Amanda Crisp

“Hold me closer Tony Danza.......”

Wait.....did your Green Lantern look like this? ‘Cause that guy has issues........

Ahhhh.....the Welcome Area 🙂

Ceka, you cut right to the heart of it 🙂. Beautiful pic BTW!

Coincidentally all my work stuff that accesses the web is down now too. I have no choice but to sit here, read my book and wait for things to return to Abnormal.

Thats adorable Ignis 🙂 Also true!

OK, I was looking at my Flickr feed and it struck me that “many” of my older SL shots would have an entirely different context nowadays..... Please post-away but *pweese* go for funny and not depressing. RL had enough “depressing” to go around. My first shot; Caption: ”So you’re a talking Cat-Owl who gives stock tips? Big deal buddy....SIX FOOT SPACING, RIGHT NOW!”

I work sort of an overnight shift, so my experience has a split personality. I make it on for 2 hours un U.S. Prime Time (GMT-6) @ 6pm SL and have people around, then come back after work for a little bit at about 3pm GMT and find a “differently” populated SL 🙂 Maybe if you tailor your venue-search by RL geography? Where possible, look for Euro-run events when Europe is on Prime Time, ditto for the US and the Pacific I *really* like hanging around with Australia (GMT+15) when I can work out the times and not be at work or asleep 🙂

*sigh* and I was excited about posting a pic of me and my Sub.....

Before he was Daryl and the Dead Walked.....he was a Boondock Saint...... ...OK, full disclosure. When I typed this originally I typoed an “I” Instead of the last “O” in Boondock. I caught it fast, but as you-all might find that hysterical I decided to tell on myself......

I’d say you’re right Rolig! Here in SL, I’m married into the Club biz (happily) so that probably defines my experiences.

Thats awesome Rowan 🙂 I acknowledge that SL is a big place and hopefully experiences are mostly positive ! Still...sneaky Bias manifests itself in a myriad of ways that we normally don’t make a big deal of. ”You don’t voice so you must be cross-gendered in SL” which is really saying more about the gender preference or possibly the phobia of the speaker. But there are people whose friendship/good will is contingent on *you* very obviously fitting into *their* comfort zone. I guess if someone *is* here for sex, they might have a reasonable concern about not triggering themselves in the process - but sometimes the way they go about out is a little over-the -top. Of course, they’re being a little smug if they think everyone they chat up might actually GIVE them pixel sex. Life is very subjective....... To clarify; I’m not all up—in-arms about the issue. I largely accept is as part of “People being people” and since my SL occupation involves making people want to hang around at my workplaces; I let it roll off. I’m an entertainer, not an evangelist. Living my life is more important than complaining about it.

Often in club work, you encounter people who are virtually present but not participating (or watching) Local chat because they and their social group are on some version of Voice (this can be Skype, SL Voice or something else). I know this because I have a couple of friends that do this using Discord and who include me in their funny shenanigans via Discord Text People are free to do as they please, so no biggie there 🙂 That has nothing to do with the main topic; but with the prevalence of voice-communication overlaid with SL. So one does not need to be in a sex sim to encounter this, you just need to work a lot on the SL club/events scene 🙂 One problem with this; some club managers see avatars just standing around (not interacting) and choose to hit the DJ up for “poor customer engagement” ala “If you were also on Voice, they would pay attention” (decoded - they would tip if you were verbal). Personally, I think those folks exhibit that same preference wherever they go - so the bias in play here would be on the part of the Manager.

This isn’t big-ticket discrimination, which is why it flies under the radar in SL. If you’re speech-impaired here, you’re subject to all sorts of shenanigans. Relationally and Inworld Employment-wise, you’re very much a second class citizen in the voice-centric world That is SL. Amazingly, I can still find DJ gigs - but so with any such group; you have to hustle twice as hard just to stay even. Does it stop me? No. Other people can only define or stereotype you if you play along 🙂

So I’m listening to an old Mashup called the Rock Harmony 🙂

“Starman” by David Bowie, from the soundtrack of “The Martian”

Pearl, We live in a world where substantial segments of the population can’t see the difference between “Disagree” and “Hate” and the increasingly common solution to “Disagree” is to ignore the person and their life’s work. IMO, the only reasonable course of action in a situation like that is to Be Yourself. You can’t control what other people think, say or do. If you’re happy with yourself, thats good enough. Be Yourself. That way, when you get flamed anyway; you have the satisfaction of having at least been authentic. This is the Internet; everybody gets flamed 🙂

“I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.” ― seneca

I’ve endured a couple of decades in the corporate world after surviving my military service. The sign out-front at our workplace has changed multiple times over the years, but any other changes were mostly cosmetic. If you’re a target for acquisition, this usually means you do something other people *want* and most of them are Wiley enough to let you keep doing it once their name is on the door. There are horrible exceptions of course; like being bought by someone with too much ego or too little business sense. My personal experience has always been in line with the old cliche; “New boss; same as the old boss.”

Running a club in SL has to be a labor of love, because 99% of the time its not financially viable. Thats *not* a reason not to try, but expect it to be a money-sink for quite a while - maybe forever. If you want to run a place where interesting people can mix and mingle and you don’t care much about being #1, you have a much greater chance of being satisfied with the whole thing. Advice: Be good to your staff. So many club owners see the $ going out with not quite as much coming back - and go straight to “shouty” mode. I have seen this multiple times over 15 years here; -Berating staff (who USED to be your friends) in Group chat in an attempt to find coverage for shifts is a losing proposition. So is trying to expand too fast. If you can provide a fun experience 1 night a week and people keep coming back, slowly build up to two, and so on. If you can keep the mindset; “This is something I’m doing *with* my friends and *for* my friends” - its amazing how far that goes to keeping Staff and guests. The moment you mentally become a Business; that’s when things get risky on the SL club scene. Please post when you open! I’m not specifically into Hip Hop, but I’ll show up and bring my Partner. Any excuse to dance and meet new friends is a good one 🙂 Good luck!

There are (In My opinion) two Broad kinds of “SL People”; (a) - People who are here to Play a Game or generally goof off and be entertained or distracted. (b) - People who are here because this is a “world” they inhabit and people like them are their (sometimes dysfunctional) “tribe”. I’m on the forums because I am a “B” who works a *LOT* in RL and this lets me keep up with what the tribe is up to. I like techy, geeky, internet people & the unusual conversations That happen when all the Techy-Geeky-Caffinated-Whatever collides 🙂 ”Techy-Geeky-Caffeinated-Whatever” should probably be a forum title......

I’m posting much less for two reasons; 01..Jerkazoids 02..RL politics and political activity being brought to the forums. I find it easier not to engage than to get my blood pressure up over manners or someone collecting Virtue points:-) SL is my escape from RL. I try to keep it that way. Peace.