Updates--New Twitter, Second Life and Life in Repeat

Sorry for those who just noticed that I changed my blog settings as well as my profile settings. I might as well start reviewing things (critiquing certain items such as flash and browser games, as well as many Internet sites and the likes) and because I might be tweeting my blog posts, I decided to continue to use my online alias of Eden Pyrithea rather than my real life name because I like the anonymity and the protection it provides me. That being said, let's move on to the meat of this post.

Life--I'm back at college, sophomore year, friends with Dexter Manning on my real life Facebook (aka FACEFUCK!) account. Re: Dexter Manning thing--EEEEEP! Unfortunately, my parents are still being pricks about my having a Second Life and so I had to leave my computer behind at home when I moved out here to Collegeland. And I mean the entire computer: tower, monitor, mouse, keyboard, everything--except the headphones and microphones and flash drive. Which means that I can't check in on what I missed over the summer due to the anti-Second Life crackdown my parents are enforcing for "my benefit." And that caused me to miss out on Insilico and Siden Darkest Urban Roleplay action, as well as +DV8+ and Black Maria sales, Bloodlines vampire clan news, Midnight Mania, seasonal grid-wide shopping hunts, my friends and SL family's activities, and the (almost) prime reason why I must get on, which is to get a head start on launching my multi-platform fashion-and-entertainment production company known as Liquid Renegade. I will tell you now--THE NAME IS MINE, DON'T FUCKING TAKE IT OR I'M SUING YOUR ASS(ES)! But I already got started on building it, with a logo of my own design and a CafePress merchandise shop set up! Here's the link....

Also, I've managed to create a very active social life with thanks to the Humans Vs Zombies Game. I met a bunch of great people, several of whom I helped out, and several of whom helped me out. What sucks is that the zombies lost (with me among them) but at least I was able to get started on making many friendships, make a friendship develop further into a special sort of relationship with a particular Harless employee/student, and get involved with Nerf club! ^_^

Second Life is once again absent from my life due to my parents disagreeing with me having one and, as a result, disallowed me from having my computer in my room. So I'm missing major events that'll screw over my character because I was not able to participate in it due to lack of grid access. Which really sucks. At least I was able to get an emergency story arc together briefly off the top of my head, where it has my character Eden being captured and held captive by the gang she fled from being a member of. Somehow she was released and was taken to the roleplaying city's medlab to heal her wounds, many of which are quite serious; imagine being tortured by having a drug cocktail that consists of heroin AND crack cocaine injected into you! Now she's addicted, starving, and in hiding to not be caught again. But I'm looking for volunteers for people to take on the roles of those very gangsters.....I'll have to come up with a sign up roster thing for it....... Also, it's a shame to hear that the Emerald Viewer is no longer an accepted third-party viewer for logging in to Second Life..... What's worse is that Linden Labs (the people who run SL) has also recently bought Avatars United and is currently shutting it down as well as redoing a shitload of things. They already redid the official Second Life Viewer by putting out version 2.0 and here's my take: smooth foreign program that makes no sense to me. I mean it RUNS GREAT! That's pretty much it because I could hardly get used to the new layout. The n00bs would be able to get into it, but since I'm pre-2.0, I'd rather stick to the old one. So I have to try out either the other third party viewers such as Phoenix or Emergence, or I could get used to the awesome pretty smoothness of v2.0.

New Twitter--Apparently LL isn't the only one forcing it's products and users through a makeover: Twitter is going for the new layout and new ways to access yours and your fellow tweeps' status updates as well as "simplifying" the whole thing. Yes, I have everything there in front of me--retweets, followers, following, expansion pane for details, tabs for mentions and retweets, etc. The bad news would be the fact that with the wider set-up, there's less background to see, and I really want people to see my background! :( Also, on the new twitter, when you're on your home page, the F5 key will no longer work. It's a shame because I have to now use my browser's refresh button or press the "x number of new tweets" banner that shows up. PLUS, lots of it is built on Flash being up to date and awesomes, not like the out-dated shitty computer I was using earlier yesterday during work-study. But all of the graphics elements were present on there, on the shitty computer, which is AMAZING! With the old twitter, certain graphical elements would not load or it would take too fucking long to load that I have to either refresh or deal with it. But I think I am warming up to the New Twitter, despite it's small flaws.

Reviewing--Oh! And I started to share my opinion with the world by writing reviews on various things, such as Flash and browser games. Let's get this straight: flash games and browser games are not as popular as the video games stuff such as Xbox360, Nintendo Wii, PS3, etc, but they are probably second-most popular in that not everyone (are you paying attention? NOT EVERYONE) has a video game console like the ones I listed here. I, in fact, am one of those who have to live without her Halo gamertag and connecting on Xbox Live and the likes. So, I turned to flash games. YIPPEE! Especially since, recently, I have reviewed a couple of Nutcasenightmare's games in such detail. And since I tend to be very good at that sort of writing, I'll take it up on the side! (Here's a link to my reviews on Newgrounds! Most recent one submitted is on the top.)

So, summary: I'm alive sans Second Life + Xbox/Halo + much of my sanity....but I found new things to enjoy. Plus, I'm gonna be a critic--so watch out! Or else I'll slam your creations and you'll end up losing money! >:F Later, luvvaz!

(Oh, did I mention that I'm no longer co-owner of the Pour House? It was a mutual heated agreement loaded with drama. Either way, I left that dump. It can sink or swim for all I care. But I've got MY niche: roleplaying in Siden and in Insilico! *grits teeth* I just have ideas that I can't fucking get out of my head without roleplaying! At least I'm constructing my Insilico roleplay character's past in book form--no you may not read it.)

Going sXe on Second Life

Well, I'm back to blogging again, and Second Life is gone from my real life for about one more week. I've been gaining back some balance with my life ever since I started my break from it, but I can't stay away for long. I mean, I co-own a punk club on there--and that means that I have to make decisions, make sure djs show up and do their sets, hire more djs, look for hosts and hostesses to hire, set up shop underneath the building (the club is up in the air, in a "skybox"--easily defined as a building designed to be suspended in the air), create products to sell, buy a rent-a-stall system, set that up, set up the vendor system I bought not too long ago, and do some djing myself. At the same time, I have to manage my real life (the life people NOT in-the-know commonly refer to as "first life"), and NOT fail out of classes. Plus, there are some bills to pay, some meds to refill, etc, etc. Hygiene wasn't taken care of, and neither was my dorm room--it was a disaster area! :O Plus, due to my addiction to SL, I had been missing classes......

But this is no longer: I had allowed the coordinator and transition specialist of the College Program for Students with Asperger's to hold on to my computer monitor for at least a week, or until I start getting a grip on my real life. After adjusting to finding other things to do in the evenings, I also had started going to bed earlier, adjusting back to functioning in the local time zone, rather than the time zone in the game known as Second Life Time (really, the US Pacific Time Zone, where the company that runs Second Life is located). However, I learned that going to bed earlier than normal has been fail for me at the very least, but I'll probably get better at it as time passes. In the meantime, I'm still looking for social events to attend, I'm cleaning myself up, losing weight by going to the recreation center (still cool!), taking more showers, etc. In a way, I'm going straight edge on SL, abstaining from it, but only briefly.

Now, I understand that there are people out there who are screaming at me while reading this post: "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? STRAIGHT EDGE IS A MOVEMENT FULL OF PEOPLE USING VIOLENCE TO GET YOU TO ABSTAIN FROM DRUGS, SMOKING, ALCOHOL, AND SECKS! AND TO GET YOU TO BECOME A TREE-HUGGING, FUR-HATING VEGAN HIPPIE HICK!" Unfortunately, for those people, they are wrong. The ideals are right, but the perspective is wrong.

This movement is really a grassroots movement, a positive subculture within the punk culture. In fact, you can claim to be straight edge if you follow certain guidelines:

1. don't drink
2. don't do drugs/smoke
3. don't fuck

That's basically it. (And when I say fuck, I meant casual/pre-marital sex. Pardon my launguage, as well!) Other than that, how much further you can go varies with each straight edger. I mean, yes, there are vegan straight edgers, but that doesn't mean that all sXers ("sXe" is the abbreviation for "straight edge") are supposed to be vegan; it just means that being sXe means something more to these people than the people who AREN'T vegan.



The only problem with this movement is the light that public sees this movement in: many vigilante sXers (known as "hard liners") have been "taking action" to get the "message" out to non-sXers by using violence, such as bombing stores, beating the shit out of people who drink/smoke/do drugs, setting fires and other such unnecessary acts of militant celibacy. I mean, come on! That action is mostly concentrated around Salt Lake City (in Utah), where it is recognized as a gang, and Syracuse, NY. But does it really mean that all sXers are like that?

I'll answer that for you: yes, all hard liners are sXers, BUT not ALL sXers are hard liners.

Think about that for a second. In the meantime, I'll be working on my papers, my projects, exams, assignments, and other school doings, working my ass off at my job, going to an event done by the Student Activities Programming Board (YAYS FOR HALO!), keeping my dorm room clean as best as I can, sniffing around for things to do, sleeping in on the weekends, keeping up with all my friends (not just the ones on SL--in fact, damn you Facebook for all your addictiveness!), and going sXe on SL for one more week! \o/

As a salutation, in parting, I bid you farewell til next time, and until then (since I was actually converted to punk music), PUNK THE FUCK OUT! \o/