I've been trying to play with photos a bit more again and working on the Dodge/Burn tools a bit. I think they look better than what I started with a couple months ago, but obviously, I still need tons of work and practice to go.

BBBC2010 topic 3: Thoughts on relationships in SL. With my past partners, I was content with the only SL thing. One partner had a busy life already, another partner didn't even want want to tell me any information about his RL self at all. But that was okay. SL was my paradise, and my escape from my real world. There was more to SL than talking about RL, right? I mean, you have wonderful sims to explore and talk about, so much shopping to do, and other avatars to talk about! I've heard of Second Life residents meeting each other and marrying before. Yes, I was slightly envious. But hey, good for them - that kind of happiness and fluffy stuff just doesn't happen to me, and I'm used to it. At least, thats what I thought at the time.

Jeffry, when I met him in SL, I swore our relationship was going to be just the same. SL only, living across the United States without ever meeting, or even talking via phone. When he brought it up, I was a little scared to commit to a RL meeting, because I am really insecure about my RL self. But our meeting came, was wonderful, made me totally happy, and then it went. (Yes, I know I've blogged about it many, many times)

After the meeting, its been about 2 months now, and while we don't get in SL together much anymore, we still talk all the time via GTalk, Skype, phone and texting. We are more like a long distance RL couple, than a SL couple now. Occasionally, we will plan a movie night, where we'd go rent a movie in SL and cuddle while we watch it, which sometimes feels incredibly real. Its a strange feeling, seeing my avatar curled up to the avatar of my long distance fiance - I can imagine his touch, almost as if he's really with me. Weird, really. I thought I understood it before the meeting, but once we actually met, the feeling has been magnified. As if its not difficult enough to explain, imagine trying to explain it to someone who isn't into SL at all.

Sometimes, it feels like its made our relationship worse, because... when we cuddle in SL, I am reminded how much I miss him. Even with the imaginary feeling, it still doesn't fully replace the real thing. But at the same time, its made things better, because I know he is a real person (in a virtual world, its difficult to remember this sometimes), he's committed to me in both worlds, and SL has become a compliment to our relationship, and not what we are based on.

What was the topic again? Oh, right. Relationships. Well, that about sums every bit of my thoughts on SL/RL relationships, right?

Today's BBBC2010 topic was pretty simple. List 3 things that make SL positive for me. But still, for some reason, I had to think about it. I mean, my number one was a given. But the other 2? I was not sure. After thinking about it though, I came up with my three things.

1. Jeffry. Obviously. He's the one that's most positive in SL to me, and I always look forward to when we log in together, whether it be to watch a silly movie, or just curl up in bed and do some cuddling. Our daughter, Jasmine falls under number one as well. Both marrying Jeffry, and the birth of our baby girl were such positive experiences in my Second Life existence, I never even imagined I'd be doing either one. And never, ever, in either life, did I imagine I'd have met my SL husband in RL, AND become his real life fiancee.

2. My Blog. Without it, I don't know where I'd be. It has been my little log of adventures, and for a long time, it kept me moving in SL. I have no doubt that I would have left without my precious blog. In a time when I was feeling my lowest, I kept posting, looking forward to my next blog post, and it became something that made me happy. I remember way back when I first started it, I wanted to just log my SL explorations for future use, but then it became so much more to me. It's now a log of my adventures, heartbreak, and happiness. As silly as it is, I love sharing bits of my SL experiences with the blog (and/or blog readers), and its more of my diary now, as it's evolved and grown up with me through these 3 years.

3. My Home. My home is such a positive place for me, and it makes me happy in ways that I can't even explain. It's wonderful to come home to a place that I know I can be alone, to cuddle my husband in privacy, and sort inventory in peace. It's soothing to know that when I log back in the next day, I won't get bombarded with people asking me : "want sex? i have hotel" at an infohub when I have no home to log out at (and yes, I have been asked that, in the past). It's my little place of quiet, in a SL world that is so loud and unpredictable. Also, who doesn't love to come home to a place that is always tidy and filled with beautiful things? And, where in the world would I put a piano in my RL home? :)

Alicia Chenaux is doing the Big Bad Blogger Challenge again this year, and you know I had to participate. I love the BBBC, so it should be fun to blog every day this week. I even decided I would blog every day for one week on my fashion-y blog too. Maybe I'll get to clear out some outfit photos I've been hoarding.