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

Ahmahgawwwd. Another blog?

"Half a Monkey" is a new fashion blog Chester and I are starting up.

We wanted to do something simple and fun but also with a point to it. Chester reckons there aren't enough blogs out there that focus on male fashion in SL. Sure, there are lots, some of them excellent, some of them not so excellent, but hey - the world could always use one more, right?

Anyways, the point to this one is in the name. A 'monkey' is old London slang for £500, a 'pony' is £25.. there are others too. We wanted to put a price limit on the items we featured, because.. well.. we did. So it became, after much haggling with each other and researching of money slang history, 250L$ per item - half a monkey. Why?

Because monkeys are awesome.

Ok. So. We decided:

One item per post.

That item will cost 250L$ or less.

At least 1 post per day.

Check back to it regularly, because we will be updating it all the time with new clothing and accessory ideas. I hope you find it helpful and useful - I know Chester and I have relied heavily on blogs for ideas before (him especially :P).

Esmie xXx

Surviving the Apigalypse

Okay.. we all know that the media has totally overblown this whole swine flu thing, and we are not all gonna die. Right?

WRONG. Thats exactly what they want you to think. They make it seem like it is all hype so that you don't panic. Trust me people.. all this time we were watching the birds... it was the pigs who were quietly biding their time. They have us now. The Apigalypse is upon us.

But fear not.. help is at hand! To keep yourself pure and prevent being tainted by one of the soon-to-be billions of infected, all you need to do is cover your mouth and nose!

The wonderful creators in Second Life clearly foresaw this pandemic occuring and have been producing vast amounts of different styles of nose-and-mouth-coverings (from here-on known as 'masks'), some to suit all wallets, tastes and faces. Here are just a few that I have been stockpiling in preparation for this day.

"::: B@R ::: Mask - White w Hearts"
Creator: June Dion.
Store: Bare Rose.
Pros: Includes a range of colours (inc. black, blue and pink); is cheap and easy to fit.
Cons: Too easy for microbes to get in around the edges.

"Climatix Mask"
Creator: Hern Wosley.
Store: AVZ.
Pros: Particle clouds, changing colour effects, comes with two sizes.
Cons: Makes you look a bit like a wannabe Vader.

"G581 Full Face Gas Mask"
Creator: Khai Sinister.
Store: The Abyss.
Pros: Complete facial protection, very well made.
Cons: Makes you look like a frickin gimp. Gets a bit sweaty.

"Cyber Respirator"
Creator: Krius Misfit.
Store: SiniStyle.
Pros: Lightweight, soft leather straps, looks good.
Cons: Wires may get broken easily; annoying to fit perfectly.

"AD14 Gas Mask (headstraps)"
Creator: Faye Gelfand.
Store: Ambush.
Pros: Colourful; Sound and Particle Effects. Range of strap options.
Cons: Particles look a bit crap. A bit chunky.

"Scorpion Mask"
Creator: Juliet Ceres.
Store: Bitter Thorns.
Pros: Colour changing effects, looks totally badass.
Cons: Could maybe have better texturing on solid parts.

"Bandit Bandana"
Creator: Avant Scofield.
Store: The Good Life.
Pros: Gangsta Style.
Cons: Gangsta Style.

"The Respirator"
Creator: Tonk Tomcat.
Store: TonkTastic.
Pros: A range of (awesome) colours, styles, textures, effects.
Cons: Expensive.

"Ski Mask"
Creator: Christabel North.
Store: 4mc.
Pros: Range of styles; Keeps you warm.
Cons: Screams 'Rapist'.

I may continue this well-researched and highly valuable guide with such choice information as where to find clean food and water, weapons and how to end the suffering of the inflicted permanently.

We will see how things unfold.

~ I felt it important to add that I am not mocking the disease itself - it is clearly quite nasty and people have died from it, and thats horrible; I am mocking the government and media's obsession with it, and the way they are trying to scare us all. It does provide a nice distraction from the economy tho, right?~

Esmie xXx