Nostalgia

I am going through all the SL pictures/ snapshots that I have taken during the last 5 years that I have been active in Second Life, and I came upon the picture below of my very first Second Life home. I had no idea I had this picture (my SL photos are all over the place and it is becoming a real mission to organise them in some semblance of order).

Coming across it at random, tucked away in a directory labelled OLD SL pics, made me suddenly feel very nostalgic about the old times in SL and how I have actually been in SL for quite a while. I signed up and created Raza Lane in March 2007 after reading an online article about this virtual world called Second Life. I have no idea how i came upon the article. It was all pretty random. The whole process of creating an avatar and wandering around other peoples creative endeavors really excited me, as it still does. There is something very magical about SL for me. I never get to spend as much time as I would like to, I still have yet to master the dark arts of building in SL, which I am determined to do one day, but I do always have a good time when I log on and a lot has changed in terms of people, places and the technology surrounding SL in the 5 years I have been part of it. I have gone through lots of computers since 2007, as they all keep breaking and crashing, and I can’t remember which PC i actually signed up to SL using and took this picture on. I thought I had lost a lot of old SL pics when I lost the old computers but thankfully some seem to have survived.

My first home and the surrounding area look very basic and blocky compared to the smooth, almost liquid like detailed beauty of many SIMs and SL Builds I have visited recently. I remember that this was a pre-packaged home that you just rezzed on a piece of land you had to buy, back before Linden Lab gave premium members free homes. This was where I spent some happy memories with my first SL wife/ partner, and though the house and marriage are no more the happy memories do survive. Chancing upon this little piece of SL Personal History has made me feel very lucky that i came upon the amazing world and idea of Second Life and all the joy it has given me and doubtless many other people around the globe. That feeling of wonderment, like a child experiencing something magical for the very first time, is something this picture reminded of. In many ways I am still an SL Newbie, and i like the feeling of naive curiosity that gives me.

I’m now going to dig around for more clue sot my SL past and little trinkets of nostalgia from my plain, blocky SL Early years!

Japanese Raza at Matsumoto Castle

Here is a snapshot of me wearing the Japanese Mens Kimono 16 by Asalt Eames from the Grasp Store in front of the Entrance to The Wonderful Matsumoto Japanese Edo castle in the Hosoi Ichiba SIM. I became aware of this wonderful SIM and the beautifully detailed buildings in it after reading this blog post by Yordie Sands. I highly recommend visiting it.

Here is a link to more pictures from my 1st visit to the Castle on my Flickr account.

And here is a link to the official Hosoi Ichiba Flickr group with some really great Second Life snaphots.