SLCC 2010

I’m heading to Boston this weekend for SLCC. I’ve swung back and forth from great excitement to “why am I bothering?”. My dear friend Chestnut is worrying about meeting SL friends in our atomic form. *grin* Ah, sweetie – you are beautiful, inside and out. If you wore a paperbag over your head – your beauty shines through. We love you. It will be okay. I promise.

I was extremely excited about going from a professional point of view. I hoped to meet folks with whom I shared the interest and passion for building and developing in virtual worlds. I’m still looking forward to meeting those people, but that does not appear to be the career path down which my feet will be walking. Maybe those folk will rekindle my enjoyment of building. Unfortunately I let that slip to the side as I focused on other avenues.

I was extremely excited about meeting Philip Linden. I am disappointed that he won’t be there in person, but I am so glad that he has the sense to make his family a priority. That increases my respect for him. I was already impressed by him from his talk the other day. Again – I was hoping that meeting him would fan my faded enthusiasm for things virtual.

I was also somewhat reluctant to tie my virtual self to my physical reality. I’m not sure why. I only once met someone in SL who scared me. Someone who I thought might stalk me, harm me, wish me ill. Considering all of the people I have met in just over 2 years, that’s not a bad percentage. I have offered to meet so many SL friends for real. I HAVE met SL friends for real. Yes, the first time I did that WAS scary. But you know what? It was wonderful. We were still us. *grin* We were in RL as we were in SL. It was grand.

So now the clock is ticking. The day is approaching. And I find that I am becoming more and more excited. (LOL – this is probably a case of cognitive dissonance, but hey, what the heck. It’s working FOR me.)

I am VERY excited about seeing my friends, meeting new friends. I have come to realize that, for the most part, I am in SL for the social networking. I suspect that is a very déclassé admission. I loved Dusan Writer’s post about the dots on the grid. Unless I am at a music event or a friend has dropped in (or I am on a Midnight Mania board run), I tend to come inworld, make myself comfy in my sky box, and chat. One lone green dot who is not alone.

I am looking forward to meeting Dusan Writer and hearing him speak. I’m looking forward to hearing many of the other presenters as well. There is a difference between hearing and seeing someone speak and merely hearing them.

This last will come as no surprise to those of you who know me. I can’t wait to party with everyone. *grin* I am looking forward to the avatar ball Saturday night, when we can let out all our SL’ness. Okay, maybe let out a LOT of our SLness, not all of it. *grin* I have had my few weeks of introverted respite. I am ready to don my extroverted self, my Ahuva kick-butt shoes, and dance the night away.

Can’t wait to see you there!