Last evening......

     Last evening, an SL/FB friend of mine IM'd me out of the blue, with his first words being: "I'm not sure if you read my FB post, but I think I'm serious about leaving SL this time.... there's just nothing to do, and no reason for me to be on here anymore."  Needless to say, such statements out of nowhere throw a person's mind into either a numbed shock, or overdrive, the latter of those two being my usual reaction.  We talked a bit in IM, then I tp'd him over to my place, and we sat and talked and cuddled.
     I actually know the real person behind this AV better than I do the AV himself, as we friended through mutual SL acquaintances on FB first.  He is one of the sweetest, kindest, most caring individuals that I've had the pleasure to know in any of my lives, to be honest.  There is an almost child-like innocence about him.... a naivete and simpleness of soul that I attribute to him being of ethnic Chinese origin, that ancient People that has had SO much longer to mature and realize what REALLY matters in life than us Westerners, and a Buddhist.  Unfortunately, this very sweetness and honesty also opens him up to a world of pain that perhaps the more jaded of us don't feel as much.
    As we talked, and got to the heart of his turmoil, what it broke down to was this:  His support groups have all dwindled in SL, and as his "community" has shrunk, he's limited his own options here in this surreality we all share.  I understand this all to well myself, as I've been guilty of it myself.  Frequently.... perhaps TOO frequently at times.  He likes to build, to design, to create FOR others, not for profit, but for friends.  I like to help people develop their AV's into as close to "full potential" as possible within the limits of SL, also not for profit, but just for the sheer joy of helping others.  His partner on SL, who was the one that introduced him and me on FB, is so rarely on SL anymore that it really doesn't count.  His "home", a gay sim that no longer exists, has disappeared.  He's slightly over 3 yrs old on SL, and has hit that "been there, done that, somebody find me something fun to do" stage that many of us older folks on here get to. 
    As he talked, I began to see myself in his words.  He has a continuity to his AV, in that he's had the same critter for his whole time on SL, that I lack, as I left then came back several months later as Tel, but the similarities are eerie.  He's got a very active social life RL, a good job, and so on, and is rather young RL, as well... I believe under 30, but I could be wrong, as I don't really pay much attention to such things.  (OK, so the active social life, good job, and youth are NOT something we share, but there is an empathy between us, and our SL situations are similar, k?  Just thought I'd save some smartass the trouble...HA!!!)  While we blithered to each other, it became apparent that we all NEED our support groups on SL, just as in RL.  Emotionally, he'd given up, so I've offered to take him around to Tainted Boys (when we can both be on at the same time.... he's in western Canada, and has very active weekends socially with RL friends) and Club Industry, and so on, and introduce him to some of my friends.  Perhaps this will give ME a reason to drop some of my mopiness (I think I just made a new word!  LOL!) on SL, and see old familiar places in a new light.
    This is often the case with me, don't know about y'all.  When I "adopt" a noob, or in this case, a "lost soul", it helps to shore up MY sense of "self within the wonders", and let's me experience our shared alternate reality through their eyes.  Him being such a wonderful person to begin with, I think this will be one of my favorite "projects" to date! (And, no, we are NOT dating, for those of you that insist that EVERYTHING that Tel does is sexually motivated!  LOL!!!!)
    On a VERY pleasant note, my dear friend Franzi has decided to let others help out, and he's keeping Tidra open, at least through the end of the year, so I won't be homeless on SL!  YAY!!!  It is such a wonderful build, and he's quite literally worked his skinny little ass off on it.  Due to an, um... "issue" with some screens and that damned SL alpha layer overlap thingy, the Kitteh's Kastle area has been revamped a bit, so y'all drop me an IM, and come see the changes sometime... I kinda like the new look!  Oh, and we have a pond for swimming now!  YAY!!!  Thanx, Franzi!  We had a wonderful conversation with Rammy there the other night.... I love our little soirees... now if we could just get "certain other people" back to SL to take part...... *sigh*....
    One funny thing  happened yesterday, though.  (Yeah, I'm babbling, but it's my blog, and I'll babble if I want to... babble if I want to..... lol!).  I have a straight friend that I adopted from my EBM club I hang in, or perhaps he adopted me... anyway... he IM's me with this..."Dude.... you ARE the cockmeister.... PLEASE help me with my dick!"  Ok, this in itself started me giggling.  Then when he shows up at my place, as a giant red Bunneh Fur, tricked out with sci-fi goggles, laser Borg attachments, and so on, with this HUGE miscolored penis sticking out at a strange angle, I lost it. He gave me perms, laid the penis on the ground, and further hilarity ensued as the modifications began.  Here I am, changing the color/size/angle of this straight man's, er.... Wabbit's.... bunneh penis, manually moving it around on his body while it's not actually attached to him, with it fully erect, and him stoned off his ass RL.  As you can imagine, the conversation was HILARIOUS, and I actually had tears running down my face I was laughing so hard.  Ah, it's SO much fun to be me, sometimes!  (Cockmeister.... ROFL!!!!!)
    Hmmm..... final ramble.... Tel has cut his hair.  I know, right?  Hell didn't freeze over, there was no rain of frogs, nor any other biblical pestilence.  I really don't know how long this will last, as I DO have a bit of a hair fetish, but meanwhile, I'm enjoying being a hairy chested, short haired gorilla of a man again.  With guyliner, of course... ROFL!!!!

Yes, I have "hair" on, but found a GREAT short one that fits Tel's face, I think, quite well at Bryce.  I love modifiable hair!!  I had to move, I think it was.... 48 prims individually, and recolor them.  The bulk of the "hair build" fit fine, but had to work around those damned skinny high cheekbones... lol!

Heh.... How butch is that!  ROFL!!!

And the best part.... I CAN HAZ HATS NOW!!!  At least ones that aren't big enough to live in.  ROFL!!

*Peace, and spreading the love *

Tel