Meme..Me Me ME...you

Smash
Originally uploaded by Willow C

I enjoyed the last meme so much that I demanded a new one from dear Alicia, and bless her she had one up before you could say "Willow really likes talking about herself".

Which means that, thanks to our Meme Queen, I have more lyrical to wax...and another opportunity to smugly display a picture I created absolutely effortlessly on flickr (it took me about 2 hours, but we'll ignore that fact, I think).

1. Do you remember the first person who helped you in SL, and are you still in contact with that person?
It was Jinny Fonzarelli, who was sat in the original Welcome Area, casually offering freebies and help to the blinking newborns stood helplessly around her. She gave me the most wonderful tartan outfit, complete with tartan knee high boots, that remains in my inventory, in a little folder marked 'nostalgia', to this day. Jinny's work was far and away superior to anyone else's that I encountered in those early days, I adored it. She is still on my calling card list, but I never see her log on these days - I know she switched to an alt, which I also have friended, but embarrassingly I can't remember its name!

2. Do you stick around in SL for business, or for the people?
I stick around to watch the birth of a new social era. I find it fascinating how innovative and creative people can be when faced with new horizons, while the flipside, the underbelly that lacks imagination and thinks only of greed and attention, always make for eye-opening encounters.

3. Who is the most positive influence in your SL?
There can only be one answer to this: Willow Z, because she's been around since I was a wide-eyed noob, sharing in my pleasure and pain, advising and asking for advice, amusing and being amused. It's rare that a day goes by without chattering time. She rescued me from my overenthusiastic early purchasing habits, which often involved hair that looked like a lampshade - she finally stepped in after I trotted off shopping and came back wearing something you might find on a colour-blind bag lady. And what I perhaps find most amusing about our sisterhood is that we both fight to do things our own way and make our own decisions, no matter how good the other's advice, and then end up in the very same place, drawing the very same conclusions.

4. Is there someone who makes you roll your eyes and groan when they IM you or if you run into them somewhere?
Good god yes, there are a frightening number of people who elicit that reaction. Mostly the people who I can see right through. I don't give two hoots what it is that makes you tick, as long as you're honest about it.

5. Is there someone in your SL that makes you smile whenever you notice their name on your friends list, even if they're not online?
Laura, because I only have to see her name to think of one of the millions of times she's made me laugh so hard I've wheezed like a 90-year-old. No matter how wound up, stressed or overtired I am, I relax immediately in her company. From the first evening we talked, after I rescued her from a weirdo that turned out to be one of the Lindsay Daviau alts, we met up on the same wavelength and have been casually strolling along it, hand in hand, ever since.

6. Do you let people map you? Do others let you map them?
One of my extra-special personal SL bugs is that opening Search makes me freeze for a minute or so, as does opening profiles. My shopping companions would wait for hours to be summoned if they couldn't stalk me. So yes, I let people map me if they want to, and I can land on a fair few people's heads myself.

7. If we found out tomorrow that SL was closing, do you think you'd still remain in contact with your friends?
Many of them, no, because I am an appalling correspondent and falling behind on my emails (and dratted Facebook) makes me stressed and avoidy. I'm pretty confident I could stalk Laura, WillowZ and Cani, because I know where they live, and I've managed to not lose track of Vici over the years, despite her wafty disappearances. I'd like to think there are a good number of people I would forego my uselessness for and continue to maintain the bond with. Syssy would hunt me down, and be welcomed gladly, and I recommend that plan to anyone else interested enough.