BFFs

One thing about Second Life is that it can be a very lonely place unless you make connections. Tonight Bo and I went with our friends to Bedrock for bowling, racing, and a game of miniature golf. But, I lost my golf club before I even started. I fared much better in bowling, however...and held my own in racing. Ok, fine. I admit it. I drove 30 mph but hey I made it to the finish line!

SL is an incredible social networking medium. But the most amazing thing about SL are the connections you make that you would most likely never make in your real life.

For instance, our friends Apache & Simon. Apache is from New England area of USA and her partner is from Germany. Cultural divides fade, friendships are forged and accents become things of interest. Could they have met outside of SL? Maybe, but most likely not. Fate does have its own ideas though and perhaps SL was one of its vehicles.

Bo is from way up from Scandinavia country. Would we have ever bumped into each other in the physical world? I doubt it. Yet, we delight in discovering one another and talk for hours, sharing and laughing.

This mix of accents is delicious to the ear.Accent? Well, their accents, that is. What? Who has an accent? Moi? Hey, I'm just a Jersey Girl from the northeast who goes down the shore in the summer, walks the dawg and drinks cawfee. Accent? Nah...

Really. You ought to hear me speak Dutch. No accent at awl. Nope.

King of the world!

I have to admit that ever since seeing the movie, Titanic, I've always fantasized about doing this "king of the world" stunt. Now, just having been on board a cruise ship a couple of months ago, I can tell you I'd be terrified to try it in real life...but isn't that what a second life is for?

So, aboard a crude imitation of the Titanic ship, Bo and I tried it out under the sisterly watchful eyes of Anna. Could we have fallen overboard?

Yep. But it's Second Life and nothing would happen save a bruised ego and a laugh or two. Then, you'd fly up and try it all over again! You can't always do that in real life but here, in this immersive 3D world you most certainly can--and with friends from around the world by your side!

Life, whether real or virtual can be sweet :)

Salsa, baby!

The Friday Night Gang gathered at Kayla's island paradise for a night of Salsa last night. Toro! And, we even had a bull! There was dancing, laughing (as always) and for some reason the boys brought out their toys.

Soon there were alien avatars, transformers, little deputys, cars, weapons,motorcycles and even a Zeppelin balloon. Yes, you read that right!

I had an unfortunate accidental "wardrobe malfunction" moment too. At least it was amongst friends! Ha ha but methinks Krpt, Apache and Bo saw a wee bit too much more of me than ever planned. Simon thankfully missed it and Charlie...hmmm where was Charlie?

It all ended with Bo becoming a model. He sweetly modeled my beach shorts line for pictures for my newest store. Muuuah, Bo!

Next week it's Christmas in August at my house! Maybe Santa will come so I can sit on his lap and whisper my Christmas wishes...never too early to start!

A Devil of a Time!

Every Friday night our gang holds a theme party. This week I hosted an Angels, Devils, Sinners and Saints dance. No one came as a saint but I think the angels outnumbered the devils!

It was a great time. People came from all over--from as far away as Australia to Germany, UK, Portugal and the USA.

Our crowd keeps growing --the more the merrier: Albi, Leo, Coughdrop, Simon, Apache, Kayla, Tomcat, Charlie, Anna, Genevieve, Third, Marimar, Paribus... did I forget anyone? MIA were regulars Bo and Enkryptor. Next week's theme is Salsa--Ole!

Friendship Drums

Good friends are alot like comfy sweaters. You may not need them for awhile as you go about your business and day to day lives but when you do need them, they are there for you, offering their shoulder and ear. They say if you can count on one good friend or two you are very lucky.

Anna and I met about this time last year. Both of us were passing time away, each nursing a bruised heart. I thought she had a really cute outfit on and Im'd her about it, but also teased her about wearing a fur outfit in hot weather. She laughed and we quickly started chatting. Then, we decided to play a game. Only we two knew we were playing it but we had fun seeing who would "win" by the end of the evening. I'm not sure who exactly "won." Maybe it was a tie. It doesn't really matter though. We were both winners because we each now had a new friend.

Time passed and we each moved on and our hearts mended. We shared secrets, fun and wedding plans. And, throughout the rest of the year we saw relationships end, new ones bloom and there were more times ahead for that proverbial shoulder.

We've been through thick and thin, Anna and I. She is one of the constants in my Second Life world when other things change around us. Sometimes we can foresee the changes, other times change is thrust upon us without warning like a storm off the radar screen. You know those kinds of storms. They are the kind where in its aftermath life can emerge ruined, with broken dreams. Not always, but sometimes.

And, when it does, it's hard. Because SL is supposed to be an idyllic world. It's supposed to be your refuge, sanctuary. A vortex of sorts against the harsh reality of real life. When things happen in SL that rock your world, I think the reason the fallout can feel so painful is because SL is not only in your head but also in your heart.

In your heart grows a world where dragons fly, where you can live underwater without needing oxygen and where fairy dust and unicorns really exist....really. So, when painful things happen your heart really feels it, too.

To borrow a line from a David Crowder song, "...There seems no end to where you begin and where I end now You and I, collide."

But thankfully, friends can help cushion that collision. Like angels with a safety net, they catch you when you are about to fall....and hopefully your world rights itself again. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow...but sometime in the shadows of time.

St. Patrick's Day Party SL Style

The Friday Night Gang got together at the Cove, dressed in our Irish greens, drank absynthe and frolicked with leprachauns! Of course we did--It's St. patrick's Day (well almost)!

Party on Albi, Cirrus, Cough, Simon, Apache, Kayla, Peter and me :) Next holiday we'll all come as bunnies and hop along the bunny trail for goodies. SL can have its fun, down times. Good friends, good music, an Irish jig and leprachauns--you couldn't ask for more!

Ask...Believe...Receive

God sends us angels when we need them. Sometimes we don't know we need them but they are sent nonetheless. Like, the time my daughter nearly walked into the path of an oncoming truck and she felt a "shove" that sent her backwards, a shove hard enough to make her fall on her butt as the truck whizzed by. She was only about 7 when this happened and remembers that day as if it were yesterday. Then, zoom ahead 14 years. This time she survived a horrible car accident, the kind even cops marvel that she wasn't severely injured by hitting the steering wheel. The next day she showed me something incredible on her thigh: a handprint. Not hers, but there it was. An angel holding her back from hitting the steering wheel? Nonbelievers say impossible, believers smile and accept that God sends his angels to help us here on earth.

Sometimes God sends us angels in the form of friends and helpers. We never know why people cross our path. Some stay, some leave, some fade away and come back. But always we have to trust why God brings them our way.

I thank God for all the times angels helped me and my family, watching over us and doing God's work. And, I thank God for all my earthly friends who are angels to me as well.

God bless you all! You know who you are!

It's a Lonely SL Life Sometimes....

When your partner and best friend isn't there because of RL, SL can be such a lonely, big virtual world. Everyone has something to do, somewhere to go and it can be alot like RL. So, what do I do when I find myself unexpectedly alone in SL? I work lol....spent a number of hours setting up our second store, went shopping, did more work, did some marketing for our upcoming conference, went shopping, bought new hair (I needed that like a hole in the proverbial head!) and worked some more...got another account, voted for a friend who is trying to be voted most handsome in SL or something...and felt lonely. I missed my partner...very much.

So,I watched a movie on demand. Elizabeth I:The Golden Years. Wow, great movie. I loved how she rallied the troops on the horse while staring down the Spanish armada. She had the stuff heros are made of. What a shame she never found love---or love never found her. I think she had alot of love to give. Instead she gave it to her country. Rock on, Elizabeth I, even if you did live in 500 years ago!