fabulousity ஜ in SL

I saw a note the other day from a friend of a friend a farewell of sorts.  This person and I had only encountered each other once and it did not go well and I had remembered them only based on that fact.  I stereotyped this person as a "Peter/Petrina Peeper". An engaged voyeur, a person who engages in Second Life mostly to watch others live virtually, they collect hundreds of friends but never commit or fully bond to anyone.  Most of their conversations center around how their First Life is so much better then Second Life yet they continue to log in.  They put a lot of effort into drawing all the attention in the room but then later say Second Life is just a game and criticize others for their commitment or adoration.

As typical the note went on and on about how they have realized the insanity of being in SL for hours and how SL has taken away from their First Life and real relationships.  Basically how they have wasted their time in virtuality and the people they have met in SL are a sub-species of friends who are disposable and not really important.  But what struck me the most was a convoluted statement that basically said "God isn’t in SL the carnal temptation there is just too great."  I consider myself not to be a heathen and practice the tenets of more than one religion.  I grew up Baptist but my beliefs in God has evolved into a more personal and spiritual relationship.

One of my core beliefs is that God is everywhere!  This is supported in the bible, Revelations 1:8,

    "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, said the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

In fact, God exists more in the unreality then the real.  Therefore, God fully exists in the virtual.  He is in Second Life.  It is evidenced by many others who believe that as well and they support their belief by establishing flourishing virtual church communities.  A simple search reveals many churches tied to first life organizations.  There are Christians, Catholics, Later-Day Saints, Scientologists, Sabbatarians and Unitarians, which is just a small sampling of church-goers.  This search sampling did not include the Buddhists, Taoists, Shamanism, Muslims or Metaphysicists but they are represented in Second Life as well.

People bring their full personalities with them into Second Life, their hurts, their loves, their dreams their beliefs and their prejudices.  There is no separation of the first life persona from the second, one might experiment and reinvent but at the core there is just the one "self".  If you have a "God" in your heart then you bring him/her with you into SL.  Second Life many times is the scapegoat for those who don’t take responsibility for their own shortcomings.  Most people use it as an escape instead of an extension of their lives.  Second Life provides opportunity and freedom which I guess for most is too much when they only want to run from who they are.  Your faith and personal relationship with God should not end just because you are virtual.  I can’t fathom how Second Life alone would cause a person’s soul to be in jeopardy.  How exactly does a "carnal temptation" in Second Life exist in a way that is more potent then in first life?  How does the ability to become virtual make you forget or put you at odds with God?

SIDEBAR:

For those who would like to visit a church in SL, I found these places to be quite nice.  Although the first person I encountered while visiting one church was a man named "Luciferous" and at another church a second person I saw was a woman named "SavedByGrace".  I was really touched when I found a woman praying aloud at the catholic chapel.



FAIRCHANG CHURCH






BLESSED ISLAND



Calvary Chapel Second Life 





Mormon Latter-day Saints

I have been thinking about changing my skin, it looks a bit flat in pictures now. I have seen quite a few photo-realistic skins that I think would be similar to my current look so I am excited about a change. But it is a hard decision to make, because I really adore my current skin. It is made by Pulse and comes with a set of makeups that are both neutral and dramatic. What makes this skin most unique to me is that is comes freckled. This skin is very similar to what I look like in my first life and I just love it. So I begin the quest to find a new skin that doesn't really change my look just upgrades me a bit. After wasting a couple of days looking at skins I gave up on the idea of changing my look.



Then later while working on my store at the SL Marketplace I ran into a makeup kit that comes in a tattoo layer. Since 2008 I have been fascinated with skin with makeups but have been limited in that the finding the right makeup with the right skin is not an easy task. Since I am darker skinned the lipsticks are usually so dark as well. Most skin designers do not realize that not all darker skinned girls like to wear plum lipstick we like red and pinks as well as the next girl. The kit is made by Ngel Vella and it is fantastic!!!





This makeup kit is a eye tattoo layer that lays over any pre-existing makeup you have to enhance your look. It comes with or without eyelashes which is really smart. No more waiting for your lashes to rez separately and no painstaking adjustments. Ngel also sells lipstick tattoos that are marvelous as well, the red lipstick I am wearing though is from my original skin and not apart of the makeup kit. I will add that the pricing for this kit is very very reasonable a definite must have for any fashionista. Thank you Ngel for giving new life to my old skin

•~✿~•~•~✿~•~•~✿~•~•~✿~•~•~✿~•

HAIR: *mikan_Hair_Love mouse_black_M, mikan

MAKEUP: B[u]YME Set1A Make Up, B[u]YME

I am perturbed by botgirl's(guy's) post. It is so pretentious. I am always surprised the way that some people act in regards to Second Life, its social structure and their place in it.

Basically, Second Life is a large community of people who try to find a way to connect with others in a way that seems real to them.

In many ways it is make believe personified, Star Wars enthusiasts log on and role play then proclaim "we are Jedi", some log on and shop and proclaim, "we are fashion", a limited few log on and allow others to dominate them and proclaim, "we are nothing" and then an infinitesimal group log on and blog and proclaim "we are special and not a part of the Second Life masses because we blog."

That is stupid!

Only in Second Life can you proclaim yourself to be whatever you want to be without any truth in it. In First Life, you are TOLD who you are based on the society in which you are a part of, your accomplishments and skills, or your economic status. Conversely, in Second Life you can just make it up. You can even go further still to support your fairytale; by surrounding yourself with people who agree to pretend with you, then poof you deem yourself SPECIAL by way of a falsely inflated self-perception. And therein lies the crux of my irritation with botgirl’s(guy’s) post.

The simple reality check of it all is, anyone with a Second Life account is a part of the MASS there is no special login for bloggers, fashionistas, slaves or Jedi. We all are “Second Life”.

The concept of the SILENT majority is silly. It implies that just by way of blogging you have more influence on or in Second Life then others who do not blog.

Most of the Second Life blogs that get traffic do so just because they are there.  There is no valid or impartial system in place which definitively grades or certifies the quality of the content. Many bloggers band together to support each other in a way that mimics an authority but a group of close friends and fellow bloggers does not a valid or impartial system make.

Most of those who blog about Second Life, are not skilled writers and basically don’t blog anything that is useful. Second Life bloggers are not a special elite group of intelligent and well-informed people although I suspect many think they are. The majority are just regular people who are of the Second Life masses, with access to blogger/wordpress/typepad and blog what they are feeling in that exact moment, what they are wearing, who is fired at Linden Labs, intensely inappropriate personal information and other non ending streams of nonsensical blah, blah, blah.

Therefore botgirl (guy) ascertains that although he/she is a part of the Second Life mass he/she is clueless as to what his/her own community thinks, that I agree is....CLUELESS.

Amid rumors this month that Microsoft is poised to buy Linden Labs, Phillip Rosedale again steps down as CEO, to pursue his Love Machine project.  It seems that in the past couple of years the executive offices at Linden Labs are in a flux of seesawing.  Linden Labs seems to have no direction, apathy abounds and there is no real leadership.

One can only ponder what changes would happen if Microsoft manned the helm.  Years ago Microsoft adopted the Windows Principles and these principles could invariability change Linden Labs for the better.  The Windows Principles are empowering, opportunity and inoperability.

Empowering Choice - the commitment of designing software that is easy to use.  That accepts the addition of other applications.  It also promises no retaliation against anyone supporting non-Microsoft products.

Opportunities for Developers -   the commitment to preserve opportunities for application designers and website creators to build innovative products on the Microsoft platform.

Inoperability for Users -  the commitment to meet customers inoperability needs and to do so in ways that allow customers to control their data and exchange information securely and reliably across diverse computer systems and applications.