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| The First Phase of My Second Life |
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| The Second Phase of My Second Life |
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| The Third Phase of My Second Life |
Written 26 February, 2007
My Second Life Matures
The First Phase of My Second Life
My first few days in Second Life were a blooming, buzzing confusion as I learned how to move around, learn the menus and controls, avoid the griefers who hang out at welcome areas, and organize my inventory. Along the way I made a lot of new friends and accumulated a lot of free stuff (read junk) that I’ve not looked at since. It was an exhilarating and wondrous time.
The Second Phase of My Second Life
Things changed when my RL friends Bill and Pam Havercamp found me a few days after my rezz day. They introduced me to their friends, showered me with gifts (including several of Bill’s beautiful guitars and a load of Lindens), and gave me a place to stay in their gorgeous chalet in Dreamland. Then Pam took me shopping for hair, skin, clothes, bling jewelry, and shoes, and I found my look. I’ll always be grateful to Bill and Pam for their friendship and generosity.
I’m afraid I spent a few weeks in narcissistic preening, buying just about everything at PixelDolls’ 50L clearance and hitting the hair and shoe and jewelry stores.
I also developed a bit of a trivia habit. I would hang out at the lounge at Wingo at all hours, running up a ridiculous score and sometimes making new friends.
Although I had free run of Bill and Pam’s house and an entire floor to myself, I wanted my own place. Pam was kind enough to show me how to shop for land. On my second solo trip land shopping, I chanced across the Forsaken sim in Dreamland, where I fell in love with a little volcano which was comprised of a 4096 lot which held the bulk of the mountain (including the caldera), a 5120 lot which was mostly flat, and a 2048 lot that had already been sold and turned into a beach camp. I got Pam out to look at the two remaining plots, and she approved, subject to a close reading of the covenant. But when I returned an hour or so later to buy the 5120, it had been sold. I immediately, on the spot, bought the 4096, without really reading the covenant.
The Third Phase of My Second Life
Being a landowner—and, truth to tell, a landowner before I really knew SL well enough to be a landowner—was a challenge and an excitement. Here I was, the owner of a piece of land that was mostly vertical, containing only palm trees and Linden bushes and a volcano with a half-assed pool of lava and some wimpy smoke.
I made my share of mistakes, losing some objects which have not been seen since and ruining Patrice Cornoyer’s beautiful (and expensive, and well worth it!) terraforming job, but Pele—and the three adjacent plots I purchased over the months—turned out beautifully. I worked hard, and soon Pele was (IMHO) one of the most beautiful and sightworthy places in Second Life. Along the way I learned to use the building tools and tweak the variables in LSL scripts. And I was far too busy to play trivia!
The third period of my second life was particularly noteworthy because it was during this time I fell in love—gradually, but deeply, and fulfilingly. My Sweetie is a marvelous person and we just click. That doesn’t mean everything is perfect, but it’s as close, I think, as any relationship can be.
The third period of my life has been particularly wonderful.
But as great as it is, it may be coming to an end.
There’s a reason.
There’s always a reason.
Sometimes there are two reasons.
I’ve an opportunity to buy into a private island with my friend Mordecai Scaggs. We would be co-owners of an entire sim! We would have the freedom to turn it into whatever we wanted. I could recreate (and improve!) Pele, and Mordecai could realize his Victorian steampunk dream—all for the price of $US 800 down each and $US 150 a month tier each (and we could recoup our purchase price and eliminate our tier by selling and renting land).
Since my land in Dreamland and on the mainland is worth about $500 US, I’m not that far away from making the move to co-owner of a sim. It would mean goodbye to Pele, which is home and which has oh-so-pleasant memories, but it would open new doors.
The other reason has to do with my relationship with Sweetie. It’s on solid ground, but there are issues that must be resolved if we are to ultimately endure. (And it’s my fervent hope that they will). I adore and cherish and respect and love her, but, well, issues. I hope and expect we will soon be having an earnest talk.
I couldn’t bear to be without Sweetie.
My Second Life Matures
The First Phase of My Second Life
My first few days in Second Life were a blooming, buzzing confusion as I learned how to move around, learn the menus and controls, avoid the griefers who hang out at welcome areas, and organize my inventory. Along the way I made a lot of new friends and accumulated a lot of free stuff (read junk) that I’ve not looked at since. It was an exhilarating and wondrous time.
The Second Phase of My Second Life
Things changed when my RL friends Bill and Pam Havercamp found me a few days after my rezz day. They introduced me to their friends, showered me with gifts (including several of Bill’s beautiful guitars and a load of Lindens), and gave me a place to stay in their gorgeous chalet in Dreamland. Then Pam took me shopping for hair, skin, clothes, bling jewelry, and shoes, and I found my look. I’ll always be grateful to Bill and Pam for their friendship and generosity.
I’m afraid I spent a few weeks in narcissistic preening, buying just about everything at PixelDolls’ 50L clearance and hitting the hair and shoe and jewelry stores.
I also developed a bit of a trivia habit. I would hang out at the lounge at Wingo at all hours, running up a ridiculous score and sometimes making new friends.
Although I had free run of Bill and Pam’s house and an entire floor to myself, I wanted my own place. Pam was kind enough to show me how to shop for land. On my second solo trip land shopping, I chanced across the Forsaken sim in Dreamland, where I fell in love with a little volcano which was comprised of a 4096 lot which held the bulk of the mountain (including the caldera), a 5120 lot which was mostly flat, and a 2048 lot that had already been sold and turned into a beach camp. I got Pam out to look at the two remaining plots, and she approved, subject to a close reading of the covenant. But when I returned an hour or so later to buy the 5120, it had been sold. I immediately, on the spot, bought the 4096, without really reading the covenant.
The Third Phase of My Second Life
Being a landowner—and, truth to tell, a landowner before I really knew SL well enough to be a landowner—was a challenge and an excitement. Here I was, the owner of a piece of land that was mostly vertical, containing only palm trees and Linden bushes and a volcano with a half-assed pool of lava and some wimpy smoke.
I made my share of mistakes, losing some objects which have not been seen since and ruining Patrice Cornoyer’s beautiful (and expensive, and well worth it!) terraforming job, but Pele—and the three adjacent plots I purchased over the months—turned out beautifully. I worked hard, and soon Pele was (IMHO) one of the most beautiful and sightworthy places in Second Life. Along the way I learned to use the building tools and tweak the variables in LSL scripts. And I was far too busy to play trivia!
The third period of my second life was particularly noteworthy because it was during this time I fell in love—gradually, but deeply, and fulfilingly. My Sweetie is a marvelous person and we just click. That doesn’t mean everything is perfect, but it’s as close, I think, as any relationship can be.
The third period of my life has been particularly wonderful.
But as great as it is, it may be coming to an end.
There’s a reason.
There’s always a reason.
Sometimes there are two reasons.
I’ve an opportunity to buy into a private island with my friend Mordecai Scaggs. We would be co-owners of an entire sim! We would have the freedom to turn it into whatever we wanted. I could recreate (and improve!) Pele, and Mordecai could realize his Victorian steampunk dream—all for the price of $US 800 down each and $US 150 a month tier each (and we could recoup our purchase price and eliminate our tier by selling and renting land).
Since my land in Dreamland and on the mainland is worth about $500 US, I’m not that far away from making the move to co-owner of a sim. It would mean goodbye to Pele, which is home and which has oh-so-pleasant memories, but it would open new doors.
The other reason has to do with my relationship with Sweetie. It’s on solid ground, but there are issues that must be resolved if we are to ultimately endure. (And it’s my fervent hope that they will). I adore and cherish and respect and love her, but, well, issues. I hope and expect we will soon be having an earnest talk.
I couldn’t bear to be without Sweetie.
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