Still learning

I think I've figured out why I like SL so much. It's not just the witty reparte, the ability to fly, the cool builds, although those things do keep me coming back. Really, though, I feel like I learn something new every day there. My avatar was born last July, but I've been in SL steady since April '06, and I am still adjusting.

Sometimes it's something simple - how a poseball works, for example. I didn't realize you had to sit on it for the dance animation to kick in until about a week ago, when I actually had a tango partner.

Sometimes it's exposure to a new idea or new music. I swear, I never met so many people living alternative lifestyles. Just goes to show that smart and creative types are open-minded, and the world isn't falling apart. Quite the contrary: A new one appears to be being built.

Sometimes I get quirky tips. I own a piece of waterfront property (or, will for another day) and imagine my shock when I logged in one day, and my dock was in a desert. A quick IM to the sim owner revealed all I had to do was click World/Regions/Settings and then close out, and the water would probably come back. And changing groups sometimes allows you to see avatars that have only partly rezzed. These tricks are a little like clearing your cookies, or refreshing the page.

Sometimes, I pick up a useful skill. I wanted to make a belated rezzday gift for a friend, but my building skills are rudimentary, and my scripting skills nil, although I can put together formed pieces and add a prewritten script to an object. My friend Eis helped me create a mini-fridge that dispenses beer. I think I need to go back and work on it some more, but the most valuable lesson I learned was how to link parts - I've always had trouble with the rotate tool popping open--I hadn't realized that you have to be in the "Edit" menu before shifting and clicking. The experience inspired me to create an interactive 3-D model for a workshop I have coming up on Teen Brain Development.

Playing ACRO a night or two a week has been a great brain calisthenic. You ante up $50, the host gives a string of 3-5 letters to the group, you all IM an acronym, and players vote for a favorite. I was on a winning streak, but haven't been playing up to par lately.

When I learned this week that you can import a stream from Shoutcast by changing the land preferences, I immediately volunteered to DJ some night. I'm not sure I have a particularly impressive or unique music collection, but I think if I build a theme around it, it could be fun. Right now I'm thinking high glamour - hits from the 30's, 40's, maybe 50's with a gangsters and starlets kind of theme.

Finally (and maybe this is what makes me a good librarian), I love passing on my knowledge. Here is a tip I passed on to a n00b two days ago. I've been chatting and IM'ing for years, so to indicate an action by encasing it in parenthesis or asterisks is second nature to me... but in SL, if I type /me, my avatar's name appears before what I've typed, as in "Cerulean Vesperia chortles with glee at this newfound knowledge." The odd thing is, I tend to think of my avatar as ME, so the switch to second person is a little jarring.

That's all my insights for today. I wish I'd been recorded my SL journey all along. Mebee I'll backpost; but then again, mebbe I won't.

A builder I'm not

I tried to make a beer dispensing fridge yesterday, with help from my friend Eis, but it's not working for some reason. Bah!

The one where I run into the Grim Reaper

from July 2006:

"I'm standing on the top of the high rise on Info Island (in Second Life) and Death zoomed in, followed by a trail of black smoke. He had black robes and a scythe and everything, and said he was "just island hopping."