I'm sitting here, on a chair, pondering about my First Life & Second Life. For some people, a Second Life is a replacement for the sheer boredom or the blogging-saturated?"my life sucks" of real life. That isn't me.

I do believe each of us is entitled to happiness (let it be Safe, Sane, and Consensual ) but in my case, a Second Life adds on to what is already a First Life I am thankful for. AND, not OR — it's sort of like the steps on a pyramid leading up to some higher point where things from all directions culminate. As the great genius Stephen King wrote:

"Life is not a support system for art. It's the other way around."

I agree. Life is harsh and frought with much thankless (or so it seems at the time) work, and disappointment. Right now, as you may know, I am very frustrated I am unable to work on my music because of my hyperacusis. This is one reason why I am on Second Life… I didn't want to waste my time on a video game that wouldn't have much impact on the rest of my life — or anyone else's life, for that matter — but I did want to have some fun in the game of life, Second Life, and connect with others. So in the here and now, I'm thankful for this opportunity — but unmistakably frustrated, make no mistake about that. I would like to return to techno music-making soon. Really soon. I've got lots of great ideas for new songs. Oh, I'll still live out a Second Life, as I alluded to earlier. As Depeche Mode sang and I'm purposefully?taking this out of context, "Get the balance right."

As for games, as is a gangsta rapper credo, "Stay tru to tha game!", although has been pointed out before, it is more than a bit limiting to call Second Life merely "a game". But humans need labels for accessibility and classification, and even a word like "Metaverse" is not the only way to describe SL — especially for those unfamiliar with cyberpunk culture.

And there we go to another topic: one which has many names.?Speaking of which, I almost forgot but I'm glad I didn't, that Stephen King's?seventh and final book of the Dark Tower has finally come out today. I'll have to read this. Tying this in with SL, I'm wondering if there's a SK sim anywhere… would be horroriffic.

Today I'm planning to visit Hamlet Linden's offices and Lisse Livingston's "Unhappy Happy Cows".

First, I've got to eat.

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I'm still?trying white/pink noise therapy for my hearing problems. Apparently human beings can hear while they are asleep, so I'm playing a loop of static HISSSSSS while I slumber. I haven't noticed any noticeable results yet and it can take over six months which is a long time in my book, but I've got to hang in there because I haven't found another viable alternative. Docs don't seem to be able to do much about this, and there are no known prescription drugs which are soundly effective. Anecdotally, drinking Gatorade may help to replenish electrolytes from ear fluid, but I dunno about that… yet. Still doing research on this while I can.

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Why is Van Gogh known as Van Gogh but Van Beethoven is known?simply as… Beethoven?