Summer, Ephemeria & Cycles

And its September once again…

Where did time go?

Summer went by like a gush of wind and all its left are the tingling sensations in your skin, memories of what you felt in that brief moment in time.

It’s back to work now. Full time. Full projects. Full schedule. Plenty of deadlines. Some projects and wishes too. Fall is nearing by, with leafs lavishing the ground and stripping down the trees for the cold weather that starts to blow over us. Summer’09 is nearly a memory of the past. Good memories. Very good indeed.

Sure… the wall isn’t painted yet…

Sure… it was not enough…

Of course it could have been more…

But it was unique alright. And for that a treasure to keep.

Perhaps the end was more nostalgic then I wished it to be so. But in perspective it was inevitable to feel blue with the days passing and the realization of what was to come clearer every day.

It’s now over an year that Pumpkin & I met in-world. Over an year since we hooked up unofficially… and 53 weeks since we officially partnered inworld. That’s a whole year plus some spare days. It doesn’t feel like that long… but it also feels like it has been like that since ever.

We ended up hardly doing anything to celebrate the day with all the blues hitting us with the incoming summer vacations end… it was a pity actually… we did spend a hell of a great Summer and even feeling like an ephemera sensation, it marks a point in time I’m proud of.

Let’s see what time will hold for us in the meantime…

Afterall, from what I’ve heard… each year that goes by tends to hold an individual package of Summer inside.

Summer’s Almost Gone – The Doors

Summer’s almost gone,
Summer’s almost gone,
Almost gone,
Yeah, it’s almost gone.
Where will we be
When the summer’s gone?

Morning found us calmly unaware,
Noon burned gold into our hair,
At night we swam at laughin’ sea
When summer’s gone, where will we be?
Where will we be?
Where will we be?

Morning found us calmly unaware,
Noon burned gold into our hair,
At night, we swam at laughin’ sea
When summer’s gone, where will we be?

Summer’s almost gone,
Summer’s almost gone.
We had some good times,
But they’re gone,
The winter’s comin’ on,
Summer’s almost gone.

Virtual Dreams aren’t just made of pixels

A rendering of virtual personas or a projection of real emotions?

I have little doubts about it.

Changing Tides

Life is full of changes. I end up undergoing a few even if I claim not to enjoy change that much. In the past weeks… well, two months almost since my last post, many changes took place, small or not so small, who can tell? I’d been eager to write but failed to find time or inspiration to do so, so… this will end up short but at least it will come out, as a smoke sign that this blog is still kicking… or at least dragging itself

Anyway, I went to watch Carmina Burana a few weeks ago. It was nice and a differente evening. You can hear the full concert (from another orquestra & choir & location) below.

- Lyrics here -

Besides that… well… life takes its turns, that’s for sure. Some we have no power over them, other we do. After over 13 months working at Sweethearts Jazz Club in SL I gave up my job as a host there (I was one of the oldest ones still working there). It was kind of sad and I’d been dragging that decision over and over… but eventually it was the right thing to do. It no longer felt like fun and only as work for me lately. I didn’t like that. When I first started there, the money was much less and I worked much longer hours… but it ended up being more rewarding. This of course is also due to my own personality I guess, ‘cuz I tend to prefer small intimate places other then large big and crowded venues. Plus, my RL work was cramping me free time and it was a constant struggle to get home and spend two hours there when I had so much else to do.

*Sigh*

Anyway… I’ve met lots of interesting people working there at Sweethearts. Made a few friends. Learned a few things. About me… about others. It was a worthwhile experience… and looking back, I feel much more relieved having left it. I wasn’t doing a great job anymore, just punching the card and the keyboard… new blood will surely do a better job then I was doing in these final months I worked there.

Aside from that FreeLife Magazine has been on a way extended hiatus for… pfff…. way too long. Not that I would have much time to write from them though Yet, I miss writing for them. It was such a cool experience… oh well, like the opening from Carmina Burana says… “O Fortuna, like the moon, you are changeable, ever waxing and waning;” Such is one’s life, new things arriving, old ones vanishing… eh…

Hmmm…. anyway talking about RL, a few twists and turns happen there too.

I got my own car now Its neat. Still getting used to the idea though. My personal life is also taking unexpected steps forward… never thought I’d be where I am right now an year ago. Eh… an year ago. Time’s funny. How all the dates, celebrations and events seem to blend in to a collective memory, distorting time and our perception of it… Summer’s here. That’s for sure. Where we’ll we been in one year’s time? Pfff…. I can’t even begin to guess…

Such is life… one day at a time and each day seems shorter and shorter. Can’t get enough time to do all I wanted to do. Maybe I just need to organize myself a little better. Grow up a little more perhaps. Live a little more… eh… many things have happen, I just didn’t wrote them…

Anyway… Hope I can get back in to a more regular posting scheme

Cheers

On SL Partnership Proposal Limitations

I claim to be a somewhat romantic person.

Of course that is open to discussion by those that suffer the consequences of my romanticism (or lack of it) so I won’t diddle about it much more then that. But asides from that small matter… one has tickled me for quite some time and I’ve been holding this thought in my mind for quite a bit.

In Second Life people can get partnered with another avatar.

Meaning something from being a casual couple, boyfriends, a couple, a married couple, fuck partner, soul mates, master/slave… heck, who knows what else? For me, it means that the other person is not just a friend anymore, it has grown way past that, and the two of us have become romantically involved… which in time can lead to share more and more things, living together and just let your imagination flow…

Anyway, my rant is about the process of asking for a Partnership in SL !

Sure, you can plan an all grand display of affection in-world for the big moment and ask your to-be partner the big question, or go for a intimate and felt display of emotion… either way, to make it official you need to inform (and pay a small amount) to Linden Labs so they can add the new information to both your profiles stating to the Metaverse that the two of you are now partners, for good or for worst !!

So… what goes wrong?

No, its not the amount you have to pay, its actually a quite symbolic payment you have to pay (10L$ each)… What goes wrong, and displays an apparent lack of romance flair from LL, is:

The amount of characters you can put in your partnership proposal !!

Yep. That’s true. You’re limited in space (and quite so I must add) to what you can say to your beloved one to ask her/him/it if they would like to partner with yourself. Having used that lovely form myself, that you need to fill in to become partners in Second Life, I’ve ended up battling with my own words and inspiration to find a way to say all that I wanted in such a crumpled little space.

I ended up just proposing with a teaser, and sending her a notecard with the full version later on.

It’s annoying to be cramped up in space when you wanna express your feelings. Feelings are hard to squeeze in to just a few words since they surpass simple words so easyly… maybe its just my verbosity, I dunno. I just can’t understand what’s the technical impairment of adding larger limits to a form that it is just used to send that very same text to the other persons’ email. C’mon…. it’s an e-mail, its not like you’re going to pay extra money for crossing the 1000 words per email… *mumbles a bit*

If not enough… you can’t access your proposal after sending it!!

GAH!!! Ok, maybe its just a pet peeve of mine, but I like to keep records of my things, things I wrote, things I’ve read and enjoyed, things with sentimental value… yeah, so I like to keep records of that, call me crazy. But noooo… you can’t access your proposal after hitting the send button. You DO get a lovely reply back (if your proposal is accepted, otherwise it might not be so lovely) from your loved one. And yes, that one I can safely keep in my email… but frankly: couldn’t they just add a tiny feature for you to recall it out too?

All I ask is:

• Increase the text space in the Partnership Proposal Form (we’re trying to propose for crying out loud!!)

and

• Don’t throw it to the trash (let us keep it for memory lane ! Please?)

Sincerely, one passionate SL Avatar

políbit

Somethings are said without words, others with words you don’t understand… yet, you can enjoy and say them without understanding them completely, like this song (for me at least)

ps: though make-up can add a glamarous effect indeed, it certainly isn’t needed.

Just another year?

The year was 2008, the person… me.

I have to be honest and state that it didn’t had the most pleasant start of them all… I did spend the evening with friends, we were enjoying ourselves, watching a video together, food was abound, it was warm, blankets on the floor for people to sit and play cardboard group games and the mood was generally up and cozy. My stomach just wasn’t enjoying it all. Eh, too bad for me I guess. I ended up leaving early… or late in the night, depends on how you put it.

Eh… it was an odd year. Maybe it was because it was a leap year, I dunno. Not odd in a negative way, just felt like a cleavage point in my life. Allow to elaborate (if you haven’t fallen asleep yet):

On 2007 I started working, in the true sense of the word (ie: with a paycheck and a contract). When 2008 kicked in, I was still doing some work, but no money was purring in anymore… That said, obviously I had been looking for other jobs (the paying kind ones) for a bit. More on that.

On 2006 I stopped dreaming about an illusion I had in my mind. Many interesting things come from that … ahem… inspiration, but in the end I get that bitter taste in my mouth wondering: “was it worth it?” I dunno. On 2007 I pretty much forget that whole dreaming idea and just carried on doing my job… This year of 2008… it all sparked out unsuspecting. More on that too.

Now I stand on the verge of 2009 and I wonder what will the future bring me… alas… I dunno. But I’ve grown a bit this year. Learned lots of things. Did new things. Met new people. Met new ideas. Met new ideologies. And moved on.

As I said I started they year working but working pro-bono… not very inspiring, I must tell you. I went to a couple of job interviews, sent dozens of CV’s and the two most significant ones were: the one that made me travel half the country away (twice) for the said interview (where I was later on not accepted); and my short incursion to the Air Force, where they decided I had an unstable personality… (they did advise me to return next year and try again… to which I asked how could my ‘unstable’ personality change over an year?… to which they smirked and pretended not to understand the question) Assholes… fact is: I have a mind of my own and I don’t fit in their desired profile of an officer (ie: someone that as ideas and can think for himself) (( which is not always good, I’ll give them that))

Anyway, by June I was hired and started working, back to scientific research despite my efforts of making a run in a different direction. Guess destiny pulled some strings again. Eheh, in the end I have to say I’m quite happy with my job and research project right now. My boss is very cool and easy going, my lab partners are all very friendly and all with a great sense of humor. Work hours are odd sometimes, but we have enough freedom to coordinate our lives around it, so that’s pretty good too. Further more, one major article on sight soon, and … who knows, I might apply for a Ph.D. *shivers* let’s see what 2009 has to say about that…

On a more personal note, I ended up re-logging in to my old account in Second Life and revived a still noobie-looking Petros Miklos by late February. And the amazing thing was… I discovered my Second Life ! (after three account and nearly one year after my first trial of the program).

Needless to say, since most of this blog is dedicated to what I do online in Second Life… I did spent some time online navigating in that metaverse. I got a job working at Sweethearts (where I still hold a shift per week), I rented a skybox (a small floating flat), I updated my look reflecting more and more my real self, and expanded my horizonds regarding fashion. I met lots of people. Some went away, with others we diverged paths at some point… others stood around and still are for the long haul. Meanwhile I got a second job in SecondLife, working for a SL magazine named “FreeLife” where I was able to write about some of the hidden jewels I kept finding here and there on this wondrous metaverse of ours.

I had my first online romance, with Adora. It was unexpected and it open my eyes to things I didn’t not know much about it (to avoid saying nothing). It was short-lived in the end, but was intense never the less… and I promissed myself that I wouldn’t get in to another online romance.

Then destiny itself, or some other prankster (still trying to figure out whom) decided my lonesome days would be short lived as well and Summer, my current partner, my friend, my lover, my confident, my inspiration and company for the past 5 months, come in to my life. It was, again, unexpected. But here we are, still together, sharing dreams and ideas, thoughts and emotions… and I’m glad we are

With all this, and as Summer kept stating, my life soon started to merge with my Second life. At some point it becomes just an extension of who you are, just another facet on our life. I created this blog, and wrote about some of the experiences I had in SL. I had much more to tell, but, alas, I don’t write it all in here.

The thing is… My life changed… even if just a bit. Second Life provided a whole new World to explore and still be able to maintain a regular ‘normal’ life alongside with it. Allowed me to meet new friends abroad. Allowed me to experience things I would never be able to do if I was to keep myself in my home->work->home routine.

Eh, don’t get me wrong. I did quite a few things beside working and being online on Second Life. I started conducting a chorus since April (something I have little to no experience doing, but I’m winging it as it goes). I sung in the chorus that participated in the worldwide event from our church that took place here this time, which kept us singing for a couple of months non-stop with intensive rehearsals. Along that, we had some other minor events in our city with similar activities (just on a much smaller scale). I went to visit Expo2008, spent time with family, spent time with friends, met new ones, made some interesting developments at work, got a fresh new view on my own personality, learned a lot about people this year too… still much more to learn about that though, and even more about myself too…

hmmm…

Quite a busy year actually…

Odd… I started writing this and I had this idea that it would be a quite short resume of the year … and now… now I look back at this and I see so many details in these few lines that have so much more to explain and tell, that if I did so… well, I’d probably still be writing by the time the clock marked 12 o’clock midnight on 31st of December…

Summing it up… it was an unexpected year. Little of what happen I expected it to happen. In fact, I didn’t saw most of it coming my way until they hit me in the face !! eh… go figure.

Time seems to have an incredible timing for certain things… other times… well, we’re just impatient.

Predictions to 2009? eh, no clue whatsoever…

See ya all there

The moon and the planets are shinning above

Did you saw the night sky yesterday? You didn’t… well, you should. Looking up to the nightsky is good. It gives you perspective on many things; on how small you are and on how pointless so many fights are (if not almost all of them)… its good to look to the nightsky. I like it. Last night… well, last night it was special.

Some pictures on BBC website

One piece of news about it too

Eh, it’s funny how things are. How sometimes all things come together and you don’t quite know how to explain them, making you feel like a kid staring in awe, while trying to act like a wise man understanding all the rules and theory of how things work and behave… but deep down, we’re all just teenagers, winging it as we go, amazed by things that have been around for so many time, that so many people have experienced… yet all this is new to us.

Eh, Strange World indeed… not in a bad way, but just in a way that we sometimes forget that that’s how it actually is, instead of the colorful, dull gray or black & white pictures we like to paint it in our brains.

It’s… I dunno. Surprisingly natural what happen yesterday, but it makes you wonder, makes you think, makes you feel things… and that is good. It open ups your mind, ya know? It was a surprisingly unexpected surprise, one that life, destiny, God, your pick, from time to time sends it on your way and you just catch it not really knowing what to expect… and thats just it – Carpe Diem -

I wonder what will happen next? What will aligned itself next? Yes, there are rules to predict them… laws constraining these things, but… in the end, all things just play out as they should… amazing isn’t it?

Eh, and with my wanderings I end with an awesome piece of art, by none other then Mr. Frank Sinatra himself… “Fly me to the moon”. Love that song.

Fly me to the moon
Let me sing among those stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars

In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby kiss me

Fill my heart with song
Let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you

Chapter III

And so it is. Three months. Three whole months. A few breaks in between, a few angst days, a few storms… but in the end, as I look back: three months of pleasure; getting to know you, sharing with you, learning with you and being happy with you…

Though often I have some ability to write, I lack today the words to express myself.

You run through my veins now. You’re part of my everyday. Part of every night. Part of my imaginary. Part of my reality. Though you thank me often and feel some need to ‘pay me back’ all that I have given you… well… you really don’t need to do such thing at all. All that you give me is more then enough, more then I expected.

Love you pimpolha! <3

One year of my second life

One year of my second life … And roughly the 27th of my first one.

Eh, go figure. One year ago Petros was rezzed (born) in Second Life. The fact that it was actually my already 3rd avatar doesn’t change one very crucial factor: it was with Petros that I discovered what Second Life is.
It didn’t happen immediately, though I created him to, in a way, be a extension of my real self, and thus I started to do some un-newbie things with him… But it didn’t last long and RL contingencies made him fade in to what looked like an eternum oblivion…

Then 2008 come and with it my official unemployment and hordes of free time… Being the geek and reclusive person I tend do be, computer games sounded good enough to entertain me while I was not looking for a job. Eh, soon enough, Second Life caught my attention again… It could have been a short lived return, but on the very first day of my (re)return I incidently met my first lover in SL and my first SL job.
I got hooked before I knew.

I started making friends (not just contacts), I started woring and getting linden bucks without camping, I started to love through my avatar and I rent my very first (virtual) property. I was on a high. For a few weeks my first life become my second one…

Eh… Maybe it was too much, but it was probably important to experience that in that stage of my life as well… Just like any another piece of my life coming in to place in the big puzzle of it.

Eventually things changed.

Old friends vanished, new ones were made. My inventory grew, my house got furnished, memories made, dreams shared…

I found a new job along the way. One in SL, and then quickly one in RL.

My romance ended… But Petros endured. Maybe wiser, maybe more conscious, maybe…

Then RL started to take its toll on SL. “first life comes first” we always say… Eh, yeah right… Then why do we want so eagerly to return home? I’m side-tracking now…

Anyway… Life, the second one, moved on (as well as the first one). Two jobs, a place to call home, friends and confidants, some drama, cool clothes, an identity and lindens to spare… And before I could properly rez what was coming my way, Summer arrived and a new and unexpected relationship was born out of all the wondrous coincidences that make life such a funny play to read. And here I am now. Happy, tired, richer, smiling. I have no idea what another year will bring me but… It will be unexpected for sure.

In our island now we stand together and I feel wiser with all that SL as teach me as a person, as a lover, as a friend, as a intimate confident, as an explorer, as a community member… I have seen what Second Life can be… The good and the bad… Just like first life… Only maybe at a fasten pace.

In the process of learning more about others, I got to know myself from the eyes of others… And that was truly amazing.

Thank you, to all whom have contributed to me growing up a little more in this year that went by.
See ya all next year

a place to build a dream on

Last night was good.

Despite all the RL interruptions and all the virtual ones as well, we (me and Summer) ended up having fun together and a nice quality time together. Besides chatting, we went to listen to the wonderful music of Pa DaCosta and then we ended up taking a few looks at prefab houses and found a few that really looked good. And we could already picture how well it would look, furnished and warmed up with personal touches here and there…

Eh, still on the to do projects lists, but here’s a pic of the house that, so far, we’re intending to buy and plant at Summer’s beach to make it our own home, sweet home. Looks quite good. Ample. Wide open windows, two nice floors, nice asymmetry architecture, nice balconies… perhaps lacking a bit on the walls-for-picture-hanging department, but so far, that’s the only downside and there are ways around it.

Park Life 'Mirat' Prefab Home - a nice place to build a dream on

And with this in my mind I can’t but recall that old wonderful tune by none other then the great Louis Armstrong:

Give me a kiss to build a dream on
And my imagination will thrive upon that kiss
Sweetheart, I ask no more than this
A kiss to build a dream on

Give me a kiss before you leave me
And my imagination will feed my hungry heart
Leave me one thing before we part
A kiss to build a dream on

When Im alone with my fancies…Ill be with you
Weaving romances…making believe theyre true

Give me your lips for just a moment
And my imagination will make that moment live
Give me what you alone can give
A kiss to build a dream on

(instrumental break)

When Im alone with my fancies…Ill be with you
Weaving romances…making believe theyre true

Give me a kiss to build a dream on
And my imagination will thrive upon that kiss
Ah sweetheart, I ask no more than this
A kiss to build a dream on