SecondLife SLCC Redux

What a fabulous time. Oh yes, you will here to the contrary and I will give you my reason why the complainers are so so so wrong.

Let's take care of complaint business first. The big complaint was 'disorganized." And, although the complaint is accurate the intensity of the complaint is foolish. Okay, the programs, name tag badges did not arrive until Friday morning (7a.m.) so Thursday's events were posted (in marker) on a board at the reception desk. (not to hard to figure out what to do.)

Another complaint was the Tampa hotel was more convention friendly then the St. Francis. This is a valid comment in that the breakout sessions were easier to find and the hotel lobby larger with more open seating.

The third complaint was regarding the wireless internet speed and the need to charge the room landline ethernet to our hotel room and hope they removed it at checkout (Of course they didn't till I showed them). A bit of a hassle but hey it was all workable.

A very valid complaint is from the Musicians. At the Musicians Ball the techinical (wiring etc) was a complete mess. But the Ball itself was a smashing success.

Enough about the complaints...on with the JOY>>>>>>>

The hotel rooms, the bed linens were incredible. First Class. Lisa, Skylar, Lily and I shared two rooms. Lisa brought enough alcohol to satisfy any Pre AA party. The St. Francis is a grand old lady with a beauty not built today.

I went to several of the break our sessions. They were superb. Attendance could have been better but speakers were well prepared and the presentations were quite enlightening. The sheer number of presentations and the variety of topics dwarfed the 2008 convention. Kudos to all the presenters. You all represented your expertise exceedingly well.

The Big Speech - Philip Linden - Well, you got to love our rock star leader. The girls swooned over him (and some of the guys too.) His speech though (Evolutionary/Revolutionary) was a bit of a rehash from the year before. But his imagination of the future was right on target. Ray Kurzweil is always amazing. I've followed his ideas (speech recognition etc) for nearly two decades.) M Linden showed us his family slide show (photographers...he needs lessons on composition, technique....well everything about before clicking, during clicking and after clicking.)

And this is where the event exploded into BEST EVER. After the Luau (thursday) we all met at a bar/restaurant [Molaskey's Pub so to speak...love you Apple and Nasus for what you do] and an impromptu jam session. Pailey, Cylindrian, EvaMoon, Jule, Rosedrop, etc etc....played as we drank and ate....it was simply 'marvelous.'

Friday was the Odd Ball. I don't have much to say about this since I did a short show and messed it up. I think I held the mic wrong, there was no spotlight (lucky me since Lauren is getting a bit paunchy) and I wasn't very funny. However, there was plenty of Trance music and Tuna Oddfellow did a great show (despite my closing the cab door on his fingers.) The finger smash happened going to dim sum with Bettina Tizzy as our guide. She sat to my left and Crap to my right. Seven others rounded out the lunch table.

Friday night, after the Odd Ball, we all ended up in the Hotel Lobby with a few musicians strumming and several people singing. Everyone either got drunk or high...many both into the wee hours of the morning. I would tell you more but I'll wait till all the pregnancy announcements are made in the next few months.

All of the firstlife avatars attending are just incredible lifeforms. I don't have room to mention them all but I spent time with Bevan, Blaze, Sloan, CallieDel, Lailu, Candi, Skylar, Lisa, Lily, Gia, Jule, Cylindrian, Orchid, JT, Paisley, Buyers, Eshi, Hypatia, Starr, Yxes, EvaMoon, ToryLynn, Misty, Dusty and so many my detox brain can't remember.

Saturday afternoon we attempted to do Lailu's play "I Gave At The Office" in both First and Second Life simultaneously. We did do something but it wasn't as smooth as we had hoped. CallieDel managed to fall off the stage. We only had two Ethernet lines with three of us so Candi volunteered to try to do her part wireless (actually the cord wouldn't reach her seat so I used it.) And CodeWarrior somehow did his technical magic. Through it all (and this was probably the most disastrous of all the events at SLCC, our one and only, Lailu kept her 'can do' smile.

Saturday culminated in the Musicians Ball (which I got to Emcee and therefore gained entrance to the Green Room. You do not want to know what Musicians do in the Green Room but I think it's probably named for the morning after.) Ed Lowell helped me go from a noobie emcee to a somewhat capable one. Skylar gave me the idea that made the show. Let the audience in firstlife speak to the audience in SecondLife.

There are so many wonderful memories. Pinecrest Diner. Lori's Diner. The Hotel. Union Square. Walking around the town......but what made the event SPECTACULAR were all of you who were there and those of you who were there in SeconedLife.

So, the complaints can only come from those who have not yet learned how to 'satisfy' themselves by the joy of companionship. Those who looked to closely at the faults then the beauty of the whole. Oh, I'm sure there are some complaints I haven't heard with value (lost luggage etc). But, I suspect most avatars will look back and say, "I'm so glad I attended SLCC 2009"

P.S. maybe I'll blog more on this