I’m listening to Jason Derulo singing “Watcha Say” and it has me in the mood to race into Second Life and find some club playing hawt tunes. Ok, tune just changed to Black Eyed Peas singing “I Gotta Feeling” and it’s making me so frisky. I really miss that about SL. I loved that whole “tonight’s gonna be a good night” feeling. That was so great for me, especially living in that tiny town in northern Idaho. But I also fear SL anymore, I go in and feel the weight of expectations. And then there was that addiction thing, I was really addicted to SL for way too long.
I think I mentioned this in the past but I’ve tried returning to SL using a couple different new avatars since declaring that I’d left SL. Both times it wasn’t the same at all, even though one of my guy friends joined me to play for awhile. Neither attempt lasted more than a few weeks. The thing is, I’m just not me unless I’m Yordie Sands. Sorry to keep bringing this up again and again, but I still find it surprising.
I’ve notice that some of my old friends have faded away. Others are doing new and exciting things. LeLe has a really nice club, and of course, Vaneeesa is organizing new and exciting events. I miss everyone I ever knew. Well, almost everyone. The thing is, the Florida weather and endless sunshine has changed my whole body rhythm.
Oh, oh! Rhianna is wailing “We Found Love”. Dang, if that doesn’t get you going then I just don’t know! Hey, “We found love in a hopeless place!” *smiles* and love to everyone.
Just me snapping a quckie while I was in SL.
Being Yordie Sands 
Oh I wish you could post more often! I love reading your stuffs…great post this one, like all of your writing…
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Hi DJ… thanks so much. I wish I had something to write about, but all my efforts currently focus on a novel I’m trying to give birth to. 🙂 Best wishes to you… Yordie
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Hello Yordie! I hope you are doing well and enjoying your real life sunshine. Your new southern sun sounds so much more uplifting than the one spent in those six months of winter drab at that other location. I’m glad that you have ventured back into Second Life “incognito” once in a while to see if it still has any appeal for you. But I can imagine that after investing so much time and effort into “Yordie Sands,” returning in any other form must feel like you are wearing a costume. This is how I feel even when I simply change out of my regular skin, so an entire body must feel much more estranged to your sense of personal identity. Because my real life is so busy, my SL time continues to be regulated to a certain weekly routine of available times, and I never feel addicted to SL. My few weekly hours inworld leaves me scurrying to do as much as I can accomplish once I arrive, and—never actually completing it all—it gives me something to look forward to when I can return again. I still explore, and post to my blog at http://www.dahliajayaram.blogspot.com , but long-term adventures have to be put on the back burner until real life goals can first be met. Until then, I occasionally take up short-term goals inworld, and have spent much of 2014 being more socially active, making new friends at places I enjoy going to regularly and reconnecting with well established ones whom I may not have seen in quite some time. Sometimes when I’m at Marblehead Island in SL New England, I still glance over at the shop you once occupied to see what is there and fondly remember the days when you had your little adventure travel office there. Of course, you probably already know that a NEW “SL2.0” is being worked on, a BETA testing will go underway in 2015, and the end product expected to roll out in 2016. If you are looking for things to whet your appetite and get excited about for the future of being in Second Life, perhaps this next year might offer something for you to examine. I hope you have some wonderful winter holidays and that if you ever want a few extra sunny rays that you’ll come work on your tan with me on any SL beach while we chat! Big hugs to you, Dahlia
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Hi Dahlia… I’m keeping an eye on things but not likely to be doing anything this year, maybe next. I’ll checkout your blog. Haven’t been making the rounds much lately. Best wishes and happy holiday season to you!
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This, ironically, after you did that intervention and made me wear a lighter skin! Now people commented that I’m too pale and need some sun! 👳👲👹🙈💥
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I never complained about your skin, none of the vast array you’ve used. haha! I miss you and all the VB & Company events.
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“Vast array”? Yordie Sands what ever are you talking about?? I’ve got the most consistent skintone of any avatar you know! 👭👌☀️
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Hmmmm…. could be, maybe not. I’ll start counting them and get back with you in a few years on that one. *smiles*
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OMGeee! Lying liars and the lies they love to tell! Southern Belle indeed!
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Geez Yordie you’re so dark! Must be all that Florida sunshine!! 🍯🍭🍩💋
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oh yes, I can relate to what you say!! I love your posts. There were some amazing times in SL. The music thing was great !! Building was fun ( I have not attempted mesh!!). Speaking of music though, this summer I got to go out dancing and listening to music while we were traveling and I had not done that in awhile. Great craic in Irish pubs!!
Florida weather sounds wonderful- I long for sunshine on the west coast of Canada!! -and your creation Yordie will always be part of your psyche I ‘m sure. I couldn’t be any other than Hana H.
I understand the addiction thing as you know. I was very focused on my SL life. There are many who say they are not addicted though I wonder! – But it all depends on your own state of mind and being.This year I ventured back into SL and met a couple of new people who helped me show some of my photography there. That was a positive and I saw a presentation of Paradise Lost (which I had mixed feelings about), I still love some of the builds – but like you, it’s just that SL is no longer the same for me. I will always have some grand memories but at present it’s no longer the exciting, unlimited imagination place it once was and my virtual social life has become virtually nonexistent. Maybe that’s a good thing as I’m focused on other and equally wonderful things at the moment. I am very aware now about wasting time- and that I cannot serve two masters. Sometimes one life can be challenging (and fulfilling) enough!! 😀
I can’t speak for anyone else. SL can bring out a lot of creativity in some people. It can destroy others. In a way the inspiration I felt in SL set me on a new path entirely. Play it by ear Yordie- to spend time or not to spend time. That’s the freedom of not being addicted!!
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Hi Cybele… You are right, Yordie is part of my psyche and I’ve become accustomed to using her identity for all my social networking. And yeah, I did like the social and creative side of Second Life. I miss the adventures I used to have also. It truly is a place where your imagination can run free and mine was running wild, but now that I’ve broken away I fear being swallowed into that seductive world again. winter weather lasted almost six months in northern Idaho and that tended to draw me into SL. Like you I haven’t given up on SL but I don’t see how I could ever recapture my enthusiasm. Btw, I never made it to see the Paradise Lost performance. From the vids I saw it seemed like a unique experience but I’d seen some earlier types of productions and had mixed feelings also. So yeah, I’ll be playing it by ar.
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I thought a bit further on this Yordie- “as is my wont!!” :D. I said once in my own story, all this unlimited imagination and perceived freedom/vanity on SL does come with a price. When I look back I could see myself (like many others) as a bit “stuck” there or is that a euphemism for trapped? but who cares! – say the proverbial lotus eaters !! lol.
I know it well. But in truth I did care. My well balanced life is a work in progress but It’s been a good and interesting journey. I can’t get away from asking the deeper questions. So it’s good to be cautious.
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I think SL taught me to be cautious also. Far too many avatars are not the kind of people that seem to be at first.
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