chronicled & illustrated

In January, I did an article for The PCQ on Beth Felice who, as Annie Octavia, owns and operates a beautiful art gallery on Second Life called Gallerie Octaviana. In order to see for myself what it was about (she’s been kind enough to include some of my work in two of her shows), I made myself an alter-ego and made my first forays into this virtual world.

My name is Aplomb Pomilio. The name was chosen with tongue firmly in cheeque. I like the word, I like the concept and it’s something that I often do not have in abundance. I’m finding out that in learning how to navigate in a new world, aplomb is scarce. I find that I’m insecure about what to do, who to talk to, where to go. In fact, it’s like every experience I’ve ever had moving to a new place.

Odd, that.

This isn’t “real” and yet, my self, my mind makes it feel very real even unto bringing along very real emotions as I try to find my way in a new *place* among strangers. And this “realness” goes farther. I could have made myself anything I wanted and yet I’m pretty normal looking though young and with a great figure (I’m not foolish enough to pass up a chance at those two things!)

I want to write about this more as I’m finding the experience puzzling, eye-opening and more than anything else revelatory. I’m just not sure yet what it’s revealing!

One thing is sure: I’m absolutely loving the opportunity to play dress-up! As a child, my sister and I played paper dolls. We loved exploring fashion styles and opportunities that we would never get to experience for real. Being in Second Life has taken me back to that childhood delight but with such HUGE differences that it can hardly be over-stated. I have a gorgeous *me* with a great figure. A me that moves, walks, flies (badly), sits (sometimes in the middle of walls and objects), talks and as such, I can dress me up in hundreds of combinations of clothes and accessories—at this point, all for free. I haven’t spent a dime and I’m having so much fun.

My favourite so far: a Purple and Silver outfit. The overskirt is animated, it swirls as I move. The knee-high boots are purple with white designs—FABULOUS!

These days instead of playing a morning computer game or other “getting ready” activity before I settle into real work, I go to Second Life and decide what I’m going to wear for the day. Today, for the first time, I tried out an edgy look (for me and Aplomb, that is).

I also have some normal jeans, sandals and t’s outfits but even those are a lot more fun than what’s in my real closet!

This morning as I was getting dressed for real, I took a little extra care because…well, because if I’m going to take such care in a world that’s not real, I should at least make a little effort where it is.

More soon on groups I’m joining and what that’s like.

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

You Belong in the UK

Blimey! A little proper, a little saucy. You’re so witty and charming… No one notices your curry breath

You Are Scissors

Sharp and brilliant, you can solve almost any problem with that big brain of yours. People fear your cutting comments - and your wit is famous for being both funny and cruel. Deep down, you tend to be in the middle of an emotional storm. Your own complexity disturbs you. You are too smart for your own good. Slow down a little - or you’re likely to hurt yourself. You can cut a paper person down to pieces. The only person who can ruin you is a rock person. When you fight: You find your enemy’s weak point and exploit it. If someone makes you mad: You’ll do everything you can to destroy their life

Your EQ is 160

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick! 51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you’d have better luck understanding Chinese. 71-90: You’ve got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely. 91-110: You’re average. It’s easy to predict how you’ll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that. 111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt. 131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin. 150+: Two possibilities - you’ve either out “Dr. Phil-ed” Dr. Phil… or you’re a dirty liar.

And finally, this one I can agree with:

You Are 96% Feminist

You are a total feminist. This doesn’t mean you’re a man hater (in fact, you may be a man). You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It’s a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action.

I joined a weekly photo group called For the Love of Flickr on NaBloPoMo. Groups within groups—whew! Makes my self-referential head spin.

Each Sunday we post [some of] the photos we’ve taken this week.

Here’s the link:

Here are the photos I took this week:

SUMMER SPIRITS


WINDS OF CHANGE

WIND. FALL.

CHANGE

As I said yesterday, I joined NaBloPoMo. What a rockin’ little group. Games, Prizes and Everything. I love a good game.

Evidently, there’s a Randomizer and I was a *hit* when Rika (hi Rika!) used it yesterday.

So here are the rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. You have to use this randomizer, I guess.
• Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

The Seven Things That Came to Me Fast (because I should be writing my nanovel):

1. I still have a baby tooth after 58 years…well, probably it didn’t come in until I was two or so, so let’s call it 56 years.
2. I am a Texan born in Missouri who lives in Canada.
3. My fingers spell out words (American Sign Language) when I’m not aware of it. This often happens when I’m watching tv or listening attentively to someone. The only reason I know, is because they say, “What are you doing with your fingers?”
4. I have no thyroid gland.
5. I consider myself: a realist, a healer and renewably innocent.
6. I love (though hardly ever eat) Twinkies.
7. I can pinch with my toes.

Here are my randomlovelies:
al bedsitter,
ladylanguage,
becky,
my2sweetsugars-youngfamily,
gvp,
kamylyon,
lisa

Sorry, I couldn’t find some of your *names*…but maybe you like that way. Have fun!

Oh! This just in: s’mee also randomized me. It’s okay, I didn’t want to do my work today anyway.

I did three Important Business-like Things that took up most of my Sunny Sunday (four if we can count the trip to the grocery store), so I took some time this afternoon to do a silly meme that I saw posted on my friend Sherry’s blog, which she in turn got from her sister, Krista who got it from Facebook.

The game is this: Go to Google; Type in “your first name likes to”—for me it was “Nancy likes to”; hit search and copy the first ten items that come up. Pretty fun and funny! Here are mine (can you guess which one is about Nancy Reagan? Oh, there’s one about Nancy Sinatra too. Answers at the end ) :

1. Nancy likes to prepare for her day by catching up on the business …on her way home from work, Nancy likes to read the National. [a little boring. no. realllllly boring.]
2. When not contemplating her future in geology and the petroleum business, Nancy likes to indulge in her hobbies of science fiction art collection and gardening.[uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, you go girl!]
3. Nancy likes to point out a common characteristic of her teachers at OCC – both in her regular classes and at the police academy.[no comment]
4. Nancy likes to visit the library and occasionally joins Larry in the exercise room, but really enjoys walking with the neighborhood ladies.[oh c’mon, I like Larry more!]
5. Nancy likes to be needed, as well as to cherish and protect her loved ones, of whom she is somewhat possessive. [watch it loved ones, I’ll crush you with my cherishment ]
6. Nancy likes to daydream and is apt to have many wishes and illusions that rarely have a chance to materialize. She is guided by her feelings and seems to live in a world of her own. [uh…huh, what? did someone say something?]
7. Nancy likes to blog about:. Nancy has not yet defined her blogs. >> [this one makes me laugh]
8. “My youngest, Nancy, likes to make brownies with chocolate sauce…” [My mother could have written that one about me. ]
9. Most Sunday mornings, Nancy likes to relax on her balcony reading the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, before heading to a flea market. [This Nancy has a nice life]
10. She has had cataract surgery, knee replacements, high blood pressure, and a touch of senility, but Nancy likes to joke that their friend … is the “healthiest one in the house.” [Nancy Me of the Future?]

Ok…did you guess? Number 5 is Nancy Sinatra and Number 6 is Nancy Reagan. All Nancy’s are not made equal.