How anyone has managed to deal with me for an entire year is beyond me, but today marks my and Tobie’s first anniversary.

So, um, yeah . . . it might not be the best time to contact me if you see me in world tonight

It sucks. It linked from a blog post about a RL tornado to my Damnation post, which was about a pic I put together and posted to Flickr.

Whomever the unfortunate soul was who came here looking for anything to do with tornadoes, I apologize.

On May 2, 2007, while she and I were at Curious Kitties shopping, Tobie gave me the push that would lead to our relationship and a year of wonderful memories

For the occasion, I made this video showcasing some of our best times together.

A better version can be found here in my Flickr stream.

Love you, kitten

So, when did you say I can expect the bus?

Today, I’ve been thinking of all that has transpired in the nearly fifteen months I’ve been in SL. I know what you’re thinking (yes, I can read minds—forget Miss Cleo, Miss Chloe is the real deal!). How is this any different than what I normally do? Haven’t we all been reading post after post of me mulling over all the details of my Second Life and what they mean?

Well, yeah, I suppose so. That’s just the way I am and, in all likelihood, it’s the way I will continue to be.

Anyway, it’s interesting for me to look back over 200+ posts and see where I’ve been. While I still believe I am neurotic as ever , there are differences in me. I think I’m a little more secure with myself. I entered SL at a time when my RL was beginning to come apart, and I think that it has helped me to maintain a little bit of sanity. On the other hand, SL has actually been a source of stress in RL. There have been times when things go badly in SL, and I find myself bummed and frustrated in RL. It is as if there is a symbiotic relationship now between the two lives. They can feed off of one another in beneficial ways, but the potential remains for one to affect the other negatively.

After looking at where all I’ve been in SL—the good friends I’ve made, the things I’ve seen, the lessons I’ve learned, the mistakes I’ve made, and the love I’ve found—I of course have to wonder what lies ahead. I am on the verge of partnering with Tobie (yes, we’re moving ahead with the plans), something that has been a long time coming. I will have been with her for a year on May 6, and though we’ve had to weather my six months of dial-up, her ascension to a very time-consuming role with the Catwalkers, and my neuroses , we remain together. The thought of partnering with her makes me smile, and I am looking for the day that we can share our happiness with the ones we care about most in SL.

But what then?

We’ve all heard that life is not about the destination, but the journey. My journey has been long to get to this point, and it is culminating with a marriage to the cutest and coolest neko in SL . . . not to mention the biggest smart ass on the grid I am very curious what the next journey will be. Hopefully, it does not lead to Arnold Friend, like the protagonist the story from which this post steals its name.

And I hope, very sincerely, that those of you who take the time to check my blog continue on the journey with me

A side note for those of you who have read the story from which this post steals its name—remove the “r”s from “Arnold Friend” and see what is left. I just learned about this tonight

Two of the people whom I really care about in SL are having their birthdays tomorrow (because it’s still Saturday here) and on Monday, so I’m sending out the best birthday wishes ever to both of them

Happy birthday, you two! All my love to you both!

You know, in a totally platonic, yet totally fangirlish way

If you don’t know who June Dion is, she’s the woman behind Bare Rose Tokyo. And if you don’t know why I <3 her, it’s because she offered to sponsor Kyūketsuki. I sent her a wish list of twenty outfits that I thought I would be able to use for the blog, and she sent all twenty!

You’ll see some of the new outfits in the next post, and some won’t appear until much later. This is *so* awesome, as it will allow me a little more flexibility in the storyline

So, as I was none-too-discreetly called out for not mentioning my friend the Professor in the last post, I will do so now

I met the good Professor back when I bought my first land in Farstone. We were neighbors for a time, and I think we got along at first because I was teaching freshman composition then. Though I haven’t had the opportunity to spend much time with the Professor since moving away from Farstone, but we have had some memorable times. I even got him to buy his first prim hair, though I’m still not entirely sure he’s sold on it Anyway, I have spoken to the Professor a couple of times recently after a very long period of silence (which I blame him for). It’s been good to reconnect with a friend from the early days

Last night, I got to spend some time with Rosie, and not at the club this time We did a little bit of exploring and talking and being stalked by a guy who shed his clothes at one point to show us his prim penis. Yep, another smooth character Rosie and I finished the night by going and seeing some of the buildings her friend Nate Ninetails had made. It was very cool to see what he had done, and I commented a few times on how I could have used his buildings for Kyūketsuki. I also met his RL and SL wives, though I really did not get a chance to talk to either, since we were moving around so much looking at his buildings. As we were saying our goodbyes, he dropped one of his buildings in my inventory, which was very cool. Now, if I just had a place to rez it . . .

OK, I have to wrap this up, as it’s time to leave for work. <3 you all

Chloe

On Sunday, I made a new friend, which isn’t a common occurrence for me these days. His name is James, and we met while in the Knightsbridge sim. Though we didn’t spend any time with each other there, he struck up a conversation with me through IM, and we continued to talk for the next 2-3 hours.

With my new friend, James

At the end of the night, we met back up in one of the most boring sims I could possibly hope to find (for some reason, I had the landmark in my inventory and I wanted to see what the place was). We finished out the night chatting away, about what I can’t even remember. It was nice, though

This week, I’ve been in SL a little more, and I’ve been fortunate enough to spend more time with my established friends I got to spend time with Tobie at the Lounge of Dreams, listening to Rosie dj. Rosie even allowed me to dedicate a song to Tobie If only I hadn’t been drinking so much so that I remembered it better . . .

I’ve also had the opportunity to spend time with Dirk this week, which tends to be entertaining (and sometimes frightening). This time, we just hung out at Chakryn Forest, which was nice.

Hangin’ with my homie

OK, so that’s pretty much it. I’ll be back with more tales of the thrilling adventures of Chloe Streeter soon

I probably need to read over it once again to edit it, but I’m not going to do that right now. I’m just glad to finally have it up

Anyway, you can find it here. As always, I welcome any comments

The two of us at Prim Hearts

Yep, as of today, Tobie and I have been together 11 months! Of course, this means we are one short month away from our first anniversary!

I think we *may* host the Blogger party next month. Since our relationship started at the first Blogger party, I thought it might be cool to share our anniversary with the people who were there at the beginning. Of course, I’ll post back here with info, if that is what we decide to do