Torley Lives

I just had to post this on the Second Life Forums a few moments after it happened:

A friend of mine, Mel ( http://chandrasutra.typepad.com/ ), sagely remarked that looking at someone's Second Life screenshots is kind of like seeing into someone's dreams.

You may have visited my blog lately, and if you have, perhaps you have seen the following picture:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v…napshot_030.jpg

The eagle in question, I am told by Keith Extraordinaire, was skillfully crafted by none other than the Birdman of Avatraz himself, Psyra Extraordinaire.

Well, guess what happened? It had to happen sooner or later, since I am a magnet for the weird… or what seems normal to me but odd to others.

I was just hanging out at Tony Tigereye's Casino in SL and decided to take a walk for some fresh air in RL. Moments later, I was struck — almost literally — with surprise, as I heard and felt something shake the air around me. Panicking, I flailed my arms and did all sorts of nervous gestures like my Second Life does when I say "fun".

When I came around to assess the situation better, what did I see on the path of my afternoon walk, but an EAGLE! That's right, an eagle, had just fallen and almost slammed into me, missing me by very few and landing behind my back. However, unlike Psyra's, this eagle did not continue to go around in a circle, nor was it constructed with warm-n-fuzzy luv out of prims. It had plummeted to her tragic death behind me. It didn't seem to be a very bloody sight, but it was definitely a shocking experience.

I do not have photos but I am trying to find a camera. This bizzare blend of First & Second Life now shakes me up! Will other creations from inworld be appearing at my doorstep? Will I try to script my bed to "change spreads" automatically with a single command? Will I try to levitate and saunter through the air in an effort to sit on a chair on the other side of a room? Will laws of physics go wacky as the two worlds blend into each other?

Only time will tell. It's inevitable!

It's dark here now (as in, "the sun went down"), so I'm going to wait it out until the daylight shines again and then hopefully get some snapshots of the eagle. I've never seen an eagle here before, even flying. My Mum says it's good luck. Really? A few feet away and I prolly wouldn't be typing this here.

As humorous as it sounds, I'd like to seriously say that I am grateful for both my First Life and my Second Life and all the goodness that has come from within. Things could be so much better (my hearing should come back, my ears would stop popping,?and I could make techno music again), but on the other hand, things could be so much worse.

I do have to be thankful for what I have.

~~~

I was just thinking about music genre names. Specifically electronic ones, but all across the board. Each of them has a story behind them, some of them more convoluted and extrapolated from multiple sources than others — "jungle" being a prime instance — but if you really, really think about them,?they can sound silly. And it's even sillier how some people will unfortunately get into long, winding, heatedly clashing disputes and personal attacks over these labels which have been assigned to the clumps-n-chunks of organized sound we listen to… and should ENJOY. It isn't worth beating up and killing each each other over music, but sadly, as has been historically shown, this is what happens. Often, other issues get mixed in like economic concerns or ideological fanaticism tied to a "sonic strain", but it's all connected to the music at the end of the night and the beginning of the day when the sun starts to rise again… and all of the ravers are still dancing, tired but happy — and hopefully rehydrated!

Here are some names that make me giggle with glee. Mind you, I like actual music that falls under these categories, so use the "Would a rose smell… —" rule judiciously, and apply it creatively:

• Progressive House
  Why not call it Mansion?

• Garage
  Okay, so your Progressive House needs a Garage. Would that be, Progressive Garage? Never heard of it (yet) but it's bound to happen. Oh, and then we go down the line to the US and UK varieties, and subvarieties thereof. Funny!

• Breakbeat
  Well, this and "broken beat" go hand-in-hand. I bet there's a "busted beats" out there and even a country-breaks crossover featuring penny whistle, steel guitar, washboard scraping, and b-a-n-j-o. Yeehaw!

• Acid
  Does this have a "base" counterpart, musical?chemistry-wise? If not, why not?

• Acid House
  See above, above, above, above.

• Experimental
  At one point in time, anyway. Another way of saying, "lacks melody, tries to get on your nerves". (And I suddenly see a laughing gas-chromatograph of Ishkur's face.)

• Disco
  What's the origin of this word, anyway? I don't know, so if you know, please let me know. Thank you graciously. Is Disco to DISCOVERY what Techno is to TECHNOLOGY?

• Grunge
  Wait, this is "guitar music". I like the sound. Is there a "grunge techno"? Rocktronica (ha!) maybe??Anyhoo, next.

• Big Beat
  Is there a small beat? Otherwise clinical microhouse mixed with samples of drunken sailors, maybe?

• Illbient
  Accompanied by her sisters, Chillbient and Pillbient.

• Nu Breaks/Nu Skool Breakz
  Yeah, 'cuz in the "new school", spelling's a lil' different.

• Tech-House
  Why not call it "the best of both worlds"? Wait . . .

• Neurofunk
  It's a catchy label and I like it, just like I like all the other labels here, actually. But when I hear it, it conjures up, in my mind's eye, the very vivid visual (V^3) of a brain gettin' down at 170-180 BPM. That must be a good thing, yes? Which brings us to…

• Intelligent Dance Music aka Braindance
  Smile your heart out!

I have more but wanted to select the Lucky 14 that came off of the top of my head……

This is to be taken lightly,?and hey, the bottom line for me is that IT'S ALL TECHNO; IT'S ALL ROCK 'N' ROLL!? It can soothe, it can heal, it can energize, but no matter what it's called, I believe music?should enrich and make your?life better.

Fin du jour.

I noticed my images on this site, which are hosted kindly by Photobucket, were not loading — period –?or loading very slowly. I went "Hmmm?" for a second and then went to their site, and found out they are having technical difficulties. I was going to put some pictures up, but since they're down, I cannot. Sorry. I hope they recover soon because so many people, myself included, rely on them.

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~~~

Today I played two new games I hadn't before in SL: they were The Weakest Link and Family Feud, both adapted for inworld. Fun stuff. Maybe someday the lag will be gone and people will be on parity in regards to that! I'm thinking that now, since I am a full RESIDENT of Second Life, I should learn to build also. Scripting may come later… I'm told I'll get sucked into it eventually — like owning land, another box of donuts entirely but they all go hand-in-hand like Smittens.

In other adventures, I just came back from Uli and then went to Telador, where a creation of Myst-Uru is being made. Or is it done? I am not sure, it was sort of hard to see in the virtual darkness. But of what I could see, it was very beautiful and lush. Lush as in "beautiful", not as in "drunk".

Prior, I had fun visiting Goshua Lament's new house. It looks great. We talked architecture for a bit?and discussed the possibility of making something that COULD be real in SL, but was just teetering off of that magical edge known as "surreality". Something a little tweaked that makes you blink cutely and wonder what would be really possible. Seems like houses have to have extra space and stuff for camera angles. If you build to scale, the room may be more cramped than?cheese full of mice! In a related conversation, Loki Pico told me something I never knew before: that the average height of people on SL is pretty tall, approx. a foot taller than real life it seems. I had just measured my avatar relative to other folks walking around, and after Loki got out a handy measuring tool — virtual, of course — I found out that I was almost 7 feet tall and he was 8 feet! Wow. He'd sure qualify for the SLBA, with his mohawk and horns and bright orange skin.

Yesterday was my first encounter with a new bug. I'll call it the "slip bug", because all of a sudden, whenever and wherever I walked, I started to slip and tumble flat on my face, hand and feet flailing fastidiously. It was comical, but tragic, so let's call it tragicomedy. I was hesitant to relog because I wanted to ask others if it was just me experiencing this, or if they were seeing me slip all over the… uh…?slipstream too. The verdict came in, and I was not alone — this was no imagination. It was as real as Second Life gets, and as I slipped past the Prim Attack table, the side of a TIE fighter, and a cart of icecream, it made me ponder something really shallow. Needless to say, I posted a bug report on the Forums and relogged in. All better — no slipping!

Inevitability happened. I finally met up with Cyrena Zamboni. Joy. After IMing some, I was transported to her magic cakeplate in the sky, which is her home, and we talked whimsy. Ah yes, we are whimsical people. She has a great sense of humor and I like to smile when I converse.

A plethora of dazzling other locations awaited: from a magic skybox where skilled scriptcrafters work their digital witchcraft; to a colorful church decorated with more glamour than most real-life ones; to a field where Jedi warriors, careful not to incur the wrath of Lucas and Luke S., do battle with lightsabers capable of performing many tricks unachievable by their film counterparts. And I knew there was something special about Tina's YUGE hat.

There is so much to see and do, and more. Suggestions for future upgrades taken into consideration, will wonders ever cease?

Note to self: I think I've got to use a Second Life logo or something to symbolize my SL blog entries for efficiency in the future. Ah, here it is now.

~~~

Alright, I was getting antsy and decided to do something about it. I'm testing ImageShack, another image-hosting service. Heard about them awhile back but just reg'ed for a free account, so let's see how this kitty purrs. Here are snaps of some of my many latest SL adventures:

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They're in reverse-chronological order. I haven't found a way to flip them all back using the otherwise-handy ImageShack feature of generating mass (<15) image code. From Snow Fairies to Stargates, there you have it.

You may have heard a legendary Internet ditty that goes "Where can ya see lions? Only in Kenya!" Well, it's only fitting then, that I?cheerfully?sing the following:

Where can ya hug care bears?
Only in Second Life*!
Come to Second Life we got care bears!

Where can ya dance with martians?
Only in Second Life!
Got care bears and martians only in Second Life!
Forget There**!

Second Life, oh Second Life!
Where the furries are,
and the manga!

Second Life! Second Life Second Life Second Life!
Second Life! Come to Second Life!

Can ya build & script it?

*awkward, I know, but there was nothing else I could use!
*I didn't know what else to put here, so I used this humorously.?This in NO way is meant to bash There.

Torley's ?FAQ

It constantly amazes me in life how things can sometimes come together at the freakiest moments and produce magical results. You remember those classic "Synchronicity" ads by VW? Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. I've had several cool occurrences of talking to people on the SL boards and then meeting them in the metaverse without expecting it or having any prespecified agenda, and I'm always so excited. I'm like: "OMG!!! IT'S YOU!!! IT'S REALLY YOU!!! SOOO KEWL TO MEET YOU." Thankfully (or not) I don't have number 1's following my exclamation marks, LOL.

I've seen some remarkable creations of amazing intensity within the simspace. Problem with some of them is that they are?"prim pigs", as Ace Cassidy so effectively puts it. In other words, they are constructed of a large number of primitive polygon shapes, and if you know about 3D games and all that, more can correlate with slower. Not to mention that there are technical "prim limits",?so not everyone can have an elegant grand piano or two in their simulated abode. One must be efficient and maximize usage, and must be careful to count prims like calories. (But hopefully not so self-consciously, as this is supposed to be FUN.)

Gwyneth Llewelyn?with a fresh blog entry, who is such a dear to me, took me on a tour of her home in Uli and the neighborhood. It's really, really nice. Like something out of one of those annual National Geographic specials, but better. It was very scenesque and picturesque and lots of -esque (even some MC Escheresque ) and was a nice place to unwind and relax. Gwyn had lag to contend with but she persisted and we made it through. Several events of said synchronicity happened.

For example, we were talking about pollution and then I brought Charles Dickens up because of the filthy capacity in which Oliver Twist existed. Bach had come up in an earlier discussion that day, and there was another connection which I can't remember at the moment, but anyhoo… I was sitting in a virtual swimming pool, and then all of a sudden, Mono's "Life In Mono" comes on, and I'm like: "OMG!!! THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVE SONGS!" Which makes me now recall the third connection! AHHH… okay, if you've heard the ch00n in question, you know that:

• it was used on the soundtrack for Great Expectations, an adaptation of the Dickens tale
• the chords of the piece are delicate and harpsichordy, and baroque like Bach!
• the movie stars GWYNETH Paltrow

I couldn't help but notice all of that with my associative thinking. So pleased, so pleased.?That was just too cool. Other moments followed when I heard more of my fave music, namely Aphex Twin and Yanni, being played. And again, I was like "OMG!"

Sometimes, I am not a very excitable person and can be quite serious in tone, so to put it in context, this is a big thing for me. Or things.

Gwyn L. explained the philosophy of neighbors working in harmony and building a lush 'scape together. It's turned out quite well so far, although she was right to wonder why there isn't more vegetation in a certain area. As you look through these snapshots, see if you can figure out which one she's referring to:

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I took so many snapshots. It was so lush and green! Props go to the people who put all of these pixels together to come up with something that is rapidly approaching photorealism in its scope, and certainly more flexible than going at the earth with gloves, a spade, and wheelbarrow in tow. I meditated on top of a mountain for a moment, as you can see, and there was an "endangered species" circling around me. Unfortunately, that's all it did — circle. I hope future versions of Second Life will allow for wildlife that comes out and interacts with you, that you can perhaps pet. I'd get a big kick out of feeding squirrels and hugging penguins, that's for sure.

Another great moment of synchronicity occurred when Gwyn told me about Lily Lightcloud,?who is a tremendous benefactor to the Uli community. A few minutes later, what do ya know — she shows up right in front of us! She gave us a tour of her home and was most gracious, 'cuz she had to leave shortly. I didn't want to keep her. Ain't those the comfiest lounge chairs? IRL, I always wanted to have a canopy on my bed, but haven't to this day. I keep telling myself it's because I want to do my darnest impression of Scrooge McDuck as featured in Disney's retelling of A Christmas Carol, which was written by — you got it — Charles Dickens!

Some of these spaces are places I've dreamed of for years; like what would it be like to visit such a location in the flesh? Similar to the true-to-form?Simpsons house, maybe some ambitious peeps will recreate SL sims in the real world. I hope so! (I'm still looking for a Dr. Seuss-themed venue.)?Another fine translation I can think of, real —> virtual, would be the Spook House by Sinatra Cartier which is part of Midnight City. I visited MC for the first time and was greeted by Mistress Midnight (what a classy name, huh?) and her friends, who were hanging out by the Spook House. I'd seen it featured on TechTV but wasn't sure where it was in Second Life. I could have searched, but surprises are awesome, and surprised I was. Mistress uploaded her own voice clips into SL so whenever she typed "Yes", it would play it back fo' real!

I stayed up wayyy too late. It's always such a trip for me to see the sun go down in SL and watch the sun come up for real out of a window, or the inverse.

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When I woke up,?my avatar came to?to?find himself in the middle of a ravey party which was happening on top of the swimming pool –?which had previously been so quiet before my RL slumber. I observed a DJ booth was set up, lights were flashing, and food was laid out to the side. Someone who came as Snoopy AND Woodstock was party-hearty. Gwyn and the others were dancing, and I couldn't help but join in for a bit before coming back here to blog.

Ah, the wonders of it all!!!