Ah, where was I now. Ah yes, Day 3 of my experiences in Second Life and beyond. I will recall that shortly before I went to bed last night (or early morning, as it was), I met up for the second time with Goshua Lament, who incidentally, just commented my blog. Now, Goshua has a blog about his Second Life Adventures, one of the first ones I read before getting into SL — trying to make an "informed decision" as it were about investing my First Life in it. He is nice and conducts virtual balloon tours, and myself and some others went with him on a trip to see the Sims — the simulated areas of interest, not the EA game — around the Welcome area and beyond. The map had some glitches but Goshua persisted and got us all through. It's a real trip to realize that there's some stuff nearby that I'd never seen before, like an Italian area which I figure would make really yummy angelhair pasta. It's even more of a trip to come to the conclusion of how diverse the SLverse is, where a Borg can get down at a swingers's party, and where pimps and furries can congregate and discuss how to build better.

Now, the aforementioned was the first time I met Goshua that day (day being a relative stretch of term for me). After some more adventures, CORRECTION: THE FOLLOWING MAY NOT HAVE BEEN GOSHUA. I?AM NOT CERTAIN?WHO IT WAS. weird. I?DO NOT REMEMBER. THANKS, GOSHUA, FOR LETTING ME KNOW?[I met up with him (?)?some hours later on the top of a ski ride in a very snowy place. He wanted to do a punch me, and so he did. Also, a bitchslap (no offense meant by this term). It was hilarious. Actioncons like these make the game come alive even more, and while the opportunity is afforded to import new ones to customize the experience even further, I've not taken advantage of this yet.]

Afterwards all of this, I went to some type of simulated torrential rapids and floated down the stream in an inner "t00b". And then I slept. For real.

In between, there were a number of things happened. There was a spontaneous, ad hoc dance party of sorts held in the Welcome area — which might need a lounge or two so everyone doesn't have to stand up all the time or sit on the Forrest Gump-stylee benches — and I never knew Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" could sound so funky. And it wasn't even the whole song, mind you… just a short bar loop that repeated for many minutes while others of us threw additional sound effects and loop trickery over it. It sounded?clunky and a "trainwreck" at times because there was no MSC (Master Syncing Clock) to lock all the beats together or even tune them into the same key, but ah, it was dirty fun of a very audiosonic kind. Ideas and suggestions were passed around.

I actually got into SL in part to get away from the music of my real life since I haven't been able to work, but ah, it has followed me even here. As I think I touched on earlier, my avatar is pretty much a quasi-accurate rendering of me, including keyboard synth. (Mine is an aesthetic prop — it's not scripted.) Although I don't tote one 50-lb. behemoth around everywhere IRL — I mean, who does, unless you're Jan Hammer? By the way, it's important I mention his name. I have before. Jan Hammer did the music to Beyond the Mind's Eye, which was a pioneering work of computer animation from the early 90s. It's an extended music video that takes one through a journey of… you guessed it, a virtual world not unlike SL at times. Of course, Thomas Dolby, renowned for his hit single "She Blinded Me With Science",?composed for the third installment to the series, The Gate to the Mind's Eye. And interestingly enough, I'm hearing a lot of 80s music within Second Life, the mid-80s being the romanticized "Golden Age" of cyberpunk. (Although, natch, I haven't heard that Dolby track yet.)

It repeatedly strikes me as fantastic — literally — how people can choose to fantasize and add excitement to a?First Life?like extra icing on a muffin, which we might have to then?call a cupcake. All sorts of people are here for all sorts of different reasons, and I love that variety. As for me, I've already stated some of them, and?I like to explore and be fun. I can't quite define that, so consider it a play-in-progress.

It's also wonderful, wonderful that there are so many shiny, friendly people helping n00bs like myself out. In some online environments, one is afraid to be informed and ask questions because of the cruel attitudes of the veterans — and that is a very stupid thing indeed. Learning is important, and while there is a FAQ for Second Life, it doesn't even begin to address all the possible inworld ramifications. For this, you do need human interaction, which is sort of ironic because: who would have thunk that within machine city would be a place where people "get together" and communicate?

On a tangential note, I am wondering why my Instant Messages (IM) are being delivered to me through email when I am offline, which is quite handy, but on the other hand, Notified Events are not. Is there a reason for this? I'll have to remind myself to ask, because it strikes me as odd. One could be busy — say, working on a blog — and not realize what time it is and what fave events have passed by just because a clanging alarm clock a la iCal did not appear. To use a separate scheduler would be redundant, too.

Onwards!