The Stick

It would appear that I've been memed. The rules of the meme are as follows:

1. Link the person that tossed the stick
2. Answer the questions
3. Toss the stick to five different people
4. Tell those people you threw a stick at them
5. Ask five new questions

So Sian Pearl, meanie that she is, threw a stick at me, and then demanded I answer her questions. Seems a little unconventional to me, but eh, why not? I handed in my last piece of university work ever (for the time being, anyway) yesterday. I've got some time.

At Matchbook Monday's lovely roof garden. I'm really pleased with these shots!
Check them out on flickr?

Here goes.

1. Why do you write an SL blog?

You've heard this story before. I started my SL blog out of a desire to extend an essay I wrote on SL for my degree course last year. The marker of my essay said he wanted more of it - which was a cruel comment, considering that I had a pretty strict word limit - and so I set about writing about all of the things I hadn't been able to put in my essay, and then some. As far as I am aware, this lecturer doesn't read my blog, though I believe he was told it exists. If he does...hi Tim! I'd like to think that I'm raising some important points, here, and if nothing else, starting debates about some of the issues that face us not only in Second Life, but in our first lives, too. And if my Theatre and Performance Studies angle slips sometimes...well, I guess that's okay.

2. Avatar underpants: yes or no?

When I started SL, I wore pants with every outfit. Every outfit. Sometimes, they could be seen because they went higher than my trousers, and that's when I started to question their necessity. Nowadays...I'm not telling! I am a big fan of the imagination. Though, I guess, you have all seen Kitti's underwear already - but that doesn't mean she wears it all the time!

3. Third Party Viewers: Classic or Dud?

Here's the deal. Upon a number of people's suggestions, I have tried all kinds of viewers, but all they really did was confuse me with a new interface. They might soften lag or, I dunno, make turning on shadows easier, but the point is that my laptop is so behind on the SL requirements that there is very very little that can be done to mediate my lag. And shadows? Pfft. Shadows are just a dream. So I'm sticking with the official Linden Labs viewer. I know my way around it, at least, and it's pretty clean and simple for an official viewer.

4. Who is your favourite person in SL?

That's a cruel question! I think Sian asked this because she hopes we'll all say her! Sian is one of my favourite people in SL, but I have also met a whole lot of other great people, like Salix Southpaw and Marls Vaughan, to name but two. I'd have got nowhere without the help of the charming and ever-patient Jaegen Fenris. There is also that wonderfully awkward moment when I see someone in world whose blog I follow, and then I have to run screaming back to Sian Pearl's house to fan-girl all about it. Like this one time, I saw Laverne Unit during the sale of the Gallactic Aphelion catsuits, and I nearly died. So yeah - that happens, too.

5. What is the most important piece of advice you'd give to someone concerning SL?

That's a tough one. There are quite a few things I would like to say, but I think maybe the one that encompasses them all is that no matter what the shops or the sims or other people might suggest, you are in control. You are in control of your Second Life, more surely than you are in control of your first. Sure, it might be difficult sometimes to get what you want, whether it be an AO that doesn't make you walk like a supermodel, or, I dunno...whatever...but it does exist, somewhere, and you can get it. And if it doesn't, you can build it - or you can refuse to engage.You don't have to do anything that you don't want to. You don't have to give it any more time than you want to. And you can log out when you want to. Don't let anybody convince you otherwise. How dramatic does that sound?!

There - done. I'm not going to 'throw the stick' at anybody else, but I would say that I actually kinda enjoyed answering those questions, and they are good questions, so if you're reading this and want to answer them yourself, please do so, and leave me a comment with the URL for your answers? Maybe (cheekily, I ask,) you could link back to me? That would be cool. Tres cool.