot more spread out than we were almost two years ago and I've been told by a couple of ppl that a big part of what we try to offer here is a sense of community. Posts to this forum are welcome...if you're post seems... 'off topic'... thats fine. I'm going to attempt to not "moniter/moderate" comments. I kno we can remember the first rule of SL...HAVE FUN! =^..^=