Sarah Palin? Don't Ask Me

Last Saturday night's discussion topic centered around the validity of Second Life relationships. We pondered the reality of avatar love and with the nice, big turnout, there were lots of opinions.

The general consensus among those attending, including a SL couple, a few singles and some who were married in their first lives yet maintained relationships with others in their second life, was that feelings are real, be it first life or second life. There is always a human being behind that avatar and that person's emotions dictate their actions as they explore personal relationships with others.

Trust was a big issue as we explored this topic. There were stories of long time relationships moving into first lives, only to discover some gender specific surprises when they did. While you always hear of this happening when approaching the subject of romance on the grid and I'm sure it does, I know of a few instances myself, I don't think it happens very often.

After a while, we sort of meandered away from the "official" topic and ended up discussing Sarah Palin's turkey beheading interview from last year, the jokes started flowing, there was some man bashing, some blonde jokes and I think someone, who's name I won't mention, was sending around pictures of a ginormous pecker and claiming ownership.

I laughed so hard I snorted.

We ended up hanging out and chatting for nearly two hours about everything under the sun. It was awesome.

Towards the end, the SLag got so bad I couldn't move, so I made the decision to do something I've thought about doing for a long time. I packed everything up and shot it skyward, where it's a little easier to avoid SLag freeze. Of course, that meant I had to redecorate.. and buy stuff. Like trees. Oh and with trees, you have to have a swing.

It's like.. a rule.. and stuff.

And? I've got this thing about fire and water, so I dug around in my massive and unorganized inventory and found a beautiful stone fountain I bought ages ago that I'd  forgotten I had.

I'm still working on the fire part.

At the moment, I've got a killer snow storm going, but that's subject to change with my mood.

Ya'll be sure to come by the Second Slice Cafe this Saturday at 5pm SLT for our next chitchat. I'm still trying to come up with a topic, I'm open to suggestions.

The Underworld

I went shopping for the perfect survivor gear, complete with catnip, smokes and a bottle of milk. My search ended successfully and after grabbing what I came for, I wandered outside to take a look around, spotting an uncovered manhole in the center of the abandoned road.

You find the COOLEST stuff underground. I could barely contain my excitement as sprinted to the unprotected opening and lept inside.

A short stroll through the sewer line led to a soft glowing light, seeping in from the right. I turned a corner and after a short stroll I found this:

I took a moment to sit down and look around. The underground cavern was full of bright colors, tiny rooms, a purple river, crooked bridges and lots of "Alice" references. The fireplace felt warm and welcoming, it would be the perfect place to hide out with a friend.

I little farther down the path, I found this little table set up with a carafe of wine (okay so, I thought it sorta looked more like a spittoon, but what do I know?) so I had a seat and helped myself. After my second cup, I started to feel a little woozy. I started to wonder if drinking from random spittoons cups of wine were such a good idea. Luckily I found a place to lie down inside the tent.

As I rested, I contemplated the safety of allowing myself to drift off to sleep there in unfamiliar territory, leaving myself vulnerable to Lord knows what, but my thoughts were interrupted by a very deep sleep. (And aren't my boots just FABULOUS??)

I don't know what was in that stuff I drank, but it made for some off the wall dreams. It reminded me of that time back in my early twenties when I unknowingly smoked some laced weed and later had to stop my car in the middle of the four lane to let Smurfette cross the road. Luckily it was like three a.m. so no one noticed. I can just see me trying to explain THAT to the judge.

I didn't see Smurfette this time, but I did have strange dreams about a giant purple cat with a wicked tongue wanting to have his way with me on the mushrooms.

The next time you're out and about, take a moment to survey the ground. Is that manhole cover just for looks or is it the gateway to an underground adventure? There's only one way to find out.. hop in and go for it!

Random Thoughts on Shopping

Shopping seems to be a major recreational activity in Second Life and while I don't include myself in the ranks of the hardcore shopaholics, I do spend big chunks of grid time on maddening hunts for very specific products. When I get an idea of what I want, I'm like a old coonhound beautiful spaniel of aristocratic lineage, baying loudly at the base of every tree prancing lively through the lush, green forest, searching for the perfect pair of boots.

Not that bird dogs find boots in the woods.. but anyway...

Over the years, I've developed some strong opinions about finding what I want, the following is a collection of my opinions and observations about shopping in SL:

• I use SL search for everything. It works great for some stuff, like finding live music, but for shopping, it's not so great. To make it easier, it would be nice if the ads placed for your store actually show an image of your product. That cute little Neko cartoon character is feckin' adorable, but it's not worth a hill of beans at showing me what your design style is like. And? While your company logo is awesometastic, I'd rather know that you can make a boot look like a boot than see foggy vampiric images surrounded by dripping blood and myst.
• I don't like spending large portions of my life, first or second, flying around ginormous malls that sell everything from super realistic lizard eyeballs to outdoor fountains. If I'm looking for sneakers, I'll be shopping at shoe stores. I don't do malls.
• If your tag list has 500 items, including furniture, animations, clothing, skins, hair and shoes.. all from the same designer, I'll probably skip that store too. While there may be a handful of people who can design absolutely anything and do it with excellence, most people have one or two things they're really good at. If you don't design anything but formal gowns, chances are you've spent alot of time perfecting the shapes of the attachments, the amount of flexified magic to apply to them for just the right flow and hours manipulating textures and colors to create a dress that will make every woman feel like she's going to prom all over again.
• Are doors really necessary? Do you know how many windows I've walked into, face first, because it looked JUST like the glass door beside it? Do you really need a door that opens and closes? Please, make the entrance obvious. Oh yeah and.. that six mile hike from the tp point is a royal pain.
• Spiral staircases look nice, but do me a favor and put a nice little tp point beside it. Three years in SL and I'm still falling off spiral staircases. It ticks me off. I WANT to see what you have upstairs. I don't want to make three attempts to get up there.
• If you list items in your seach tags that you don't actually sell, just to get people in the door, and I waste my time covering every inch of your establishment trying to find that item, I'm not going to be happy camper. Chances are, I'll never buy anything in your store. Ever.
• Live (sorta) models displaying clothing in your store? BEST IDEA EVER!
• Those auto greeter things popping up on my screen the moment I land at your store, demanding that I join your group so that I can get updates, special offers, marry rich, be showered with jewels and never want for everything again for as long as I live? Discard. Ignore. Mute. I haven't even made it inside. I don't know if I'm gonna care if you've updated or not before I've even seen your products.
• An offer of a monthly free gift from a store/designer that I adore, as long as I'm wearing their group tag to grab it, positioned next to a polite sign suggesting I join their group? Heck yeah I'll join.

I'm sure some will disagree with my list, but what the hey.. it's my blog. What drives you mad while shopping in SL? Drop me a comment!