Oh yes - Paco and Manuel run this weird little digit shop now for one year. And time flew. So we felt we should have a look back and see what we have achieved and what not. And it will be - hopefully - an enjoyable reprise instead of a "oh yeah we are the best and the greatest in SL"-kind of thing since we do not take ourselves too serious ;-) And we will also publish some pictures of course.So if you are not familiar with us or if you always wanted to know where these crazy digits come from - here is your source :-)
Right after choosing our firstname, at this time Linden Lab offered every resident a variety of familynames. So, we spoke every one out loud to find the ones that fit perfectly to our forename. Then hurry up with the registration process and after completing it: Two new residents with the names Paco Pooley and Manuel Ormidale where born and let free to the world of second life. (and we as noobs or newbies have been overwhelmed by the creativity of other resident within Second Life.)
It was the first time we saw the Outfits we choosed before on our Pixelbodys. Manuel chose the "Rock-Male-Avatar" and Paco took the "Boy-Next-Door-Avatar". And we looked hilareous. Paco stuck with this darn grey jumper with these stripes for about a week or so. We didn't know anything 'bout clothing, we did not know about shapes, primhair and skins are rarely imaginable and eyes (you can change them as well?).
So we started at this point the experiment Second Life with exploring the world. Or as we describe it: having a stroll. We found these places that offer free stuff for avatars - something like sexy freebie paradises or the Gnubie Shop. With all this free stuff, we started to play around and tried to look better. Paco was blond at that day with some spiky hair (I think it was a donation from bryce design). Manuel chose the haircut he still is running around with. But still every older resident was able to see that we are noobs big time - like having the default animation (yeah - the one with the typing-animation on, on default) and with adjusting prim part attachments we failed many times.
Time flew, while we're continued to explore the new world. We found out that there are blogs out in the internet that offer help, tutorials and tips&tricks to enhance our personal second life expierence.
We learned how we can change our bodyshape and played with it. And then the shock: Paco discovered this "how big are you in rl"-thingie. And not only he was shocked when the answer for him was: 2.30 Meters (7.55 ft). So he fast reduced it to his RL-Size of 1.80 Meters (5.91 ft). Later he found out that all other avatars (including Manu) are giants within Second Life. But at least he gained that much confidence that he stayed with the small avatar and felt comfortable with it. (Hey, at least he is bigger than tiny - but not much ^^) Oh, and to tell you one of the best hidden secrets from Paco: He never has changed his shape since then.
While exploring and learning, we started to make friends in sl. And we began to learn from other residents on how to "personalize" our second life experience. We tryed things out and in that process it helped a lot, that the puppeteers from Paco and Manu are sitting next to each other in RL. So it is/was sometimes that Manu shout: "Wohoo - look what I have done." I spent literally ages in sandboxes trying things and torturing prims til they squeak. (some just from turtoring them, some from learning scripting. Never heard a server squeak, but I'm sure often they have ^^).
Paco during that time - while I was happy in sandboxes - was still not satisfied with his looks - but as an avatar with zero lindens it was hard to find some decent clothing or hair or even a skin for him. At some point he learned from a blog that many designers offer freebies in there store. That moment was the "Hell breakes loose"-moment for him. He teleported franticly to every shop and in every region he could even think of to grab the freebies in a very greedy way. (And believe in that time the "Wuushes" - the typical Teleport Sound, came faster than anyone can say "Hello").
Once he stand in one shop, and found an American Football hidden. He was excited, I don't remeber if it was because the football has had nothing to do with the stuff the store was offering or that he could buy it for 0L$. But, greedy as Paco is, he bought it. That was the moment where he started doing every hunt wich runs at that moment. (oh, sometimes I think he found even the items of past ones). First he was shocked that designers put such great prices out for free as huntgifts. But in rapidly time his "virtual closet" growed and growed.
The First hunt we did completly, was the Steampunk Hunt. Paco loved the steampunkish style in clothing. So, I decided to join him and believe me, at this time (and if you would ask me today) I would answer: "Im the worst hunter on the grid ever." But somehow we managed to finish the hunt. (And Paco loved to show me all the prices while standing on the build I did at that time.)
Nevertheless - Paco and myself learned many things from hunting like how to use clothing layers, how to texturise prims in the right way and also we became introduced to many shops we did not know. And I guess that was the moment when we both fell in love with the thought: "Oh it would be great to own a shop by ourselves someday..."
continue with: The World is turning 'round or How to get some Lindendollars?
