A few days ago I was mulling the joys and disappointments of exploring, specifically looking back at my expeditions of 2008. I have been most interested in creating a plan for my future journeys, one that would help me avoid the ooogliness and mindlessness which I discovered last year. I decided it would be nice to revisit some of the regions I believed might have lasting value, and which might lend themselves to be documented in a guide that I could create in this blog.

I didn’t make a big to-do about it, but I made a few dry runs back to the locations where I had fond memories. And I’m sorry to report that things change in Second Life, sometimes a lot and sometimes not for the better, and sometimes both. Yes, I know, “change or perish” and “change is good” and pick your cliche. But, what if you went to Disneyland® and Fantasyland® was gone?

Fantasyland photo by The HKDL Source.

If you went to Disneyland and Fantasyland was no longer there, it would be much more than disappointing. BTW, and this is such an aside, when I lived in California, I loved it when guys would take me on dates to Disneyland, especially when the park was open at night. Ok. Some changes are just too much to bare, and this is what I discovered on my dry runs.

A couple days ago, I did a photo study of the Junkyard and, yes, the Junkyard has changed quite a bit over the years but the thing I really love about the JY is that they have stuck with their theme and expanded on it, and they have created a Second Life institution really. NO, I don’t mean a mental institution because some of us probably belong in one. hehe. I mean, if I were going to create a guide to Second Life (well, yes, I am), I’d include the Junkyard. If the Junkyard were to disappear or move or change it’s theme to, let’s say to Fantasyland, the loss would be huge.

So, even tho I’m saddened by my first dry runs at exploring, I have a much clearer idea of what I should focus on. I believe it will be beneficial to use the work of others from years past to help sort out and find places that are both amazing and have kept the themes in tact. There will be many disappointments, I already know that, but this added purpose gives me enthusiasm for this latest adventure.