In Second Life yesterday I was going around to the various places where I have things for sale and it one place there was a white box with black letters saying "missing image" where there had formerly been an image of my outfit. I looked in my inventory and, sure enough, the image in my inventory was the same. It's scary to think about things disappearing into the ether. In that case I just uploaded the image again, because it had been created on my computer first. In the case of things that were created in SL there is no backup. I have heard of people losing their entire inventories. That would truly suck. I make things all the time - even though I don't have anywhere to put them - and it would be traumatic to lose them. I think perhaps I should make some nice screenshots just in case things go. In a way, having made things I can't put out would not be much different from making things that have disappeared. I'd hate to lose things I sell, though - tents, etc.

There's an update today - 1.6.8 I think - and some people have wondered why LL has scheduled an update the day before the account giveaway begins, since lately we've had several really bad days following updates. Maybe not this time, though - we'll see after it opens (supposed to be noon-ish).

It was one year ago today that I came in SL - after hanging on the portal for about 10 months unable to join as I was on dial-up, watching the promotional movie over and over (fireman, bouquet, ho ho ho). I was spawned and wandered off to explore the world. The first person I spoke with was Hiro P. at his house. He gave me advice for adjusting my trousers ("loose pants never seem to look right") and during the course of the conversation I asked him "What are these strange knitting motions we are making?" He laughed (ho ho ho) and said, "You look at your hands when you type, don't you." Indeed, sir, indeed. He also told me about his free vendors, and even though I was silent I absorbed his words, which came to magically make sense in a day or two. Various places I remember seeing and adoring from the get-go were Grignano and the other city sims, Abbotts Aerodrome, the Kazenojin tower, the Ivory Tower of Primitives, Seacliff, Avalon. Many others, too. The world was considerably smaller then. The creation of private islands wasn't a trend. Land barony was a big issue, people gamed the rating system, and there was no Tringo. I remember hearing people long for snow.