I don't like to hide things. I'm not even that into "hidden meanings" in language. Altho, I am quite aware there are terms and whatnot that I deploy that come from my consciousness, which aren't easily understood by many. But which I'm pleased to explain about, given the opportunity. It's my own Torlanguage.

I was nodding my head in utter agreement upon reading Tofflerian writings about the spew of subcults in the years to come. This was from Future Shock, a text already some decades old, but no less valid in my heart—infact, moreso, as it was as if it cast a line into tomorrow and was still pulling back its catches to the younger Toffler of the day. But he had since grown, and so had time passed, and I found myself the other day in the reaches of Penny Arcadia. Dominic White graciously greeting me, and he was DJing a set. He happened to have Aphex Twin's "Girl/Boy Song"—my personal fave—ready to go after "Windowlicker".

Now, Penny Arcadia consists of a group of people who are both into Penny Arcade and Second Life. I've read Penny Arcade on occasion, one of my favorites being a certain He-Man-referencing one, but the sheer bridginess of this all compels me to check out such subcult (meant as highest order) characters as this aptly-named fellow in front of the sign.

Stream of consciousness rolls on, cumulustically… have you ever had childhood friends who've never met each other, but you wonder what it'd be like, how'd they interact if they did? I think when I went into high school, I saw some people who reminded me of elementary school chums who'd since long moved away. What I like about Second Life (in addition to many other things) is how you can Offer Teleport to two people, and everyone's connected. It goes far beyond "I'll give you their email addy and maybe you can get in touch sometime…" or even "Add you to my buddy list!" Infact, adding to Friends, SL's equiv. of the buddy list, may come AFTER.

Something I'd like to see more of are more great interior experiences. Not just a house or a store, but a whole winding battlecruiser, mayhaps, that's recently been overrun by hostile aliens. Trickiness with the camera can make it difficult to "see through your eyes" as an av, but I like entering creepy crawlspaces and that's sort of the vibe I got when seeing this build of Satch Flan's. Not entirely enclosed, but it's something where, if the camera doesn't cut away, you might as well have this throbbing industrial beat and acrid acid corroding the metals while you… run!

HUZZAH FOR RIPPLE WATER!!! When I post this, it's gratuitous in name only. I had this stark dream where an avatar arose from the ripple water, an aquatic being himself (?). This didn't even involve fluid dynamics, just the shader effect… GOSH I don't think Emma Soyinka's in SL anymore, which is sad, but what's happy is the proposal for pixel shaders she made, which came to be. And to think—isn't that a record for least number of votes to be approved? (The checkbox isn't apparent unless you Search.) Some insanely great things are just inevitable.

Conceptually, I'd like to be the lovechild of Forrest Gump and Shiina Ringo. Shiina's already given birth and she's a real person, so I think the main challenge is because Forrest is a fictional character. Speaking of Japanese, I was over in Jukai Urbaine, which is really nice to visit until such time that the Japanese grid opens to the public at large (this, I don't know). The place makes me boil with shame because just about every digital native I've met there can communicate in English better than I can in Japanese (none). Chie Salome is the headmistress of this academy, so BE PREPARED TO BE SCHOOLED IN AWESOME TELEPHONY!!! gecko Surface made it.

I don't want to single out the folks here merely 'cuz they're Japanese, but truely: 1) they're nice, 2) they're doing wonderfulicious things with Second Life, 3) the cultural exchange is fab, and 4) they are Japanese!