About the author and the blog

I have been a full-time resident of Second Life® since August 2006, and I've tried pretty much everything under the virtual sun. Much of who I am as Opal is presented in my own website www.opallei.com.

From the start, I knew that Second Life would be an adventure. And this blog has always been intended to document that adventure. What happened is not as important as what lessons I learned, what insights I gleaned, and what wisdom I gained. The adventure into a virtual world is, in reality, an adventure into the human psyche.

Some entries do explain where the insights came from. Some are tributes to people who have come into my life. Some are, admittedly, gripes that I probably should never have published.

But this is who I am. This is my virtual life. To leave out the bad would be a disservice to whoever reads this blog, because it would further cement the idea that we all have to be perfect and that our shadow side should be suppressed.

The beauty of having a virtual life (or several) is precisely that we can pull out that shadow side, bring it up to the light, and examine it. Only then can we truly be master of it.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. Thank you for being witness to my virtual life.

I am seventeen, going on ...

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