Dillon Levenque

They can do that. Just when you have it least in mind, WHAM!

Nonsense. I've never even BEEN to Walmart. My outfit was from the famous Hot *****wear Cute Outfits For Mardi Gras store! This is so old, I'm pretty sure it's before Mesh was even a thing. ETA: LOL, I used a non-permitted word! For those who can't guess, it starts with "S", ends with "T" and the letters in between are "L" and "U", respectively. I stole the term from an absolutely hilariously funny line in a great book called, if you can believe it, "Little League Confidential" and yes, it really was about Little League. Read it and you'll understand. You'll also be glad you took the time to read such a fun, and very funny, book.

I know! It's like she just said, "Cue Tennessee Ernie Ford!" /me stays close to tall buildings and keeps an eye on the sky.

Nice to see you back here, Tex. Like everyone else (well, almost everyone; the trolls didn't care for you) I enjoyed your participation in the prior forum incarnation. Stick around, won't you? This go-round is doing quite well, so far.

One of the girls (they were girls when I met them; can't change how I think of them) I danced with at the one High School reunion I've gone too (20th, I think) said she was living in Austin, Minn. I'd actually spent the better part of a winter in Minnesota a year or two earlier and because I tend to explore I had been through Austin (I was based in the Twin Cities), so I said, "I've been to Austin! Been to Houston, too!" (and there's one of those in Minnesota, a bit west of La Crosse) and on one of my trips which got as far south as Iowa I'd been there, too. She just smiled, probably thinking, "Probably didn't even hear the "Minnesota" thing; idiot thinks I was talking about Texas."

In my admittedly somewhat limited experience, this is the case with partnered SL males possibly more often than not. I do recall one very memorable night out dancing when the exact opposite was happening. A partnered couple came to the gig, none of us knew them. His profile was almost a love poem to his partner. He was also a total sweetheart of a guy. By the end of the night every female in the club—transgender, straight, even the lesbians—was hitting on him shamelessly. His partner just laughingly let it go right on. Easily one of the most enjoyable nights I've spent in SL.

The good roads is not a new thing. Drove or rode (it was a shared driving trip) through at least the Texas panhandle many years ago, going between New Mexico and Kansas. My father suggested the excellent roads (well paved, shoulders cleared, etc.) were probably a result of LBJ being Speaker of the House for such a long time. I'm glad they've kept them up. I'm not as lucky: once upon a time there were excellent roads in California. These days you need patience, good tires, and even better shocks.

Well look who else is mushy. :-) I never woulda guessed.

Some snacks for the Root Beer Kid there, and the rest (just keep putting out cups, it's falling like rain).

Interesting. The bulk of my Boston driving was downtown, which I suppose means some of the most tangled and odd-angled streets, downtowns typically being the oldest part of a city. Virtually the entire rest of the time I was in and around Boston (2 weeks) I was on the plentiful public transit. I'd rented a car and since we used a primitive navigational aid called "Maps" in those days (lines printed on big sheets of paper, if you can even imagine such a thing) I'd decided to visit the AAA office to score a few before starting my motor tour of the area (I always added time to work trips so I could get in exploration). Thus all the rest of my "Boston Drivers" experience was visual. I suppose a lot of what I saw could have been caused by visitors rather than locals. But my experience just getting the maps and getting out was harrowing, to say the least. Parking, as I am sure you know, was a delight. There weren't even any double-park spaces left (seriously: there were double parked cars all over the place, further narrowing the already narrow streets. And the bulk of my bad experiences were a result of driving by cabdrivers, who presumably knew the way around just fine. I was never so happy as when I finally got on the Masspike heading west, even though the radio promised me a line of thunderstorms ahead (delivered as promised, too). I never drove on the Boston streets again. After I finished my big loop. Vermont, central New York, Pennsylvania, Arlington VA, then up the New Jersey Turnpike to Manhattan (where I didn't even THINK about driving: I spent the night on the Jersey side and used the bus to get downtown), up the Hudson River, through Connecticut, on the Beltway around Boston and on to Salem where I spent the night before taxiing to Logan for the trip home. Fun.

Rural northern Monterey County, California. Nearest town that's likely on a map is Moss Landing, a couple of miles due west. I purely love this thread; what a cool idea. It highlights something I and probably all of us love about SL: the internationality of it all. Where worlds don't collide, they dance together. Things I've learned. Tem is a Fork Snob Drake lives in the state that includes the city of Boston and has the incredible nerve to yell at the rest of us to learn to drive before visiting. Boston has the second-worst drivers on the freaking continent! Only place that can top them is Manhattan Island. Rolig believes there is a "safe distance" from Maddy & Snugs. Snugs, maybe. Maddy? As if. I got sucked into that Grand Rapids video again, and watched it again from start to finish. That really is fabulous. NEVER let Aislin, Maddy, and Snugs sit together. Ivanova just noticed what Maddy used for Tommygun target practice.

I am actually beginning to get a little worried about stuff like that. I think you're right about it. I mean, smartphone tech is incredible and there's more capability being added all the time, but: living in your phone is kinda weird and that's pretty much what's going on. I happen to live in what is probably thought of as "a destination". On Monterey Bay in California. I mean, I don't actually live on the beach or anything but I'm a couple miles from the beach and when I go from home to other places I frequently am almost ON the beach. As in for instance, Monterey, a city that is on the edge of the Bay. There's a walk/bike trail that runs for miles parallel to the coastline all the way around the whole populated arc of Monterey Bay. It's paved, and wide enough for two walkers or cyclists to pass two other walkers or cyclists traveling in the opposite direction. Very cool. As it approaches Monterey it runs right ON the beach, then through the historic Custom House Plaza, on past the entrance to Fisherman's Wharf and out onto Cannery Row, where it runs right through the center. It's a treasure. And every single time I look, I see a couple of people walking along with the waves foaming just a few feet to the side, boats anchored in the harbor, birds all around, and the walkers are staring straight into their god damned smartphones. They aren't even talking to each other, much less absorbing the life around them. How the hell can anyone LIVE like that?

We have three in the books, HoneyBear. Only two to go. We can DO this! I think. I'm upbeat right now, though. They sent me a new credit card since the old one was about to expire. Just had to order something online and needed the CCV number (on the back). Before I go on, I should make it clear that although I appear to be a happy-go-lucky transgendered girl, I have a long and rather devious past. I am, in fact, a Secret Agent. To be honest I guess I have been ever since I was about sixteen years old and read my first James Bond novel. Ever since then I've watched my mirrors when driving—Wait. Is that a real Mission Linen Supply truck passing me? Or is it SMERSH!? I actually talked to someone long after the fact who had been a girlfriend back then. She told me that I made up stories about the traffic around me being SMERSH or SPECRE in letters I sent way back when. What a maroon, eh? But in Second Life, I lived it. I started a 'photo story' thread once that was a spy story. I was, no I AM, an agent of the Ministry for Intelligence, Second Life. MISL. Yeah, that's right. I'm a Measlie. Wanna make something of it? If you aren't one of the four or five brave souls who actually followed that interminable thread you have no idea what I'm talking about. Fear not. You're not crazy or ill-informed. I, on the other hand..... If you're still with me you get that I like to be a secret agent. And that's why I got so stoked when I turned my new credit card over to read the CCV number. Double Oh Six. YEAH! Move over, James!

Well jeez, Ivanova. If you insist on prying it out of me, okay. I've actually described it as a "crush" once, inworld. I invited her to a DJ gig to dance, and as we were dancing, the DJ (one of my first and oldest friends in SL) asked, "Any romance here?". I actually posted once before about this and said about the DJ—Naz Fride—"she's worse than your mom." which is totally true. She'd ALWAYS want to know if I was 'involved' with anyone she saw me with. In any case, I played it very cool on account of like, I am very cool. I said, "Maybe a crush." and left it at that. It's an enduring crush, given it started when I first became a regular forum reader/lurker in 2009. I forget who mentioned Dee (DQ Darwin) earlier but she has teased me about it often. For those who don't already know, I have a crush on Maddy. Madelaine McMasters. It'll never go anywhere because circumstances. That doesn't change things. It is, as they say, what it is.

I don't know nearly as much about the inside nuts, bolts, and bits (as in ones and zeroes) of SL as the bulk of people in this thread. I have, however, been reading the various forae (I get all proper Latin now and then; usually I just call 'em forums) for about nine years. So I've read a great deal, from many sides, about the discussion at hand. I find I am in the VERY uncomfortable position of saying something that conflicts with something Innula said above. Having read a great many of Innula's posts both here and elsewhere, I suspect I'm probably wrong. Nevertheless, I want to say this. Of all the comments about this I've seen, a single line from a post by Pixieplumb goes straight to the heart of the matter. "I'm absolutely sure that until you change something that you do this isn't going away." I've read lots of posts in which Prok's tenants past and present have praised his behavior as a landlord. Unfortunately, being a great landlord is never going to deter griefers. BTW I know you've all been referencing Prok in the feminine and apparently she's made it RL clear that she's female, but unless things have changed the SL avatar is male. Hence, I use the masculine. I am of course RL male but in SL I greatly prefer the feminine pronouns. Pixieplumb's right. Until Prok changes something he does, it won't change. I do not know what that is, but then I am not involved.

Okay enough with the serious discussion. ChinRey, I absolutely loved you pointing out SL's total lack of cats. And BDSM. As to where any 'putative' giant BDSM cats (nah, can't be) might be found—I think Amanda asked that question, for a friend—the Kzinti Hegenomy. Loaded with 'em, sources say. I have yet to stumble across it in SL, but I would be very, very, surprised if it did not exist.

Just in case nobody else noticed I started a thread about this very topic down in Forum Feedback (AND got a 'like' from Whirly!). I asked for a return to the previous version of the GD, in which there was no SL restriction. As with the cats/BDSM thread: though the article in question was totally based on RL observations, virtually every single post in that thread referenced Second Life; many referenced nothing but Second Life. That of course makes purrfect* sense. The reason we're all ON this forum is because we are part of Second Life. Some active both Inworld and out, some more of one than the other, but all of us have Second Life in common; it is what brings us here and it is what lets us understand each other's language. *Sorry. After my re-read I just could not resist the edit.

In the previous incarnation of the SL Forum (I believe in the previous two, but I am only certain of the most recent) either the General Discussion section or one similarly named was for topics related to SL and Other Things. That last bit is now not the case (as the description for General Discussion clearly states: I'd just not bothered to read it). I just found that out when a thread I'd been enjoying and participating in was locked by Tommy Linden. The thread, while including a great many posts dealing with things we'd done in SL, was in fact started about a topic not directly related to Second Life. I has a sad. I just want to state the case that I would very much like to see that particular 'condition' revised for the General Discussion forum; that it once again allow topics of SL and of RL. Those almost inevitably intermingle in any case.

You know, Mr. Dagger, I do not recall you at all from the other two versions of the SLForums in which I've participated: Jive and then Lithium. I assure you that you are gonna be 'appointment reading' for me from this point forward (actually you have been since the first post of yours I saw). That's good stuff. Also, toss me the bottle of thinner when you're done, if you would. :-)

I'll not take issue with all your tales of woe back there even though I personally take them with a grain of salt. I do take issue with the statement I have left quoted, which seems to imply that I haven't 'paid attention' to my Mainland experience, that of my neighbors (in all the different places I've lived) or for that matter the SL forums. Take your implication and......(remember to fold it three ways first).

Bueno, Senor. Mui bueno.

You're quite welcome to avoid Mainland, if you wish. You're also quite welcome to enjoy SL without becoming a premium member; I'd guess the majority of my friends do the same. Many of them draw a fair amount of income from SL, too, as DJ's or entertainers or creators. And as has been suggested, they pump a fair amount of that back into SL and thus to LL. You're also quite welcome to think of Mainland as "a hateful place". Just as I am welcome to think you are totally wrong. I've been here since late in 2008. I don't recall when I selected my first plot and placed my first prefab house but it would have been early 2009 at the latest. I've never lived anywhere but on Mainland. It has been an education, a way to meet some people I'll never forget and think fondly of always (as well as a tiny few whose names I've forgotten and will endeavor not to think of again) and all in all, an experience. I now live on a plot that straddles a Linden Road and am still reluctant to sell the part across the road, even though I've removed all the structures and things I had there and no longer use it (I should get rid of it. No sense paying extra tier: with a little strategic pruning if I got rid of that empty part I'd drop from 4096 to 2048; its dumb not to). In the more than eight years I've been a resident of the mainland, I have witnessed exactly ONE incident such as you describe in your third paragraph, talking about "piss on your neighbors", etc. One. And since, btw, I LIVE ON MAINLAND, I do believe that makes me the more credible witness here. The incident in question was definitely not something you describe anyway; it was a store with a horribly garish vertical sign. I was asked by both of my neighbors at the time to please take it down (the sign was right up against my property line) and had to explain I had nada to do with it. All three of us IM'd the store's owner repeatedly; it was clearly a derelict since we almost never saw anyone visiting. Finally we all just planted trees and went on with our SLives.

Well crud, Talli. That really bites. Hugs.

Okay, I just went back a few pages and Skell's question about you/your avatar differences is still at least relatively current. Similarities: We both have blue eyes, and we are both ridiculously attractive. One of those statements might have involved some truth-bending. Neither of us has much body hair (well Dillon has close to zero, but I'm only a bit shaggier. She gets it from a skin, I get it from a Chikasaw woman who married into my paternal ancestry and has been making her preferences known for three male generations I know of: mine, the one before me, and the one since. To say I like that a lot would be a wild understatement. We are both SUCH good dancers. I am so sorry, I had planned to bring independent verification of the Not Dillon part of that statement but my secretary misplaced the paperwork. Take my word for it. Differences As Dillon, I'm blonde, pretty much 100% of the time. There have been brief exceptions, usually for special occasions, but I've never spent much time in a different color just to see how it works. When I'm not Dillon, my hair is dark brown. Okay lol. Some of it still is, but it's really hard to see cuz all the damn grey reflects so much light! Dillon has a slender build, not wimpy but not noticeably muscled either. Her shoulders are a bit broad compared to most females. When I'm not Dillon I stumble along with even broader shoulders and probably some noticeable musculature. Most people don't notice that so much, possibly because it seems normal considering my knuckles drag when I walk. Dillon is not happy with her hands; she thinks they are too large (much of which has to do with the hodgepodge of her shape) and when she has time plans to investigate all the new options SL offers such as Slink et al that will allow her to change that merely by spending astronomical sums of money. When I'm not Dillon, I'm okay with my hands. I really wish my fingers weren't so short (do not EVEN Donald Trump on me here) because it really cramps my style playing guitar. I do have short fingers. I do not have small hands. All I have to do to make my hands look not small is make a fist. Dillon cares more about what she's wearing than I do when I am not Dillon. Not WAY more, but more. And to say she looks better in a miniskirt, stockings and boots would just be pointing out the obvious. I am not sure how this happens, but I know that it does. Dillon's responses and possibly even thought processes are different from mine when I am not Dillon. I have seen this far too many times to doubt it. Dillon as Dillon quite frequently SAYS things that would sound normal coming from a woman. If I were not Dillon I would use different words, different phrasing, to say essentially the same thing. Understand I'm not talking about being all cutesy or giggling or anything (I try never to giggle). I'm talking about normal conversation. It's really hard to describe all this but I am not imagining it. And THAT might be the part I like best about Second Life. A part of me that is a very real part of me, one that manifested fully in RL but that I felt I had to suppress for my family's sake (this all came upon me much later in life than normal: I was in my forties or around there) is allowed free expression in this wondrous place. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I forget to set the "Drone on and on" brake again?