New Friends, New Houses...& an Old Friend

Bubbles has returned!!! I was so pleased today when I suddenly saw the incoming IM... "Hi Brinda!!!!!".... Those exclamation points said it all to me... my Bubbles is back! We went and visited Porter and a few of her friends for a few before Bubbles had to go AFK. It says so much that she was embarassed upon her return...she is always concerned about other people and their feelings, and felt that her absence was longer than was comfortable. I hope she's able to stay!

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I looked around this morning and saw that quite a few of our residents have been remodeling,upgrading, or just replacing their houses.....see below! *** Ottos latest...I haven't been inside yet, but I love the look

*** Caros newest...my first thought was Cape Cod, I know it's not...but it has that windswept beach house look. ***

These next two have special meaning for me.

First is Lori's Lori spent much of her first month in Secondlife at 2000 meters over Benares 17...building. Building everything, this girl has experimented with more prim properties in thirty days than I've played with in three years.

***

Next is Adriana

Adriana spent all her first weeks in Secondlife exploring... and finding out what many just never figure out... we need a community to involve us in Secondlife. Now there are a couple of ways to find that sense of community...I have chatted with people that are "homeless" in Secondlife and yet after a number of years they still feel a sense of community...you can find them standing around at Hanja, Waterhead, Ahern, Luskwood.

For many of us though... having a home here is what gives us that community sense of "belonging" and Adriana now has joined our community. As she said, she's tired of the sandboxes and dressing rooms...

Below is the first place of her own in Secondlife.

***

More news... as always, some good, some that's not as good.

Under the not as good... there's some chatter that our friend Zarz will not return for sometime...if ever :-(( .

I'm old enough to understand that the only true constant in any life is change... some of our changes are beyond our control while other changes are choices we make. I do hope Zarz finds us again someday, while all of you are important to me...those I found in their first few minutes on the old HIs have a special place in my heart.

*** Good news! I received an Email from Barbara recently...her college project is coming to and end and she hopes to have enough free time to return to us. ***

Recently I posted a machinama about Secondlife {Breathe 2}... I've been trying to look at it often...it gives me back some of those feelings I had when I was so new... I know that's important for me.

And so it goes

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Breathe 2 " It's a wonderful Second Life"

A very short post this morning...Blogger doesn't want to upload images and the only one I really wanted to use was one of Benares that Andor had taken some months ago. Perhaps later I can add that image.

As I logged on and went through my usual site routine starting with Twitter I saw a post from DusanWriter (here... http://bit.ly/amGamQ ). I sat frozen through the video...tears streaming.

I went to YouTube and found the original link and wanted to share it with all of you.
(view text below play bar...suggests viewing the Vimeo version...I suggest using full screen)

This is why I'm in Secondlife...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ISYjzwGOZw
I hope this speaks to you as it does to me...
This is what I found those first days....This is why I want never to leave.
And so it goes
My love to you all, brinda
Namaste
नमस्ते

Real Life & Secondlife today...

It's been such a whirlwind week...both in world and out...I took an hour or so this morning to sit in front of my Buddha and meditate. *** Real life has been trying to clean and organise so much of my "collection" (read junk) that I've not been good about for a couple years now. As a few of you remember I had an aborted move to southern Oregon that didn't work out, and some of that "collection" was still boxed. A lot of that stuff I tossed...working on the theory that if I haven't needed it in eighteen months.........must not need it! *** In world has been my salvation this week. I'm becoming a lot more active in the blog/forum part of Secondlife and learning so much. I hope my contributions in that area are positive ones. *** I want to publically acknowledge the help I get from Poly... Everytime I think I really know what's going on...it becomes clear that I'm full of crap! =^..^= The latest was the advertising boards...I went and bought that application 'cause I just couldn't get my brain around the thing and finally Poly spent about 30 minutes listening to my yelling and frustrations before managing to teach me very basic stuff...ie: read the instructions and follow them exactly. *** In reference to my last post, "A Love Affair"... A day later I got a gracious IM from Pituca Fairchang thanking me for the post. I love chatting with oldbies and hearing stories from Secondlifes earliest days. I sure wish I had found Secondlife earlier. *** I've had the pleasure of working with Lori this past week as well as going with her and other members of Benares to hear our Porter sing at a couple of different venues. * Lori never ceases to amaze me with her passion for Secondlife and her ability to explore the building options...flexible curtains... 'cause she said all she found in world looked like they belonged in a barn :-)). * Porter! All I can say is WOW! She had her real life band streaming with her at the "Speakeasy" music venue a couple days ago...anytime a performer in Secondlife can draw forty people to an in world location without Linden advertising says a lot about both them, the group, and the venue. Interested? Check out these links...there are a couple of music samples there. http://www.fezfatale.com/home.html http://www.myspace.com/fezfatale And so it goes I love you all, brinda Namaste नमस्ते

A Love Story...

This is a love story...as with many love stories it has many wonderful moments....and some terribly sad moments as well. I didn't know Garth and I've never met Pituca...perhaps I will get that chance someday. I do hope you get the same feelings from reading a bit of their story as those I got when I first came across these two. ******************************************************************************** Take a look at Pitucas rezz date...May 17th, 2003, that's just days short of four years before I came. No laughing at the hair...texture hair was still default when I came. You will also notice that Pituca was a charter member...when the first residents joined they had an option to become charter members and that entitled them to a 4096 parcel for as long as Secondlife was around... in 2003 that wasn't a sure thing. Three months later she met Garth Fairlight...While it wasn't love at first chat... it soon turned into that. They married here in Secondlife on November 20th, 2003...and on May 6th, 2006 they were married in real life... I know those first years here were wonderful.

The picture above explains first where my above information came from and second...the middle part of their love story.

***

I believe there is a third chapter...the love story isn't over.

I went to their home...I can feel the love. He is gone for awhile yes...but I could feel something special at this spot.

My guess is this home is just as it was last year. You can just see the shop at the upper left corner.

This is the Fairchild shop...everything that Garth created is still for sale...free. The love story goes on.

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For some of the best stories and pictures of early Secondlife please take time to look at this link...It's so worth it....

*** http://fairchang.blogspot.com/ Memoirs of an oldbie This is the SLurl to the Fairchang light house shop

http://slurl.com/secondlife/fairchang%20calypso%20sw/68/58/30

***

And so it goes

my love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Old Stuff... & New People

Benares.... circa April 2009 Benares.... circa January 2010 ******************************************************************************* Home to some of the finest people I've met in any world...thank you all for being in my life. ****************************************************************************** Things that make me go...hmmm. Ethics and responsibility... *** I made a serious attempt over twenty years ago to straighten out my life...both my constant on going legal situations, {those had gone on for over thirty years}, as well as my financial and social life. Being in an anonymous twelve step group, I had access to people that could mentor me and provide great input as to what was the right way to become a decent member of the social fabric of today's society as well as an ethical way to conduct my business and financial life. *** Now I realise that there are those of us that get into financial situations that just force us into seeking bankruptcy...get really ill today and you can find out that your medical bills would require you to live another 368 more years to pay off those costs... that's just one scenario...there are so many more. That wasn't my case...but I did ask my mentor about filing for bankruptcy so as to start out fresh in my new drug and alcohol free life. Her response was so warm and loving =^..^= "When you made those bills did you say you would pay them?", she said. Yes, of course...was my response. "Then PAY THEM! That's how we get here, by not doing what we said we would do". I paid them. *** The things here at Benares that never cease to cause me pause are tier related. As anyone over a few weeks or months old can figure out, land in Secondlife is cheap. Even those places that "sell" land...it's cheap. Tier costs are also cheap, no matter how much some of us complain about about Linden Lab. {Yes, there are those whose monthly tier could exceed thirty thousand USD because they own over one hundred regions} Our tier keeps the servers running...it keeps someone a phone call away twenty four hours a day...that tier and that service is how we were able to get a *rollback* a few weeks ago when a glitch/bug deleted much of the content on the Northeast corner of mainside. *** The tier related thing that gives me pause... Almost all of the residents at Benares see that their tier is often weeks, and with a couple of residents, months ahead. I think those people understand that in a worst case scenario I would return any tier that remained no matter what... Whether it was my fault or Linden Lab turning out the lights. I have watched over these nearly two and a half years and we have had a few residents that will wait until their tier is a few days overdue to pay tier. What happens is that if they wait 3 days...they end up with 10% tier reduction. I'm sorry 10% of tier on a 2048 parcel amounts to less money than a cup of Starbucks coffee....for me it's not the money...it's the ethics. *** Changing directions.... We have a couple of new people around...Lindsay, who is so deep in school just now that I don't get to see her often.... Deanna is another that's so stressed with school...she too won't be around much until the end of this year... I do hope these two remain and manage to maintain the passion. Our latest new person is Lori....you can usually find Lori up at 2000 meters above Benares 17 working on learning building. She's so bright and such a quick learner...it's a joy to be able to work with her. If any residents see these people, perhaps take a few minutes to say hello and make them a part of our community. Remember how you felt when you were new. And so it goes Love to you all, brinda Namaste नमस्ते

What If...........

I've read that images are the way to capture an audience for a blog....

This is Varanasi India today.

(And it has nothing to do with this post =^..^= ) *** In a recent Email to a very close friend here in Secondlife I spoke of how my friend Ling has recreated her Secondlife experience several times so as not to get "stale", or lose the magic, the passion, that sudden *whatever it was* that so hooked so many of us at the beginning. In many cases we come to Secondlife rather wide eyed (in my case despite my age and RL experience) and get very close to some or a few. There are upsides as well as downsides to any relationship and those get a little screwy in a virtual world, a few examples. *** She squeezes the toothpaste tube in the middle... He leaves the seat up... He splatters water all over the mirror and has never found a paper towel to wipe it clean, ever... She has a multitude of various bottles, creams, and potions covering much of the sink area... You will never experience those here... *** Now the good ones.............. We can't see that sudden eye shift when we ask him if he's single... or the missing tan around a ring finger... She covers up a drug addiction, and all the sleazy stuff we will do to continue that one (personal experience on that one! )... You won't see those here either... When the truth comes out it can be devastating emotionally... it's so easy to avoid dealing with it...just log out and never return to where you were hurt. *** Now that previous bit is if it's just a virtual world experience.... What if..... What if the virtual world experience becomes a real life experience? Never mind her drug habit...or his STD...or wife...or the possible real time physical/financial harm or harrassment... There are many reported successful real life relationships that have begun in virtual worlds. My gosh, I wish them all a long and happy life. But......what if? *** I treasure this virtual world of ours... I have been student... I've been teacher. I have had occasion to mentor people and to offer my considerable life experiences to show them another way to deal with things in their real life situations. I came to this world not knowing how to copy/paste...and I have gained so much. I have had people from literally halfway around the world teach me the basics of computers. I have met incredibly brilliant people...and yes, I've met some people that, in a past life.........well let's just leave it at something a good friend says. "At this point, nothing good is going to come of this." I can't imagine another place where all that's happened to me in these last three years could have happened this fast. I've also had news here that I wasn't ready for... so I too must recreate my Secondlife experience if I want to keep the passion.

I don't want to screw this up.

There are those of you I want to keep...but I will keep you here. ***

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Good and Bad...Nothing Indifferent

I saw a quick one or two liner on Twitter a day or so ago from Immy. I guess *some one* had told her that *some one* else had said that, etc etc etc etc. {No need for the details...that's where some of the problem started originally...people "said"} I promptly logged in world and told my friend that I personally had never heard any of the supposed stories. I believe I wasn't the only one that reported in since the purported allegations were rather serious stuff. I'm sure there would be some that might say that none of that was any of their business... I'm getting to that. The point is there will always be some that want to constantly "stir the pot" and create trouble...That is a not so subtle form of griefing. (Griefing, ie: creating grief for another solely for a twisted sense of power) I am an immersionist here in Secondlife...when I log in this typist fades into a distant pair of hands. Hands that more closely identify with the avatar on screen than the "real" body that controls them. I exist in Secondlife as surely as I exist in my first life. All social groups exist to better ensure the survival of the group....all. The human tribe formed because as a tribe we were better able to survive, not only as individuals, but as a group. We stood a much better chance to improve our standing in the world. Many animal groups today will ostracize aberrant members...and it's time to ostracize those that grief in Secondlife. *** My friend Jakob returned to Benares last evening for a visit...always a pleasure. I have to say this...even though it's, "blowing our Estates horn" . =^..^= He commented that in all of Secondlife he had never felt more at home as he does when he comes to a community that he is a part of, Benares. That was my goal so many hundreds of days ago... a community...not just pixel sand and prim houses. The house you see below was my first house at Arrazura in Secondlife. I bought a parcel there and had both a lot of fun, as well as got a start in my education here in Secondlife. Contrast that view with our Benares today... I saw the estate owner perhaps four or five times in the 8 months I stayed there. I never felt "a part of", and today I see that while much of that was my fault, Arrazura was never a community. It was pixel sand and prim houses, It was where my *stuff* was rather than my home. Idly wondering.........is that why that sim no longer exists?

Arrazura, circa July 2007 ( Obviously pre "Windlight" sky)

***

I'm normally a tough old bird real life...*been there, done that* in so many areas. Here in Secondlife it's different... I so miss the ones I get close to...certainly one cure would be to do as my former estate owner did....strictly business...I can't do that.

I've lost quite a few in these last few months and have one or two more that worry me.The worry starts when they stop coming regularly for one thing, they lose the passion.If we intend to stay we have to be involved...my friend Ling has reinvented both herself and her home here several times. Yesterday was my third rezz day and I have gone though quite a few changes over the years.

I don't ever want to leave...

And so it goes

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते