Carole Franizzi

Why, hello kind sir. Good to see you too.

Aww, Dres. What a lovely message. Even the rude word bit. Is that a metaphorical CaC house or an actual digital one? Which ever it is, one of these days I'll take you up on your offer, though you may regret it once I start to get maudlin and alternate drunken singing and weeping. Although not deserving of your admiration, I'm working hard, doing well and having fun. And by 'fun' I mean the generally pretty respectable fun of Carole's operator and not the sort of fun Carole herself was known to indulge in.

Hey. Hey. Hey-hey-hey. We kissed and made up. And what on earth is a sonic screw-driver anyway??

/me moves my arm a bit so that the batwing of flesh is no longer covering your nose and, removing the ciggie from my mouth, taps the ash into your ear before replying/ “Ah, darlin’, let’s just say that if my hair curlers could talk, they’d get banned from the forum. Nice skirt you’re wearing, by the way.”

Wish I could remember when I joined. 2007 maybe. Whenever i was, I was in no position to appreciate the finer points of the technology. I spent the best part of my first year learning how to unpack boxes and walk up stairs without falling off.

Hello U.T. Sweet of you to post. I remember you well. You're looking good, gal. I think you might almost have taken Carole's place as the hawt babe of the forums. Almost.

Marigold Devin wrote: ... but I guess I was a regular 8 year old, and its probably the equivalent of - (dare I say this?) - 8 year old girls who now have Justin Bieber on their walls. Have you noticed that Donnie and Bieber have the same pudding-bowl-can't-hardly-see hairstyle? What goes around comes around, evidently. The clothes of Donnie, however, I'm forced to say, are even worse than Carole's.

What, you mean like pretend I’m still in SL? Mm. Wonder if I could get away with it? I suppose I could yammer on about how mash (mush? mesh?) is ever-so over-rated, and not worth it and causes my pc to crash and has ruined my latest SL marriage, and how I’m going to stick with…erm….whatever the non-mush stuff is called.

Hey, Hippie! How’s it going? Lovely to read you. The problem with today’s world is, in my opinion, that there aren’t enough hippies. You may be surprised to hear that Carole was a hippy at times. Or maybe not too surprised, considering Carole was more or less everything, from Granny of Gor, to furry, to vamp, etc, at some point or another. She sported some really nasty dreadlocks and went by the name of Guru Chakra Winfrey and even had her own ashram in her back garden with actual followers. Well, okay, some pals who were kind enough to humour me. Peace, man!

I still remember my first posts in this forum. Actually they were my first posts in any forum ever. I was kinda shell-shocked, to be honest. Some of that stuff was really, really nasty. Then whatever-number of posts later, you can't even remember most of the clashes. Although in my case, that could be senile dementia setting in. Glad we patched it up.

Marigold Devin wrote: While there seem to be phases that are common to all of us (obligatory box-on-head, being asked for da sex, falling in and out of love/friendships, getting griefed) every single person's version of what SL is would be very different. Just like if Picasso, Van Gogh and Monet all tried to paint the same thing, the finished pictures would look totally different. The journo should just say Happy Birthday Second Life - (and many more?) :matte-motes-evil-invert::matte-motes-big-grin: This ^ Totally. Absolutely. No, I shan't hang around. It really would be arrogant of me to harp on and on and on and on... (well, you know how I am) about SL and how it should be if I'm no longer part of it. It'll have all moved on from a technical point of view (I hope...!) since I was last 'inside' and that would mean I'd be yammering on about stuff I have no knowledge about. The 10th birthday bash article I read just got me thinking about how I'd wandered off without saying goodbye. Made me feel uneasy, as I was and am genuinely fond of lots of people whose paths I crossed in here, and I just felt it would be nice to let people know that they are still in my thoughts, even with an impersonal, collective message.

Actually, it turns out I said nothing of the sort. I did wonder. I'm not usually a name-caller. However, I was certainly very brash, but in the world of forums, brashness is not the worst you can expect. It looks like you've clocked up a good number of posts since then - almost 7,000 - congrats. That makes you waaaay more forum-savvy than me now. If our interaction was the worst you've had to put up with, then you've had a pretty good running (I've just had a PM from an old 'enemy' with a new name wishing me a lonely and painful death!), however, as I said before, if it upset you, then I apologise. You're free not to accept the apology however. At the end of the day, it's your choice. Keep well.

Marigold! Grinning here myself! How are you, Ms Devin? Great to read you. I have to confess, as self-opinionated as I undoubtedly am, I'd be hard pushed to explain what SL really is. I'm not sure anyone could. It's what each person wants it to be - even in some cases an almost -substitute for real life. So the variants of what-SL-is are pretty much infinite, wouldn't you say? Cheek of it! Coming in here trying to figure out the unfigurable in a few days for an article! Glad you sorted him out though. :matte-motes-big-grin-squint:

I called you an idiot? Really? Over you wanting a home and garden forum? That's awful. I hope you reported me. I'm afraid I don't remember that particular post - it has to be a couple of years ago minimum, maybe more, but if it's stuck in your mind all this time, it must have really bothered you. Please accept my apologies.

Yeah, something like that. Although I learned loads of new skills here, overall SL made me a bit lazy. When I reflected on how many freetime hours could slip away fiddling with a prim, I decided to avoid temptation altogether and move on and start a project I'd been planning for years. Take care.

Very sweet of you, Amethyst. Thank you. The very best to you too.

You mean there's more than a couple of us 'oldies' made an appearance recently? Maybe the same spate of SL annversary articles which caught my eye? Or maybe, as you say, some inexplicable digital force dragging us back here. Certainly, I for one spent a good bit of time (and money) on SL and, in all honesty, for a few years, even if not constantly (I'd have 'off' periods), a lot of my freetime hours were invested in SL and the people I knew here. Looking back on it and them, many of the memories are just like RL ones - of people 'met' and places 'visited' - even though I didn't actually meet or visit anyone or anything. I'm still convinced that what could have been a incredible social experiment fell very short of reaching its full potential, despite the skill, enthusiasm and passion of so many of its users. I've no idea of what the population might be nowadays - maybe it's even higher than a few years back - so if numbers are the measurement to use, possibly it's still a commercial success. However, I'm one of those who doesn't measure success just in figures. Very nice to see your name, Deltango. Seems, reading the last few lines of your post, that you're still inworld. All the best to you there, and elsewhere.

Oh my God - Storm. Long time no.... oh, wait - we never ever did actually see one another inworld, did we? Funny that - there were quite a few people who I interacted with regularily in the forums, but never actually 'met' inside SL. You were one of them. Thanks for your kind words. Hope both lives are being good to you.

Thanks, Dillon. Lovely to read you again too. Void's gone from the forums? If my memory serves me right, I think I can imagine why. Eloise gone from SL? Really? We swapped RL names, e-mails, etc. when she taught me creating skills, so I'll try to track her down outside of here. She was a really, really nice, clever lady. Things are going very well, I'm happy to say. Having said that, I (mostly) enjoyed my time in SL too, but I just haven't the time or energy for it now. You never know, if one day things get a bit less hectic, and SL doesn't shut down, I might even come back, though probably to do something arty-farty creative. We'll see. You take care.

Colleen! All's well indeed. How about you? Life being nice to you, I hope? Hugs.

Not sure about the wit and wisdom, little green one. How's life on Mars, Perrie? Nasa photographed something on Mars this week which some are saying is a lizard-like life form (others think it's just a funny shaped rock). It wasn't you, was it? Peace to you too.

Hated? Now who could hate a sweet old lady? Well, okay, maybe she wasn't exactly your classic lavander and lace granny... Really nice to get a post from you, Tari. Yes, life's nice and full these days and I'm kept both busy and happy. I hope you're keeping well yourself and that both your lives are full of contentment.

And you, sir, are really kind. Actually, you were always terribly nice to me. Hope life is treating you well. A big hug in your direction.

Aww - Caitlin. Awfully nice to read a post from you. Always enjoyed your blog too. I always thought you were one of those who really 'got' SL and who managed to get the best out of it. Am both well and happy - thank you. The same right back at you.

DRAKE!!! How lovely to 'see' you! Big hug.