Dillon Levenque

So.....you won't get riled if we call you 'snowflake'? ;-)

Once upon a time there was a place in SL that pretty much mirrored RL Disneyland. A bunch of us decided to visit together. Several went in wearing Mouseketeer hats with their names embroidered in yellow and everything; they'd all been given those over time back before this trip was even thought of. We had an absolutely hilarious time. With a great deal of viewpoint changing I managed to get up to the wheelhouse of the Mark Twain and 'steer' her for a bit, something I did in the original Disneyland Mark Twain when I was ten years old (and I have a Rivers of America Pilot's License with Walt Disney's signature to prove it), so that was my personal achievement. But we went on a whole bunch of rides as a group, no doubt totally spoiling them for everyone else on the ride as we fired back and forth in public. As it happens, that sim closed down and vanished within a few months of our visit. Coincidence? I'd think so but for one small detail. Maddy was part of the group (and in fact the first one to have gotten a Mouseketeer hat).

Re: being bitten with or without wearing the HUD. Long ago, before I knew anything at all about any vampire games in SL, I once met a chick vampire at a random but for sure non-vampire sim (it was mostly shopping mall) and said Yes to her bite request (mainly because I was hitting on her and I was pretty sure the bite would advance the runner, so to speak). At least a couple of years later a friend who it turned out was an active player told me my soul had been taken by said vampire chick. At no time did anyone give me a HUD; the only affirmation I made was to the "official" bite request where you agree to the animation. Thus I agree with Phil's recollection. Things did move along quite nicely after the bite, as I'd hoped. As it turned out that resulted in an absolutely hilarious situation which regrettably is impossible to report here without being far too graphic. There aren't enough asterisks.

My (possibly incorrect) understanding was that UPS only updated tracking info when a package's barcode was scanned on arrival at a location. If that's true then it really went back and forth. I have to say this sounds more like some kind of computer problem. It's possible the UPS in-house app has a lot of AI about relative weights for material and the program just wouldn't compute SIX POUNDS of popcorn. Good grief.

Re: Ivana's post about the back yard. I had refrained from posting the instant I saw the picture, even though I was seriously wanting to do so. I kept reading posts. Shocking, I must say. Such behavior! It's indeed a sad day for SL when a transvestite can show proper restraint while the rest of you carry on like a bunch of trollops. Hmph. That being said......it is a really nice view.:-)

Nay, Maddy. Tis Clover, the clever lass, who's asked the important question.: where's the rum? I canna help but wonder if it turns kitties into complete scoundrels also, but I shan't pursue that line of thought.

Akasha, do not—do NOT—drink the chicken juice! You just have to trust me on this one. Anything from Maddy and D.Q. Darwin (aka Dee) is almost certainly bad news. Dee's a sweetheart on her own, but somehow Maddy seems to be able to awake her nefarious side. Those two chicks combined can be evil!

Yes, my example above was from years back. That was one of my first places; I'd built a house and everything. The guy I was talking about slowly acquired almost the entire sim, one piece at a time. The only piece left was my 2048. When I became aware of that I offered to sell; I could always go somewhere else, there were even some available plots nearby. He told me no; they liked having me there (aside from the usual flirting—I yam what I yam—there was never anything going on between us, although how he could resist me wading out thigh-deep to fish in his pond in my hot pink bikini, I'll never know). One of my best memories: I logged in one day around Christmas, still of course wearing the outfit I'd worn to a dance the night before. He IM'd me and asked if he could talk. I TP'd him onto the deck I'd built on top of the 1st story and we sat in my patio chairs and talked. He wanted my opinion on his SL business decisions. As if I had a clue. I did my best but what tickled me the most was that during this serious business discussion, he was looking every inch the businessman in a suit and tie (as usual) while I was still in my Christmas outfit, which was pretty much something the wickedest elf Santa ever even thought about might wear. Should this be in my "Why I Love Second Life' folder?

They say the mirror lies, and I think that's true. I look in the mirror and think, "Well, all in all not too bad." I'm sure there's not but one person who thinks that, and that person is me. But I don't think SL lies: I know it does. You show up at your neighbor's big place in your cute new miniskirt outfit, to attend a concert he and the missus have scheduled and after exchanging the usual pleasantries he says, "Umm, Dillon. Did you know you were naked?". Of course there's like fifteen people, most of them strangers, already in the seats. *Poof*

Wait, did you mean Rick's American Café? I loved that place! Maybe my favorite line (my favorite scene is when the French B-girl starts singing La Marseillaise) is Bogey saying (to Ingrid Bergman who's pointing a revolver at him), "Go ahead. You'd be doing me a favor." Such good stuff.

Presumably in all cultures but without question in the US, younger generations have created their own catchphrases, word usages* (and words, sometimes). The sociologists probably can say why, I personally just think it's a way for young people to differentiate themselves from the status quo; to define their own culture. We're not like those old plodders. I know that I certainly had something of that in my conscious when I was young. We weren't like them; we were different! Texting, which is something that young people have made a part—for some the most important part—of current communication, has introduced a new (or new to me, anyway) issue. The absence of capital letters and punctuation, the use of homophonic expressions, and the complete abandonment of any even rudimentary attempt at structure make the texting 'language' it's own thing. Thumb pidgin. This kind of causes problems, as illustrated by the OP. Even though the "G" in GTA was in fact capitalized I'm pretty sure that was auto-formatting, not intention. The evidence certainly suggests that. When I first read the thread title I could not figure out what was going on. Gta v sux. My first guess was that it was a comparison thing; GTA (which is an acronym that's pretty well known) I got. The 'v' was problematic. As you know the abbreviation for versus has changed, especially in conversation. It used to be "vs". More and more it is not just spoken as but written as "v". That makes sense; the only way to speak "vs" was to say the word 'versus'. The one-letter version is the same written or spoken, and that's why it's gained traction. In other words, I assumed the title referenced a comparison between GTA and something abbreviated SUX. That is, in fact, why I read the post—I wanted to find out wtf SUX stood for (sorry, could not resist the acronym). Turned out, once I translated the post, that 'sux' was a texting substitution: would sound the same if you spoke it but saves two whole letters in text. It turns out that texting is the language of choice for this poster which explains why all his offerings are completely free of both punctuation and structure. I do hope this kind of thing doesn't catch on as a viable mainstream form of writing English or any other language. Keep it for texting, please. The written word is intended to make what one person is thinking clear to a lot of other people. Don't make that harder than it already is. *I inhabited the Sixties once upon a time. We adopted several expressions that were SO 'us', something we alone could appreciate. One of those was 'out of sight'. That was ours, man. Sometime after the Sixties I happened to read a novel by Frank Norris; a book first published in 1899—"McTeague". Like Norris's more famous novel "The Octopus", it is a California story. In it there's a scene in which a friend of McTeague tries to talk him into going on a picnic people they know are planning. In trying to convince McTeague of how great it will be, he actually says, "It'll be out of sight!". No, really. He said that. In 1899. With EXACTLY the same meaning it had for us. I figure some kid at UC Berkeley read the book as part of an American Literature class, picked up on the expression, and started it on it's way into the lexicon.

My goodness. I didna know what you guys were talking about with the SCA business. I'm flabbergasted. I mean I'm hardly scratching the surface but the roots! I saw Marion Zimmer Bradley! And Poul Anderson. POUL ANDERSON! I wish I had actually looked at fan stuff once in a while. I never gave a fig for any of that stuff; for me just reading the books was enough of a reward, but I gotta admit SCA sounds pretty special.

Ye can't cut a hole in the eye-patch, lass! That robs it entirely of its Pirate mystique! To the plank!

This. You are truly the Photo Bomb Priestess of SL. I swear I think some people stage their photos just to tempt you to *cough* improve them.

Yay!! This time I'll try to get there before everyone leaves; the time I went once before there was nobody to flirt with except a skeleton (on the plus side, he did have a bottle of rum).

Thanks so much for that post, Ceka. I loved reading that article/remembrance, and there are several movies mentioned that I haven't seen so now they're on my list. You are so absolutely right about the part I bolded. He was an artist and a craftsman, and a master in both.

Speaking of not recognizing him, Maddy, I credited him with a role he didn't play! I have ALWAYS thought he was that kid in "Heat" but IMDb and everyone else on the Internet says, "No, it was Scott Wilson". Imma stunned. The movie is still something that should be on everyone's 'must see' list, though. Now I'll go back and edit my OP.

If this has been mentioned I didn't find it so I'm going ahead. One of my favorite actors, Harry Dean Stanton, died today at 91. He didn't have starring roles (that I know of) but he was in constant demand as an actor nevertheless. Now that I've already biffed the one movie I credited him with (still have a hard time not believing that was him) here's one I know he was in and IMDb agrees with me. "Young Doctors in Love" with Harry delivering an important lesson about observation. A fun light-hearted spoof with some (I thought) hilarious moments.

(stifling a snarl) Dammit! I wanted to see say that! If you weren't such a cute kitty I'd be really mad at you!

LOL. I was in such as big hurry to write my post I failed to read Page 2 in which the Post of Contention was removed, thus (I suppose) relieving all and sundry from answering Phil's (and my) question. As my personal consolation I'm taking a fire-hardened wooden spear (the tip of which has been quite well rounded off so as to be far less than lethal) and hurling it straight at Phil so he can demonstrate his impenetrable rhino hide. Hope he wasn't bluffing; that thing will leave a heck of a bruise.

So far it appears that while stating assumptions as (presumably) known data is fine, some are not necessarily comfortable with going on and stating demonstrable reasons to support those stated assumptions. That's not a technique I prefer. Seems to me that casting aspersions (for want of a better description) in a shared forum such as this is a two-part process: A. One makes the statement suggesting this or that. B. (Waiting for comment/rebuttal if needed) One uses independently verifiable examples to defend the statement. If 'B' is not in your plan, you should forego 'A'. You'd just be blowin' smoke.

I do, yes. Why does Yardley not get treated the same as others?

Hippie is a daily contributor to the Feed (my.secondlife.com) and I just checked his Feed a few minutes ago. They got a Mandatory Evacuation notice about 10 hours ago (which he of course doesn't like much but I like a lot—we just want him somewhere safer, right?—so he's packing. They're leaving tomorrow (Saturday) morning.

Thanks. After reading your post I looked at what I'd written and thought, "Why did I say '...to the northwest...'?" That would put Irma moving into the Caribbean and while that would probably give Florida a miss, it would for sure nail the crap out of somebody else, maybe even Houston! Simple answer. Having lived almost all my life in, or very nearly in, coastal California (as in never more than 30 miles from the beach, often less than 5) I am wired to think of open ocean as being to the west. Drove me nuts during the two weeks I spent at a place on the Gloucester (Mass) shore. Every time I looked out at the ocean my subconscious was telling me I was looking west. Never mind that's the sunrise you're seeing. It's in the west this morning. Get over it. So yeah. I should have said northeast. Wish to God that had happened, and I suppose something could change in the next day, but right now that looks very unlikely.

This looks absolutely devastating on the weather maps, and much of the Caribbean is in its path. Some islands are right under it now and it's currenly lined up pointed straight at Puerto Rico, followed by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and then Cuba. It's not actually currently estimated to actually hit Orlando, where one of my closest friends from SL lives, but it'll be too damn close for my taste. Maybe Irma will change course to the northwest and spin down a bit offshore. That would at least allow the rest of the world to get in and help what's left of the Virgin Islands who are apparently right in the middle of it.