In the world from which I had come, most of the avatars I knew role played as goths. What they actually were in real life may have been. for all that I knew: dentists, school teachers, nurses and cops. But inside that world many I knew claimed to be vampyres, werewolves and such. How I fell in with them is a long story which I tell (in possibly tedious detail) on a different web page from this. But very soon after arriving there, fall in with that lot I did. Keeping company with goths makes for an always interesting conversation. At least virtually so. With them no topic at all is barred. But doubtless I would fail to meet the necessary fashion criteria in real life, at least not right out in public. Quite intelligent, most of them are, and of a very artistic bent. Having come into Second Life on the heels of my virtual goth clan mates, my first SL fashion statement was of that style. But only after I'd learned the skill to affect my appearance at all.

Thus I began, like everyone else (at least back then) sporting a very boy-next-door look. Before I got round to changing that though, first I went out exploring. In the place from which I had come, you could walk to the end of the world. Not so at all inside Second Life. It's expanse approaches to infinity. Unlike where I'd come from, here I could fly. It was while flying above some land that was for sale that the sim crashed. Next day upon logging in, the screen revealed my avatar standing on the bottom of a channel between two islands. Turning away from the octopus before me, I waded out to surprise a land-owning resident constructing a cabin. Nearing completion, he offered I rent it until it should sell. Then he went off to build another. I next rented that one when the first place got sold out from under me. We did this three times. I, myself, purchased the last one. To this estate of 8k square meters I gave the name Murmuration. I owned it until the island itself virtually sank under the sea.

First Cottage Furniture Store Quarters Dancing with Pugbug

Owning land inside SL allows you to build things. The very first thing I created was a challis of blood. Really it was the by-product of a training exercise I did in the industrial CAD program Rhino which I'd only just then bought (and with which I'd very much later design the platinum wedding rings we now both wear). The challis, being a fairly low-poly shape and also revolved (like on a lathe), had a geometry importable by Second Life. All I had to do then was paint it. But it was the very first thing I'd made in 3D that others could see. And being just bits inside a computer, I could give copies to others for free.

CAD Screenshot Finished Product Shopping for Eyes Going to Hell Server Glitch

The second thing I built was a bench. Another very simple design, still I had made it all by myself. I set it out in front of the house on the land which I had just bought. When not doing that I went out exploring. Aside from the whole world suddenly crashing, smaller glitches could also occur. One of these was called being Ruth'd. Ruth was the name of SL's original avatar, the baseline default. Sometimes upon logging in, your own avatar would become partly Her.

I Dance With an Angel Murmuration Sky house under construction. Seen My Glasses?

Exploring SL with a friend from the past, we chance upon pose balls. Mouse-clicking them, our avatars dance. Likewise trying the animation is a bony tyranosaur. At home I construct a flying sky platform. The Greenie sim was an exhibit where everything's so very big you feel almost an ant.

Laptop Murmuration Test Pattern Screenshot Chalkryn Forrest Sky Platform Engine Ap and Spazzy

My flying platform looked very odd just hanging in space until I finally gave it a motor. It didn't make sound but the propellers counter-rotated while a plume of exhaust trailed away. I designed the whole thing inside Rhino 4. There seems no end of the designs which I might create. But there is always exploring to do. But pride in my efforts is in no way diminished by seeing how others create a whole forrest. Soon my son joins SL also, naming his own avatar (long story) SpazzyMcNugget. Just about then everything changes, in both of my lives, second and real.

Her avatar name was (and remains) Sylea Sygall. I had to wait some little while before she decided the time was right to tell me her real one. We met inside a club called the Blue Tattoo. I was there because of the DJ, one of the few who'd play my requests. Many would not, never having heard of those bands. All she'd reveal about her real self was having logged in from western British Columbia. She'd received a teleport from another avatar there. I'll never forget the entrance she made. After popping into existance she began dancing, flailing about with a sword in each hand.

Dancing Secluded Sim Blue Tattoo Syleas Monarch Dress Helicopter

Not long after that, the DJ let play a request of mine, one so rare even he did not know it. I'd had to first transmit him the file: All that She Wanted one of only just three songs from by the 80's band Bitches on Acid. This sword-wielding girl from western BC typed into public chat that she liked it. How then to provide her a copy? She'd not very likely provide her email to a total stranger. Even to ask would be out of bounds. So instead what I did was upload the song not my own FTP server. Then in private chat, I sent her the anonymous downlink. That's how we first met. Soon we were spending all of our on-line time together. In real-world hours, the sum was barely just a few days. Subjectively, though, it seemed as if now I'd known her forever, almost as if from some former life.

We liked so many of the same things. Our separate life stories had run along very parallel courses. Chatting in text, we learned of each other while sending our avatars out on adventure. You can buy anything inside SL, even a French design helicopter exactly like one her dad used to fly. She bought one and took us both for a nice cruise out to sea. Then the sea ended. So did the sky. There being no sim adjoining that side, we crashed hard into the nothingness that wasn't there.

Runningbear Ranch Beach House Syleas First House Murmuration's 2nd House Sky Dancing My Lost Starling Ultralight

Sylea had been renting a beach house inside SL at a sim called Runningbear Ranch. She had friends at the music club there. Sometimes I'd DJ and she'd be the hostess. Our mix was eclectic, gothadelic, was how someone termed it. Often we played also at the Blue Tattoo. Having bought a Starling model ultralight flyer the first thing I did was fall out and down into the sea. Meanwhile it flew on un-manned. I found it later some miles away, under water, motor still running. It had crashed into a channel between two islands. Nothing was damaged. I flew it back home.

Crashed at Sim Barrier Our Home Secluded Sim Formal Dancing Blue Tattoo

After more practice, I took Sylea along for a ride. And this time it was my turn to smack us into the edge of the sim. Together we crashed, sinking at once to the sea floor. When Runningbear Ranch announced it would eventually close, I packed up the multip-purpose guest house, inviting Sylea to bring her bungalow to my estate Murmuration. She set it down at water's edge. Many a wonderful hour we spent there. Between times we visited different clubs.

Fishing with Son SpazzyMcNugget Greenie's Back Yard Rocky Horror Night

SL itself is not really a game. But there are plenty of games inside it. And so once I took my son fishing. We caught swordfish, angelfish, eels and even once an old boot. The Greenies Exhibiton was scheduled to close, and so I paid it another visit. One of the theme nights at Runningbear Ranch was a Rocky Horror contest. Pictured at right are Kaine Runningbear and DejaVu Thrusday, our DJ and hostess, setting raising the bar of participation to its ultimate limit so as to set a sporting example.

Most clubs inside of SL have theme nights like that. All different kinds. The most dramatic of these we don't discover just yet. That one is run by a team of digital artists who rebuild their whole club from top to bottom every week to reflect a new theme. They do this in just a couple of days. It limits somewhat the detail they can manage, but oh...the variety. Other clubs change their design not at all, and focus instead upon those details.

Misfits Haven The Blue Tattoo Trying out wings

A friend that Sylea had known since her very first days, Sly Nirpaw by name, built up his own club, Misfits Haven. Often we'd enjoy to spend time dancing there. Why all the clubs for avatar dancing? A club where the avatars just stand around is not very interesting to watch. So when your avatar TP's (teleports) in, if you are single the first thing you do is mouse-click the floor.

Greece Yard Swing Winging it at Runningbear Ranch

If you're a couple, then what you do is look for a pair of pink and blue pose balls. Those will contain matched animations for couples dancing. Elsewhere they're ususally just static poses. Not finding those, instead you'll find an orb mounted someplace. Click on that to choose from a whole menu of dances.

Eslewhere, though, most pose balls are static. Actually, any object can be scripted to contain an animation, for example the swing we set out in our back yard. At clubs, as mentioned, so will the floor.

There are also theme parks with rides. Never is there a fee for admision. Instead of that, there'll be object to click and pay a small donation, to show that you liked it. These you pay with $L (Linden dollars). If one of those looked to have been a whole lot of work and was very cleverly done, I'll tip the artist maybe as much as $100L (which is about $0.38 in real US dollars). Some pay as little as one tenth of that. But a really skillful artist can easily win that from 10,000 visitors to their location.

Dancing Again Balloon Ride Swan Boat Ride Missle Attack Aftermath

Never do we pass up a theme park, especially if it's romantic. Once while peacefully riding a swan boat, someone shot a missle at us. Sylea fell out. Good thing she can fly.

Choo Choo Gothic Castle Our Back Yard Dancing on Water

One theme park had a toy railroad. Another was a whole gothic castle. The pose balls in there were as you can see. For the bench outside of our home (which I myself made) I purchased a couples pose animation. Out on the water just past our deck, I set a pair of couples dance balls. The animated sharks kindly left us alone.

Spazzy Spazzy Spazzy at Blue Tattoo Halloween at Blue Tattoo

Halloween inside of SL is always fun. At left you see Spazzy in daily attire, next he's a winged demon with fire in his chest. In the real world, that would very likely limit his selection of dancing parters. But not so at the Blue Tattoo. Transforming myself into Discworld's Death of Rats, I'm not afraid to dance with Sylea as a delightful giant black widow.

Raining Quack Giant Toothed Worm Hurray for Books!

There are sims of every description. In some it rains. Others are alien worlds. One had a bookshop.

On Our Deck Please Don't So Very Wrong Myself and Spazzy

Our own home estate was warm and cheery. Not so much the Friday sim we once went to visit. Everything there was twisted and creepy. Worst were the pose balls. But who can resist to still try them out. Many another are just plain odd.

Mistletoe Psychedelic Orb Soaking My Feet Under the Sea Peaceful Repose

As seasons change, so too do some of the sims. Others will decorate only a bit. In an alcove we click on the mistletoe. Somewere gave us this cool effect, called the psychedellic orb. Always there's someplace new to explore, new pose balls to try out.

Our Home in Winter Together Always Another View Viva la Vida

As the year ends, winter comes also to our estate Murmuration. Inside it is cuddly and warm. At a new sim called Viva la Vida, Sylea, my son Spazzy, and I see the sights.

To see the next TGP in this series, click here: SL — 2009