So, here they are – all of my lovely little beauties…

The Ninja Cat boots are somewhat on the cruel side but, I give you my most solemn assurance that I try not to use those nasty little sticks too excessively and then only on the most objectionable avatars!

Admittedly the Grunge Camp Paw kickers are ever so slightly butch but nonetheless a great favorite whenever I need to climb the Black Mountain at Syncretia to check on all those leaky water pipes…

These Hobo Paw boots have a slight flaw around the ankles so I conceal them with some very lovely, not to mention thoroughly elegant, barbed wire neko leg warmers! They really do think of every little eventuality these neko designers don’t they? I imagine the barbed wire would come in very handy at keeping those bothersome rodents trying to climb up ones calves at bay! No?

Yeti paw boots! We pose for these together with my furry sister: Two silly school girls in black and white outfits. Mine is a sailor’s costume and she is a striped bunny! Teeeee heeeee….

For the more demanding neko, these jewel studded boots come in a range of fur options for toes, all in the same box. A must have for all of those dressier occasions!

Sakuradawn Lei‘s name is a byword for high quality paw boots in the metaverse, most of them leaving paw prints as you walk! Unfortunately the loveliest ones are designed for feral furries and thus one needs to have the appropriate leg shape to really be able to wear them – which we, vain, silly, fashion victim women obviously do not have. However, necessity is indeed the mother of all invention, so my furry sister was certainly not going to be put off by a minor little hindrance such as a leg shape! She merely replaced the upper part of the Myth boots with another boot part – and Bob’s your uncle! My Trailmix ones are actually designed for human legs so all I had to do was walk around leaving some wonderful feline paw prints. Never one to be outdone, Furry Incognita follows suit with her own – and oh what an utterly lovely mess we have made!

Credits:
Ninja Cat Boots: Emily Lelouch
Grunge Camp Paw Kickers: Thomus Keen
Barbed wire leg warmers: Minde Mills
Hobo Paw Boots: Blume Boucher
LouRoo Yeti Paw Boots: LouRoo Rau
Jewel Neko Boots: 7ommy Gunes
Trailmix and Myth boots: Sakuradawn Lei

Here I have taken it upon myself to play around with four Yip’s clothes (with her gracious consent of course). I have added things from my own ridiculously voluminous virtual wardrobe, and left out other items from some of the original outfits – with a particular eye on making these ensembles thoroughly NPIRL.

four’s clothes are funny, in fact some of them are absolutely hilarious. And then, they are romantic, whimsical, elusive. In short, they are a treasure for any female to possess. So, my objective here was really not to improve upon what was already there but simply to take a personal look, make an interpretation…

The shoulder rats and head bats come from four’s latest piece lune-acy. I combined them with the hybrid skin by Vry Offcourse (available here), a clock belt by Phantom Kabuki (available here) and boots by LuizHernandez Slade (available here). The skirt actually belongs to four’s Happy Hour ensemble, I simply increased the transparency a tad.

The French Souvenir chambermaid is a lusty wench who is most certainly no better than she should be. Here she is frolicking around, broom in hand, hefting a shiny black scarab jetpack complete with wings (available here) by Ryan Snook. She also sports what I think is one the funniest hairdos I ever saw in Second Life®, a strange breadloaflike appendage created by Sunnivah Jiutai (available here). The roller skates are actually Bett’s input, telling me of an old mate of hers who apparently roamed the streets of Real Life, dressed as a chambermaid on roller blades.

And while we are on the subject of roller skates or roller blades, I feel that paying homage to that so totally not possible in Real Life personage, Rollerina is also in order here on this post… NPIRL? It is all in a state of mind methinks…

No, I have not decided to become a Furry. A close friend of mine has graciously helped me with these photos. She would also prefer to maintain her anonymity, so I will respect her wishes and not disclose her name…

The outfit is largely made out of four Yip’s Roly Poly ensemble, from which I used both the skirts, the flower belt and the bird bow, the roly polies on the chest and the flying birdies. The top garment is by June Dion and is part of a Victorian dress called Vanessa, (available here). The furry avatar (of which my friend is only using the head) is created by Miaka Amat and can be obtained here. This is truly one of the most beautiful furry faces that I have seen to date. Instead of obliterating all expressiveness in the usual jumble of prims Amat has utilized the top part of the human shape and added prims only to the cheeks and chin. Finally, the boots are by LuizHernandez Slade and can be found at the Freebie Dungeon (here).

I have combined four’s wallflower skin with a Cherry Tree Hair by Ameshin Yossarian of Curious Kitties (teleport from here), a ladies jetpack by Vincente Shepherd of the Gaslights Emporium (teleport from here) and Steampunk leather boots by Thomus Keen of Steam Powered Nuts (teleport from here). The skirt is something I cobbled together.

The Happy Hour outfit is I think one of the funniest that four ever put together. I have merely underscored the highly obvious here of course: Mademoiselle Demure whips off the gray two piece suit, only to emerge from under the table as Madame Voracious! Everything else used here comes from four’s “four is a bird” package – except for the hair by Lola Marquez of Armidi (teleport from here) and the high heeled shoes by Lost Thereian of Naughty Enterprizes (teleport from here). The Feline skin was created by my newly found furry friend, who has asked for her identity to remain undisclosed so sadly, I am not allowed to share the information regarding that with you.

And alas even the best of good times must come to an end at some point… So, For a grand finale: I am anxiously hoping that four agrees with me that nobody can possibly be as good as her virtuous white bird. So, for a bit light relief, I am toting that angelic headdress of white feathers, headband and the cuffs from her white birdy wings package – coupled with an ominous piece of lingerie called Innamorata, designed by Devyn Grimm, of Chaospire (teleport from here), Tekelili Tantalus’ very aptly named Fleurs Du Mal boots, and just in case I need to do some unexpected heavy duty construction work, a pair of steel paws designed by June Dion of the Bare Rose.

Cybernetic theory uses high level concepts such as order, organization, complexity, hierarchy, structure, information and control, investigating how these are manifested in systems of different types; allowing us to ask questions such as whether complexity tends to increase with time? How do the components differ from or connect to each other? How does the one transform into the other?

According to Cybernetic law, systems rely on feedback loops whereby outputs are fed back into the system as inputs, increasing or decreasing effects. While input can be defined as the result of the environment’s influence on the system, output is constituted by the influence of the system on the environment. In every feedback loop information about the result of a transformation or an action is sent back to the system in the form of input data. If these new data facilitate and accelerate the transformation in the same direction as the preceding results, they are positive feedback – their effects are cumulative. If the new data produce a result in the opposite direction to previous results, they are negative feedback – their effects stabilize the system. In the first case there is exponential growth or decline; in the second there is maintenance of the equilibrium.

Yet another key concept in cybernetics revolves around control, which includes two subsystems: “the controller”, and “the controlled”, in perpetual interaction with one another. The controller may change the state of the controlled system in any way, including the destruction of it. A whole new twist is brought into the mix however, as soon as the word “observer” is substituted for the word “controller”: In quantum mechanics the observer and the observed cannot be separated, and the result of observations will depend on their interaction. Thus the observer too is a cybernetic system, trying to construct a model of another cybernetic system. To understand this process, we need a “cybernetics of cybernetics”, i.e. a “meta” or “second-order” cybernetics. Thus, second order cybernetics emphasizes autonomy, self-organization, cognition, and the role of the observer/controller in modeling a system, recognizing the observed system as an agent in its own right, interacting with another agent, i.e. the observer. This creates a closed system wherein the effect of the environment is minimized and the feedback loop takes input and output from within the system itself. Thus, self-organization is a process of evolution where the development of new, complex structures takes place primarily in and through the system itself, leading us to autopoiesis (self-production), the process by which a system recursively produces its own network of physical components, thus continuously regenerating its essential organization in the face of wear and tear.

MosMax Hax, “the system”
I have to say that I am approaching all of this with the utmost of care: These are heady, sexy concepts and terms which I have seen tossed around, alas all too often and often all too carelessly, during many an art paper/presentation that I have sat through wondering how they could possibly be related to what was under discussion on the table. Well yes, of course… Anything and everything under the sun does after all operate under cybernetic laws. We are all systems, relating to other systems and our environments, operating under the ceaseless give and take of feedback loops. So yes! Everything can indeed be related to cybernetics. However, shouldn’t there be something peculiarly, if not downright dramatically pertinent to the matter at hand before the names of the likes of Pask, Varela and Maturana can even be evoked?

It seems to me that the artist Max Moswitzer/MosMax Hax justifies the analogy. And on two levels at that: Cybernetics as well as second order cybernetics.

Semiautonomous Puppet Architectonics, at Odyssey. Photograph courtesy of MosMax Hax

The precursors of the oeuvre of Whitenoise are already present in the very early video output of Moswitzer, who says that “of course in those days I was not so concerned about concepts”. I would disagree on that: Yes, of course, nowhere near the level of sophistication in terms of the visual language of today. Nowhere near as coherent. Nonetheless, in the videos “Transformator”(1991) and “Die Ästhetik der Dekonstruktion” (1989) the seed of what is articulated today is already present. This is the cybernetic system of Max Moswitzer, a system influenced by a feedback loop between itself and it’s environment. This system makes it’s progression over the next two decades, picking up momentum on it’s way, resulting in ever more startling manifestations such as the extraordinary collaborative project Nybble Engine of 2003 until it finds it’s way into Second Life® in 2007. And it is here, in Second Life, that it undergoes the extraordinary transformation of folding into itself, merging with the law of second order cybernetics: A system in which the artist becomes the output, the observer, the observed, the controller and the controlled. The system that is MosMax Hax.

Semiautonomous Puppet Architectonics, at Odyssey. Photograph courtesy of MosMax Hax

I have had the privilege of being there during the development of Whitenoise, from the initial assembly of it’s architectural infra-structure, originally at Klein and then later on at the archipelago of the Synthetic University (of which my island Syncretia is a part of), to the embodiment of it’s population: The many avatars, manifesting as the multiple selves and facets of one individual. Never, throughout his extraordinary journey of self-observation, of the creation of a self-organizational system fragmenting itself into ever more inter-reliant and complex parts, have I seen MosMax become heavy handed with words, definitions and explanations. Never have I heard him pontificate or get pompous: All has come about naturally, spontaneously, through “play”; through the invention of games for which more and more “selves” seemed to be needed: Some communal, in which other autonomous “humans” also participated; but more often than not (and particularly over the past year) private, personal, solitary, “autopoietic” games involving multiple manifestations of the “one” human; games of which I was nonetheless aware given that I was in geographical proximity both on the Synthetic archipelago as well as at Klein during this time.

As far as I can tell, it is this constellation of highly individuated “player” alt avatars that has led to the rezzing of the many specialized non-player/actor alt avatars (which seem to me to be quite distinct from MosMax’s individuated multiple selves in their functions). And it is these non-player alt avatars that are now gathered at Odyssey as the manifestation of an emergent, self-organizational system, one of whose components is the artist MosMax Hax. A complex architecture – a machine almost. A machine of boats, trucks and teddy bears in motion. A closer look however, reveals that this machine is operated through slender avatar limbs to which the components of the system are attached. Avatars and prims become one integrated whole, a complex self-organizational closed system; quite complete as a distinct entity, separated from the audience surrounding it through the impact of sheer differentiation presented in it’s visual Gestalt. And very much in the center of it all is the creator, the observer, the one who in his turn becomes observed – affecting the outcome of the journey, given that after all, “Semiautonomous Puppet Architectonics” is only one stop in the long journey of Whitenoise. A visual manifestation of second order cybernetics par excellence, I would dare to suggest…

Semiautonomous Puppet Architectonics, at Odyssey. Photographs courtesy of MosMax Hax

MosMax Hax: An intellectual, an artist whose inner ruminations find expression not in the (oftentimes) lamentable inadequacy if not indeed downright banality of the spoken word but in a coherent/individuated visual language which winds itself like a red thread across decades of output, adapting itself from medium to medium, from environment to environment. It’s current residence is in the virtual world of Second Life. Will it always be here? Given that Max Moswitzer would be unable to fragment his Real Life body as the visual manifestation of his psychic assemblage, the embodiment of second order cybernetics which I have tried to describe above, relies on “the avatar” for the realization of the autopoietic structure involved. Thus the “population” of Whitenoise is indeed something utterly “not possible in Real Life” and as such would appear to be destined to stay in the virtual realm. But as far the underlying virtually “physical” architecture of Whitenoise itself, I seriously doubt that Second Life is it’s final location. A long curriculum vitae of significant achievements and recognition prior to his entry into Second Life, coupled with the substance of the output presented in Second Life since 2007, suggest that Moswitzer/Hax is a formidable visual artist of his generation; one whose work is certainly not limited to Second Life alone. Thus exporting his output from one domain into another (i.e., from the “virtual” to the “physical”); endowing it with the universality which is it’s due, would be very much the next step. And this is a quest which he is actively pursuing, alas, to date with far from satisfactory results.

Whitenoise exported with present-day technology shown at “GAMES Kunst und Politik der Spiele”, Vienna 2008. Photograph courtesy of MosMax Hax

A competent technology which will enable exporting the architecture of Whitenoise from Second Life into other domains will surely come, although it has to be added that it does seem to be taking it’s sweet time coming. Meanwhile the many many facets of MosMax, the avatar population of Whitenoise, is here with us while Hax is already embroiled in new ideas, new play, new visual manifestations.

…

Although a sizable proportion of virtual worlds Residents (including myself) do not celebrate Christmas in the religious sense of the word, this time of year has nevertheless come to be associated with festivity, merriment and the exchange of presents in a big chunk of the globe. Point in case: In my beloved Istanbul supermarkets and shopping malls are brimming over with “New Year” trees and decorations even as we speak. And what’s more we seem to have managed to adapt the tradition to suit our own secular/muslim culture: The biggest seller in tree ornaments for the past few years has been a truly gaudy plastic adaptation of the tip of a minaret that you stick on top of your tree in place of where the angel would normally be put in a Christian household…

So, I have been wracking my brains in the pursuit of suitable seasonal gifts that we can inflict upon our loved ones in the metaverse and this establishment seems to me to fit the bill to perfection: Primtronics, a co-venture by CJoke Oh and Skalli McMillan is a delight of a store specialized in avatar attachments, with a steampunk neko twist but added extras!

OK, let us face it: Is it just me or is everybody beginning to notice the proliferation of truly well designed, meticulously detailed and textured steampunk and neko objects throughout the metaverse? Now, on the one hand this is of course wonderful news. We are obviously entering an era of high sophistication in virtual object design. However, on the flip side, a lot of what I am seeing out there begins to be repetitive in concept. Or I am simply beginning to become an extremely spoilt little neko person who turns up her snooty little whiskers at most of what she stumbles upon? In short, nowadays I am definitely looking for something more – and that something more for me usually ends up being something funny. And these two people are indeed funny! So, let me show you exactly what I mean:

For that incorrigible introvert who inevitably prefers a party of one, why not get them the fully animated Shoulder DJ? Comes with its own charmingly pulsating disco lights border and glow spotlight…

For that special man who likes to cook, the leg holster mixer? Very handy around the virtual kitchen, I am sure…

His ‘n Hers Crazy Antigravitation-Experiment V1.1 Backpacks… Perfection itself for that personalized little touch!

And here is another one and oh my goodness! It even has its own little wind turbine: The industrial landscape backpack “MinniKraftwerk” will (hopefully) manage to put a smile on the faces of all of those moaners that you have to get gifts for, the ones who claim to be carrying all the weight of the world upon their shoulders?

A very naughty follow me pet is the Kuhschraubaer (German for cow-bear-heli). Although I did have the little devil firmly leashed it took me forever to get her to fly to heel. Not to put too fine a point on it – she just simply would not oblige! So, this gift would most definitely not be for those authoritarian, “do-as-I-tell you” souls amongst your acquaintance…

Quite a different proposition from the naughty flying cow is the Pilot-Teddy, a lovely great little cuddly guy – obviously the perfect gift for that romantic dreamer…

For that eccentric individual, the mountaineering neko, a rope tail comes complete with its own handy knife…

And finally, for that naughty naughty boy, ear and shoulder laser guns! Zapppppp!!!

…

And now onto a wee bit of complication: While I have done all that is in my power to furnish you with tips as to how best to annoy your loved ones with your gifts, the items at Primtronics are copy but no transfer. However, the good news is that they do have gift certificates available at their shop, to where you can teleport directly from here. So, all that remains for you to do, is to present the objects of your bounty with a gift certificate and precise instructions as to what it is that you expect them to get once they land at Primtronics. And then – well, just hope for the best I suppose… I mean, once you let them loose in there with all that cash there is really no saying as to what they will actually be walking out with from that oh so wonderfully imaginative location.

Thus, ladies and gentlemen, under the horrified gaze of all present company, off we go to carnivore land!
teeeee heeeee….

The Demonic Cat avatar comes in both light and dark shades. Of course, one gets the dark one!

The Latex Mew has nasty little fangs, a spiky tail creepy enough to put the fear of God into the Devil himself and huge huge huge stomp-over-everything-in-sight paw boots. Oh, and it certainly wouldn’t do to forget to mention those utterly lovely boxing glove paws, a good enough size to do justice to any little old altercation…

The tail as larder: Sorry folks, I ate the fish… And yup! While I was at it, I also ate Tweety. Odious little fluffball!!!… Oh yes, the mice! Those I am saving for later. I tend to get somewhat peckish just around bedtime you know…

And speaking of rodents, I simply cannot emphasize this point strongly or often enough: There is no such thing as having too many mice!

It shows a sad state of affairs when you cannot be secure even on your own island! This tomcat came flying out of nowhere and put me into this dreadful state. Even my tail is in a cast! Reason? He seemed to be upset about the contents of this very post, said it was giving us Nekos a bad rep! One of those politically correct cats no doubt.

However… R.I.P. old boy…

… took care of his sanctimonious little derriere pronto pronto! Here’s where it actually happened… And of course, I did not leave any trace evidence! Watched my share of CSI episodes as diligently as the next person, haven’t I?
…

Credits:
Demonic Cat and Latex Mew avatars: June Dion
Neko tails: selena Chastity, Purrrfect Kitties
Mice Boots: Cyia Kanami at Purrrrfect Kitties
Neko arm sling, casts and collar: Akasha Wachmann
Neko Crime Scene: Cinemaniac Voom
(Please click on names for teleport locations)

Originally posted on the NPIRL blog on December 23, 2008.

I wrote quite a few posts for NPIRL back then. It was challenging work and it taught me lot. It was a professional blogging endeavor, calling for objective evaluation of metaverse content creation. Which is what I tried to do, to the best of my abilities.

I did however mange to write a few where I could cover NPIRL content creation and also become personal about what I wrote – these would be about 8 or 9 out of the 100 or so that I wrote in total. I would somehow like these to be in one place. Also, I would like to see the images in them on a dark background. Having asked Bettina Tizzy for her blessing and obtained it, I will be posting them here, back to back over the next few weeks.

This is the theme of the new alpha.tribe sim which I built last week. Sort of reflects my general outlook on life these days, I have to admit. I took quite a few photos of the place and actually made a separate blog/photo page for them on blogspot – which these days is really great, with that new template editor that they have:
http://alphatribeisland.blogspot.com/

And here is the slurl to the island, should you wish to check it out:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/alpha%20tribe/94/93/2
Quite a few weird toys sitting around. Also good for photographers since I have enabled rezz permissions for all visitors with a one hour auto-return.

San Francisco, CA News – View Daily Local Business News, Resources more in San Francisco, California.. Biotech: Life science firms dive into great unknown 12/31/2010. Biotech: Person to watch-Tony Coles 12/31/2010. Wall Street Journal France’s Sanofi-Aventis SA has made an informal acquisition approach to biotechnology drug maker Genzyme Corp., people familiar with the matter said, continuing a trend of big drug makers consolidating smaller. First HIV “Cure” Comes with a Very Big Catch Syndicated Bioinformatics News and Biotechnology News Click here to go to the main page of this web site Amway Crown. East Bay Business Times oakland Magazine http://eastbay. TONY 0.19 277203 103 LUIS 0.189 275744 104 MIKE 0.189 275744 105 STANLEY 0.186 271367 106 LEONARD 0.186 271367 107 NATHAN 0.185 269908 108 DALE 0.184 268449 109 MANUEL 0.181 264072 110 RODNEY 0.18 262613 111 CURTIS 0.18 262613 112.

Humanityplusconferenceatcaltech2010 Cloning Life from the most comprehensive global news network on the internet. International News and analysis on biology, genetics, science and more.. Biotech: Life science firms dive into great unknown The Business Review. Biotech: Person to watch-Tony Coles The Business Review. Biotech: Pill to. Megite Health News: What’s Happening Right Now Many selves: physical, virtual, chemical, computational Alpha Auer Second Life person by Turkish Elif Ayiter fMRI reliability is questionable: being in a tube affects those with claustrophobia behavior is influenced by. Comprehensive Real-Time News Feed for South San Francisco, CA.. Biotech: Person to watch-Tony Coles. 1 hr ago East Bay Business Times. dancing drug machine that could only get bigger in 2011. The company will move to bigger quarters in South San Francisco, which could signal an.

South San Francisco Newswire – Topix Roche buys biopharma rising star in Carmel – Indianapolis Star Biotech: Pill to watch-Gilead Sciences’ Quad pill – San Francisco Business Times Biotech:Person to watch-Tony Coles – San Francisco Business Times Biotech: Life. Insurancenews : insurance insure Biotech: Person to watch-Tony Coles http://bit.ly/euVtJb. 2011-01-01T03:06:10Z – Reply – View Tweet vinsure : insurance insure Biotech: Person to watch-Tony Coles http://bit.ly/euVtJb. 20TH CENTURY ALTERNATIVE HISTORICAL THOUGHT San Francisco, CA News – View Daily Local Business News, Resources more in San Francisco, California.. Biotech: Person to watch-Tony Coles. Biotech: Pill to watch-Gilead. Biotechnology and Health Informatics resources, forums and discussions.. Biotech: Person to watch-Tony Coles. bizjournals Press Release – Friday, December 31, 2010 5:00:00 AM.

…

Total gibberish. Do they have spiders picking up random text online? Probably… But why for God’s sakes? I mean it is really funny and I am glad they caught me, but WHY? And the weirdest thing with this is that I have been sort of playing around with yet another flipbook which I am calling the nonsense book, in which I am using text generated from the post modernist text generator (combined with images of bathrooms – very apt I think, right?). So, this is somehow big time twilight zone stuff as well. Totally scary… ;-)

Addendum, February8th: And here they even managed to insert a hhhhhhh:

I see people out like this all the time. …Trying to find this really pink light lip gloss. …It’s Like Getting a Whole New Player for Free! – The Offside …”I keep working hard with that mentality,” he said. Its like bubble …by Elif Ayiter/Alpha Auer/…./ Question by hhhhhh: Trying to find this really pink light lip gloss. …News: SUPER 8 Super Bowl Trailer: It’s Like The Return Of Amblin’s …It really does look and feel like one of those old Amblin films of the 80′s. I am better than both The Salami and The Bologna combined. We don’t know what we’ll find, Valery Lukin of Russia’s Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St Petersburg, which oversees the expedition, told Reuters. It’s anecdotal but.Gilbert Arenas Served W/ Child Support Papers | My Buzz WorthyAccording to the The Associated Press, during halftime of Thursday night’s nationally televised match-up between the Orlando Magic and the Miami Sweet, Magic guard, Gilbert Arenas, was served with child support papers filed against him …What It’s Like to Photograph World’s Oldest Living Organisms (Pics …Spruce Gran Picea #0909-6B37 (9550 years old; Fulufjllet, Sweden); all photographs provided by Rachel Sussman Rachel Sussman photographs our planet’s oldest living organisms. They all look so happy. Titles, because that’s what the p.IT Secure Site Sure the clouds insecure; its like everything else -IT Secure Site – Sure the clouds insecure; its like everything else -What its like to be Married to an AlcoholicWe’ll do things like normal people like take walks with our baby and go on dates, bringing her along in a carrier…

I ask you please, is there nothing sacred to these ppl? hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I prefer to hang around in photoshop. Check out 2D creative authoring platforms online, latest obsession being issuu. Do things with my tumblr blogs. Stuff like that.

Also I am writing/reading a lot these days, which is something that I have to do. And I will have to do a whole lot more of it in the coming months since I have (finally!) started writing up my PhD dissertation. So, that is quite different, of course.

Funnily enough, although the shift is from 3D to 2D, I think it is also from VL to RL. Well, in a manner of speaking that is. My VL has been pretty much non-existent anyway. No real pressing social engagements or anything. Hardly anyone that I hang out with, that I talk to even for most of the time. So, the shift may also be an acknowledgement of the fact that the only life that I do have is my Real Life. For the past 2 years I have used online 3D only to make things. Obsessively. And right now, I want to make other things. Or maybe goof off for a while and just fiddle around, uploading my old powerpoints onto issuu as flip books. Or make nonsense sites with wix. Easy peasy… But, as said, it is probably only temporary, and I will probably go back to 3D eventually. Fascinating stuff after all…

And I feel very guilty. Guilty for having let go of alpha.tribe so badly. Every day I get up and try to force myself to make something new for the shop. And I really and truly cannot do it. One reason may of course be that I made too much in a very short time and consequently I am now all dried out. Although I do have ideas. No lack there. But then when I think of those odious avatar templates, and then all the subsequent prim work in-world, I just cannot seem to be able to face it. I made 70 full avatars in something like 16 months. That is more than 4 a month. I have simply over-saturated myself with avatar design, I suppose.

Same thing for the annex. Major guilt there also. Where Frigg came to my rescue in a big way and helped me keep it. Now it needs to get documented and then re-built. And again, every day I get up and say, today I will start. And what is more, sometimes I do start. And then the viewer is open in the back and I am sitting here googling online Flash CMS applications or something. It is where my head is at.

2D.

:-\

When I look at this blog I notice that it has 3 quite distinct phases. In the beginning there seems to be much optimism and good will towards my Second Life. Which, looking back on it now, is so naive that I want to kick myself. The second part is when I start to get sad and maudlin. And then there are the posts from last year where I become insufferably self-important. So, looking at all of it together it is a rather embarrassing process of self-observation  - to say the least.

There are a few posts which are quite funny. Even re-reading them today and even though I am the one who wrote the stuff, I laugh. Like the one where the pig dies or the one where Xia organizes the computer. Reading these today I see that, naive shmaive, those early days did bring out the very best in me, which is of course the silly part of me. At some point I had to forsake the silly stuff since there was no longer a setting for it. The blog reflects the loss: For the last year or so I didn’t really like the stuff that Alpha was writing about. And the way in which she was writing, I liked even less. She was trying to fill a vacuum with a lot of spurious talk. Never worked. Which is why I eventually stopped altogether.

So, the few funny posts are probably the only things that make this blog worthwhile for me. Only reason why I am not deleting the whole thing really.