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One year in world today!

BelindaN

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BelindaN

BelindaN

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Yeah, I know, a wall of text...……..please bear with me...…...9_9

Friday 3rd May is my first Rezz Day.  Oh boy! what a year! 

I really didn't think SL was for me after my first day. Even making an account was a tough call. I'm not a gamer. 

That first day, walking round the newbie sims, not speaking to anyone, and scared of the shadows, (well, if there were any!) - it was all very odd. I came back the next day for a make or break. I nearly didn't bother. I don't know how I found Marketplace, but I was like a moth to a flame!  Did I really want to spend money????? Pffft! that was never my plan...…….😜

Well, I jumped down that rabbit hole into Wonderland...…..and I kicked off with a cheap avi and some shoes. Soon after, an unknown guy took my portrait, and I love that image so much that I still have it as my forum image. I struggled with those mismatched ankle joins and clunky body shape, but I was starting to get hooked on this place.

I hung out at the newbie sims a lot, when I wasn't exploring alone. I started to join in local, and use IM. I got some really weird messages from guys...…….

I got on really well with one girl avi, it was like we'd always known each other. She taught me a lot, and bought me an animation....I had no idea what that was...…..until I stopped walking like a duck haha! We became great friends and still are, but she's not in world so much these days. She built my foundations with her help, and without her, I would have struggled early on.  She let me use her skybox, which became a sky cottage, and then an apartment, which I still use sometimes (it has an orb!).  Before that I was changing (and experimenting) in secluded corners of quiet places *shudders*. 

The Forum was my next test. I needed help. I was seeing these super-hot girl avis…….I knew this was mesh, but I knew nothing about mesh...……...I'm starting from zero. On the plus side, I'm a quick learner when I want to be! - especially if it means looking good! haha!  I attended a mesh seminar and learned something. Just enough to realise what I didn't know. It all seemed so hard to understand.

Here on the Forums I will always be grateful for the welcome I received as a total newbie. You showed me mesh bodies, and for me, it had to be Lara, and that was down to an image and advice  posted by @Chic Aeon. And of course there was heaps of advice posted from the other Forum Angels. Big hugs all round for that!! This took place mid June 2018, so I'd been in world for about six weeks. Looking back, that seemed like a lifetime already, and although I'd made huge improvements to my system avi, nothing could prepare me for Lara! - both the look, and the hud!

This was my first giant leap. I'd made some awful clothes purchases in my early days, but I slowly got the hang of how to chose, and found that my style was evolving beyond my RL tastes. I also learned how to unpack and rezz things, and I spent time in sandboxes doing all that stuff. It was all quite hard to understand at the time.  I started buying clothes for system and mesh avis so that when I finally got my Lara, I was ready for action!  I had also built up a big collection of mesh shoes in anticipation of that day!

I have met some really nice people on my travels and some are now dear old friends, or maybe old dear friends! Not many, but we get on so well, and just meet up occasionally to hang out and put the world to rights.  Some of these friends have showed me where to go and where to shop in world. Once I discovered that you can shop in store...well, that was like what??? In world???? That became my second giant leap. Deciding to buy Lara was a commitment which meant there was no turning back, for better or worse...……..

I've made some mistakes and will probably do so again. I've been really unhappy a couple of times, after encountering really strange people, but I've turned to the forum for help, and I have some confidantes here whose opinions I trust absolutely, and I know that they will help me out of my self inflicted holes. Thankfully this has been very rare.

The mesh head was my next objective, but was a huge challenge! I wanted to keep my look. This is common thinking and I still hear this from people in the pre-mesh head situation. After loads of advice, and days on the sliders with demos, I settled on Lelutka Simone, and was very happy.  I was happy until that minx @Ceka Cianci showed up here with a Genus head 😜  As I'd fallen in love with Simone, so I fell even more in love with Genus...…… Wow! it was really something! After a few days on the sliders I had my look. So after a few months, and a lot of advice, I had become who I am now.

Once I discovered the art of taking photos here, I found this aspect of SL to be as addictive as SL itself, although I'm still finding ways to improve my photos! Probably always will be!

Early on I was asked if I was an Alt. I had no idea what that was. It didn't occur to me that anyone would have multiple accounts. It gave me an idea. In testing appliers, I'd messed up my avi a few times, and also had two bake fails on log in, which really messed up my face, and made me really unhappy. Taking more advice from the forum, I wrote all my slider values down, and I keep that up to date, for emergency use, and includes a catalogue of my saved outfits. I figured that an Alt would make a good test bed, and that's when BelindaSalt came into existence. I called her Salty as a nod to who she is. I planned to keep her cheap and simple, but it proved harder than I imagined. The lure of mesh and more shopping pushed me over the edge and she became my sister. I tried to make her different but 'related' in looks, and she has her own friends and own life when she's in world alone. When I got a new laptop we started going in world together, and this has been amazing fun.

In the meantime, some guy trouble had a happy ending in that I now live at @Zennessa 's place where there is easy access to a beach, and a studio close to my apartment. Big hugs for your generousity!!!!

More recently, and knowing that some Forumites have multiple alts, I decided to make just one more sister. And so I made Ellie, the middle one, the rebel. Already she is taking up a lot of my time. I think Ellie is more of a "Liz"** than me! haha! We've only been in world twice as a threesome, because it's a big effort with three viewers over two laptops, but worth it for the photos!!!

** Google "He called me a Liz" (although we suspect he meant something else!!)

So that's a summary of my first year in SL. I've posted it here so that anyone new,  looking at the forums might be encouraged to stick around and make something of it!  The forum is a great place to hang out, and with all the support here its possible to make huge strides!  I really appreciate the people here, as friends, advisers and confidantes. It makes SL such a buzz!!  I've discovered things about myself here which I never knew in Real Life, and SL has certainly changed the way I think in RL. Not radically, just around the edges.

Two images. The first was of my first paid Avi, at around two weeks in.

The second is from yesterday. This shows my journey in my first year!!

 

SL100.jpg

SL29.png

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Scylla Rhiadra

Scylla Rhiadra

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We're all glad you stuck it out, Belinda. AND found your way to the forums too, of course.

I'm always struck when I read these sorts of narrative -- about nearly giving up on SL after the first attempt, but giving it one more try -- by how the first-time user experience here depends so much upon random luck. How many potential new users who might love SL if they stuck it out are lost because they turned left instead of right, or didn't meet someone helpful and friendly? I really don't get why LL doesn't put more effort into ensuring that the first visit is an exciting and memorable one.

Anyway . . . HAPPY REZ DAY!!

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