Farewell to Shadowlands – RIP Sumar Morgan

Yesterday the sad news made the rounds that Sumar Morgan has passed away on Sunday, August 23, 2009. She will be missed and remembered by many in Second Life as she touched the lives of countless people who found their way to The Shelter in Isabel, a place designed to provide new SLers with a friendly, safe environment in which they could make friends and learn their ropes.

Thanks to Velveeta Biedermann for the picture

Sumar had been active in other virtual worlds even before coming to SL in May 2004, so she had a wealth of experience that she generously shared with others right from the beginning. When The Shelter was founded a few months later, her passion for teaching and guiding became part of its mission.

By the time I came to SL in October 2006, Sumar was a formidable figure at the Shelter, the Grande Dame who by her mere presence deflected any attempts to turn the place even temporarily into the kind of sleazy, cussing, griefing-infested club that was so often found in SL. At the same time, she did what she had always done – pouring out landmarks, freebies, information and advice from her cornucopia of experience on each and every newbie who, like me, stumbled into the Shelter, glad to have found a secure foothold in this overwhelming, confusing new world. At the time, Sumar and Onionpencil were the Shelter fixtures who personified that foothold.

It seems ironic and somewhat unjust, from today’s perspective, that Sumar was sometimes faced with criticisms of being too strict in terms of keeping The Shelter a clean, safe place. After I had become a Shelter Volunteer myself a little later, I found myself at times siding with those who advocated a more relaxed approach. So I had my disagreements with Sumar, as will happen in any organization where people from widely different backgrounds are working together. It shames me to say that I haven’t always been as kind and respectful in expressing them as I should have been.

But in time, she taught me to respect her greatly through the sheer generosity of her forgiveness. She wasn’t one to hold a grudge, and whenever I came to her to apologize, she shook the past off her shoulders and made reconciliation with such ease and grace that it was a refreshing relief. To this generosity of spirit I owe the fact that I was finally numbered among her friends.

In September 2008, when it became known that she had been diagnosed with cancer, she took it as another opportunity to inspire deep respect in all who knew her. She took up the challenge with an indomitable spirit. She knew the disease might win in the end, but she was not going to give in without a fight, and she was not going to let it take away her dignity. Above all, her faith gave her the assurance that even if she might be defeated, it wouldn’t be the final word.

Her battle with cancer forced her to gradually fade out of the day-to-day affairs at the Shelter. The last time I talked with her, back in February, she was in great spirits, joking about the short white fuzz that desperately tried to grow back on her head after radiation. She was full of optimism that she had beaten this thing. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

I know that Sumar was fond of the works of British writer C. S. Lewis. When his wife died of cancer in 1960, he wrote an epitaph for her that I think is fitting for Sumar, too:

Here the whole world (stars, water, air,

And field, and forest, as they were

Reflected in a single mind)

Like cast off clothes was left behind

In ashes, yet with hopes that she,

Re-born from holy poverty,

In lenten lands, hereafter may

Resume them on her Easter Day.

Re-Entry

Lest this blog should lie dormant for another year, I’m reporting back from vacation. Well okay, I have been back since Sunday, so I did my bit of procrastination as usual, but three days is not really that bad, is it?

I had a great, relaxing time with some fascinating new experiences, almost never wearing shoes (other than flip-flops), going everywhere on my bicycle, feasting on seafood, reading loads of great books, tumbling about in the surf, and best of all, taking some kite-surfing lessons. What fun! Not that I’ve mastered the art yet, but I’m not going to rest until I can do it properly.

It felt weird logging on to SL for the first time after my return. The first weird thing was that I waited a whole day before I did, not because I was making a deliberate effort to exercise restraint, but just because there were all sorts of other things to do and I just didn’t feel like it.

When I finally did log on on Monday, I noticed that it felt different. My main interest was getting in touch with my friends, and I found my attention was all focussed on IMs and chat, to the point that I hardly looked at the visuals. One symptom of this is that Dylan is still wearing the same clothes he had on when I left three weeks ago. Somehow, I can’t be bothered to change. I said to a friend that SL doesn’t seem to feel as immersive to me as it used to – she thought that is a good sign, considering my history. Maybe she’s right.

At least, I didn’t log on on Tuesday either – the weather was too nice, so I preferred being out in the garden, battling my old enemy, the bamboo. (Did I ever mention that the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was shot in my garden?)

Off now to go swimming.

Different Year, Same Island

A very different year indeed. If you’ve read “The SLunkie Factor“, you know where I was at almost to the day a year ago when I took off for Amrum Island in the North Sea. Tomorrow morning I’ll be off again, and I can’t describe how grateful I am for being able to look back on a year in which I have been steadily getting better.

There’s hustle and bustle everywhere in the house; everyone is busy packing and taking care of all sorts of last minute stuff. I’m done already, waiting for my next job, which will be to load up the car and mount the bike rack.

After having kept my promise and posted that story which I’d been procrastinating on for a year, I can go off for three weeks without a worry in my mind. See you on the flip side!

Off to the Island

Just a short note today to let everyone know that you won’t see me during the next three weeks. No SL, no email, no blogging, no Flickr. As of yesterday, I’m in the glorious position of not being behind on any deadline in my RL work for the first time in one and a half years or so. Maybe I’ll tell you another time about the reasons I was so far behind for so long, for they have a lot to do with SL. For now, I’m just very tired after a hard race to catch up and very happy that I’ve made it. In about eight hours, I’m going to close off my house, get in the car with my family and drive up to the North Sea coast to catch the early morning ferry to the beautiful island of Amrum.

Amrum Island

Yep, that wide white strip you see there along the shore is all sandy beach. About half a kilometer from the dunes to the water line.

For the next three weeks, my plans are as follows: sleep, read, ride my bike to the beach, swim, fly kites, maybe go for a boat ride or two, eat fish, sleep some more, in no particular order. And then again.

Incidentally, this is going to be the longest stretch of time I’ve ever been out of SL since I joined. I’m not too apprehensive about that aspect, though I know I’m going to look forward to seeing my friends again. Hope you’ll all have a great summer! (Okay, okay, or winter, depending what hemisphere you’re on.) See you in early August!

The Answer to the Riddle

Okay, okay, I’ll tell you before the riddle gets old. I should have been more precise in my Eight Random Facts post and made it clear that I have been paid for two of the things I wanted to become in the course of my life. I also did play guitar in a rock band as a teenager, but I never got anyone to pay me for that (though I might take it as an encouraging sign that no one paid me to stop, either). The two things from that list I got paid for were journalism and screenwriting.

Eight Random Facts

My friend Rosa tagged me for this game which I have never played before. It goes like this:

(1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. (2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. (4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So here are eight things about myself which I bet you can’t wait to learn:

1. I got a really weird taste in music. I guess the reason is that I basically stopped listening to the radio some time in the 70s when disco began to dominate the waves. Simply a matter of fighting the regurgitation reflex. The result is that I missed most of the music that was popular during the 80s and 90s while discovering a lot of favourites that no one else has ever heard of. Thus, my favourite musicians include people or bands like Janis Ian, Koinonia, Ezio, Phil Keaggy, Stanley Jordan, and Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (aka Bruddah Iz). Currently, I’m addicted to the music of Afro Celt Sound System. (I’m also starting to catch up on the 80s and 90s.)

2. I never had English classes in school. I learned English mainly by listening to music with English lyrics, by trying to communicate with the American soldiers who were stationed in my German home town (they sold cigarettes cheap) and later by reading English books (starting with children’s books) and watching movies in English.

3. I am a failed Christian. Unfortunately, I’m not much good at being an atheist either. So I’m just trying to tag along behind Jesus and hoping that somehow it will be alright in the end.

4. Being a freelancer who works from his own home, I am a lazy shaver. I shave only 2 or 3 times a week usually.

5. One of my recurrent daydreams is me putting on my hiking boots and my backpack and just walking off, with no more excitement than reaching one hilltop and seeing the shape of the next one. Another one is me standing on the surface of the moon and watching the earth rise above the horizon.

6. Since I was a little boy, I wanted to become an astronaut, a pop singer, a rock guitarist, a journalist, a university teacher, and a screenwriter, in that order. Two of these things (guess which) I actually did become for a while, but in the end I got stuck with being a book translator.

7. I am a lover of single malts, which I like best in sherry glasses. Give me a long winter evening by the fireside with a good book or some good conversation and a glass or two of, say, 18-year-old Caol Ila, and I’m a happy man.

8. I have some slight ADD traits. For example, when I’m at some social gathering and sitting at a long table, I usually end up right in the split between two clusters of conversation, neither of which I quite manage to follow. That’s why I try to get a place at the end of the table wherever I can.

Wow, that was fun, thanks Rosa! The only trouble is that all the people I know who are bloggers have been tagged already. So I’m going to try to tag 8 people who are not regular bloggers yet (or at least 7 of them aren’t as far as I know) but are on my friends list on Second Life Profiles: Robin Roar, Tyro Hollwood, Mia Kincess, Reeko Croquet, Fleur Grier, Hildeguard Psaltery, Coyote Pace, Bridget Zuhal. Let’s see what they come up with!

Happy Rez Day Robin!

The first time I saw Robin was at the Shelter in Exile, on the line dance, where else. A formidable blonde mane, the eyes hidden behind shades, dressed in a long coat, she cut an impressive figure, keeping the whole room in stitches with her dry, off-hand comments. We became friends, and I learned a little about her story out there on the other side of the screen … what a heroine she is, a fighter and a survivor. And even here … after one year in SL she is on her way to carve out a living for herself in this colorful new world, working her ass off and beating the odds. I think her SL surname “Roar” is singularly well chosen, for she is indeed a Lioness.
I’m glad to know you, Robs, glad to be in your gang, glad to be one of those who get some sense slapped into me by you from time to time. Congrats on completing your first year in SL, and here’s to many happy returns!

A Rez Day Tribute to Misty

Whew, yesterday I very nearly would have missed one of my oldest SL friends’ rez day. I’m glad I finally caught up with her at the tail end of my day, but I feel just saying “Happy Rez Day” to her just doesn’t quite cover it.

Misty Harley was one of the first people I met when I crossed over from Help Island in October 2006. The TP from Help Island dropped me at the Isabel Info Hub, so naturally my first stop after that was the Shelter. It was two or three days later that I came in there after successfully raiding some freebie place, sporting some nice new clothes but still with my default skin and that default hair mohawk I was wearing in those days, which clearly identified me as a newbie.

Among the freebies I had picked up was a pair of shades which resolutely refused to sit on my nose. Misty was on the line dance, looking very cool with her prim hair and nice skin and … a pair of nicely fitting shades. I took my place beside her and started to pick her brain, and she explained to me some of the basics of fitting an attachment. After that, I withdrew into the background of the dance floor and started to work on my shades. As they did not only not sit where they were supposed to be sitting but also didn’t quite fit the size of my head, it took me about half an hour to get it right, but during that half hour I grasped and used just about every tool in the edit window. Quite a bit the wiser I returned to the line dance and thanked Misty for her help. We have been friends ever since.

Having said that, it was only several months later that we actually put each other on our friends lists, as we were running into each other all the time anyway. Misty had a quite stationary way of enjoying her SL. She had her favourite vantage points where she loved to sit both at the Shelter and the Shelter in Exile (our refuge during a time when nothing was working right at the Shelter), cultivating and emphasizing her image as the Lazy Lady by wearing pajamas for months on end. I guess one of the main reasons why I kept returning to these places was that there always was a fairly good chance that I would see at least this one familiar face there. Her conversation oscillates between witty banter and warm-hearted empathy, which makes it always pleasant to be in her company.

She seems to have had a similar effect on others, too, for in time she became sort of a center of gravitation for a loose group of friends which came to be known as “the gang” after a while. Sarah, Tyro, Reeko, Robin, Igen, Dawne, Corkie, Mysti and a number of others became quite a close-knit circle over time. We went through some hilarious times and also through some deep valleys together. Somehow we largely managed to keep the drama level among us quite low, which is not least to Misty’s credit, I think. She’s got very little patience with drama. I’ll never forget that huge “NO WHINING ZONE” sign she put up on her land at one time …

At some point, our gang even tried to pool our resources and purchase an island together. As it turned out, we all had a strong desire to live near each other and do something together, but our ideas about what that island should look like and what purposes it should serve were too far apart; so nothing came of that. On the other hand, the idea was too good to die without a fight, so a few weeks later when Robin discovered a brand-spanking new sim we all rushed in there and bought a large chunk of it. Thus the Corinaldo Colony was born, with Misty’s Coral Reef and Misty’s and Robin’s Yard Sale chief among its many attractions.

In RL, Misty is a hard-working wife and mother of two girls who both do their best to make sure that no one takes away the crown of the Queen of BRB away from her. She recounts her adventures in her own blog.

In SL, she has many different faces, from sweet blonde country girl to dangerous Goth creature of the night. She knows more creative uses for duct tape than anyone else I’ve ever met. One thing never seems to change though: She’s great company and a great friend, always ready to be there for those who need her. Without her, neither the Shelter nor Corinaldo would be what they are.

I’m raising my cup of tea to you, Misty. Here’s to many happy returns.