VOICES FROM THE GRID

Voices From the Grid is a monthly survey of opinions and ideas of Second Life® residents on the salient issues of the day.

For this issue, ECLIPSE Magazine we asked residents to share “What are you most proud of doing this year?”

Voices from the grid

kitty

Kitty [Kitty O’Toole] has been a regular in Second Life since her incarnation in December 2006. It took less than a few hours for her to realise that she’d found her spiritual home here amongst the pixels and polygons and erstwhile perverts with extra-large prim phalluses who make up the Metaverse. She loved it even more when she realised that you could buy, as Howard Carter once famously uttered, ‘Wonderful things…’

To answer the question, let me describe my journey through 2021. This year has probably been the hardest of my life (so far!) and has seen me retreat in-world often to find solace and comfort when it has felt like reality is crashing all around me.

My elderly parents had to be moved into care, whilst I, an only child, had to deal with the ramifications of that, all the time whilst working very demanding shifts and trying to keep tight hold on what sanity I have left. It’s been a steep learning curve, and an incredibly difficult time, but I’ve learned a very valuable life-lesson in that true happiness is not found in material objects, but in memories and experiences, both good and bad. Ensuring the safety of my parents whilst emptying their home of forty plus years and deciding what to keep was not as hard as I’d imagined it to be, in the end a few trinkets and photos are all that remain of the home I grew up in.

In February as Covid ravaged the world, my Mother had a heart attack, and during her subsequent hospitalisation caught Covid. She was moved to a hospital in a city far from home, where I wasn’t allowed to see her and was told it was unlikely that she would survive. But survive she did, and she is now happily settled and looked after with love. I see her as often as I can.

Sadly, in September, my Dad suffered a stroke, and died shortly after. It was one of the hardest periods I’ve ever endured; and I’m still grieving for him. He used to join me in Second Life when Seven Seas fishing was all the rage, and our metaverse helped us to create some wonderful memories together that I will always cherish.

[Cont’d]

gidge

Gidge [Gidge Uriza] is in the category of an Oldbie, so old on the Grid she has forgotten how old she is. She started in 2007 or thereabouts. She is a blogger at It’s Only Fashion which founded by Cajsa Lilliehook. Her focus lately has been on the grid adventures I’m having and living there as an active citizen. She has written for some other blogs over time, but It’s Only Fashion is her first love for fashion blogging. Lately she’s been obsessed with pixel food.

What I am most proud of this year is hard to pinpoint. This was a hard year I think for a lot of folks. I wrestled with a lot of unexpected health issues in real life, including congestive heart failure that threatened to not just sideline me, but straight up kill me. I guess in a lot of ways I’m proud that I’ve managed to plod onward and keep going in both lives. Living with heart failure is a challenge but I’m getting a pacemaker installed soon so allegedly I’m going to feel much better soon.

I’m really proud of the fact that after a lot of intermittent time on the grid I feel like I’ve found my place there again as well. I have grown into a happy little world with me and my KittyCats - maybe I’m a crazy cat lady? But it affords me a space, a Virginia Woolf like “Room of One’s Own” etc and I can do anything there with no regard for anyone else which is something that real life doesn’t allow. I’ve got a great house on the beach in Bellisseria and I am old enough in the community on the grid that I feel impervious to the drama and chaos that enveloped so many of us in the early days as we all struggled to figure out who we were here. I feel really proud that all of that is behind me and my grid life is calm and a place of peace.

gogo

G

ogo [Gorgeous Aurelia] is a prolific Second Life blogger, known for honest reviews and stylish tips on her blog, JuicyBomb. You can find Gogo at JuicyBomb or follow her on Flickr.

I recently celebrated my 15th rez day, which is a huge milestone in Second Life! Linden Lab forgot to send me my virtual cake. Although I’m known for my fashion blog, JuicyBomb, my interest in Second Life goes beyond fashion.

I’m currently working on launching my new project, Aurelias, with my friend Sparkle (Sparkely Sugar), and it is the most exciting project I have worked on in my whole time in Second Life.

The Aurelias region is a collaboration between friends with a dream of creating an experience where visitors can experience the joys and delight of yesteryear.

Our goal is to create places for residents of Second Life to explore, take photos, and experience seasonal changes. We will launch at the end of December. Follow our progress online at aurelias.co. We hope to see everyone there once we launch!

maxwell

Maxwell [Maxwell Graf] joined SL in 2006, creating a virtual meeting space to use with the engineering department of the company he was doing product design and rapid prototyping for. He began Rustica within weeks, realizing that he could accomplish more of what he wanted to do as a creator in SL; rather than simply using it as a conduit he wanted it to become the medium. Max has taken part in over a dozen virtual worlds during roughly 30,000 hours of his life over 15 years, though Rustica continues to be the flagship effort for Max and the way to continue being a part of the SL community. He has been creating all of his life, working before the digital revolution as both a pen and ink illustrator and in a sculpture studio, rising from a kiln assistant to a porcelain sculptor.

When I first began creating in SL and became a store owner, I began to realize that the social and economic elements could coexist in ways which would be impossible to explore in a brick and mortar retail operation or the fanciest of art galleries. I could exist as a creator within that space in ways that let me become connected not just to my customers but to everyone I came in contact with. I saw how most of the stores operated in SL and I wanted to take that further, specifically by being present in my store, to be not only available or visible as existing in that retail space but bringing an aspect of my human into my store, into my work – even literally building new items on the ground floor of my store so I could interact with people as they came in. I would be creating and doing sales and customer service at the same time, while also gradually building up a friends list of the most amazing and interesting people I had ever seen in one place.

I got to talk to so many, got help from so many and gave help too, where I could, about what I knew. Most of my competitors are friends of mine. I could be myself and not offend people or have my business not only stay open but thrive. Simply being accessible made the difference I was looking for in how I could exist as an artist inside that space. It was like living inside my canvas – but there were people walking around in it while I was walking around inside their canvas as well. It was this amazing amalgamation of social elements combined with a live creative process that utilized a dozen different mediums all at once. I am still hooked.

[Cont’d]

sparkle

Sparkle as she’s known to friends started Second Life under her first avatar, Sparkle Skye. Well known for her one of a kind wedding gowns, she successfully managed this brand for over a decade. These days, you’ll find her creating under Sparkely Sugar and beautifying the grid with her custom landscaping, one region at a time.

I’m an artist in my first life and a lot of that passion pours into my Second Life as well. When I first joined Second Life, I was instantaneously drawn to creating. At the time, I was a college student pursuing a degree in Fine Arts, so in my spare time, I created my Sparkle Skye weddings brand. After I closed that brand down, I focused my passion on my other loves… painting, and creating spaces for friends. This passion has now become a growing business with clients that keeps me busy!

I am currently working on a few projects. One of my most exciting projects is a collaboration with my friend Gorgeous Aurelia on Aurelias. Our focus with Aurelias is to create a region, with a focus on the magical moments of times past, with a hint of magic, and a whimsical feeling of nostalgia. A warm cup of cocoa, while you’re snuggled up in your favorite snuggly sweater is the feeling we are trying to evoke.

I am also working on creating mesh, one of my goals is to be able to create decor and landscape assets to use on Aurelias, as well my other landscaping projects. I truly love to create environments that will transport you to a magical moment in space and time, to be able to evoke feelings and emotions.

I also work with the team at Gooseberry Estates, a wonderful collaborative team of creators, who are extremely supportive. We have some exciting projects happening for the new year.

I love Second Life, it is a platform that offers so many opportunities to explore, create and learn. It is truly a place where you can build what you imagine, a place where you can meet people from all over the world with such diverse backgrounds. I hope to contribute to its growth and weave a bit of my magic, into the magical tapestry that is Second Life

Aurelias will be launching at the end of December, do stop by and share a cup of cocoa with us.

You can follow my progress at SparkleSkye.com and Aurelias.co

HALFWRAITH CAERNDOW

Halfwraith Caerndow is a Librarian and an SL fantasy picture taker on Flickr who came into SL in a graduate school class and stayed. She finds Second Life a quirky and fascinating place, likes to over-decorate and use up all the prims, loves SL sales, rarely wears shoes and is addicted to purchasing wings. Her best friend in SL is an annoying Robot.

This has been a difficult year for me as my father died of cancer in late summer. That event has really dominated my year and my emotions. He was a wonderful person - a thinker and socialist, the best father and such a supportive human being. He helped me so much through my life, as a common sense advisor, through unconditional love (yes it really exists), and just by being so darn helpful - I could always count on him. I know how lucky I was and how rare it is to have such a father, I’ll basically miss him forever.

Much of the year was spent being with him as much as I could, and because of the pandemic we had to do hospice care at home. It is hard to think what I am most proud of other than that - being there with my family as we spent time with him, even when he was not very aware of his surroundings at the end. It brought me closer to my mother, my sisters and brothers. It also brought me closer to my son who showed such incredible maturity for his age in how he dealt with my Dad as he declined in health.

We were all there when he passed on at his home. I was holding his hand, which I think is both very painful and an incredible privilege. I am proud of my closeness to both him and my wonderful family and my son at this hard time. We weren’t perfect, there was some family drama, but in the end we pulled together. We helped my father transition out of this world in a place of love.

[Kitty Cont’d]

If anything, this year has cemented just how important Second Life is to me? It served as a very real escape when I have needed it, and I count my in-world friends to be among the most important people in my life. After endless hospital visits and stressful days barely holding it all together, just logging in and finding somewhere beautiful to explore, be it a virtual garden or an urban cityscape helped to soothe my very troubled soul. During this tumultuous year.

Kittywitchin, my blog that I have kept since 2007, fell by the wayside. Life has just been too busy for me to keep a blog..but I miss it, and my hope for 2022 is to get back into blogging with gusto. Currently in-world I find simple pleasures, such as designing a bedroom or simply placing virtual items, really does relax me and I’ve so enjoyed creating my virtual home. It is of course filled with cats, but other creatures that I could never own in real life have found their place with me too. I delight in them, and in my space.

But back to the question at hand; what am I most proud of this year? Surviving and enduring, physically, mentally and virtually; and realising the depth of my own resilience against the backdrop of such a personally trying time.

{Maxwell Con’td]

Fifteen years later, I am most proud in 2021 that I am, for whatever reason, so cared for and embraced by the amazing community here, to the point that those amazing human beings came together AGAIN and through amazing acts of kindness and love helped my partner (Lyyric, whom I met in SL in 2006) and I overcome a personal disaster and turn it into the most amazing reality of owning a real home of our own. That somehow people from across the globe reached out and lifted us higher than we could have reached on our own, that they care that much…makes me think that maybe I did something right all these years. I am eternally humbled and grateful when I think of SL and the people in it. It is a huge part of my life. SL saved me as an artist and then as a human. That’s not virtual.