I've been doing tweaking and editing to the template of my blog, as you may have noticed. Mayoress and Governess and the Blog-City peeps have been supportive of me over the last few months. I finally decided to go Premium on Blog-City as an "experiment" and see what benefits it entails, so here's an extended journey I am embarking on.

We'll see what happens in the due course of time . . .

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This would happen to be another sort of journey, one that recently finished. Apotheus Silverman, who I chanced upon at the right moment inworld — there's another occurrence of synchronicity for ya, folks — informed me on the SL Forums?of free roundtrips through the many sims of Second Life. He belongs to the fine aerial institution known as Abbotts Aerodrome, and he and Cubey Terra have put together the airship (or blimp, as I call it) ride pictured below. While he was busy building and laying out chairs for the weary who wish to rest their virtual buttocks in anticipation of the next ride, he kindly took the time to answer some questions for me.

In short, this was THE SHIZNIT!!! OMG!!! WHAT A TRIP!!! If you're new to Second Life, or heck, if you're new to this and have never heard of it before, you gotta get a ride and see the world. Literally. It was amazing. As the 'ship departed, the sky was a warm orange, not unlike the colors of oranges basking in the afterburn of the fall, and I quickly hopped onboard and proceeded to go all touristy… snapsnapsnap.

From one sim to another, it was absolutely wondrous what an experience it is. Down below, I could see the richly diverse tapestry of it all, the metaverse — Second Life. Fellow avatars looked like ants — I expected them?to appear as such. I spotted a few resting comfortably and others socializing, while some others were working on new construction projects — perhaps towers reaching into the digital heavens where the simulated sun don't shine. Particularly in the 5th photo (first one on the second row) while passing the land of the most excellent Lady Dawson,?;)?I felt kind of like I was playing Myst again. Except this time, it was more interactive, and I promptly proceeded to do a holla and give shout-outs to the other citizens of the realm. YO WAZZUP!!

Along the way, I saw many sights, heard many sounds (not as well as I would have liked to hear them, but that's an ongoing struggle). It was kind of frantic yet pacifying how the music would shift from bouncy reggae to morbid goth tuneage to some pastiche of Japanese meditation *tok—tok–tok-toktoktok* as the 'ship made its way from one land parcel to the next, many legs (Waypoints) of the journey to be travelled. I saw harbors full of ships, giant teddy bears proudly displaying their asses and love for one another, and even a lot of natural scenic beauty: the chilly, foggy snowscapes; the arid flatlands of creation;?the rolling green plains of the familiar Welcome Area. (No deserts yet, but I hope future SL will have?those, and cactuses!)

Kudos to Apotheus and Cubey Terra for putting this together.?They put what sounded like a lot of time?and energy into this ride, and I thank them graciously for such a Second Life-affirming, inspiring experience.

See the world, they say! Once you've gone on this ride, you truely have.

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Sim Horror has been delayed again, because of more technical difficulties. In fact, the edge of the world seemed to fall off today, as several sims crashed and it looked like a cross section of billion-year-old earth (with the notable omission of the volcanic activity deep below the crust). This saddens me. Ah well, I'll check back tomorrow.

The adventures continue… !