Dec 1 - 2006 : Mickey is born in SL

How does a person start with Second Life (aka SL)? I heard a lot about it in the local media. Some friends in real life (aka RL) were hooked on the 3-D virtual world. I hesitated some time to actually create an account for SL, but as you know, curiousity is the devil of the human mind.

I finally created an account for SL. I chose a neutral first name 'Mickey'. It had to be a name that was easy for others to remember. My choise for a last name is a clue for other 'Dutch' people in SL. Geest is a Dutch word, means 'ghost' or 'spirit'. Not one normal real English speaking person would ever choose that last name 'Geest' LOL.

I arrived at the welcome zone of SL and immediately I met a nice 5 month old resident Marty.

Marty is a technical writer in RL for a very reputated pharmacetical company in the USA. She made me feel comfortable right away. She explained to me in 10 minutes how the use the basic options. (general chat, private chat, add a friend, create a landmark, ....) And above all, like in all worlds, Marty told me where to earn my first money (Linden$). I was very eager to make a fortune in SL LOL. Perhaps from some influance of my RL studies and jobs I have done in RL (lmao)?

Marty took me to a place called Butterfly Island to 'camp'. Camping on a spot pays money. She told me to sit down, and do nothing more. I will never forget her words there: ....'Mickey, it's late, go to sleep now, leave your computer online, and when you wake up, you will be rich' ... .

In those days, most newbies camp to earn money (Lindens are the money and notated with a dollar sign behind the amount). Camping paid well there, 3$ per 10 minutes or even 4$/10 minutes. Today, campers are only paid 1$/15 mins or even 1$/20 mins. I was lucky (ROFL). Because I made good money, I could buy good feedback for my friends in SL. It went into their Profile so everyone could see it. Each feedback comment cost 50$. When you were looking for an SL job, owners did look at your Profile, which tells information like: how old are you in SL; do you have RL credit card payment information on file; do you have good feedback, etc ... . The feedback menu was removed almost a year ago though.

I was told that it used to be, way back, that everyone had to pay 10$ each time they wanted to teleport (TP) from one place to another. This was before my time. I love to TP in SL, I would have been bankrupt today (LMAO).

My first week in SL, I used CTRL F (Find Feature) to look for other camping places. I did find a place, 'Ami's', which paid 3$/10 minutes at that time. This camping place does not exist any longer. I like to talk and to meet a lot of people, and soon I met the owner Ami. Ami is a wonderfull person, she showed me around. And not like some other camping spot owners, Ami did respect all of the campers, her employees, her staff, ... .

I met Yucca as well at Ami's. Yucca is a wonderfull person, who has build some very nice homes at ABC home sales now. I started to make my first 'flexi prim shoes' at Ami's while camping LOL. I used camera control to build underneath my campseat. Ami did find my lost prims sometimes and she smiled. She asked me to be more carefull. I wondered then how Ami found out they were mine! (LMAO). Like Yucca, and many others, I grew tired of camping for money in SL. It was boring and you did not get paid enough to fulfill all your wildest fantasies in SL.

I started as a sales rep for a prefab company. I earned good money there, and the manager of the custom services taught me a lot. This job was perfect for me. I earned money. I could use my knowledge of the 5 languages that I speak, and I could develop a skill in SL (building and such...).

Then one day, I met my first wife in SL, Skye. I sold her a house, but I did not tell her the salesperson came with the house LMAO. I want to thank Skye for all the good times, if she reads this weblog. We are divorced now.

I never lost my good contacts like Marty, Yucca, and Ami, ... .
Ami did meet me often, we chatted and talked about many things. Ami decided to create a new prefab company in SL: Ami's Building Corporation = ABC. I was asked to become the sales manager there. And still today, I work at ABC, and I love and adore my job.

I have met a new GF now in SL, lysa, whom I love very much.

If you haven't tried SL, give it a try, just go to www.secondlife.com and press the orange Get Started button, it's free! Who knows, maybe you will meet a person like Marty that will give you a lesson like 'How to become a salesperson in SL' (LMAO). I'll hope to see you all at ABC Home Sales.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my curriculum vitae (CV) of SL.

Take care
Mickey Geest
04.25.2008