"urgh" (she said, with love)

I cannot get my inventory to load past 5,143.

I wish I knew what that mysterious, pain-in-the-ass 5,144th item is.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it!

I'm thankful for the fact that if I need help or a kind word or a shoulder to cry on or simply a friend, that technology has made this lifeline possible, through Second Life, Facebook, Skype and a gazillion other platforms. We have pretty much abolished loneliness through our technological advancements. We are awesome like that. Throw up all kinds of barriers and we mere mortals will always find a way to help each other over them.

To hell with any drama that may be sucking you into its vortex right now, because beyond that, there is always love. Don't ever let anyone convince you that humans are inherently evil or, at the very least, apathetic. Not even close. At our core we are caring, we are brave, we are strong, we are unified and we are fearless in the face of loneliness. Give us your blackest blackness and we will inevitably find a way to kick it to the curb. Together. I think Second Life is proof of that solidarity.

Even though some of us can say, "I can't stand [this person] [this blogger] [this creator] [this fashionista] [this former friend] [this neighbor] [this resident] [this subculture] [this Linden][this AV]" and even though some of us have made a list, in semi-permanent marker, of our enemies and frenemies, I can still guarantee you that if we really did have some kind of horrific zombie apocalypse we would all suddenly look at each other and say, "Wait, remind me, what were we pissed off about again? Why was I mad at you?" and then shrug and start bashing zombie brains together. Yes we would! All this time we've been thinking zombies are trendy, but maybe they're really here to bring world peace. THINK ABOUT IT!

Anyway.

There's so much smack-talk about the damage Second Life can do to relationships, but I wonder how many lives it has saved. You don't hear so much about that angle. I'll be testament to it though. In my darkest moments I've reached out here and someone has always grabbed my hand.

So thank you, friends. On this Thanksgiving Day, I'm grateful for all of you. I'm thankful for everyone who has reached out and grabbed my hand. I'm thankful for everyone on my Friends list and for those who someday will be. I'm thankful for all the people who read this blog. Whether you hate it or love it, the fact that you read it is a tiny acknowledgement of my existence, and God how I occasionally need that acknowledgement.

I'm thankful that one day several years ago, somebody said, "Hey, let's make a virtual world" and tens of thousands of people replied, "Yes, let's!" And thanks to that chorus of enthusiasm, my broke, middle-American, middle-aged self can now experience art and exotic lands and fashion and music and ideas and extraordinary visions and friendships the likes of which I'd never be able to experience in real life.

And because of all that, I get to write sentences with phrases like "the likes of which" in them.

If I were drinking Budweiser, I'd end this post with "I love you, man," but I'm drinking merlot that was purchased with an unemployment check, so I guess I'll end with this sentiment instead:

Whether you're friend or foe, tonight I'm thankful for you. And whether you're friend or foe, I've got your back if the zombies get out of control.

Love and mountains of blessings to you,
Em