Half a decade, but mostly absent

On February 5, 2007, I created an avatar in Second Life. Little did I know what an impact that would have on me.

Looking good for an old SLer

A lot has changed in the past five years in both worlds. I am almost never in SL, but I still fondly remember all of the good times I had in world. I remember the friends that transcended the—putting this in quotes, as I didn’t refer to it or ever consider it this way—”game” we were playing. Though my real life has taken me elsewhere, I still love and miss you all.

If you happen by this blog, leave me a comment to let me know you’re still out there. I really hope all is well with you all.

All my love,

Chloe 🙂

Three years of virtual living

Recently, I passed my third rez day. It was an event that came and went without celebration or special notice. It just happened, and to be honest, that was perfectly fine with me.

It’s funny how quickly rez days have lost their significance. On my first rez day, I was upset because of a misunderstanding with Tobie that I blew out of proportion. Wanting to make my second rez day special, I decided to hold a party at my skybox. My best friends in SL showed up, including some who had been long absent. I had a great time and felt that I was reconnecting with some of my SL friends. Unfortunately, this did not carry over through my second year, during which I was mostly absent.

As I start my third year, I’m wondering—as you’ve seen me do here before—whether or not my SL days are winding down. Second Life has been immensely valuable to me as I have explored aspects of myself that I either did not know existed or had effectively ignored. I found love on the grid that would be too taboo in my RL. I found friends that I care about as if they were here with me in Indiana (a fate I would not wish on any of them). I have become a better person. A person more willing to accept the totality of herself instead of only acknowledging those things that are deemed appropriate by those around her (though that doesn’t mean I share such things with them—I still have a ways to go before that!). A person who—and forgive me for the cheesiness of this statement—is more willing to follow her heart.

At the moment, there isn’t a whole lot to draw me into SL. I keep trying to rekindle interest through creative projects, but they take up so much time that I find myself hesitant to work on them. I completed the latest chapter of Kyūketsuki recently, but I let so much time pass between chapters that interest has waned. I love that some of you are still willing to hold out for each successive chapter, but the goal of a writer is to be read, and very few people are reading what I’ve written. Again, I understand this entirely, but my understanding does not sustain my interest.

My relationship with SL kinda feels like one with an SO I’ve let go too long. The excitement has passed, and now we sit together, not doing much, just tolerating each other’s company. In a way, we know the end is inevitable, but there are so many good times in the past we hope can return that we continue to hold on.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts as I enter my third year. It could be that tomorrow I suddenly feel like I can’t live without SL. It will take a large change in direction, though. To be cliché, stranger things *have* happened 🙂

It’s up

Chapter 13 of Kyūketsuki is now up.

I hope you enjoy it!

Kyūketsuki chapter 13—it’s coming!

I am about halfway through writing chapter 13 of Kyūketsuki. I wanted to finish it yesterday, but I got distracted and wasn’t able to do so All of the pictures have been taken and edited in Photoshop, so if I don’t get the new chapter up today, I will soon (probably tomorrow).

This is a huge chapter for Kyūketsuki, and I’m really excited about it! Some of the mystery surrounding Tomo will start to be solved (though don’t expect to know everything).

Oh, and another not-so-important event is coming. Rez day number three is on Friday 🙂 If you see me in world, free free to say, “hi.” I’m going to try not to work in world that day, so I should be more sociable than usual.

Wishing everyone the best Christmas ever

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas! I meant to send out a Christmas greeting earlier . . . but I didn’t Anyway, I just wanted to wish you all well and maybe I’ll see more of you in the new year 🙂

Saki, one of the principal characters from the upcoming Anarkitty blog

Anarkitty

It’s finally happening. I’m getting excited about SL again 🙂

As you probably know by the numerous mentions I have made regarding it, I have a story blog titled Kyūketsuki. Though I have enjoyed working on it since its inception, I find it hard to add new posts. I feel that I’ve set the bar so high for myself when it comes to that blog that working on it has become, well . . . work. This effectively cut off one of my creative outlets and took away some of my motivation for SL.

Recently, I’ve had an idea in mind for another story blog. It grew from a group I had registered in SL a long time ago called Anarkitty. The idea at the time had been to create my own clothing line in world, but I never got the motivation to do a lot of designing for SL, other than my failed shape store, Pygmalion (still a good name for a shape store, though!). I began to think about what kind of storyline could be associated with that title, and it began to blossom in my mind, and I kept getting more and more excited as I thought about it 🙂

So, within the next few weeks, I will be unveiling Anarkitty, my newest story blog. The narrative follows a neko teenager who has fled her home country due to racial conflict. The story is influenced by a lot of different sources, though it will have a strong anime feel to it (in no small part due to the fact that the story is set in Japan).

Anyway, I hope you all will give it a chance. This in no way means that I have abandoned Kyūketsuki. I care about that story too much to not return to it. This will just be lighter fare to work on in between Kyūketsuki posts.

The star of the new story blog

Counting down

As I post this, I am in a race with the clock. You see, it is almost 10:30 PM as I type this on November 30, 2009, and I have not made a single post to Streeter Scene this month. For the first time since its inception, a month may go by without an update. Part of the blame rests on the simple fact that I have been in world very little. Unfortunately, I have been working more this fall, which has not left me an abundance of time to hop on the grid. Also, due to my absence, I have fallen out of touch with people, so even when I’m online, I find it hard to connect with my friends.

I’ve told myself for months that I’ll find the motivation again, and I’ve posted as much here. I have to continue Kyūketsuki, at the very least. It has become my one creative outlet over the past year or so.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving, for those of you who celebrate it. Hopefully, I’ll be posting again prior to the late night hours of December 31 🙂

Kyūketsuki Chapter 12

So, you know how I usually talk about how much I want to work on Kyūketsuki and then promise that I’ll make a new post sometime in the near future? Well, I decided to go against that trend and not post until the new chapter is up.

Without further ado, I present Chapter 12 of Kyūketsuki.

I’ve actually had the pictures done for nearly a month, and I just got around to writing the post. Sometimes, there’s just too much RL to deal with

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it 🙂

All work and no SL make Chloe . . . something something

I can’t say that I haven’t been in SL recently. I mean, just last Wednesday I logged in . . . to pay my tier.

RL has been very, very busy and has reduced my time for SL significantly. Add in the fact that I had been having problems finding the motivation to log on, and I’m pretty much a ghost these days.

I *do* miss all my friends out there, though. Hopefully, I’ll find time to play soon 🙂

Does SL have an expiration date?

I know we all grow disenchanted with SL from time to time, but it seems that more and more of the people who I became friends with during my early SL days are going away. Now, I can’t criticize (not that I would), as I have gone through long periods of absence in my two-and-one-half years in SL and likely would not be on very much now if one of my RL friends hadn’t started going in world, but it seems that very few of the people who I met and became friends with in my early days are around anymore.

Hence my question: does SL have an expiration date?

It just seems that we all start SL, become interested in the possibilities, form friendships, maybe get into a relationship (which will probably—maybe inevitably—end in heartache), try our hands at building or designing or whatever . . . and then we hit the point where we’re not sure why it is we’re logging in. Our friends aren’t around as much. We’ve seen all the really interesting places. We’ve given up on flirting due to a bad break-up. Things just happen that diminish the enjoyment we once had.

I’m fighting to keep SL fresh and interesting, and watching my friend establish herself in world is helping, but I’m not sure if this is just what I need to revive my interest or if I’m just keeping SL on life support, not wanting to finally let go.