Marina’s Bloggariffic

I love shoes.

I love to look at pretty shoes, running my fingers on them, trying them on. I love how a pair of shoe can transform a woman - how it accentuates the feminine saunter, to the boost of their height.

Unfortunately, I am also an extremely rough person. Its not uncommon for me to wear out a pair of shoe in about a month or less.

One of the more embarassing experiences I had was when I was wearing a pair of strappy shoes to work. After time, the straps decided to come apart. If you have ever worn strappy shoes, you know how impossible it is to try to put it back together.

In the end, I had to innovate by using a couple of rubber bands to hold the sole together temporarily before limping off to get a new pair of shoes during lunch time.

In Singapore, there are loads of pretty shoes here. You could go to any shopping center and find nice looking shoes that costs less than $19 sing dollars.

The trouble about these type of shoes is that they arent that well made and dont last for very long. In a short time, it will disintegrate - Heels will just fall out, or the soles will just give way. Here are just some of the shoes that I’ve (accidentally) killed.

The heels came apart on my first day of wearing these

The sole got torn up on a wet and rainy day

The insole collapsed and a piece of metal jutted out from the heel, making it extremely uncomfortable to wear

After a while, I thought to myself. I’m spending my money on cheap but low quality shoes when I should buy a slightly more expensive pair which will last me longer. But there is a limit though. As much as I would love to have a pair of Manolo Blahnik, its not wise for me to spend $800 for that. Actually, I’ve never paid more than $40 for shoes ever.

So when my trusty rainbow wedges are getting rather worn out, I was on my hunt for new shoes. I spotted this pair of lovely brown Marie Claire mini wedge shoes which was just perfect for me. It looked elegant and classic and was comfortable enough for me to ride a scooter and to be on the move.

It was nearly eighty dollars. Though it costs more than what I’d usually pay for shoes, after contemplating about it for a while, I thought to myself, “Why not. It’ll make a good science experiment to see how long it will last”

Its been about a week now and its holding up pretty well. I wonder how it will be like after a month. We’ll see ;)

On Thursday night, I was at the Secondlife meet hosted by Engkiat and Nicholas from the Idea Factory. I met fellow Secondlifers like Preetam, Vanessa and Alvin. I also met Aileen and for the first time ever, finally got to meet up with Jeremy, or Limkopi, as he is known inworld.

Limkopi was a memorable avatar for me because I always assumed, judging from the avatar that she would be a woman.

Turns out that she was actually a he!

Jeremy claims that when he registered, he accidentally hit on the choice of woman avatar and could not click back to remediate it. But all secondlifers know that you can change your form and gender in Secondlife anytime you wanted to. We just think that his avatar remained a woman because of the free swags :P

By the way, that lady in the white shirt is Amira, a writer for the Sunday Times who interviewed me for this weeks column!

I think I’m going to laminate this. Hahaha!

I also got to meet Falchion Smith who is the actual first Singaporean Secondlife resident. He joined SL in June 2003. Earlier than me! We playfully argued for abit.

Me : What? I’m not the oldest Singaporean resident? You are older than me? Oh I hate you!

Falchion : I am the oldest resident and yet you get all the fame. People invite you to events and talks and all I get to do is to tell grandfather stories. Its not fair!

Preetam : This is the alpha and the beta war!

He showed us a cool poster and his tee shirt which he got in 2003 as appreciation by Linden Labs for being an active alpha user.

Cory talked about the need to have developers and that hopefully by the end of the year, Singapore will start to be the asian base for Linden Labs.

I really enjoyed myself. We had alot of fun, with us being silly, spoofing secondlife.

And on that night was when I met Kevin for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he was extremely nice, very friendly and a very down to earth person. His online persona seem to give me the impression that he was a serious person. But it was really comfortable to talk to him.

I stumbled upon his blog and we met a few times in world. He approached and invited me to speak in a panel representing the users of Secondlife for the Nexus Conference on Saturday.

Admittedly the idea of speaking in front of people was a little scary to me. It isnt the same like webcamming where I can edit the video if I didnt like it. But at the same time, I was excited at the prospect of speaking out my mind. In these type of conferences, speakers always talked about technologies and usually neglect human relationships.

—

Saturday morning

Just for the fun of it, I decided to put on a badge that I made earlier on and dressed up as how my avatar would wear. Red shirt, blue jeans, and a grey cap. I had a relaxing ride on my scooter and headed to the picturesque Marina Boulevard facing the sea.

I met up with the Ping.sg gang - Uzyn, dk99, ridz84, Jugend, Aen, and a few others whom I didnt have the fortune of catching their names.

What a very fun bunch of people. They were friendly and full of jokes. Even though this was the first time that I was meeting them in real life, I didnt feel left out. Dk was always joking about, pointing out some funny observations from the event.

The event stared off with a very interesting talk by Nat Torkington who talks about the future of web 2.0. and then by the guys from Lenovo, Microsoft, Tata and Nec - Unfortunately, I wasnt really paying attention. It was much too technical for my simple mind to understand.

We then headed to another room where there was a discussion on the topic of ‘Crowdsourcing the media’ which I found very interesting. The panelists include, Kathy Teo of Cnet Asia, Jennifer Lewis from Stomp.com.sg and James Seng of tomorrow.sg and moderated by Kevin - In essense they talked about Journalism from the public - media which is created by ordinary people. Was there a need for censorship, was it really viable?

The room was filled to the brim with people. It was definitely a very engaging session.

In the middle of the session, a lady from the floor, Clappingtree, asked the panelists on why there should be a censorship. She reasonsed that everyone, as long as they are within social values, should have a voice and a chance to be heard. She mentioned that ping.sg, a blog aggregator was a site where every blog had an equal chance of being read.

After the session, Uzyn, creator of ping.sg got hounded by fans.

After lunch, we got ready to set for the next segment where I was to do a sharing - “Living, working and creating a second life”. There were people in the room already. I asked Kevin, the type of questions that he will be asking, and he reassured me not to worry and that it will be a casual session.

I saw that Alvin has just arrived. I confided in him, “Gosh, I feel so nervous. I dont even know what to talk about!” Preetam came up to me and teased me, saying that he will ask a very difficult question to me on purpose.

Later on Aileen and Kevin arrived and we started the discussion.

I opened with my sharing of Secondlife in a user point of view - Relationships in the metaverse. I’ve always felt that there isnt enough focus on human interaction as opposed to the focus on the technological (and commerce) side of it.

Alvin gave his thoughts about the Lion City sim to represent Singapore as well as to be an area where Singaporeans online could get together. While Aileen shared her thoughts on the business side of Secondlife.

I think they were both very good speakers. Aileen was very engaging and charismatic and Alvin kept his cool even though there was someone from the floor who asked a particularly difficult question in regards to our views about Secondlife being a political tool.

In the middle of my presentation, just as I was about to talk about relationships transcending to the real world, the CTO for Secondlife, Cory and Jean came into the room. I felt quite nerve wrecked as I told my personal story about my relationship with Cartcart, whom I met from Secondlife. I really could feel all those eyes on me.

But I had to push on and did the best I could. Looking back, I think I didnt do too bad. Uzyn said that the room was silent when I was talking. But I think he was just being nice :P

All in all, I think that the Nexus conference was quite interesting. And it was most definitely memorable for me :)

Did you go to the Nexus 2007 event? What did you think of it?

Updated: In case you’ve missed the article on the sunday times paper, I’ve scanned it and linked it here :) Some inaccuracies here and there, but its all good :P

Related posts:

• A video of our Secondlife home
• Secondlife as first seen in local printed media
• Misconceptions about the virtual world
• Real life relationships in a virtual world
• Displeasure with increase of regulation in Secondlife
• Video for the SL Panel in Nexus 2007
• Meet a jewellery maker in Secondlife

Tags: Metaverse, Nexus 2007, Secondlife, Virtual Worlds

From Left to right : Me, Alvin, Aileen, Kevin, Cory and Jean

Oh wow. Guess where I was!

I’m part of the panel for the Secondlife discussion at Nexus. It was quite nerve wrecking talking in front of the people there presenting about ‘Relationships on the metaverse’. But I guess I survived.

Thanks Kevin for inviting me to the panel, thanks Uzyn for selflessly lending me your laptop, and of course, Vanessa, Preetam and everyone else who supported the event.

*waves hand slowly like Miss Universe*

I’ll update later. By the way, do check out todays Sunday times! I’m on page 54! :D

After contemplating for a while, I decided to head to the Nanyang Technological University after work. Luckily for me, Cory and Jean were still doing their presentation when I reached there.

It was interesting to hear about the different segments of Secondlife, like business, educational, social.

Decided to meet up with fellow blogger, Myztika as she was working in the biomedical department, which was nearby. I’ve never met her before this. We only got to know each other through our blogs.

Wow, what can I say? When I first met her, the first thing that went through my mind was how gorgeous she was.

And she was also funny and witty and a whole load of fun!

She told me about how she, as a Singaporean working in NTU, actually felt like a minority as there were more foreigners than Singaporeans in there.

Thus we did silly jokes, purposely speaking in all sorts of slangs.

me : Ya know? This cawntry is suchha eksselent cawntry.

Mystika : Oh yeah deffinate-layh. Where-ah dew yew leeve?

me : Oh, I leeve in Jew-rong. Have ya heard of eet?

Hahaha!

Thank you for the lovely evening, Myztika, it was so nice to meet you :)

I am supposed to be doing a sharing session this upcoming Thursday at the Idea Factory for the Secondlife Community meet.

To be honest, after hearing the discussion at the E27 unconference, and seeing participants with their scepticism and disbelief, I’m not very confident about talking this thursday, in front of all the technophiles I saw on the attendance list. Especially with Cory Ondrejka, the Chief Technology Officer of Secondlife being there.

(Even if I *am* looking forward to seeing Kevin and his helmet cam)

But I think that during these events, many people focus on the economics and technology segment. I believe that behind every mode of communication, there is a human element. So to prevent myself from mumbling incoherently during the event, I think I should give the topic just a little bit of thought.

Experiencing relationships in the metaverse (Or more specifically, Secondlife Relationships)

I believe that the feelings that experienced online, could affect a person in real life. These feelings does not necessarily have to be romantic feelings, it also includes the feelings that you get when you get to know the people online, whether it be from blogs, instant messages, virtual worlds or other alternative sites.

Some time back while I was in cybertown, a well loved resident passed away due to her illness. I remember the genuine feelings of grief. There was a eulogy and everyone remembered the good memories and happy moments that they had of her. The feelings of loss, the feelings of sadness, these are all real. Even if we do not meet these people in real life.

So why should Secondlife relationships be any different from real life relationships?

In Secondlife, I’ve seen how easily and quickly on how two individuals from a relationship with each other. I think that this is largely because people have the freedom to express themselves more. They fashion their avatars as how they wanted it to look and they control how they want themselves to potray. Moreover with the awareness that the metaverse is a platform as opposed to real life, people are less inhibited.

But as quickly as these relationships are formed, many of them are quick to dissolve too. A casual survey done in Secondlife shows that the average duration of a SL relationship lasts about a month.

Perhaps these relationships in the metaverse are seen as disposable. With over 4 million registered users in secondlife, there are always many other avatars that one can go to. Moreover, these residents can control their world as real as they want it to be, or to keep their relationships strictly online.

A wedding in Secondlife

There has been stories of partners turning out not to be as what they describe to be - some are married, some even not being open about their actual gender. Its very difficult sometimes to differentiate the truth in the metaverse because of the lines of transparency here.

The dilemma begins when a partner believes the representation of an avatar to be exactly the same as it is in real life. If they are happy in-world, would it be considered cheating when they find the truth about their partners?

I think the most important element in online relationships is maturity. Each individual needs to trust each other and to be truthful about their situation and always remember that behind every avatar, is a real person.

Torley and Jade

At the same time, there are also many couples who traversed from online romance to real life romance. It isnt easy, and it may not be for everyone. But I believe that with trust, patience, faith and strong commitment to each other, the relationship will eventually work out in the end.

Thanks to Secondlife, there has been real life partnership and matrimonies. And thats a good thing. It shows that no matter how advanced technology is, there will always be a human element prevailing.

Falling in love is natural. And emotions are what makes us, human. The metaverse is thus another avenue where we can express, emote and relate.

—

p.s If you are free on Tuesday afternoon, do drop by NTU, ADM Atrium. Cory will be giving a talk about Secondlife at 4pm. I cant be there though since I’d still be at work. :-|

Tags: Metaverse, Random Thoughts, Relationships, Secondlife, Virtual Worlds

This is for Clare and Timtam who were both Singaporeans, now living overseas :)

I was just killing time while waiting for my scooter to be repaired and thought that you might like this clip from Bugis Street to Serangoon.

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After about two weeks after the accident, I got a call from the mechanic telling me that it was ready for collection. I headed to the workshop. The man who knocked me down was there too.

I was civil, but I didnt talk much to him. I wasnt being rude. But I was ready to close the chapter and put it behind me.

After an examination on the scooter, I sat on my scooter and waved goodbye to him, thinking to myself, hoping that I’ll never have another accident again.

But as I rode back home, I can sense that something is not quite right with the scooter. Rather than that inviting feeling I get when riding my scooter, it just felt cold and lifeless.

The next morning, there was a very strong smell of petrol coming from the inside of the scooter. I was most concerned. Something is just not right.

Mr Singh, a colleague at the school that I was attached to noticed it too and adviced me to send it for servicing.

Me : Funny thing is, I just went to the mechanic recently. But I want to send it to someone who specialises in Vespa. I tried to call Piaggio service center, but they only work on weekdays.

Mr Singh : Why dont you bring it to Tong Aik? They work on weekends too. I brought my scooter there for 20 years now. I really recommend it.

Me : But yours is a manual, Mr Singh. Mine is an automatic

Mr Singh : Not a problem. As long as its a Vespa, they can do it for you. Let me get you their contact.

I went there early in the morning to avoid the long waiting time. It was quite easy to get there. It was near Sim Lim Square, my favourite computer shop :P

It was such a curious place. I rode all the way to the fifth floor where their workshop was. I knew I was at the right place when I saw all sorts of scooters there. Vintage and new Vespas in all shapes and colours. As I admired the procession of scooters a man in blue overalls popped out of nowhere.

man : Hi! How can I help you?

me : Hi, I’m looking for Mr Wee? My colleague, Mr Singh recommended me here for a servicing.

man : Thats me. Mr Singh? Oh yes, he worked for the police previously didnt he? What kind of service would you like for your scooter?

me: I’d like to have a full service on it please. Also, there is a strong petrol smell coming from inside. Can you check it for me?

man : No problem! Rest assured that I’ll personally check your scooter and repair what is needed.

After about 2 hours, I went back in the workshop area.

man : The belt and rollers need to be changed, they are worn out already. May I know where you did your servicing previously?

me: Whats wrong?

man : The mechanics there did not handle the tap properly and now its damaged. The oil was supposed to flow in 15 mins, but here, it took an hour.

me : Oh.

man : And you’ve got a good sense of smell there. Let me show you why you smelt the petrol smell.

Mr Wee opens up the cover and we both look at the engine. He revs up the throttle and to my horror, I saw petrol leaking out each time he revs it.

me : OH! MY! GOD!

man : The pipes are weak. It could have exploded but good thing that it didnt.

me : OH! MY! GOD!

man : You are a very very lucky woman.

me : *eyes boggles*

man : I need to examine your scooter some more. So sorry to keep you waiting. But I dont think I can finish it now. Can you pick it up on monday afternoon instead?

me : Yes, sounds good. Thanks for checking, and bye!

I think I’ll bring my baby to Tong Aik for servicing the next time, all the time.

Tong Aik Motors Supply Co
89 Short Street
#01-02
Tel : 63379912