A sim called "Hell"

Yup, there is one. Nope, no fires. Just huge castles and green grass on a sim surrounded by water. And, to be honest, that's a little disappointing.

Why did I go there? Because I figured they'd be waiting for me.

... forgive us our sins ...

Sunrise in Aglia

I remember the first time I was aware of the sunrise in Second Life. I was only a few days old. I had purchased my land on the hillside in Aglia and I had just built my home over the Labor Day weekend. It was just after midnight SLT and I was about to log off, when my lover logged in. The sun was rising where he was, just as the sun was rising in SL.

It was an innocent time. A time when we were preoccupied with figuring out how to take a bed out of a box and how to position it. A time when my Friends List had only a few people. A time when SL seemed incredibly huge. A time when each day brought a sense of wonder and amazement in this new magical world. A time before Xcite. A time before sex balls. A time before heartbreaks.

As I approach the first anniversary of my rez day, I sit again by my pond and watch the sunrise and remember.

There was a time when going into people's virtual yards felt like trespassing. A time when I wondered what was down in the valley. A time when I was curious about the people who built these structures. Now that I know every piece of land in my sim, now that I know the layout of the valley like the back of my hand, Aglia feels small and crowded. The view of the valley has different meaning now.

Now that I know how to build, how to script, how to create animations, how to make clothes, how to create sculptie textures, -- now that I know how things work -- very few things amaze me anymore. And I wonder. Could I bring the magic back? Could I still experience that sense of wonder and amazement? Could I still see SL through the eyes of a newbie?

Blessed are the newbies, for they have a time full of magic and wonder and amazement ahead of them.

Pity

Have you ever had moments when you'd hear a song or you'd smell a scent or you'd see a certain sky color, and you'd be so homesick? But the problem was that you count off the places you've ever lived in and the places you've ever visited, but you're not homesick for any of them. Instead, you're homesick for a place that only exists in your mind. Maybe you dreamt it one night, maybe your imagination created it while you were reading a book, maybe you saw a glimpse of it in a movie or a painting. However your mind created that place, it exists in your head and you're homesick for it.

If you're lucky, you could reread the book and live in that universe again. Or you can watch the movie over and over. Or stare at the painting for hours on end. If you're not so lucky,... Well, let's just hope you're a great builder. ;-)

So I pity the people who never discovered the joy of virtual reality, of bringing worlds into existence. Worlds that were, until then, locked up inside someone's head.

I pity the people who still haven't experienced walking into a dream while fully awake.

I pity the people who hang on tight to their narrow definition of "reality" and so miss out on out-of-this-world experiences.

If you've discovered Second Life and virtual worlds and realized the potential immensity of this reality, count yourself lucky.

How many people can you fit in ...?

Okay, so my gazebo is not a telephone booth. But last night, there were as many as eight of us sitting in it at the same time. People came and went and the conversation flowed all night.

It started with Xiana (people in gazebo: 1) who IM'd me asking what I was doing. I was looking for something to wear and she was sitting alone at the gazebo, so I went to join her (2). Then a man in armor joined us (3); his tag said Jasoon but he claims his name is Jang.

Meanwhile, I got an IM from Emi, so I invited her over. Emi said she'll come after meeting a friend. I also got a ping from Jimmie who had questions about land, and tp'd him over (4). I checked up on Lora and she was with a friend as well, but she came over afterwards (5). Xiana invited Xan over (6). Then Jang/Jasoon left (5), but soon Emi arrived (6). Then Magika IM'd me so I invited him over too (7).

Then I saw a dot in the neighboring lot for a long time. Tilly had been watching us for a few minutes, so I shouted out an invitation to join us (8) and it turns out that Tilly had met Lora a long time ago. But Jimmie had to go (7). Then Emi invited her friend Angelyca (8). Then Magika got called into work (7). Someone named Otto showed up next to the glass house, said hi, and then promptly disappeared. Then Xiana, Xan, Angelyca, and Tilly had to go to bed (3); it was 10pm SLT. An hour later, Emi went to bed (2), and a half hour later, I sent Lora to bed (1).

Before I even decided what to do next, Andre IM'd me and I chatted with him at his place for an hour (0). Then I went back to my home and did some tweaking around the place. Three hours later, I was back at the gazebo (1) working on the pond when Tasman, a Snoopy-headed biker dude, hovered near, so I said hi and chatted with him (2). Meanwhile, Rokke IM'd me and asked if he could show me a dress he was working on, so I tp'd him over (3). After Tas and I commented on the dress, Rokke had to go to pick up his daughter from school (2).

Then, Angelyca logged in at the gazebo and she chatted with us and laughed at Tas's antics while she had a breakfast of milk and bread (3) before going to school (2). At 6am, Tas had to go to deliver a bike for his nephew's birthday (1) and I went back to my tweaking. But a half hour later, I got an IM from Squeak who needed to talk, so I tp'd him to the gazebo (2) and we talked for about an hour until he had to catch his bus (1). Soon after he left, Emi logged in at the gazebo (2). Emi was about to send me to bed, but, again, I noticed someone in the neighboring lot watching us, so I shouted an invitation to come down. His name is Herman. and he joined the conversation (3). An hour later, Herman said goodbye, and Emi and I headed off to the baby clinic (0), because she had questions about the baby HUD and I was curious about the whole SL pregnancy thing.

At 9:30am SLT, I finally logged off. Twelve and a half hours after I logged in.

I think this is the most number of people I've talked to in one night -- nine old friends and five new ones. It's certainly the most number of people I've had in the gazebo at the same time.

The funny thing is that, when Xiana pinged me when I logged in, the first thing I asked her was "Where's the party?" :-)

Pavlov's windchime

On my second day in SL, I went searching for land. I read about the First Land Program and did a search. The first few ones I saw were flat featureless rectangles in the middle of a prairie. I kept looking. Then I realized that the search results changed once in a while. So, I kept clicking the Search button.

Then I found it.

It is a small irregular plot on a hillside set against the northern edge of Aglia, with trees all around it. A few meters below are train tracks. Once in a while, I'd hear birds, crickets, and windchimes. I don't know where the sounds come from, but I suspect that it comes from a small cube hanging from my neighbor's tree. I bought the land that day. Then, I stayed there for some time, walking the boundaries, planning where I would put things.

All weekend long, I built a deck, a glass house, and a gazebo. It was my sanctuary. Somehow, when I am there, my mind quiets down but becomes acutely alert, like being in deep meditation.

Well, I didn't realize what effect it really had on my mind until this morning in real life. I was in that zone between sleep and wakefulness, when I heard a windchime through my bedroom window. Then, all of a sudden, like Pavlov's dogs, my mind goes into that meditation mode -- quiet, but acutely alert.

[Pant, pant, pant,... drool,... ;-) ]