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It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it

My avatar in Second LifeLife can be complicated. It’s more so if you start a second one. The other day, I began my free trial of Second Life.

Is it a game? Is it a chat room? Is it a 3-D design tool? Maybe all of the above–maybe none. The first thing you learn when you’re dropped into the Second Life virtual world is that you navigate the world using an avatar: a character that you create to interact with the world and its inhabitants. Your avatar isn’t you–it’s merely your eyes, ears, and hands in the SL world.

After spending an hour or so exploring, I met several other SL users and chatted with them. Some were scripters making games within Second Life, like sumo, for example. Others were builders, creating elaborate architectural masterpieces or vehicles. At one point, I borrowed someone’s dune buggy and tore across the landscape.

Later, several people gathered in a small amphitheatre for “show and tell”. People took turns on the stage conjuring their latest and most interesting objects. One person produced a 30-foot tall skeleton. Another showed his airplane and even did a couple of loops and rolls.

I’m not sure what to think of this… thing, but I’m hooked. It’s a shame that it crashes every ten minutes though.

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My new baby

It was a truly magical moment when by baby emerged into the world. I get all (sniff)… I get all choked up when I think about it.

Here she is…

And her first words–oh it’s so sweet–her first words were a friendly suggestion to register my copy of Windows. Isn’t that adorable?

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The A to Z of Cubey’s Week

A is for atrophy rotting my brain

B is for beer and rampant weight gain

C is for cubicle, that’s where I won’t be

D is for delicious fresh fish from the sea

E is for everthing I like to do

F is for f— this, I’m on vacation and I don’t have to sit in front of a computer.

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Hand service

I always get thrown off when people greet me in that “American” way of thrusting their hand at me, grasping mine, and waggling it up and down, or if I know them well, a brief hug.

It isn’t not that I’m never not a not-unaffectionate guy. I like to belch loudly before stripping naked and pelting them with chunks of moose meat and bottles of beer. Yes, even my guy friends (if they don’t drink the beer first, which usually they do).

But this is Canada. And when it comes to that uptight hand-shaking thing, it’s my feeling that back-bacon-eating, beer-swilling hosers fought the Americans in 1812 so we didn’t have to greet people in that I’m-a-good-ol’-boy-but-don’t-throw-meat-at-me manner.

Basically, someone lunging at me with their hand is bound to elicit a singular, visceral response. Especially if the individual is female. And if said individual gets upset because they didn’t expect to end up with a handful of moose meat, I’ll simply say, “Look, eh, I respect your traditions for welcoming friends and acquaintances, and I expect you to–whoo hoo! Beer!”

Link: Geese Aplenty: “Lip service”