Minerva survived with her virtual virginity intact!

I found SL to be very frustrating and futile in my first few hours… I figured out how to move around easily enough but really saw no purpose for my movements! I had a hard time finding anyplace I wanted to go. I spent some time trying to change my appearance and was also not hugely successful. I did find some cool red shoes that someone gave me for free in the Cat’s Lair, but struggled with changing my appearance using the edit--> appearance function. I got pretty frustrated just trying to get some jeans and a t-shirt on, I finally gave up trying to change my hair color! I did add some nice freckles though….I do believe that if you are persistent enough or are willing to plonk down some Linden bucks you can get pretty creative about your “look.”

By about the 6^th hour of invested time I could quickly search for new places to try and teleport there but was still struggling with “why” I would want to. I visited Princeton, admired some paintings, rode a merry-go-round and swung at a park, went to a pub but still really found nothing compelling enough to want to do this for anything other than an assignment! I found my prevailing emotion was stress as I was wandering around so I spent some time in the immersive aquarium where I met another noob and we chatted a bit – kind of a cool place to relax for awhile. I did find my way to Info Island and stopped at the readers Advisory station in the library. I was lucky enough not to have to deal with any virtual propositioning... must have been those added freckles!

I guess bottom line is this… if I was looking for information on a college or book I would rather just go to a website and get the information. I am, apparently, just not that interested in socializing with other virtual people. While I “get” the appeal for some people I am just not one of them. Give me a real coffee house or pub and a ftf chat with some random stranger or a friend any day! I am actually kind of surprised that the virtual environment didn’t appeal to my rather nerdy qualities more than they did…. I thought for sure I would find this all extremely fascinating. So I end my SL a little disillusioned but at least I know what it looks like and could reemerge in some other place and time for a second chance at a second life.