Goodbyes, Hellos, & Changes

Time doesn't seem to flow anymore as much as it rushes by.....And time in Secondlife seems to be even more compressed. Some come here and expect miracles...Some like myself come and fall in love with the ideas and opportunities... Some come for reasons I can't fathom.

Goodbyes...

Rose has been a gift in my life as well as a gift to Benares. We met at the Ross info hub when she was just a few days old...She came to Benares as so many have...The place was so full at that time we didn't have our usual guest facilties so I invited Rose to use my house as a place to call home. A few weeks later I logged in one day to see a rather substancial L$ gift had been given me. Rose. The accompaning IM text just said "Thank you". Rose went on to get her first parcel on our west shore...and eventually moved to a private islet when we added the West homestead. She's brought Jakob to our family...and while they have moved in different directions now she calls him still, 'a good friend'. I know he has been to me. I believe in order to stay in Secondlife one must have a passion here...For Rose it has been, from early on, Role Play. Not the (as I see it) demeaning role play some do...but a place where she could expand her senses. Today that role play takes enough time...and with some other circumstances...doesn't leave Rose the ability to use the limited time and resources to enjoy this community as fully as she once did. While she has given up her parcel for awhile...I still call her my dear friend and a part of our family. I will miss seeing her face to face...but we will go on=^..^=

Another goodbye is Rosemary...I received a wonderful note from her a day or so ago. Rosemary and I certainly share one thing in common, neither of us are innately social...and Secondlife is a social venue. She confided to me that she had tryed this platform for a few weeks and while she had found really great places to explore...those places would have been so much more fun if the exploration had been with a friend or partner. She did tell me that her decision to move on wasn't, 'set in stone', and she may well be back...I can only hope so. I did make a suggestion that she stay a bit more and gave her the name of another that I know would also like company. Of course part of me wonders if I coulda/shoulda/woulda have spent more time.. one on one.. with her, if that would have made a difference.

I guess I can finally talk about my friend Veronica leaving...It was a month or so ago...and she did stop bye a few days ago to chat. I say 'finally' :-)... Veronica was another that showed so much of what I call class {for lack of a better word}...She came to me face to face to tell me of her decision. I know little of what happens has to do with me...but people I meet when they are so new the ink isn't dry always have that place in my heart that is shared by children.

This group has just at two hundred members...I purge people that haven't logged in in a year. Most just silently fall away...only a rare few have the class or perhaps the compassion to come and tell me they are leaving. While I won't get into names, I've had a couple from a long time ago do that...and I still think it was a *stand up* thing to do.

Changes...

Barbara has decided to build her Secondlife home on the south shore here at our island. . As I've mentioned before... I remember how I felt when I got my first place. Since then I have had the joy of seeing so many get that same experience...it's a fantastic feeling. It has to do with the passion I talk about that will help keep us connected.

There's a rumour that a former resident may return...I can only hope so.. :-) More later if that does happen.

Hellos...

Limpy and a friend of hers stopped bye a day or so ago. Both Limpy and Nash are estate owners...I've mentioned Limpy before...she had the job/responsiblity of finishing the raising of her younger brother after they lost their mother some years ago. I must tell you the sim almost crashed when my head swelled up so fat after hearing Limpy tell Nash that what we have at Benares is one of only two community minded residential estate complexs in Secondlife that she's aware of. Limpy is an honest business person....pretty much what you see is what you get.

Stuff..

OK..I know this isn't in the "title" but when I read this this AM...I knew it was something I wanted to share.

Aldous Huxley...If the name isn't familiar...It's worth looking him up. One of the important figures of the last century.

This is a quote from such a learned man near the end of his life.

"It's a little embarassing to have spent one's entire life pondering the human situation and find oneself in the end with nothing more profound to say than try to be a little nicer."

And so it goes

Know that you are so loved, brinda

Namaste

Carrying What message?

This might be a short post...as usual..I have little idea where my thoughts may lead.

First..Cinnamons home! She stayed gone twenty four hours...got back a little dirty, disheveled, a small scratch on one eye {just seen by our vet...ok}, and needy lol.

I went to see something for myself today. I find this picture disturbing to say the least. I hope I'm not the only one that sees just how the conversation could go between that new resident to Secondlife and the older one when they happened on this. I know...there are those that will say "Come on...it's a joke...No one's really hurt...Don't look if you don't want to see...

You see, some of that attitude has been used here in the USA in my lifetime. Jim Crow laws. "Colored use back door". "shoot 'em for practise...N*****s aren't human"....It's not that it's a joke..or a cartoon..it's an attitude. There are a few of my friends that know a little bit about some of my old history. I haven't always been a warm and fuzzy person. I'm not some gawky lil geek with a pocket protecter *wanna be* living at Mom and Dads. I have done less than some that may read this .....And you bet your ass I've done a hell of a lot more than almost all of you. I have seen and done evil.

Today..and for a lot of days I try everyday to live a life that, as I've said before goes ..."I try to live my life in such a fashion...that I will not be ashamed no matter what is said about me...even if it's not true". It's not just any special group....it's an attitude. We have such a chance here in Secondlife to move a portion of the world to a place of understanding...maybe not love... that's ok. Understanding.

I've posted before about my lack of understanding on griefing...here and real life. Even the old Mafia contract murder I could at least understand...I believe the Sopranos/Goodfellas movies...You know...nothing personal you understand...*just business*. Here the hate and griefing has nothing to do with control or money...it's just about the "lulz"....the laughs. The total lack of compassion the hate mongers have just amazes me.

If you go back one post to "ROBOT HATE" and read the part about my meeting some one from another country....I know in my heart I did my part in all worlds to carry the message of tolerance. And, you know, it didn't hurt at all =^..^=

I came in-world this morning to a fantastic site...embarassing...but really cool! One of my residents had made a sign in my front yard that said, "brinda we love you". You see, for me, that helps ease the way I feel about some of what goes on in other places. It lets me feel that Benares is something that all of my residents have a right to feel proud of. I certainly am.

Robot Hate & Still Learning =^..^=

I love getting the chance to sit down with some older members of Secondlife and listen to what they have to say. Often on Friday evenings Prokofy Neva has a discussion group that meets to chat about the latest thing going on with Secondlife. Last evening the chat was about the pending class action lawsuits against Linden Lab for seeming to have a laissez faire approach to copyboted content as well as the newest Linden to perhaps deal with this problem. As well as a couple other things. If you think none of this applies to you, myself, or Benares? Well...maybe it does. Let's face it...money makes any world go around. Much of what we have in Secondlife content was created to either make an income directly...or was built to provide a place to sell that content.

BTW.. credit for this picture goes to Prokofy Neva. It was taken just after I left the meeting. I had prefaced my departure saying that my mother had cautioned me about sitting in dark places with mechanical men. Further explanation?...Search , 'Crap Mariner', =^..^= that's who broke out the sign! Polyhistor sent me an IM giving him up. I IMed a tease at Crap and he promptly sent me the sign. {Remember the first rule in Secondlife?...HAVE FUN!}. Also check out his blog! Too funny. Sometimes.

I'm so happy that there seems to be no end to my learning...hopefully here or real life. Last Eve I was trying to show a new resident to Secondlife how to work with her inventory...how to make a little sense of it. How to close all folders...sort by date etc. I took screen shots to try and demonstrate...just wasn't getting through. And I so understand...my close friends caught hell working with me...{and sometimes still do}. One of my newest friends Barbara was watching patiently....finally sensing my frustration she chipped in her suggestion... {clic Map...you can access landmarks there}! I hadn't used that option in so long I had forgotten about it. Problem solved. And I too got to learn.

Had a wonderful chat last eve with a person from Saudi Arabia...My first from that country. If I remember numbers well...USA residents are not a majority of the population of Secondlife...just as USA residents are not a majority of the world (although so often we act that way). This young woman wasn't the first that was a little tentative in telling me where she was from. Her concern...a concern I had heard before..was that because of the radical religious views of so many worldwide and the blind hatred generated that I would snub her. I was so glad to be able to explain to her that while Secondlife has our share of everybody...I personally haven't seen much of anything that shows anything except tolerance towards all here in Secondlife. And of course for those that do know me I love to add my personal thing...."BTW, We Buddhists just don't get that excited about your religion....or lack thereof". :-)

We had one of our little get together impomptu meetings in front of my house last eve. Let's see if my memory's still working {cause I was slacking and didn't pict!} Breye, Poly, Barbara, Bubbles, Kiki, Selea, and myself. Breye hadn't met Bubbles before and was waiting around for the Swedish bunny to get out of bed :-)... Kiki had just TPed in from HI217...Polys there most all the time ready to do whatever needs to be done. Barbaras found a home with us and seems to be content there...Selea dropped in to log out at *home*..my kinda girl! We used to do more of those meetings...but that was before we grew as big as we are now and got kinda spread out.

This isn't Benares news...but the Benares family is my family...Cinnamon is missing this AM...how she was let out/got out...I don't know. Shes almost seven and never been outside and I'm worried sick...but...all things are impermanent...and everything will be as it's supposed to be. I do dread adding another stone next to the temple though.

And so it goes

I love all of you, brinda

Namaste

Responsibility...Personal...Public

Watching things...Real life news...Secondlife news...Benares news. Sometimes the three most dangerous words in my vocabulary are... "I've been thinking".=^..^= I wonder often about my motives...Are they self serving? {Sometimes} Do I do the things I do for the good of all? {Sometimes} In any life I truley believe that a large measure of personal responsibility is paramount to both personal growth..as well as the growth of the society we live in. There is also the responsibilty to call out publically when we see..."The Emperor has no clothes". I'm fortunate to have a couple of people in Secondlife that will come to me and say..."Where are your clothes?" Real life news? Ugg! rofl Secondlife news? There is a lot going on... little of which directly concerns me here...{so far} Benares news.. We have a few new people at Benares... Skyler is out at the SW corner of Benares West...while very new to Secondlife she has extensive previous experience in other PC venues. She has taken the time to actively help other newcomers to both Benares as well as Secondlife in general. We have Marnius and 'Winter' at the SE corner of Benares East...a real life couple that are still very private...Marnius came to Secondlife some time ago and 'Winter" (my nick name!) just weeks ago. Quinby...A delightful girl! Benares East north center... So excited to have her first home :-) {I still remember how totally overwhelmed I was with my first place} I've asked DESIRE Halsey to go around to all the current residents and either take their picture or ask for one for the coming yearly "Memories" photo album. She will also be taking pictures of the resident parcel builds. DESIRE has been here at Benares for some time...her first visit to our home culminated with, "I want to live here!". I've mentioned Bubbles before...If you see a tiny bunny at your place thats her. Shes our tier manager...her job here at Benares is to make rounds every day and make sure the tier boxes are all up and running. Bubbles can be a little shy...but the sweetest person ever. btw... if your using voice she may not hear you :-). You may see a couple of other new people here as well. Machele is one of those new people that come to Secondlife and land running. So very caring about the feelings of others...She seems to be having a ball exploring...I so want her to find a passion here....passion is what keeps us. {Passion about things..lol.. not, "him" or "her". Barbara is the newest....Barbara is from Berlin...and I see so much of me in a lot of how cautious she is on one hand...and yet how excited she is with the almost infinite possibilties here. I was able to spend perhaps thirty minutes max with her yesterday showing her the very basics of rezzing a box...moving it...adding a simple rotation script. And then I get to hear a certain incredulity when I can honestly tell them that they are doing at a few days what I wasn't doing until weeks/months later. Coming news?.....We may add another sim just north of Benares East. Nothing set in stone just yet but one of our members is contemplating that venture. Any potencial build that direction will add value to this complex and will fit in with both our look as well as our theme. But... back to that earlier bit concerning responsibilty... I will continue to caution my friend that Homestead sims are and expensive thing to support... But I will also help and support whatever decision they choose. And so it goes My love and respect to you all, brinda Namaste

Friends...Old and New...Memories

Friends and Memories...

Always a subject that we can identify with.

Twinkle Villota came in world for a visit last eve...How wonderful! Twin...I miss you so much and yet if you were still in world everyday, my days are so full now we still wouldn't have much time together. While my Secondlife daughter Lala was my first friend...Twinkle was only a few days after. Twinkle and Lala had very different goals here in Secondlife...although they aren't but about eight years apart in real life age...the circumstances of location, family responsibilties, and culture give them very different goals.

My lovely Secondlife daughter is here to shop, party, shop, chat, and shop =^..^=.

Twinkle came for the technical challenges and to earn some income. {She didn't know when she met me that she came to teach!}. Last evening after the obligatory, "How are you"..."How's Benares"... "Have you thought about using a plugin to access your tier boxes from the Web?" {still the business woman!}. We got around to old times.

Memories. Secondlife seems to have an odd effect on time...At my real life age.. a couple years just seems to fly by. In Secondlife May 2007, my rezz date, just feels like it's so long ago. Twin remembered who introduced us {Angie}, My first 2048 parcel at Arrazura, Her first house at Tussock. We laughed about us hanging in the air next to a sixty meter mega prim sign I made for her shop at Lythria with her trying to teach me how to map the texture...{I desperately wanted to crawl through the cable all the way to SouthEast Asia and strangle her :-) }...How we thought that getting Benares made us BIG land holders.

Other people...other places...other times.

Here in Secondlife...at least for me...there is this deep bond that I have with those I met when I first came. It's a bond that seems to survive not chatting for long periods with some...and yet when I do IM/chat...it's like only a day has passed. I'm thinking of my Katina, nicknamed Kat...three or four months sometimes go bye...and either she or I will send an IM... "meow", that followed by a *HUGS*. That's it...no long song and dance... Just meow. It's enough for us to say a thousand thoughts. Such a precious thing.

Others have long gone...and still I mourn...dear Riggley...gone these twenty seven months now, and still once a month or so I send an IM telling her simply that I miss her.

I was able, a day or so ago, to finally lay down a self imposed emotional burden I had looked at for nearly a year. A secret I felt was best left unrevealed. I believe the way I handled that situation will leave a dear friend of mine a memory she will long remember.

A new girl has posted a notice in her profile telling all that read it how thrilled she was to have had a little help from me. She will go on to change that :-) {I'll suggest}...But what I did see was that someday I will be her memories.

I owe her and Secondlife to be a good and fond memory.

I owe that to all that meet me, both here and in real life.

While I'm not perfect... I do have one thing that I do believe and try to live....

"Let me live my life in such a fashion that I will not be ashamed...no matter what is said about me. Even if it's not true."

And so it goes.

You are all so loved, brinda

Namaste

Change...Sometimes Painful...Always Certain

Talking with a friend this AM...I hadn't seen Veronica in some weeks. My gosh...You see, so often, I remember people as I first see them. In most cases default avatars that aren't that great..{before they started to work on them }=^..^=.

Today she looked absolutely wonderful. In our chat we got to the whys some people make the choices they make in Secondlife. Keep in mind that this woman is, as far as I know, a success in her real life business life. She sounds well educated...and likely has a good grasp on how life anywhere works. Except here in secondlife.

Many of us have no concept of why real life people would want to break anothers windows...or paint their name on anothers walls. In this internet society why there are large groups that have as their stated purpose the griefing of anothers Secondlife experience. Those groups do exist...I'll not publicize them here...if you need specifics, google Secondlife griefing.

We owe those people a debt of gratitude though.. as odd as that may sound. If I hadn't been griefed so often at my mainland sim...I likely wouldn't have created Benares.

There was a moment at that mainland sim {Lythria} that I didn't expect. When my early friend Twinkle and I decided that we needed land for me to learn about being a landowner and for her to have a shop... we found a place that had Governor Linden land backing it..{access}. And it was at the end of a walkway at a large developed Japanese Waterfront sim...{traffic}. The sim had shops...art...and two large giesha houses. Giesha houses...not whorehouses...theres a difference.

Change.

About three weeks after we got set up....the Japanese woman that owned the entire complex abandoned the land and moved back to Japan. My skybox rentals overlooking this fantastic view were instantly just skyboxes...no view. That was my initiation into Secondlife mainland living where you have no control over what your neighbor does.

Life does go on... Twinkle, Ling, Lala, and Myself went on and gave it our best try for several months. We created a beautiful place...something not that common mainland. Finally, I too gave up...sold my extensive lands to the land bots for sixty to seventy percent of what I'de paid for them. And we all came here... that was January 2008.

I don't know why the Japanese woman left....I do know why I did. The griefing just wouldn't stay stopped...the Lindens did what they could...but as long as we have free access to Secondlife.....

The sad part. Something that today I can still see.....

One day a few weeks after the Japanese woman left... I saw an avatar just sitting on the land a third of the way across the sim. Curious..I went to see. It was the first time..but not the last.... that one of the Japanese gieshas came to sit and mourn.

Her home, her SL job, a piece of her culture..... gone.

And I know today why I am here at Benares. And I promise all of you that you will never log in to a home at Benares only to see that notice .."Your home location is no longer available..You have been moved into a nearby location".

And so it goes.

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

Watching the Gift

Maybe this post should be titled "Bits and Pieces" =^..^=.

Just got a weathervane gift from Boyd....How cool that he would think of me. And also cool that I did actually have a creation that I could share with him....a waterwheel...of course my first *whine* was when.. for whatever reason... mine says creator unknown.. lol. I've learned that while I'm actually pretty good at , "reverse engineering" stuff,... I'm just not an original thinker. Even my waterwheel was something I saw at Fate Gardens. Khamon Fate has made a lot of changes there over the years...has wonderful trees for sale... all are copy... so one is all you will need. Did invite a close friend there to see that she got a beautiful fountain... was just easier to get her there than it was to contact Khamon and see that it was gifted.

Got another gift today early.... Met a new avatar last eve at HI224...spent a little time helping to dress her up and answering her questions. Today at HI224... the same avatar. She asked me for a "text prim"... {says Hi! I Can Help} to wear over her head...she wants to stay there for a few days and help others as she was helped. She and I spent over an hour there helping new Secondlife residents before she had to log. That was wonderful...just takes a few of those to help me see that what we have in Secondlife can help change the world.

Logged in here at Benares to make my rounds....see if anyone needed anything. Had to reset Sabres missing tier box.... shes busy involved in a brain cancer awareness program. Just another indication of how the people here at this Island care about more than themselves.

Had a long chat with Ling last eve....and I'm already seeing some changes to her parcels. Must tell you that whatever she does...it will be wonderful. Today I went back to her first house location in Lythria....Wow!...The changes are so dramatic. In a future post I will tell the story of that land and the sad thing I did see in the weeks after I bought that huge parcel.

Last story for this post.... Bubbles!!! Bubbles Muggins is usually found as a tiny bunny. She comes to Benares often... stops by morning and eve {her time...9 hours East of SLT} just to say hello. Shes a delightful girl...shes just about a year old here in Secondlife...and is interested in making new friends. Bubbles isn't a senior citizen like me lol....and neither of us makes friends easily... so that might not be age related. What she has found is that good friends in a virtual world where theres anonymity to conceal true motives can be difficult to find. If you see her around just give her a shout....you will see that her name is perfect! =^..^=

And so it goes...

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste