Short introduction from me, well I’ve cut it down as much as I can!!! My 
name is Janey Bracken and I have been around for a couple of years in Second Life (29th March 2007 was my rez day). I have been on quite a trip since I joined SL. Starting as a frightened newbie, never having even ventured into a computer game before!! My first rez location, which I call my first home, was Murray, a place claimed by griefers who tried to constantly eject me. I am extremely stubborn (not always a good thing!!) and fought back, returning time after time, until I got in with some good guys there who taught me how to protect myself. The griefing was good in a way, as it gave me a sharp lesson about SL, not only in defence tactics but also on what sort of people I may meet in the rest of the grid.
I have made many good friends in Murray and we continue to stay in touch. One friend suggested I start writing a blog, which I did towards the end of 2007. When starting to write stories for the blog, I looked around the grid for Christmas themed sims and met a wonderful lady. Her name is Wheemzel DeCuir and I wrote about the gorgeous festive site that her and her husband BengalTiger Writer had created. Wheemzel was about to change my SL forever, although I did not know it at the time. She got in touch with me one day and said that the news media group CNN had come into SL. They were looking for writers, calling them ireporters, who would report both on SL and real life. I went along to the CNN meetings in-world and met real life reporters who encouraged us to grab stories about SL and post them on their news site. This was the start of both real life and Second Life ireporting and I was among a handful of ireporters, (including Hibiscus Hastings) contributing at that time. The number of ireporters has increased so much, as self reporting has taken off big time, that there are now over 20,000 ireporters.
I knew that I ha
d found my niche, I loved it, going out interviewing people and finding things to write about. My first big break was when CNN reporter Tyson Wheatley sent me on a consignment to cover an American Congress meeting. They were holding their first real life meeting using the SL environment, which actually made a bit of history, it was the first time Congress had entered into a virtual world and they discussed the future of using 3D Internet programs such as SL for education, business and health matters. I later received a letter from the Congressional people thanking me for covering the story, which was a nice surprise. I write regularly for CNN and try to put one story in a week, and I appreciate the help I have had from CNN Reporters and Producers Nicole Saidi, Henry Hanks and Tyson Wheatley.
My second big SL chance came about in June 2008 when I saw an in-world advert from Multi Media Manager Nik Hewitt, who worked for the Daily Mail (av Nikk Huet). Nik wanted reporters to write about SL London, a fantastic mirror image of the real London, owned by the hard working Debs Regent. I applied for the job and was instantly made Assistant Editor and was actually earning my first SL wage. I love writing about this fabulous London sim, keeping the blog updated each weekday with all the news from the virtual capital (http://www.virtuallylonondlite.com/ ). Within a short time Nik made me Editor of the blog and I am pleased to say that Hibiscus Hastings, a great writer that I had got to know at CNN, joined me as Chief Reporter. Also by chance I met new avatar Pixi Piers and instantly knew that she also had a big talent for writing. I am extremely lucky to have these two contributing to the blog, they are both excellent writers and both best friends to me. Another best friend who has supported me one hundred percent is Drax Ember, he has encouraged me, given me advice, helped me and has also had to put up with me during any bad times when I’ve felt like backing away from writing altogether.
Due to unforeseen circumstances Nik no longer runs Virtually London (lite) and a couple of months ago, handed the blog over to my control. Nothing has changed in respect of content and we will continue to report on the London sims, with hopefully Nik also posting articles and machinima films from time to time. I would also like to thank Nik for giving me the chance to write for the London Blog and for all his help. I would also like to mention Debs Regent and her wonderful London team, a lot of whom have also become good friends to me.
I keep my real life apart from SL as much as possible, preferring to
write as Janey. I have some bad parts to my character, I am bossy, organising, opinionated, make up my mind about people within the first five minutes of meeting them, good or bad (I am usually right though!!), hate treacherous people who make out they are my friend whilst scheming behind my back, (there are some!), love constructive criticism, but hate people who criticise because they themselves have no talent, also people who say they can do everything but can’t! This list probably isn’t exhaustive either. My good points are: I am fiercely loyal to my friends, I will come to their defence whatever, hopefully I am generous, forward planning, good with ideas and a good listener (although I don’t suffer fools gladly!). I have a great sense of humour and can be witty, although people who do not like this call it sarcastic! No idea why!! Looks a bit like the bad bits outweigh the good, but never mind, I’m honest too.
This new blog is exciting as it’s different to my personal Janey blog and Virtually London (Lite). I, along with Hibiscus and Pixi want to bring you snippets of news from all over SL, funny little bits, sad bits and some crazy bits thrown in, bear with us and we can share all the wealth that this virtual world offers!
name is Janey Bracken and I have been around for a couple of years in Second Life (29th March 2007 was my rez day). I have been on quite a trip since I joined SL. Starting as a frightened newbie, never having even ventured into a computer game before!! My first rez location, which I call my first home, was Murray, a place claimed by griefers who tried to constantly eject me. I am extremely stubborn (not always a good thing!!) and fought back, returning time after time, until I got in with some good guys there who taught me how to protect myself. The griefing was good in a way, as it gave me a sharp lesson about SL, not only in defence tactics but also on what sort of people I may meet in the rest of the grid.I have made many good friends in Murray and we continue to stay in touch. One friend suggested I start writing a blog, which I did towards the end of 2007. When starting to write stories for the blog, I looked around the grid for Christmas themed sims and met a wonderful lady. Her name is Wheemzel DeCuir and I wrote about the gorgeous festive site that her and her husband BengalTiger Writer had created. Wheemzel was about to change my SL forever, although I did not know it at the time. She got in touch with me one day and said that the news media group CNN had come into SL. They were looking for writers, calling them ireporters, who would report both on SL and real life. I went along to the CNN meetings in-world and met real life reporters who encouraged us to grab stories about SL and post them on their news site. This was the start of both real life and Second Life ireporting and I was among a handful of ireporters, (including Hibiscus Hastings) contributing at that time. The number of ireporters has increased so much, as self reporting has taken off big time, that there are now over 20,000 ireporters.
I knew that I ha
d found my niche, I loved it, going out interviewing people and finding things to write about. My first big break was when CNN reporter Tyson Wheatley sent me on a consignment to cover an American Congress meeting. They were holding their first real life meeting using the SL environment, which actually made a bit of history, it was the first time Congress had entered into a virtual world and they discussed the future of using 3D Internet programs such as SL for education, business and health matters. I later received a letter from the Congressional people thanking me for covering the story, which was a nice surprise. I write regularly for CNN and try to put one story in a week, and I appreciate the help I have had from CNN Reporters and Producers Nicole Saidi, Henry Hanks and Tyson Wheatley.My second big SL chance came about in June 2008 when I saw an in-world advert from Multi Media Manager Nik Hewitt, who worked for the Daily Mail (av Nikk Huet). Nik wanted reporters to write about SL London, a fantastic mirror image of the real London, owned by the hard working Debs Regent. I applied for the job and was instantly made Assistant Editor and was actually earning my first SL wage. I love writing about this fabulous London sim, keeping the blog updated each weekday with all the news from the virtual capital (http://www.virtuallylonondlite.com/ ). Within a short time Nik made me Editor of the blog and I am pleased to say that Hibiscus Hastings, a great writer that I had got to know at CNN, joined me as Chief Reporter. Also by chance I met new avatar Pixi Piers and instantly knew that she also had a big talent for writing. I am extremely lucky to have these two contributing to the blog, they are both excellent writers and both best friends to me. Another best friend who has supported me one hundred percent is Drax Ember, he has encouraged me, given me advice, helped me and has also had to put up with me during any bad times when I’ve felt like backing away from writing altogether.
Due to unforeseen circumstances Nik no longer runs Virtually London (lite) and a couple of months ago, handed the blog over to my control. Nothing has changed in respect of content and we will continue to report on the London sims, with hopefully Nik also posting articles and machinima films from time to time. I would also like to thank Nik for giving me the chance to write for the London Blog and for all his help. I would also like to mention Debs Regent and her wonderful London team, a lot of whom have also become good friends to me.
I keep my real life apart from SL as much as possible, preferring to
write as Janey. I have some bad parts to my character, I am bossy, organising, opinionated, make up my mind about people within the first five minutes of meeting them, good or bad (I am usually right though!!), hate treacherous people who make out they are my friend whilst scheming behind my back, (there are some!), love constructive criticism, but hate people who criticise because they themselves have no talent, also people who say they can do everything but can’t! This list probably isn’t exhaustive either. My good points are: I am fiercely loyal to my friends, I will come to their defence whatever, hopefully I am generous, forward planning, good with ideas and a good listener (although I don’t suffer fools gladly!). I have a great sense of humour and can be witty, although people who do not like this call it sarcastic! No idea why!! Looks a bit like the bad bits outweigh the good, but never mind, I’m honest too.This new blog is exciting as it’s different to my personal Janey blog and Virtually London (Lite). I, along with Hibiscus and Pixi want to bring you snippets of news from all over SL, funny little bits, sad bits and some crazy bits thrown in, bear with us and we can share all the wealth that this virtual world offers!
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