Life by Proxy

Do you know anything about Second Life? If not, let me fill you in. It's basically another world. It's beyond chat... beyond a video game... it's truly another plane of existence. You sign on and make an avatar - a walking, talking, laughing, flying, fucking little you. And you name your person with whatever first name you choose and a last name that you select from a list about a zillion miles long. And then... you just... be.

You can purchase land and build things... you can work for Second Life money, which is the "Linden" as opposed to dollars. You can buy Linden with real dollars... and you can shop... clothes, accessories, cars, furniture and just about everything else under the sun you could EVER imagine. There are dance clubs and shops... travel agencies and office buildings... real life companies are represented... there's even a popular real estate firm that's opened an "SL" branch selling Second Life real estate... their marketing plan is that, if they build up a clientèle in SL... when those people look to buy some real real estate... they'll go to what they know. Ingenious, really.

There is, of course, the chat element... and the cyber sex element... and they even have voice capability... there's streaming music that can be set by region... it's basically a full-frontal assault on all your senses to fully ingrain you in to this world you've become a resident of.

There is a full-blown fashion movement happening in SL. Designers - big and small - are cropping up all over the place to mimic "real life" clothing... or branch in to some of the more obscure genres... there are demons of every shape, size and affinity walking around... there are "furries" and "nekos"... there's this bizarre trend towards the post-apocalyptic Tank Girl-esque style... clothes that anyone's mamma would back hand them for walking around in to the epitome of prep - Ralph Lauren redux. High heels, flats, clogs, flip flops, boots... it's an accessory maven's dream. Trust me, I'm living it.

The more I've learned and seen, the more intrigued I've become by the movement that is Second Life. I've been reading articles in every major news source - as a friend pointed out, The New York Times... to Rolling Stone and beyond. Second Life is becoming a wave of the future. Google it sometime and see just how many bloggers are writing about their exploits... how many media outlets have something to say...

So here in this blog, I'll narrate my adventures big and small in the land of virtual living.

Hop on, it's sure to be one hell of a ride.