I'm an obsessive blog reader. I'll admit it. Keith says that its a guilty pleasure .. I call it reassurance. To put it 100% honest - I like reading peoples' blogs so that I know 'Hey I'm not the only one that has to put up with this cocka-mamie bullshit."

There are only two blogs which I check a few times a day .. and that's Jelly's and Willow's. Of course each blog has its own reasons for me checking it. Willow and JellyBean both do pantloads of shopping in SL. I can't afford to do that - but I do like to look at all the neato stuff they have or buy. Jelly is quite cryptic about her posts. You know when she's pissed - you know when she's goofing off - but you never really know what's going on. JellyBean's blog is like a choose your own adventure book.

Willow's is more of a murder mystery. Everything changes from one day to the next - but she's always got this dozen or so people that she always credits for being so good to her. So you read Willow's blog and at first you're upset because she's upset .. but then you're like "Awwww" cuz she has such good friends.

At any rate - I identify with both women on many fronts. I'm a bit emo (or as Willow says 'stabbity') at most people like Willow is -- and at the same time I've got this hidden intellectual side that few really see (I just described Six lol but Jelly fits in that too!) Both women are more often than not - taken at face value. Oh JellyBean Madison ... she DJs, right? Yeah. She does. Willow Zander ... she hangs out with all those popular kids, right? Yeah. She does. They are both so type-casted and stereotyped its just not even funny. I identify with that, also.

I don't 'hang out' in SL much anymore if at all. I grew tired of being stereotyped, myself. I got a bit fed up with the popularity race. The fact that some people believe that you are insignificant in the presence of a designer (regardless of caliber) just really got to me over time. I've thought about deleting a large part of my friends list and starting over. Most of the real friends I've made in SL .. I don't even talk to them in SL anymore. We typically use messengers. And frankly? I've gotten to know people a lot better by staying OUT of SL instead of being in.

Maybe after two years I'm just ready to shake things up and rattle some cages. The cliques, stereotypes, preconcieved notions etc haven't really changed since I started SL. The big noticable difference is - everyone as a community isn't as open as they used to be. At one point in time I could walk into almost any sim and know at least a half dozen people. Now I can't stand to dance in a club because I don't know anyone. I can't recognize anyone anymore. Everyone physically looks the same.

I may even go back to wearing my outrageous skins. I stopped for a while because it seemd that sort of thing was catching on .. and that was a piece of my personality that I didn't want to share with everyone. The purple skins were an extension of who I am - a way to let everyone know a little about me without me having to explain a thing. I don't know maybe I'm just weird.

I'll sit and debate logging in.