People like kain Canare are why I stay...

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Over the years I've asked this question often of people in Secondlife, "What keeps you here"?
I don't have the metric but there still must be tens of thousands of us four years or older.
What is it we find that keeps this experience interesting enough that we log in thousands of times?
Commonly the answer I get is, "It's the people".
Yes, there are those that spend and inordinate amount of time creating content, but the overwhelming answer is, "It's the people". I know it is for me.
Lately I, and some of my blogger friends, have commented that those of us that bitch and complain about some of the perceived failures of The Benevolent Monarchy aren't necessarily just doom sayers and/or recalcitrant about change, we truly want to see Secondlife grow and flourish. Otherwise, that red "X" at top right ends any problem.

Some of the readers of this blog know that since the earliest days of our home, Benares, I have kept a guest house for new people. I've never forgotten my early days of flying to the top of tall buildings to try and dress myself. I believe that everyone needs a place they feel they are "part of", a place they feel they belong, and so the Benares guest house.

About seven months ago kain came to Benares... and as with all new people she was offered a stay in that house.
"Stay as long as you need".
I have never in over three years had anyone take advantage of that, and kain was no different. She ended up getting a small parcel, built her own house, and over these last months furnished it with her own original sculpted creations.
Kain sent me and IM yesterday... She wanted to offer her furnished house tier free as a place for another new person to receive the same care and love she had when she was new.
My suggestion was that she offer it free for ninety days to anyone with less than say...45 days.
So that's the deal... images below... tier free, ninety days.

Kain and people like her are why I continue to invest time and treasure in Secondlife.
Kain Canare... she has made Secondlife the place I wanted to see so many days ago.
She is doing for others as Prissielou Flora did for me.

And so it goes
I love you all, brinda
Namaste
नमस्ते

What's Live Music? or who cares?

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Funny how a day or so goes by with nothing I want to chat about... then I suddenly find topics calling my name.
This post won't take long... it concerns a "subject" that's just worn out.
The subject?   LIVE MUSIC in Secondlife... or what is live music?
I saw a tweet today from a self appointed music critic/aficionado that came to Secondlife the month after I did (co signed by a very smart person that came to Secondlife six months before I did).
Their on going shtick is that if everything you hear on a stream at a music venue isn't being performed live, "then it's not live" music. To me that says that every venue that only has only one instrument playing (or rarely a group) is the sole criteria for "live".
One of my residents is a professional vocalist that performs with a group of great musicians in Portland Oregon. Now FezFatale does occasionally do a live stream in world, and my resident, Porter Paquot, does occasionally play piano during her shows here, but most of her shows are sung to recorded music. That's "live"... live as in listen to the stage chatter during her performances, she has a degree in performance art if I remember right.
The bottom line?
People go to music venues for entertainment. If they aren't entertained they won't pay (tip), if they don't pay the venue will close for lack of revenue, it's totally self limiting.
Over these last few years I have heard this subject come up every few months... at least one musician has told me that he just lets this drivel  go in one ear and out the other.
I offer that if someone doesn't like a particular venue or performer...  don't tip, TP away, remind yourself to not return..... and please don't bother to tell us that the music wasn't "live".
Be direct enough to call the show out publicly if you choose, but perhaps save the screen space as far as repeating that same tired stuff about, "it wasn't live".
Who cares if it is or isn't if  people enjoy it.

And so it goes
My love to you all, brinda
Namaste

नमस्ते

                 

Miso & Wizzy.... NPIRL

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After one has been in Secondlife for awhile and settled in we come across the letters NPIRL, Not Possible in Real Life. Obviously much of what goes on in Secondlife isn't possible in real life, for instance flying or walking underwater, but our immediate thoughts usually end up going to the fantastic content that so many of our Secondlife residents create. For myself there is so much more to all this.
Virtual worlds allow a tremendous amount of personal freedom. Yes, we have the role play that perhaps few would engage in in "real life", but there are other situations we will find ourselves in as well.
In April, 2008, at age 66 I attended  my very first birthday party... it was held in Secondlife.
As a measure of the selflessness of some in Secondlife... it was a couple weeks later that I discovered that one of the residents that helped put on the party had a birthday on that same day.... She hadn't said anything because she said she wanted that day to be mine alone.

NPIRL
There is a rezz day party scheduled for this evening in Secondlife. {For time & place see yesterdays post}
While I don't know if Wizzy has ever had a public celebration of her start here in Secondlife (it's her fourth year), I do know our friend Miso hasn't, and that's after 25 years on the Internet and being a member of the earliest virtual worlds.
We get to celebrate Misos three years here... we get to celebrate Wizards four years.
Happy rezz day to both of those I consider my friends... people I would never have met were it not for this virtual world we call Secondlife.  You see, this is truly Not Possible in Real Life.

And so it goes
My love to you all, brinda
Namaste

नमस्ते

Rezz Party for Miso & Wizzy

NO pictures... NO whining...
Just this... Thursday there will be a rezz party for Miso & Wizzy at The Mill a live music venue.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Blue%20Rain/86/238/22/?title=The%20Mill

I hope all  can come...
Thursday June 2nd, 2011
5PM till 7PM SLT

Live Music with Porter Paquot...
Blues, Funk, Soul,
plus a DJ

Hope to see all of you there, Miso and Wizzy are a big part of Secondlife for many of us.

brinda

Reflections of a time past...

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This weekend is Memorial Day in the USA, the weekend my country honours all those military service men and women that have truly given that *last full measure* their lives, in the service of this country, and perhaps your country as well in some cases.
I am getting older.
For many years this weekend was a time to party, to enjoy the company of friends and often family.
Not so this year, for what ever reason today has been a day of melancholy and reflection.
My physical health is good, and while all my family in that world where I breathe is gone, I am blessed with so many that love me in these virtual worlds.
Something is just different this year.
The USA is a country of emigrants... all of us, unless you are a member of those native American Indian groups. While Ellis Island off of New York city is where most of the early immigrants arrived, the potato Famine in Ireland found many of the Irish entering the USA via the South.
One of my earliest memories is listening to the music my grand parents loved.
Below please find one of their favorites, {mine too}, as well as one that I have come to love.
Eva Cassidy, gone at 33.

I know next week will be different... time makes everything different.

And so it goes
I love you all, brinda
Namaste

नमस्ते

                  

                   

I Wrote the same, in different words...

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Humans receive some very large amount of information visually, some estimates are 90%. But what we see is always colored by our perceptions and prejudices.
Words have power.
My thanks to Scotsman Fenn MacMoragh... {@ Fenn_ MacMoragh on Twitter} self described, "Crafter of fine prims with a Celtic flair. Aficionado of Whiskey, cigars and Albannach, wearer of kilts." for the below link. I went to tears when I first saw it, and I continue to think about this video.

          
And so it goes,
My love to you all, brinda
Namaste

नमस्ते

The gift...

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Monday afternoon I sat down with my very first friend in Secondlife, four years ago I met Lala at the Morris welcome area, now before you all gasp, "What!", in those days both Secondlife and the welcome areas were a lot more friendly than either are now. A busy day then would see perhaps 28,000 on line and while Secondlife by then had grown beyond it's early days of *everyone knowing everyone else*, there was still a sense of community.

It didn't take long before Lala *adopted* me as her Secondlife Mom and for us to establish a deep friendship that continues to this day.
Lala was in her last year of high school when we met... in a few weeks she will graduate from University and is looking forward to a post graduate degree.
You see, I never cease to be amazed at the gifts I receive from a chance encounter with and advertisement I saw for this thing called Secondlife so many days ago.
In a life lived long ago I made some very selfish choices, and because of those choices I missed watching my own daughter grow up. Secondlife has allowed me a another chance to watch a young woman grow into adulthood.... that for me is a priceless gift.
And so it goes
I love you all, brinda
Namaste

नमस्ते