Week 7 - Imagine All The People

Much on my Second Life journey has surprised me these past couple of months.  The warmth which people have shown toward a lowly noob.  The relatively short period of time it took for me to be welcomed as "part of the gang".  How easy I found it to be myself, albeit in the guise of this virtual alter ego.  The simple joys of sharing music with others.  The existence of a peculiarly unique cover version of YMCA.  The ambiguous nature of Graz Firecaster's relationship with AAi's resident camel.  So many surprises, but none quite as touching or genuinely emotional as I experienced this past week.  The week that marked the 30th anniversary of the untimely and tragic death of John Lennon.

AAi is, as I may have observed many times before, always a place where I can expect to encounter great music coupled with great company and never was this more true than last Tuesday.  In remembrance of John Lennon and the incredible gift of music which he left to his and future generations, AAi resident DJ's Graz Firecaster & Claire Elgund brought us a 3 hour Beatles marathon taking us from the Fab Four's early days in Hamburg all the way through to that iconic rooftop performance.  Whilst expectations were inevitably high due to the sheer quality of the back catalogue available, I don't think any of us were quite prepared for just how emotional the night would prove to be.

The music was of course fantastic, accompanied by the usual smattering of banter but with the added element of interesting little Beatles facts and stories which Graz & Claire would use to introduce each track.  This extra dimension added a huge amount to an evening already heavy with meaning and the local chat was even busier than usual with everyone sharing thoughts and memories triggered by specific songs, pretty much every one of which seemed to carry some kind of meaning for someone in the club that night. It was truly a memorable night and one I was incredibly glad to have been part of.

Although I was alive that day 30 years ago when John Lennon was shot I was still too young at the time to really carry any memory of the event. Nevertheless his music, and the sense of loss which so often comes with it, has been there pretty much my entire life.  Here at AAi however I was able to hear how his death had affected others as they shared stories of where they had been when they heard the news, how their parents, friends or schoolteachers had reacted and so on.  These shared tales brought home to me more than ever before just what a shocking moment Lennon's death had been for so many people across the world, and how 30 years later those effects were still felt.  The sharing of music and experiences certainly made the night both memorable and moving.

The evening was brought to a close with a minute of silence where we all stood, AOs and Dance HUDs falling still, to simply remember and reflect, after which the unmistakable "Imagine" floated over the still silent crowd as we allowed ourselves to be struck by the simply power of this shared moment.

The genuine emotion in those moments, shared by a group of people who would be unlikely to ever be gathered together in RL, was for me the single biggest surprise I've experienced in SL.  I don't think the same meaning or reaction could even be replicated in a RL environment - there was simply something unique and magical about all of us being united in that one moment.   The music and memory of one man who had, in some way, touched each of us reaching out without heed to differences of nationality, religion, gender, age or any of the other labels we too often use to divide ourselves.  Something tells me that's exactly the kind of thing he was trying to tell us back then and here, 30 years later, we were still listening.

Imagine all the people, living life in peace....

Week 6 - Come Back To What You Know

So I'm into week 6 and still updating this blog pretty regularly.  Frankly I'm astonished since patience, conscientiousness and staying power (or indeed the simple act of remembering to do something) are not traits which I'd normally associate with myself.  So what is it that keeps me coming back?

I guess there are two parts to that question - what keeps me coming back to SL and what keeps me coming back to the blog.  So, for the purposes of padding this entry out a little, lets consider each of those.

It's probably pretty easy to list out what keeps me coming back to SL, indeed my "Slanksgiving" blog for Week 5 listed out many of them individually,  but while the people are inevitably a huge factor can they be the sole reason?  In theory I could talk to all of these guys or a similar bunch in RL but I don't, we're interacting entirely in SL (though frankly the whole thorny topic of SL vs RL isn't something I'm entirely sure I'm qualified to opine on just yet so maybe I'll park that for a later blog).

Of course one of the advantages of SL is that people with similar interests will tend to gravitate toward certain sims and, with geographical boundaries no longer a barrier to meeting people, a hugely increased number of potential chums to hang out with becomes instantly available to you the moment you log in.  So the setting, or at least the availability of this type of setting, must also be a major factor.  Without the setting, you simply don't have the opportunity to meet the people in the first place.

So when it comes to setting, I inevitably come once again to my home away from home here in SL.  I've talked at some length in previous posts (in fact probably all of them) about AAi and how much time I spend there, which as I think about it is perhaps one of the least surprising things about my Second Life experience to date.  Music is a big deal for me and for a long time before discovering SL I'd bemoaned the fact that I simply don't get enough time to just enjoy music, discover new tracks from new bands or just kill some free time talking with like-minded folks about what they like to listen to themselves.  SL seems to me the perfect forum for just this kind of thing and has definitely helped redress this imbalance, putting something back which I felt had been somewhat lacking in my RL of late.

For some reason in RL, sitting around just listening to music has in a way ceased to count as a valid use of time - there always seems to be a pressure (both external and internal) to get off your butt and actually "do something" rather than wasting your time like this, particularly if you're in a group environment.  Thus far in SL I've never really felt any similar pressure and many of my most enjoyable times thus far have involved nothing more than simply kicking back and letting the music wash over me, allowing myself to actually relax and not worry about whether or not this might "count" as a good use of my time.

Having a friendly DJ on hand who can hijack the AAi stream outside of scheduled event times to play some tunes has of course been a massive bonus too :)  Indeed on occasion these have taken on a life of their own as more and more friends have teleported in to join the unscheduled fun.  It's things like that which, more than anything else, probably keep me coming back.

So what about the blog?  What keeps me coming back and updating this?  Well that's perhaps a much trickier one to answer.  Although I originally started to write this as much for my own benefit as anything else, it has probably been the reaction from others who have taken the time to read my ramblings which has kept me at this.  I always surprise myself with how much I actually enjoy just writing for the sake of it, but without the kind words from everyone else it is doubtful I'd have made it much past week 3 of the blog.  Without that feedback it would be all too easy to convince myself of the rank amateurishness of the whole thing and simply stop bothering.  

There's also the fact that each week I'm invariably introduced to someone, something or somewhere new and this is a pretty good forum to both record those experiences and potentially share them with others who might be interested.  While I was writing my blog last week for instance I would have had no inkling that within a few days I'd have beaten Pixie at SL bowling (despite her initial warning to me that "I'm really good at this") and had a blast making virtual snow angels at one of the seasonal, winter sims which are now cropping up on the destination guide.

Of course every time I sit down to actually write the blog it occurs to me that it would be a great idea to actually provide links to the sims which I'm talking about or posting pictures of in case others might want to check them out too, but by then it's too late since I've usually forgotten where they were.  Also I'm not entirely sure I have the first clue how to post links to in-world locations here.  Clearly an area I need to swot up on and improve for future updates then!

Finally, I'm also aware of how much I enjoy reading the blogs which others have put out there (see Meri's Pixie's and Moonletters links to the right), so it seems somewhat churlish to expect them to keep producing content without making some kind of an effort myself!  Even if only a few people are reading and enjoying, that's plenty good enough for me so thanks for stopping by :)

 

Week 5 - SLanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving.  As a Brit neither living in nor Born in the USA (there, that should stick a piece of Springsteen in everyones' heads for the rest of the day) this would normally pass me by without much in the way of notice or mention - nearly to the same extent as Canadian Thanksgiving, what's that aboot, eh?

OK, I'm sorry.... I know..... I've let you all down but worst of all I've let myself down.  Let's all just pretend that attempt at Canada-speak never happened and move on, ok?  Good.

Since arriving here in Second Life however, things have changed.  I've found myself very quickly mixing with awesome folks from all over the globe.  Yes, I've met lots of fellow Brits but also some very fine residents of Portugal, Australia, Korea, Scotland (they like to be considered separate y'know) and of course no small number from the Land of the Free & The Home of The Brave.  This meant that the subject of the impending Thanksgiving celebrations was very much the subject of conversation both in the run up to Thursday and on the day itself, putting the holiday very much front and centre (as opposed to center) of my awareness this week.

Now, whilst I may have found myself without the urge to stuff my face full of turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie before plonking myself in front of the TV to watch the NFL (although now I think of it, that sounds kinda good) this did all get me thinking that I have plenty to be thankful for after just a month or so here in Second Life.  Which brings me to the main thrust of the blog this week.  Some much deserved thanks to just a few of the wonderful souls I've met thus far here in SL and who have kept me coming back for more.

In no particular order then.....

Thom & Meri - Thanks for giving us all the Greatest Indie Club In All Of SL (TM), AAi.  That place where awesome people and awesome tunes collide.  My home away from RL, metaphorical security blanket and setting for some of the strangest, most surprising and hilarious evenings these past few weeks.  If you've done six impossible things this morning, why not round it off by trying to spend a couple of hours at an AAi set without laughing out loud, singing along or tapping your foot.  Expect the unexpected from time to time too.....

Shauna - Thanks for the amazing Moonletters district on the Penny Lane sim.  Whilst AAi has pretty much become my second home in SL I have to say I've been made to feel just as welcome by Shauna and the residents over at Moonletters too, plus the website is fantastic.  Great sim, great residents and a great cinema, plus I get to sit on the balcony which is awesome!

Graz - Thanks for not only managing the Greatest Indie Club In All Of SL (TM), AAi but also for regularly cracking me up with a myriad of accessories (daleks, pogo sticks, facelights etc) and for always putting on an awesome set every Wednesday.  Also, thanks for being understanding enough to not summarily boot me out of your lovely home that time I accidentally sat on Josie's head.

Josie - Thanks for nagging (sorry, "encouraging") me to actually keep writing these blog posts, getting me to expand my horizons a little by spending some time over at Dugi's Soul Mods and showing me quite possibly the most jaw-droppingly pretty sim I've yet seen (not to mention possibly the most jaw-droppingly pretty black dress too!)  Also thanks for not laughing too much at my many, many, many instances of noobtastic behaviour.  I would however like to also take this moment to make it very clear that I'm NOT thanking Josie for trying to popularise a certain gesture in my name.  It's NOT my gesture and you & Meri can both stop encouraging it ;)

Jellie - speaking of gestures, big thanks to Jellie for populating my gesture folder with an unfeasibly large collection of brilliantly fun and amusing gestures.  Also, thanks for being the one to finally get me sorted with an AO - not walking like a noob anymore rules!!  Extra thanks for letting us all touch your butt so we could dance in unison at Meri's Pig & Whistle set.

Nomad - Thursday night DJ at AAi and from memory (which I'll admit isn't 100% reliable) the man who was spinning the tunes on my very first night in SL.  Thanks for the awesome tunes, particularly the covers.  Any man who will shamelessly play Nelly the Elephant back to back with Rolf Harris just to amuse a few of his regulars at an impromptu, unscheduled set must surely be applauded.  Also responsible for another awesome night of sychro dancing on the beach (see also "touching Jellie's butt" above)

Claire - Thanks for Mod Night at AAi, which of late I've come to refer to as "Lucky Tuesdays".  Never can a DJ have had a more challenging start to their AAi career bearing in mind that on week 1 the entire club went offline so everyone had to be redirected to Thom & Meri's place as an impromptu back-up venue.  Not to be deterred, a fantastic time was had by all and Tuesday nights at AAi have now already become pretty much unmissable.

Cam - he barely ever comes to SL anymore, but he logged on the other night to come say hi during Graz's Jukebox Fury set over at AAi so thanks :)

Dorian, Liat, Slon & Fakey at the Jewell Theater - thanks for making me feel welcome and giving great noob advice in my first week, not to mention explaining the whole bunny thing.  Also thanks for the totally awesome Halloween costume!

Pixie - well where do I start?  Thanks for being my SL guru, noob-wrangler, fashion stylist, personal shopper, interior designer (I still love that table and bonsai whatever you say), awesome DJ, tour guide, surf instructor, cab driver, movie buddy, hat buddy, hockey goalie, dance partner, V2 sister and all round amazing gal.  Your warmth and kindness is matched only by your awesome taste in music (and noobs)!

Min - whilst everyone I've mentioned so far is truly awesome and has made me feel amazingly welcome here in SL I will reserve a special thank you for Min.  Min was the reason I first heard of SL and its pretty certain that I wouldn't even be here if it hadn't been for her.  She also bought me this awesome cow chair, seen here being enjoyed by Pixie and myself.

Thanks everyone, for being you and making me welcome.

Week 4 - Location, Location, Location

So after a few short weeks here in Second Life it suddenly occurred to me.   I'm homeless!

Admittedly this isn't really such a big deal in a virtual world where you simply vanish when you log off and can carry an unlimited quantity of crap about your person within your inventory. Indeed, it seems entirely possible to enjoy the SL experience without ever needing to get yourself a home.  If push came to shove I could always sleep behind the camel over at AAi in an emergency, right?  Nevertheless, for some reason my lack of a place to call home was starting to bother me.

For starters, I wasn't too happy about simply showing up at the last place I'd been when I logged off.  In fact, the more I thought about this the more it seemed like some terrible faux-pas waiting to happen - I'm sure nobody wants some noob dropping in uninvited at an inopportune moment just because he'd happened to stop by the previous day.  Also, where's a guy meant to change his clothes? Yes I know this last issue hadn't actually been a problem for me thus far on the basis that I'd been knocking about in the same freebie clothes for weeks now, but at some point these were issues I felt would need to be addressed.

The current entry level offer for land ownership in SL seems to be the Linden Homes program - a not so thinly veiled attempt to boost the number of users signing up for premium accounts.  Frankly Linden Homes didn't appear massively attractive to me, but then if you happen to like high density pre-fab housing you may well think differently.  There also appears to be a well developed rental market all over the grid, indeed a high proportion of people I'd met in my first few weeks were all renting space over in the previously mentioned Moonletters sim.  I suspected that rental was probably going to be the better option simply on the basis that a lot of people who had been around SL far longer than I (yes, I realise this pretty much includes everyone) seemed to have gone with that option.  Somehow though this felt like I'd be passing up the chance to experience owning my own little corner of SL and getting to determine for myself whether the Linden Homes thing was worth it or not.  It might even give me something to write about in this weeks blog!  So I took the plunge, upgraded myself to a Premium Account and made my choice.

A somewhat unexpected sight was to greet me on teleporting over to the home I'd just acquired for myself though.  It appeared that I had become the owner of a property which came complete with its own all-in wrestling ring!

Had I been left with a bunch of wrestlers as squatters in my new home?  Were they going to burst in at any moment and attempt to twist me into all manner of painful positions?  Ah, I can almost hear Mericat Ireland uttering the immortal words "some people pay good money for that y'know".

Surely there was some mistake here?  I elected to adopt my standard approach to anything which goes wrong - turn it off and start again.  So I hit "teleport home" and lo and behold the wrestling ring was gone - this time I'd arrived at my actual home.  Phew!  Clearly just some kind of clerical error at the estate agents or something, although I will admit that I felt a faint tinge of disappointment at maybe having missed an opportunity to make a surprise challenge for the Second Life Heavyweight Championship.

Of course no sooner had I moved in to my somewhat spartan virtual abode I got an avalanche of invites (ok, two) to the far more spacious homes of a couple of friends, each of whom appeared to own their own entire island!  Keeping up with the Joneses (or in this case perhaps more accurately the Josies) is clearly just as relevant here in SL as in RL.

Other than my first foray into the virtual property market this week, my Second Life as usual revolved around music, kicking off with Meri's set at the Pig & Whistle - a staple of Monday evenings already.  These events also serve as an opportunity for the more experienced SLers (again, pretty much everyone) to continue their contributions to my learning curve, each in their own inimitable way.  Already my repertoire of amusing gestures has swelled considerably under the expert tutelage of Jellie Arrowmint, although her contributions to my headgear has perhaps veered more towards the....unusual.

AAi's newest DJ, the one and only Pixie Arcana, added a few more new locations to my Landmarks folder not least of which was the FAB club where she played yet another fantastic set - this gal sure knows how to pick a good tune.  The two real big positives for me in this first month of Second Living (don't like that phrase, don't think I'll use it again) have been the twin joys of meeting people who are just so incredibly friendly & welcoming as well as getting to hang out with a bunch of people that have the same outlook, tastes and passion for music as I do.  

Outside of the music scene, this week was also my first experience of the Second Life Theme Park.  Proving that my inability to drive a scooter around the Moonletters sim recently was not just some aberration, I managed to not once but twice (at two different locations mind you) drive go-karts so badly as to end up at the bottom of the sea with no way to escape other than ditching the vehicle and flying back to dry land.  Not content with such mundane modes of transport, Josielo Ceriano  then blew everyone's mind by introducing the superbly bizarre "Sperm-mobile".  If I'm honest though, I think Graz's scooter proved the classier ride.

Week 3 - Trick or Treat

So there was me thinking Halloween would be some kind of a big deal in SL.  One of Min's good friends had been astonishingly kind enough (on first meeting me mind you) to present me with an awesome "costume" which I could wear so, for a change, I might actually look half decent compared to the still uber-noobish look I was otherwise sporting.  What I hadn't accounted for was that the AAI crowd are mostly Brits and we don't really do Halloween on quite the same scale.  As a result, it was pretty much business as usual at the club that Sunday night with Thom spinning the tunes and Pixie somewhat undermining the evil malevolence of my costume by......well, see for yourself!  I get no respect I tells ya!

As you may have guessed, much of my time in SL is still being spent with the great people and great tunes at AAI but the kindly and warm hearted Pixie Arcana took pity on me this last week and decided to expand my horizons (not like that you filthy minded people) by showing me around some other SL sights and sims.  She owed me for pulling that stunt with my Halloween costume mind you, so it was the least she could do.  Not to mention she blew the cover on this blog so people might actually read it!

So it was that I got a guided tour of the rather fine Penny Lane sim, home of the Moonletters.com folks.  I'd certainly recommend that you stop by for a visit but if you see either Pixie or myself anywhere nearby on a scooter its probably advisable to seek cover immediately since our control of the vehicles is erratic at best.

Particularly impressive was the Moonletters Theatre, a virtual cinema where I was treated to a screening of a great little short called "Validation".  Do yourself a favour and go take a look, its something of a little gem (much like Pixie herself).  

I was also introduced to the Global Online Hockey Association (GOHA) after happening to mention that, as a Brit, I can rarely get a decent fix of ice hockey back in RL - I suspect watching The Mighty Ducks on DVD doesn't count.  Turns out there's a Second Life hockey league so I'll be looking to take in a game at some point which I'm very much looking forward to.  I also tried my hand at shooting some pucks on the virtual ice myself and, although I clearly sucked, I wasn't quite as bad as I might have feared.  In fact I was so busy scoring on that poor goalie that I forgot to even take any pics.  It's all in the hips yknow ;)

So I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you to a great DJ, a fantastic tour guide, half-decent goalie and just generally a pretty awesome friend to have here in SL.  Ladies and Gentlemen, please give it up for Ms Pixie Arcana (I did warn you I was gonna be unspeakably nice about you this week Pix!)

Back in the world of AAI, I was delighted to be able to invite Min and her chums from the Jewell Theater to experience the awesomeness and borderline chaos that is Wednesday night there (great double set from the aforementioned Pixie Arcana and Graz Firecaster, not to be missed!).  As a noob, the introductions to new people and new experiences have of course tended to flow the other way since everyone invariably knows way more than me.  It was therefore a rare treat indeed to be responsible for somebody else's first taste of AAI, knowing that the guys and gals would be just as welcoming as they had been for me.  Sure enough Min had a fantastic time as we all danced the evening away to Graz's finest selections and I got to bask in that warm glow which comes with knowing you've done a nice thing.  As an added bonus, and as some indication of the type of thing which passes for normal behaviour at AAI, I got to pretend to be in a band with the lovely Josie "Guitar Hero" Ceriano and Colin "better than Ringo" the Camel.  Ah, I always did just want to be a rockstar!

AAI - Awesomeness And Insanity!

Week 2 - Rezzing a monkey and other (second) life skills

It was bound to happen.  My first attempt at "rezzing" an object (I'm hoping that's the correct use of the word, it's still all new to me) ended up with me wearing a large monkey which, for a short time, I genuinely feared might never be removed.  I'd heard the guys at AAI talking about noobs ending up accidentally wearing all manner of strange objects but, with unabashed hubris, I'd believed that I was already beyond that kind of rookie behaviour.  Heck, I was into my second week in SL so I knew how to dress myself at least, right?  

Wrong!  

Fortunately nobody else was around to witness a somewhat panicky noob running around the place with an oversized primate attached to him.  If only my accidental (and at the time also seemingly irreversible) blonde flexi-hair episode a day or two earlier had similarly transpired without witnesses.  Let us never speak of it again - I'm looking at you Pixie Arcana!  

So how did I come to be running around various sims trying to conjure a monkey out of thin air?  A not unreasonable question.  I'll do my best to paint the scene for you.  

Much of my first week, in fact virtually all of my online time, had been spent at AAI enjoying the tunes, the laughs, the gestures and most of all the company of some mighty fine people whom I already considered good friends.  I'd also spent a bit of time wandering around some freebie shops which had kindly been suggested for me, suggestions which I had great fun feigning massive umbrage at, accusing people of implying that I had bad hair….which to be fair was pretty much exactly what they were saying and rightly so.

During this time I'd accumulated a number of items in my inventory, either from the freebie shops or as gifts from many kindly souls, but most of which already had origins lost in the mists of my fickle memory.  I thought it would therefore be advisable to take some time and explore not only some other sights & sims of SL but also some of the stuff which I seemed to be rapidly accumulating yet, thus far, remained untouched.

Now, I can't tell you where I got the monkey because I have absolutely zero recollection of it.  But I remembered someone explaining to me how you could "rezz" items from your inventory so I thought that this would be a good way of figuring out what the hell this thing was whilst also practicing what was no doubt a basic life skill which I'd be needing on my SL journey.

Of course I couldn't quite remember what had been explained to me so I did what I always do, and just randomly clicked on buttons and items to see what happened.  Needless to say, what happened was that I ended up wearing the aforementioned large monkey.  Oh the shame of it.  

Fortunately a good friend of mine, in fact the very same friend who had originally suggested Second Life to me all those years ago, happened to also be online at the time so I directed a virtual cry of "help" in the direction of Min Fairweather.  Min was kind enough to walk me through a quick crash course over IM and I was finally able to rid myself of the monkey on my back (see what I did there?) with a not inconsiderable sigh of relief.  

Of course, what I'd not realised was that as soon as you start talking inventory to people they send you yet more random and obscure toys to play with.  So it was then that, thanks to Min, I was able to spend the next half hour or so parachuting over the SL landscape and larking about with a lightsabre pretending to be Obi Wan Kenobi (geek in RL = geek in SL).  

There's still plenty of stuff in my inventory that I haven't checked out.  Some of it I'm almost scared to touch (Mericat Ireland you know exactly what I'm talking about!) but no doubt I'll acquire even more over the coming weeks and the lessons learned this week should serve me well when it comes to trying these things out.  In fact, I think there might be some hair in here which I've not tried out yet……

……will I never learn?

Week 1 - You've taken your first step into a larger world

Like a newborn deer, I staggered around the Welcome Hub barely in control of my unfamiliar, virtual limbs.  I walked into the wall.  A lot.  And into a small pond.  Another avatar walked past and glanced over at me.   Did I imagine that look of disdain which I thought had played across his face?  

Not an auspicious start, but gradually I began to get the hang of my basic functions,  I even learned how to move the camera around.  The heady rush of success which accompanied learning a new (if somewhat basic) skill was quickly doused by the cold water of realisation.  I could now see what I looked like.  Ah.  Oh dear.  Something had to be done.

I think it was at about this point that I also realised I was now stuck with the Avatar name which I'd rushed into selecting in order to get moving along to the more interesting stuff.  Hmmm.  Aramos Darkfury?  Not sure I looked much like an Aramos Darkfury.  Maybe I'd get used to it.  Maybe Aramos Darkfury would make more sense if he had some decent clothes.  And some better hair.  Definitely some better hair.

As a penniless (sorry, Linden-less) noob I was inevitably going to be restricted to free stuff when it came to shopping for clothes.  This probably meant I'd end up wearing things you might have got away with back in 2008 but which would no doubt get you laughed out of all the most happening SL joints here in shiny, modern 2010.  But you've got to start somewhere, right?  

In my case (or in Aramos Darkfury's case, I wasn't sure about the first or third person yet) I started at The Yard, Honie Island - although to this day I couldn't tell you how I actually got there.  The phrase "more by luck than judgement" was never more appropriate than when applied to my first day or two here in Second Life.

So, I picked up a few freebies here and there (once I figured out how to shop, which would no doubt have been an excruciating thing to observe for anyone more than a couple of days old in SL terms) and tried to see if I couldn't improve the appearance of this Aramos Darkfury bloke.  My first thought?  "Oh No - I've made it worse, haven't I?"

My second thought?  Well, the items on sale behind me were……let's say a surprise.  And for any readers who might be wondering, I decided against it.

Still, at least I had "interesting" hair so I could always claim to be expressing my individuality or something, right?  Yeah, that sounded plausible.  I could get by on that for a couple of weeks, and by then I should have figured out how to look a bit less like a complete tool.  

Oh, and as further proof of the difference between the male and female genders (or yet more proof of my short attention span, I'll let you be the judge), I failed to spot that I'd forgotten to wear any shoes.  This was an oversight that continued for a good few days before it was finally brought to my attention.

So……now that I had new clothes, new hair and an apparent disregard for the convention of footwear, where should I go next?  

At this juncture in my story and for the benefit of my future self (who, like the muppet he is, has by now probably forgotten all this) I'd like to pause for just a second to identify this very moment, this one seemingly random decision, as the exact point at which my Second Life experience was to change from being a quirky little thing I was trying out into something that would very quickly go way beyond my expectations.  Something frankly kind of wonderful.  

This was the moment I teleported into a little Indie club which had caught my eye on the SL Destination Guide.  

This was my first visit to AAI.

It's actually kinda difficult to put into words what AAI means to me at this early stage of my young Second Life.  As I said, it's so far beyond anything I was expecting that it'd be easy for me to get all gushing and ridiculous  - I'll try to keep a lid on it though to maintain some modicum of British restraint.  I was looking for somewhere that might be playing cool music - I found that and a whole lot more besides.  

My initial reaction upon arrival however was that everyone in here looked waaaaay cooler than me and had waaaaay better animations going on.  Not to mention infinitely better hair.  Uh-Oh, I was gonna stick out like the proverbial sore thumb.  I would quite rightly be mocked and derided until I ran home crying.  Of this, I was convinced.

To my surprise however, I wasn't shunned as a noob but was warmly welcomed by AAI's co-owners Meri & Thom and the rest of the gang already dancing away their evening in this perfectly formed, atmospheric little place.  I received a number of welcoming IMs from people, most kicking off with a variant on the "wow, are you really only 1 day old or just an alt?" theme.  My evident confusion around their use of the term "alt" was enough to convince everyone that yes, I really was that new.

So the AAI guys 'n gals kindly took it upon themselves to show me the SL ropes.  Some of the gals taught me a rather fetching dance, indeed the "pointy-bottom" dance is still my groove of choice, though I maintain that I give it a somewhat more manly edge than in its original form.  I received some much needed fashion tips delivered in a kindly manner.  People suggested places I might like to visit.  Everyone made me feel like one of the gang within moments.  

Meri in particular must get a special mention for making me feel incredibly welcome into what was clearly a group that already knew each other well.  I can only presume that in RL she is the type of person who brings in injured kittens and puppies off the street and nurses them back to health.  Bless her for taking in a poor noob on his first night out in Second Life and, if she's reading this, I will be taking you up on that offer of some much-needed supervised shopping!

So whenever I'm online these days I tend to check out whoever's DJing at AAI and I've had a fantastic night every time.  The images of sharing the dancefloor with a dalek, or of Graz Firecaster hosting Jukebox Fury whilst furiously bounding around the club on a pogo stick will I'm sure live long even in a memory as unreliable as mine.  

There are still plenty of in-jokes which I'm sure are flying over my head and I certainly have a lot of catching up to do on the gesturing front, but AAI already feels like a second home here in my Second Life and I would encourage anyone reading this to come join the party.  You'll probably see me in there so do say "Hi" and tell me how awesome you think my blog is or how great my hair looks ;)

AAI - All Awesome Individuals!

Intro - If life's such a bitch, why have two of them?

So what brought me here to Second Life?  I'd heard of it a few years back through a friend (RL of course) but had never taken the plunge myself, partly because I always think I'm too busy and partly because I figured that my PC's obsolete spec and slow internet connection would just have made it annoying anyway.  Not to mention that people who hang out online are apparently scary types who only want to have sex with you or rip you off, right?  That's what the media always seemed to be telling me so it must be true.  Best just to stay away entirely and stick to updating my Facebook page with faintly amusing status messages instead.  

And so it remained for a few years.  Time passed, the (real) world turned, people grew older, I had to start buying jeans yet another size up.

The catalyst to changing my mind was at home one October morning in 2010 watching my daughter playing Little Big Planet on the PS3.  She never plays any of the actual platform levels, just spends hours and hours endlessly changing the appearance of "Sackboy" (effectively her Avatar) and decorating/building stuff in her offline level (effectively her Avatar's home).  Something about how much fun she seemed to have doing all this suddenly made me feel like I was missing out, though it would probably have been considered bad parenting to kick her off the game in order for me to have a go.  

It then occurred to me that there were more than a passing similarity between what she was doing and what I'd heard about Second Life, something which hadn't really crossed my mind for years.   Maybe it would be fun (as long as I kept a low profile to avoid those swarms of sex-crazed con merchants of course) and since I had this shiny new iMac to test run, why not give it a try?

So as I come to write this, after just a couple of short weeks in SL, what are my initial impressions?  Well so far nobody has tried to rip me off or have sex with me, but then if we're totally honest here I have no Lindens and still look like a tragic noob so this probably doesn't prove much.  In all seriousness though, I've been pleasantly surprised, nay overwhelmed, by just how welcoming people have been to me, not to mention how helpful and infinitely patient they've been with my noobness (which I'm still telling myself is "charming") and my near total incompetence.  You guys know who you are and you're the best!

All of which brings me to this blog and why I'm writing it.  I recently noticed that a few of the people I'd met thus far have blogs which chronicle the daily goings on of their Second Lives.  Most of these were centred around or linked from the Moonletters.com site - go there and take a look, it's great!  

Hold on, don't go right now!  Wait till I'm done at least.  I'll try and hurry it along.... 

These diaries and commentaries helped add a huge amount of extra colour to what Second Life means to a wide range of people in a short period of time, playing no small part in making me feel that this might be the kind of place I'd like to hang around in for more than just a couple of weeks.  I'm also notorious for having the most abysmal memory in the known universe, so left to my own devices I'd be unlikely to remember anything of these first, tentative steps into SL beyond Christmas.  

These two factors made me think that recording my experiences and musings in written form might not only be interesting for me to look back on in years to come (or, let's be honest, next week) but could potentially be read at some point down the line by others just starting out in Second Life and wondering what it might hold for them.  

So if you're reading this and you're a future version of me - hello, I hope this helps jog your memory (oh, and don't forget to put the bins out).  If you're reading this and you're new to SL, welcome and I hope you have as much fun as I did in my early days.

Oh, and get some decent hair for heaven's sake. Both of you!