Connections are what make Second Life worth spending time in.
We all love the creativity. There’s music to be enjoyed, and live concerts can be caught at pretty much any time of the day. Galleries never have closing times, and there are always places to visit and explore in any season, even in the middle of the night. Where else can you fully enjoy such a life? I think I am not alone in having spent great chunks of time enjoying SL alone though. That said, it’s so much more fun in the company of others.
Recent conversations with the lovely Geoff have led me to fall down a rabbit hole a little. In explaining how people have become friends, and where I met them… I realised the convoluted paths that can be followed to meet friends… and friends of those friends, until years later a network is formed.
There are friends and contacts that I have now, which I can trace back to going to hear Aleykat sing yeeeears ago. If you haven’t heard Aleykat sing… where have you been? She’s the warmest lady with an infectious smile that you can even hear when she sings… and her voice is second to none! In all my years of going to listen to her, I have never heard the same collection of songs once and each and every time I have felt my heart lifted and come away with a big smile on my face.
If you often start to follow an artist, you tend to often see the same people in the ‘audience’. Over time that leads to odd ‘hellos’ and waves from across the room as you all share the joy or humour of the event. In the end some get added to the contact list, and you may strike up conversations at other times, see them at other events.. and meet those they are close to as well.
From going to Aley’s concerts I ended up meeting bloggers and artists. Over the years that encouraged me to help show the artwork of those artists, which led to parties to celebrate each exhibition opening and those parties brought in a diverse collection of friends of artists, which led to meeting even more people. This all seems a long time ago now, but it’s made me smile to reminisce and realise just how many people I have met, and am still in touch with from just heading out to a concert many years ago.
Recently one of those friends, Wynn Klaar posted something on her Facebook encouraging people to leave behind their hermitty times… to leave their homes and platforms to head out and visit art installations, clubs… anything which is out there and created for the meeting and joy of others. Many people work hard, and finance places which are aimed totally at the enjoyment of other people. It’s too easy to overlook their efforts, but what a sad and empty world SL would be without them!
In all my ups and downs in SL, what keeps me coming back is the varied collection of creative folks I meet within the pixellated world. Yes, it can be easy… tooooo easy to hide away at times, but the real joy and laughter can be found from sharing times with others and even from just saying “Hello!” to new people.
Wynn’s post, and my thoughts on stepping outside my self-imposted hermit lifestyle have given me an extra focus to my time in SL. If I find a place which is really interesting, or a singer or club which inspires, I am going to write about it so that others can find it too. Let’s all get out there, have fun… and spread the word to the hermits 😉
♥
Picture taken at Gude Cafe ♥
The Bar and stools are from the amazing Dutchie
DevaStatingSL 