Food for thought

From a post in the forums by Jeffrey Gomez:

"Who are we?

---

I know I've seen discussions like this one before. However, with recent shifts in Second Life from "what you can do" to "how much can one make," I feel it's time for another look at ourselves as a community.


Who are we?


- We are creators.

This world exists only because we have created it. Two years since the release from beta, look at all that we have created. I mean, really look at it.

We have created cities. Towns. Worlds. Tiny details.

We have emulated reality. We have gone to great lengths to escape reality.

We have emulated art. We have emulated life. We have even tried to emulate sex.




- We are thinkers and innovators.

We continually rally about discussions of ideas. Despite our differences, we continually discuss the ideas and shortcomings of our world.

We discuss art. We discuss money. We discuss power. Yet, we still discuss simple pleasures and altruism.

We continue to shape our world in new ways through ideas.




- We are businesspeople.

We create to get paid.



- We are altruists.

We create at our own expense to help our fellow man.



- We are diverse.

We are newbies, taking their first steps in a new world.
We are veterans, coming from other virtual cultures with our own unique perspective.

We are Thereians.
We are gamers.
We are the technical newborn.
We are the common.
We are the elite.

We are the space captains - exploring worlds never known.
We are the simple reality enthusiasts - existing in a true Second Life.
We are the club-goers - virtual hedonists and socialites.
We are the isolationists - expanding virtual horizons from afar.
We are the furry - esoteric beings in a virtual world.
We are the mundane - existing only in the day to day.
We are the superheros - modelled after our childhood icons.
We are the daily man - the simplest of people.

We are the aliens, the animals, the mechs, the strange, the simply "not human," and the human beings.

We are many.



- We are all the same.

We all exist in the same world. We all share similar goals. We are 32,000 active residents.

We are few.



Who are you?
Why do you continue to exist in this "Second Life?"
What are your interests in this community and culture?"


SL population today: 33,398

A chat with an alien

Well, hello my quiet little blog! (It's so quiet, it's spooky *lol*) I was doing spring cleaning on my hard drive and came across this wonderful little chat log :)
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Mobius Bard: hi
You: Hi
Mobius Bard: what is this stone thing?
You: looks like Stonehenge to me
You: who are you?
Mobius Bard: mobius bard at your service *bows*
Mobius Bard: :)
You: wow. :) Do you look like an alien on purpose?
You: lol
Mobius Bard: i suppose so, yes lol
You: I mean, here you are, at Stonehenge, by yourself.....looks pretty suspicious ;)
Mobius Bard: i read that this is some sort of really old sl place so i teleported here to check it out
Mobius Bard: supposed to be one of the first builds i guess?
You: my first time at this spot *shrugs*
Mobius Bard: not quite what i was hoping for... kind of boring
You: hmm, let me see
Mobius Bard: cool butterfly effect
You: :)
You: I like it here
Mobius Bard: not bad :)
You: it's your second day here?
Mobius Bard: yep!
Mobius Bard: thanks - how did you do that?
You: I right-clicked on you, then Profile, then Rate at the bottom of that screen :-)!
Mobius Bard rated you positively: (no message)
Mobius Bard: easy enough
You: clap
Mobius Bard: grin
You: hmm each rock looks like Pi
You: one of those mathemathical figures
Mobius Bard: a la mode I hope!
Mobius Bard: *stomach growls*
Mobius Bard: youve been on since may?
You: End of May
Mobius Bard: finding anything interesting to do?
You: too much for my own good ;)
Mobius Bard: :)
You: and you?
You: addicted yet?
Mobius Bard: yeah i can see this getting pretty addicting!
Mobius Bard: I've been up 'till 5am the last two nights
Mobius Bard: lol
You: Oh wow
You: me too, some days....
Mobius Bard: do you own land?
You: no ... I dont think I will because of the monthly cost. I'm happy with my apartment
Mobius Bard: yeah, i'm probably going that route as well
You: cool :) so you're into aliens?
Mobius Bard: yeah - anything out of the ordinary, really
You: that's really cool
You: Mobius reminds me of a song by the same name...weird song
Mobius Bard: my first day i saw so many plain humans i thought... "Why be human in my second life? I can be something entirely different"
Mobius Bard: you have wings
You: :-)
You: lol
Mobius Bard: that means you must be alienb too
Mobius Bard: lol
You: hmm...two aliens at Stonehenge , haha
You: who met by accident
You: Im gonna landmark this site
Mobius Bard: or maybe it was the alien mothership calling us
Mobius Bard: how do you landmark?
You: go to World on top of the screen, and
You: 'Create landmark here' :)
Mobius Bard: got it
You: have you been to any houses yet?
Mobius Bard: a few
Mobius Bard: looked at a couple apartments 2
You: ok :) well on top of that hill there is a house with two people inside if you didn't know :-)
Mobius Bard: friends of yours?
You: no
You: so where does your name come from?
You: it sounds techno-ish
Mobius Bard: well i've always liked the name mobius - he's the guy that first conceptualized the mobius strip...
Mobius Bard: ...a neverending circle that you could walk forever
Mobius Bard: bard is for me - in rl I'm an actor/musician
You: amazing stuff :)
Mobius Bard: so it's like "Cornucopia of Entertainment"? :)
Mobius Bard: you?
You: forgive me I got speechless :)
Mobius Bard: :)
Mobius Bard: what does nimue mean?
You: I just had a small vision that's why i got quiet
Mobius Bard: ah, a winged alien psychic at stonehenge!
You: for a split second I saw a real human being behind that green avatar...sort of like a break from the "matrix"
You: But anyway
Mobius Bard: there is one behind the av of course :)
Mobius Bard: its me :)
You: Nimue means Moon goddess and Galatea sounds like galaxy
Mobius Bard: nice
You: lol
Mobius Bard: bow
Mobius Bard: so what do you do in rl?
You: so you can say I like things like astronomy :-)
You: Well I'm still figuring out what it is I want to do for the rest of my life.
You: I need to hone a few things
Mobius Bard: that will never stop. once you embrace the journey for what it is you're fine
Nimue Galatea is digesting that thought....
You: Very deep. I never heard that before
Mobius Bard: the way i see it is all you have to do is something better every day. you don't have to find the perfect career tomorrow, just do something more along the lines of where you'd like to end up someday
Mobius Bard: if you take positive steps every day, you'll get there eventually and wonder how you got there :)
You: in other words, with a set goal in mind....
Mobius Bard: yes, but you don't have to necessarily know exactly what the end goal is...
Mobius Bard: just point yourself in a better direction and little by little the things that hold you back will begin to disappear and you'll be able to think more clearly
Mobius Bard: know what I mean?
You: Thank you :) Yes I do
You: You have wisdom
Mobius Bard: sorry, i don't even know you or your situation, so i hope im not imposing
Mobius Bard: :)
You: no :-) I think this applies to any situation, lol
Mobius Bard: yeah - basic 'how to live a happy life' stuff
Mobius Bard: just helps to hear it again sometimes i guess
You: but it sounds much better coming from an alien =)
You: Lol
Mobius Bard: a wise yellow stonehenge alien lol
You: :) I'd like to save the chat log...just a sec
Mobius Bard: wow, now you have to tell me how to do that
You: actually it's the first time I'm doing this
You: probably just go to History, select everything,
You: go to Edit, Copy and paste into a notepad
Mobius Bard: makes sense
Mobius Bard: didn't know if it had a special chat command

(And that's where the chat log ends)

SL Population today: 30,263

Mobius Bard and me chatting at Stonehenge (location?) in early 2004 

Luminye Onizuka, Singer Tyne, her friend, bose2004, and me. 

Embracing the rain 

My discovery of Second Life

How did I discover SL? I have to thank Activeworlds
I won't bore you with my earlier virtual travels, which starts with ImagiNation, then goes through a medley of mmorpgs. Anyway, I discovered AW in 1996. I left in '97 for a brief time, but kept coming back throughout the years. My build still remained, but memories lingered bittersweetly, and it just wasn't the same. So, one day last year, I was just looking around in the Atlantis World, when I stumbled upon a note someone left which basically was a wake up call for me, signaling that the time of AW was over, and something more exciting was out there. To make it short, that's how I discovered SL! ;)

I recently met three of my new neighbors in Kamba by the way! - the pic is above this post :)

Object of the day: "Embracing the rain" statue from The Royal Gardens.

SL population today: 31, 107