a few emails, some tweets, and a skype with subQuark helped me get centered (read: a firm but loving smack to the head) =D

even though i don’t log into second life anymore, it is a big part of me. after all, i learned a great deal in my three years in it and carry those skills into OpenSim. i also am grateful to Philip Rosedale for putting his passion out there and raising the venture capital to build this kooky thing. in reading Wagner James Au’s The Making of Second Life you see how it must have been tough to be taken seriously. i mean getting people to invest millions of dollars in 1999 on this???

it’s easy to think that it would be easy in hindsight because of the success Second Life has enjoyed

my perspective is kind of my perspective. i can’t truly place myself in other people’s shoes. i can empathize and try to understand, but i can never see the world as someone else does

three years ago, Second Life had this vibe that anything was possible. a lot of that was the media hype and, of course, the message Linden Lab was putting out “Your world. Your imagination.”

all the changes to Openspace pricing, adult issues, XStreetSL, the terms of service, and now the firings at the Lab conflict with what those of us that are a few years old, or older, came to think of Second Life – that it is a place to create in and be happy

and that is a beautiful aspiration

but . . . Linden Lab is a company and whether right or wrong, it can do what it likes. no doubt several people analyzed, scrutinized, bean countinized, and whatever else to come to the point they are at today

while it does matter what you think and it does affect decisions to some extent, Linden Lab will do what some group of people there think is best. at the end of the day, we are customers in their application. they can meet our expectations or we can change our expectations and we make the decision whether Second Life adds to our lives or takes away from our lives

i could no longer keep the iliveisl estate afloat and despite all my clamoring knew that it was up to me to continue to wallow in “holy crap, now what” or “time to move on”

nothing will make me feel better about so many Lindens being let go at once. i empathize with them and worry about how they will pay their bills, feed their families, and sleep at night

but . . . my concern for them won’t change much (both myself and subQuark will gladly write any Linden a LinkedIn recommendation and Pathfinder was clever about this – the day after he was let go he swung into action and offered to write a recommendation for anyone that wrote one for him – and he did not bs, subQuark wrote him one and he took the trouble to look up info about subbie like what conferences he spoke at and what he spoke about)

it is easy to be concerned about a lot of things in life – the oil spill, people canned at Linden, the world soccer cup, hunger in other countries, and so on. it’s easy to be critical and whine and moan

but concern does nothing except stress you out. if you really care, then you would do something that would make you be able to have an impact on those things that concern you

the image below is something that has helped guide me for the last 10 years that subQ told me about. it’s one of those things that just rang true at just the right time in my life

the closer your circle of influence is to your circle of concern, the happier you will be

namas te =)

subbie is my zen master =D