Thunda came to SL out of a natural curiosity that has brought most of you and keeps bringing a steady stream of players to the virtual world. Like most people, he was dazzled by the carnival and hung around a little longer. Nevertheless, his approach to SL was dismissive and bordering on a contempt towards what he thought was a kids’ game. He didn’t understand why one would like to spend real money to look good in a pixel world, why it was so important for so many people to be at their best behavior in this unreal world? Why would people feel offended if a naked avatar walked into a public place? After all it was just an animated interactive cartoon movie.

Yet, something kept him coming back to SL. Ironically, it was the human interaction in pixel world that kept him anchored here. A few very patient and helping strangers became friends who guided him and showed him the ropes. In fact, a friend volunteered to spend more than one hour to transform destitute Thunda’s raggedy original avatar into a decent one. Another showed him the tricks to fetch linden dollars through ‘camping’ and money trees . Many more joined this volunteer force over time that resulted in Thunda of the present day.

A turning point came when Thunda met someone who was extremely energetic, witty, intelligent, but suffering from a terminal ailment. Something deeply moved him and he began to pay more attention to his surroundings. Gradually he made a number of friends who had been afflicted by health issues but were absolutely fantastic persons. This has been the most important thing of SL that has held him here so long. People, and only people, can have so much of power over someone because SL itself is an unstable and everchanging landscape.

Music has been another important factor in SL. I seriously think that other virtual worlds have not been as successful as SL because they lack the variety of music that SL venues offer. It serves another important purpose of meeting people from all over the world. Thunda was fortunate to meet great DJs and their hosts at music clubs. It was not without a reason that several posts of this blog have been on SL music scene.

The creative talents and excitement of people in SL prompted Thunda to write about them. He was totally excited about these people who could do amazing things in this world. They could build wonderful objects ranging from almost microscopic to grand scales, those who could write scripts to nuke an entire sim, and also who could make people dance with their tunes and make them laugh with their witty remarks.

Friends were too kind to Thunda. They joked with him, they engaged in friendly verbal sparring for hours, they showered a lot of attention, they showed their awe on his ‘smarts’. They made him feel like a celebrity. All this slowly led him to swell a bit. He began to feel important. A little arrogance crept into his head. He took some liberties, perhaps not with malicious intent. Intentional or not, the results were disastrous. A few felt hurt but they laughed it out.

In the end it dawned upon him that he was going down a slippery slope. He came to SL with certain basic principles. In all situations here, he managed to keep his head high and felt proud. There was no agenda but had there been one, hurting friends was not on it.

In your company he laughed and cried, sang and danced, shared jokes and stories, and most of all he had fun. He thanks you all for all that you gave. He would like to take a step back and ponder over the situation. Do not write him off yet. Give him time to reclaim himself. He will be back.

SL is a good place to dance. I cannot dance in RL. Not because it is an extreme health hazard, but for the fear of being branded totally insane. But, I also have been carrying a curse of a lazy couch in SL. The bad thing is that the couch is gone but the curse has not.

When the couch was there, it used to tempt me, invite me, hold me and keep me comfortable in its embrace. Now in her (yeah it was a she) place, a different couch sits. It is not as friendly or soft or cuddly. It does not like me either. I can tell from its looks.

So, I don’t want to lie down. Instead, I want to dance. And I do. But, I would like to dance with someone. And, there lies the problem. All these days when my darling couch was there, she spoiled me, she deviously kept me away from dancing with my friends and strangers alike. Like a manipulative girlfriend, she isolated me from everyone who wanted to dance with me. Now, when I am out of her clutches and am trying to claim my spot on the dance floor, I cannot find anyone to dance with me.

People have grown skeptical of me. All because of the cunning couch. I decide to look in my friend-list to see if I can find someone to dance with me. Here is how they respond:

Ms. D.:  Can never be reached.  Don’t know she is awake or asleep.

Ms. E.:  She has no time for her 200 meeroos, how can she dance.

Ms. A.:  She is extremely busy in her Gor rp working overtime to get punished.

Ms. B.:  She is spinning cool Blu tunes in some dark dungeon.

Ms.B.:  Busy weaving the network of lights in her picture gallery.

Ms. C.:  Somewhere typing in all CAPS to get attention.

Ms. d.:  Selling antique meeroos on a sim-show.

Ms. H.:  Ever so busy competing against herself to look prettier and prettier.

Ms. I.:  Working hard to establish her SL business.  Who knows what business.

Ms. J.:  Promoting upcoming under-appreciated live performers in SL.

Mr. J:  Oh I don’t know.  He is an aussie and I am not into dancing with gorillas.

Ms. K.:  Working incessantly to get rid of her last shred of clothes on some beach.

Ms. L.:  Won’t dance with me cuz of her SL nuptial contract…

Ms. M.:  Another one with strong commitment from one of her alts to only one guy alt.

Ms. M.:  ”Oh, I rather not. Friends around”

Ms. P.:  ”Too busy to waste my time in stupid dance.”

Ms. P.:  ”I have applied for permanent refugee status in Sudan.”

Ms. R:  ”So fed up of all guys who only care about my SL looks.”

Ms. S.:  She is my benefactor and I have no clue where to find her.

Ms.T.:  ”I love you all but right now I am working at my SL strip club.”

Mr. V.:  ”I am immigrating from Laos to Sudan.”

Ms. Y.:  ”I am about to release the fifteenth beta version of my script.  It has to be out before the sixteenth”

So, I guess I will stay by myself and wait for another cruel couch to engulf my SL existence.

Party began at Cup of Goodness (now gone)

Sonicity Fitzroy at Cup of Goodness.

Then moved to Hotlanta, an excellent party joint in SL with its favorite DJ Nix and hostess piffy Difference, the atmosphere was rife with gestures, loud chat and lots of synchronized dancing. Here are some scenes from the party.

And party went on even after I left.