Maybe She's Just Too Into It
Perhaps I have turned a really sick corner.
Last Thursday night at 6:30, I logged into Second Life to do a little research.
You see, I'm thinking of opening a Second Life business, and, at the suggestion of one of my real life friends, I decided to do a little Second Life market research. While I was doing my research in the Second Life search window, my avatar was doing what she has become very adept at doing ... staring out at the ocean from the balcony on one of the Sun Second Life Islands.
It was there that the trouble began.
I (or actually my avatar) was approached by a very helpful Sun Second Life Mentor, who asked me if I wanted to attend one of the evening's classes.
I really hadn't intended to spend very much time in Second Life that evening, but one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, I'd signed on to the class and was learning to fly at the Sun Avatar Obstacle Course.
As I've mentioned before, I've never been a gamer. Some of the avatar manipulation tasks are difficult for me, and flying was the most challenging task yet.
The evening wore on. My daughter from New York called ... "I'm sorry, I'm in a class in Second Life and can't talk to you now. Can I call you back in an hour?" I'm embarrassed to report that I called her back in an hour only to tell her that I was "having trouble learning to fly, and could we talk tomorrow?" How embarrassing.
Two more real life friends called, and, as I did with my daughter, I told them that I'd call them back when I was done with my Second Life class. Fortunately, by virtue of the fact that those friends were in the same time zone, I was able to call them back later that night.
Still, if I think about it too much, I shudder. I actually put off two real life friends and my daughter because I was learning to fly in a fantasy land. What's up with that?
Finally, at 8:45, I told my Sun mentor that I just "had to go for the night." It really was the truth ... I had so much real life stuff to do. Besides, I had to call my two friends back. Without realizing it, over 2 and a quarter hours of my real life night had been consumed with my Second Life.
I still haven't mastered flying, but I confess that I've been back to the Sun Avatar Obstacle Course to practice twice since Thursday.
Thankfully, since Thursday, in my real life, I've done a lot of very cool things that have nothing to do with fantasy worlds. That's the very best part of all.
