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 you hold somebody’s heart in your hands, your head twists and turns.

And I have the proof

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.

My good friend Elora decided to tag me with the following challenge (her post is in Portuguese):

- Post your photo

- Choose a band/artist

- Answer the questions just with song titles from the chosen band/artist

- Tag 4 people

So here it goes

My photo:

- The band: Queen

The answers:

1. How would you describe yourself? I’m going slightly mad
2. What do people think about you? Friends will be friends
3. How would you describe your latest romantic relationship? Save me
4. Describe your present relationship. A winter’s tale
5. Where you would like to be now? The Seven Seas (of Rhye)
6. What do you think about love? A kind of magic
7. How is your life? The show must go on
8. What would you ask if only one wish was granted to you? Heaven for everyone
9. Write a wise sentence. Spread your wings

I tag (and if you don’t answer no worries guys):

June Jurak

Dyami Jameson

Looker Loomet

Marina Xi

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.

Earlier this year LL started a new Land policy which included the Openspace SIMs. At a buying cost of USD$250 and a monthly tier of USD$75, many SIM owners started to buy those to join their anchor islands, mainly due to demands from their rentors.

Now LL has done it again.

Like they state in their blog post “Rather than being employed as open areas like ocean with little or no content and traffic, the majority are being rented out to residents looking for a place to live. Because they were never intended for that level of load this is causing problems. For some people this has meant a less than great experience with performance fluctuations. The overuse of Openspaces has also put additional strain on some of our network and database infrastructure at a much higher ratio than is reflected in the current pricing. So higher traffic to and from the servers along with heavier demands on the asset server, both of which impact the overall experience people have inworld.”

So what are they doing to decrease the heavier demands on traffic and servers? Nothing.

So what are they doing to just ruin everyone’s fun? Everything.

The tier prices will increase 66% (yes you read well S-i-x-t-y  S-i-x percent) i.e. plus USD$50 per month and the acquisition price will be of USD$375.

An increase of USD$50 per Openspace will be unbearable for most of both the residents and landowners (we have a worldwide economy crisis guys, remember?) and I’m sure this is going to make many leave SL for good due to disappointment and many beautiful places disappear, thus making this world of ours poorer and sadder.

I will stay here waiting to see what LL comes up next.

… can be dreadful. And as I actually don’t feel like doing the tons of work I have at the office I was reading blogs and found this meme in Dyami’s blog, so here it goes:

*Where is your cell phone? desk
*Worst bad habit? smoking
*Hair? long
*Fave food? portuguese
*Fave thing? music
*Dream last night? yes
*Fave drink? Coke
*Dream/Goal? living
*Room you are In? office
*Your ex? no
*Your fear? pain
*Where do you want to be in 6 years? Bora-Bora
*Where were you last night? Owl’s
*What you’re not? cynical
*Muffins? Chocolate
*Wish list item? books
*Where did you grow up? Lisbon
*Last thing you do? phonecall
*What are you wearing? suit
*Your tv? cable
*Your pets? cat
*Your computer? Dell
*Your life? happy
*Your mood? good
*Missing something? holidays
*Your car? Opel
*Something you are not wearing? jewelry
*Fave store? C&A
*Your summer? Great
*Love someone? always
*Last time you laughed? today
*Last time you cried? last week