Ride Like A Girl!!!

WOW- all i can say is OMFG - KILLER HILLS. Didn't expect that on this ride, but there they were. I made it 53 miles before my knee gave out - GO ME!!!!! - WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO
Thanks Graeme - you're the best coach ever!! =) (next goal: 100 flatter miles by September)
Here are some pics from the ride. The other riders are my sister and a friend from school.

The Compass Always Points to Terrapin Station

Inspiration, move me brightly...

The new Terrapin Station is one of the great places on Dark Star, built by none other than the talented Starling Glitterbuck, where deadheads and hippies can listen to awesome streams of shows courtesy of Casey Jonas.

The story behind the building of the new Terrapin station is really interesting. Last night, Starling shared the story with me.

I think I was about 4 months old when i built the first terrapin. I was on the mainland. Sutherland was the name of the sim. It was next to a bridge, but actually there was a terrapin station before that. I found it one night it was a very small place. I met a guy named Conrad there, and then a guy named Lovesmiley. The three of us spent one night dancing and talking about music in this old Terrapin Station. And that night we made the further tribe.

And I started building the new Terrapin Station because the old one which was owned by Conrad sucked so we started buying land and I built the new Terrapin Station. I was pretty newbed out, still it was a box and really besides my little house was my first real build.

At some point, well, I had that first station for a while. There wasn’t really much of a live music scene then. It was mostly just I played gd radio and like no one came. Maybe a couple people a week would stop by but really it was so few. After a while I had a few people who came sometimes, but really it wasn’t much.

Conrad went away, and basically, I had the station with a Darkstar room, a smoking lounge, and I was making my bus. Then I got this offline from this guy. It said something like, "This place is great!!!" Something like that. I was making the bus one day, and that guy came by. We started talking, and he never left. It was Casey. He hung out at Terrapin with me, and then he started helping me and streaming. And I told him about my ideas and he told me how this could be possible. And then we got Darkstar. That was about a year and a half ago.

We wanted a hippie community and I wanted to build a shrine to the Grateful Dead, recreate as much of the scene as possible, and also pay tribute. What was unexpected to me and the best surprise to me is that as I make these things I learn a LOT and I reconnect. And like for instance, I made this game - it’s in the lobby of the hotel - if you click on the phone you get a message and a choice of room numbers. The message is for a Grateful Dead character, who is supposedly staying at Mars Hotel. You gotta figure out who the message is for and then figure out what room they are in. To build this game I had to learn about all the characters in the songs. I have 48 characters in there. Now when I hear these songs I get sooo much more out if it. It’s like they are new again. And I’ve loved these songs all my life. And that’s the best part about making Darkstar, because I'm the lucky one. I get more out of it than anyone because I am creating it.

As far as the new Terrapin Station goes, like i said, it was one of my first builds. It was my first, it was messy, haa, and it was out dated. So I decided that I would model it after the limited edition Terrapin Station album. Since I made a Terrapin station already, I didn’t think I could do it really, because I couldn’t see it very well in any of my images. But Casey scanned his poster and I was able to create an interpretation that’s pretty close to the art.

Here are some shots of the old Terrapin Stations

Sutherland


Darkstar


Many many thanks to Starling for sharing her story and pictures, for her wonderful builds, and her beautiful tribute to the most amazing group of musicians I know. Many thanks also to Casey Jonas for putting together a great community of Deadheads and for streaming such great music for us. Finally thanks to Haily Jewell (cuz) for contributing some of these pictures.

Finding the SL/RL Balance

A friend reminds me how seductive Second Life can be. The sun always shines (I've only seen a rain cloud purposely placed over an avatar once in the 14 months I've been here) good music and dancing are everywhere, my av looks perpetually 25, clothes ALWAYS fit, I never have a bad hair day, my ass never looks fat, and I can have as many shoes in my inventory as I want. Does it get any better than that? Top that off with romance and sex for those interested, and anyone can be led astray in that world.

It is very hard for real life to compete with such perfection and bliss. Especially when the demands of RL are overwhelming and an escape valve is needed. I see this in so many people I meet in SL. But the seduction of SL is great, and it is frighteningly easy to give up more and more of RL to live in an easier world. But RL is not so forgiving. RL will only stand by for so long. While it is different for each of us, our real lives have a critical mass to maintain. As we digress into our fantasy worlds, friends become concerned. They notice. They care. But until that critical mass is reached, we can ignore their warnings.

But at that critical point, our real lives roar. They shout to be noticed. They demand our attention. I am at that point.

My real life is calling me. And I must respond. I must learn to balance my worlds better. To stay in the moment. To keep a perspective on my priorities. I have no intention of giving up my second life, but I must make sure it does not take priority over my first life.

SL in Schools

I have been toying with the idea of using SL as a platform for teaching various subjects and working on interdisciplinary projects. I first heard about SL at a Tech Expo for educators in New York. The workshop was given by a middle school library media specialist, who is the SecondLife facilitator at her school. She works with other teachers in all subject areas and across subject areas to teach her teachers and students how to teach and learn in a 3D virtual world.

There is a lot of discussion as to whether of not social networking sites, and especially virtual world, can enhance the learning process. Dr. Lisa Dawly has been studying using 3D virtual worlds, specifically SecondLife, as a learning tool. She defines Social Network Knowledge Construction as a framework for how students can interact and learn and actually impacts the learner's thinking process. She argues then that new pedagogies are needed to effectively integrate new ways of communicating into the learning environment.

My RL colleagues, and now SL friends as well, and I are putting together a grant to develop a SecondLife platform on the Teen Grid to use in our middle and/or high school(s). I'm looking to meet with/talk to anyone who has an interest in also developing such a platform or has already developed one. I think we would be still on the cutting edge of this form of learning, but would be among the first to produce students who are capable of creative and collaborative work, a necessary skill in today's and especially tomorrow's job market...

The Five Boro Bike Tour

Yesterday, May 4th, I rode with a friend on the NYC Five Boro Bike Tour. What a blast. Thanks Coach Graeme for helping me get ready!!!!! Here are some pics

Hey Now

First let me say - Mean People Suck

I'm not sure why people have to be so mean to each other - especially in SL. Whats the point? If you can't have fun here - whats the point? And peace-loving hippies should know better.

Anyway - I want to share some cool pics. I'll be adding them a few at a time - so check back often.

top to bottom:
Dancing in the lot at DarkStar
Terris, Jon, and Yamis at Black Swan

GG at the piano

Is It a Game?

An interesting conversation has been going around here and there - nothing major - on Ripple and DarkStar about people's view of SL. Is it a game, or is it an extension of reality? It's pretty clear that no two people have the same experiences in SL or even came to SL for the same reasons (or are staying in SL for the same reasons).

So for me, when I first got here I wasn't sure what the hell was going on - so I couldn't really tell if I was in a game or an alternate reality. I met people who played the game and were very clear that they kept RL and SL separate. Other people shared their stories: where in the RL world they lived (general area), what they did, etc.

I don't know how to be anyone other than me, and I've been called a really bad liar more than once (and my alt was outed by my friends within minutes). So I am going for the open approach. Ask me about me, and I'll tell you (within reason). I want people to know me. SL has become an extension of my life - new friends, new experiences, but all for me. And yes, my nickname in RL is Yamis (pronounced Yaymis - thanks Grateful for being so clear about that always - lol).

For those of you on the "its a game" side of the spectrum, you might be the lucky ones who haven't been consumed and addicted to SL (see the link on the right for more about SL addictions "We only dream in wireframe") and I respect your view of the game. For those on the "reality" end of the spectrum - will we ever be able to leave? Do we even want to?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this...