Treyu

I've been here a long time and don't have many friends to show for it either. Over 50 on my FL and maybe 3 or 4 of them talk to me regularly. I'm mostly at fault for this, though. I vanish for months at a time and hardly talk to others. I wait for people to talk to me instead and even then, sometimes I'm too anxious or uninterested in conversation to carry it on long. And then I wonder why I'm lonely, heh. :c

Like the title says, I left the group I founded and there are inactive people in it, so it's not going anywhere. I am the founder of the group, but the other person I'd put in charge is inactive. Is there any way I can get back in the group since I founded it?

Just so people know, I'm now on a brand-new Alienware and it's still happening. Just got told I was voicing my clicking and such in local. New computer. New brand. New install. New everything. Still happening. Only similar thing is that i'm still using Phoenix. Is this a problem with Phoenix in itself or what? Because it never happened before this year. Ever. Suddenly now, however, it's happening all the time. I don't get it.

"it seems like the people who are the most vocal about bringing back last names are the people who already have one." Exactly what I'm thinking. As someone without a last name, I'd rather they just kept going the way they were. I'm tired of the bait-and-switch crap in 1st life. I'd prefer not to have it in my 2nd.

And how exactly will this be implemented for us who had to pick a name with only Resident as an option? I don't want to remain 'Treyu' if I'm having a last name forced on me any more than I'm sure someone with the name Agfd123 wants to keep that as a first name. Oh joy, they can be Agfd123 Flux or Agfd123 Zane now? Man, let me hop on THAT asap, I mean that's great and such a step up! Now along with thier ridiculous name that they had to use to get on the game at all, they have to pick a last name as well to make it even more confusing. Either that or abandon their account with many non-trans items to make a less moronic first name at the cost of wasting days, weeks, months of time and a whole hell of a lot of $ along with it! They limited the names for a time, screwed us over essentially, and now they want to go back on that? Is this a cruel joke? I certainly hope that, if they do, we newer residents can pick ENTIRELY new names... because I've invested a lot into this account, only to now be told that I could possibly have had a different name in the future... but only be allowed to pick from LAST names? Thanks a lot, LL. ~

Looks like I am here to break the ice with the fact that I have no real 'RL' friends and only a handful of online 'SL' friends. First, it's difficult for me to maintain friendships in general because I have a very bad social anxiety disorder that stems from abuse, starvation and other nasty things I've endured practically since I was born and up until I left the military in 2008. This anxiety includes real life and online social situations as well, but I personally find I am more true to my 'real' self online. While it's difficult for me either way, I'm less afraid and less focused on having to respond immediately as I ride that adrenaline rush that I struggle to stay on top of every second that I'm out in public. See, in real life, I over-compensate and tend to play the 'class clown' more often than not. I come off as someone no one would expect to have these sorts of issues... but it's all a mask. It's totally fake and that sort of fakeness is very hard to fake so often. At the end of the day, I can't fake it any more and I try to get away in any way that I can. I find excuses to not take any acquaintances to the next level. I don't go to the bars, clubs or even simple social gatherings I'm invited to... and with that, the potential for real life friendship dies off. People are people, whether it's online or offline, and I probably know that better than anybody. There will always be exchanges made, trading positives and minuses for one or the other. For example, the safety and distance of an internet relationship comes with having no physical contact with said person. To some people, this is unacceptable and they may go so far as to call it 'not a real friendship'. Well let me tell you that, to some people, this is not only an acceptable trade-off, but a preferable one. Online, I don't have to worry so much about my response time or my ability to be witty 'as usual' or anything else. I can simply be me, collect my thoughts, and be honest. Through this, I have found that I make the most meaningful relationships... and I would make many more, if only I didn't avoid people so much after talking to them. Maintaining a friendship is my weakest point because it raises the feelings of anxiety once again. No longer are they strangers... now they know something about me, and that fact scares me to death. Once we speak a few times or so, the 'scary' part wears off and I can, generally, start a friendship from there. Getting there, however, is harder than Chinese algebra. I am seeking help in the real world for my social issues, but it feels like the further I dig, the more I realize that it's going to take one hell of a lot of therapy and work to get me to not be a walking bundle of stress and anxiety within any kind of close proximity to another human being. Until then, it's either opt for the rare SL/online friends who still love me despite my issues and stony, stoic silence... or simply go friendless.

That we do- or rather the majority does, both of politicians and people. A grant would be fine, but if we're expected to pay it back, then it's just another foot further we sink into the hole because we cannot seem to manage our money. This is also why I do not think raising the ceiling will be our salvation. It is what is needed and will be done, but to stay living off of borrowed money (regardless of who it is borrowed from) is to live off of borrowed time. Our time is just about up if we don't immediately put on the brakes and, as Dres said, turn that car around. Sadly, as Ceka said, we have the money-management skills of crack addicts. The way the US runs much of its dealings is extremely self-destructive and, if I were to diagnose the US like one single being (mentally only, don't get me started on physically) then I'd likely say it is addicted and paranoid. We are ddcited to ridiculous spending that is completely unfounded. There are times, however, when we are lying on our backs, realizing the end is near if we don't get some food, and those are the times we see most clearly and ask for help. We swear we won't spend our food-money on our analytical crack, but that all goes sailing out the window before the day is through. And then we are back to square one once the 'high' wears off. We refuse the real aid we need in our moments of 'small-people crisis' such as Katrina because we're paranoid. We don't want people to think we're unable to help ourselves and we don't want to expose our weaknesses to our percieved enemies- even if they are extending us a hand in our darkest moments... and those 'small people' suffer because of it. This is also why we will never (or have yet to, anyhow- never say never) cut such a major chunk of funding to our military. I agree to raising taxes on the big guys and corporations, but not the 'small fries' who aren't part of the mega. Afterall, there are some corporations who need to have the stranglehold put on them- the oil business is definitely one of them, but small(er) business owners already in trouble don't need the added weight of being -just- over the edge- not when that edge is as low as 250k. The scales are unbalanced and something needs to be done. There are a million ways to do it, but it seems like we can't pick one and stick with it. That is where the frustration (for me anyhow) comes in.

^This. Explain to me why (if you or anyone else believes it was all Bush's fault) Obama has not only failed severely to make the deficit better... but plummeted us instead, doing the same damage in less than half the time. Think about that for a second. Think about it and tell me what people would claim had the roles been reversed. Now, don't get me wrong, Bush was no angel. He was as much a politician and string-monkey as the rest of them (in my opinion) but come on... Obama is no bloody saint and he's not looking out for any of us any more than the next 'right wing crazy' is. The fact that people are still saying it was all his fault or because of the war is as much a knee-jerk reaction as to claim 'oil' on all the world's problems. No, I'm sure the war didn't help, but how many years has Obama been in term now? Where are all his promises? Why is debt spiraling out of control now worse than it ever has been? And don't even preach to me about his involvement with the repeal of 'DA;DT'. That should have never been there in the first place and I am SEVERELY disapointed with his lack of involvement with LGBT and so much more. So maybe instead of looking back over 2 1/2 years, we should start paying attention to what the government is STILL spending money on. Look at the fraud they're still doing (ACORN anyone? Or did that get swept under the rug nicely, too?) Even with all covered-up scandals aside, looking through some of the public records is completely insane! (Can someone explain to me why the fed. gov't is spending billions on peanut research??) I'm not a member of any party at all, but I'll go with the things that make the most sense and what is good for the country and its people overall. And this ---> "The "little guys" profit when the "big guys" profit." Is correct. This pitting of one against the other is the very spirit of hostility that keeps us from meshing at all. One side will always blame the other. What we really need is more regulation so that all people cannot cheat the system financially- both big (mega corporations) and little (welfare). There need to be more regulations to assure people are being paid fairly and that people aren't being given handouts when they're perfectly capable but LAZY. Gosh, I smell new job oportunities and profit! Now tell me how some scrawny college kid can come up with that and the men running our country with Harvard degrees can't?? And as for me, I'm sure it will affect me in some unforeseen way. I won't spend as much on SL, yada yada. I make or mod most of my own stuff anyhow.

Jane's in-world name would be Jane0018 Resident. Anyone (myself included) with 'no' last name falls immediately into having the last name of 'Resident'. To keep more on topic, you can add me if you'd like! I'm always up for a friendly chat. I speak English, but I've been trying to learn German (yay, Rosetta Stone).

Alright. I've reset my settings, set the push-to-talk to another key far from Tab (the Delete key- another one far away from where I ever touch on the other side of my keyboard). I made sure my input and output was correct and tested it in-world. It works just fine for now. I see my mouth moving and I see the green 'waves', so we'll see what happens in the near future.

@Janelle, The only reason I don't think it's a problem with the key itself is because when the Tab key is hit even a little, it scrolls through buttons on my viewer as well. If it was a crossed wire that was triggering the Tab key, I would likely see the other keys get scrolled through and would be able to turn it off. No keys nor clicks of anything turn it off, however, when it's decided to come on all by itself and there are no warning signs for it being on at all. In fact, it's likely happened more than just these few times that I know about, but I only have other people reporting it to me to know for sure. It takes re-logging to turn it off at all. Once I've relogged, however, if I press my push-to-talk button, it works just fine... for a time. Also, I'm using the latest version of Phoenix Viewer because I can't stand the layout of SL's Viewer 2.0. @Peewee, I do have a built-in mic, actually. I'm on a laptop, so just unplugging it won't do. I've relogged about 7 or so times since the first time it started happening, but nothing worked. When it finally started calling people I was typing to in an IM, I drew the line and disabled it. @Valen, Perhaps it is a problem with the viewer then, if you're still using an older one? I really don't want to have to change to 2.0. I tried it and it took too long to get used to and I disliked a lot of the features.

Sortof. When it's turned itself on, I can't seem to turn it off. Otherwise, it works just fine. It actually just tried to call in an IM that I didn't agree to send. I don't know what the deal is, but I reset my voice settings and turned it off for the time being. I have a job to do on Thursday, however, that involves voice chat, so I really need to figure this out before then.

My push to talk in toggle mode isn't on. I never liked toggle mode. And it's set to 'Tab' which I never use otherwise and is located around another key I never use- Caps Lock.

Sorry, I know it's likely not the right place to post this, but has anyone else had this happen to them? I'll be standing somewhere, perhaps in a club or modding my av, something like that, and then people will start telling me I'm on mic. They tell me they can hear reverb of themselves or that they can hear me/my gf talking irl, my music and/or typing, etcetc. The scary part is that I can't even SEE the green waves of speech... the little hovering white dot looks like I'm not speaking at ALL to me or anyone else, yet other people can hear me. D: If I try to click the toggle buttons or manually hit the on/off switch, no green waves show up even then. I wind up having to relog to fix it, and even then I'm so unsure if anyone can hear me that I fear going anywhere where I'm not willing to be on voice and be heard. :/

I hate to run in and be a 'thiser' but.. THIS so hard. The old naming system was perfectly fine. Seems to me they broke a perfectly good thing while trying to make it better. Like 'fixing' a dusty clock by pushing it off a balcony, if you ask me... but to each their own, I suppose. I know some people like it.

As an artist, I absolutely agree with this! Even 'anime' and 'chibi' (extremely deformed) artists must understand the basics of human anatomy to get the desired effects they are looking for... otherwise they just don't look lifelike at all. You must look at the avatar all around and as a whole. If the entire avatar looks lifelike and 'real' aside from tiny little arms, I'm sorry, there's gonna be a problem and it's just not going to look right. There are no rules to dictate how someone 'must' make thier avatar just like there are no rules to dictate what someone 'must' draw, but if i draw a very realistic picture of someone and only make, say, the arms look caricatured (as opposed to the whole body like in a typical caricature) it's going to trigger something in most people that says 'no', 'strange' and possibly even 'unsettling'.. see the uncanny valley for more details of what I mean.

Thanks to everyone for your responses! @Drongle, Thanks, I think I will be trying that one out. @Poenald, Haha, I guess I may have misspoken. By 'talk down' I mostly meant talk to me like I was a small child or something like that. But thank you! Yes, I really greatly prefer video tutorials because I can follow along. I'm very much a visual learner. I think it looks like most people are telling me to go with Blender, so I think I'll be trying that one out. I'm not sure what 'baking' a texture means, but hopefully I'll find out soon! I feel so embarrassed to be so very uneducated on this topic. @Jacki , Haha, I don't even know the difference between Sculpts and Mesh. Do you mean solid and flexi prims? Sorry, I'm literally about as n00by as you can get at this! @Josh, I will look into that one as well. Perhaps it will help to teach me a few of the basics. @Rolig, I joined SL specifically because I wanted to build and create. I've been putting it off so long now with any effort being sofruitless that I finally asked for help on the forums... and while that may be easy for some, it's very hard for me to ask for help. Thanks again, everyone. I'm off to download Blender and watch a loooot of tutorials. Wish me luck. ;D

Hey everyone, So I'm new... painfully new, in fact, to any kind of 3D software, let alone making items for SL. Now, don't get me wrong, I do know a fair amount of knowledge about modding in SL itself and have built a few custom avatars from premade sculpts. Texturing is fairly easy as I've been working with Photoshop in its various forms since 7.0 was released (though as of right now I have CS3) and I've used my own custom textures a few times now... but I want to make more. I've looked at this guide but I just don't understand any of it, especially not to make my own choices on what to start learning with. Using 'Art of Illusion' as an example, I don't understand what any of the checklist means past 'Operating Systems'. Every time I try to get into a program and follow a guide (I've tried a couple of times), I seem to just get lost. Is there any program (on that list or not) that is easy to use, but can make quality prims? Preferably one that has a lot of guides behind it at the very least? Which program do most builders use to create their prims and sculpts in SL? Naturally, I'd prefer the program to be as cheap as possible (preferably free- hah) but if there will be a significant difference in the quality and ease of creation with another, I will drop money for it. Also, feel free to 'talk down' to me. I don't know anything at all about this and attempting to educate myself on my own seems to not be working, no matter how hard I try.