Monday, April 13, 2009

but who's counting?

Happy Anniversary to Troy & Lissa, who celebrate 4 months of partnered bliss in SL on the 13th of April. And they said it wouldn't last. ha

But, alas, the times, they are a'changing. Due to RL, Troy has had to pull back his DJ schedule a bit and do some rearranging. As our friends may have noticed, lately, we just aren't in SL that much unless he's working. We've missed our SL time together, but on the other hand, we've always communicated via other methods throughout the day. SL is sometimes more a hindrance to us spending quality time together, really listening to each other, than a help.

My RL is also undergoing some fairly profound changes (details to come, maybe), and I see myself phasing out, to some extent, of this fantasy world. One of the issues about SL that troubles me the most is that SL pulls people away from RL friends and family by draining both time and emotional energy (our most precious resources) spent while logged on. For those who don't have RL friends and family, or those whose RL relationships trend towards the conflicted & painful, I can understand the draw of SL. It's a great way to feel a sense of community, to express oneself, to socialize.

But for too many residents, I think SL lets us hide from, deny, and avoid the things in our real lives that we should be dealing with, only we just don't want to. Ignoring a problem is always easier, for awhile anyway, than facing it. To tell the truth, for a time, I even let SL isolate me from my RL friends and family--I pushed people away so I could log on. Not any more, and not for some time now. Maybe it's just because my focus has been so sharply redirected towards RL that I'm thinking about all this now. SL is not inherently evil, is it? :P I don't know. I think I've begun to ramble. ;)

I'm still working on the SLove piece, but my RL has been very demanding, and the series is not something I've wanted to dedicate the time to. I've not left it, though.

Did I have a point? Oh, yes. Happy Anniversary, Troy. You are truly the very best thing about SL for me. xoxoxoxxoxo