Saturday, May 31, 2008

On Turning Another Year

I am waiting for a thunderstorm to subside so I can go out into the world. I got to thinking , "Screw it!" Why not let everyone see the typist behind the avatar?

Here I am at 21, when local runway modeling paid for my college books... Here I am at 33. I wear less makeup now than then, go fig..
And today I am 34.

Why show my RL pics? Because behind every avatar is a RL person. How and what we choose to present in terms of ourselves inworld could be dismissed as irrelevant, but we make very conscious choices about it--whether the year-old resident who clings to their newbie skin and hair, a model-like fashionista, a kid, a furry, an elf, or that buff guy wielding a sword. We all have our reasons for being here and last time I looked, we're all adults here. And if you are not over 18 and you're in the main grid (which is rare), you're wrong, you deceitful little idiots. Where the F are your parents?

I can't change this RL avatar, but inworld I can be literally anything. I know I reflect how I feel and who I feel I am through my inworld avatars. There are plenty of things that make me raise an eyebrow, but I respect a resident's right to be who--or what--they please. That's the way it is in RL, for good or bad. Why should our virtual life be any different?

My RL storm has lessened a bit and I'm going out. I get the feeling an inworld one is just beginning...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hooo! Thanks, Elle.

I'm totally fine knowing or not knowing about someone's RL. But all the same, the relationships I have with people in SL are real, and I do enjoy getting to know my friends better--and how we look in RL is, for better or for worse, part of who we are.

And I agree that another storm is coming in RL.

Eladrienne Laval said...

Someone's RL isn't important to me either. I'm more interested in how they treat me and others. I have made good friends inworld and I know that I myself have had things flow for the positive from one life to the next.

However, I am concerned about the sanitizing that has been going on inworld. Some things aren't my cup of tea, but does that mean they should be discriminated against?

Michael Röhm said...

Pfft, you're totally a babe in SL and RL. ;D

I understand your concern abut sanitizing. It's always bad. It even sounds almost like sanity, which I have thus far devoted my life to fighting against.

Anonymous said...

Nice meeting you, Miss Human. And bet you could still walk that catwalk! (be it in humanish or neko form! ;))

Unknown said...

I wrote it in a previous post - "Big smiles on my side of the computer monitor ;)"

It's so nice to exchange photographs with you.

HeadBurro Antfarm said...

Wish I had horn in RL... sigh.

Meanwhile, here I am pulling a funny face on the way to work yesterday as the bus all but fell apart around me!

http://twitter.com/daftapeth/status/2745672324

HeadBurro Antfarm said...

horns... I meant horns! /me runs and hides!