An Octopus and Dragons

An interesting post showed up Thursday on My Second Life (AKA, the Profile Feed or just The Feed): "There is a weird group on FB called "Second Lifers for Life" where oldbies wax on about how awesome the past was ..."

Not having Facebook or being terribly interested in drama I tuned out most of the comments but it got me thinking about the many magical moments I experienced when Second Life was still fairly new to me as Uccello Poultry. You see, I never really explored until hitting the Main Grid, more or less just hanging by myself on a lofty build platform high above the Teen Grid. Perhaps I've been in a nostalgic of late about my early Main Grid days and this post triggered more memories. Like the time last month when someone (I think it was NikoKito Aries, but I can't be sure) posted a picture of that classic orange octopus we have probably all seen.

Me from 2007 with my copy of the classic orange octopus.

It made me remember the time back in 2007 when I was out with my spanking new swim HUD and was exploring a coastline somewhere, headin for a dock with lots of kelp around it. Little did I know, that octopus was there. A glance out of the corner of my eye was enough to make me jump a little in my seat. It was actually a fright! After swimming away I eventually went back to look at this bit of magic and eventually I got a copy for myself. She was a frequent addition to many of my builds over the years. At the time I marveled at how it was made. Today I'm skilled enough to duplicated it and those with talent in mesh can certainly surpass it, but I don't think I'll have a moment like that again.

Draxtor's post initially brought to mind another experience. I was stunned. I cried. I laughed. I met dragons ...

This was probably late 2007 or early 2008 and I was stalking Lucky Chairs in a shopping center with quite a few of the prize givers. While walking from store-to-store, there in the center park area I saw two dragon statues. They were gorgeous. I walked up to them and all around them, looking everywhere I could. One was huge. All glossy black with Egyptian ornamentation. The smaller one was similarly themed. For several minutes I was admiring the prim work and wondering if I could ever get that good.

Then the big one spoke to me. "Hello!"

And I started to cry, overwhelmed with awe. It was an avatar! Magical.

Several more minutes passed before I could respond. The moment had me so choked up. Eventually, I learned that these were Anubis dragons and that there was a baby (Tiny) version as well, all creations of Daryth Kennedy from The Isle of Wyrms in Second Life. And as you can see above, I eventually got my own. Not everyone could get one back then, mind you. It took me a couple years of saving money and  trying a lottery they used to have, first buying a junior version of the big one (and I got the Tiny, too).

Today you can buy lovely sculpted and mesh dragons (and I have bought more than a few), each a treasure in their own right. But that first magical moment ... *sigh*

I still don't understand what is going on over on Facebook and I really don't care unless someone hurts my friends in the process. As a dragon, petty stuff is below me (dragons eat drama llamas). Find your magic, new or old, and that's all that matters.