Reading Radar

You know, for the past few months Podcast and Podcaster Island have been slowly growing more deserted to the point where I really forgot what it was like to have a feeling of community. There really wasn’t one for quite awhile. So now it’s kind of like being dying out in the desert and having someone drop a canteen at your feet, and saying, “Oh, by the way, there’s a 5 star hotel a quarter mile from here surrounded by restaurants and lakes of water” to have people always there whenever I log in.

Itazura’s made the island more centrally organized and also more inviting and easier to explore. You can see further and it’s all accessible. It’s awesome. Over the tunnel, on a peak we call “Mt Rentmore,” the rental boxes for each plot are on a table named “Table Tenants.” If yours is blue, you’re paid, if it’s green, it’s up for grabs. It’s even got a 3d model of the destination station in the center.

What I really like though is that there are a lot of really cool people there in close now. I can usually find either Itazura, Keeme, Stuart, Danny, or any combination of the above present when I log in, no matter what time it is.

And speaking of Keeme… I need to say this. Having Keeme and Nika there is awesome. Anyone who knows Keeme knows how much fun he is to be around, and what kind of energy, enthusiasm, and ideas - inspiration even - he brings to whatever community he’s in. And Nika being around is fun too.. I tell you what. Having Keeme as a partner has made her reflexes QUICK, I could know exactly where she was going and I STILL could not hit her with the Graviton rifle most of the time. She’s been under intense munitions avoidance training!

Every day we have talks about what’s going on, ideas for events or things to do with the island, and it’s just a lot of fun. I’ve had plots on a lot of places in SL, but this is the best sense of community with a lot of active, involved participants that I’ve had.

It’s a lot of fun, with more fun things coming.

I was darting over to get the funny freebie from Garth Goode, and I ran into another blog reader who was coming after the same thing - Veritas Raymaker. He immediately told me that he’s read my blog and it was good to meet me. I was actually kind of stunned, I’ve had people tell me they listen to the podcast but this was a switch.

The coolest thing for me in SL is running into people like this and having them say “hi.” And invariably, I look at their profiles and find out that THEY are the people who are doing interesting and worthwhile things in SL, by far more so than myself. It’s humbling. And it’s the best part of SL.

Thanks for saying hi, Veritas. That was the best part of my day today!

You know, the only bad part of all this is that I wasn’t present when the deer bit the big one… I’m just NEVER around when a meal just THROWS itself down on the big dinner plate in the sky.

Arminasx keeps coming up with really interesting particle effects. Now he’s got one called “Paint Drips” that emits paint drops. Included are paint splat textures for the ground.

The drip rate, color and size varies as they fall.

Check it out at his store, Electric Pixels.