Warm Winter Nights

This morning I was going through my feeds and stumbled in this post from Raul Crimson.

Although this is a Second Life related post, in fact it made me think about all my beloved ones that are gone and specially in this month.

My grandma had her birthday on the 24th, my mother on the 26th and a recent friend (who I first met in SL) would be having her birthday today.

I don’t do the cult of death like it is so traditional in the catholic religion, don’t go to the graveyard to see a stone just laying there. People I love are always in my mind in heart and I miss them terribly, even though many years have passed since they are gone.  However, this Memorial LL build and the way Raul talks about it made me think that may be having a quiet place to put my pixelated self and let my atomic brain digress would be a good idea.

Today after work I will be there, putting a candle in the virtual sea and wishing happy birthday to those I love, no matter time or space,  and that are with me every day of my life.

(Picture taken from here)

Yesterday we cellebrated 35 years of the Carnation revolution in Portugal. The dictatorship came to an end and we could breath at last.

Yesterday was a liberation day for me as well. Finally put an end to a too long opened chapter of my life and now I can move on without regrets or weights upon my shoulders.

Thank you all for all the support you have shown me during this hard and difficult year. Love you all.

Like some of you may already know, I met a lot of SL friends in the atomic world.

True friendships have developed between some fo us and with the others there is a merry relationship with a lot of conversation and laughing whenever we meet.

The groups of  bSL (before SL) and aSL (after SL) tend to blend, mixing the two worlds in a wonderful and unexpected way.

Yesterday I went to the airport with two friends to pick up a SL friend who is coming over for a short holiday. She came from the UK and it was “love at first sight”. The wonderful lady I met in SL was even more wonderful in person.

We went for a drink by the river, under the beautiful Lisbon sun, and we sat there talking about everything and nothing, from politics, to history, music, SL (of course) and we totally lost track of time. The sun was already low when we left with a warm feeling inside.

Later at home I couldn’t stop thinking how wonderful it is to be able to meet beautiful people and share a bit of eachother’s lives, may be even make a difference.

Afterall friendship has no country and it speaks its own universal language. Does it really matter where it begins?

When a new year is about to arrive, people seem to be aware of a lot of things.

Just like stores count inventories and do sales, people make a balance of the year that is ending, discarding things and making plans for the coming year.

And this goes on over and over again.

As years went by, I started to notice that what was discarded and being planned repeated itself. So one fine first day of a far year I decided never to do New Year’s wishes anymore.

Instead I started to live one day at the time, not making many plans, ’cause the Universe has its ways of making them fail.

So I try to be a better person every day, take the most of the good moments and forget the bad ones on a daily basis. Talk to the people I love whenever I can. Don’t get bored with minor things.

To sum it up I try to enjoy every minute of this short life of ours. Take me most of every experience, good or bad, which makes me grow as a human being. True I sometimes don’t succeed in doing it, but then again I am only human.

Nevertheless I am a happy person. Happyness is not a permanent state. It comes and goes. But somehow being aware of small things makes that happyness long. A rainbow in the sky, the smile on a friend’s face, a sentence in a book, that song playing on the radio, a “thank you” from someone or the “have a good day” from the waiter at the restaurant.

Seize the day, try to see the beauty of things and feelings every day, discard the bad things (and people) of your life and you will see that when the year ends life has been a lot brighter than you thought it would be.

May you all have a wonderful life, no matter whar the calendar says.

Yesterday was my second rezzday and being busy preparing Owl’s participation in a RL event and the SL events on the island for this week, barely had the time to realise it… if it weren’t for my friends to remind me – in fact they were doing that for almost a month DAILY!

I entered SL two years ago dragged by my best friend at that time, and it was really dragged cause I didn’t like online games (still don’t lol) and wasn’t really willing to try it.

Glad I did though. Lots of things changed in my life in these 2 years. Cried a lot, laughed a lot, discovered wonderful people, lost some friends along the way, discovered things about myself that were hidden deep and skills I never thought I could have, but above all I met a lot of marvelous, awesome, amazing people.

I have to thank you all for:

- Making me a better person

- Kicking my ass when I need to be kicked

- Cuddling me and drying my stubborn tears in times of distress

- Laughing with me (and at me grrr *winks)

- Showing me paths I never thought possible to cross

- Believing in me more than I do, always pushing me further

You are the reason I still am in Second Life, the reason I get back every night. Not the tasks, not the shopping, not the photography, not the parties. YOU are all that matters and without you Second Life would just be a beautiful empty place and RL would be poorer.

Thank you for all your love and care, for the wonderful surprises you made me yesterday. You are all in my heart and I am here for you whenever and wherever you need me. You make both my lifes warmer and richer each day.

In Second Life like iRL things sometimes don’t go as we wished they would.

After more than one year in Portucalis building dreams, mine and others, together with a wonderful group of friends, I see myself forced to leave.

Lots of things have been happening iRL that have unfortunately reflected in my second life.

Again the relationships between people are the issue. I have seen it before and even helped (or tried to) some friends getting over it, but never thought that my best friend in no matter what world would put me against a wall and tried to force me to choose between her and another of my friends.

How can someone just erase feelings? Impossible! At least for me. So I maintained my position of not choosing which led to my best friend’s backing up and putting an end to our long lasting friendship in a stubborn position if “you are not with me, you are against me”.

Both lives have been affected. My RL is poorer now, in spite of all the very very good friends I have. Loosing someone always hurts. My SL was also affected and what was once a place I called home, has become some where I feel I’m persona non grata. Besides, the business partnership ended and all of a sudden I see myself with monthly tiers I just can’t afford. I tried during the past months to search for ways to keep my little corner in Portucalis, even thought of getting some of the abandoned land for myself, but I realised that would affect badly my RL (thanks God for the holidays that put my mind back on track) and just had to put an end to those crazy thoughts. No way a place that should be my playground is going to affect my daily survival in the atomic world.

So guys I am leaving Portucalis but I am not leaving friends and feelings. It is just a piece of virtual land where I was once happy.

Time to start overwith friends all around me and a smile on my face, taking with me the good memories and leaving the bad ones behind.

Soon I will be posting about the new place and hope you stop by to say hello.

Cen just made a post tagging no one and everyone under this title. It is kind of funny so here it goes:

RL

I’m too lazy to walk so I drive everywhere and always manage to get a parking space in front of wherever I’m going

Cannot resist ice cream, no matter what the flavour is

First things I do when I arrive home is heels off and pet my cat

I love to stand by my window just looking at the river (watching the ships roll in hehe)

SL

I usually have my camera zoomed out, only focusing on people when I take photos. Once in a while I go “Wow, you got a nice new skin” to get an answer like “I have it for 2 months now”

I log in early morning (GMT) on weekends to organise inventory and end up doing everything but that. (any hints on how I can reduce my 27k+ items? Deleting it without opening not a solution *winks)

I am, like Cen, shy naked. And wearing a bikini applies too (I usually wear a sarong with it). Thanks for sharing that Cen. I thought I was the only one hehe

I still have the initial shape me and siss did together on our first day (as most of you know we are look alike twins)

Hate people that leave 2 storey buildings on my beach

Some of you might know some of these things about me, but anyway here it stays for those who don’t

When I first logged in into Second Life I was far from knowing what this could become.

I had previous experiences in chat rooms where I found good friends that I keep until now, but never thought that this new “game” would develop this way.

It was my RL birthday last saturday. On Friday night I logged in just to finish a dispute that was going on in a club at Portucalis, warned by a friend, and was immediately caugt by siss that tried to distract me with the Sales going on at Truth (by the way… they have great bargains there, take a look if you have the chance).

I was really tired cause it had been a busy busy week at the office but I promised her I would stay until midnight for her to wish me Happy Birthday.

Siss organised this great great party in less than half an hour and all my friends who were online dropped by. You guys leave me speachless. Thank you all for the great time I had and for all your care.

Went to bed at 2 am with a smile on my face and warmth in my heart.

Saturday I had a dinner party planned with rl friends (some of which I met in SL) and I had this surprise I simply lack of words to describe.

My friends that have nothing to do with Second Life (except for knowing me hehehe) managed to get in touch with my SL friends in Portugal and abroad and gave me the BEST present I had in all my life. Something I always wanted to do (and had to also) and never could afford.

I have to thank you all from the bottom of my heart. You have done for me more than you can imagine and no words can describe how I feel happy, moved, touched for all the care and love you have shown for me. Don’t know if I deserve you, but I asure you that I’m here for you for whatever you need and you are all in my heart forever.

To all of those out there that don’t believe in friendship and in people, I just have one thing to say, when you are able to touch people’s hearts and they touch yours, the bonds that are created will not break. Friends are the best you can have in no matter what world, having met them in the flesh or not. And the present I had on saturday, the way people that never met before joined together to do what you guys did it is simply the proof of it.

It is the reason why I keep believing in people and I am the luckiest person in the whole world for having you all in my life.

From Friday to Sunday I have to say this was the Best weekend I ever had in my (already long) life.

Thank you again all of you for being there and for caring. Love you all !!!!