Second Life, Second Wife

I recommend listening while reading this post- Donovan's "Lord of the Universe" off his Beat Cafe album.

I had the experience of getting my first look at Second Life this week. The virtual world's first millionaire (made so in real life by her dealings in the on-line world) has built a virtual "commons," or office space for non-profits. From the virtual world, they are able to enlarge their community of supporters and volunteers- hopefully really jacking up that Return on Mission (and maybe even a little on the Investment side too if they're lucky). It was hosted by Netsquared, a sweet little Web 2.0 offshoot of Compumentor- at least that's how I'm paraphrasing what they do!

What's the point of a hyper reality you say? Well, Dubya could really stop hiding his talents from us for one. 'Texas could really annex some real estate in that uh...virtual world...Heh heh'.

That's what many of a fascinated audience of about 50 folks were there to learn in person. About 50 were there from around "in world," as the vernacular seems to be (attending as their avatars). VoIP was probably the coolest tech in the room- we could hear everything being said in the virtual world and vice versa by the speakers. We were able to see their world live projected onto a screen and they were able to see us when the camera for the event panned around the room.

The drum that was being beat at the launch was that some (no doubt now treasured) employee at American Cancer Society managed to raise $115K in 24 hours from the thousands of players in the virtual world for his/her campaign.

The choice of mediums we must all consider taking part in continues to multiply. I couldn't stop thinking during the event about the large sector of our world that don't have Internet and whether those who do (especially high speed) are far enough into the Age of Aquarius to actually start making a difference using tools like Second Life.

When I told David about all this, he seemed titillated and very fascinated (though not so interested as to get anywhere beyond Linden Labs' home page) by the concept of the Non-Profit Commons. It'll be interesting to see where it goes...but I'll have to watch the news. I'm too far into slow food, books, and gardening to be able to take on yet another digital medium.

In conjunction with this experience, I was approached by a stranger in a restaurant the same evening of the Second Life virtual/real event. He was from another country (I'm not sure which one) and I noticed him watching me as a grabbed a salad. I've spent many years in cafes to not notice something was up with him. I just wish I could sometimes tell people out loud to turn down their thoughts!

I thanked him for his interest, told him I wasn't single and walked off wishing him luck. He didn't seem to understand the term "single." Ah America. Where a guy can do this and not be mortally punished. It turns out when you get married- you don't marry away your sex appeal. As a second wife (successive, not concurrent) I have to admit that's a memo I didn't get. I also didn't get the memo that you don't marry away your issues either(I mean my issues).

In any case, I got the news recently that David's stage wife (he does a holiday show every December) may be in fact swapping him out this year so a mutual friend gets to be his "stage daughter." She doesn't want her real Mom to be her "stage Mom." The chorus members get put into "families" for the stage production. How about 10 performances right around the holiday insanity in December for a "second life?" Second wife anyone...