The Eternal Dance of the Weeping Cherry

In my house my mother stands,  skin of bark, muscles of wood, hair of weeping cherry branch.

But she was not always this way.

It is often said that the Dryad or Epimeliad is bound to her tree.  This is true, but never as extreme as the bond a Hamadryad has with her tree.  Some Hamadryads are part of their tree, rooted and unable to move.  Others are made of flesh as warm and soft as any woman's, and they dwell inside their tree.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="414" caption=""A Hamadryad" by John William Waterhouse"][/caption]

My mother, was the latter. In the hollow of an abnormally large weeping cherry that was her own.  The hollow itself was not very big, but she had enough room to sit, sleep, and take her meals. Over the course of her young life she had polished the walls smooth with little bits of stone that birds would drop.  She had bathed her walls in the oil extracted from cherry pits until they shone and gleamed. A carpenter could not have done better even with superior tools.

She baited fire flies with cherry juice for light in the night. My mother, she had a lot of time on her hands.

Upgrading the Sim: One Year Later.

It's been a year now since three elders sold a homestead, scraped together an additional $1000 USD and called in a favour or two in order to upgrade our Homestead into a full sim. It seems such a long time ago that we (the three of us) did this, and I can not imagine life on a homestead anymore. How did we ever manage with so few prims, and without all that scripting power?

Not very well, actually. Don't get me wrong, we hung in there and we made do, because that was what was required for the sim to be born a few months before Eacen and I arrived. We did the best with what we had to keep the sim alive. Because, we three have a deep love for our land. We took the (current) Seven Isles from a flat piece of land, made peaks and valleys, found water, and raised trees and plants.

Hard to believe this is what the Sim looked like at the begining.

Hard to believe this is what it looked like during it's birthing process...

We used to be so tight on prims, that at any given moment, someone could have rezzed their hair to make a copy, and sent belongings back to their owners. Believe it or not, around the time we upgraded we were down to one hundred available prims. One Hundred!

Up until that point many visitors moaned that we lacked the power to run a proper RP, and they were right. Of course, we were also lacking in many other things that makes an RP successful. We had a plot but no other admins, no committed players. People have a way of volunteering for things like administration, and showing up to play... and then not following through.

Initially, The Seven Isles saw a fantastic jump in participation, a few weeks later we were awed and humbled by being featured in the destination guide. Winter was very quiet, and so slow that many people (myself included) worried about the Sim's demise. But we pulled through, and then *finally* kicked off the skeleton of the RP storyline. People were a little slow to realize that disasters were happening right in front of their eyes,  but once they did It was epic, and beautiful and it really showed the potential we have as an RP sim. Many people came to us and said it was the best they had ever been in. It was the best I had ever been in, too.

But it was very hard work for us three elders, (who also build, socialize, and organize events when we have the time) to run that start on our own. After all, we all have families, and jobs, and lives outside of Second Life. By the time we reached the peak of the story, we three were left exhausted, but optimistic that now the ball was rolling  and the players now had a ball to play with.

If only someone would... you know... bend over and pick up the ball now that we got it rolling, and maybe throw it to one another and Roleplay without our constant guidance and direction. I will be blunt. I am dissapointed that all that work has changed very little.

People (bless them) seem to want us to hold their hands, but our hands are already *so* full just keeping it all running.

I was told recently by a member (who has actually done something to spark activity on the sim without our prompting, which is most awesome) that this has been a common rp sim problem in many sims he had visited. Everyone stands around with their thumb up their bum, waiting for something to happen, and when it doesn't they find something else to do. It means they miss the opportunities To RP when something *does* happen, or those opportunities just don't happen, because why do anything when no one is around to see it?

It is a frustrating cycle. I wish more people understood that if they want to RP, (on any sim, not just ours) they have to take some initiative to engage, interact, and allow themselves to grow.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do not intend to give up on The Seven Isles, but any Sim owner(s) who does not question whether things will be viable in the long term when they do not make tier that month, is lying.

Once again, I am going to be blunt: It is a lot of responsibility for me (I won't speak for the other elders, they have voices of their own) to log in and find that what members we have that are willing to stay around and RP, still depend on us for everything.

I do not think that what we need is a bunch of admins herding players around like sheep. We are often commended for our lack of Drama, No intimidating authority and lack of rigid rules, probably because we do not have a lot of Admins.

But I have to say, with some disappointment, that I thought providing our people with a full sim, objects to perform their trade with, and plenty of things to do most people still want us to hold their hands and tell them a story. No one wants to make their own story, and allow others to make a community story with them.

I also have to say this. I know it can be done. A few weeks ago Eacen and I took a break from our main avatars, and jumped into two child avatars we created to help with a project that (surprise) someone abandoned. We wanted to see just how much RP one could create for themselves with little or no help.

We had a blast! We built a steam powered wagon that we drove around the sim at high speeds.

We took a row boat to the top of the lighthouse, and jumped off the top. We flew kites, coloured, climbed mountains, discovered treasure under the sea.



(it was a crate of mayonnaise, sadly) We swam, and banged on drums.



We quaked in the fear of an Unseelie Fae visitor, and ran away from a strange man speaking a language that frightened us. We even "borrowed" items from the blacksmith's right under the noses of people waiting for something to happen.



Pete, who is always there was even game.  We played a drinking game with him where 1 shot with our toy arrows, meant we would buy him 1 shot.  He loved it!

Not content to play darts, we put our own spin on the game



We even RPed our afternoon nap.



In a week, Eacen and I created plenty of RP for ourselves, and this was without interacting with one other person. (not a single adult stopped us to warn us we were up to no good, or could get hurt.) Imagine what could have been done if people just engaged, and added their own elements that week. Now, keep in mind that the child avatars have *less* to do than the adults in our sim, and yet we did so much that week. Surely, the grownups can too. Can't they?

and on that, I will end with a rhetorical question.

What do you want to do in the Seven Isles?

What is stopping you?

Certainly not the Elders.

Peace and love,
Korinna.

Some very close "friends" of ours became engaged last night at our monthly full moon skyclad dance. Sadly Eacen and I "Couldn't make it" and yet, it seems like we were there witnessing the event through another set of eyes!



What better time is there for one to express your undying love to one another,  than when you are bare, at one with nature... and already naked (making streaker photobombs impossible).

However, just about everything that could go wrong during the proposal, did. Starting with the moment the DJ (also the groom to be.  As I said "Eacen" wasn't available) stoped the music for his big moment.  He announced he had a question to ask Thyul,  and yet the response went something like this:

"Hey the stream stopped!"  "Where is the music?" "Can anyone hear the music?" "No!  Toggle!" (Paraphrased... naturally, I forgot to get the log... I mean... I wasn't there to get it verbatim. Yeah..)

The groom was shaken and upset, but decided not to let the moment get him down. He continued.


We... uh. I mean they probably should have known to stop there,  but instead, decided to play music for the crowd, whilst Fadrienne went down on one knee. If for no other reason, than to stop the "Halp!" Coming from the small crowd.

Perhaps they should have paused long enough for "Karma chameleon" to stop playing.

Then, naturally, the animated ring box for the proposal animations malfunctioned, which screwed up the photo op. And also made the "jump hug" I... I mean Thyul did to accept look mighty perverse.

^{This does not properly show the torrid scene,  that one is too indecent to show on a public blog.}

What matters is that they are engaged and planning on a february wedding.  Let us hope that all of the kinks and things that could go wrong happened during the proposal ritual.

Afterwords, they danced, and discovered that the "2nite&4eva" Dance in the intan, already had a perfect animation for the moment.



So uhm, learn from our *their* mistakes, and don't stop the music, choose a good song, and save the $399 Lindens on the dissapointing and un-customizable proposal animator that will make you look like you are humping your partner in front of other people.  I mean, he was happy and all...  but he wasn't *that* happy.

In order to prevent any wardrobe malfunctions at the wedding, the happy couple has decided to get married naked.

I'm not kidding.

An Avatar By Any Other Name, Is Not The Same.

Not so long ago, A Real Life and Second Life friend of ours successfully converted his lady friend over to the grid.  It was fun, all of us sitting around my living room, watching as she went under the same initiation process that we all go through, chosing both a first, *and* second name that she would have to live with for the rest of her second life. With much wailing and gnashing of teeth she was eventually successful.  Little did we know that we were on the cusp of the end of an era.  The Era of surnames in Second Life.

Now, if you look about the sims,  interesting last names on people with recent rez dates have been replaced with "Resident"  This is all part of the new display name system that allows users new to Second life to create a user name, while enabling them to use a different display name.  Don't get me wrong,  I was in favour of the ability to change one's display name, even with my reservations that it would be a way for people to try and grief by appearing to be someone else, a time and tested trolling technique used all over the internet since the general public was allowed access to it.

But I also understand people who greif, are not detured or encouraged by anything other than their own intentions to cause grief. And even in the group of people who do create alts, those who do so to start shit are in a minority.  People who want to cause trouble will do so no matter what measures or features are in place... but I digress.

I know that being able to change a display name, could have made my life a little more... singular. Rather than having a few alts I need in order to be different people in Second Life, I could use just one, change my clothes, my skin, and a display name, and presto! A new character all in one avatar. This would have reduced my need to try and shuffle transferable items from inventory to inventory, and would save me a ton of money in the process.

However, this feature, (in my personal opinion,) was not worth the loss of a very special and distinct feature of Second Life. The Surname.  Sure, the selection sort of sucked at times, but with determination, one could scour SL Name watch, and then hit the "Change name" button until a desirable name came up for them.  Hell, it was this ability that took one of my alts out of an unused table top Dungeons and Dragons game, to the grid, allowing me to define what they looked like, and how they behaved, without a sheet of paper or a table full of other players.

Thanks to surnames in Second Life, the members of my Second Life Family were all able to obtain the same surname,  like a real family has.  That's a special sort of thing, because the surnames are eventually retired.  I'm now just thankful, everyone got the surname they needed for us to be a proper clan of Tauruses.

And so what if some random stranger also had your last name.  This is the way it is in the real world, isn't it? I have a very common last name in the real world.  It doesn't bind me to strangers with the same last name, but it does with my family.

Now, with the last name "Resident" the value of family or individuality in the username, is lost.  Gone are our delightfully pretentious last names, and our ability to use a first name to make a pun, a joke, or something poingiant.  In comes the generation of "Amanda resident" soon becoming "Amanda1975 Resident" because their desired first name is already taken, A thought I had not considered until a good friend pointed it out. When so much of Second Life is about being immersed in a virtual reality, we will now be constantly reminded by cold usernames, that this is just the internet, and now we are all reminded to go and check our email account, with the similarly formatted, dreadful username.

I really hope that the Lindens will reconsider this move (even though I won't hold my breath).  I really hope that there is outrage among new and old "residents" about this special little thing that has been taken from them. I really hope this new feature is the "New Coke" that spawns the revival of "Classic Coca-cola."

But as I said, I won't hold my breath.  For as much love as I have for Second Life and all it does for me, The Lindens do not have a great track record of listening to the masses.  We can't fool ourselves in believing the grid is a democracy. Those who have to worry about paying tier every month know that better than anyone.  If you have ever had to call Linden Lab in order to fix something gone wrong with your sim or account, you find out pretty quickly that they are interested in being paid for their free service.

Because, regardless of our first or last names, we are all still assigned a number.  Names aren't as important to the Lindens, as they are to the users. The users who have literally created this world with the tools that were given to us. Because we are numbers to the system, there is no reason why people should be denied their first or last names, or the ability to change their avatar names completely. Which is another little cause I support.

So not having faith that this will change, I am left mourning the loss of a special era, that new comers will not have the ability to share. Sure, we can all look at their profile and see how old their avatar is, but they will forever be a little bit left out, and will have a glaring reminder before all,  that they are late comers, the new kids, and I bet you, they will be marginalized and taken advantage of.

There is no point to this blog post, other than to express my feelings and thoughts on a major change.

I wish I had not told our recent convert, that she could start a new account with a better name later, if she grew to hate the one she chose.  Even if she was one of the very last, to sign up just in time for the last named avatar era.

Thoughts? (Re: Speed Rezzers)

From: Modular System's Blog
[Emerald] Concerning "SPEED REZZER" or similar gestures

Posted by: Phox on Apr 14, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged
Phox

It has recently come to our attention that there is fierce competition surrounding certain gestures which claim to "Speed up" your rez time by changing your draw distance incrementally.

While these gestures do cause objects near you to be rendered first, they also cause you to re-render the same objects, increasing network lag for you, and for everyone else in the sim with you.

Anyone selling or distributing these gestures and claiming ANY affiliation with Emerald is misrepresenting their product. We do not endorse any commercial products without prior approval.

You know what? honest to gods, I forget to use speed rezzer most of the time,  but when I do, objects from afar that I have already rezzed, rezz back in so quickly it's not like they were unrezzed at all.

I'm not techie when it comes to these things, and I guess I can see the theory behind this causing lag issues, but... where's the proof? Anyone know?

Well, now then.

Today has been a really rough, weird day. I'm feeling a little self conscious, and a little like you do when you rez in a crowded sim, with no clothes or hair on.  Not sure how I am feeling about some things (Which means vague post for you! haha!  Don't read too much into things.)

So I wasn't on much today.  And things are a little weird with me atm.  But this is just a heads up. I will be back on my bearings before you know it.

Getting into the Swing of things: Harder than it sounds.

I have such a case of mixed emotions and frustrations now, having been offline, and being back.  It's like, I have lost my place in a book I was reading, and am so behind on homework I don't know where to begin.  I can't tell where I am more needed, or my time is better spent.  I feel guilty for even wanting to work on personal projects, and I feel guilty for standing around doing little, when I don't know what to do!  Don't get me wrong, I am not looking for a list of chores,  but self direction and better time management for myself. Because I look at the goals I had when I signed on, I hear people criticize that they have not been "started" (when they have.)  I want to work on those, too.


I could look at it as time to play, to make a change too.  But I've done enough sleeping on the job.

Oh shit. that got Emo!  I'm just saying I am not trying to be a waste of pixels right now, I'm just kind of at a loss.

These are a few of the things that I miss (Pictures)

(Most of them older since I can't log in.  But memory lane is kind of the point.

Hanging out with my friends.
(not all of whom are pictured. You should know who you are.  And that I can't log in to fetch more snapshots)

Click here for more

Getting to Work and play at the same time

Being short.


Sillyness with Chern


Chivalry


Spanking Centaurs for their lack of Chivalry


Giving Chivalry Lessons


Chivarly lessons learned



Cerberus


Getting to meet Yip Yips (Childhood dream!) It's always nice when a celebrity lets you snap a picture!

Also:

• Naked people and wardrobe malfunctions in public.


• My spinning leek.


• Doing Flips


• Shopping


• Adult interaction (not of the porny kind.)


• My laptop and missing phone.

Things I don't miss:

THIS SKIN

Or the tattoo. Or the house.

Getting Kicked


Seeing this everytime I try and log in

.... and another thing

Odd how a crucial part of what you want to say can be completely left out once the momentum of words and typing picks up.  There is something small I meant to say all along in my post from yesterday, about alts.  It was only when I read comments (Mwah!) and re-read the post that I realized I left out something small I meant to say.

"And if I walked around saying "Psst... it's me,  Corinda! lolz" I would be taking away from my own experience. :)  This defeats the purpose.  My closest friends are also on both of my friend's lists, so I can always be reached if I need to be."

I also meant to say that while I do not go around advertising one of my avatar's connection to the other in world, I don't hide it either. :p  Obviously, by talking about it here, and having pictures from both SLs in my flickr.  I probably didn't need to state that, but decided to anyway.

I also forgot to include an alt that is *sort* of an alt for me, but really more like an accessory, and not exactly *my* Alt.  Avry Taurus, was created at a time when we thought it was pretty unrealistic for us to find a possitive parenting situation in Second Life.  Had we known Neria, (the ideal child, really.) was coming along he never would have been made.  Avry, is not always me or Eacen though...  I have a Real life child to whom he really belongs.  But RL kids lose interest in things quickly. Thus, Avry is used when he is needed by who is available.  So for me he doesn't count as an "alt" as such in my opinion.  But even if he did, who cares? It doesn't hurt anyone and it is all in good fun.

So far, this entry utterly lacks grace and is not much more than clumsy explanations.  While Master Teleny made an excellent entry in his own blog about Alts, more specifically, when Gender changes.  You can check it out here (and should! Do eeet now!)

I have my own thoughts to ramble about one day, about genders and avatars, alts or otherwise.  But I am having a hard time putting it into words. (Not that it is a delicate issue for me... I'm all for it. I guess I want to find the right ways to say Male or Female, Real Life or Second Life matters not, as long as you aren't hurting anyone, and being respectful.  More on that another time when I can wax properly.)

"Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin"

I never really blog or post anything on the very public internet that I intend to be profound.  When I do, I am usually just waxing about whatever I happen to be thinking about at that moment in time.

To begin with a quote, of one of the most brilliant people in the universe:

“Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin."*.

Alts have been talked to death, haven't they?  And as far as I can tell, there is never going to be an agreement on the "ethics" surrounding them.  Which is why it surprises me, that some people still find the idea of having an alt so offensive.  Let me note,  no specific incident has sparked this thought process, it's just something that vexes me from time to time.

Because let's face it, whether you have an Alt, or you don't, most people on Second Life have at least one. Some people have Alts for business, it's cheaper than paying models when your business is just starting out, for instance, and the use of Alts in business and creation extend well beyond that one example...

Then there are the recreational uses of having an Alt. It seems to me a lot of people believe this is only used when one is being malicous. It has been my experience that the majority of people with an Alt aren't really about having an alternate "Trust me!" mask for when they want to behave like a douche.  I don't think that most Alts are created to spy on anyone, or entrap them, and in the cases when they *are* made for those purposes, that person is toxic in their "main" identity too, and bullshit is going to come out of them sooner or later anyway.  I am even sympathetic to people who have a moment of weakness to the temptation in order to do things they might not otherwise do.

There are merits to having an Alt for recreational purposes that do not involve manipulation of anyone.  Someone might be trying to have a fresh start after their other Second Life left a bad taste in their mouths, or someone was harassing them.  Someone might want to have the presence of an idealized partner, child, etc to match their avatar's personality, without getting involved with an online relationship.  This really doesn't hurt anyone.  Some people just see the opportunity to be more than one person or thing,

I am one of those people. I do have an alt who is quite a bit different to my Main Avatar Corinda.  where Corinda allows me to frolic in my love for ancient mythology, Haru is my gaming nerd outlet for my love of Forgotten Realms, and -- to be bold-- a little bit of expression of my Bisexuality.  Corinda is mostly straight. Haruko, is not. at all.

I know some people feel as if the identity of an alt must be disclosed in order for anyone to truly trust the motives.  I can see the Merit in that,  but doing that also has a way of blending what might be two distinct personalities, and taking the fun out of it.  I have a few friends, for instance, that are so good at knowing their different alt, their whole way of speaking, even out of character changes, and it is truly like speaking to another.

Should I feel deceived?  No. Even if I did not know who else they are? No.  If this game was about being real all of the time, My character would not do flips, and would sometimes walk with a cane when I am having a bad flare.  It's a different reality for me, often times when I am having a terrible day, when I am asked, I can genuinely respond through Corinda as having a good one.  Just because her typist is not having the best day, doesn't mean she is!

I don't know if I achieve that with others, but I do know I feel like a different person from one Alt to another, and I enjoy that feeling.  And if I walked around saying "Psst... it's me,  Corinda! lolz" I would be taking away from my own experience. :)  This defeats the purpose.  My closest friends are also on both of my friend's lists, so I can always be reached if I need to be.

Like I said,  nothing profound to say.  Just waxing on my thoughts when it comes to folks in general getting into a kerfuffle over Alts.  When bad things do go come of it, look at it as another example of bad behavior and not a damning indictment on alts as a whole.  And think about creating one yourself to understand the merits of the experience!

* The rest of the quote which I also love: "..The talent of a writer is his ability to give them their separate names, identities, personalities and have them relate to other characters living with him" - Mel Brooks

The Smiths Tale (IC)

For many years we have got by without the winter snows Slowing her. But this year the snows Piled deep over the land the rivers are frozen hard enough that we have had to cut though the ice in the harbour to allow the Merfolk access to the surface and she fell asleep.

Into a sleep that we could not awaken her from. So I sent my son with her supine form to find warmer shores where she can winter with out harm. I miss her. I miss her so much and i know Neria Does. But we survive. That is all we can do in these circumstances.

I certainl;y hope my Plum come home soon.

... And what became of the Dryad. [thank you!] == (OoC)

The Dryad was not mistaken when she trusted in the piper. When the warm days came again he went to the oak-tree to let her out. But, to his sorrow and surprise, he found the great tree lying upon the ground. A winter storm had blown it down, and it lay with its trunk shattered and split. And what became of the Dryad, no one ever knew. – Frank R. Stockton’s “Old Pipes and the Dryad”

So I am pushing a month since I have been in world. My laptop has been having some serious issues. Motherboard issues that have manifested first in the destruction of my heatsink fan, and sound card. No matter how much you want to, you just can’t baby a computer having that kind of a problem, so off to the big manufacturer for fixing it went, which means six of the days it has been gone has been lost in shipping, and two more of those days were lost in a weekend when no repairs are done.

More...




This process has been rather agonizing for me. Being separated from my laptop is like being separated from a limb. Without it, I just can’t seem to do the things I want or need to do, and swiftly a sort of depression sets in. I know, that for people waiting on things from me that things have been more inconvenient. It’s been hard on me too.

So, if I am starting this blog while I am out of world, I may as well take a post out to tell my family in Second Life Thank you for the support, and patience, and understanding.

Much to my frustration, I was crestfallen and heartbroken, when my computer that I had anxiously tracked it’s FedEx return itinerary, came back in the exact same condition I sent it away in. Exact same. They didn’t even touch it. They didn’t read the notes. They put it back in a box and mailed it back out to me. It may have been a shipping and handling error. I keep my Laptop in pristine condition, it doesn’t look like it is almost a year old, and is used for most of every day of the year.

Whatever happened, I am in the same situation I was in when this all started at the end of the year. And, due to a weekend and a lost day trying to deal with customer service, my laptop has not even gone out for re-repair. Hopefully the labels for the expedited overnight FedEx shipping will come tomorrow…. Hopefully.

In the meantime, what I *am* using is an old Frankenstein’s bride made of used parts long left in a closet, just gagging for a sequel, running on an unregistered version on Windows XP. It is a miracle the thing meets system requirements for Second Life. (and it does, just barely) but system reqs met or not, this is what I get when I try and log in.

(and this is when I can get it to open at all, Emerald crashes too.)

Believe it or not, living in a household with 6 computers total (including my dead one. One computer per person) does not make it easier to get in world. Getting comfortable physically and mentally in my kid’s room in order to be in Second Life for hour increments is just not possible. My Husband is more than willing to lend me his computer, but when only one of us can be on, a lot of things seem to get very complicated. Even though it is hard for me to be out-of-world, this is the easiest way for us to deal with it.

So, to be dryadic in my frame of reference (you know, just to be different), you could say that in order to endure the cold hard months, I’ve gone into hibernation, and if Frank Stockton’s story hold’s any truth for Corinda, perhaps she should have seen this coming.

“I shall not have to go back till winter has come, and the air grows cold.”

And so… for official RP purposes, and our unfolding story Corinda has been hibernating with me. Unlike old Pipe’s Dryad, our story still goes on. The Waiting is the hard part.