Hymn Celestia

There are many ways to go about doing so. My hunting-preference is rather passive; if there happens to be a region that I really love (like for example South Haven) then in my stroll around the region I investigate the different houses to see if they are occupied by someone. If they are unoccupied and the land information reveals it is "Linden Home" then I know it is available for claiming (and you can try your luck rolling for it on the land page or you can special-request it with a support ticket if you have a Premium Plus account.) I don't worry about vacant houses in regions that I don't have a special affinity for. I mainly just focus on a region that I love and look around it and spend time in it and hope that someday I get to have a place of my own in it. It's not a race, for me; it's a pastime. The homes come when they're good and ready.

I've lived in South Haven for a while now and LOVE that region, but I have put the house back into the Traditional Home pool for someone else to enjoy, and heaven only knows where it is in the queue, but it is available for ticketing. I too availed myself of some lovely abandons and scored a really nice houseboat for myself. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/South Haven/131/188/22

I love this debate! I agree with you that the need to meet psychological and survival requirements is baked into all of us. But the second part of your statement falls apart because, at least in my case, the whole reason for my staying is that I don't have to worry about it here. I can pretend, through my avatar, that I don't have messy needs. If I had to wear a meter that ran out of life if I didn't meet the food requirements or the toilet requirements or the sleep requirements or the love requirements, or any of the pyramid requirements, I would give up and expire. I have enough of that in my RL. I want my SL to feel real-but-better in that sense, where my lovely avatar will do just fine indeed if I leave her sitting on a rock staring at water overnight with no threats of anything other than the internet resetting. And I know that such meters actually exist in SL and that some people just LOVE them and need them in order to feel like the time they spend here is worth spending. And so your statement likely holds true for them. In my case, though, "when presented with its absence" is a feature not a bug

Looking out towards the everlasting

The regions are calming to the eyes and the hills roll along nicely. The addition of the utility poles is great! And I love the ability to turn off and on the wagon wheel at the front by the mailbox. The soundscape is excellent as always. I wish there were more water and falls, but I can understand why there isn't. And the lots are big enough to add one's own water (really, 350 Li of water if we want, seeing as we've been trained to decorate on 350 Li already!) The variety of houses is really nice. The Aspens are lovely. The Moles did a smashing-good job with making the regions feel comfortable and "finished."

Speaking for myself only (but perhaps others have the same experience) I would argue that avatars are evolutionary; that they perhaps do not begin as anti-social (simply because avatars need other avatars' help to be able to do things; like figure out the AO, or figure out why this skin looks different on me than on the picture and discuss the "shape" phenomenon etc...) but that perhaps the next phase of second-living involves an ever-lessening degree of social interaction in local. One needs it less and less to achieve the daily goals. And so as the avatar evolves, becomes more and more sophisticated in appearance and movement, because of all the time and care spent fine-tuning it over the years, the avatar perhaps is less and less likely to engage with strangers in local chat as the avatar has likely made friends they communicate with in IMs, where one's attention is drawn the more friends one has made. (One's attention can only be in so many places; and that is assuming there isn't any RL distraction beyond the screen.) I know that my avatar has indeed become anti-social over the years; quite deliberately in fact, as an evolutionary process based on key learnings and remembered experiences. It's not that "social is bad," just that I know where Lyric's fun resides and it resides in the familiar goodness she's curated over many years of trial and error. Sociability has served her well in the past and now she reaps the benefits of it. So, I posit: Avatars Evolve. And maybe there is a next phase after the anti-sociability still to come, I don't know.

Hear hear!

Linden Bear Island is just dandy, performance-wise and display-wise, FWIW http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL20B Bear Island/149/196/22

What a great question. I would agree that "seeing" my Second Life garden affects me with the same joy as "seeing" my real garden. But I would also go further and say that "hearing" my Second Life garden and real garden both give me the same joy. I make sure there are birds in both places. And hearing water features makes me feel very relaxed indeed, and that is far easier for me to do in Second Life than anywhere else. Listening to water is so important for my enjoyment of Second Life lately and I'm glad that I can control that. Edit to add: this very question is probably what drives the creation and consumption of virtual life in the first place; it is if not the prime question then very close to it, I would imagine -- "is it as good as real, does it make you feel like it's real, does it feel the same as real." Success would be measured by this metric for so many aspects of virtual living.

everything works as though it were all made for the space! Really lovely decor.

There are other ways to purchase Mainland plots without going to auction, so if that is your only objection then you really do have other options. You can purchase any land on the Mainland that is listed as "abandoned" by submitting a support ticket to request it. In that case, it will cost you 512 linden dollars to purchase a 512m2 plot of land, and then it is yours tier-free for as long as you maintain your account's status. Or you can purchase a plot of land directly from another Resident who has it listed for sale; and the price of that would be subject to the seller's discretion. It is not only by auction that you would get some land, in other words, just to clarify that one point.

Thank you, Lindens All ❤️ What a treat

Hear hear! Three cheers for the creators, past and present, of, within, and around this world ❤️

My 3rd year in SL, and in fact this image was captured on May 4 2010, I had been shopping at Distressed Textures on a region called Ares Aglaia, and out of curiosity I cammed-out to see the area upon which I was standing. I realized I was at the top of a tall tall tall cliff; and the store was a little distressed shack on this massive expanse of land. This little shack and a flimsy bridge between cliffs commanded the whole region. I remember the emotional reaction I had to this location and to this whole aesthetic; and I realized "I want this." In 2007 when I first rezzed, I was content to rent; and then in 2010 the dream for my own land came out, inspired by this one creator and the region they occupied.

the pond worked perfectly everything is so yummy in this picture!

I like how Coffee answered; but I'll also add something explicitly that is possibly only implied. If one thinks of the "homeless" in part as those for whom the original home is simply too dangerous to inhabit, perhaps even too dangerous for "cultural" reasons i.e. the culture of the home is unsupportive, or violent, or filled with too much "ick" factor, that person who feels homeless can find a home they can make to their own standards of safety and joy in Second Life. The artistic community doesn't necessarily feel safe practicing their art, sometimes, in the political climate of the world today, since art and politics often clash head-on; and here they can feel more safe to do so. And to bring this around to the original question about the "ick" factors that would really turn me off, anything that forces engagement or puts people in deliberate feelings of cramped personal space in which to choose. Forced engagement, things that force a person to have to engage, that's number one "ick" to me.

There's a balance to be struck here, I think; and from your original question about a daily AND WEEKLY routine it seems like a good idea if you want to save your "thank you"s for a once a week project. Once a week, go in and give some thanks. Gratitude is always endearing but as with anything else, too much of a good thing spoils it maybe. (?) So with your daily routine set, you can now focus on things you'd like to do weekly and the gratitudes can be one of them. I think another thing you might like to add to the weekly photography-mindset (or maybe it's a thing you can meditate on monthly instead, if weekly ends up being sessions too close together) is to "Take Stock." Take inventory; take stock; take a good look; take a moment to remember what it is you've done and what it is you'd like to do. Take a look at what worked; take a look at what got you some good audience appreciation. Take an inventory of the props you have or need; take an inventory of the settings you've already used or want to use; take a broad-stroke big-picture overall perspective of your artistic journey and where it's going and where it's been. Sometimes that means, too, changing the permissions on older photos (private only maybe, instead of for public to still see) so that what is left for the public to see represents a more unified vision or skill level. (If that's important to you. For some artists it's not; for those, seeing the whole journey from the undeveloped to the finessed is desirable.) So, doing a nice check-in once in a while to make sure the photos you want to be seen are visible; the photos you don't want to be seen are not.

ENJOYING SO MUCH ❤️ This is wonderful. So full of joy. I am especially impressed (as usual) by the sound effects and soundscape generally. What excellent work ❤️ Edit to add applause for all the wee details there are to explore and admire.

among all those listed, also A.N.C. Ltd. and 8F8 rank in my inventory way way high up. https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/116811 https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/123815

Closeup of my beautiful friend Pearle, unretouched snap while we pass the time outrunning the restarts.

I think the video does a terrific job of capturing fantasy AND reality AND capability AND potential for future capability; the horses weren't the main feature for me as I was more immediately struck by the "nature" elements. The landscape; the water in the background; the ability to visit lush green areas i.e. where the avatar is meditating. It's a fairly good attempt in my opinion to throw together a dozen different "pulls" into the world of Second Life -- some come for the animals, some for the peace and quiet, some for the adventure, some for the music, some for the fashion, some for the trying-on different personas and different avatars. I haven't paid much attention to past iterations of the login screen machinima but this one, coincidentally to your thread about it, actually impressed me. To summarize, though I haven't been moved to comment on previous login screen video, this time I think this one is well done.

Oh surely not.

There's one in Sawtooth with the coolest sound effects. No talking, but wonderfully atmospheric noises. Belli sound effects are truly inspired!

Nutmeg has a beautiful group gift out now and the group is free to join. So, free Springtime decor in time for Easter

Thank you for this