Artificial Boy

((
Will Linden Lab® please stop fiddling with the Join Now pages? New feature: visitors to Join Now have about a 1 in 20 chance of seeing ~150 names instead of just 40. Well, that’s nice and all, but its not persistent. Reload the page, and you get a different list, usually with just 40 shuffled names in it as we’ve come to expect. This is yet another barrier to getting two accounts with the same last name (i.e., for extended-duration, family role-play). Read the rest…

After I finished asking Randy the questions the teacher gave me, I did the same questions with my next family member, Daddy Domineck. We sat in the dining room and talked.

[18:36] You: Daddy… in school on Friday the teacher gave us an assignment
[18:36] Domineck Heron: ok
[18:35] Domineck Heron: um son what grade you in?
[18:36] Domineck Heron: cuz if u in 5th i’m in trouble
[18:36] You: i am in 3rd grade daddy!
[18:36] Domineck Heron: cuz i am not smarter than a 5th grader
[18:36] Domineck Heron: whew
[18:36] Domineck Heron: so what is the assignment
[18:37] You: the assignment is to interview the people in my family about the family and their careers
[18:37] You: and what they do n’ stuff
[18:37] Domineck Heron: ok
[18:37] You: and i’m supposed to write down what you say, then take a picture, and post the answers and the picture on a web site
[18:37] Domineck Heron: ok
[18:37] You: all before tomorrow! (( Adz leaves out the part about not doing anything until the night before its due ))
[18:38] You: okay so can i ask ? there are like 6 questions
[18:38] Domineck Heron: lol well son u should not procrastinate
[18:38] Domineck Heron: yes son ask away

Read the rest…

I know this would be more appropriate for Father’s Day than Mother’s Day but I don’t have a mother (she died). In my previous post, I announced that I am seeking a little brother. This post, and one more on the way, are to help you learn more about my adopted family. I have two daddies. I will tell you about them.

[18:08] You: okay so um last Friday when i was at school the teacher gave me an assignment. i have to do it by tomorrow
[18:08] You: (( and he hasn’t started it yet and is just telling you about it now. ))
[18:09] Randy Burt: oh and he assignment is what?
[18:09] Randy Burt: maybies we can help
[18:09] You: I need your help. The assignment is I need to interview the members of my family. I have to ask these 5 or 6 questions, and write down what you say. …
[18:09] You: … the questions are about you and our family
[18:10] You: … then i have to take our picture, and then i have to type it all up and put it on a website. Read the rest…

((
It is difficult to find people willing to role-play under age 5. For some reason they tend to leave SL abruptly. Years ago, one friend of mine agreed to role-play an infant. He was dissatisfied with his absentee, adoptive parents, and wanted a family with which he could bond strongly. He met a lady who was role-playing being pregnant. My friend who normally RP’ed about age 10 agreed to continue her pregnancy role play as a complete avatar, taking on the role of an infant for her. He planned to “grow up” in her house and eventually grow into the 10-year-old with which I was familiar. I was skeptical, but could not talk him out of it. After about 4 weeks of this, he disappeared from Second Life in all forms, forever. (I occasionally IM him via an inventory object which lists him as creator, even though all other traces of him are gone. In the IM, I tell him I miss him.). There are several anecdotes like this one, but I can’t share those now. You’ll just have to take my word for it.

I’ve spent some time thinking about why that might be. I think one of the difficulties is that real five-year-olds typically do not have much control of their lives. Meanwhile, Second Life allows freedom of association with various places and people. It allows one to build a Second Life exactly the way one thinks it should be (or should have been). So, how can someone pretend to be age five accurately, and at the same time take control over who they are friends with and where they spend their time? There is an inherent conflict.

Playing the role of a virtual eight-year-old, I often step out of character and let the adult come in and make important decisions, have serious conversations, and resolve issues that an eight-year-old normally wouldn’t be interested in or capable of. I imagine that someone role playing age five would have to make this swap more frequently, or else wind up very frustrated.

An 8-year-old is typically allowed to walk around or ride his bike in the neighborhood at least within shouting distance of the house. He has certain places he is allowed to go on his own after school while it is still daylight, if he asks his parents and checks in often. A five-year-old typically is not allowed to even leave the back yard. Unless, that is, he has an older brother to look out for him and make sure he doesn’t get run over by a car.

If anyone wants to play the role of Adz’s little brother, IM Adz in-world.
))

… ♩ … ♫ …for-ever young… ♪ … ♬

… ♩ … ♫ …for-ever young… ♪ … ♬

A Boy’s Place Mall has moved. My store there moved with it.

I dunno what happened. I was flipping through the channels, and this came on. Read the rest…

My daddies say I’m behind on my chores so I can’t come out to play. *frowns* I’ll come out and play with you as soon as I can.
(( I sent my 9-month-old notebook back to Asus for repair. There was a problem with the LCD which I dealt with for two months. I tried to work myself up to parting with my notebook for a week or more to get it fixed, but I just couldn’t bring myself to it. One morning, the computer didn’t power on anymore. No POST. That kind of made the decision for me. It is not clear that the two problems are related.
I can still pop by using another computer, but my frame rate is very poor even when using the lowest graphics settings.))

Yesterday I went to the International Spaceflight Museum with my daddies and my friend Jess. Read the rest…