FOR NOW (I am leaving the future open because it is such a big place):

Final Torley blog entry.
This.

Final SL Forums post.
http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?p=534394

Final SLBlogger entry.
http://www1.slblogger.com/?q=node/80

Final Snapzilla picture.
http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=14698

Thank you graciously to Nephilaine Protagonist for the lovely art.

A good thing to call myself would be "graceful stumbler", that's because it's what happens to me. I'm not even fully conscious or aware of what I'm doing, most (some) of the time, and I fall into one situation after another and somehow manage to handle with with aplomb — something that didn't come (as) easily in my earlier years. I have a lot of crazy dreams, things I really enjoy seeing manifested on the stage of futurehumanity that is Second Life, and when the dreams come true, they rock hard. I mean, I've reached out for years in my sleep to AIRPORTS & HOTELS. Such a magical combination. You know what? The airport thing is sure coming true — while not full-scale, as you may already know, Abbotts Aerodrome @ Abbotts (120, 161) is having one made by Cubey Terra and Chage McCoy.

Speaking of Chage, he has a flight log which I read. He's a lot more wordy on there than he is inworld, generally, and that for me is a veryvery good thing. He also has a habit of coming and going suddenly like the wind, something I've come to adopt too because for me, I have so many stops to go from and to. He wrote his most recent entry on me, which is to say the least, interesting, and which is to say the most, fascinating. Always weird reading about myself and how others see me, but insightful. I myself am oblivious… to many constructs, social and otherwise, but at least I know I exist. So, thankyou graciously Chage — for the memories, here's a pic taken 3 months ago.

It occurred to me that on the Snapzilla page for that first pic,?I mispelled "Abbotts", instead taking a single-T spelling which would be more akin to Rza's position in the Wu-Tang Clan. No grave matter. Onwards ho to the next dream of mine I shall describe, the 2nd 1/2 of AIRPORTS & HOTELS. Lost Thereian and Ambyance2 Anubis are the overseers of Naughty, a sim-in-progress (and hence, dream-in-progress) which was showing yesterday on the map but is now hidden again, presumably for more construction. My last real visit had been some months ago, but now, I came and sat on this couch. I didn't recognize the open-air surroundings at first, but IT SOON DAWNED ON ME. The atmosphere is one like a tropical paradise, booked as "the perfect escape". Which, when you really think about it, is cool… an escape within an escape. So what are we escaping from here? Lag? Hee hee.

The beaches hold a lot of promise. There's been extra attention paid to rivulets of froth beating upon the shore, some stray seaweed, and the textures themselves are choice and a lot more waved-in than the Linden mainland. Travel a wayz and you will find there is a romantic getaway, a house with more exquisite furniture on an island-within-an-island. See?

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The house is very cozy and best experienced in 3D; this flatglimpse is tantalizing but ultimately unfulfilling. (There is a piano in the corner which connects to something later.) I was so overwhelmed by this point that I TPed over my good friend Francis Chung. You know, the one who made this jetski for the very purpose riding it around places like this. Altview.

There also happens to be a wonderful, wonderful coffee shop in the works which has some odd futurist overtones to me despite its decadent modern design. (I am reminded of Pequod's and Queequeg's from DX: Invisible War.)?Altview.?I'm just really impressed by all of this, and it seems to me it's being built at more-or-less a relaxed pace, so no rush.

There are other pictures I recall taking, including an aerial overview. It's funny I can't seem to find them, I wonder if they got… Lost? LOL. If they did, purrhaps it was for the best of reasons, that my memories be locked safely away in my tete where I can treasure them for times to come. Other memories, then: the hotel front desk (without walls to surround it), missing a bell but very sturdy; the magazines, coffee, and bags strewn around what looks like a makeshift lobby; and my favorite, the BAGGAGE TROLLEYS. Which makes me recall, I already have a suitcase I've customized and dropped off at the Aerodrome. Surely, wouldn't it make for a nice community project to customize more 'cases? Idea.

And so it found me, logging in the next time and going islandhopping to nearby?Shaea, where I did this, and which has splonderous beauty of its own. I look at the calligraphy and am quickly reminded of a story my biological father told me before he died, about getting things done — and not only that, but doing them right too. Timeless art of penmanship… amidst all this luxurious furniture by Eva Virgo.

And then it led to another study in sandboxes. Meet MadameThespian Underhill, venerable Resident of SL and maker of the piano I mentioned earlier, which is a famed part of SL history. She's sold lots of them, and with a strange reason: it was originally a commission way back in beta, and it turns out the guy who was supposed to have paid for it went *poof*, so she decided to start selling them. Now they even include modular music.

Hrmmm.

I have found something unusual about the JPEG compression that SL uses when sending photos outbound — it really deteriorates, kills areas of samey color but leaves the details alone. So, detailed pictures are crisp, simple ones a literal wash. A very ugly wash, one I can't appreciate. I hope this will be improved in the future.

I am now openly Roaming with Wet Ikon's new invention. If you'd like to, just IM me inworld. More to follow as rippleshock guides me along. I know that the rules have always been there for me; they've just been a different set.

There's something I really enjoy about going to sleep and waking up in SL (logging off/on to some, but I don't think of it that way) and finding myself caught in what is just a superappropriate bubble of the universe. This usually takes the form of some of my good friends or a pleasant acquaintance just happening to be near my "spawnpoint", and greeting me before I can get ahold of my digitized senses. The other day, I went to sleep in the Free Bazaar in Stillman, which is just what it sounds like — Stillman (148, 83)?and I was greeted by Gleeb Gupte upon awakening! We were both very happy to chat! Note the appropriate sign I'm sitting on. It's true, it's true.

Things pour out, like a fountain. While that could be a metaphor, in this case it was very literal. Shortly after awakening and having liquid breakfast (watermelon juice nummy), I found myself with Local Lighting ON, which lagged me but ohsogood… and I went to the sandboxes. It was there in Cordova I found a faucet dangling from the sky and giving "cold showers" which defied the physical. By an avatar I will simply refer to as "GREAT ARTIST", due to an interesting quirk in SL, local lighting made the water particles bend to my will. I was overjoyed when this and this happened. But not this.

Oh BTW I almost didn't mention that earlier in the day, I did some snowboarding along new trails. If you want a free snowboard just IM me (Torley Torgeson)?inworld, okeydokey? And remember, when the moon comes out, it can be a great opportunity emulate your fave live-action anime flick.

So where was I now? Ohyes. Visiting with Hikaru Yamamoto, who was inspired by the Cube movies (only the first one I saw) to come up with a giant construct of blank white and rusty metal textures, with a piece of cheese hidden within. Prize: L$1000.?I dunno if anyone ever found it, but sadly the whole works took up more than a few thousand prims and she had to evacuate it from the sandbox. It is a cool idea, though, and I'm hoping this will carry on into something bigger (but not as primmy!). I've already referred to Hika the name of another one who is likeminded, the dapper Oz Spade… maybe they will collaborate. Why must I think out loud. Interna ocula.

I've been settling back in to my oldnew digs, my home is at Midnight City (233, 177) and I have nice neighbors — Midnight City Escort Services, of which Lady Barnesworth seems to be either a madam, an escort, a client (or all three?). After a short nap I awoke to find condoms and a used syringe on my pillow, which I suppose is better than a mint. Well, if it was a minty condom, that might be doubly better.

Plywood boxes are a mainstay of SL like fire is a mainstay of fireplaces. I've joined a group; well they're not really a group, they're — we're a ragtag band of explorers testing out new Wet Ikon technology.?We're called PLYWOOD BOX CREW. *breathes* See, Francis Chung put the code to all that, very esoteric and highly-advanced I'm sure — PROTECT THE CUBE AT ALL COSTS!!!123 — 'cuz Roam (like I described here)?may not just be an attachment, but for vehicles too, and for those you will have to sit on/in them. Problems are established once you hit a few sim crossings and think you're going to die because your av suddenly gets scuttled off and headed towards a watery death below, but then you reemerge a few momentos (like Mentos) later to find yourself seated again and zipping along. If you've ever ridden a vehicle in SL, then you know what that's like!

Fundamentally, Fran & Rathe want to create a basis for vehicles in SL to travel velociously. Without you falling off.

ANYHOO… in extended testing, we headed to a loquacious # of locos around the gridverse, and found ourselves heading to the Welcome Area to pick up a few more. Crew complement was healthy, crazy fun, but there was a lot of relogging and debugging to be done. Hopefully future SLs will allow for nicer simcrossings, as it stands it's really disconcerting and being jolted by the seat of your finely-textured (I hope!) pants… eeeeeE.

Lucah Solvang is having a really tuff time right now in life 'cuz of her father. *huggerz Lucah* I can relate because my Dad was in a similar state before he passed.?I hope Lucah will be well, as her art has never failed to bring a smile to my face. When I see these pigeons she made, I think of the Evil Nine song, "Crooked",?that has the lyrics about pigeons.?And that unto itself is really, really wonderful. These pigeons will actually be part of a game for the GameDev comp called "The Board" and you can see a wider shottie here and more of Lucah's art here. Follow the Snapzilla links, they're so handy. Thankyouthankyou Ano!

I'd like to give a big, gleeful shoutout to Alexis Ingersoll — my adventures of the previous day concluded with us checking out the pony. Something was brokers so the chevatar was not only bipedal, but failed to be ridden. But that's hey-okay, because lil' Pony Linden is rideable again. On the right is my waking shot from today, so you can see what I am on about starting from the beginning… going to the end… and towards a nu beginning.

Kinda like bouncing from one dream to another.

Rickard Roentgen: lol hey torley
WeeSneak Muromachi: hehe
You: GOOD LORD
Launa Fauna: hey Torley look
You shout: WHAT A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO WAKE UP!
Launa Fauna: http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/pic.aspx?id=12923&sort=PictureID+desc&Name=Launa+Fauna
Launa Fauna: first picture in there
You: greetings my allies
WeeSneak Muromachi: MIKO MIK NURESE NURSE!!! SOMETHIN SOMETHIN SOMETHIN MIKO MIKO NURSE!!!!!!111
You: awwwwww
You: that's so cute
WeeSneak Muromachi: MIYA HEEEE MIYA HOOOOO MIYA HAWWW MIYA HA HAAAA!
Launa Fauna: yes someone needed to feed the poor wittle ponywony
You: awww
WeeSneak Muromachi: Fuck the pony
You: :O
Rickard Roentgen: gotta love newbs
Pony Linden: *neigh*
Launa Fauna: ok that looked wrong haha
Rickard Roentgen: lol so do you suppose there's a person running it?
You: hahaah that's SO quotable

Come to Ahern (77, 243) and get some.

Link

I'm moving back to Midnight City. Aimee (Weber) set up my ol' dumpster some-a-ways from the movie theatre, so it's a nice view. Only thing I'm cautious of is it rolling down the hill into the lake. It'll take some getting used to — after being institutionalized in a luxurious library for awhile, it's time for me to literally get back into the dirt and bite at my roots.?I conjecture I can stand under the light and catcall at night.

And, I'm getting used to Blog-City version 4.0. It finally arrived a few days ago — some of the changes I'm most looking forward to haven't arrived yet, but they're supposed to between 4.0 and 4.1, which I hope isn't a long time. Unfortunately this integrated?HTML editor still strikes me as a little sluggish (is this the newest version?), but the whole backend layout is a lot cleaner.

Jai Nomad sent me an offline IM earlier today. I hardly catch up with her nowadays, which is a shame, because I miss having long conversations. Turns out the classic GNU Wave Architects store, which has been around a long time in SL, is going to be moved from the humble location at Davenport (72, 77)?to a shiny, red-and-black complex in a sim with a LOT of SL history, Indigo. I snapzed this from Indigo (235, 45) so just head there and see it for yourself. The floors are still empty but hold a lot of promise.?The cool Apollo Temple you see next door was made by Eva Virgo, that's the home of Nethermind Bliss and Koshka Plisskin. Inside look. The buildings contrast in architectural style but are quite complementary — a testament to what SL is all about, I suppose.

Another thing SL is all about is taking something really close, dear to you, and bringing it into the world for others to see. Maybe you'll even find fellow Residents who have overlap bubbles of the same treasured memories. I met Laurie Partridge today shortly after revisiting my dumpster home, she seemed incredulous at first that I lived there, but we headed back to her place, which is truely retrolicious. Do you know what famous TV home this?is? Hehehe… if not, click on the thumbnail and read onwards. Congrats to Cherabim Xia (huzzah!) for getting the answer.

Paid me a visit to the Wet?Ikon (two words) lab today, the brainchild of SL inventors Rathe Underthorn and Francis Chung. I'm giving this new gadget of theirs a whirl — it's called a Roam. AND NO THIS IS NOT THE DEFAULT MODEL, I CUSTOMIZED IT. What does it do? Allows you to transport really quickly from one exact coordinate to another without the pain that telehubs (they suck, LOL!) bring. Like, type:

/go Gualala (58, 246)

and it'll get ya there. While you're spinning along in the air, you can multitask and edit a notecard or sort your inventory, instead of having to worry about getting jammed in rezzing buildings.?Automated process will save you hatred. (Especially since adding landmark buttons were taken out with 1.6.x. )?A really innovative marketing plan to go with this will be forthcoming, and predictably (in a good way), I'm part of it. Not by design, but because I'm out of my mind… plus that whole rippleshock thing. So, more to roll and unfold. Besides Roam, other products are on the table like the Chronometrix timepiece, which I've finally gotten around to taking a good piccie of.

Saw this giant eye in the new FurNation sim, which is getting off the ground. I'm wondering where the accompanying hand is, but that's okeydokey, as we've got a stargate in the background and a pyramid that somewhat resembles a Goa'uld mothership (not shown). I am inclined to be drawn closer to the light.

This is what I look like, so you know!

I would like to be neg-rated as many times as possible in the Welcome Area?– and Second Life?for that matter — for the following three reasons (and maybe more):

• all multiples of L$25 go directly forward, into the system, to the "feed a hungry Linden" fund
  ?
• I realize that Star Wars has a light side and a dark side of the Force. So, with all the positive ratings I've gotten, I should at least have an equal and opposite mirror of that. My reasoning is that it will allow me to unlock another "alternate-virtual-reality Torley", and I collect myself like Pokemon+Digimon.
  ?
• perhaps most importantly, if someone has a problem with someone else, I'd rather they diffuse that tension by neg-rating me instead of starting up another RRL = Really Redundant Loop. PLUS remember… it goes to feed a hungry Linden!

Remember:

Residents of Second Life are free to rate each other positively or negatively, for any or no reason, at any time. Ratings abuse is certainly possible, but usually involves "group attacks" where a resident influences a number of other residents to give a negative rating for no reason.

One catch: comments can be watermelony, benign, sarcastic, angry, etc. but must be within the CS?and ToS.

I'm so sorry to announce that Miss Jangles is dead.

She will be missed. :'(

Enter nimrod Yaffle, chief organizer of the hunt and gridverse-wide champion puker.

So what transpired in present-tense?is this: I head to Cordova, my sound level's soft (as it usually is), but just loud enough to register with me when I hear the blood-curdling sound of Tarzan going apeshiznit… and the horrendous, warbling noise is being pitched out of the bowels of a GORILLA. Enter nimrod Yaffle, bow and arrow in arm, informing me in no few words that tonight we shall not starve, for there will be a FEAST!?A FEAST OF CHICKENS! Apparently there is some nearing-midnight-induced hunger for this fine prim poultry, and nimrod hands me bow+arrow of my own. It commences.

The chickens get noisy, they're oh-so-very peckish, but that's OK-OK, 'cuz we're hungrier than that. I remind nimrod that we must not starve; we must fetch a most glorious bounty in these desperate, disparate times of deprived stipends and mysterious build bugs, so the least we can do is stock up on meats. It dawns on me after a few shots that?there will not be enough, so nimrod multiplies the chickens by a factor of approximately 100x (give or take a few), and the sim grinds to a sluggy halt, the time dilation dropping to 0.02, 0.01, 0.00 but still not crashing. We promptly IM each other, "uh oh", and the gentle gorilla graciously hands me a milk and cookie while waiting in the balance of sim-purgatory. Our motions aren't frozen, the avs continue to move in repetitive cycles, my hands swirling in oblique cycles like I'm typing out some quality imitation of Immanuel Kant. I plead with nimrod to del some so the sim doesn't crash and make us very bad residents of SL, and –

Then. It hits us. Again. (pause for emphasis)

J

MORE CHICKENS! BAWK BAWK BAWK! BAWKBAWK-FREAKIN'-BAAAWK!!! Everywhere. A faux tree with willowy swoops casts an imaginary shade, and then the onslaught begins anew.?Many more chickens, even giant ones of Godzilla-snacking proportions. My IM switchboard lights up as I alternate between?being a good plucker and communicating with chums on the other side of SL. And then, one conference call comes in, from Orhalla Zander and fellow former denizen of The Hobo Railroad along with nimrod. Without hesitation, we reach out and grab him, clad in barrel, and pull him into the zone. TP!

nimrod Yaffle: we could feed china with all these chickens!
Torley Torgeson: yes! and russia too!
nimrod Yaffle: lol

It dawns. More friends join us, and more folks come into the area, perhaps perplexed: Lightwave Valkyrie, BelGarath Stern, Dougal Jacobs, Evan Oud, Baba Yamamoto (wearing appropriate attire), and more. There's even a day-old new Resident fresh in a daze, looking at a checkerboard nearby. And guess who else joins us? Really, guess.

Hamlet Linden,?Mr.?New World Notes. A friendly man who is fundamentally responsible for me being in Second Life in the first place through some very trippy temporal sequencing. IMing me?and?arriving (albeit, in a surprised state) for his duty shift as a true team member of The Great SL Chicken Hunt '05, he at first causes some consternation by bellowing, at the top of his av-lungs:

Hamlet Linden shouts: TAKE THEM CHICKENS DOWN! NOW NOW NOW!

But really, he's here to help, and help he does:

Hamlet Linden: BRING ME MY BURNING BOW OF GOLD!
Summer Camp Bow whispers: Enter Mouselook to shoot me, Say 'pickup' to pickup arrows, say 'id' to identify yours.
Evan Oud: nice chick mobile!
Orhalla Zander: I thought they had us!
nimrod Yaffle: lol
Summer Camp Arrow - Attach to right hand: armed
nimrod Yaffle: more chickens?
nimrod Yaffle: one sec
Dougal Jacobs: I hear them..
Hamlet Linden shouts: BRING ME MY ARROWS OF DESIRE!

?<— Hamlet took this pic. Really. Hehehe.

And as Dougal listens for the stampede, I throw a set to "teh Ham", and we draw our strings, our slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and unleash hell. Er, heck. THIS IS WAR!!! Hurrying into position like a bastardized Everquest party, the chickens rush forth as we're determined to push back hard, to strike a victorious blow, to trample them asunder our prim footwear, to gut the enemy's morale and decapitate their beaks… ultimately,?to win this decisive battle on such an honorable moment in digitized, accelerated spacetime!

Then. Trouble . . .

The oncoming waves of hens have been quelled and our thirst for particle blood slaked, but like any good video game, there's a last boss:

HERE
COMES
THE
ROOSTER.

And they are formidable beasts, not moving a pixel and certainly not yielding to our advanced weaponry. More than just bows and arrows are pulled out at this point — I have a Saedaku Flamebringer in my hand, miniguns and cagers and even?lightsabers ('cause the Force is soooooo with us)?are pulled out to attack with full force, live and direct from the source, y0. A little rabbit by the name of RacerX Gullwing comes to observe, a picture of him bound to make the cover of Time magazine, and that's one thing we don't have enough of — TIME. We fall back, retreating to a defensive position as more hens cawk and cackle, I almost swear they're about to launch egg plasma cannons at us, but why would they endanger their young when they can BREED?!?

more

MoRe

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The battle rages on, and my time becomes short. We're assaulted from the rear by some randy?Lemmings, but they are quickly dispatched and sent back to?the can-can land from whence they came.?It thankfully appears victory is now confidently within our grasp with General?nimrod storming?back forward ("back forward?" WTH?)?and I must head to another engagement to… try on some new clothes. I wave goodbye to my comrades, heading off in?my Cubey CLAWW, sit pose colliding with my rollerskating anim but that's okay, that's okay –

This is Second Life, after all.

Special thanks to: Sion Zaius, maker of hens; Cailyn Miller, maker of?cocks.