Ryann

So normally how this blog works is that I try to take a bunch of snapshots whenever and wherever I'm hanging out in SL and then when I get around to trying to write (which I appreciate is getting ever more infrequently) I'll flick through them to figure out which events and/or people were most interesting or amusing (or both) and write about them.

This time around I found a picture which I'd forgotten I'd even taken.  A picture which just so happens to perfectly capture a significant turning point, not only in my Second Life but also in my Real Life too.  Something which close friends & profile stalkers among you will no doubt already be well aware of.

An innocuous enough snap of myself lounging around on a beanbag chair at Lost & Found one evening, right?  Oh, but what about the cute one on the left I hear you ask?  Well, that would by Ryann Ashdene.   You may have seen her name on my profile.  Next to the word "Partner".

I hadn't realised when I took this picture that, although it was taken very soon after we first met and a fair while before we ultimately took the plunge into partnership,  I had fortuitously managed to capture the exact moment that I realised something very different was going on here.  Something entirely unexpected.  Something I hadn't even thought I was looking for.  Something which, just a few short weeks later, I now can't imagine being without.

For someone who Mericat Ireland has repeatedly decried as "cagey" it might seem surprising that during the relatively short space of time between my previous blog post and this I've somehow managed to go from first meeting directly to partnership.  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect £200.  I guess what I've come to realise is that Second Life, just like Real Life, is always capable of truly surprising you.  Just when you least expect it, someone can come into your life and entirely change it for the better.  If this happens in a virtual world rather than the real world can it still be just as meaningful?  I'd have to vote a resounding "Yes" on that one.

Some people choose to keep SL and RL very separate, indeed I've been accused of doing exactly that myself on more than one occasion (Meri again - she says nice things about me too sometimes though, honest).  Of course this makes sense to one extent or another for many reasons.  I would never, for example, advise blabbing your RL details all over your profile, local chat or in IM to that guy who just sent you an entirely inappropriate photo from his inventory as his opening move.

On the flip-side though, since SL is "only" a virtual world and thus "not real", it can be all too easy to assume that nothing which happens there is real either.  What shouldn't be forgotten is that for all it's virtual trappings and ease of anonymity, SL is still populated by real people.  Real people with real feelings from all over the world, coming together in one place.  When you stop to think about that, it's actually pretty amazing.

The very real friendships I'd found in my first few months in SL, particularly with the crowd at AAi, meant that I was already some way toward this realisation, but it just takes that one person to show you that the lines between Second Life and Real Life are only as solid as you make them yourself.  The right person can erase them entirely.

So sure, be careful out there.  Exercise a certain amount of caution.  Be careful what you tell and to whom.  But don't necessarily limit your expectations, don't dismiss the possibility that SL can be a whole lot more than just a virtual playpen that disappears every time you log off.  If you shut yourself off to the possibilities then who knows.... you might be missing out on something kinda wonderful.

The Lost Art of Blogging

Hello again gentle reader.  Yes, it's been a while but after no small amount of reminders from my chums in SL I figured it was high time I finally got around to updating this blog once again after quite a hiatus.  Needless to say I'd completely forgotten my login, password and pretty much everything else required to make this thing work but after a certain amount of trial, error, swearing and hitting the keyboard I've finally got it figured out again.

So, you may be asking, where in the heck have I been since Christmas?  Or perhaps that's presumptuous of me, perhaps you're asking the more important questions like "Where are Kate & Wills going on their honeymoon?" or "Can Donald Trump provide proof that his hair was actually made in America?" Well, I'm afraid I'm not here to answer the big questions so you'll have to make do with hearing about me and my exciting exploits in Second Life.

Having covered the pitfalls and tribulations that inevitably befall all noobs during my first few months of Second Life, the early part of 2011 has seen something of a transition for me.  My virtual growth from noob to....what comes after noob?  Twoob?  If I could perhaps take the liberty of paraphrasing Britney Spears here, I'm not a noob....but not yet a...woman?  No, that's not right either.  Truth is, although I've learned much of the basics now and feel very much a part of the SL family, particularly of course at AAi, there are many times when I'm still left feeling like i'm very much new to all this.

Two of the most significant milestones in transitioning from noob to "apres-noob" have come in the areas of fashion and employment.  Having tired of me putting off the frankly intimidating concept of shopping in SL for long enough, the infinitely kind Fairy NoobMother that is Mericat Ireland took me to some of the choicest shopping establishments SL has to offer in an effort to reinvent my image and get me some hair that might actually rezz properly (turns out that Claire Elgund had thought for weeks that I was some kind of Philip Schofield tribute act - no Claire, that grey haired silver fox look was not deliberate!).  A few hours later, and a fair few L$s lighter of pocket, I was sporting not only new hair but new skin, new AO, new jeans, new hair and a new pair of converse sneakers which I'm particularly pleased with :)

THE FOUR AGES OF ARAMOS

Ok, so that covers fashion and appearance but what's this about employment?

Well, those lovely folks at AAi (the greatest Indie club in all of SL TM - FACT!) have been kind enough to let me DJ there for a couple of hours every Saturday night.  That is, Saturday nights UK time, 1PM to 3PM SL time - be sure to drop by and check it out.

One of the things that has always kept me coming back to SL, and to AAi in particular, has been a love of music which I share with a lot of the regulars there and it was certainly a surprise to be asked by Thom & Meri to share my own particular musical tastes with their customers.  Particularly after I apparently built up something of a reputation for dubious taste with my repeated demands for Mull of Kintyre or Kenny Loggins to be played.  Nevertheless, I was invited to spin a few tunes and was even allowed to devote a special evening to Music of Welsh Origin on St David's Day back in March as my introduction to the AAi crowd.

Things seemed to go pretty well that night and also on the frankly astonishing day of Guilty Pleasures at the club shortly after where I was asked to play an hour of pure cheese (check out Mericat Ireland's great blog for a lowdown on the Guilty Pleasures festival and also the great pictures of Guilty Pleasures and St Davids Day from Claire Elgund)

So despite being probably the only DJ in the history of AAi (if not the whole of Second Life itself) to have played Stefan Dennis' "Don't It Make You Feel Good" and lived to tell the tale, I'm now in charge of the audio stream for 2 hours each Saturday playing "Aramos' Awesome Indie" (see what I did there?) and loving every minute of it.  I'm hugely grateful to Thom & Meri for letting me loose on their loyal crowd of music buffs  and also to the folks who have come by to enjoy my sets each week.  Although I may sail close to the wind with some of my musical choices (I'm looking to complete an Angry Anderson hat-trick at some point in the future) hopefully folks have been enjoying my sets thus far and fingers crossed I've not appalled or embarrassed my employers too badly thus far  :)

Honestly though, I do play great Indie/Rock n Roll stuff most of the time despite a tendency to sneak in the odd "bonus track" here and there to make folks smile, so please do drop by and say "Hi" one Saturday.  Maybe the lovely ladies of AAi will teach you the pointy bottom dance too.....