Back! Plus Intermittent Fasting

Ok, I'm back! To be honest, I got really busy in RL and kind of forgot about this. That and I got too wrapped up in SL drama. I'm still in SL, although more human now than wolf. I'll have some updates soon.

Work went crazy. Instead of my old 8 hour a day/ 5 days a week schedule, I'm on a 10 hour a day/4 days a week schedule. It's nice to be off every Friday through Sunday, but 10 hours a day, mid-morning to night is kind of exhausting by Wednesday. After 8-9 months, I'm still adjusting.

Last thing: Today is the first day of my switch to intermittent fasting. Basically, I'm doing a 16:8 protocol. 16 hours fasting, and 8 hours not. That works best with my work schedule, although I hope to eventually extend the fasting period on my days off. I started today at 93 kilos. I'll track things, keep up to date, and let you know how it goes. Basically, I'll have 2 meals. An early lunch/late breakfast, and dinner.

Halloween: Not for Children, Not Even Close

Halloween in Second Life is not what I would call child-friendly. There are a few areas appropriate for kids, but most of the sims and events are at least moderate. Many are adult.

What kinds of things happen in SL for Halloween?

Second Life has the expected haunted houses, many of them very well done. Second Life is a very graphics-intensive system. Because a lot of layers don’t have the most up-to-date graphics, if a sim focuses too heavily on graphics, those people will experience it very slowly. This makes the element of surprise nearly impossible. So SL haunted houses usually focus more on blood and gore than on fast-moving surprises.

Another popular event, not just for Halloween but for all kinds of holidays, is a hunt. A hunt in Second Life is more of a scavenger or treasure hunt. You have clues, and if you figure out the clues you can find prizes. These clues are usually riddles. Personally, I’m not very good at riddles, so I don’t do well in hunts. The prizes can be very good, though. Hunts are popular with merchants, because they bring in people who might buy something.

Everyone decorates for Halloween. Pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns are everywhere. Fog and bare trees are really popular. Ghosts are common, but the traditional witch isn't. Go figure.

Of course, now that Halloween is over, people are starting to gear up for Christmas. As in the real world, so in Second Life! I myself won’t do anything Christmas related until December at the earliest. I am looking forward to it, though.

Owning Land in Second Life

As in many virtual worlds, there are a lot of options in Second Life. One of these options is being able to own property. Yes, you, too, can be a virtual householder! Trust me, maintenance is a lot easier. I’ve had two sets of land in my (almost) four months on SL, both from the same landowner. I just recently moved to a smaller, less expensive parcel. That means I had to get a smaller house, but what I’ve got is pretty good.