Looking for Speakers!

Group Notice sent by: Katya Valeska

"On February 7-9, 2014, there will be a conference for all Second Life bloggers. We'll be holding a three day conference to discuss everything under the sun from fashion, to photography, photoshop, talking to designers and just blogging in general.

Those who are putting together this event would like to see if anyone within the community would like to speak at this event. If you would like to, please fill out the application: Application form 

Below is a list of topics that will be being discussed at this year's conference.

• Blogging Basics 101

• How to Take Quality Photos in Second Life

• Photoshop Techniques

• How to Edit Prims / Overlaying Mesh in Second Life

• How to Promote Your Blog

• How to Approach Designers

• Event Blogging: How, When and What to Do

• Focus on Fashion Blogging

• Focus on Home / Decor Blogging

• Focus on Roleplay Blogging

• Focus on Editorial Blogging

• Focus on Destination Blogging (Sim Exploring)

• Focus on Second Life Blogging (News, Around the Grid)"

---

I was tipped about this event by my friend and co-blogger Jeff Ellsworth.

Back Again

Blogging is really strange, at least for me. When I am in the habit I keep on getting inspired to do new posts and can easily write 3-5 times a day, but if I have not posted in a couple of days I just get stressed out and go completely blank.

This is a pointless post with a beautiful picture just to get warmed up. The picture was posted on Facebook, at this time I cannot remember by whom.

My visit to Poland went well and I returned home late Sunday evening. Krakow is a beautiful old city with beautiful men but with horrendous, really awful, food. The traditional Roman Catholic homophobia and antisemitism still flourishes, but - as I was informed by a resident - the citizens of Krakow "are a bit more polite about it".

I am happy to be back home again, sleeping in my own bed and with complete access to both my lives again. I have missed you all, but some of you more than the others.

"Stay"

Singer and songwriter Steve Grand posted this music video on YouTube today, it's about time for happy and uncomplicated songs about gay love.

Believe it or not, but I actually had this music video lined up and scheduled for posting today, before one of my main sources of inspiration +Joe Jervis  over at J.M.G.

Well, thats another lesson in blogging, I shouldn't have waited because when I woke up after my nap, Joe had already posted it.  *sigh*

400,000 Pageviews

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwww!

...and thats only since June 1, 2010! 

Celebrating Four Years of Blogging

"Bock in SecondLife" celebrates it's fourth blogoversary today!

Little did I know when I started my online presence back in 2009 that I would still be at it this long afterwards. After publishing the first post I actually didn't post again until 4,5 months later, but ever since then I have been posting regularly - even if it was somewhat half heartedly at the beginning. It took the passing of my beloved Ars and my need to relieve my anguish to get me committed to blogging and by-and-by it became a habit that I miss when I am not able to do it.

Before moving on to the singing, cheering and toasting with champagne in crystal glasses lets summarize the blogs existence with a few numbers.

2,237 posts
5,618 comments
396,007 pageviews
97 followers (of whom 3 prefer to be hidden)

Now all please rise and join me in singing to "Bock in SecondLife"

Happy blogoversary to you,
happy blogoversary to you,
happy blogoversary to you Bock in SecondLife,
happy blogoversary to you!

May you have many more,

may you have many more,

may you have many moooooooooooorrreeeee,

may you have many more!

Three cheers to "Bock in SecondLife"! Hip, hip!
Hooray! Hooray! Hooraaaaaaaay!

A New Beginning

After the SP2014 board elections and the devastation it caused in the relations between different groups in the LGBT community of SecondLife the week following the announcement of the new board of directors has been rife with hurt feelings, bitterness and name calling. Today however I saw a few hopeful signs that a healing process may have begun. 

First I was contacted by a person who was hurt by my blogging of the election. Instead of lashing out at me this time he took the time to explain to me with calm and great care why he had been hurt in a way that I could understand. I explained to him my position and that I never had any intention of hurting anyones feelings but merely to give my personal view on the events. Although we did not say so explicitly, I feel we may perhaps have made a lasting truce.

Later in the day my attention was directed to some wonderful initiatives by Karl Kalchek, the incoming Community Relations Director.

Even before he gets installed on the Second Pride board tomorrow, Karl has started building bridges. A first step was been taken by him in establishing a blog Second Pride Community Relations. (I have added it to my blogroll for your future convenience.)

On the blog Karl tells us why he took this step:

"The purpose of this blog is to create a forum where ideas about increasing diversity and improving Second Pride can be discussed. My hope is for a frank but positive conversation about why some parts of our community feel excluded, unwelcome, or disinterested.

To me, community building is at the very heart of any LGTB effort – including Second Pride. But community building is not something that one person – or even a Board -can do. To be successful, change has to have the support of the community. Through this blog I am asking for your support: Your ideas, your contacts – your knowledge of what’s worked or not worked in the past. With the help of the community, I hope we can not make Second Pride not just bigger but better for everyone in the community."

The second step - and this is really awesome news - Karl reached out to Joshua Drew, one of his contenders in the election, and asked him to Co-Chair with him. And lo and behold, Joshie accepted the offer! I cannot commend the two enough.

I share the same hopes as Joshie tells us about in his comment to this announcement on the Community Relations blog on why he accepted the position:

"I am happy to accept Karl’s offer to be his Co-Chair/Co-Director in Community Relations. He and I compliment each other very well because we have different strengths and are tied to different communities. Karl is considered a “Bear” and me a “Twink” – yet here we are, great friends who respect each other and want to work together to actually build the bridges and communities ties that all of the candidates talked about during the campaign.

SecondPride was never meant to be an all “Gay Male Club” that throws a big Pride event once a year. Through our partnership, right out of the gate from the election, we hope to send a message to the LGBT Community that we welcome everyone. Now, I am happy to throw all of my support behind Karl and work with him as a team to make SecondPride much more inclusive and even more successful than ever before."

Survey: Which Is the Most Overused Word In SecondLufe

Today I am "doing an Eddi", that is copying my friend Eddi Haskell and asking you to answer a survey,and ask you to let us know which word you believe is the most overused in SecondLife.

The term overused id usually defined as "used too much, or too often".

You will find the survey in the top right corner of the blog and  will be able to vote until August 11th at 2:00 PM SLT.

I have given you five options to choose from, choose wisely! Should you wish to share the reasons for your choice, you are welcome to do so in the comments.

I Am Totally Biased!

Recently I and my poor little blog have gained some attention due to my posts concerning the upcoming Second Pride election.

I have received messages and emails asking me to post this or that "to prove" that I am unbiased and objective. It is totally beyond me how anyone can think I am unbiased or even attempting to be that.  I am a blogger, not a journalist. Every post I run is something I myself find interesting and have an opinion about, which I in rare cases choose not to share with you. Usually however I will tell you what I believe, think or feel in no uncertain terms.

In this election I have asked the candidates certain questions that I believe are relevant and pertinent. I have done so respectfully and with no interest whatsoever of "bashing" them or making personal attacks in anyway. Despite this I have, more than once, been accused of bashing or personally attacking some candidates, sometimes even by the candidates themselves.

I have also been asked or told - anonymously or straightforwardly - to ask a certain candidate something or other. I have always refused to do so because I am not a mouthpiece for anyone but myself,. If someone else wishes to ask a question they should do so themselves.

I of course realize that others do not always agree with me, and however distasteful I may find their views I will allow them to comment on my blog as long as they stick to the issue and don't attack other commenters or people, should they wish to launch a personal attack at me they are welcome to do so.  I have only ever removed one (1) real comment and several hundred spam comments. The real comment I removed was a personal attack on an avatar and had no relevance to the post at all. Even the four Swedish female avatars that I utterly detest, can and have indeed left comments here even if I have expressly asked them never to do so.

In spite of this I today received an acidic message in private on Facebook from someone whom I thought was a friend, thanking me for permitting him "to leave a comment on (my) magnanimous blog". This totally irked me.

So be warned, I am opinionated and totally biased. Always!

Relativity

Well, if even Einstein thought so it cannot be wrong,right?

I have today added xkcd.com to my first life blogroll. 

Update On Commenting

I have previously told you that anonymous commenting would no longer be allowed on this blog, see Bock In SecondLife: On Anonymous Commenting.

The reason for that decision was mainly my refusal to use the word verification process on my own blog as it at the time gave me huge problems on other blogs that had activated that option, see Bock In SecondLife: On Word Verification.

As I have since noticed that Blogger has stopped using the blurry pictures of street numbers and also seem to have made other helpful changes in their word verification process, I reconsidered my decision and changed the commenting options so that anonymous commenting was again allowed but now with word verification activated.

My friend and co.blogger Christo Spyker reminded me the other day that I had neglected to inform you about the policy changes I had implemented.

You may hereby consider yourself informed that Bock in SecondLife now

1. allows anonymous comments again, and that
2. word verification is activated.

Reminder

As I have told you earlier I am going to have my right eye examined by a specialist today at 10.30 AM local time (1.30 AM SLT). Hopefully he will decide it is possible to operate and replace the lens, even though my left eye is mostly useless.

I am not sure how much I will be able to see the first weeks after the operation so this may be the last post for a short while (except for the ones I have scheduled), but fear not, I am determined to be back.

Be good, be safe and take care of each other!

2,000 Posts

This is the 2,000th post of Bock in SecondLife since it's start on August 25, 2009. Since the start there have also been 5,048 comments, 362,239 pageviews and I have acquired 94 followers (3 non-public).

In honor of this accomplishment I would like to thank my loyal readers for staying with me for such a long time, through thick and thin and through sorrows and joys. I could never have made it this long without y'all!

I Am Doing Requests, Or Something...

As every good DJ and blogger knows, sometimes you must interact with your listeners or readers and give them what they crave.

Recently two of my longtime readers have expressed thoughts which I chose to interpret as discrete requests and therefor am going to fulfill in this post.

First I would like to address Chaplin Early and his novel idea on the "manscaping" of a mans nasal hairs. I will not comment on this, except for saying:
"Eeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...!"

Next I wish to honor Kahvy Sands request for recognizing and highlighting the ascension to the throne of his royal majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, my dear cousin and a friend of the Commonwealth of Southern Enchantment in SecondLife.

My cousin is the first male regent of the Netherlands in 123 years. He became king after his mother abdicated from the throne, she is now known as her royal highness.Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands.

In the picture below you see him with his consort her royal majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, doesn't she look gorgeous in her coronation outfit and regalia?

Congratulations "Ziggy On The Edge...."

Today my mentor Eddi "Eagle Eye" Haskell noticed that my buddy Ziggy Starsmith's blog "Ziggy On The Edge..." had passed 100,000 pageviews since November 2009. (The counter is at 101,567  pageviews at the moment so the event happened 2-4 days ago)

Bock in SecondLife wishes to congratulate Ziggy on this achievement and hope that we will be able to follow Ziggy´s unique view of SecondLife and the world at large for a long time to come!

Take Ziggy's Poll on Blogs

My buddy Ziggy Starsmith has a poll running on his blog whether you "think blogs are becoming a little passé or even boring now...?"

I would suggest you go there and set him straight!

In my not-so-humble opinion blogging in itself is still a viable and excellent way of expressing yourself to both yourself, your community and the world as a whole.

So what if nobody else reads it? You atleast have the possibility of unloading shit and putting your views out there for the world to see and know. Many bloggers may wish that they could be more relevant to many more readers and accumulate a huge following, but nonetheless it is a way for all of us to leave a little trail of ourselves on the world wide web.

W T H Blogger?

I have "Showcase images with Lightbox" activated on my blog.

This option is according to the description supposed to do the following "When clicked, your images will open in an overlay on top of your blog. If your post has multiple images, they will appear as thumbnails along the bottom."

Well, today that's not happening and I don't like it one bit.

Blogger, please stop screwing around with my settings!

Have You Found Love In SecondLife?

My mentor in the craft of blogging Eddi Haskell is running a new poll on his blog Eddi Haskell's Second Life where he asks "Have you ever fallen in love with someone you have met in Second Life?"

You will find the poll in the top right hand corner, go there and answer truthfully!.

What's Going On?

My blogging has been a bit irregular lately, for which I ask your pardon.

The image above is a true reflection of the state of my thought patterns at the moment. I am trying to get to grips with it.

It is easy for me to accept certain facts and to make a decision of "letting go" and "moving on", but when I try to break it down into actions that need to be taken or what course I wish to take out of my present predicament my brain simply shuts down and starts to produce beautiful and erratic confusion.

Since my Ars died I have made myself into a mausoleum for his memory, I realize that, but how do I change that? I have become so used to being the planet around his sun and reflecting the light that shone from him. Where do I find my new light source and how do I create my new universe?

A Swedish comedian said "Life is like a paper bag, empty and devoid of meaning if you don't fill it with something." So the question remains, what do I fill it with when I remove, or move from the center to the periphery or diminish what Ars has been in my life?

At the same time as all this is going on, I am also worrying about friends around me who have landed in real messes with their health and other first life issues compared to which my self absorption seems extremely petty and petulant.

On "Word Verification"

I have just managed to leave a comment on another blog. It took me seven (7) attempt to get the comment posted because the bloggers had chosen to avert spam-comments by activating "Word Verification" on their blog.

As some of you may know my vision is impaired, by congenital hyperopia and by emerging cataracts, making it almost impossible for me to interpret the blurry images of street numbers and intricately interwoven letters and numbers that must be entered to get a comment published.

After my horrible experience today I have decided that bloggers who choose to activate word verification on their blogs will no longer be worthy of my wisdom or wit.

In my own experience Blogger already recognizes 90-95 % of the spam-comments and the few that slip through are easily removed so I cannot really see any valid reason for activating that silly option.

Following Doctor´s Orders

Every time I complain to my sweet Hungarian doctor that I need to sleep too much, he tells me in almost perfect Swedish, "If you need to sleep, then sleep!" 

So that is what I have done after work today and will keep on doing until the morning!

I hope to see you all in the morning, meanwhile please enjoy this picture of New Zealand-born Australian actor Russell Crowe relaxing in the bathtub. It´s got absolutely nothing to do with my first life or my SecondLife but as a blogger I am using my powers to stuff you with things I like, so do not bitch about it.

(I am sorry but  do not know whom to credit for the picture, but I will be happy to do so when I receive information in that matter.)