Recently I have been following the Second Life adventures of one smashingly attired avatar, Ms. Aribella LaFleur. The series cropped up at Stone Culdesac’s, TheGridLive.com and features Ms. LaFleur dressed in various ball gowns, the latest in virtual high fashion and incredibly impractical and expensive formal wear. Thus attired she treks through dense jungles, dangerous volcanoes, deadly forests, and other rough places. She is aided only by a pack of unruly, ruthless, and usually disloyal and drunken “sherpas” now turned pirates.

With zingers like- “After such a difficult passage I was satisfied with the acceptable loss of only one Sherpa” it isn’t hard to see how her adventures can provoke a smile. Cut with rapier wit and lots of full color photos you get a chance to explore some of the places you might not be able too or have the time for through the eyes of of a seasoned veteran who is also a witty débutante. For example, I don’t think I’d ever find a reason to go to Ponderama, but Aribella has the time to take us there. Ms. LaFleur is what I call a “virtual helper”. She has the patience of a saint and one of those friendly types of people who will spend hours helping a new person get oriented, shop, find their “look” and get used to the complex “second world”. This is very important, because without some assistance, a user can quickly get turned off as opposed to “indoctrination” (hate to use that word but it is apt) and establishing contacts and friends inside of a new and idiosyncratic social network where the rules of physics are not the same.

Here is an excerpt from her work:

The onerous task of firing my new Sherpa team was simplified by the fact that I now had a much lighter load of luggage. My remaining porters had abandoned all semblance of civility and become the pirates that I knew them to be. One had even found a very seedy looking stuffed parrot, which was perched precariously upon his shoulder in a ridiculous manner.

We found ourselves standing in the shadow of the towering wooden effigy of a man. Enthralled, I stared up at this icon which symbolized the festival’s transience. I knew that in a few days hence the man would be set alight and the land would be returned to its former barren state. After a last glance up at this overshadowing presence, I maturely resisted the urge to get out a blowtorch or flick a few matches, and we moved off into the wild world of Burning Life to further our explorations.

It is with a great deal of fondness I recall some of my own adventures with Ms. LaFleur and other virtual friends a few months ago during my “balloon phase”. During this phase, aptly inspired by William Pene du Bois’ adolescent adventure book, The Twenty-One Ballons I was keenly into hot air balloons.

Crossing SIMs in a hot air balloon is often a dice roll and Aribella was one of the few people intrepid (or silly?) enough to get into the basket as I careened across the metaverse. I later replaced the balloon with a horse and at one point- a large and cumbersome elephant. I hope to find a rhinoceros for future expeditions. On that note enjoy this early series if you want to get an idea just how diverse the people and the flora and fauna can get, and how easy it is to wear a ball gown while traipsing through a lava flow.

Some example day trips:

BURNING LIFE: Living on the Edge, Quest for the Burning Man, Day Trip To Ponderama, Exploring the Northland Sim…

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