Srepent

Posted on: May 8, 2006

Aye, glad to know I'm not alone in my watermelon cravings.

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Came across Isruel Astarias in Sandbox Island the other day. He built a boat-in-a-box: more exactly, an airship surrounded by environmental rain effects. This isn't how I first found him—he was making a Silent Hill-inspired hotel before he brought the topic of the vessel up and I asked to see it.

It reminds me of Final Fantasy's numerous airships, as well as a scene from The Longest Journey, specifically the one used the demo where April Ryan's on a boat during a storm and figuring out what to do. Anyone who doubts what emotional effect rain can have on a scene has never seen a rainbow!

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Curious random encounter: Cyber Witch vs. Stormtrooper. This guy just showed up and started swinging his lightsaber. I posed pretty for the camera, he didn't say a word, and eventually flew away. Part of the greatness of Second Life.

That almost looks fit for a caption…

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I love the emerging experiments that come up to me. I don't go to them, o no… I'm a magnet for this schtuff! I get many IMs—some of which I regretfully don't get to reply to so I hope emails are sent later—and Rez Menoptra and Endira Udal of Rezzust wanted to let me know that they had something special in mind for the Protected Land in Gemmed. They own a good chunk of land there, but not only that, they're terrific builders, with a unique style that I'm quickly becoming aquainted with.

Rippleshock went through me and I got a good vibe they could fill in the uncomfortably empty blank spaces, and so, they went to work. Several hours later, I came back, and not only had they laid out new track, they'd accordingly "remixed" the original pieces to fit the design space. Trimmed a railing there, broadened a plank there, etc.

Their contribution is truely in the spirit of the Lindeny walkways which run through that part of Heterocera Atoll (the northern continent).

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Gwyneth "blink" Llewelyn's got a great read on human behavior as it applies to SL and online spaces. It's a long doc, almost as relentless as the pummeling bassline from Andy Page's "Serpent", with enough flourishes and style to mimic the electric guitar noodlings in that achievement.

As someone who has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism—which made the cover page of Time, thanx Nicole Linden for letting me know!—I've found the offline world to be very weird and jarring. I can say I'm socially awkward. But this, this computer world (as Kraftwerk would say—or sing) is as natural to me as a baby must cry. And so, it's in this space—this cyberspace—that things flow smoothly for me.

In Second Life, I can indulge positively in obsessions and amuse others, as opposed to causing an embarassing disturbance. And a plus about it is, it gives you something easy to tag me with. "That's Torley: loves watermelons!" See, worked perfectly.

A great mentor once told me the secret to being—really being myself—is to have personal attributes that can easily be teased and made fun of. Having been a victim of bullying at the time, this was the last thing I wanted ot hear. But how true it is: for instead of becoming defensive and hiding my passions, I just splash watermelon juice over everyone!

I grew to adopt speech mannerisms. I often thought about celebrities and their catchphrases growing up, and I didn't so much construct something deliberately as repeat it—as repetition is in my nature, but something I'm not always fond of because of the negative redundancy (self-destructive habits) which come with it.

Let's take: "YAYZERAMA!!!" which I say a lot. It began with "YAY!", which is a very familiar declaration in general, and became "YAYZER!" because it rhymes with "laser": I like to be focused. The end bit got added when I thought, "If a bowler's haven is a 'bowlerama', then what might an outlet for the enthused be called?"

There you have it. So hopefully this sheds more light on my logic.

And maybe someday I'll explain how I came to acquire "Thanxies!" and "Welkies!" as part of my regular vocabulary.