Minwynn

Un-Social Networks

I just realized that I’m a member of (I think) hundreds of online communities, not counting all the ones I tried and left, and still I have hardly any friends. The sad thing is, few as they are, my online friends are in the majority. In real life, I have even fewer.

Why is that? Am I the world’s most boring person? Is the internet a hopeless place to go, looking for friends? Come to think of it, is this common? Do most other people experience the same thing?

I’d really, really like to have a boyfriend and a few good friends. Is that too much to ask? Where do I go? How can I search efficiently? In real life and online. Because the places I’ve looked so far, are obviously no good. Too bad. I actually like many of my communities, but social they’re not.

Bots,clones or cheaters!!!

I’ve heard it all. The hate towards campers are quite obvious in some groups. Why do people hate campers that much?

Some people who have been residents for a long time always claim that it’s sooo easy to just build something and sell it. But the question is, would they buy something a newbie has created? And if they won’t, why would anyone else?

It takes time to learn enough to create quality products. I work with graphics in RL and still it took me a year to learn enough to create products that sell. And I created my first object when I was 3 days old.

Other residents say you should buy your lindens. Well that’s a good point, but why should you, as a new resident buy lindens, when you’re still finding out about SL? Try before you buy? I used my account without upgrading to premium or buying lindens for a month before I was certain I would want to stay.

I was lucky when I started out, no one said bad things to me about being a noob, newbie or anything. People helped me around. They gave me time to learn, time to grow. Fortunately for me, I got 50 lindens as an weekly stipend back then. So I didn’t have to camp, didn’t even know about it.

Now about camping. I like camping and campers. And I think I have good reason to. First of all, in my opinion campers do contribute. They contribute to the traffic of the area. In some areas they contribute to the environment. They can ‘work’ as gardeners, ‘play’ the piano or the violin or they can pose as beggars. Seeing them also gives new members a chancer to see avatars ‘in action’. This is a very common complaint: “But Second Life is so empty”. In an area with many campers no one will have reason to say that.

It’s also good way to get to know people.

I’ll take campers any day over people pestering group chats and public places asking for handouts. And I really do prefer them to the sex industry. Guys posing as girls working as hookers is pathetic.

Wouldn’t we be better off without it? If you guys want sex with guys, (lol) or girls if you feel better believing that;), then it shouldn’t be so hard to find a nice sex partner without paying for it.

Me and my sister have started a group for campers with a conscience. We give the money we earn to charity. Up until now we’ve given twice to Puppy Passions with money we’ve earned as ‘useless’ campers;). If you want an invite to the group (to contribute or to recieve info about different charity causes), please IM me for an invite or donate lindens to the group.

Every donated linden will be given to charity and we’ll post the receipts in notices of the groups with names of people contributing and with info about how much the group has collected.

Freya Designs

Freya Designs is my (Lila Mill) the name of my store. I sell clothes, products for your SL home and shapes. And if there’s a demand for it I sell customed houses.

Freya’s Café and store in Brianconnais

One of my most popular line of clothings is the striped *Sinclair* outfits. I also sell a lot of the scripted Teapots and Coffee pots. For the holidays, I also have some special limited offers including the Yule outfit.

Outrageously expensive computer stuff

For quite a while now, I’ve had some trouble with the adapter for my iBook. I’ve been getting really fed up with all that mess. It takes maybe ten minutes every time I start up the computer to get the green (or orange) light to come on.

Then finally I thought I’d get a new one. I looked at some websites and once I finally found the right one, I realized to my horror that it costs over 80 US dollars!

Ok, don’t say it. You probably think I can blame myself for getting a Mac. But I really think it’s worth the higher price, except when the adapter is acting up. For instance, I’m going to buy extra RAM. That’s expensive too, but I think that with all the extra capacity you get out of the computer, it’s worth it.

I really don’t know what Steve Jobs is thinking. Didn’t it ever occur to him that it’s the volume that generates the profit, not the high prices?

Now I’ll be getting some duct tape and each time it takes me ten minutes or more to fiddle with the computer, I’ll be thinking of the eighty bucks I’m saving.

Second Life – a Language School?

It’s kind of funny. I’ve been a member of a number of different language sites and I still use one regularly. Many different people contact me, wanting to ‘learn’ Swedish, without taking any classes. Some just want to practice their English. No one stays in touch for long. I can’t say I’ve had much use for the exchange.

Strangely enough, in the relatively short time I’ve been in Second Life, I’ve already felt that I can express myself more freely, especially in French and Spanish. Not as much in Italian and German, but at least there’s some improvement.

I don’t have that many close friends in SL, but that doesn’t really matter. The constantly new people who want advice or help or – in some cases- who want to help me, will ask or tell me things in their languages. I need to find the right words or expressions quickly, almost as if I was in France or Spain or wherever it is.

Sure I need to let go of my demands for perfection. My sentences tend to be simple and basic, as I used to express myself in the years before I first went to school (when it comes to Swedish) or the first years of learning English (roughly ten to thirteen).

That’s not really a problem. I can make myself understood and my brief acquaintances appreciate the fact that I respond in their languages. It might be hard to believe, but there are some ‘residents’ of SL who aren’t fluent in English.

This even made me want to learn Portuguese too. Several times I’ve been unable to chat with the Brazilians who get in touch, hoping I’m a Portuguese speaker too. Who knows, some of those people might be really nice.

So, now I can add another advantage to being in SL. In a way, it’s a pretty good language school. If this is making you a bit curious, why don’t you drop in? There’s just one thing – you’ll need a quite modern and strong computer. Other than that, it’s not difficult. Besides, if you’re not that good at for instance English, there will most likely be people from your country in world already. Search for groups for people from your country or people speaking your language and join them. From the start, you’ll have some people to talk to.

Homepage or dodo?

Soon it won’t be any use, having a homepage. No one visits homepages anymore.

First WebRing started charging for their services. If you didn’t pay you could only have something like five rings – I had over eighty, and I still didn’t get that many hits. You also wouldn’t be able to manage more than three rings – I used to have about ten or so.

There are a couple of other places that provide rings, but that doesn’t help much. Top lists are something else you can join to, presumably, get mor hits. Guess what – no visitors from there either.

My sister and I have made our own personal web pages, and some other, larger sites. One of the latter gets a few more hits, but not even that adds up to a whole lot. We even pay for web hotels and domain names. Ok, we’re doing all this because we think it’s fun and we still think it’s fun, even without any visitors. Of course, we might as well play with our little homepages on our own little computers, without paying anything extra to keep them online for no one to visit.

Some of you might say ‘so update more often’ – but I do, especially my blog, which is a part of my homepage. Besides, I see no reason to add metatags like sex, girls etc. There’s nothing about that sort of thing on my homepage. I also don’t provide files for illegal download. Not legal downloads either.

But what do I expect? People don’t even know the difference between homepage, blog and profile page. My sister teaches high school students and some of them think that the little symbol that says Internet on the computer desktop actually means the Internet, not the WEB BROWSER Microsoft Internet Explorer. Hello? These are almost grown up students who are taking computer related subjects in school.

Here is my own little mini computer school:

Homepage:- personal page that you design – either with a WYSIWIG editor or if you know html programming (web design) a text editor. You can put your homepage on some free web space – like the one that you get with your internet connection (not everyone gets that) or a free web space provider. Or you could pay to keep your site on a web hotel. Ours costs about 10 dollars per year and for that you get quite a lot of space. The domain names cost a bit more, say 20 to 30 dollars per year.

Blog – a sort of online diary or something more creative. Usually updated more often than a web page.

Profile page: a brief presentation you can fill in when you join an online community. You can upload a photo of yourself and fill in some info about yourself. The page is made up of pre-written modules with a space for your own input. You can usually pick a couple of background themes, but all the profiles look roughly the same.

In my experience some guys know all kinds of programming languages, including flash for animations that slow a web page down, but they have no idea what to put on a homepage. Those of them who do have a home page, usually just put their CV there. These guys clearly have no hobbies or interests. Others, along with quite a few girls, have things to say, but don’t know that much about web design.

Not that it matters. Whatever you know or don’t know, no one will visit your site or leave a message in your guestbook. No one knows what a homepage is anyway..

My Second Report from 3D Land

At the moment, I’m trying to make enough money to upgrade. That means I’m not doing anything but camp. I chase around all of Second Life, looking for good camping places. Sometimes you need to watch your avatar all the time, so it won’t become inactive and get logged out. Of course, I have managed to ear quite a bit of money in a relatively short time.

Since I don’t have that much else to do right now, I might as well keep at it. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Second Life – SL – perhaps I should explain that the money in there – Linden dollars – are actually transferrable to a PayPal account. In some countries you can also transfer the money to your bank account. That might be possible here too, before long.

Something else – a Linden dollar isn’t worth much more than a cent or two. It takes a long time to save up for something in real life. I donated my savings to an animal shelter a while back. Since I know the two people who run it, I know that the money goes to a worthy cause. Many other animal shelters worldwide, will accept PayPal. You could donate to other causes as well. In any case, it’s been hard to buy something, like books.

Either way I like the idea of being able to donate money, even though I’m unemployed and can’t really donate ‘real’ money. That’s why I’ll probably keep doing this, as soon as I manage to save up a reasonable sum of money. Even though I would love to buy more books.

Another thing – sometimes I wonder if I’m not going around in circies. I want to make money so I can upgrade – so I can make more money. Isn’t that a bit weird? What little else I do inside SL I can easily do using a free, basic account. Here I am running the rat race, so I can run some more rat race. Something is a bit off in this reasoning, but like I said before, I don’t have anything better to do, so for the time being, I’m going to keep doing it.

Excuse, now I need to go and keep an eye on my avatar, so she won’t get up and stops making money, or maybe, worst of all, will be logged out.

Adventures in 3D land

Ok. I’ll admit it. That title – I just made it up because it looks cool. So far I haven’t had any adventures of any kind in 3D land. Not that I want to. That kind of adventure.

Let’s start at the beginning. Last summer I let myself be talked into joining Second Life. My sister was already hooked and she thought I’d like it too. In a way, I did. It’s a fantastic 3D environment. Better than any other attempt I’ve seen in the nine years I’ve been online. What’s missing is some content.

I’m not Bob the Builder. I’m not there to look for sexual contacts either. What else is there? Well, according to my sister, who is the only one I know in there, you can chat. Socialize. Like in any other social networking community. There are even groups, for people with all kinds of interests.

So I joined them. There were actually groups for most of the things I’m interested in. Unfortunately, that didn’t help at all. They seem too haphazard and vague for me. Or maybe it’s just that it’s hard to fit in. The people in those groups are presumably already friends. Maybe it’s my shy Scandinavian temperament. Who knows? In any case it didn’t help.

Supposedly, there are also all kinds of ‘real life’ events too. Concerts. Pub performances. Even online courses or lectures arranged by respectable universities. Lately, Sweden, yeah, that’s right, my country, has started a cultural embassy inside the virtual community.

So far though, I haven’t found my place in there.

What I have done, which I’ve enjoyed enormously, is create my avatar. It’s more fun than you might think. Certainly more fun than I expected. In real life I’m nobody’s fashion freak. In Second Life makeovers are a breeze. You just go shopping for new hair, new clothes, even new skins and shapes.

Shopping… Well, as you know there are women who love shopping then there are others who don’t. I belong in the latter category. Unless you let me loose in a bookstore with lots of spending money, shopping simply doesn’t appeal to me. I guess I’m too much of a tomboy at heart. Tech stuff is nice too, if even more expensive. Other than that, I just can’t stand shopping sprees.

In Second Life it’s just so much easier and practical. Unfortunately, it’s just as expensive and being the cheap weirdo that I am, I absolutely refuse to ‘buy’ Lindens – the currency, not the founders… Not sure if those are for sale… LOL.

That brings me to the most typical aspect of Second Life. Money. Business. People actually run businessed in there. Make believe businesses, selling make believe stuff. Believe it or not, someone’s actually become a real life millionaire selling (or rather speculating in) land.

I’ve been forced to learn new ways of making money. Being who I am, I absolutely refuse to join the sex industry. When it comes to sex, I’d rather buy than sell. Just kidding. About the buying part, not about the selling part. That’s my final word. Fortunately, there are a few more ways of making money.

So now I’ve become a professional dancer. LOL. No, not quite, but I do ‘camp’ for Lindens. Most addicts (did I say addicts? Slip of the tongue). Most residents frown on that, but camping is available and so I camp to make money. I sit in a chair or I dance. As simple as that. Of course you don’t make much and there are many pitfalls and hangups. You can get logged out. Some camping providers (is that the word, SL:ers?) kick you out on purpose so you have to pay a little fee to start over again. If you’re not careful you end up losing money instead of making it.

Anyway, let’s say I have a little hard earned cash. I head for the luxurious stores. In Second Life shopping really is a pleasure. You can walk around those endless halls, gazing at the merchandise hanging on the walls. Once you’ve found what you’re looking for (and being me, I’m extremely picky) you click on the item you’ve chosen and voilÃ ! You’ve bought it.

One of the worst aspects of Second Life is that it can be extremely sexist. I’m not going to get into the more ‘adult’ examples of this. Suffice it to say that the female apparel is slutty. There’s no other word for it. You’re expected parade your poor avatar around half-naked. Not me. Not this girl.

There. Enough for now. This is the end of my (possibly first) report from 3D land.

I’m in love

I’m in love… again. No, sadly not with a guy, which would have been nice, but still… This makes me quite happy anyway. The object of my affection is a little MP3 player. iPod Shuffle. I’m not trying to sell Apple’s products. It’s not the company I’m in love with.

Now what is so fantastic about iPod Shuffle? Ok, I’ll tell you. I also have an iPod Mini, which is as cute as a button. “Blue” according to Steve Jobs, though personally I think it’s more bluegreen, but never mind that now. What I’m trying to say is that the battery time isn’t all that good.

That’s where my new little darling iPod Shuffle is different. I bought it more than a month ago and I charged it right away. Since then, the little battery indicator has been green all the time. I listen on average about fifteen minutes a day. The same goes for the Mini, but I have to charge that about once a week, whether I listen or not.

Nowadays you have to be happy about the little things… I realize that this post is a little different than my usual lamentations, but I just had to say this. Life isn’t all about whining, you can be angry too. Oh, right. Today I was a little bit happy. Great. Finally I’ve seen that being happy isn’t just something out of a movie or a commercial. It can actually happen to me too. In my life…

Expensive unfair technology

Everything that is wrong in society today isn’t gender- or species directed.

For instance the entertainment industry. TV, the internet, Walkman cell phones with or without 3G. All that costs money, and more and more so every day. The normal evolution of technology is that things get cheaper, not more expensive. But nowadays it isn’t the purchase that is the greatest expense – except when it comes to the newest products – it’s using them.

Electricity costs. More and each year, naturally. The power companies set their prices any way they like. Here in Sweden, which, in case you didn’t know it, is a very dark and cold country, we need electricity, or we’ll die. The tv license, internet connections and cell phone plans cost money. Of course, it’s true that nothing is completely free. But in my opinion, the record- and moviecompanies and distributors are just the same as the power companies. They set their own prices and conditions.

Copy protection that sometimes destroys the device you play the CD or DVD on, and which stops you from making a backup copy. Those discs are extortionately expensive, so naturally you want to make sure you don’t lose it. Besides, how many people like to drag their CD and DVD collections to their summer houses? If you’ve paid that much, you should have the right to make one copy. As long as you don’t make money from selling pirated copies, you should have the right to do what you like with what you’ve bought and paid for.

It’s being said that consumers nowadays only want their music and movies downloadable. Perhaps that’s true. I don’t anyway. Not exclusively. I want to own a CD or DVD so that I can listen to whenever I like. Digital formats can vanish in a second. They only work as long as your device for playing them works.

Today, computers, phones, tv sets, CD and DVD players and music players of all kinds are deliberately being manufactured in such a way that they will break within a couple of years. So that the consumer will have to buy another one regularly. Everything is expensive and keeps getting more expensive if all those expensive things have to be thrown out and you have to buy new ones every second or third year.

Author: Minwynn