Silence surrounded me, just the waves dared to break it, softly kissing the shore, like lovers playing hide-and-seek. Above in the sky the moon smiled, looking at me from behind the autumn leaves. I smiled back and thanked her for the message. I slowly stand up, turning my back to her. Tonight I’ll sleep in peace.
One of these days someone asked me “don’t you have a Real Life?”. I’m sure lots of you have already heard this question whenever you say that you spend some (many!) hours per week in Second Life or in any other online “game” and that you have friends there.
Well for me Second Life is a part of my so called “Real Life”, like watching TV, reading a book, going to the movies or being face to face with friends.
In fact, I spend more time with my SL friends than I do with my RL ones, and not because I don’t like being with them. It’s just that each one ”lives” sometimes don’t let us be together as often as we wanted. In SL we can be together day after day when we have 5 minutes or 1 hour to spare without leaving home and that is one of the things I find wonderful in this “communication platform” as I like to call it: you can really be with your friends and take the most out of the time you spend with them.
People get to know each other better, choose with whom to speak, find affinities and really connect with others. Someone who has never experienced this, might find it hard to believe that real friendships and feelings develop in such an environment. I often get asked how can I be friends to someone that I don’t know… but that is exactly the point: you really get to know the “real” people behind the avi and the way people are inside is the most important – hearts and minds don’t need to have a “body”.
(OH! And don’t take me wrong, I do get out a lot and am with friends (face to face) as often as I can!)
When I arrived home yesterday, the beach was packed with friends all watching my friend Halden building this great photo studio with gorgeous winter landscapes on the back… and he was there for more than one hour, building, replacing, moving the glows to get the best light and angle.
The result: The picture showing at the top of this blog, all done inworld, with no photoshop processing except the resizing to fit in here. (Is the guy a genius or what?)
And it was him that also helped me to “give birth” to this project and is as patient as a saint to teach me all that a good (cough cough) blogger has to know.
All this to say a big Thank You Halden and that it is an honour and a privilege to be your friend.
P.S.: I’ll try to show some of his great photos here, if he will let me ofcourse. (Can I, Can I? Puizzeee?)
The warmth of the fire place while the rain sings on the roof. Slow music playing on the radio and the flames start a never ending dance. Strong, yet tender arms around me. Suddenly the thunder lets its voice be heard. I startle and open my eyes. I’m alone. Only a dream and the sky outside is still crying…
Warm winter nights, where stories are told and words are blown away by the wind.
Stories about new worlds, new friends, new feelings…
A new home where friends are welcomed and strangers become friends.
