Friday night didn't seem like it was going to be very eventful.  I decided to do some homework, I went down stairs where I found some of my friends about to go to a party.  Not able to say NO I decided to put off my homework and tag along.  The party ended up being a bust because, the people were cleaning up and it had not begun.  I realized this was a sign and that I should go to the library and finish my assignment.  Unknown to me, the library closes at eight on fridays.  I felt very nervous because the assignment was due by the end of the night.  I decided to call my friend Roosevelt to use his computer, I walked to his dorm to wait for him to let me in.  He decided to tell me when he came out to meet me, that him and our other friends were taking up the computer and play Halo.  I didn't see this as a problem because, I would just yell at them to get off and they usually do.  When we got to the room they were still in the middle of a game so there was no way they were going to end it for me to use the computer.  I decided to wait, while I waited I joined in the game by talking to the other players on the headset.  They always try to get me to join in but, I never got how to control the player in the game and I usually get frustrated with myself and give up.  I was getting very antsy while watching them, and realized I still need to do this assignment, I decided to call Blake.  And what a surprise him and his friends were playing Halo too.  Thank GOD he was playing it on the TV so i could use the computer.  I got my assignment done an hour before it was due but i still had to watch boys play halo for 2 hours. 

The video we watched in class was really interesting. It was cool to see what the guy who made up lindens looked like.  His real name is Philip Rosedale, and he is the President of the Linden Lab.  In the video he was demonstrating Second Life to and audience at a conference.  He explained what second life it, that it is a virtual world that is all connected where real people create avatars to explore, meet other people, socialize and participate in group activities.  One cool thing that the video showed was when Philip Rosedale went to a club in Second Life.  There were about 20-30 other avatars already socializing together or dancing with each other when he arrived at the new location.  There was live music there where everyone could listen and enjoy.  The woman that was singing was sitting behind a piano on a stage.  The music was live so somewhere she was in her home singing and we could here it on Second Life.  

I really liked the website we visited last class, where you could make your own T-shirt.  I've used photoshop a little bit in my photography class in highschool, but I've never mastered it, its still very confusing for me.  But i was surprised how well i could follow your instructions and make the T-shirt the way I wanted.  I didn't understand how to change the color of it.  When my computer froze i wasn't able to see how you transfered it into second life.  Second life was frozen for like 30 minutes, but I could still do other things on the computer.  There seems to be a lot of problems with second life, i sometimes move really really slow in second life and everything slows down so i have to sign out and sign back in.  And also when Second life says its already signed in but its not.

If I had 1,000 lindens...I would first buy my own land and then block it off so that no one could enter besides me.  I always get annoyed by blocked off land because it usually looks like something I would want to explore.  I would make myself a house that looks like a huge castle.  I would also make my own clothing or buy some clothing that I find around Second Life.  I wouldn't buy a lot of clothes though, because I found a place in Second Life where clothes are for free, so why waste my money?  I would also furnish my house and make it exactly how i wanted it to look.  

In second life it was difficult for me to understand how to do things with my avatar.  I'm starting to understand how to do more things.  I was able to make my avatar wear wings which adds more character to my avatar.  I still don't know how to find things in the inventory as well, and send people things through second life.  I still don't know how to change the length or color of my avatars hair.  I don't understand how to dramatically change the whole look of my avatar, like other people can.  I think its kind of annoying that you have to open a new window and go to SecondLife.com to teleport to other places, its kind of a big hassle.  I wish it was easier to go places in Second life, I think it would make the game a whole lot better.  There probably is a way to do that but I haven't figured it out yet.  The places I've visited like the cruise ship and the city were quite dissappointing.  I thought there would be a lot more to do in those places.  But the main thing to do there was to buy clothes and go shopping, but you can only do that if you had any money.  I think Second life should be free so people are able to do more things.

The place I visited with my avatar, was first a town with many big buildings everywhere. The only thing to do there was shop in stores. I thought the stores looked wierd because the things that were there to be purchased were just pictures of the merchandise. You could only buy them if you had any money, I only had $20. I left that place after awhile because there was not enough to do there except fly around. The next place I visited was a cruise ship. It was very big, and very well built. I entered the ship and the first thing you see if a big lobby with, a bar you could order drinks at, tables, and a big desk. I then went down this big hall with plants placed down the middle, and at each side there were stores all the way down. I then found stairs that went up to the next floors. The next two floors I went up to had rooms that I was unable to enter because they belonged to other people. I finally made my way up to the upper deck where there were many things to do. There were lawn chairs to sit at, another bar where you could order more drinks and sit at the bar. There was also a big pool and huge water slide. I layed down on one of the floaty devices and then went down the water slide on my stomach. You were able to walk around the bottom of the pool, but I didn't know how to actually swim around at the top of the water. Next to the pool there was a dance floor and a disco ball. I decided to check it out, there were a few other avatars already dancing there. I started to chat with this guy avatar. He happened to be named Brian and he was from the UK. We danced together for awhile until I had to log off of second life. That was my first quest through Second life.

A few weeks ago I was searching the internet for a game to play on google. I decided to sign up for google lively. i really like the idea of it, where you can make your own avatar and you have a huge room to decorate. Other people can come in to your room and chat with you, and you can visit other rooms that people have made. Some things i did not like about this particular virtual world are the assortment of stuff you can use. It is a very limited selection of appearances, clothes and stuff you can put in your room. When you pick an avatar there are only like six or so selections. There are a lot of hairstyle you can pick from, which is nice, so you can change the appearance more. There are only about twelve selections of shirt, and three botom choices and three pairs of shoes to choose from. If you are feeling very creative you can also pick from a few animals to be your avatar. I found decorating the room sort of difficult, because you pick the things you want, but its hard to move them around where you want them in your room. The things you pick just clump up in the middle, i was unable to find out how to move them throughout the room. If there were more clothes to dress your avatar, and more things to decorate your room, google lively would much improve. The things i do like about google lively is that you can check out other rooms people have created and meet more people that. I think its a fun way to stay in touch with other people, instead of jsut the normal chat room.

i have never played second life before, and it wasn't what i expected. I did not like how it was so confusing, i didn't know how to do anything; I always had to ask someone to help me with finding something. I think it is wierd that you can send people clothing; wouldn't they be able to find it themselves? At first i couldn't even tell where to change my avatars appearance; the inventory makes no sense. I wanted to change the appearance of my avatars hair, but all the heads that you could switch were bald. I couldn't even find where the different clothes were, the only thing i could do was slightly change the clothes she was already wearing. it also said that i could create a piece of clothing, but when i clicked the button nothing happened. i wish the fashion part was more easier to understand, like the sims or something. Where there were hundreds of outfits to choose from and it was easy to do. Maybe there is something i missed or i just have to keep playing to understand how to do the fashion in the game.

I thought the last class was very entertaining. I didn't think I would be instant messaging people in class in college. I'm excited to start playing on second life, it reminds me of the sims, and I used to play that for hours and hours.

I think you once mentioned that Facebook is like a virtual world. I don't necessarily agree with that because in a virtual world you are pretending to be someone else, or a someone like you in real life. But on Facebook you are being yourself, you are friends with the people you know on their and you talk about topics and are about your real life. Sometimes you can pretend you are someone else and lie, or use a different name if you are not comfortable with your real one being on the internet. I'm also annoyed by the Facebook makers changing the format of the website. It looks totally different and people can see what your doing more. The whole page gives a history of who you talk to. There is no other place that is a seperate place for comments.

I also went on myspace the other day, and I have not been on it for a few months. They changed it around a lot, and it looks strangely a lot like Facebook, which is kiiiinda pathetic. Even though everyone is on Facebook now and it is sooo much better!