Three.

I was three years old last week. What a fucking trip it has been.

Its kinda scary when I look back and think about all the thousands of things I have done.. the literally hundreds of people I have met, the few relationships I have had, the dozens and dozens of nights staying up far too late dancing and chatting and being a dork.

Its been wild.

When I was born, I had no idea I would still be here 3 years later. It seems almost beyond belief, its fantastical. Two years didnt seem like such a big deal.. but three.. holy fucking crap.

I don't think it is possible to quantify what the people I have met in the past few years really mean to me. True, some are just a casual "hello" every now and then, but others have really, really affected me deeply, and all of them for the better. I just want to say thank you.. if you consider me a friend, I am grateful for all the good times and good chats and laughs. Even to those who have left, some of them years ago, who I still miss, even though you might not believe me when I say that.. thank you for leaving me with those memories.

It sounds like I am saying goodbye almost, but I'm not. I've managed to survive for three years.. I think I could last another three at least.

Friday was awesome. We had such a great party.. I love the guys at Starfall, they always, always make me laugh and the times I have had there are definitely amongst the best of my three years.

The changes I have seen in that time have been phenomenal. SL is so, so much better than what it was when I started.. people don't appreciate what it is now.

One of the things that has changed most of course, is me, the avatar. This is how I look today. Tomorrow, I will have changed again and then again and again. I like to think of it as evolution. You'd prolly call it being a fashion whore. :D

Twitter/Heath

It seemed easier than writing entire blog posts.

http://twitter.com/Esmiel

Also check out the Heath Blog, for news and updates on SL's coolest new gay hangout.

http://theheathnews.blogspot.com/

Blame Finn for the name of it.

Esmie xXx

Just In Case You Didn't Know...

Chester's Boycut underwear store is having a sale until the 18th September. He is gonna be closing it after that :[

But, for now we can rejoice! Cos everything there is 10L$ for the next week!

Check it out HERE.

Wow... its the 11th of September. It took me a minute to remember why this date is burned into my brain. Then I remembered. 8 years ago already... wow. I wonder if everyone still remembers or maybe if some people have forgotten already?

Esmie xXx

I Almost Forgot To Give This Post A Title. Phew!

A'ight.. so.. I guess it is time to post again.

Mysteria is coming along spiffingly. I'd say it is about 90% complete now! Please feel free to visit the magical lost land of a magical people now lost to the world. If you so choose to do so, you might also like to provide me with some feedback. Think something is missing or could be done better? Tell me!

Visit Mysteria.

Oh and I quit my job at Beauty Avatar, cos I was moving in RL and didn't have internet for ages. Well, we had a mobile internet dongle thing, but that isn't real internet. Not the kind you can run SL with. When I finally get back onto SL, I discover everything has gone to shit and the whole grid is collapsing under the weight of ... well ... what? Before I went away, things seemed perfectly fine (for SL)... so what changed? Maybe the new server version or a rat chewing through a cable somewhere has fucked everything up. Lucky we have someone to blame!

Damn you, MICHAEL BAY!

Oh no, wait. He was the one responsible for that dreadful film. You knooooowwww the one I mean.

Damn you, LINDEN LABS!

There. Now I can stop complaining.

Oh yes... I suggest you all go and volunteer some of your free time somewhere. For a charity or something. Because really, it does make you feel great, and its fantastic knowing your time was well spent and appreciated.

Esmie xXx

1 0 0 0

The other day... saturday, I think... I was 1000 days old.

Shocking, I know.

I look so young... how could I possibly be that old?

Its crazy, insane, ridiculous ...

... yet the Emerald viewer does not lie.

xD

What it DOES do... is make SL everything you'd want it to be.

Not only is it smoother and faster in every way than the standard client, but it has a boatload more options.. such as a rainbow coloured effects beam, client skins, default options for created prims, even an option to make your avatar phantom.

Just try it :P

Well.. I haven't posted on here for quite some time.. again.. I dunno.. sometimes I have nothing to say.. other times there is too much to talk about.. and usually I just can't be bothered.

I now work in SL.. at a store called Beauty Avatar... I do customer service stuff.

YES.. I am one of those jerks who keeps coming up to you and asking if you need help.

Its not a bad job, and is strangely satisfying, especially when they say thank you and you feel like you really helped them.

I decided recently to meet some new people. I noticed alot of the names on my list these days are just.. names. I hardly talk to any of them, and a few of my friends are feeling the same way... there just seems to be a small circle that I actually talk to and an even smaller one who I see av-to-av regularly.

Anyways.. these new people I have met randomly.. there are a few that are actually incredibly wonderful and have quickly become great friends. I know I have let friendships go stale in the past by not talking to them enough.. and I am hoping to avoid it this time.

Ehhh.. what else?

Oh yes.. after graduating and stuff in RL, I have found myself unable to get a job even vaguely relevant to my degree. Which I dont mind too much.. my degree kinda killed physics for me... turned it boring and too difficult. The problem is that I cant find a job doing anything else either :[

Still.. I am sure something will turn up.. always does :D

Esmie xXx

Growing Old is Getting Old

I've grown up. I can finally, finally say that I am no longer a kid, a teen, a youth. I am an adult. A big, responsible adult in the real world who has to make a living and do important things.

It sucks, but then, it was always going to happen eventually, right?

I got my degree. Four years of work and effort and I come out of uni with a freaking degree. It doesnt seem quite real somehow. It hasn't sunk in yet, and I was told my result a week ago.

I got a third class.

In the world of BSc Honours, thats not too good. In order of awesomeness, classification goes:

1st
2:1
2:2
3rd
Ordinary

However; I am happy, because in the world of well.. the world.. I have a degree; and that in itself is better than most people can manage, and it is definitely something to be proud of.

I might have been able to do better, but everything after the second year was a struggle for me; it took a huge effort to resist just quitting, and there were moments where I questioned the point in it all. Often, my uni friends were the only thing I stayed around for.

My graduation is on June 26th in the afternoon. After that, I am officially a person. A taxpaying member of society. So.. I need a job. My first job ever.

Turns out that a third class degree isn't really good enough to get a place in graduate programs and onto trainee schemes at engineering and physics-y firms. This is somewhat frustrating, but I have found a solution: use the skills I learned in my degree (which are quite numerous) and apply them to other fields. Like.. games testing :D

I just applied for a position as Games Tester, working for Rockstar North, the guys who made the GTA games (among others). They are based here in Edinburgh and are awesome. I hope I get this job, they seem like a totally awesome company to work for - and I dont have many other ideas about what to do lol.

I also joined Facebook. I know.. I'm a bit slow huh? A few SL people have added me on there already, so feel free to IM me in world if you wanna be my friend on Facebook :D

As an extreme response to growing up in RL, I have grown down in SL... I mostly run around in a little kiddy av, aged about 12, now... acting young in SL provides me with an antidote to being old(er) in RL :P.. so now you know why I am only a few feet tall lol

Oh and Growing Old is Getting Old is an awesome song by the awesome Silversun Pickups, and I am listening to it right now. Seemed like a nice and relevant idea for a post title!

Esmie xXx

Politics and Money

Now, some of you may have heard about the massive argument going on in the UK at the moment - if you live here, you definitely will have done - about the MP expenses claims.

Essentially, every member of parliament (MP) gets to claim expenses for various things. Up until recently, the claims have been kept almost completely hidden from the public, meaning the MPs can get away with spending taxpayer's money on whatever the fuck they want.

Not anymore. Someone has released all the details or someone got hold of them somehow and basically, it is now public knowledge. It seems as if every politician in the entire system is a total asswipe who has taken advantage of the claims system to get loads and loads of money for things like swimming pools and DVD players. The claims are sposed to be for essential home maintenance, repairs, travel costs and like.. important stuff.

Some people are calling for an election so we can kick out the asswipe MPs and put nice new ones in place who haven't been stealing from us. The system, apparently, is also gonna get reformed to try and stop anymore stealing in future. I am hoping the ones who have been stealing - up to thousands of £s in some cases - will get punished properly. They are no better than common criminals.

But - any time you put a system in place, people will abuse it for personal gain. How can you say who will and who won't? How can you elect fresh people to run the country and be sure they aren't gonna turn out to be another cheating bunch of crooks? What the fuck are we gonna do with these MPs, this system? People say - "Oh, I wouldnt make bogus claims at the taxpayer's expense" - but - how can you trust that they wouldnt once the opportunity arises?

How can we fix this?

Remove their expenses claims altogether? Let them use their nice big salaries to pay for all the shit they want, or give them a limited allowance of a few hundred £ a year to pay travel expenses. Maybe not even that. The MPs complain they dont get enough money and they deserve all the extra cash from expense claims and shit. Bollocks. They could try living with just one house and one car, or maybe taking the bus or train to parliament every day. Maybe they could live like normal people and then maybe they can see what things are like for the rest of us and then maybe they will do a better job and earn their salaries.

Esmie xXx