fun to be had in sl

tagxedo post x 2 - jean claude's writing & arial bold

Morning Fri 9^th April

First clear morning since standard time returned and my camera is not with me! Sunshine on Katoomba station: lone hip hop practise down the far end, curious young magpies, awkward women from the care home off to work, few commuters silently soaking a rare dose of vitamin D.

Nearly drowned my own awkward avatar last night for lack of flying skill, but did spend time with the ‘search’ facility scanning opportunities for professional interaction, for visiting a few fabulous universities and libraries based on reality (including Trinity College Dublin, some US libraries, but also the Silver Alhambra Library?), for visiting library related groups such as meets in ‘BookStacks’, for cultural opportunities such as revisiting Kyoto’s traditional arts, the ‘Alhambra’, the ‘Renaissance Gallery’ and virtual creations such as ‘Wonderland’. Name search is just a ‘phone book’, but it felt rather sinister to scan rolls of avatars at random and discover some come with photos and information. Of course I checked my avatar first name (lots), my real first name (horror, lots too) and literary references I had not thought to adopt. There is a list of ‘Murasaki’ and ‘Shikibu’ and even ‘Shikibu Murasaki’ who must have been first in 2006 and who has had time and flair to develop an avatar to fit the real writer’s eye for independence and elegance (judging by the portrait supplied, but fair, not Japanese). Perhaps there is a ‘Genji’ world out there? Maybe Austen or Bronte or Dickens or Poe too?

Possibilities for interaction, exploration and contribution to collective knowledge and enjoyment seem endless. Personal inhibitors: lack of confidence, lack of skill, lack of time and reverse time zone.