Squonk's Second Life

Squonk Makes Some Lindens!!

noreply@blogger.com (Squonk) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:41:00 +0000

You don't need to have Lindens ($) in Second Life, but it helps. So far Squonk Lockjaw has just been able to explore. He hasn't purchased anything because he hasn't had any moolah. But tonight Squonk found a way to make some Lindens. He made 125 Lindens answering trivia questions at Black Hearts Cafe. Luckily, Squonk is good at trivia. He also picked up some unqiue dance moves , some of which involved floating and dancing upside down (see above). Anyway, answering trivia isn't exactly a respectable job, but it works!

New Year's Eve PJ Party

noreply@blogger.com (Squonk) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:13:00 +0000

Last night was New Year's Eve and Squonk Lockjaw happened upon a pajama party. It was very crowded and thus Second Life was moving very slowly. Squonk did notice some Muppet items among the crowd. The Kermit the Frog slippers shown above were pretty cool. Another young lady (see below) was dressed up in her Elmo jammies.

Green Lanterns of Second Life

noreply@blogger.com (Squonk) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:57:00 +0000

Of all the superheroes, the one that intrigues me most is the Green Lantern. So I was thrilled to encounter "New Oa" in Second Life. This is the headquarters of the Green Lantern Corps. Now Lockjaw just needs a Green Lantern costume and he'll be all set. There are people selling GL costumes in world, but he needs some more Lindens (that's Second Life money) before that can happen.

Squonk Lockjaw is a Party Animal!

noreply@blogger.com (Squonk) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:08:00 +0000

Squonk's been making the rounds of several Second Life parties lately. The other night he dropped into Eternal Creations right in the middle of what appeared to be a costume party. Here you can see Batman and Pac-Man were tearing up the dance floor with the likes of Papa Smurf, Freakazoid and others.

This evening, Squonk was just exploring and happened upon a replica of the house from "Psycho." That was cool enough, but just down the road he found Brandi's Diner.

A Christmas party was just starting up. The DJ was decked out as Santa Claus spinning hits of the 50's and 60's, not to mention a bunch of holiday favorites too.

As you can see, Rudolph was a bit...well...different than I remember. Anyway, Brandi's Diner was a fun place. The 50's style look was very well done. Just down the road a SL version of Graceland is under construction. Squonk will have to check back when it is done.

The Modern Stone Age

noreply@blogger.com (Squonk) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:24:00 +0000

This evening, Squonk paid a visit to one of the coolest places he's found in Second Life...Bedrock! Yep, it's a virtual recreation of the Flintstone's home town!

First, Squonk took a tour of the town in The Great Gazoo's spaceship. Among the sites to see are the homes of the Flintstones and the Rubbles, the Bedrock Bowling Alley, Mr. Slate's quarry, and the Bedrock Airport.

I had heard there were all sorts of really creative environments that users had created in Second Life, but honestly I hadn't encountered very many yet. Bedrock is really creative! The detail is really amazing, and there's lots of stuff to do like bowling or riding a dinosaur powered Ferris wheel. To whoever is responsible, great work!

Wilma!!!!!!

Dance Like David Danced?

noreply@blogger.com (Squonk) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:55:00 +0000

Tonight I arrived at Molaskey's (since that's the last place I visited) and, alas, there was no live music. But I got chatting with one of the folks who runs the place and they recomended checking out a place called Tableau. There wasn't anything going on there either, but it was a cool place to explore. Someone sure put a lot of work into the look of the place.

Then, after trying out some sky-diving (sorry no pics), I moved on to the beach at Eternal Creations. This is a Christian gathering place and tonight they were tearing up the dance floor. It kind of made me laugh thinking about all my friends who went to Wheaton College, where dancing was verboten. Wonder if they would've gotten away with it in Second Life? Of course, this was 15 years ago, I understand the dancing restriction has since been lifted.

Squonk just sat and watched for a bit...then he actually figured out how to join in the dancing. Too bad he couldn't figure out how to stop.

More Music at Molaskey's Pub

noreply@blogger.com (Squonk) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:14:00 +0000

Tonight Squonk Lockjaw took in some more live music over at Molaskey's Pub, and tonight's performer had a bit better grasp on his guitar.

Squonk is also becoming a bit more comfortable interacting with others in this virtual world. After complimenting this young lady on her choice of head gear, Squonk joined her at her table to listen to the music. Though his virtual breath must have stunk since she got up and left right after this photo was snapped.

Star Trek Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Squonk) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 06:11:00 +0000

I wasn't at all surprised to find that Star Trek fans are well represented in Second Life. Now, I've always been more of a Star WARS fan myself, but I decided to venture over to the Star Trek Museum in Second Life this evening.

Much of the museum is made to look like parts of a starfleet ship. You can even sit in Picard's seat on the bridge.

Above you see Squonk Lockjaw taking in some Star Trek related videos in the museum's theater. This particular clip is a well-known internet mash-up where the crew of the Enterprise encounter Darth Vader. Squonk felt a little out of place as the guy sitting in front of him was dressed in a Starfleet uniform.

Another fun feature was the Holodeck. You can actually choose from several different Star Trek related environments. Here it is set for the deck of a Borg ship.

I am Squonk of Borg...Resistance is futile.

Dancing and Giant Horses

noreply@blogger.com (Squonk) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:58:00 +0000

I knew there were a lot of strange things in Second Life, but I have to admit, I did not expect to see a horse playing a giant Simon game.

Dancing seems to be one of the major passtimes in Second Life. No, that's not me dancing, I'm the wallflower looking bored on the stool in the background. I guess we'll see if Squonk decides to cut a rug soon.

Introducing Squonk Lockjaw

noreply@blogger.com (Squonk) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:25:00 +0000

One of the most intriguing things I've encountered on the web is the virtual world of Second Life. The world is huge and is completely created by the users. I've just started exploring the world and I've decided to start documenting my travels in this blog. There's a lot of cool stuff "in world," there's a lot of nasty stuff too. We'll just document the cool stuff here, hopefully we can avoid the nastiness.

My avatar's name is "Squonk Lockjaw." Users are allowed to choose their first name and then choose from a long list of last names. Above you can see how he currently looks. It's absolutely nowhere close to how I look, but I suppose that's part of the fun of it.

One of the cool things I've already been able to check out is the Second Life campus of LifeChurch.TV. I started following Life Church's messages earlier this year. Last spring I was a pretty regular attendee at their internet campus. I'd watch their message on Saturday night so I could serve in Children's Church on Sunday morning. The Second Life campus shows the message live on Sunday mornings. Having just visited two of the actual LifeChurch.TV campuses in Oklahoma City about a week ago, it was amazing at how much the Second Life campus looks like the real thing.

There's a lot of great live music going on in world. Last night I was able to visit Molaskey's Pub for a concert by Skinny Shepherd. Skinny manages to do a great job playing despite his unique way of holding the guitar. I'm not one to talk though, I have a feeling that if I tried to play a guitar it would end up stuck to my avatar's forehead.

That's about it for now. Stay tuned for further explorations of Second Life