Saturday morning braindump ...

It's a gorgeous, sunny weekend day, and I'm bursting with things I want to do.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all.  I have my own little bit of Irish luck that's far better than any shamrock ~winks at B~

I was thrilled to find so many people still IMing and commenting in the ThankFest thread!  I hope it will continue far beyond the 24 hours.  As I mentioned in my posting before it, it's been a daily practice for me for several years now, and while I sometimes slip, I try very hard to honour it.  You wouldn't believe the way it sets the pace for the day when you begin it by pausing to think about at least one thing you are grateful for, and going from there.

The New Shop

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I woke up this morning and went inworld, landing where B and I logged out last night: in the new Neo-Victorian shop that's arrived on Sanctum Sanctorum.  It's the first in a set of builds that will begin to redefine our current SIMs, and the new one that's due to arrive any day now.  B and I both love the Steampunk genre, and have ideas about adapting it within our own unique framework on our little continent.  (Besides, what girl doesn't love an excuse to dress up in corsets and gowns? ~grins~ )  It's been inspiring to watch Baron conjure up a whole new level of magic through the textures that he's been creating for the new shops and props, right down to those wonderful, glowing lights and their gasflame hiss.  We want our spaces to be as immersive as possible, and our guests can look forward to a few surprises that we have up our sleeves in this regard.

Inside the New Shop

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As I woke up this morning and stood in the doorway of the new shop, looking out over the hills, I was amazed at how the smallest things can completely transform a place.  There's a new openness and warmth, making our SIMs appear more to be one (save that terrible, endless drop through the ground when passing between the SIMs that's arrived since upgrading Sanctum to a Class 5 server).  I stood in the doorjamb with my teacup in my hand, listening to the lights and watching people pass by, coveting some nice little café tables and chairs to sit and whisper secrets over breakfast and the day's plans.  For all the people who look at Second Life and shake their heads saying it's only a game and a waste of time, I'd say they're missing the point.  I earn a decent living there now doing something I absolutely love, and have the great luxury of being able to reinvent my reality and grand adventures there every single day.  It beats the hell out of the old commute to the office, and I get to do it with my best friend and an incredibly talented content creator to boot.

I still have two things to set out for St. Patty's Day, and I need to get my arse in gear, but I'm struggling with the noise of a lot of other things going on in my head, including the Opera House which seems to have taken on a life all it's own.  I need to sit down and write properly on this, if only to get it out of my head, because there's an increasing daily flow of people reaching out and asking to do performances there, including an Off-Broadway troupe that wants to do a Gilbert and Sullivan, and an Emmy-Award winning pianist and composer who'd like to do a concert.  More than anything I'd love to see the space flourish naturally because of the people that are attracted to it.  I'm going to set something out there inviting people to consider it their own and do a little brainstorming around how to cultivate a challenge that's been set out by folks who really want to figure out how to make performance art a very immersive part of second life.  I'll likely open a Basecamp module to invite people who are passionate about this to start kicking the tires and to help Baron and I figure out how we need to transform the space to make it a truly relevant, breathing, living part of the community.  There's so much innovation out there!

I also had a very lovely woman reach out to me this morning.  While I do talk a bit about the illness I've been struggling with for more than a year now, I tend to be very uncomfortable sharing details or talking about it inworld.  That's my place to escape from it all, and I always appreciate that people have been kind enough not to press for details and to simply have respected my need for space while I've been healing these past months.  This morning I got a really lovely note from Geminian Teazle, and it reminded me that I'm not only -not- alone, but got me thinking about a little unfinished business that continues to weigh on me.  I've disclosed that I'm dealing with the after effects of radiation, which leads to a lot of assumptions when people read that.  I've had a lot of people quietly disclose their own battles since I've come out a bit, and at some point I know I need to sit down to simply write about my illness, not to get it off my chest (because I prefer to keep the details to myself and not think about it anymore), but because I was stricken with something that goes largely undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, and that very nearly cost me my life.  When I am better able to come to terms with things, I do want to talk a little bit about my journey only so that other people who I -know- will have the symptoms too (and there are a lot of them) and not recognize what they really are can go to their doctor and ask to be checked, AND, so that the people around them can stop being so god damned polite.  One of the things that almost cost me my life was that people were afraid to be straight with me and say "Sue, this isn't right.  You need to get help".  People were watching me waste away, were watching my central nervous system attacked until I could barely walk or hold a plate, were watching me sink into a depression and mood swings that were entirely out of character ... and no one was willing to call me on it.  So, by coming out and writing a little bit about this now, I'm once again holding myself accountable to write more, and in a way that can be of use to other people.

I also want to sit down and write about the wonderful box that arrived in the post two days ago, as Baron sent me not one but four incredible cameras (two very cool junk Vivitars to wreak havoc with, along with the Minolta he used to shoot his amazing train graveyard photos with, and an old Kodak Tourist with bellows!  ~purrs~) to start our photojournaling project together.  (I've become an utter eBay whore, setting watchlists for Holgas and Lomos and Cosina's, and trying very hard not to drool on my keyboard each morning my emails arrive).  The man's so full of clever ideas, and this was one I really embraced in needing a way to slowly get back out into the world again as I'm recovering.  I'm feeling so good the past few weeks, and the notion of crawling around in the woods and in graveyards and cathedrals and haunted houses and the wrecks of sunken rum runner boats is just an intrinsically cool way to do it.  Baron has been out crawling all over Boulder City and other cool haunts in his own neck of the woods, capturing some really stunning, evocative, textured stories through his lens.  It's very cool to watch someone pour their soul out through a camera, allowing you to see the world as they do, and his is, as always, a remarkably rich tale.  So, expect a new gallery to arrive, along with regular Art in the Park type events on the SIMs, and an inviation for people to join us in this little trek he's invited me to share.  This is a project we're both very excited about.

Time to get my backside in gear and put this digital pen and cup of tea down and set to work.  I find myself needing to do a braindump here from time to time to get myself organized and hold myself accountable for the day. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day, all!

Sue.