Believe, believe in me, believe
Believe that life can change
That you're not stuck in vain
We're not the same, we're different tonight
Tonight, so bright
Tonight
????-Smashing Pumpkins

"Stacked analogies, quotes-within-quotes, longwinded blathering rhetoric vs. punchy four-letter words… it's avatars getting out the popcorn/other?snack?to watch?forum flamewars unfold!!" I'm NOT here to bring you that: Torley focuses on the fun, the good times, and the things that make you smile.

Today, 2005.02.12, is a very special day for Jade Lily and I: it's our 3rd-Month Anniversary! I am the happiest catbot across the multiverse (let alone the Agni gridverse), and it thrills me to no end to be with such a loving person. Yesterday, she made me a gift: a <3> collar symbolizing our shared love for one another. Sooo cute. We're both wearing 'em. To briefly dip below the surface, as ya may know, "<3" is a mini-ASCII graphic meaning "heart" when you tilt your head to the right. Well, the way we look at it, we join in the middle… so hearts coming together from both sides. This is for?when she comes to read my blog:?I LOVE YOU, JADEY!!! <3>

Last night, Bedazzle's U:SL opened, with Ch-ch-ch-Chinatown being flooded not only by the rain, but by the many avatars set on stomping to the housey grooves of DJ Danc.?Party peaked at?like 60 avs, sim crashed — no surprises there, as the SL Herald covers (LOLZ Walker, "The Mandarin of Watermelons"? *blush*)?– but the show went on and on… and continues on today with more partying in a 3-day festival of celebrating the spirit of Second Life. Linden Lab recently uploaded some video promos with my music, altho the current clips seem to have some sort of stuttering playback problem.?Hope that will be fixed soon, and in any?situation,?I'm so honored. <— big happy smile

I'm flanked by brilliance. Ice Brodie on my left and Adam Zaius on my bright. Adam recently created what is known as an "LSL Web Browser", using the native scripting language of Second Life to show the text from a webpage out as a plywood baton pans and scans it through. It's an arduous but rewarding process, sort of like the days where people rode on H.O.R.S.E.S. instead of flying cars. And now we have, what, 1000-horsepower cars? (In some realities, anyway.) Maybe someday, we'll get inworld webbiness, but for now, the innovators of SL are forging ahead with their cool science experiments.

When looking for fun, I often look to the source, which means some of the earliest Residents of SL. Their Inventories are deep with what may very well be the asset server's equivalent to the pressure-resistant fish with big funny eyes and dangling lantern things. feniks (lowercase) Stone and bUTTONpUSHER Jones (hey, they rhyme!) were having fun rezzing items on fen and Taylor's Briarcliff Manor, and I just happened to fly out of the filthy washroom there — a must-see — and visit them. I got a replacement Mr. Tooth Decay (yay!) ride from fen, and BP gave me a watermelon-colored psychadelica wall as shown, as well as a cool attachment that I modded to allow me to literally walk on watermelon stairs. OUCH. BP JUST GOT SUPACOLLIDED. OOOPSIE.

Here I am, hanging out with Deevyde, Spider, Casval, and Torrid at Dee's Braniacs HQ in Afton.?More wacky fun to be had; just go that sim and ya can't miss it — look for all the fuchsia and cyan. Sounds like there's an exciting gridwide game in the works from the Braniacs called Braniac War… IM Dee for more info! I've been following some developments and hope to test in some rounds myself when I get a chance. In an interesting connection, I believe the first time I (technically Torley Sr.)?ever met Dee was on Oneironaut Escher's giant piano the day that Jadey was celebrating her SL birthday. Dee's still got his brainy lightbulb bursting particles on, but I'm a girl now, thus reinforcing this truth: the medium may change, but the message remains the same.

From left to right: Jauani Wu, Nolan Nash, Eggy Lippmann, Char Linden, and Nala Galatea. Comments about?each of them: Jau still owes?me a chair ;), Nolan?graciously gave me a?tour of his?house, Eggy and I have yet to go on a hot air balloon expedition (fixie the buoyancy PUHLEEZE ^_^), Char's a cyberpunk now and could prolly ratchet up skycrapers with ease, and?Nal's got her own blog! Check it out… I'm gonna be linking to her shortly, for that matter. What a world.

Speaking of Lindens, cutest Linden EVAR??? Here's Nicole Linden as Good Luck Bear — av by Cobalt Neutra, I believe. You may recall some of Torley Sr.'s earliest adventures in SL including hugging a Care Bear. I wanted to hug Nicole but couldn't for two reasons: no-script zone, and Lindens (generally) can't be hugged.

Speculation continues to unfold regarding Linden Lab's latest Press Release and Magellan Linden's own blog. In what might very well amount to an Alternate Reality Game within an Alternate Reality Game, or metaARG (did ya catch mah clues in earlier entries pointing this way? =) ), Residents including myself have enthusiasically taken it upon themselves to look deep within possible hidden meanings behind Magellan's entries. With the tongue-in-cheek humor and several sly nods to SL lore, who knows what might be next? Could the "new continent" in fact be a "new planet" of space sims? More "Lunar" than "Luna"? This would surely be above and beyond my wildest dreams of the moment, but I shall wait and see. It's seeming more and more likely, unless this is a red herring diversionary tactic to even something cooler. And how long will it take for us to travel there? Release of 1.6?

Bye June
I'm going to the moon
It better be by June
'Cause I'm going to the moon?
??? -Smashing Pumpkins (again)

Unfolding space and time . . . .