There continue to be so many wonderful places to explore in the everexpanding world of Second Life, or the gridverse, as I affectionately know it. From one point of interest to the next, I like to highlight my favorites, which usually consist of the weirdly eclectic, the wackily surreal, and some of the everyday as well. What would life — or Second Life, for that matter — be without such a tasty potpourri of enjoyable experiences? Come within, and you shall see…

This is Gypsy Moon, a private sim which has been created and operated by katykiwi Moonflower and Vade Blair. They were both present on the island when I visited, and gave me a tour of the works. There are many things to explore here: there is a sort of pirate theme running through the whole works, with such attractions as a shipwreck and even the contrast represented by a fiery volcano and an icy peak (with a pegasus you can ride!). One of my favorite things to do was go deep down below, into the caves which are not visible to the shallow eye… while spelunking, I got an Indiana Jonesey-kinda adventurer vibe, and shared this sentiment with katy. She confirmed that I was right on target, as Vade pulled out an appropriate object: a boulder that'll mow you down if you don't run fast! So, I ran. Fast.

Here are Francis?Chung and I, and oh yes, the honorable Bel Muse. First time I met her a few days ago. I wanted to call her more adjectives like "nice" and "polite" but she modestly explained about who she really was, in her own words. I somehow was not convinced! She soon brought out several of her stalwart creations, including her blaster and a bag of Doritos which you may have seen inworld. And an aquarium too, which as I understand it, was one of the very first "pet" type thingies in SL, if not the first. Not fully seen in the above pic because it is so ginormous, here?it is: the infamous Penis of?Grief (PoG) temple. It came out all rezangular and it was a real trip to walk along the slanted marble. Be sure to check out 2ndlook.org, Bel's website of Second Life Screenshots.

Thili Playfair makes cool stuff. She also likes to dance to Gigi D'Agostino's "The Riddle" for nine hours straight while building, which is a definite plus in my book. I once saw her in the Welcome Area surrounded by books… 653 textures uploaded or something like that? I asked her for my very own copies, and this is the result.

Siggy Romulus strikes again! Come check out the Chaos sim if you want to try this ride, which is being boosted to a v2 someday soon. It's called the "Chaos Looped Intrasim Transport ring", and I'm sure you can put together that acronym for yourself. Wheeeeeee!

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Before unwinding one night and heading to bed, I stopped by the Morris sandbox to chill with Shady Adamant and Thili (on the left, with her books and signature long hair). Apparently there is a new way to watch fully streaming videos in SL. It depends on a type of texturemapped?trick with?synced soundtrack, and while it takes?a long time to buffer, it plays at a reasonable 10 FPS. It's kind of?strange, seeing the evolution?of streaming video in this world-within-a-world. We enjoyed?the?1984 Macintosh commercial,?a trailer for?The Day The Earth Stood Still (if you're wondering, Gort lives at Chaos), and an old educational video teaching to "duck and cover" and featuring a jovial turtle. Good times.

Lee, a Linden who is hard at work. This picture, also taken in the Morris sandbox, is but one snapshot of what was?a busy day for him. I sometimes joke that "Morris is the new Jessie", and as the GREEFER KIN struck, Lee had to strike back and lay the smackdown of the law o' the land. From firebombers to orbit-cagers to rude language in a PG sim and even one fellow who marched up to Lee wearing a profanity-laced title, Lee handled it with composure, as if he had seen this RRL = Really Redundant Loop come before…… and verily, verily indeed he had.

Cheyenne Bliss has made my new favorite pair of shoes. I arrived at an opportune moment to not only watch her modelling herself for display pics, but to assist her with a technical problem which involved teh shiny. I got the Rubylite and Emerald shoes, and while the tones are a bit off from bona fide Neon Watermelon, they are pretty in the dark and match my poise alright. Thanks, Cheyenne, and keep it up!

Connections, connections… I'm back at Chaos with Siggy and Paca, with a towering Lee Linden cardboard cutout in the background. And along with connections, ah, what would Second Life be without praise? Can you guess who we're praising here? Hint: look to the object surrounded by the candles, as?it's symbolic of him. If you give up and wanna know, click here. BLESSED BE THE BOUNTY!!!