InnerCity Elf

Could also work as Worlds Apart (no need anymore to waste space on typing out that you keep SL and RL apart, too ;))

Not Just Another Game (could be shortened to NotAGame, or NoGame)

My recent delight was paying for someone's shopping the day before Christmas Eve. I noticed the girl behind me, probably a student, digging for her purse in her backpack and coming up blank. It was just a few things, so I offered to pay as a random Christmas gift from/for a atranger. She found some coins in her pocket then and wanted to give me at least those, but I waved it off and disappeared, a gift is a gift is a gift. I love seeing and doing such small kind gestures, especially in situations, where many people are in a hurry and stressed, some even hostile and just centered on themselves getting everything done for "the perfect Christmas", despite the season should foster the opposite, and such an opportunity doesn't present itself too often, so it's an affordable delight, and most probably for everyone involved, giver, reveiver, watchers, so, multiple delight effect, too

Homeless (that's better than 'hopeless', though!). Although just yesterday, I spontaneously rented one of those multi-scene skybox homes for 100L/week, and it's surprisingly nice and roomy, so I do have a home for idling for my last 2023 SL days.

A cat. Now that you're rid of that temptation of temptations for cats, you can have a cat instead.

In honour of the season, I'm (re-)reading "The Winter Journey" by Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb (in case the title rings some bell, but you don't know quite, it refers to composer Franz Schubert's "Winterreise", which also has an appearance in the plot). If you like, hm, whimsical?, books that also don't need ages to read, but also don't feel like spending your precious time on books that aren't "real books", you might love them. I've read all of her books, some of them more than once. Thankfully, my public library has quite a few, not sure if they are that easily available outside of Europe. ETA: Nice thread! I've already noted down two books I'll be looking into, and only have read two pages of the thread yet.

Where? It's a serious question, I have no idea, where else one could do that. Like many people said, there have been and are the right and the wrong (for me) people anywhere, SL, games, RL. Unless there literally are only the wrong people at a game or elsewhere, in which case probably I'd be the wrong one there, and if you generally enjoy it, it might be worth changing your point of view, or and learning to ignore or avoid the wrong ones. Feeling like having lost the passion may be connected in some way, but still is another issue in my opinion. It might be worth it to stay away for a while, and, whenever you feel like logging in, don't, but instead ponder why exactly, what you are looking for, what else that you could do might fulfill that feeling, or why and how SL is the best place for you for that thing or those things. Some introspection on your personal positives of SL, and then maybe focusing on those, how to get more of those, and less of things and people that bother you. Maybe like that, you could also find some new things to inspire your passion that maybe simply has run its course for other things. Maybe you'll find that SL can be a thing of passion again for you, maybe you just need a break, or maybe SL isn't what you need or want any longer at this stage in your life. I've had a really long break from SL, but since then, I'm having quite a bit of fun in-world again, even though I didn't turn back into a "hardcore user" again. I've grown older and changed as a person, I still love SL, but in different ways. To me, it sounds as if you're at a point where either trying to find some new way to spend your SL time, or a break would help you, or maybe focusing on the thing you still feel passionate about, your DJing, but finding other people for and ways to do it, like re-inventing your DJ persona, or trying to bring DJing to places it doesn't (yet) "apply to,... might help.

Merry... days! (the end of a conversation between acquaintances I happened to witness this morning, seasoned with an awkward grin)

Fully, no, and well they shouldn't. But "something wickedly wonderful" sounds good, more curious for 2024 now. Adult Linden homes or Bellisseria theme would be my only best guess, too, but I hope it's something else, and more surprising.

Yes! Not necessarily a strictly dark mode person, things like light yellow or grey font on white used to annoy me enough to skip those posts, but I became older and milder, now, I just mark them like for quoting, and then can usually read them comfortably, when I feel like bothering.

Oh, I bet we would, it just would take up even more space and time to read in a dozen or so consecutive posts, sometimes with other people's posts sprinkled in. And some replies to such a post group might use multi-quote and thus effectively unite those separate parts of a novella post into one long post, after all, at least if their comments below each quote wouldn't be too long, else... 😂

In my mind, it could go two ways. Landlords could get hyped - if someone who's good with that, takes that mission upon them - and would be enthusiastic to get involved in the "Chapter One - This is just the Beginning" stage, and contribute their own biases, until we could poetically name The Codex "1001 Rules" and then start to gatekeep it, so we won't need to change the name. Or, and I fear that's the more probable one, 99% of them wouldn't even want to read through, discuss, amend, etc. 100 rules, or a dozen. It's too many, too much, too conflicting-interests for most people for whom this is just a hobby. And for people who really earn money with this. But that's just how this scenario would play out in my mind, minus the sub plots with pitchforks, pitch poured down from high castles, bombardments with plywood blocks by rental highstackers, and other fun things; there certainly are discussion or rule worthy (after discussion) points. It just might be an offer with not enough demand.

What's funniest to me is, when I type the right word but for some weird reason it looks so wrong that I actually look it up to be sure, but still it looks sooo wrong As if sometimes, the brain just "disconnects" with a word.

Starting to read, I expected a joke about you having burnt your gingerbread men this year, nothing about real men trapped in desserts. Must've been a mighty dessert, though, probably Christmas Pudding

Hm, I can't decide, there are so many great Christmas trees, maybe I shouldn't drag one of them into my abode but scrap the abode and celebrate Christmas sitting on a log surrounded by a Christmas tree forest this year... 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 🎄 🎄🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄

Idk about Burning Man, it's interesting in any case, especially for SLers outside of the Burning Man or SL history orbit, reading from people who've actually been there... . But we agree that "SL is for the birds", ruffled feathers and all, that's TOO accurate AND cute to not!

I don't think it's a rubbish idea, as long as people have fun with it. And personally, I'd love to go to such a concert, however, only if the tribute band actually plaid/sang themselves. In that case, I'd not even care much if a tribute to Prince, Kraftwerk, or whomever. I haven't been to any such SL concert, so I'd like to go for the experience, even if it wasn't really my favourite genre. If they just dress up and playback, that wouldn't tempt me enough to be at some place at a specific time if not by accident. If I happened to be where such a thing occurred, I'd surely watch for a bit. Or read profiles. 😄

The thought cracks me up, too, but more because the last few years, loading is so slow for me that looking at something is already a challenge just walking or standing 😅 I like the idea, though! The other day, in RL, I was walking throughy my city's pedestrian area, looking up at the really wonderful Christmas lights that are different per street here, and all "themed" according to the street name, like stars for the "Star Street", etc., trying to look up most of the time, while not bumping into people. I had forgotten that it was the one Advent Sunday were the shops were open in the afternoon/evening, so it was a bit of a challenge, almost like things to load quickly enough to admire them while walking in SL 😂

I explore a lot too, it's fun, isn't it. It wouldn't make a lot of sense to have differently rated regions if you can do/have things that ignore those ratings, right? That people do/have such things, as always and everywhere, doesn't mean it's allowed, but only that nobody (yet) knows or cared about enough to report it.

I had to pass through a neighborhood like that with a visitor once, he asked how people are able to find their house, when they are drunk. My hypothesis is that, apart from an aversion to architectural crime, it's the appeal of people and community. I love mainland and often had mainland parcels, my next home is going to be mainland, too, but it can feel very lonely, while with Bellisseria, you know at least that anyone there has logged in in the last decade ; ) I wasn't really interested in Belli until I noticed the forum thread that lists desirable spots just vacated, and picture thread, and thought it seems really active, so maybe there's a better chance for interaction. And hunting for a great location, and then a great location in a new theme was fun, kind of a mini-game in the "game". Maybe also people who have (more than) enough chaos in their real life, might tend towards peaceful, predictable, stressless Bellisseria, with (probably) lots of people who want the same, as an offset.

Thanks for sharing this lovely story. Reading, experiencing, and doing things like this, definitely belong to the things that keep me around, respectively make me come back to SL.

Hello! What everyone said, join groups that match your interest and see if there have been any recent group notifications sent, or follow the group chat while you're on, check out the destination guide, go to events, and such. I'd also argue that this forum isn't dead at all, and in a sense even more active than many other forums I know that look super active but have a much less useful activity, lots of new people who come, post a line or two one or three times, and then disappear, to never be seen again. Whereas here, of the relative few who post, many post often or regularly, exchanging info, or just chat and joke around, some really put in lots of time to help out people with their SL know-how, and over a bit of time, you can find favourite posters, credible posters, like-minded souls, maybe even friends, or parasocial acquaintances, ... or people that rub you the wrong way, too, keeping things interesting and fun ahah. I've been perusing this forum on and off over the years, and there are always enough people whom I "recognize", no matter how long I've been absent, to make it feel like a "return to home" of sorts. I perceive the forum population as very willing to help with info about any SL topic one could think of, even those who may appear to newcomers as of a very tough love kind. If you happen to meet someone whose name you recognize from the forum in-world, I'm sure most would be happy if you IM to say hi, I know I would, and my SL Halloween highlight this year was when I met someone who'd posted on the forum, while I was trespassing (trick-and-treat-eventing!) on their lawn. 🙂 And don't forget that forums also tend to have a high number of readers-only, too. So, it might be a shot in the dark, but maybe not. I hope you'll have fun, and will find what you are looking for, in any case!

To encourage owners who work the land, as an end customer, all other things that I personally care about equal (location, neighbours, name of the sim), and there was one parcel with clutter and one without, would probably buy the cluttered one, as long as it looks as if the owner put in a wee bit of work and love into it (even if I don't like the style, and would return everything anyway) vs. the one of the person who put in the least possible work. Provided that it wasn't inappropriately more L$. I do appreciate when people who sit on land don't leave it empty, a few nice trees or such, whatever fits the surroundins. Random actual clutter, well, that's another thing, but I guess people who want to sell land won't do that too often. I'm sure it's not just you, neither just me, though, in any case.

In real life, my father once bought a house with a garden that had a beautiful cherry tree. Some branches were hanging over a neighbours land, but my father didn't think anything of it, and I'm guessing if it had been the other way round, he'd have been happy with it, I surely would have been. One morning, all the branches hanging over had been cut off. Well, you live and learn. Not everyone likes cherry trees. Still, a friendly note to have the tree cut (in a tree-friendly manner), would have been appreciated rather than a fly-by-night action. We moved away soon, my father didn't want his children to grow up with that kind of neighbours, and they lost neighbours who'd have lent a hand with anything, including a younger generation, which can be rather handy, especially when you don't have own children or grandchildren around, when you get too old to shovel snow and such. A while ago, I had to move away from my house of over fifteen years, I'm still on friendly terms with all immediate neighbours, and still in contact, we also meet up from time to time. A few weeks ago, I visited one of the neighbours to fix her wifi issues, she cooked me a traditional dinner from her country of origin. Now, I live in more anonymous surroundings, but am trying to remedy that somewhat. My home baked muffins surprise was a success =D The "culture of neighbourliness" luckily isn't a lost art, but severely lacking in some surroundings. Even in virtual Second Life, I'd be happy if a neighbour would say hi, even if to ask me if they may encroach on my land and would certainly welcome them to so, if it was in a way that wouldn't trouble me too much. Asking if it's okay to encroach, even if someone thinks the neighbour won't notice anyway, however, wouldn't be asking too much, and the polite thing to do. This, whilst not an in-world-neighbourly thing (just try telling the neighbour if it does bother you in whatever way, would be my recommendation) is a forum-neighbourly offer, though. 😂

Don't be! Like Alwin says, you'll have a fresh copy if you really completely mess it up, and if it encourages you, I'm so super untalented with such things that I'd almost guarantee that if I can do it, and even I can, as I found out, anyone can and you'll learn things by trial and error.