Not enough play time!

Time passes quickly in Second Life. Some people think of years in SL like dog years, seven for every one. Some go even higher!

I've been in SL for over a year, so maybe that's more like 10 plus.

Apologies, dear readers (what few of you are left) for the state of this blog recently. I'm going to have to re-evaluate it, I think. This is supposed to be a blog about SL and me in SL, but right now I'm not there often enough for that to make sense. When I do go in world these days, it's often for specific reasons. I'm not exploring. I'm hardly even shopping! What's up with that?

I'm not sure when these doldrums started. I think some of it began with the long stretch when Patrice was completely occupied with working on EnelPark. That was a difficult time for me, although I did make contact with a lot of people. Some of it probably began when I went away for a week and a half in first life during July. That was the longest time with no SL that I'd had since I'd joined. When I got back, Patrice was still working on EnelPark, although not quite as much. But I found that after having done other things for 11 days, not even on a computer, I was feeling less compelled by SL.

I got back into it, but it was never quite the same again. Not entirely sure why. I still enjoy SL. I still enjoy having my virtual life. I definitely enjoy meeting people, going places, and seeing new things. But there's a distance between me and SL that is new.

Part of it is the loss of activities that were important to me. I'm no longer doing a regular DJ shift due to school work. That was a big part of SL for me once I'd started to do it. I'm also no longer writing for PixelPulse Magazine, which was laid to rest. Writing for PixelPulse kept me involved in many aspects of SL and meeting new people. I still have my counselling practice, but clients are few and far between.

Part of the disconnect is due to first life. I work full time during the day. I'm in class for my counselling program two nights a week, with reading and assignments between classes. I'm volunteering (in a counselling capacity) at least three nights a month. I'm working on some personal things as well. All of that takes not only time but attention. I haven't stopped playing, and I mean that in a creative sense. But the priority of creative play time has of necessity been lowered.

As I said, I still enjoy SL, and I think creative play time is important, even for us old farts, even when we're busy. Hopefully I can work this out before I'm down to no readers at all!