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.....
