Stuff & Nonsense

Stuff

Well I must say I am starting to enjoy Second Life a bit more again. It all comes down to balancing my time. It seems kind of obvious but time moves by so quickly while you are waiting for some half wit to type out a coherent sentence. Sometimes I have noticed it takes about a quarter of an hour for some people to say hello ask ask how you are. I would like to credit them with perhaps being victims of the notorious SL chat lag but really deep down I am aware that they are just slow.

Oops ... I ranted. Back to my point. Second Life can take up a lot of your time if you don't pay attention to it. I have lost perhaps months of time in slow chats or waiting for someone to come back from being AFK (Away From Keyboard). I sit and wait politely for them to return while twiddling my thumbs. Now I think if some one goes AFK I will just get on with my life. I don't need to sit around and wait for things to happen. No more painfully slow IM conversations for me. If I am bored or otherwise not interested I am just gonna move on, log off or walk away.

Nonsense

For real nonsense you need to read Chester's blog. With every post he seems to find something even weirder (usually him) to photograph and post. I would post the link here but I am trying to keep my posts PG and his last picture ... well it just isn't right. Oh okay ... since you insist. 

http://chesterhowley.blogspot.com/

The Wharf on Wednesday

Okay ... Let's assume you know I DJ at The Wharf on Wednesday nights. And if you don't you are probably some bored random person reading this blog. This is how I prepare for my set. I open iTunes and drag tunes into a playlist until I have 3 or so hours worth in the right genre (alternative rock). Then I start looking through for the ones I want to base my set on. Then .. well here is the art .. I just play them in the order I pulled them with occasional changes I make during my set. 

Yeah .. I know, not very professional. The thing is, I am not a professional. I am just trying to have fun with my mates at the Wharf and to play music we all enjoy. And I try not to have anything really awful in my music library. Space on my hard drive is at a premium. 

I saw that Esmi is posting his playlists now. I delete mine as I go along so I have an idea of where I am at a glance as I confuse easily. Usually 20 minutes into my set I have no idea what the first couple of songs I played were. Most importantly that way I can't get lazy and just repeat myself.

I know that the other DJs make an art form out of their playlists and you can tell when they play. I watch my RL and SL partner Fuzzy work on his playlist for his Sunday set at The Love Shack until it is absolutely perfect. And I am sure Kaj, Dehr, Blaise and the rest put plenty of thought into their playlists. But they are true artists. The only reason I get away with playing at the Wharf is there is no one who can tell me I can't. One advantage of being an owner I guess. 

When I first thought about doing a set at the Wharf I thought about calling it "Random Crap from my iPod" and really I think I have stuck to that quite well. 

Misinterpretations

Have you ever had someone in SL or even RL completely misinterpret your actions or words. In SL I know it is difficult as there is no vocal inflections or facial expressions. Most people who know me know my fondness for dropping rocket scripts in any possible object and launching or trying to launch them into oblivion. It is just something I do and it has nothing to do with anything going on around me. Sometimes I get carried away with it and it annoys people and as soon I as I realize this or am made aware of it I stop. 

I received a note card from someone who I would have thought would have said something to me directly but instead chose to send me a note card the next day. I guess he stewed overnight about it. He said in his note that it really annoyed his BF as he had just arrived home from a stressful day at work. And then I was accused of using the rockets as a message that I no longer want the author of the note around. Gosh ... I was pretty befuddled by the anger in the note. First of all how am I supposed to know what is going on in some ones first life especially when it wasn't communicated to me.  And if I didn't want someone coming around anymore I would have either talked to them or if I really wanted to be passive aggressive banned them. 

I am the first to admit I get carried away with launching anything I can put the scripts into. Boots Mission unfortunately sat on one of my rocket cows and ended up launched into space (I haven't seen him since) when someone clicked on the cow randomly. And on occasion I do have a malicious streak which I try to tamp down when it comes to the surface, usually when someone really annoys the hell out of me. 

All this leads me to my point ... I have to be more careful and perhaps just sit quietly around people so I don't get them mad at me because they chose to see my words or actions in a negative way instead of me just being the bit of an ass that I can be when goofing around.

I guess I should go respond to that note card now.

Dehrynn

I was going to post on Dehrynn today but got side tracked by my previous post. Dehr is my lifeline when ever anything needs to be done or dealt with. He is always there to lend a hand and help out. I hate to ask for help, (who doesn't?) but when I need something done Dehr is always there, quite often he takes care of stuff without even being asked. He is a godsend. I don't think the Wharf Rats realize how much stiff Dehr does behind the scenes to make everything go smoothly. When I got home last night from my rl yoga workshop I was told by my spouse Fuzzy that Dehrynn helped him out on his first dj set with out me able to be next to him on the sofa trouble shooting.

I know that when I can't be there or am to busy to deal with a Wharf issue Dehr is always happy to step up. I don't really know how to show my appreciation for him. I just want him to know his help is not unnoticed and truly appreciated. He is a great friend and I probably am not worthy of him.

Reclaiming my first life.

It kind of sneaks up on you over time. The slow theft of your real life hours by the time spent in second life. It starts with being on later at night to hang with friends after events wind up at the Wharf and then you are later and later as you start to hang with your friends just waking up in Europe. And then the compulsion to log on when you wake up to deal with all the IMs you received when you are asleep (you never know when something maybe urgent lol) Soon you are in world in all your free time imagineering the venues, fixing things that have gone wrong or just never worked, chatting with people and fending off dozens of IMs about when the next event is and who is djing. 

In all of this Finnegan is winning out and my real life persona is fading into the background. I am really starting to miss me, the real me. I have decided that I need to spend more time in my real life and a fair bit less in my second life. I am excited to do this and regain my composure and tranquility. I will not be quitting or taking time off of SL, just spending more quality time in RL.

I hope that this will also allow me to enjoy my time inworld more. I was hanging at the Wharf on Friday and resenting having to be there and it continued on Saturday. I didn't have the sense just to log off and go read or sleep. I became aware I was acting very erratically on both evenings and quite possibly offended some people and some of them very close to me. I did apologize to them but it really made me question myself and look at how I was behaving. I didn't like the answers. 

DJ Easton

OMG ... This kid rocks! His music is great and he fits right in at the Wharf. Also he filled in for a missing DJ on 5 minutes notice with a great set. We totally scored by hiring him. You gotta come hear him play at the Wharf on Fridays, Landfall on Saturdays and ABDUCTION on Thursdays.

Chester Strikes Back.

Chester, showed his true dedication to the dark side tonight and played a multitude of ABBA songs at The Wharf. It proved two things, 1) He is evil beyond human comprehension and 2) He has no shame as a DJ. It is like being in business with a malevolent force who will lash out to destroy you just to see you suffer. I only survived by quickly muting the sound until the songs were over. i will really have to rethink my relationship with him. I never realized he could be so ruthless. I guess I should have expected it. I know what he is capable of, I just never thought he would turn against me like that.

Be warned, not only does he have teeth, claws, and the temper of a psychotic tasmanian devil, he also has an a dark evil plotting intellect like you only read about in horror novels. Hannibal Lecter is a pussy cat in comparison.

Chester

Quite possibly the all time greatest builder in all of the known universe. At least he thinks he is. Chessie is a good good friend. I like to keep him friendly because he scares me a lot and I see how he treats his enemies.

None of the things in the Serenus Sims would exist without him. He is a mad genius. More mad than genius but still genius. Shame he can't dress himself without his mum's help.

The Wharf

Okay so I am starting a blog. I don't know why. 

The Wharf is going so well. I had no idea when Chester and I came up with the idea for it that it would become such a huge success. A huge part of it is due to our awesome DJs. I think if we didn't have Kaj we would never have the great crowd we have. His personality, music and hot BF Mal are a huge draw. I am so honoured to have them as friends and members of the Wharf Family. 

I also am so grateful to Esmi, Hoaghes and  Dehrynn. These guys are awesome and always step up in a crisis and help out. I really could not get by without them. Our weekend crew Blaise and Fuzzy really are working out well too, with buster and his lunacy making the place fun. I am really looking forward to hearing the new guy Easton play. I really like his music.

Of course what would the place be with out the wharf rats to make it truly fun. 

Chester and I are not resting on our laurels. We have already opened up a few more venues, Landfall, The Love Shack and ABDUCTION. They are going really well. Now the hard work begins .. keeping things interesting. D: