Interview With Marcel Mosswood

By Deaflegacy

Marcel Mossword began writing for the Newser a few months ago. To begin with, I had already known her some as not only is she a fellow reporter, but also my neighbor at Cape Heron. We recently met to talk about her time at the paper so far.

Passing  my congratulations to Marcel about becoming the new reporter for the SL Newser, Marcel told me,  “Thank you.  I like my new job.” She smiled, and went on to say she plans on writing,  “as long as I can have my SL account.”

I asked Marcel about her goal as a reporter.  “I like to let people know the news on Second Life,” she replied, “I want people to know the news in Second Life in depth, that's why I like to take one side of an event, not just the publication side.” Marcel went on to say she doesn't play on making this a real-life career, “I don't have a plan to become a reporter in real life.”


Besides being a reporter, Marcel is a skilled artist here in Second Life, “My main goal is to bring art to SL from our remote area and to learn about building and collaborate with people.” She also  considers Second Life to be a good place to learn to write and have collaboration with other writers.

Marcel currently has an exhibition at the sci-fi fair.  Her exhibition is mentioned on the sci fi blog:
https://art2048.blogspot.com

Marcel is an animal lover, who has three cats in real life. Her profile describes her in real life as a painter, illustrator, writer, and "homeschool mom." She is married to Iggy Tachikawa in both real life and Second Life.

Deaflegacy

Editors Note: Marcel would post the following in Facebook yesterday.

A month ago I joined this group of SL reporters, the SL Newser. I learned so much from my new job. I'm an RL writer since years ago, but I never did a reporter job who reports events or people. 

When I do my job, I combine my knowledge of various news reports with my interest in humanity (I'm a psychologist in RL :D ). So that I not only produce an article about the event itself, but also the human side of the event. Such as motivation, fatigue, teamwork, inspiration, emotion, etc.

I enjoy being among the SL Newser's media team, where the fellow reporters are very fun, creative and passionate.

VWBPE Behind The Scenes: Elli Pinion From The Volunteers Committee

By Marcel Mosswood

VWBPE Conference re:Vision has started. The Volunteers were so busy, full dedication they organized this event to be successful. Today I interview Elli Pinion, the avatar behind the success of the Volunteer committee. I believe it’s a hard job to manage all the volunteers, but it’s possible with the great and smart team.

Elli Pinion

Marcel: Is this your first time organizing volunteers for VWBPE conference?

Elli: No, I've been a part of the VWBPE Volunteer committee since 2011. I started as an Assistant to the Volunteer Chair, and have been Chair since then.

Marcel: Why are you interested in this job?

Elli: I've been working with Volunteers since I was a young mom in PTA. When I went into education, during my doctoral program in Ed Tech, I was introduced to Second Life. We were exploring online teaching and learning in Second Life and other Virtual Worlds and were fascinated at the interesting people connection, bridging Transactional Distance between students and instructors, students and students. Then I found this group that promotes educational strategies in Virtual Worlds and elsewhere, and I was so glad to be a part of helping with its success. And also giving others the opportunity to help.

Marcel: Are you alone on this job or have a team?

Elli: I have a small team, Bluebarker Lowtide and Edith Halderman are other educators that are my assistants. We have about 50 Volunteers that give time to the conference.

Marcel: What are the benefits of this job for you?

Elli: I would say getting to collaborate with other innovative educators that believe in offering educational opportunities to students who can join online.

Marcel: Do you have a quote that inspires you to work better for the VWBPE?

Elli: I truly believe that we are all better together. This year's conference theme uses: "re:Vision” is not just a concept, but a passion of those who seek to revive old ideas or innovate new ones into our modern extended reality.

Some words from Elli for educators everywhere:

As educators, we must be innovative to be the best educational experience possible.


By Marcel Mosswood

Interview With Six String On Being An Aspiring Musician

By Deaflegacy

Six String (roleplayismylife) is more than just my Second Life partner, and real life boyfriend.  He is a musician on Second Life to happened to be an inspiration as well.  I was lucky to recently be able to have an interview with him about his career on Second Life as a musician.

My first question to Six was how long had he been a musician on Second Life.  “Well, I'm not really sure," he replied, "since I've only had a small hoofful of opportunities to perform for everypony in Second Life.”

Asking Six where he usually performs, he answered, “I've only performed at The Tipsy Cow." When I asked if there were other places he could think of, he answered he's done private performances for friends.

I asked Six String if he is going to continue performing on Second Life. He replied, “If I'm given a chance to, yes.  I have offered to other places, but was turned down without them even hearing one note from me.”

My next question to Six String was what is his dream.  “Well I did have a really crazy one last night where--Oh, you mean my goal in life," he answered, "To entertain people with my music, if possible.”

I asked Six how he feels about being a musical inspiration even through he doesn't usually play music on Second Life.  “ It's great," he told me, "I don't feel like I'm much of an inspiration, but someponies think that I am, which is good.”

My last question to him was what are his longtime goals on Second Life.  “Being able to get a steady job as a musician in SL, so that I can support my SL family, and help pay the cost of renting the lots here at Cape Heron," he answered, "It's a tough burden ... I should be helping out.”

I smiled at Six String.  I really do love Six String because he is my Second Life partner as well as real life boyfriend.  That's not all.  Six String works with me since he is an inspiration.

Deaflegacy

Commentary: Ten Years of Writing About Second Life

By Bixyl Shuftan

For most in Second Life, their big day is their rezzday. For me, I've had other milestones. There was when I first began logging onto the Grid on a regular basis, when I got my fox avatar, and most importantly, when I first became a journalist here, in November 2007.

My journey to Second Life actually started almost a year earlier. Although I'd been told about Second Life before, notably by an online friend who went by Kamilah Hauptman here, telling me how great the place was, that unlike an MMO one could build their own place and look how they wanted. But as I only had dial-up Internet at the time, I didn't think I could access the place. Finally in Dec 2006 I got high speed Internet and came here. Unfortunetly, Kamilah was suddenly unavailable due to new responsibilities. Going around, I found mostly just homes and ban lines, with no idea where the events were or how to find interesting places. There was no Destination Guide back then to look for them. So my visits became few and far between, spending more time in "World of Warcraft" with friends whom were available.

Things began to change in July 2007. Kamilah told me about the Relay for Life, and gave me the landmark for the Relay Track. Seeing many interesting builds, my interest in Second Life was rekindled, and I began to both learn more about how to go about and look around. I came across Luskwood, and began finding friends there. I soon ditched the starter ringtail for a red Luskwood Fox, and began looking over newsletters and blogs about the virtual world. The most interesting of these was "Second Life Newspaper," owned by JamesT Juno and edited by Dana Vanmoer. I found it more informative about what one could see and do in Second Life than certain other tablodish webpages. After reading it for a while, I saw a call for readers to send them stories and interesting pictures. So I sent in a few, feeling at least it would get me a little attention. It got me more than a little; James and Dana asked me in for an interview. During the chat, they were satisfied with what I could offer, and I was invited to join the team. With my first payment for a story, I bought an overcoat and a fedora, the classic reporter's garb. Combined with my avatar, it made for the "Fox Reporter" look that I continue to wear to this day as my everyday look.

I would write about all kinds of subjects in Second Life, it's people, places, and events. There were popular places and noted personalities, and there were out of the way locations that I found interesting and relatively unknown people whom had done things I felt were worthy of attention. There were many events, such as holiday celebrations, openings and the anniversaries of locations, the Second Life Birthday event, Burning Life, which was later changed to Burn2, the Relay for Life, and many more. There was the occasional personal experience that I found noteworthy. And there were the screenshot cartoons that I would send in every week. I was always able to find something noteworthy to write about every week, covering a little bit of everything, and was always finding scenes with potential humor. And we were a team, were I made friends such as Gemma Cleanslate, Grey Lupindo, Covadonga Writer, Shelly Sands, Nazz Lane, and many others. Eventually, I was giving the position of "Office Manager," which meant updating the paper when Dana couldn't.

Not everything went well. Sadly one of the first things I would write about in 2008 was the closing of my first hangout after Luskwood, the STA, and over the next few months many of my friends at the time would drop out of the Grid. Over time, I would be invited to be a part of other places and groups in Second Life, the Fortunas Club and Fortunas Estates, the Woodlin community (not to be confused with Woodland which had a different atmosphere) and the Star Tails club, the Foxworth community and the Blue Parrot Club (later known as the Bahama Beach Club or BBC). But all of these locations would eventually close and fade, with nothing left but screenshots and memories, and the treehouse I would take with me from Woodlin. It wasn't until Spring 2010 that I finally found a place that lasted, and became a part of the Sunweaver and Angels community, where I remain to this day.

By this time, my role in virtual journalism was about to change. In Fall 2009, JamesT Juno had to depart Second Life, and Dana Vanmoer wasn't able to give the time to the paper she once could. So she reluctantly made the decistion to close Second Life Newspaper. I along with the rest of the team was shocked and saddened. The newspaper had been such a big part of our experience in the virtual world, we couldn't imagine life here without it. So I talked with the others, and three others, Gemma, Grey, and Shelie, agreed to join me in the founding of a new paper that would take over from where James and Dana left off: The Second Life Newser. With the new paper starting up in June 2010, my role changed from being just one of the reporters to the editor and head of the publication. The Sunweaver/Angels offered us a place for the office at the start, and we soon had an inworld office. Under a new banner, we kept on covering the people, places, and events across the virtual world.

Over the past ten years, much has changed in Second Life. I came on when it was the darling of the tech media, considered "Internet 2.0," and mentioned in big media, including newspapers and TV news, even prime time TV shows. By the time the Newser took over from the old SLN, it was already fading from public view and the public was changing it's attention to other computer applications it could easier understand, such as Facebook. Many places here have come and gone. A few such as The Lost Gardens of Apollo have been lucky enough to be brought back by Linden Lab. Second Life's media has changed as well. Treet  TV used to do live programing across the Grid, viewable on inworld TV sets. Today, live programing is a rarity, reserved for a few special events. Shows like "Tonight Life" and "The 1st Question" that went on for a number of years are gone.

But while some things have been lost as time has gone on, there have also been some additions. Over time, new people have come to Second Life and made their own marks on the Grid. New places and builds have been constructed, giving those here new areas to explore. There's always something new here. One just needs to know where to find it.

Of "The Lab," as the residents call Linden Lab, the owners of Second Life, the love/hate relationship the residents have with them is still there. When I first came on there was some interaction with the residents. But after Linden Lab's founder Philip Rosedale/Philip Linden stepped down, they seemed to become more distant. Then with the appearance of the current CEO Ebbe Altberg/Ebbe Linden, there was more interaction again. But while the increased interaction helps, the view the residents have of The Lab is still mixed. They appreciate it's founders inventing Second Life, and the present company maintaining it. But at the same time they groan, sometimes curse at it for it's blunders. It seems the Lab puts developing new bells and whistles to getting rid of bugs and glitches. When it comes to banning people, there's a general feeling that the Lab has a way of being unable to stop a location from being repeatedly griefed by day-old alts made by the same owner, yet accounts that have lasted for years end up banned for trivial infractions. And then there is Sansar. While a few people here see promise in the "next generation virtual world" as it was originally called, at least some years from now, most residents see it as a waste of Linden Lab's time and their money, feeling all Sansar does for them is delay the amount of time bugs and glitches get fixed and raise their fees.

For myself, there have been ups and downs along the way. Old friends have stopped coming on, often when real life demands their full attention or otherwise makes it impossible to be here. This includes some hands at the Newser staff, of whom we've had to say goodbye to some talented writers such as DrFran Babcock. But new ones have continued to come in to bring in their own skill at reporting, such as Deaflegacy and Klaus Bereznyak. My home of the Sunweaver and Angels Estates has seen some changes, sims vanishing and appearing, clubs closing and opening, and people leaving and coming in. Club Zero Gravity for instance had to close it's doors for a time when finances forced it to, but recently reopened back and as good as ever. I myself have been helping Nydia Tungsten and Skylark Lefavre manage the community's beach club the Happy Vixen.

So what's ahead? Ten years ago, I had no real idea what my future was here beyond the next year or two. I never saw myself two and a half years later heading the publication that would replace the one my old employers had then. Despite Linden Lab's heavy handedness at times, it's a safe bet the Grid will still be around for a few more years, probably several more years, unless there's a major catastrophe such as a devastating earthquake in California that takes out the Lab and it's servers. I have expanded my writing beyond the virtual world, doing a blog about matters outside of Second LIfe, which I named "Food on the Table" on hopes it will eventually lead me to a writing job I can make a full time living on. I've also been writing a science-fiction novel on the side, the working title being "The Corsean Encounter." In the story, two humans end up on a pre-Industrial alien world, followed later by others with hostile intentions. If it does modestly well, I'll write more.

But I have no plans on stopping my reporting on Second Life, and the good this virtual world can do for people. As long as you keep reading, as long as I have a team by my side and as long as I'm able to, I'll keep on writing about the news here..

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: "Drawing Board"

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

  Our adventure today is not about a sim or group of them. It is about all of the SL World Grid. We will be looking into the heart and soul that animates this world. Last month, we wrote about Creations for Parkinson's and became friends with Barbie Alchemi, it's creator. Since then, I have been attending their Sunday night dances which, in addition to the inspirational music, always includes a topic for things of a spiritual nature. My companion, Erik, has attended and the guests all love him. His comments, on the topic, were well received and they thanked him for his "wonderful insights"

   In private chats, Barbie and I talked of our experiences with the therapeutic uses of Second Life. We both knew of people whose real lives had been improved because of their SL experiences. We both admitted that as a major part of our SL Raison d'Etre. We come here to bring Love, Light and Healing, in service to others. I explained my evolving theory, that Second Life was like a drawing board for the new Age of Aquarius. Meteorologists use computer modeling to track and predict storms. They can run many variations of data to get the most likely prognosis. Have you ever noticed that time seems to flow at a different speed in SL? The six plus years I have been here, feels more like decades. We'll leave it to the accountants to figure out how much that is in "dog years". The thing is, regardless of the time difference, we still learn the same lessons from our experiences. Because of our hyper time, we can test out one "happily ever after" theory after another, until we get it right, in far less than the many life times it would take in real-life. We learn quickly, the difference between what is good and what is better.

   In real life, you have, no doubt heard that we are entering "The Age of Aquarius," a cosmic upgrade of the world's OS, which will make life, as we know it, a whole lot better game. What will the new age world be like? Well that answer would fill a shelf of  books, but fortunately, a good friend of mine, J.J. Dewey, has just published his "quick list" and it is a good summary of things i have heard over many years. The items on the list are not for debate. We are all entitled to our own opinions. Any disagreements with the ideas would only happen if the author's definition of terms are not understood. You can read more of JJ's writings at www.freeread.com

The World to come

(1) A world without borders – no passports needed
(2) One where brotherhood, goodwill and inclusiveness set the tone so we have right human relations.
(3) One where the Haves share with the Have-Nots so extreme poverty is abolished.
(4) There is to be a one-world government that unifies the world without becoming a tyranny.
(5) This will lead to a secure peace on earth.
(6) There will be a one-world religion which will basically be the world acknowledging through free will that certain universal principles are true.
(7) People will be influenced more by mind and reason than by lower emotion and being reactionary.
(8) People will becomes less materialistic and focus more on the spiritual.
(9) Christ and his associate Masters of Wisdom will walk openly among us as teachers of the human race.

   Personally, this sounds like a good plan and I have spent many years trying to help bring about this new OS for Earth. I also do my small part in getting these ideals tested by the residents of Second Life. I could go down the list and mentioned ways I worked them into the minds of others, but this is not about me. Instead, I will turn these questions to the readers.

Do you think this sounds like the kind of world you'd like to live in?
Are you willing to help build this world?
Are you willing to be it's beta tester in Second Life?
   If you have any ideas on this new world topic and would like to share them with us, SL Newser welcomes Reader submitted articles for publication.

  When I mentioned that I was about to write this article, to the dancers at Creations, Erik made a comment that I wanted to quote.
"I actually thought that SL is more like a world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it is the part of the hopes and dreams of mankind. Therefore, it has no boundaries."

I couldn't have said it any better,"

"Sha"

Commentary: "Get a Job"

Dear  Beautiful Bunnies,

Are you new to this lovely place that we call Secondlife and find that you can only afford to be a wish list shopper? I see it everyday, people wandering around looking into the windows of the shops. Wishing that they had a few linden to shell out for this or that. Not wanting to spend real world money on digital goods. When I ask them why so broke, they simply tell me that they cannot find a way to get lindens here in Secondlife.

Well, just like the real world; there are jobs. Who Knew?! But, where can you find one of these jobs you might ask. And do I have what it takes to do one of these jobs. That depends on the job in question and You! Lets start from the beginning.

Where do you find this thing called a job? That's the easy part. There are several groups and places right here in-world whose sole purpose is to connect job seekers with employers. Amazing right?! Try typing 'Job' in search. You might be blown away at what pops up.

Looking in-world not quite your style? Try the forum. That's right, Secondlife has an employment forum where people post positions that they want filled and you can post that you are looking for employment too.

"But Syndra", You might ask, "What kind of job could I get?"

That depends. What are you good at? If you can write, there are often people looking for reviewers, bloggers, and all around general authors.

How are you emoting skills? There are literally hundreds of clubs looking to fill positions of dancers and if you are really good, perhaps an escort.

Like greeting people? Then try a host or a hostess job. Say 'hello' and make sure everyone is having a fantastic time.

Modeling, DJing, photography or even roleplaying wait staff. The opportunities are literally endless, all you have to do is look and give it a try.

Don't be shy, and ask lots of questions. Those pockets won't fill themselves. And remember, you might not always land the perfect job on the first try; But keep Trying!

~Love Syndra

Commentary: The Boys From Brazil - The Megiddo

By Foxythejamie Resident

Brazilians, when most combat personnel hear or see the word, they think of cheaters and poor fighters. However this is not true with a group called Megiddo. This group is full of Brazilian fighters, as well as people from all over the world. The group is usually ranked as one of the worst, skill wise, but after witnessing countless raids, and defenses by this group, I can attest, this group is given a less than accurate rank. In fact, this group can not only hold its own against, but can even push back groups twice as large as it.

The very same groups that give this group a bad reputation, are the ones that this group deals the most damage to. From slamming them hard on the ground, to claiming air superiority over them in the air, this group is one of the best combat groups.

However, due to people giving it a hard time, even some of its members think poorly of their combat skills. Which is only because the group is mainly a Brazilian group. However, even if they're Brazilian, doesn't make them any less of a well oiled fighting machine.

The group works with tactics, and the members defend each other, while bettering themselves. This only proves how this group is one of the best, and bot just because they work well with each other, but also because they follow the most important rule of combat. Always keep your guard up.

However another thing that makes group one of the best is the fact that it's not run like a dictatorship. Everyone has a voice, and everyone is given a chance for greatness inside this group. All in all, this group is one of the best groups, if not the best group in all of Second Life Military Combat.

Jamie

Xavier Thiebaud's Play "The Little Prince"

By Grease Coakes

There’s lot of things to do in Second Life including seeing a play. The well-known Xavier Thiebaud himself created one with the help of Szerewp Loon as the director. The story was written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry according to Wikipedia (entry link). The play itself is being featured at the Royal Opera and Ritz Ballroom here at Oceanea (82/109/1153). There was a performance at Sunday at 2pm SLT on March 15th.

 Xavier explained that the Little Prince is basically falling to earth, "but it's about exploration and love and innocence and wisdom."

I answered back with, "I think lots of people may relate to the story as sometimes they may feel alone or as an alien in some situations."

Lots of people seem to relate to the play/story that Xavier and Andy produced. Xavier told that it has "been sold out everytime it's been shown in SL."

Andy Loon (Szerewp Loon): "Our performances was record of frequence."

Andy said that lots of times on Earth, the Little Prince might see something we take for granted that he would see as very special, "(The) Little Prince is a person who is surprised (by) many situations objectively unnatural, though obvious for us. And so a huge amount of roses on Earth. The Little Prince really thought that in the universe there is only one rose ..."

Xavier Thiebaud, "He thought his rose was special, because he thought only one existed in all the universe.

Xavier said he approached his friend Andy Loon and presented the idea of the Little Prince play. A play of this magnitude was never done before but Xavier and Andy explained they did it for the passion and story, but not so much to see if could be done. In fact what can be done in SL can’t be done in the real world as Andy said, "SL gives far more possibilities of realization than RL."

I said in response, "Yeah what you can do in Hollywood and Broadway is one thing. But only in SL could you make a harmless volcano and a room looking like a whole universe."

Then Xavier and Andy showed me a different scene out in the desert. Xavier explains the Little Prince lands on Earth before he meets the pilot. In the desert he meets a snake. Out in the forest he meets a fox. I asked Xavier and Andy about the characters the Little Prince meets, "So the snake fox and pilot all have things to say and teach to the Little Prince."

Xavier Thiebaud, "Yes, and very valuable lessons."

Grease Coakes, "What are the lessons that they teach?"

Andy Loon (Szerewp Loon), "(The) snake gives to (the) Little Prince hope, and (the) fox gives to him friendship."

Grease Coakes, "Ahh very important lessons."

Andy Loon told me the names of the actors and what roles they played, "Angelina Kitaj was rose, snake and fox.  Orionek Twist was the pilot, king, drinker, and the businessman and geographer."

At first Xavier wanted to have it done over voice chat with singing and voice and not text. When I asked who built and scripted the sets I thought it would be a whole team of builders and scripters I was surprised to hear it was Andy Loon did everything by himself.

What Xavier suggested, and it sounds good advice, is to arrive early to make sure you get a seat and no you don’t have to pay to get in. The problem isn’t paying a linden price but making sure you get there ahead of the crowd before the theater fills up. Xavier also suggested to join his A List! Group to get all the best updates about Second Life. As one of Xavier’s buddies if you IM or notecard Xavier mentioning my name Grease Coakes it grants you a free entrance into Xavier’s A List! Xavier also suggested reading the story before you come to the play so you have a clearer idea of what’s going on.
Andy suggested this site to read the story ahead of time:
http://www.odaha.com/antoine-de-saint-exupery/maly-princ/the-little-prince.

Xavier happened to say this about his friend and director of the play, "Also Andy has been doing opera and plays and musicals and ballet for several years in SL, everything from Josephine Baker and the Moulin Rogue to Romeo and Juliet and Tales of Hoffman to name a few."

When I asked how long it will be in SL Xavier told me, "We have not decided yet, suffice to say. Grab the chance to see it. We're booked through April."

Angelina Kitaj came by and showed me one of her costumes for the play. She played the role of the rose for the Little Prince played by Szerewp Loon AKA Andy Loon. She also showed me her role as the fox in the forest as she befriends the Little Prince teaching him the lesson of friendship, "it's hard work to get to be friends."

I answered back saying, "Yes it is. You don't always agree with each other and you have to be aware of each other's needs and wishes."

By the sound of it seeing the play is a must see for everyone in Second Life. You had better run to see it before it’s too late and the little prince has gone back to his little asteroid.

Grease Coakes

"Man On The Street" Responses to the Furry Convention Gas Leak

By Locke Esgal

Earlier this week, we here at the Newser found a terrible bit of news passed across our desks. A chlorine gas attack was launched against the Midwest Furfest convention, injuring 19 people and endangering hundreds more. Police on the scene believe that this was an intentional act, while some believe that this was deliberately to target furries, considering the 'hatedom' that the furry fandom has. This has even begun to fuel the belief that other fandoms with a notable hater followings. I've traveled around the grid to find some views on the matter. Several answered, but most asked to remain anonymous. One stallion had said when I asked for his comments. “Furries don't bother anyone. They mostly keep to themselves and don't go shoving it down people's throats.”

     While some believe we might see a trend in vicious attacks against fandoms, many believe that this is going to be a one time event. Thing, both a brony and a furry, said, “It's a pretty nasty thing to do, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it was anything serious. It sounds to me like a couple of guys wanted to be a smarmy and chose a really dumb, potentially harmful way of going about it.” The weapon of choice, chlorine gas, has a history of being used as a chemical weapon, but has notably less lethality then other home-made options. Despite this, it can still be very deadly if deployed correctly. Fortunately, this didn't end up being the case at Furfest.

    Many questions still remain unanswered. While there are a lot of theories, the most prevalent being that this was fueled by the hatred some hold for the fandom, there are still other possibilities. One interviewee said “Perhaps there were people against the convention itself, but let's not forget that some people like to get revenge against another.” Regardless of the motivations behind this attack, nineteen victims were hospitalized from this cruel act. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them, and we here at the Newser wish them a speedy recovery.

Locke Esgal

Second Life "Game Review" : "What Is Second Life" Part 2

By Nydia Tungsten

Most of you that have read my articles know I have done a “What is Second Life?” article. But this time, something very personal happened to me and it started me thinking, with everything I have said about Second Life, I have missed a LOT. Here is my chance to correct that.

It is 4 a.m. and I am unable to go to sleep so I sit here gaming and listening to my REALLY off the wall music as I play different games. I realized, out of every MMO I play or have EVER played, SL is the most in depth format of the MMOs. For example, when SL first came out, I remember hearing people laughing at those “idiots” that spend real money for virtual items, which I have to admit we do (land, homes, furniture, parties, ect…ect…). BUT, so do they. They pay monthly fees to play their MMO, some up to $20 USD a month AFTER they pay the $60 to $75 USD to buy it. THEN, they pay those little extra’s to give them an edge, i.e. that nice pay for only main battle axe or buy extra gold to get those better rounds for tanks in the MMO “World of Tanks”. And now some MMO’s are starting to offer a “home” that you can make and have it look how you want it, so you have people paying extra to decorate those homes.  Yeah, they look nice, but what can you do with them? Nothing except make them look pretty and never go in them again. But yet, you paid for them and continue to put money into a “virtual world.” Now, let’s flip the coin here. For the same money you put into the average MMO, you can get twice that in SL and do MORE.

  In SL, not only could you get a home and make it look the way you want it to, you can even make the items yourself so it is TRULY a one of a kind place that you can be proud of.

   A place you can take your friends to more than once or twice before they get bored of just standing in the same spot and just looking. In SL, you can interact with almost EVERYTHING in the grid INCLUDING other players.

   Yes, there are the sex beds, but there are also so much more! You have swings, movies, chairs, desks, you can hug other players, they can hug you (both with permissions asked and given). You can make true friends there from all over the world.  The other MMO’s have certain servers for certain parts of the world so you can’t ever meet someone from…say.. Russia. I used to go to a club where 99% of the members were Russian and another for Germans. You can travel the world in the space of five minutes.

    Now we come to my experiences. I had an accident; I tripped over two playful dogs and took a bad spill involving a concrete slab. And then family issues ensued, and then I woke up to find myself with “Bells Palsy”. For those that don’t know what it is (like me until I got it), it has a lot of the symptoms of a stroke where the right side of my face was paralyzed but this is caused by pinched nerves and not a clog in the brain. I even have to wear an eye patch to keep my eye from getting gunk in it or drying out so that is why I wear an eye patch in SL as well.

      When I was FINALLY able to get back into SL after being gone for a more than a week, I found candles on my mantel from my loving Angels to show me they were thinking of me and missing me. They are still there and I get misty eyed every time I see them. The people of Second Life have become a like a family to me. I don’t know of any other MMO you can get so involved with others OUTSIDE the grid like you can with Second Life.

   You can even marry that special someone in your life, no matter which you prefer, you can marry them here. I know this first hand because I married someone so very special to me. Brandi is a part of everything I do in SL now, and I know of many others that have done the same; some have taken it to the next level and hooked up in real life too.

   I am so proud of my accomplishments in SL. I have come a very long way since I was first “rezzed”. I have come to know and love each of my Angels, without whom I would be nothing and have nothing. So, let me publicly thank my family group “Nydia’s Angels”. Thank you, my Angels.

    I have been adopted by several people in SL as well, one of which is Skylark. She adopted me from almost the start of my life in SL. She taught me about clubs and how to run them, also a bit about land, and I have taken that knowledge and ran with it. At one point, I had 6 active clubs and administered over 14 sims, but those numbers have come down now due to a lot of factors. But one thing remains, it was so much fun to learn about it and make a go of it.  Let’s see you make money in your real life (legally) from any other MMO, then let me know so I can try that as well.

   SL is also great for those who have self esteem issues. In SL, you can look how you feel you deserve to look. I know of many that are disfigured for some reason or another but here in SL, they can look how they feel, be who they are. Like myself, I am a little white vixen that I think looks nice and I have adopted that fursona  in all my online dealings.

   Until SL, I never even had an email address of my own. With the help of my friends and family in SL, I opened and bloomed and grew and tried a lot of things I would never have tried in real life. I am becoming more of who I truly am.


 So, to sum it up, SL is not just a game, but also a wonderful tool that can be used by so many people in so many ways, because no matter what you’re into, you will find it in SL.

    As soon as I am over this Bells Palsy, I will try and do more stories about more games, but….until then
GOOD GAMING TO YOU!

Nydia Tungsten

Grease Coakes Turns Seven

By Grease Coakes

First off I want to thank my RL boss that I’ll name Mary to protect her real life identity. She was nice enough to let me work the day before and have today off. Also one of my co-workers I'll name Stan was singing me "happy birthday" yesterday.

 And I think I speak for anyone that birthdays are special whether it's your birthday in the real world or a virtual birthday. Your birthday is your special day no one can take that from you that one day out of 365 days that's yours. Most people celebrate the holidays in December whether it's Christmas or Hanukkah with family and friends. People who live a second life in the virtual universe get two birthdays per year. How can you beat that? In today's fast paced world of either life people should take their birthdays to take time to smell the roses and relax.

Another crazy fact it's my brother's real life birthday today. So my SL birthday and his real-life birthday are the same day.

So I started the day with no events so I figured there would be something going on at the furry club IYC which stands for International Yiff Center at IYC Addictions (153/115/2492) I was right as the furry DJOK Fretwerk AKA Jim Morris was djing. Not many people were active at 5:30am SLT, but it was ok I still handed out my freebie shirts and hung out.

For my fifth and sixth and SL birthdays for readers of the Newser who may not know, I handed out t-shirts that I made myself. I handed out these shirts for a limited time. In IYC I handed out the shirts to everyone in the club. A few furries IMed me in confusion. I explained these are my birthday shirts. I'll get birthday wishes and in fact Chedder Digipaw with account name CyberRatt resident gave me a whole clothes set named League of xtranary Furs. Shyraii Devinna asked for the asset UUID to make my Zapbird shirt better looking for women to show breasts. It's a rare case that I get a party pooper that declines my shirt. I shrug it off and move on.

I gave Shyraii a cookie and she responds by saying, "My fiance ate all my chocolate chip cookies (frown). He's a butthole (grin)." "Dude what's up with that?" I asked. 

So in IYC I hung out with Shy as we were wearing the same shirt dancing together to Loferz Resident AKA TeiTei who announces over voice anyone who says hi gets a cookie. So I say, "Hi Teitei do i get a cookie?  TeiTei went, "YUSH!" *stuffs one in your muzzle* ^_^

Who can say no to a cookie?

Earlier I IMed a human buddy of mine Lia Mistwalker, asking is there any events at SGB which is shorthand for Sounds Gravis Beach at Sounds Gravis Beach (134/21/32). Lia told me, "Sakura spins at 8am to 10am."

I told her, "I'm so there! it's my party and I’ll shake my tail if I want to I turn 7 today." "Happy rez day!" she says

When the party started I went over to SGB and SGB Melody the club owner said this, "And all the girls, please line up and kiss our Furry Grease... It's his rezzday today!"

SGB is always a great place to hang out at. Smooth music and minimal emotes. There's always a conversation going on plus the DJ mixing live. Raphad Noyes who may be related to StJohn Noyes one of my friends from Brahma Yoga class stopped in at SGB with his lady friend Mielerosa (honeyrose58 Resident. He's usually a werewolf but today he was a human. Raphad is a very polite and cultured werewolf/human as he always calls me sir. He mentioned in IM, "You look a bit different, Sir." "Yes indeed Sir Noyes," I answered, "I’m wearing the first avatar I bought in SL." "Interesting."

I IMed Aurora Avila informing her I can make her DJ set today as I usually work on Thursdays, the only day she DJs. She says awesome. We also chit chat about the game she told me about , Guild wars 2.

"I should try the species you showed me," I told her, "the goblin species they are hard to find in PVP (which stands for Player vs Player)." Aurora answered, "They tend to be pretty fugly." "Yeah they are! But all my characters can't be the Charr cats that would be boring."

Over time In real life I get hungry so I plan to leave SL for a bit for food. But before I leave, the girls at SGB plan to make Cesare Drucker the club manager cross dress. They type various things like

Jet Goode: "We can duct tape him to a pole."

Lia Mistwalker: "Mini dress, don’t forget to wax his legs."

Mariete (Mariete Babii): "Just don’t WAX Grease!!!You could kill him."

Luckily I leave before the ladies decide to play dress up with me

After I go out to get Chinese food and popcorn I come back into SL and bounce from SGB to the Ark at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Quarabia/141/123/500. I hang out for a bit then I go to Woods at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/WOODS/126/163/25 

Then Nydia Tungsten IMs me and says there's s video that I could take part in. She warps me to The Happy Vixen at Purrfection Estates (180/59/22). I warped over and a short while later she starts her chimera and begins recording. Nydia sorts out things as she has to relog and over time the video is complete. Her video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfArSuKsqHM&feature=youtu.be.

When it's finished I made a SL card through email to my brother for his real life birthday today.

Afterwards I took another break from SL and logged back on and stop at a few other places but for my SL Birthday it doesn't seem right. I instead warped to my friend Amehana Ishtari and I jump in on a pony party.

I handed out my shirts and Amehana admits to being busy. However she does agree to an interview about her new book Selkie Skins Castle and Wells soon. Amehana has also written about a woman named Blowing Wind as she goes on a spiritual adventure with a dragon spirit named Ryu. I joked, "Amehana your pony looks pimped out." And she says this, "Ummm... Thank you? *raises her eyebrow, never thinking that word would ever be used for her*" I instead say that her pony is dressed like a diva and she says, "*watches you backpedal*"

I goofed off and relaxed before Aurora Avila starts to DJ at her new club club Midi Bikini Bay (85/196/1022) where she still plays her video game remixes and Japanese songs.

I went to Club Midi and I had a good time just like it was yesterday. Aurora played her mix of video game songs and everyone chit chated about video games or whatever. Aurora still has a nice surprise to anyone who tips her. I felt stress ebb away and relaxed as Aurora played her unique mix of songs.

I guess the point of this article is that in today's fast paced world of Second and First Life that once in a while take time for yourself. I remember talking to a customer at Royal farms in real life and he said don't sweat the small things and always have fun for yourself. Give yourself some me time.

Today I did take time for myself and had a great seventh birthday. It's a rough world out there but if you always have a smile on your face the world will seem a much brighter place. I guess that's the gist of this article is just have fun in life whether it's your real life birthday your second life birthday or your unbirthday.

Grease Coakes

The ISM to be Officially Incorporated

By Bixyl Shuftan

The Sci-Lands have been a cornerstone of Second Life's science community. The most well-known place there is the International Space Museum, often called the ISM for short, it's circle of rockets at Spaceport Alpha an unmistakable feature among well-traveled residents of the Grid. The director of the location and group is Kat Lemieux. Shortly after their Christmas music event about a week ago, she met up with Second Life Newser to discuss an upcoming move that will take place this week, one that will benefit the museum.

Kat told me that the ISM would be officially incorporating, "I'm talking to the lawyer Monday. He's also going to handle our 501c3 application. ... 501(c)(3) is US federal tax exempt status, so our not-for-profit company can be officially nonprofit.That way, US donors can deduct their donations on their taxes. For non-US people, it basically says we are a legitimate, recognized nonprofit."

Kat told me this was not the first time the ISM had attempted incorporation, "We had applied before, a couple of years ago, but were denied. I think it was because the IRS agent couldn't grasp the idea of a museum without brick and mortar. There were other virtual museums at the time, but they were all connected to real-life museums. Having one with no real-life component was just a bit much to swallow, I suppose. Also, I was trying to do the application without any legal help that time, and probably did some things wrong. Having a lawyer this time out should help. In fact, that''s why we're having him handle our incorporation, too. to make sure we get all the i's dotted and t's crossed for the IRS. Just creating a corporation is not a big deal. I've done it several times. But doing it right for a 501c3 can be a bit trickier. The by-laws and articles of incorporation must meet IRS standards. However, we have a good board of directors, and more volunteers, so I'm confident this time will work out."

"Once we have the tax-exempt status," Kat stated, "we can apply for grants from corporations and big donors. Then we can really go to town! We have some ambitious plans." "What plans did you have?" I asked her. She answered, "Well, one thing we need to do is rebuild almost everything in our Second Life museum. ... A big problem we've had with development is that over time a lot of our volunteer builders have left Second Life. Life goes on! But we don't have 100% rights to everything." That a number of objects can only be updated, modified, moved, or changed in any way by residents whom are no longer around can be a problem, "For instance, the Titan II/Gemini 4 rocket that goes up to our LEO platform can't be changed. The creator hasn't been in SL for years now, and we can't change the script to adjust the text." The only thing that can be done is rebuilding the objects in question entirely from prims and code, "We will simply have to redevelop a lot of stuff. But when we do, we are planning to do them as work-for-hire, so we own the copyrights as well as have full perms in Second Life. The lack of  'assets' and copyrights was one thing the IRS questioned last time out, so it's important from that aspect as well." They do have some people offering their talents,"the whole museum has been built by volunteers ever since 2005." But they also want to attract more, "Right now, we do have some commercial builders we're planning to work with, once we have the new corporation that can make contracts, and of course some additional funding."

Kat explained they also wanted to expand to other Grids, "We want to be able to use our assets in other virtual worlds, like Kitely and other OpenSim grids. And we also want to create a standalone version using OpenSim. In fact we already have a presence in Kitely. It isn't much yet, for lack of content, but we're working on it. It was created nearly a year ago. But so far it has taken a back seat to our Second Life and business development. When we rebuild exhibits, etc. they will all be crossplatform. Then we will use them in Kitely and other grids." She also mentioned, "For educational purposes, we would love to have an OAR file we can give to teachers, for instance, so they can let even underage children visit a version of the museum safely."

For additional funding, the ISM is planning some Kickstarter campaigns, "our first one will be simply to fund the 501c3 application and incorporation," Kat told me, "There are fees, and of course the lawyer to pay." What will the museum be offering donors? "We have a collection of real-life space memorabilia that has been donated to us," Kat answered, "Those will be our first premiums (gifts for the largest donors). For the rebuilding kickstarter, we will probably offer an early copy of the OAR file, among other things. And of course, recognition, etc. We have some experience recognizing big donors." They are still going over ideas for smaller levels of donation, "We're open to suggestions. Like a visitor indicated earlier, rockets one can ride are a popular item with people in Second Life."

Kat told one story from early in the ISM's history, "When we first started the museum, we used some borrowed land on the mainland. We had a building somebody gave us where we were having a meeting, with lots of glass walls.This noobie came flying by, and crashed into the wall!" After a shared chuckle about a mental image of a squished face against the wall, the director went on, "We invited him to the meeting, and it turned out he knew something about graphics, but had not done any Second Life building. So I gave him a few pointers, and together we built a few rockets. It turns out in real life he made decals for models as a business. That was a sideline for him, since he's an engineer for a living. But he had quite a knack." It was a lucky coincidence, "Anyway, after figuring out the basics, he took off and became a real expert, and got into scripting, too. Most, but by no means all, of the rockets here are some he built. And the models I was firing off earlier are some he made."

"Our first and largest rocket, though, was built by Davinci Doctorow," Kat explained, "That's the Saturn V on Spaceport Bravo." She pointed to a tall rocket in the next sim, next to a truly massive building, "An interesting point about all our models is that they are full scale. That was really the first objective I had, to be able to show people the actual size of real life rockets, etc." She pointed to building, "The VAB is also accurately scaled, which took some doing since that building is still, to my knowledge, the largest by volume in the world. It's so big, that rumors when it was being build were that its own weather was created inside. My Father, who was a chief engineer at the Cape then, said it was probably just condensation from the ventilation ducts, but he concedes that it could have been clouds forming and raining in there."

"The volunteer who built our VAB works for the Air Force museum there in Central Florida in real-life so he had access to lots of good data." Kat then pointed to a map, which at the time had been coated with ice, "He also did this map of the Cape area, which we turned into an ice skating rink. It works pretty well. I tried it out awhile ago. When it isn't covered in ice, it has some neat features. All those little spikes are notecard givers with info about the features they mark.

"We've been very fortunate to have some very creative people working here over the years," Kat reflected. I asked if there was some recent talent she wanted to mention. She thought over her answer, "Hmmm.... Some of our most recent people include Rachel Corleone, Banker Tomorrow and Shanna Starship." Shanna had made the decor for the Christmas event, "and made this airpot and coffee mugs. Banker is, as his name implies, a business guy rather than a builder. We seem to attract people for the kind of work we have to do at any particular time. Banker has worked in real life with some large nonprofits, so has lots of insight to share with us about how to structure our new corporation. He's on our board of directors, in fact. We have every intention of doing this in a professional manner."

The ISM director went on, "Another one of our directors is Gus Plisskin. ... His company, Firesabre, is a long time SL building contractor/developer. Firesabre has its own education-based OpenSim grid, too. So he's certainly been helping us on that front. Another director of ISMuseum is Patio Plasma, of the Exploratorium. ... Which reminds me, one of the important projects we'll be working on next year is to develop a metadata scheme for 3D objects, esp. useful for virtual museums. I took a class online, a MOOC from Penn State, about metadata. The idea of a metadata scheme is pretty ambitious. But Patio, for one, is quite interested. She's looked for something preexisting, but hasn't found any yet, So we will be breaking new ground. We will, of course, donate the results to the open standards group who handle such things."

It was at this point Shanna Starship found us and walked over, and there was a bit of discussion between the three of us. "I'm glad that Patio is interested in the (metdata) project," Shanna spoke with a smile. "I'm going to probably give some classes about metadata in SL for people interested in helping," Kat added, "Before that, I plan to write something for our wiki, to give people some background and links. But the incorporation effort has pushed that to the back burner for now. Once that is out of the way I'll have more time to devote to it. I probably ought to review the videos from the MOOC before attempting to teach it to anyone else. But I had got a lot of links collected during the course, and found some other info outside of it as well. Being able to have consistent, completely descriptive 'tags' to connect to all our content will make life much easier in the future. We could even use the metadata to generate XML based catalogs as well. If we do a good job of the schema, it could create a good reputation for us among scholars. It's something that goes beyond just Second Life, of course. There are some unique features to 'objects' in virtual space that existing metadata can't cover. So what we can bring to the table is some in-depth knowledge of what those characteristics are, and how they all fit together."

"The whole object of metadata is to describe unique objects so they can be discovered by others. So, for instance, a painting's metadata could include the artist's name, the medium, who owns it, where it is housed, when it was painted, where, etc. For things like our exhibits, the metadata would include the builder, possibly both real life and Second Life names, when it was made, what real-life object it represents, info about the real-life object, whether it is full scale, where it is located in Second Life or other grids, what permissions exists for it, and so on. All these data have to be expressed in a formal way, both machine and human readable."

I commented the metadata project sounded like it could be quite an effort. "Yes, I expect it will be," Kat explained, "It may be the subject of yet another Kickstarter campaign. Or maybe we can get a grant from someone to do it. Not impossible I imagine.  Once we apply for our 501c3, that is a very legitimate project for that kind of funding. What we have discovered in the past is that without 501c3 status, most corporate donors can't even talk to us. They have regulatory restrictions to worry about, too. So just about everything does come back to the business aspects of running a museum. We've done a lot in the past eight years, but to take it forward we really need to go the next step to becoming a real nonprofit corporation."

Kat reminded the ISM was always willing to take in new volunteers, "Also, we have a couple of SL groups besides the Museum Planning Group. Spaceflight Museum Happenings is an announcement group. And our newest one is called 'ISM Boosters.' Members of that one pledge to donate L$1000/month toward museum operations and growth." Kat grinned, "Yeah, we need to have a launching party for that. We just started it a couple of weeks ago." The date of the Boosters' launch party would be scheduled some time "after the holidays."

It was about then that Kat and I went our seperate ways.

So stay tuned for some new builds and new events at the International Space Museum. For more information, the museum's blog is at: http://ismuseum.org.

Bixyl Shuftan

A Day in Second Life

By Grease Coakes

One day Xavier Thiebaud, one of the owners of the A-List, asked me to write out what I did in Second Life as a blog. Writing a blog constantly would be taxing over time. Xavier had a point though that people may be interested in what goes on in a furry’s doings on Second Life, especially one who hops between human and furry hangouts and activities.

So I figured I’d write about a Saturday where I had a few things lined up. For starters on a Saturday morning is brahma yoga class at 4 AM SLT which is 7 AM my time east coast time. The morning class on Saturday is the bajons or spiritual dancing with some meditation. I woke up on time and was frustrated that my Guru Pramiil Magne wasn’t online. 

Not that I can blame him he’s been busy with his job in real life. Despite that my fellow classmates and I decided to meditate without him. Aldaida said she liked my shirt with a picture of Watabou from dragon warrior monsters 1. She called it an alien, but it’s really a tree spirit from the video game. I was in meditation for a short while and I snapped out of it refreshed. I stuck around though and I wanted to prepare a notecard for a tailsale later in the day for IYC. 

I explained about tail sales in an earlier article. I talked with my friends after they got out of meditation for a bit. Celtic wanted to talk about things in her real life so I stopped and listened. When she logged off I warped to AX for a fave event I like to attend. I warped there and left my avatar there as I went afk to grab some breakfast.

After grabbing a bowl of cereal and a soda, no one is at AX yet. Do I look at my notices and DJ Starfall is playing at IYC. I warp over and I hear some awesome trance. Even at 5:30AM SL time, the dance floor is filled with various avatars shaking their tails. Not a lot of them are talking though, so I IM the DJ Ohni Starfall and say a lot of them are afk or in IM/s. He agrees with me. I let his trance relax me as I do my dailies for neopets. When it’s close to 6AM SL time,  I warp back to AX and see Dj Aurora Avila dance with one of her friends Jamaris Pawpaw.

DJ Aurora, in my opinion, is the queen of video game music as she plays a wide variety of video game remixes along with Asian music. She was the first person I reported on for the SL Newser when Bixyl hired me back in January last year. When anyone tips Aurora you’ll get a surprise if you haven’t been to her DJ sets before. DJ Aurora starts her set and suddenly I get an IM.

Spencer Mactire asks “Wait, were you just holding fire?”

I say, “Yes that’s my chat AO. I have lots of them."

Spencer says “That’s cool…” He also says hi to the readers when I tell him his comment is going in my article. I bring up a comment about Iron Man versus Samus Aran (the woman bounty hunter you play as from Metroid) Aurora has this to say as she’s a big fan of the Metroid series. 

[06:09] Aurora Avila: But I know Samus, and Lord knows that if she fights Iron Man, she'll be walking out with about half his modifications customized into her suit, and with a shiny new Repulser Beam. 

I think Tony Stark will have a bad day if he fights the Metroid hunter.

Listening to Aurora’s video game tunes, I decide to play Hubrid’s Hero heist. The worst game you can play in neopets if you want to earn neopoints as quickly as possible as a full game takes a ½ hour or so. It is fun to play in my opinion though, and I have a gold champion trophy in that game sitting on my neopets user lookup as greasy711. Sadly I play a lousy game. But it’s not all bad as I still hold the top score in rink runner of 534.

With expert mouse clicking while listening to Aurora’s music I do much better at rink runner. I asked a lady in a wild crux avatar named Sonicblue Dudek to slow dance with me. She says sure.

Over time the club fills up with various furries as I multitask chatting with people in the club and playing various neopets games earning neopoints. Fun is had by all while everyone hangs out listening to Aurora’s music.

At the end of Aurora’s DJ set I start playing Extreme Herder off neopets, and wanting faster music I warp over to Dance Island. When I started my Grease Coakes account I used to go Tj Icey’s a lot for the club music. Today it’s now Dance Island which features a bunch of DJ/s playing various genres. Dance Island is known for a lot of gestures but it doesn’t bother me as I’m used to Dance Island being an emote fest along with the music.

I click a dance a ball as I say hi to Deirdre Masala who hangs out a lot there. I jam to the trance being played by Bel Air and I start playing more Extreme Herder. My highest score in extreme herder was 353 today which is a good score but not high enough to reach the top scores. I see a notice at Book Island the sim dedicated to books and promoting your own literary works. The event is Jackson Arthur hosting a book discussion at 10am SLT. I leave Dance Island and wander around Book Island instead.

Using my mini map I find a bunch of green dots and hear a man’s voice over voice chat. So I join in and see a group of people sitting around a round table. Looking at Arthur’s top hat makes me think of Simon Linden. He’s one of the Lindens I met in SL and I found his teddy bear. He also asked about moles in SL and Olivia Whitsend answered that moles are a group in SL headed by the Lindens as a public works group.

Brokali, a blue alien, mentioned he was organizing 75 stories about food. Over voice chat he was geeking out about vegetables. He said that the definition of geeking was to be focused on a hobby or interest as their thing. I said jokingly then I geek out about neopets. Olivia said her kids also play neopets so I said my grey neopet will destroy their pets! Arthur said that doesn’t sound good and I joked no it doesn’t ha-ha!

I discussed my children’s book with the group and how I had to rework my book on lulu a few times to get it right. Also how I found an artist to draw for the cover as Arthur was saying he didn’t want to work with covers. A lot of the book discussion covered writing and ways to get published.

When the event was over I was invited to another book Island event, but I declined saying I wanted to go IYC for their tail sale event at 12noon SLT. The sim had to restart but I warped back with ease. A while later IYC got their tail sale under way as I warped through a ball to a waiting area. I joined a separate group IYC tail 4 sale when I was accepted to be sold as a tail for IYC.  

At 12 noon SLT things were still being sorted out as everyone waited for the first tail to go up for sale. The tail sale got a late start as Havok Muircastle wanted to grab more buyers into the sim and kick off the afk avatars. At 12:30 SL time they finally got the tail sale started as Havok spoke out the rules over Voice chat. One thing about tail sales it take a long time as each tail being sold is stretched out being bid on going once, twice, and then a third time.

Many furries ahead of me went for various amounts of Linden of 3k or so. A majority of the sales were offering art work or adult services like the article I wrote earlier on the AX tail sale. Atheu Blindside ahead of me was offering scripting and building weapons was bought by TeiTei for 2,500. I went up next and I can’t move! The sim screwed with my avatar so I could not sit on the podium to be sold. However amazingly, I had high bids and I was finally sold for 5k to Dragonheart. I warped to a sim on my picks then back and I IMed Dragonheart about what she wanted and she was interested in my writing ability. Then DragonHeart kept going and bid on KJ, a girl furry for her artistic ability, for 32,000L!

Jenny of the Sunweavers asked for a DJ for Club Cutlass, so I volunteered. Rita needed my DJ stream so I sent her the DJ information I bought from shoutcast. Then I checked my friends list and my Guru Pramiil Magne was online! Cool. I was excited that he was able to come online for class as I enjoy meditation class with him. I had an intense meditation but I quickly left class to set up my DJ stream with Rita and Jenni of the Sunweavers.

I played a good balance of disco/70’s/60’s and what I usually play for the Sunweavers crowd. I made a fair amount of tips as I played songs like "Hotel California" by the Eagles and "American Pie" by Don McLean. I played a few video game remixes and some House, but I also remembered the audience I was playing for and played disco etc. But the last song I played was a video game remix based upon the first Mega Man.

All in all it was a busy day for me as Grease Coakes in Second Life.  There’s many things to do and experience here on the Grid. Don’t limit yourself to one club or one thing. I guess that’s the moral of this article, if there is one, is just enjoy life and do what you enjoy.

Grease Coakes

Tank Club

Some of my neighbors on Syzygy, along with a few more SL residents, have started a Tank Club on Vacit (62, 164, 73).   No special skills are required.  The Tank Club is open to any resident who has a fondness for tanks and wants to have some fun.   I first hitched a ride on Elric Anatine’s tank and went on a convoy led by Samantha Glume.   On another night I drove one of the club tanks, with a lot of help from my friends.  Both times were great fun!     
 

      The Tank Club was started earlier this year when Samantha Glume, Motoko “Moto” Henusaki, and B.W. Jinxing were updating things and saw Linden Road, Route 9, among their items.     Samantha said, “Hey, I know something fun to do...”   “I rezzed my pink panda tank,” she said, “and Moto rezzed her cat face tank and we went for a little convoy.”   Soon they were joined by Elric Anatine, who describes the club as a “happy accident” that evolved from the fun they had that day. 

     “Everybody had a lot of fun,” Samantha said, “so we had a second convoy. That one was with eight tanks.” 

       Elric remembered that they picked up some hitchhikers, too.  “They saw our tanks,” he said, “and joined in the fun.  For myself, it was a spectacular way to explore the wilds of mainland.”

      The group soon decided they needed a permanent place.  They started with the idea of having a clubhouse, which Samantha said, “evolved into wanting a garage, a parking lot and play space.”   Elizabeth Rechter pointed out that it was very helpful “to have a reliable starting point where we could rally the tanks ahead of the trip.”

     They studied all of the different continents and chose Jeogeot for its vast network of roads, Samantha said. It is also next to a rez zone.    The group divided up the work based upon their various interests and skills.  For example, Motoko “Moto” Henusaki worked on mesh items while Elric Anatine re-textured.   Elizabeth Rechter did trees and landscaping, and BW Jinxing prepared the parking lot and driveways that connect to the road. 

     The tanks are purchased from Spyker Enterprise, who makes mesh tanks.   Spyker has allowed the group to modify and make their own skins and textures for each individual tank.   As a result, the tanks are customized and personal to each owner.   “For some reason,” Elric remarked, “this particular tank has brought so many of us together in a variety of events. I think in large part because it can be modified and therefore personalized.  The moment you personalize your vehicle, it truly becomes yours and something to be proud of.”

      In addition to being modifiable and easy to drive, the Spyker tank is fun and electric.  Because it has to be recharged, repaired and rearmed, Samantha says, “it fits perfectly with our fun.”   They built a fully functional garage with working bay doors, a mesh tank lift, and a console to help with repairs and rearmament.  Power cells that she first used on her space station are available and can be refilled at the recharging station.   She hopes to expand the number of recharging stations to eventually cover the entire continent.  Club members receive a custom texture for their tank, a tank only parking sign and toolboxes for making repairs.   However, anyone who already owns a tank is welcome to bring it.  No one is required to purchase a particular tank.

        We chatted about the fun of touring.  Samantha Glume said you can open the hatch while driving and drive in the standing position.   “You can wave at people as you slowly rumble by,” she grinned.  

       I asked how they had been received since I had heard the mainland can be a wild place.   Samantha said, “We haven't had any problems at all.”  Though she joked that the psychological impact of a tank rolling by might have kept people nice. 

        Elric said the people have been really great. 

       “Even the hitchhikers,” Elizabeth added, smiling.

         “Some have wanted to join in,” Elric said.  “Others just take the "gunner position" and ride along with us.” 

        Elizabeth and Moto have toured a lot of different sims.  “Anytime I'm in a new place,” Elizabeth laughed, “I get an urge to rez a tank.”    Moto even made a HUD that they use to identify unmarked rez zones.   Many of the photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/groups/syzygytankclub.   The club has a webpage, too, at http://www.syzygycommunity.com/community/syzygy-tank-club.

        But the Tank Club doesn’t limit itself to simple touring.   Recently Elizabeth and Moto organized a “death match” on Syzygy between the Reds and the Blues.  BW Jinxing created a video of it that can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB1POssFjwg&feature=youtu.be    The battle takes place right in front of my house!    My friends claimed they did their best to avoid blasting it, but I’m not convinced. 

      This past Sunday, the group met for a “Get Well Soon” convoy for Samantha Glume.   Some RL surgery is going to keep her out of SL for a few weeks, and her friends wanted her to have some fun before she left.   In addition to Samantha, Tank Club members Anarchy “Pandora Le Fay” Tigerpaw,  117 “Mohandar”  Dirval, Elizabeth Rechter, Elric Anatine, Stacy Bluxome,  Motoko “Moto” Henusaki, and possibly one or two others met at the clubhouse  before dawn.    

       “Everybody form up on the road behind me,” Samantha said.  “And it's dark, so I suggest you turn on your headlights.”  She patiently gave instructions to new drivers on how to turn on their lights, which gear to use, and other valuable information.   “Everybody should be in low gear with a speed of three,” she said.  “Watch your spacing.” 

     “Try not to press the self-destruct button,”  117 “Mohandar” Dirval joked. 

      When everyone was lined up, with lights on and armament off, the tanks began rumbling down the road.    Earlier, Elric Anatine had told me that of all the vehicles he had driven in Second Life, he has never had as much fun as he does now when he drives and tours in the tank.  “And the more the merrier,” he said.  “It's really impressive to have a convoy of tanks and friends for exploration.”

Grey Lupindo