Misery Loves...
Don't pass out, but this will be two entries in two days. Wow! What a record. I'm inspired to write today because of Akela's comments over on the SL Insider page. He's a friend of mine, and it's been a real pleasure to read his blog stuff (when I have the time - they churn out a lot of content over there!) and to watch it really become a success (I think?). He's also a damn good writer. The phrase, "Enjoy squatting like a toad in your fetid miasma of seething hatred and self-importance" is particularly well-phrased. Reminds me of a "break-up" letter my best friend in high school and I composed to her cheating (soon-to-be-ex) boyfriend. "Disgusting, degenerate piece of swamp slime dredged up from the bowels of the earth," took us all afternoon to compose. We were particularly proud of the alliteration.
But it's not his fantastic prose that has inspired me to blog today. Well, okay, it kind of is. It's about how seriously we all take SL. I was about to tell a non-SL friend about the blog and I realized... they won't get it. They don't know who Aimee is or Prokofy, (or Akela, for that matter) and I'm not sure I could explain in a way they'd understand. These folks are "famous" within SL. Whatever that means. That and a handful of change might let you make a local call... depending on what's local to you.
I think there's always going to be some perception of a FIC, because there's always a group of folks that feel like they're the "have-nots". I'm sorry to hear that Akela's getting slammed for writing with a perceived pro-Shelter bias... but, you need to write about what you know. And a lot of the folks he's writing about I've never met, which is odd, because I spend what I think of as a lot of time at the Shelter. I go through phases when I spend less time there and phases where I'm there all the freakin' time, but that's because it's one of the more welcoming spots in SL. It tends to have a kind of transient population too, so that if there's someone you don't particularly like... wait a week and they'll have moved on. Or not. At which point you learn to tolerate them. Welcome to adulthood.
And I guess that's what I'm blogging about (took me long enough to get to the point, I know!) - if you don't like the people, and you don't like the management, and you don't like the functionality of the program... um? Time to move on, maybe? Just a thought. If I was that miserable, you'd better believe I'd be seeking better uses for my free time.
Comments
Coalie, thank you for the kind words! I'm just surprised that I haven't heard from Prokofy since; I was kinda looking forward to what she'd have had to say!
Posted by: Akela Talamasca | September 6, 2006 01:55 AM