When I was a noob, I spake as a noob, I understood as a noob, I thought as a noob..

...but when I became a few weeks old, I put away noobish things. (blasphamously paraphrased from 1 Corinthians 13:11)

Yesterday was my Second rezday in SL. I would have posted this then, but I only realized it was indeed the 23rd, somewhat late in the day, and I'm lazy. I can remember that day all to clearly though. An aquaintance of mine, from a Sims forum, hadn't been around much, and when she popped in, she explained that she'd been playing Second Life, and recieved much mocking for it. A few others admitted that they too had accounts, and so I decided I should go see what it was all about. In those days, I was familiar mostly with mmorpgs, cheap ones at that, Runescape, for example, and so once I'd signed up (I messed up on the signup form, Barbosa was my second choice of last name, after I locked the one I wanted), I diligently went through the tutorial sections on Orientation Island. To your left-ish, you will see the first ever photograph taken of Nivaya Barbosa (at 5.41pm, indeed). Of the four tutorials, the first I went for was Appearance, and took it quite seriously, treasuring my free chainmail shirt, and tweaking and tinting and flaring and generally 'customizing' myself with a freedom I was quite unaccustomed to, until I came to a look I was sure would be considered perfectly acceptable and even quite beautiful, once I'd finished the tutorials. I certainly didn't look like the rest of my fellow noobs on the island. I sailed through the rest of the mission-based tasks the Lindens gave me to prepare me fully for my new life (flying took a bit of getting the hang of), and went mainlanding! I landed in Korea 2, in a lagpile the likes of which are rarely seen these days, a mass of grey bodies on top of each other, unable to move or fly, there was a person wearing a box you could click, and all sorts of confusion. Eventually I used my new-found flying skills to escape to somewhere empty-looking, and employing the power of SEARCH, looked for Newcomer-Friendly places, with the keyword 'Free'. I ended up at Curious Kitties, where I found all sorts of pretty things I was sure I'd never ever be able to afford (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MONIES?!). It wasn't until relatively recently I realised that the avatar I'd started out with, and right away, let's be honest, destroyed, in my zeal to make my own things(!), Haragyaru Female, was made by Ameshin Yossarian, the very person whose things I'd longed for in those early minutes. So, to make amends for my noobish ignorance, here I am, rocking the clothes I was born in, with my own shape, a rather more up-to-date skin, and the system hair tinted to my beloved red.

As the minutes passed, I discovered there were chairs I could sit on for a few minutes that would give me free money (gold? dollars? I had no idea what the money was called), and even better, that there were places where people went and danced, and one of them, The Space Lounge, had a sign you could click and then keep walking around, and it would STILL give you free money, if you stayed near it. I constantly wore freebie wings, a cigarette, and a Space Lounge Bling Necklace I won. Life was good. It was when I started working there, that I met Persephone, and, a short while later, the man who I ended up marrying in the RLz. Slowly, I learned the value of prim hair (thank you Gurl6), changing ones clothes, and, rather later than most, I must confess, non-system skins.

I like to think I've come a long way in two years.


Credits:

Pic 1:

All nooby goodness!

Pic 2:

Skin: Celestial - Vogue - Pure - Classic Glitter - Gold 2
Eyes: Miriel - Marine (standard)
Everything Else: Haragyaru Girl starter avatar (available in a box of old library content at Stillman's Bazaar)

Pic 3:

Skin: Naive - Camille skin - Light Brunette 01 Lips 02
Hair: KIN - Liv - Red
Shirt: Toastface - Candyheart T-shirt
Pants: Veschi - Jeanius! - Gold
Jacket: Bare Rose - Pirate Queen Version 3 - Dark Jacket (worn with shoulder and upper-arm prims only)
Shoes: Schadenfreude - Pointy Buckle Boots
Gloves: Digit Darkes - CAP gloves Black/Gold (worn with Gold bows)
Necklace: Balderdash - Rosary - Coal (I treated myself to this and the hand version, which is epic win, yesterday <3)
Lashes: Sin Skins - Tipped Vanity Lashes

Pose credits:

2nd pic: Schadenfreude - Hyper Japanese Schoolgirl
3rd pic, left to right: [LAP] Yup, [LAP] Not Buying It