Heritage Key

When I first arrived at Heritage Key I was in a room that had helpful tips on how to get started. If I was new to the virtual worlds then I would have definitely read most of them, however, I only read a few to see if I was missing out on anything.

The first thing I did was change my avatars outfit since it was terrible. I like how all you need to do is drag the item from the inventory onto your avatar as opposed to Second Life where you need to drag the box into a space.

After, I went to go find out how to get to King Tuts tomb. When I got there I got a notice on how the server has crashed and I need to log out. I tried logging in again, however the application froze and I had to quit. It kept saying how my system contains a graphic card that is unknown to them.

I was able to get everything working after a few tries, so I went on to continue exploring King Tuts area. There were a few tents that I passed by that were artifacts most likely being examined. Next, I waddled my way to his actual tomb to see what I will be doing soon. While in the tomb I went into a room with hieroglyphics and couldn't believe how real it looked. Once I was done looking around the tomb I went back outside to my hot air balloon..except I wasn't able to get in it since it was floating in the air.

Halloween Horror Village

On Saturday, I was having problems with Second Life. I had downloaded the new version and it was still lagging. I felt bad because Meghan was waiting for me, however, she was updating me on what was happening to her. I thought it was bizarre how she got attacked by birds.

When I finally arrived, I was greeted by Freddy Krueger. I was shocked to see how real he actually looked since he had his striped sweater, hat, and long claws. I even got the shivers when I heard a voice saying "one, two, Freddy's coming for you, three, four better lock your door..". As I walked around I saw other avatars , however they were in costume and I think they worked there. Even thought the event had just started I was surprised that there weren't more avatars.

I was able to get a picture of Freddy in front of a haunted house that said MYERS. I don't think I could actually have gone in the haunted house because Mike Myers actually scares me. Looking at it from the outside was just fine. As I continued walking, I saw the headless horseman riding around a tree. However, it was not an avatar it was a hologram. Behind it, I saw Frankenstein and some crazy guy with an axe. Next to the tree that the headless horseman was riding around was a sign that said "impale yourself" with blood dripping down the stick. I definitely was not going to click on that but I would have liked to get a picture of someone trying it.

I was bummed that I wasn't able to ask any avatars questions. However, it was fun to go somewhere that had a theme such as Halloween. I want to know if there any Christmas events? I would love to find events as it nears. I learned that Second Life can be whatever you make out of it. It can be a fun virtual world used for educational purposes where you can learn about different cultures and see people use it for business. Or you can put time into Second Life and actually try and meet people. It can also be an escape for some people or just a relaxing, entertaining past time.

Before My Visit

After narrowing our choices down, Meghan and I decided to visit Halloween Horror Village - FrannyDj Dean-12pm on Saturday, October 18th. I wanted to go here because I love scary things so I'm hoping there's something that will give me the goose bumps and make me jump out of my chair. This village seems like it will be a lot of fun, and I hope people dress up even though I won't be dressing up.

I'm excited to go because I haven't been in this kind of situation. However, I'm also nervous because I haven't had a lot of experience talking to avatars, so I hope I don't make it obvious that I'm a newbie.

I want to find out if they delete the village after and if they are getting paid to hold the event. It must take a lot of time to create the village, so I wonder if they get anything out of it. I wonder if the village is just made in celebration of Halloween and Burning Life. It would also interest me to find out what experienced people get out of second Life. Is it the idea of doing something different, meeting people, making money, or educational purposes? Hopefully, I'll be able to find answers to some of my questions when I visit.

Places to go & People to see

Whenever I visit the landmarks in my inventory I don't find any avatars. This seems to be a reoccurring problem for me. I decided to go on a search for avatars so I chose to go to a club on Saturday night. I first changed my outfit then teleported there. Upon arriving they all greeted me and some even called me "Sky", I liked the nickname since it made me feel more a ease there. The only problem I had was I didn't know how to dance. I sat on a white couch in the corner and watched the dance floor for a few minutes. I finally got the courage to ask the avatars there how to dance. They all gave me instructions on what to do, so I headed out to the dance floor and busted a move. When they left they even said bye to me! I was so happy to finally have socialized a bit.

However, on my next trip to Epiphany Island I did not come across any avatars. When I arrived it was night and light was shining through the beautiful stained glass windows which was cool because it made the church seem real. I wouldn't think of putting that small detail in. There were rows of pews on each side and the alter was illuminated with a greenish light. Leaving the church to my right was an area where you can light a candle. This feature is also in real churches which made the church seem real.

My last stop was Dublin. Even though it was dark and quiet out, it was still very nice to fly around. My friends have visited Dublin so I always wondered what it looked like. I wasn't sure what to expect at first. The streets were different from that of the other places I visited because they were a little more complicated since each way split compared to going both ways. I would like to visit Dublin when it is lighter out so I will be able to see it more and hopefully meet avatars.

Librarians

I might have been too harsh when I was talking about the librarians from my school because they all weren't mean. In fact, whenever I needed to use the stapler in the morning because my papers were all over the place this one librarian would gladly hand it over to me. She didn't abide by the rules as strictly as the other librarian and she would let kids eat a lunch time snack when there was supposed to be no food or drinks in the library.

However, there was one librarian that me and a majority of students could not stand. If she saw food, phones, dress code violations, or anything else in violation of the ridiculous school policy she would take it away or send you to the office. My friend had her ipod touch out one day and the librarian thought it was an iphone so she started yelling at my friend. After, my friend said it was an ipod and the librarian felt embarrassed. There are other stories about her that demonstrate that she was not one of the nicest librarians.