ogirly4016

Ha, no worries about the French. I"m still at an extremely elementary level. Only recently did I make the decision to focus on French Socialism for my Masters studies so I figured I'd get a head start on the languages now English is perfectly fine, and perferable actually lol. Just say hey one time when your on and free.

Just shoot me an IM or notecard when you log in one time, and are free. I'm usually online through the day, especially now since we're inbetween semesters. Looking forward to saying hello

glad sl helped you reach your full potential!

I guess for me it's been more of a therapeutic tool than anything. I have rather severe schizophrenia, and before I was on medications I had no life honestly. I spend the greater part of my 14 - 24 years in and out of either hospital, doctors office, or psychiatrist. I play rp SL as a teen, and it's allowed me to 'relive' a lot of moments and expierences from my past that my disease has forced me to miss out on since I've started on mediction. It has allowed me to investigate parts of my personality that didn't have a chance to develop through 'normal' means. Also I've used it for 'expirimental' treatment that I couldn't afford other ways. I can create an avatar to match one of my hallucinations, interact with it, and I notice much less severe symptoms each time that hallucination shows up(this was before starting medicatios on my previous avatar). They are doing this in labs with really complex and expensive equipment. I was able to do this for free with the help of some friends. SL has many benefits. It's also let me meet tons of people from around the world whom I would have never had a chance to meet any other way; and like many others in this thread it's got me intersted in 3d modeling, scripting, and programming. As far as the stigma I've gotten that, but I tend to hang out with people in their early to mid 20's so they tend to be a bit more educated on the 'digital world'. They think the game is weird that's for sure. It does seem that weird or strange is the typical response to SL from non-players. Confusing is the response from those who have tried it.

"The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only resason for remaining alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made their living simply by selling systems, forecasts, and lucky amulets. Winston had nothing to do with the Lottery, which was managed by the Ministry of Plenty, but he was aware (indeed everybody in the party was aware) that the prizes were largely imaginary. Only small sums were actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being nonexistent people." - George Orwell, 1984 I don't play the lottery, but if you do best of luck...

Okay so if we are all in agreement to give this a go I"ll create the group tomorrow morning/afternoon and send you all invites. Lets start thinking about times for a meeting up in world. I'm pretty flexiable with my times right now so I'll work around others...I just ask that we try not to do anything later than 8 or 9pm est (5 - 6pm slt I believe) I can stay up past that time if need be, I just prefer not to if possible. Again, I"m flexible. Let me know what times work for you, and maybe post some suggestions for what books you'd like to read? Two each would probably be a good starting point and then we can all discuss how we'd like to go about working through the books. I'm thinking maybe we could have our first meeting after the holidays? Sometime in early January? What days work best for everyone? I'd ideally like to avoid Sundays, and Mondays if possible but I can do those days if need be.

could be interesting

Second Life can take awhle to get used to. I know when I first strated out on my old account I was as frustrated as you were. I spent a long time just trying to walk around without bumping into things let alone navigate to sandboxes to open boxes. If you just can stick with it awhile longer things will start to click and make sense.

I'm open to whatever times work best for the majority of the people in the group. We'd all have to work that out together. I'm personally in est time-zone, but I'm flexible. I wouldn't mind evenings or weekends. As for the discussions whatever the majority of the people feel is appropriate we would go with that. Obviously if someone is not comfortable using voice they would by no means be forced to do so. I have a few titles that are out of my usual reading lists, but I'd like to see what they are about. The first I would recommend would be Jane Green's "The Beach House", or possibly something a like Jack Kerouac's "On the Road". I'd love to hear what books others would like to read, and by no means do I expect my recommendations to be taken as the first books the group reads. I'm just as excited to get into some books outside of what I would normally read as the next person. If you are interested in joining the group shoot me a notecard in world so I can add you to the list. If we're all comforatble with a small group starting out four of us is a good starting point.

Hey! sorry I didn't know who you were when you friend requested me in the game feel free to send another and I"ll accept. Been weird today. Flu medications making me all loopy lol

I"m a student currently so I have a lot of free time. I'm hopeful that after it gets up and running the group will take over management and it'll be almost self running...that's the hope in theory at least. If your interested just shoot me a notecard in game if I'm not logged in and I'll add you to the list. That would make three of us so only need one or two more before I think we could start picking books etc. Glad to see real interest in this.

Sorry to hear it fell through. I was thinking something bi-weekly or monthly. That way the commitment level isn't anything too crazy, and people may actually show up. If there is interest I'd be willing to host them more often, but I'm thinking that's a good starting point. If we can get around four or five people that should be a good starting point to pick a book, and have some sort of drawing for rotation of choice etc. Thanks for responding! I'm hopeful this can get up and running.

scratch that messaging me in world. Just drop me a notecard if not through the forums because school notifications clog up my IM's when I'm not logged on :\

So I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good reading circle or book club? I'm in a funk when it comes to reading. I'm always reading the same sorts of books because of University, and I'd really like to branch out. I've been looking through the groups and it seems a lot of them are totally dead :\ I would be interested in starting one if there are enough people who would be interested in joining. I'm hoping to find a Philosophy reading group in particular, but just a group where we all work through the same book and discuss it would be enjoyable enough regardless of genres. If anyone is intersted in starting a reading group with me just message me in world. We could either go in turns of choosing the book to read (which would guarentee a good varieity of genres, authors etc) or we could do a popular vote between a few submitted books (I personally like the former option the most, but I"m open to whatever). I just would really like to read some books with others! It's always a lot of fun to work through a story with friends, and get their interpretations. Shoot me a message in world or on the forums. I'd love to organize this, or join onto something similar if it's already in existance.

I like the idea of flight roleplay a lot! It would be great for families going on holiday etc. The idea of a skybox seems like the best idea in this thread so far. I wouldn't very much like to be setting off for a holiday only to loose half of my family on the way. The skybox flight could actually be a lot of fun.