Screen-shots are lacking from the month of January. This is my because my wonderful Karin (Sylea's real-life operator) flew 2,800 miles from BC in Canada to pay me a visit in person. Arriving in Holland Michigan on the shores of that great big lake, she learned the meaning of lake-effect snow. It was a howling blizzard the whole week she was here. A total white-out was all she could see at times through the windows of my apartment. Other times though, bright sun shown down on all of the snow. She declared it preferable to the months of gray overcast she gets at home. Whew! So glad for that, since now she's to live here. Not in the tiny apartment from 2009, but in the house we have since bought.

Sampan Ride 22:01 Sampan Ride 22:43 Sampan Ride 22:44 Our Favorite Snapshot Freakenheim Hearse

The sampan tour lasted more than 45 minutes. Next there's our favorite snapshot, the one we put on our real-world wedding invitations. Another favorite club is Freakenheim's Funeral Home. Outside there's a hearse.

Field of Grass Psychedellic Happy Together New Pillows

Some sims have pleasant open spaces. We especially like ones with vivid colors. The pillows are scripted for those poses.

Merry-Go-Round Merry-Go-Round Firefly

Sushi Time Blade Runner Sim Teacup in a Tempest

We never pass up a ride, no matter how silly. There's also a club honoring Firefly. Blade Runner has a whole sim. The psychedelic sims make me nostalgic a bit for my late teens and early twenties. There is no limit whatever on the kinds of contests they have at dance clubs. Below you'll see where friends of ours threw one for who could show up as down and dirty, poor white trash. The hostess herself set a very low bar for her contestants to try and get under.

Psychedelica Freakenheim Funeral Home White Trash White Trash Us with Patty the Tipping Cow

Above at far right, in the background you'll see a bronze statue. That's Patty the Tipping Cow, a scripted object I made myself. She is unique in all of SL, I'm pretty sure. I made a YouTube video about her. As DJ & hostess in clubs we would play, instead of the in-house tipping object, we'd use Patti. Tip us with, say $L50 (fifty Linden dollars, a few pennies in real $USD), and she'll fall over. But wait, there's more. As a scripted physical object Patty has virtual mass...and also inertia. The bigger the tip, the harder she's shoved. A tip of $500L will send her bouncing off the walls. Where she ends up is always random. Following a successive-approximation algorithm, she floats back to where she started, rights herself and lands on her feet.

She's also a carnival ride. How that works is, first you set the screen to look through your avatars eyes. Then after sitting on Patty, someone else (usually me) pays in a really big tip. Imagine being glued to bowling ball. The visual effect is so dizzying few try it more than just once.

With DejaVu Thursday Come as UR

My DJ Setup Aplonis Ember DJ

A schematic of my DJ setup, avoiding the $200 program most others use. Then is my club sign. I'll need to put up Sylea's right next to mine before done editing this page. I post them here in order of the two graphics' vintage.

Club Reznow Club Reznow

Often we'd DJ at the Freakenheim's Funeral Home, especially after the Blue Tattoo eventually closed. DejaVu Thursday is one of our oldest friends there, but we've not seen her on-line for quite some little while.

Riding Thistledown Giant Crab Octopus Squids

The undersea tour still exists even four years later. Some things are different. Now there's seahorses to ride instead of thistledown. The tour still lasts the better part of an hour.

Rocket to Mars Quite a Ride Landing on Mars Mars Rover

Mars Tiny Suns Kiss Me Now

The rocket to mars is on an island just above the undersea tour. Just recently we went back. I had some issues, my copy of the SL viewer being newly installed on Linux. Using the camera feature made it freeze up. But there is now also a big volcano that I don't remember from 2009.

Gaining Wisdom Such Beauty So Many Colors Record Smallmouth Bass

But SL is by no means a single-themed park. It also has its spiritual aspects. I was once privileged to receive the White Tara mantra from His Holiness in real life. Inspiring to find his teaching accessible also here. But meditating is easier to do without the distractions of a computer. So off we went next to take in another sim full of beautiful art, not to mention B-O-U-Ses (bass of unusual size).

Where did the mermaids go? Bali Night at Drama Libre In Bali Pepe-n-Penelope

On exiting back to the outside we caught a brief gimps of mermaids scampering from land back into the sea. The animation script was quite realistic. Belly down, tail flopping behind, they pushed with their hands. But only until reaching the water, where they swam out of sight. The following night was Saturday, which meant a new theme at Drama Libre.

Being a Stinker Somewhat Disturbing Gondola Ride Dancing on the Moon Drama Libre

Sylea and I once attended a formal wedding inside SL as Pepe and Penelope. The bride said seeing us in the audience eased her nerves by putting a perspective on things. Three days later Sylea takes me on a scenic gondola tour. Four days later we're dancing in space suits up on the moon.

Relaxing Reclining Kissing Reading Together Freakenheim

We try out four sets of couples pose balls, all in the same sim. Can't remember the name. Next day at Freakenheim's Funeral Home club, yet another very creatively costumed avatar shows up for our regular set.

Me as Groomsman Melindas Wedding Wedding Reception

Quite a few couples formalize their partnership with a virtual wedding. Sylea and I have opted to do the opposite. In-world partners for more than five years, we got married in real life first. We've yet to have an SL ceremony, but we certainly shall. Above I am a groom's man. The second pic reminded me of the Billy Idol video, White Wedding. We dance afterwards, of course.

Ready for a Night Out Carriage Ride Making a Bee Line Egyptian Club The Whole Place to Ourselves

I am often remiss in my SL attire, wearing the same red leathers when we go clubbing. Sylea, though, makes a real effort. One sim has carriages pulled by pre-historic terror birds. It also had hornet rides. From there we go to an Egypt-themed club. Beautifully decorated, we were the only ones there to appreciate it. A lot of sims you find empty for catering to people from a wholly different time zone.

Crusader Night at Drama Libre Crusader Couple Chipmunk Crusader

Drama Libre's weekly them on this given Saturday is Crusaders. One of the principal artists is Dagmar Klaar. Nearly always she is a tiny, that is to say, a miniature avatar. Hers is always unique.

Us as Alien Tinies Aliens Night at Drama Libre Tiny Dancing with Other Aliens

Aliens Night at Drama Libre Aliens Night at Drama Libre Zombilicious

It's costume party time every Saturday night at the Drama Libre sim. But for actual Halloween it's time to go the extra mile. Can't remember my own costume inside SL that year.

Giant Angler Fish Croc-n-Koala

Not sure where we saw the angler fish. But ten days later we've gone walk-about down under, again as tinies.

Edward and Skye at Blue Tattoo Sylea Dancing on Water

Edward and Skye were another long-time couple inside of SL. They came to our set in the Blue Tattoo more regularly than any other. With Christmas approaching, I gave them each a free pony. Both were copies of the one I had also gotten for free.

Two Days Till Christmas Waterfall Bubble Ride Picnic

Sylea shows the holiday spirit while we tour a brand new sim. Peaceful, romantic ones so very often suit our combined mood.

Murmuration Gone Forever Our Last Dance at Murmuration Sad Farewell to Murmuration

And then we get a distressing surprise. The island we live on disappears taking our home and everything we own along with it! Technically I owned our medium sized 8,192 square meter parcel. But in SL all that means is no one can sell it our from under you. The sim itself still runs on a real-world server owned by whoever pays that rent. What you pay is called tier which is like a tax. Our ultimate landlord abandoned his end of the bargain, stopped paying into the game and after a while, SL shut it down. That was the bad news.

The good news was that the Second Life company extended me a special courtesy for being a premium member. At my request, they re-opened the sim for a few hours so that we could collect our stuff. We went in and packed it up: house, trees, everything. We dance a farewell dance out on the water to say our goodbyes. Losing Murmuration was quite heart-wrenching. We miss it lots.

Rented Sky Box Spaced Out Dancing Scripted Flying Raft Relaxing

From an 8,192 sq. meter estate, we move into a rented sky box. The reason for this is that the estate, although nice, had been rather expensive. Out in the real-world I'm having to tighten my belt for some little while. Sylea finds this place and we move in there, leaving our bulkier items locked up as inventory. We'll bring them out again someday. As I write this, possibly soon. My one-time money troubles are now more than a year over. Recent expenses have been for the rings, ceremony, honeymoon and a new mortgage. I like those kinds of bills so much better than having to write checks to lawyers.

Wheres My Paddle Lazy Day Tire Swing

Come the very end of the year we spend it in southern comfort.

Links to neighboring-year TGP's in this same series: SL — 2008, SL — 2010