Our Virtual Trilogy Shop

‘OurVirtual Trilogy’ team have opened our very own shop, it’s a nice little place where you can join us for a chat if you like, or you can just come in and sit for a while to rest your feet or arms from walking or flying. We don’t bite, honest! (well, unless it’s near dinner time anyway!) so be sure to make yourself at home!!!

It’s still a Trilogy as there are three of us at the moment, me, Hibs and Ed, but I heard from our lovely Pixi and she is planning to come back soon, so it will be Our Virtual Trilogy plus one!!

Janey Bracken

Hello from Hibiscus

Hi, I’m the third member of the group, Hibiscus Hastings. I’ve been in Second Life about 18 months now, and discovered it quite by chance. I had no idea what it was about, never played computer games or entered chat rooms. One day I was reading about art, which is one of my great interests, and I saw a reference to something called Second Life. The artwork I read about was being shown in SL and RL at the same time, so I decided to pop into SL to have a look. Well, that was it. My original intention was to find the work, have a look and leave, but as you can see, that was not to be. I am still here and enjoying almost every minute of it, aside from the laggy bits and crashes.

A little while after joining SL and upgrading my computer so I could actually walk around, I discovered that CNN was starting a group of ireporters to report on SL, so I decided to give it a try. I have always wanted to write, so I took the plunge and began going to the meetings and eventually I worked up the nerve to post something. I will never forget the first time I posted a story; it was such an exciting experience. And that feeling has never gone away.

I also met my very good friend, Janey Bracken, at CNN. Janey has mentioned in her introduction that a friend of hers changed her Second Life, well, Janey changed my Second Life. She became Assistant Editor at Virtually London (lite) and encouraged me to write for the blog, too. Not only did I find a job in SL, but I also decided to move into the London sims since I was going to be reporting on them, so I found a home and a community, too. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined all this when I first joined SL.

When I write for CNN, I like to write about the intersection of SL and RL, so I do lots of stories on how RL organizations have come into SL and use it in various ways. I have written about NASA, educational and research institutions in SL, such as the Biomedicine Research Labs, the Imperial College Hospital and Digital Ontario Island, which showcases the use of broadband technology. I still enjoy art a great deal, so occasionally cover art galleries and the Ballet Pixelle, a dance troupe made up of performers living across the globe and performing together in SL. It is fulfilling and fascinating; I think of it as covering the pioneer days of a new world. I am hoping that with this new blog I will have the chance to write about other aspects of SL, the little day to day happenings that really make up our virtual lives. And it will finally give me the chance to write about one of my truly great passions, shopping! Love to shop, born to shop! This will be a new and exciting experience for me and I can’t wait to get started. I hope you’ll come along.

Janey So Far!!!

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 had 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!

VIRTUAL STATISTICS OF PIXI PIERS

Hello everyone. I would just like to introduce myself to you all. My name is Pixi Piers, and I’m 5 feet 6 inches tall, with blonde hair, brown eyes and how much I weigh is my business! I am very much like my real life character in many ways, and I’m not sure who rules who anymore! I work as a reporter for Virtually London (Lite), along with my boss Janey Bracken and head reporter Hibiscus Hastings. Although I have only been in second life for less than 4 months, I have travelled to many places and met many people. Some have intrigued me, some have repulsed me, and some have even tried to hurt me. Fortunately for me I have met some really nice people also, and a couple of these I feel privileged to call my friends, (you know who you are). In this weird and wonderful world it’s comforting to know I can depend on these few. At the moment I am single, and will probably stay that way, unless a certain footballer comes calling! no names, but he used to be captain of his country’s team, and is, sadly for me, married to some posh bird, lol. Talking of football, I used to play when I was younger just for the local team, but we were the best team in the area (smug). My mum used to say "your just like a tom boy" and apparently I would reply "I’m not a tom boy, I’m a tom girl" lol. I have fantastic memories of going to watch my favourite team with my dad, which I hope to share a few with you in the coming weeks. Music is also big in my life, I listen to it all of the time. I love doing the clubs with my 'girls' and when I was around 18 to 20 years old, we would go to raves all around the country, staying away for days at a time. They were the best days of my life, although my mum's worst (sorry mum x). I love speed. and I own an old clapped out sports car, and I adore driving round with the top down, wind blowing through my hair, and the shades on, foot to the floor, 'heaven'. I don’t have any children of my own yet (David where are you?) hehe, but I have nieces and nephews whom I adore. I enjoy quizzes and trivia--- hang on a minute! this is beginning to sound like a lonely hearts column, a searching for love kind of thing, rather than an article. Oh well while we’re at it, he must be tall, like football----- lol.
I’m really looking forward to writing here, sharing with you a few of my thoughts, some of my up's and downs. And if some of what I write makes you smile for a while, then you have made me smile. Please come back and visit us often as we will be posting more article and stories as often as we can. Oh and please don’t be shy to click on an advert, as it helps us pay our way, thank you. Pixi

Virtual News Hounds

Welcome to our virtual world. We are three reporters who write for Virtually London (Lite) http://www.virtuallylondonlite.com/ and CNN ireports. We would like to share our stories, news and adventures from Second Life with you. We intend to cover all aspects of life in a virtual environment and invite you along for the ride! So please feel free to comment, we love to hear from you!

Reporters - Janey Bracken, Hibiscus Hastings and Pixi Piers