Make mine a creamsicle.

An illness, significant only to me, has kept me more or less out of commission for the past few days. I even went home early from work once, and for me, that's quite an unusual event. A slight fever has kept me from having any real success on SL- although I bought the LoopRez generator, I don't have a single good skirt to show for multiple attempts at creation. Much swearing was involved before I realized it simply wasn't going to happen, and crawled back to bed to cuddle my dwindling bottle of Theraflu.
The most unfortunate thing about it all, though, was that I wasn't able to post anything about my encounter with some friendly Caledonians, and now the chat window is all gone and I feel quite sad about that. I would have liked to celebrate my citizenship with the blog post it deserves, you know!
It really all came about very accidentally. I was lurking, as is my particular bad habit, on the roof of the library when the urge to explore a bit struck. Despite lurking quite a bit, I've never done the truly intelligent thing and had a proper look-see around the sims. 'Gloire,' the voice (quite singular) in my head said sternly- it really did- 'you've never been to Mayfair. Go to Mayfair.' So teleport I did, and landed with exquisite grace directly upon the charming head of Miss Vi Paravane.
Fortunately, she was very understanding, and I was completely unshod. Even my virtual feet aren't tiny, so I really was glad I hadn't tossed in the towel and bought a pair of clomping combat boots. The world might be virtual, but impressions still aren't wholly so.
I alighted correctly and we had barely introduced ourselves when Miss Virrginia* Tombola arrived, and I found myself suddenly having an actual! conversation! with people in SL for basically the first time ever. Moreover, they were interesting people- Miss Tombola, of course, an adventuress of repute and creator, I believe, of such unimaginable (well, to me, I can't even get LoopRez to love me) things as bicycles, and Miss Paravane, owner of a curry shop, of all things! Curry shops are on par with bookshops and chocolate shops in my book, and I truly couldn't say which were preeminent among them. I was charmed, and re-determined always to listen when my inner voice grows stern.
Then of all things, who should touch down but the Governor himself. For half a second, I was marginally concerned that he meant to drive out the encroaching newbie, as he was carrying some sort of rifle that was quite as long as I am. I bowed, he apologized to the ladies, and all was well. After that, the crowd seemed to grow at the rate of kudzu, and I couldn't keep track of people very well. A Governor, it seems, is to SL like the ice cream man is to the neighborhood of one's youth. You might not even actually hear the tinkling sound of his arrival, but the combined sum of the energy emanating from every young-feeling person on the block is enough to send you panting out the door with your seventy-five cents. It was amazing and darling, and I can absolutely see why it happens. From what little I can tell on the most slight of acquaintances, but also observing how he participated in the ensuing conversation about the advance of voice chat throughout SL, Mr. Shang appears not to possess the qualities which have, in the past, so turned me (and my stomach) against admins in other games. The analogy is not perfect, but it's very close, due to the types of games they were, and I'm extremely happy to find out that I may not be troubled with similar issues here. I sincerely hope. SL seems, so far, to be large enough that many with more expansive minds than I'm used to dealing with can still see fit to call it home. If that proves true over time, I'll be a very contented girl.
For now, however, I'm just a new citizen of Caledon, and that is pleasure enough! I can henceforth lurk with greater legitimacy.



* Unusual, but I like it; something either very riot grrl about it, or else simply Virginia as pronounced by a Highland Scot, and I can hardly object to anything that smacks of Highland Scot...