Baby steps…

Expecting an avalanche of stale IMs, I chose the tiny island of Brenner to be the start location for my first visit in three months, in order to calmly take care of old business. But IMs were capped, which apparently means that they disappear altogether, so I spent my time changing outfit (of course!), walking around, flying a bit, and being amazed at the things which have changed - and the things which haven’t. I am happy to know I am still a Mentor and I was amazed to discover two Help Islands Public, both of which were sadly devoid of people I know.

Anyway… guess who’s back?

It’s still Tish C, L.A.E.

They kept me off the net, I couldn’t stay like that

So now I’m back in the life from this Italian flat

And I tell you vaffanculo if you don’t like that

Ladies, they pay homage, but haters say Lae fell off

How? My last visit was September

They want to know if I still got it

They say SL’s changed, they want to know how I feel about it

If you ain’t up on pace

Tish C is the name, I’m ahead of my game

Still, going to meets, still with the beat

Still not loving the grief

Still dress my avi with the purpose to please

Still got love for the streets, repping HIP

Still a mentor, still doing my thang

Since I left, ain’t too much changed, still

 

I’m representing for them mentors all across the world

Still hitting them griefers with them ARs girl

Still knocking them Lindens off their feet

And I still got love for the streets, it’s the L-A-E

 

Like that, right back up in yo motherf***in ass

Nine five plus four pennies

Add that shit up, L-A-E right back up on top of thangs

Word.

I’ll be back before 2008!

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas to all! And yes, that is a palm tree in 17.5 cm. or 7 in. of snow last Sunday morning… right outside our appartment block in southern Italy.

On the brink of returning…

Yes, there’s DSL here now and I think it’s fast enough for SL, too. But no, I am not back yet. The installer from Telecom Italia (Alice.it) won’t recognize my Realtek NIC and won’t install. And tomorrow I’ll go back to Holland for the holidays - without laptop. I am working on it, believe me, but for now it’s a no-show.

Meanwhile I am reading the news from so may months of absence and I see that some Lindens have shed their last name. You can make of it what you will, but let’s get beyond the touchy-feely stuff and look at LL as just another corporation where people come and people go. Not a very big deal at all - unless you are an older generation of Resident from the time when SL was a small family of fairly fanatic users. Nowadays I fear most Residents have never met a Linden in virtual person, and couldn’t care less.

Of course I haven’t the insight to judge what all of this means, and I have never met the apparently mythical Cory myself. But people eventually move on, the time when people spent a lifetime in one company is over. So I am not unduly worried.

Which doesn’t mean I don’t care about Iridium, Cory and Chad. I hope they made the right choice for themselves and I hope they will do well. As for Second Life… we’re in the hands of the Gods as usual. Old Gods, new Gods, it’s of little consequence to us petty Residents.

News Flash

Yes, I miss you, Vint, and all of you out there. Heck I almost miss Prokofy Neva and I find myself wondering if all the places I used to go to, all the people I used to meet, are still there. And what has changed, of course! Here’s what happened on this end of the wire: About a week ago a man showed up in a little red car of the company Telecom Italia. He was already an hour late – but finally we were to get a phone and DSL. At least, that was the deal. The man however told us he had no orders to install sockets in our new house, or to deliver a phone, and just gave us a box with a modem – no wait, make that a damaged, unsealed box with a modem inside. For all we know, Zio Antonio from Cavallo Morto (there actually is a hamlet here called that – it means ‘dead horse’) could have returned it because he spilt his cappuccino all over it. We have no way of knowing, because we have no way of connecting it. We have two empty yellow plastic boxes in our walls, with neither wire nor socket.  Now I don’t know the level of service you people in your various countries are used to, but we ordered our phone/internet connection late October, and we may get connected in January – if they don’t repeat the same commedia dell’arte again. You never know around these parts. I am meanwhile going bananas over here with my cellphone uplink at a whopping 115 Kb per friggin’ week. Which is appropriate, because bananas come to mind when you consider the service level of various big companies in this our beloved Republic.  BBC World informed me that Telecom Italia is in financial trouble. One wonders why… On a bright note: all is well with us, (the rest of) our house and our life together, and Italy truly is a beautiful country. I wish you all the very best, and having already missed my rezday (somewhere in November I believe) I fear I will be missing Xmas and New Year’s too. So here’s wishing you buon natale and the best wishes for 2008 too…  Can someone please contact my landlord and tell him to not yet return my stuff? I paid until November, he knows it may take a while longer but his is the only shop I have right now. And I can’t remember his name for the life of me. It’s the owner of the hangar in Caldbeck where I sell my aviator jackets. Please take a minute to have a look and send an IM. Mille grazie.