Leading by Example

I don't see her in search anymore...but she's always with me... ***

I'm wondering how we get to where we are, emotionally and/or intellectually, in our lives.

I do understand the concept of nature/nurture, but I sit and wonder why some of us {speaking of the human condition} turn out as we do.

I'm thinking in terms of how we end up determining where we set our boundaries.

Those things that make us who we are... as far as honesty, ethics, morals, kindness, and social acceptability.

Often it seems to have so little bearing on education...or at least formal education.

We see people grow up in terrible family/social systems and they turn out to be warm caring people that are a gift to all around them.

We see others that have all the privileges of family wealth, power, and prestige....and we wouldn't want to take them to a dog fight.

***

Recently there was a "griefing" episode I witnessed that very well may have been done by some one credited with the creation of the Internet as we know it today.

Someone bright enough to write a program that actually allows millions of computers to access information in real time.

Now if this person didn't actually do the act...I believe they encouraged the act and gave tacit approval. Certainly they were present, have at least a working relationship with the griefing group members, and said nothing.

I have no idea of this persons childhood... no way of knowing if they were physically or emotionally abused as a child...I do know that today that person is affiliated with a prestigious university and has access to any psychological/emotional counseling that could help a 50 plus year old stop doing those things that one would expect of a 15 year old.

I have met another person in Secondlife that again, I know nothing about past history... but this person has shown a pattern of controlling behavior and emotional abuse of just about anyone they ever came in contact with.

I have told people in the past that I came from a terribly disfunctional family.

{You know that family got along just fine after I left =^..^=}

I've spoken before about my extremely checkered past... a history of drug abuse, people abuse, violence, long periods of custody...and yet I kinda think I turned out OK. Today I can find any number of people both here in Secondlife as well as real life to cosign my act.

The qwestion I pose is : Why the difference?

Why do I meet so many that truly love to help where ever they can?

I won't give a list of names here... that's not what these ramblings are about..suffice it to say that our estate at Benares has an abundence of those people. Honest caring ethical people that want to try and help me carry forth the dream I had over two years ago when I named our island.

Why do I find so many that only seem to want to destroy anothers happiness?

I was reading one of Lalo Tellings early posts ...yesterday, I think.

He posed the qwestion about, "How do you feel about the furry community?"

You see, I had forgotten that the same people that griefed a discussion group on Friday evening tend to have serious links to groups that have harassed the furry sims in the past.

Why is the denial level so high with some people?

If I go to Cathedral you mean those dragons aren't really dragons?

If I go to Luskwood that wolf/dog/cat/giraffe isn't really a wolf/dog/etc?

You mean those are really humans?

***

I love Secondlife. I love the original premise, "Your world ...Your imagination".

I realize that there never has been a utopia...there never will be a utopia as long as that "human condition" exists... and yet here we can come as close as we ever could.

I also realize that pretty much everyone wants to, " Do their own thing" or.... "I got mine.. you work for yours". Yet both myself, and certainly the two that help me in the actual operation of this estate, share my views. Views that say why not take a few minutes of screen time to help another with no thought of renumeration....

Just makes a nicer world.

***

I'm much too old to believe I can change the world...

But I am old enough to believe that I can lead by example...

And you can as well...

I know for and absolute fact that many avatars still in Secondlife today will tell you they stayed because some one reached out a hand or paw and said, "Hi, Secondlife can be a little confusing at first...would you like a little help?"

In my case Prissielou Flora, She was three and a half years in Secondlife when she found me...

Priss, thank you for making me feel, "a part of".

***

And so it goes

Gently...

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Distance

Courtesy of my cousin Lynn in New Mexico

Courtesy of Nasa and the Hubble telescope...(a very long ways out}.

***

Often the distances I see can be both further than I thought and at the same time as close as my skin.

And just as often my skin doesn't fit as well as I'd like. Darn it... after so many years on this planet...and so many years of practise I still sometimes find it hard to see the reality that this world is not here to please me. My gosh, aren't we supposed to learn that in kindergarten... or grade school?

***

I sat straight up in bed last night...I knew exactly what pictures I wanted for this blog even before my concious mind knew what I wanted to talk about.

My friend Polys been missing for a week plus... now not really "missing", she did tell me that she had some real life business to take care of.

Poly and I are a little over 2000 kms apart real life and will never meet, and yet at least for me... we are closer than I am with my own daughter. {That's where those pictures above come in}.

Close or far...Doesn't it depend on where you stand? Ask the ant on an oak tree if that tree is alive and you would hear, "No, my family has lived here for countless generations and it hasn't moved."

Perception.

In the true scale of life if we can see something... it's close.

As close as those two wild horses...

As close as I am with so many of you...

If I weren't close I wouldn't feel the pain of loss.

***

Here in Secondlife I have had the gift of meeting so many of you... and meeting you on a level that's difficult to achieve anywhere but a virtual world.

Lindsay, one of my newer friends quoted me a line from a song a day or two ago, a line I promptly paraphrased, but it did touch on the idea. She left me the link to the correct version in a comment yesterday and I'd like to share it with all of you, listening to this has helped me with getting my skin to fit a little better today.

Please enjoy.... http://ow.ly/1rExh

***

More confusing stuff for me... If I find that I don't like you {for whatever reason}, I leave you alone. If asked about you I will likely just steer the conversation elsewhere, and if there's an attempt to pin me down I try to only say something like, "We don't agree". I also have a reputation that I will never say behind your back what I've not already said to your face.

That leads me to a situation last evening.

One of the more controversial members of Secondlife has a discussion group on Friday evenings and if I can I like to attend. Last evenings meeting was *shadowed* by a group here in Secondlife that has been accused of griefing in days not so long ago. An hour into the meeting all the attending discussion group members started crashing... rather odd crashes... slow relogs...now while I don't know for certain that the shadowing group members were responsible it seemed odd that 10 or 12 people would, one at a time, crash. Oh btw, the shadowing group members bear much ill will to the leader of the discussion group... coincidence? Maybe.

I guess where I'm going with this is ...why? Now if the shadowing group was responsible, and they were kids...OK.. perhaps they didn't have as much parental control as they could have used. These are adults... people I deem adult...some not in their 2os or 30s but 50s.

In this case I think I see my way as the better choice, it makes my skin fit better.

***

I have so few answers to much of what confronts me in life... today I took solace in a long chat with Ling. Ling and I have been doing Secondlife since late 2007 I think, she was with me before I left Arrazura... we did Lythria together. While I have children ten years older than Ling, I should be blessed that they had her wisdom and tolerance where people are concerned.

Ling and I are as close...and yet as far apart as any two people could be. Help and love is where one finds it.

***

What's that line? I'm not the person I strive to be...but thank goodness I'm not the person I was.

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

I honour that place where the universe resides in you...When you are in that place and I am as well , then we are one.

नमस्ते

इ होनौर ठाट प्लेस वेयर थे उनिवेरसे रेसिदेस इन यू...व्ह्वं यू अरे इन ठाट प्लेस एंड इ ऍम अस वेल, थें वे ऐ ओने.

Changes Fear Ethics & Love

Can we get to a point in Secondlife now where we can't grow larger? A few years ago one of the first land barons... more accurately a land baroness... started Secondlife with her $9.95 premium membership and parlayed that ten dollars into a multimillion dollar a year business here. In November 2006, Business Week magazine posted her as the first millionaire made in a virtual world. http://ow.ly/1qRXS I wonder are those days gone?...and if so, why? *** I imagine since the first cave guy/gal figured out a way to do something that everybody else wanted badly enough to trade something of value to receive {buy}...there has been competition to create that same widget and offer it for less. And if one has enough financial backing they could offer that widget at a loss just to get your business and sell you another object as well and still make a profit. Has The Benevolent Monarchy become a competitor instead of a landlord to the residents that have populated and created the content of Secondlife? ***

Meet LittleBlackDuck Lindsay... A really standup guy as I see it. And before you look at what he created... maybe look at this link. http://ow.ly/1qTPm

Thirteen sims... nine land, four water... A wonderful Victorian setting, thirty thousand invested and he quit. The above link explains the why...or explains why He's calling it quits. And he's not the first to quit... keep in mind that the nine full sims cost him $2655 USD a month in server cost...with likely another nearly $400 for the water. Where I'm headed with this is to point out that as far as The Benevolent Monarchy is concerned his $36,000 dollars a year tier is of little consequence to them...never mind the income they would also receive from his nearly 400 resident transactions at Lindex, texture uploads etc. I was asked very recently if I anticipated the further growth of Benares... OK, what would you do? If the powers that be care little for a $36,000 a year customer...how do you think they view our $6500? Will we stay?...As I've said before,...Yes, we will stay. Grow?... Not at this time. *** I never aspired to be a Anshe or a Desmond {oh that's right, he left too} I've always wanted just what we have here now... a place that I think is one of beauty and camaraderie. I have made friends in Secondlife... many of them people that I would never have met except for this platform. I am always interested in what has kept people here and particularly those that contribute to the societal good. They tell me that the uncertainty I feel now is just a part of this experience...things have changed dramatically here before. *** Rereading this post, I'm sorry it rambles so. I guess my fears are showing again =^..^= *** I heard such a great line last night from my friend Lindsay...I'll have to ask her again where it comes from...but it been on my mind all night. paraphrasing..."while life is a race, it's only ourselves we are racing". *** And so it goes Forgive my games of fear, after 68 years and so many miles it's still hard to remember that some love me as much as I love you, brinda Namaste नमस्ते

Revenge, and Still Love Goes On

Credit for this poem and the story of it posted below. Revenge... At times...I wish I could meet in a duel the man who killed my father and razed our home, expelling me into a narrow country. And if he killed me, I'd rest at last, and if I were ready- I would take my revenge! * But if it came to light, when my rival appeared, that he had a Mother waiting for him, or a Father who'd put his right hand over his hearts place in his chest whenever his son was late by just a quarter hour for a meeting they'd set- then I would not kill him, even if I could. * Likewise...I would not murder him if it were soon made clear that he had a brother or sisters who loved him and constantly longed to see him. Or if he had a wife to greet him and children who couldn't bear his absence and whom his gifts would thrill. Or if he had friends or companions, neighbors he knew or allies from prison or a hospital room, or classmates from his school... asking about him and sending him warm regards. * But if he turned out to be on his own--cut off like a branch from a tree--without a Mother or a Father, with neither a brother or a sister, wifeless without a child, and without kin or neighbors or friends, colleagues, then I'd add not a thing to his pain within that aloneness--- Not the torment of death, and not the sorrow of passing away. Instead I'd be content to ignore him when I passed him by on the street--As I convinced myself that paying him no attention in itself was a kind of revenge. Taha Muhammed Ali *** Taha Muhammed Ali is a Palistinian from Nazareth, born in 1931 in a village that was bombed in 1948 then bulldozed to make way for an Israeli settlement. He never attended school past the 4th grade but read all the classic poetry he could find. "In my poetry there is no Palestine, no Israel. But in my poetry-- suffering, sadness, longing, fear, and these together make the results: Palestine and Israel. The art is to take something real, then to build it anew with your imagination". Originally published in Shambala Sun May 2010 What a wonderful story...it does give me hope for this planet Earth And so it goes Such love I should have for all of you, brinda Namaste नमस्ते

Contributing

Look at how old these avatars are, and these were just the ones in our immediate area that clicked on the age finder.

Luskwood screen snip...{sorry not all were rezzed, took this via camera

from a long ways away, didn't have a lot of time to go and socialize}

***

Just a few lines this evening about a wonderful place... A place that's often seen as a little strange by some... If you haven't taken the time to get to know some of Secondlifes Furry community you might be missing something.

A new girl stopped by and as is common with many new people they start wondering where all the people are in Secondlife. We see sixty thousand on line... and then we log on and the place seems empty.

The thing is yes, there are sixty thousand online, but there are thirty thousand regions, so that's two people per region.

Then you find there are places with a lot of traffic and that leaves many empty regions.

One place that's rarely empty is Luskwood. Luskwood is the oldest community in Secondlife, a place inhabited by Secondlifes furry community.

I have never had even a bad moment at Luskwood, as opposed to all the so called "welcome areas" and some of the infohubs, so I took Mikeala there for her first introduction to what Secondlife could be.

If you read the rezz dates on many of the people you find at Luskwood you see a lot of dates from 2003/4/5 and later...people that are interested in making ....that's wrong....in keeping Secondlife a place where new people are warmly welcomed .

Where new people can ask qwestions and get honest reliable answers without fear of being embarrassed.

Where, no matter how long those older residents have been here, they still remember the wide eyed innocence so many of us had in our first days and weeks here.

Luskwood still welcomes me warmly after 3 years.

I'm not a gregarious creature in any life and in many situations I may well be the least technically astute... at Luskwood none of that seems to matter. When Mikeala and I went I didn't remember/recognize any names, but inside of thirty seconds I'm sure I can speak for both of us when I say that we felt a warmth and an emotional connection... the place makes you feel good.

My experience in Secondlife has been that those who come and try to improve this platform, for the most part, are the ones that stay long term.

Yes, I can take you to Ahern or Waterhead and point out rezz dates prior to mine... but it seems that many of those "hangers on" {the ones whose idea of a Secondlife experience is standing at a welcome area and using it just as a chatroom with pictures} aren't the ones that really contribute to this platform.

My feeling is that in any society it's necessary to actually contribute something positive...

Someday either I will leave you... or Secondlife will leave us...

On that day I want to feel that I made a difference... a positive difference.

I hope you feel that way as well.

And so it goes

I do love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Holding on Gently

Smithy Miami has joined us! West shore mainside.

If you get a chance please welcome him.

***

I had an interesting question last evening...one that came just after I had sent an off-world Email to a resident. Btw I encourage all my residents to either forward IMs to Email...or as some of us have done... to create a Secondlife Gmail account {as mine, Brinda.Allen.SL@ Gmail.com}.

Occasionally there comes a time when it might be necessary to reach you off world. Anyway I digress... My friend had talked about a relationship that she had almost given up on three years ago, and how today that relationship is so rewarding for her.

I had said that it's important to know how long to gently hold onto things or people or situations until you're sure you have nothing to learn from them.

A bit later I logged in to Secondlife and Sophie IMed me to ask how I was doing. Now my usual response real life is to tell people that I'm doing better than I ever thought I would. For me that's so true... some of you know a bit about my real life story and know that it's unlikely that I would have lived this long if things hadn't changed 21 years ago. But what I said to Sophie was, "I'm OK". Of course she asked, "Just OK?"....Hey! At my age OK is wonderful =^..^=

And then came the question...well two of them. First was, how are we doing landwise?...

And Second, did I ever anticipate enlarging Benares?

As you may have guessed by this point I've been thinking about both of those questions.

First, We are doing well...only three empty parcels {and as I logged in today I was asked about one of them}...and are we going to expand?

I didn't buy this estate to make money... to make enough money to matter would require me to do the old flat estates cut through with canals and have a lot of them. OK, I could do that financially....but not realistically.

Then there's the community thing...I bought the main island because I wanted a place in Secondlife and I was unwilling to fight the PN griefer battles anymore. A year or so later our community got large enough to justify two more homestead regions. The "Benevolent Monarchy" has said that they will increase my tier on those homestead regions in July by nearly 8,000L$ each...

I will gently hold onto what we have. I haven't learned all there is to learn here.

In January I promised that we would be here another year...we will. Next January I look forward to making that same promise.

This coming year is going to see as much change in Secondlife as the oldbies saw pre 2006.

I hope all of you continue to gently hold onto both me and what we have here.

There is still so much to learn, and if we hold on gently we will know when it's time to just as gently let go.

And so it goes

I do love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Second Oldest Secondlife Resident?

Taken from IM history cause I couldn't copy/paste & I'm lazy

Look at the rezz date!

More hopefully as I dig deeper.... Secondlife TOS prevent me from posting this to a couple of you that I know are working on Secondlife history...

***

YES! I saw Alice yeserday...{didn't I read that lewis Carroll had a substance "abuse" issue?}

Gosh I love Tim Burton.... If you can make time to see this movie... and if you have a young daughter take them. Girls need all the positive reinforcement we can provide.

And so it goes

love to all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Impermanence

Beanstalk first rezzed March 2002...Imported to Secondlife grid 2003 Still considered to be the oldest resident creation in Secondlife.

Beanstalk flower...Stellers

Crab owned by Steller..created by another

Creation Titled "Pixel Painter"...Stellers

Lantern and Post...Stellers

Water Tower...Stellers

Her cabin... sold to Dawson Murphy.

All the above were created by Steller Sunshine, Secondlifes very first resident. ***

These last few days myself and many others have seen a resurgence of interest in Secondlife history. For as good a take on why that might be happening, as well as a lot of great information as to actual dates, times, and photos please take a moment to read Lalo Tellings recent post.

http://lalotelling.blogspot.com/ "Persistence of Vision".

***

All the objects I have pictured except for the beanstalk and the cabin I went ahead and bought.

What price is our history? And if you read some of Lalo's thoughts one can see that we truly exist here at the financial whims of Linden Research or business health in general.

I think we all understand that we won't always be here in this grand experiment...this place where on Benares alone we have people from 12 countries.

***

Yesterday was such a wonderful day where I live... The temperature was in the low eighties F.

We had a strong breeze blowing from the coastal mountain ranges out to sea that took all the air pollution away. Today I want to take my camera out and take some pictures of where I live and share them here.

Still thinking about the lines above about nothing being permanent... That's certainly the main premise of Buddhism, and yesterday out of the clear blue I was remembering the year I spent in southern Maine.

It was the winter of 1959/1960...It seems like last year it's so vivid to me...and yet it's more than a lifetime for so many in this world.

I think today I will do something that I first read of some years ago.

This man found that he loved Saturdays more than any other day of the week...Saturday mornings he could lie in bed, plan his weekend at leisure and feel that all was right with his world. One morning lying there thinking, he figured out, based on his life expectancy, just how many more Saturdays he would likely have. Later that day he purchased a small fishbowl and several bags of marbles... he placed a marble in that bowl for every Saturday he felt he was expected to have. Every Saturday morning after that when he got up he would take a marble out of the bowl and throw it away.

The story ended with him saying that two years ago he had thrown away the last marble... and that all his days were now gifts.

I have felt this thing that I'm allowed to do with all of you is a gift that I'm not sure I deserve.

It's certainly not something that I foresaw at any level.

Secondlife...Benares...you, the residents of Benares, and all those who have touched my life here are precious gifts.

I want to live long enough to see those gifts as I still see the Maine trees shrouded in snow that winter nearly 50 years ago.

And so it goes

Love, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Old Friends... Help from Friends...and Luck!

Shayne is getting moved in... So nice of Flor to help with a house build. After close to three years here my houses look like sloppy boxes with badly fitting lids... I have the greatest respect for those that can create. My one talent is mapping textures...Like another of my friends, being OCD works great for that!

Maxie... This parcel and build have been a long time coming....

You know, trying to say you care more for one resident than another is much the same as saying you care more for one child than the other... but Maxie has a place in my heart.

I met Maxine at one of the HIs over a year ago... she came to Benares... picked up a few pointers on Secondlife and went exploring. Occasionally I would see her avatar at our guest house but she rarely had much to say.

I do look through our group names frequently to kinda check on last log-ins and saw that Maxie was still active.

I was greatly surprised a few days ago when I got note from her saying she had gotten a parcel here and wanted a little advice on her choice of a house. Another of my friends was commenting recently about how we see people buy a house, they come and rezz it only to find it's much too large to fit, {no sense of size.} Maxies choice was a house I had seen before and her sense of size was just fine.

***

My thing for years is that I would rather be lucky than good.

We had a resident that's been so busy rl that she's not logged in for three weeks. Earlier in this week I had taken her tier box into inventory after it went three days arrears. Parcel return always makes a mess... I hand return objects if it becomes necessary. This morning I went to return all her objects and there she stood... I'm so glad. I personally know the potential for a sense of loss if one were to log in to a home you thought you had only to find it gone...and possibly another living there. Btw... Yes, I know it's all pixels... and pixels is pixels... But I returned once to look at the first place I ever had in Secondlife after the estate owner sold the island and the new owner renamed. I felt that sense of loss... it was a very odd feeling. It's a sense of loss I still get if I go to Lythria where I had a very large piece of the sim. While it makes no rational sense it just does. ***

I'm collecting all the memorabilia I can find for Secondlife history. Along with a few objects from Stellar Sunshine, I've found old maps from 2002 and 2003, If anyone finds anything prior to 2005 please let me know.

***

OK my friends that's all today

And so it goes

My love to all of you, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Polys Linden Bears & My Journey into Onverse

Polys Linden Bear Collection... *** First... many of you may not know that if you find a Linden you can get a Linden Bear from them. While I have had what some call the dubious pleasure of meeting several Lindens over these last nearly 3 years, I've only ended up with Wilder Linden Bear. Some of these bears are really a work of art, {maybe really "ART", who ever he/she might be}. I say that because some of the bears are so sophisticated that some serious creativity and technical skills went into them. Perhaps more technical skills than some members of *The Benevolent Monarchy* possess. *** The pictures below are from my foray into, "Onverse". It's another virtual world...One I suspect I might be a little too old for. Minimum age is 13 if I remember right... default avatar movement is "run"... shift gets you to "walk", and that's faster than I think. I logged out just before I started this blog after I screwed up something and lost my cursor. While I could wander around I had to finally log out by manual shutdown... Oh well, back to the tutorials next time. Yes, it's a little cartoony...It's still in beta... but just like Blue Mars, I want to someday be one of the original residents if it does take off. Prim hair's not an option yet I guess...but the texture hair beats Secondlifes.

Onverse's answer to teleport...Avatar cannons! (They work well)

And you can hear them in the background often.

Center Hub looking towards the Grand Casino

Pretty much at the beginning of the tutorials...I left the toolbar out of the shots above.

Believe me, while I hated the SL 2.0 viewer... The UI is a lot easier to learn than this one... or maybe that's because I've had so many hours using Secondlife. ***

We have had some new people come to Benares and sadly I think we are going to lose one tomorrow.

I will do a post tomorrow on the new people and the pictures of their places...

One of the new people is really not that new... over a year ago she came here direct from one of the Help Islands.

Details later...It's a great story!

For today? That's it.

And so it goes

My love always, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

A little History, Old & New

This is a "cutting" from the beanstalk...details below.

Landmark screenshot with other creations in background... ***

I have posted before about Secondlife history...http://ow.ly/1fPX8

11/23/2009 and 11/25/2009 {Darn guess you'll have to copy/paste.}

Among the beanstalk, balloon, stone hand, and a couple of other things found at this location...

http://SLurl.com/Secondlife/Welsh/20/108/30/

is the "cutting" from the beanstalk first created in March 2002 by Stellar Sunshine.

I bought it for 50L$...If I remember correctly it's something like 10 prims or so...

But I want it in an effort to help preserve some of the old Secondlife history.

I intend to post on Twitter, as well as asking all the oldtimers I can find, for any information of objects still available in world from the early days.

If any of you know of objects around from pre 2005 please let me know.

Otherwise things will go the way of Svarga...just a memory now.

***

I'm so pleased to announce that Barbara's back! The connectivity stuff was repaired.

Fortunately Linden Lab had a toll free telephone number in the portion of the EU where Barbara lives, makes it so much easier.

***

I now have Lita taking care of tier boxes for us...you may see her on your parcel . She will have a tag on saying tier manager.

The job is important, all of us occasionally rezz something on our parcel that has more prims than we have available.. the first thing that happens is objects that aren't yours get returned {my tier boxes}. When boxes go into inventory they stop recording time and I would hate to have anyone feel any qwestions about the number of days tier left.

***

No one's seen Bubbles for 6 weeks now... I have sent off world emails but had no response, I do hope she's Ok and returns someday...she was always such a bright spot anywhere one found her.

***

We recently had a rather strange avatar hanging around. One resident reported this account just hovering off her skybox. An employee told me that the *visitor* was exceedingly rude to her.

If you find anyone on your land that you don't want.. .you can eject them and ban them from your parcel. Please promptly report those situations to myself, Ling, or Poly and we will estate ban. In the above situation Poly ejected and I banned.

There was also a "premptive ban" done a little earlier...a visitor of a former resident that has some disturbing text on his profile indicating his possible association with griefing groups was summarily banned. He knows no one here now and a manager made a good decision... I will not allow problems for our community to develope if there's a way out.

***

I guess that's all the news for now =^..^=

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda Namaste

नमस्ते

Treasure Found

Every now and then one finds a precious jewel in life... Those moments are rare... that's why we call them jewels... I believe those moments occur more often in Secondlife... Here where our imagination can escape to another reality, A reality unbound by rational thought. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Pictures. No titles needed.

First the ethical stuff...the above images are by Andor Diechter and are used with his express permission. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Andor sent me the link below to his picture site and I asked him if I could share these pictures with all of you. http://picasaweb.google.com/AndorDiechter

I don't know if any of you have taken the time to visit Andors place... it's always been a great adventure. Benares isn't the first place Andy has lived in Secondlife, but I'm proud to say that he's been here a long time now. If you have the time... go and wander through the reeds to the NorthWest corner..enjoy. http://SLurl.com/secondlife/Benares%20East/182/23/22/?title=Bliss Andor, thank you. *** For those using Emerald there are a host of easy picture settings... all of these effects were available in SL viewers, but they were not easily accessed or saved. And of course the settings won't cover up a poorly set up shot. *** Another resident is moving in in the next day or so... we still have a few parcels left. *** Sophie's back! Nothing bad... connectivity issues... we always miss our residents. *** Met a new girl today... Some times I wonder why there are people that seem to find it difficult to just tell the truth. I can see how fast they pick stuff up, I see the language, the animations. Finally the story comes out...been banned before for bad behavior. I hope I don't have to hit the GTFO button..{there is such a button =^..^=}. And so it goes, brinda Namaste नमस्ते

Good News day!

Yes, I have a hideout! Actually its not that big a secret...see if you can find it.

Part of my new parcel ideas, mini island

3600 meters/823 prim/7500L$ month.

***

Now that's not the real news....

The best news in some time is that Laurali is back!

Yes, I yelled (a little)... She was just really busy real life and time got away from her I guess.

I can't tell you how much I had missed her.

***

Other news... No ones seen Sophie for a few days. Now being gone for a couple days isn't nesessarily cause for alarm... but for one, time is a lot different in Secondlife...two, a lot of what causes pause is a sudden change in pattern. I've heard from a couple people that she normally chats with everyday...I hope all's OK.

I am going to send her an off world E-mail anyway.

***

I had a great chat with Sunna this afternoon... Was so nice..we hadn't sat down and talked for quite awhile. Sunna's from Lima and I have been to Peru before, so we had a few common things to talk about. She tells me that things are so much better than they were when I was there in the mid 1990s.

***

Not a lot going on... and sometimes that's a good thing =^..^=

And so it goes

I love you all, brinda

इ लव यू अल, ब्रिंदा

Namaste

नमस्ते

The Future Here with 2.0? (and a couple of houses)

New grass for the main island mesa... We kept it mowed short near my house!

Re-modeled my place a bit as well as moved it South and West a few meters. Sabres latest house...Always a classy act. Jaris new place..as far west as our region goes. Andrea is a self described minimalist...I like the simplicity

of this place.

***

A friend left me a link to a news story of the VW, "There", and it's closing set for March 9th.

I often lay awake nights wondering how Secondlife and my relationship with all the people I've met in-world will turn out.I think we all know that nothing lasts forever... Secondlife, or me.

I have very selective fears... social situations like a Halloween party here can stress me for weeks. Many real life situations that others might find fearful don't scare me. Losing Secondlife, this community we have, all those I have a relationship with through out the world does.

Yes... this is a perfect opportunity to practise just, "Being Here Now". So easy to say, and yet for me, so hard to contemplate. ***

Thanks to both Poly and my friend Angela Talamasca for this heads up concerning Secondlife viewer 2.0 and shared media risks. http://bit.ly/SMsecurityRisks

Will it be fixed before before the viewer is default?... can it be fixed? It would seem that the Lindens would like to see Secondlife be integrated with Facebook, and since Facebook no longer allows people to create fictional accounts... that, combined with the risks of shared media, would expose all of us to various risks.

I think forcing that option would certainly destroy what Secondlife started. While there are role playing communities that don't want real life info... there is also the potential for personal and fiscal danger with the ability of others to be able to *find* you in real life. I personally would have to take a very long look at whether I would remain in Secondlife.

Maybe I'm just seeing "lions and tigers, oh my!" My guess at this point is that IF that were implemented it will be quite sometime in the future. I'm not sure that there aren't some legal hurdles that Linden Lab might have to jump... yes, they have an *at will* service... but we've paid real money and invested real time into a service that was supposed to be confidential.

We'll see.

***

I'm going to try a few minor land changes on the main island in the next couple of weeks... nothing that will affect current parcels except to maybe make them more desirable.

I hope everyone knows me well enough to know that I am open to your input...

If I do something that detracts from your experience here please let either Myself, ling, or Poly know and we will look at whatever it is.

That's all I can think of for now And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

{माय लव तो यू अल}, brinda

Namaste नमस्ते