A couple of days ago I was on the brink of being ovewhelmed. However, I’ve learned from past experiences here in Second Life that you must not let this place become a chore. When I set out on my quest to become a geisha, I knew it would take a commitment but didn’t realize how my other interests might be impacted.

I’ve come to the conclusion that when I’m in my role as Maiko Suzuki (舞子 鈴木), I need to filter out my other life as Yordie. Here is a simple example: if I’m in a show as Suzuki and I get bombarded by IM’s and Notices from friends and clubs, it literally can create a distraction that can cause me to miss my ques, mess up the timing of my story telling or otherwise cause me to give less than my best performance. And I hate to have to tell friends, “Sorry, can’t talk, I’m in a performance” or a class or I’m training my imouto.

Anyway, I was chatting with Geisha Komayo san and she told me that the way she deals with this problem is to have her avatar strictly devoted to her life as a geisha. Well, that was like a lightbulb for me. So, I made the decision to get a new avatar, and alt named Suzuki Inaka (“Inaka” means countryside in Japanese). Suzuki isn’t active yet, but in the next couple days I’ll make the shift from Yordie to Suzuki. So, when I’m online as Yordie, I’ll be Yordie, and vice versa.

Generally, I don’t like the idea of alts, but I have had one for a long time. I rarely use her and now that I have Suzuki, I may be deleting my old alt. It’s funny, I know one woman who has over a dozen alts!! And I’ve know guys who have like multiple machines and mutliple alts. Personally, I can’t concieve of this, because my machine just isnt’ powerful enough for me to have two alts running since the latest release of the viewer. I’ve been thinking about getting a second machine, but that might be a commitment to SL that could destroy my real life.

One other change that came during past couple days, my imouto, Akiko-chan reluctantly advised me that she has decided to join the Hosoi Okiya as a maiko. She believes that by being “on the list” there, that this means she will become a maiko. I tend to think that she has misinterpreted what her standing is at that okiya, because they do not appear to have selected their okaasan yet. I am afraid that my little one might be disappointed, but nonetheless, she has left our okiya and I no longer have an imouto. Becoming maiko is a rank you earn in a legitimate okiya. If a title is given to anyone who asks, it has no meaning at all.