Xenon Darrow^✦ @xenondarrow

Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I can't see no reason to put up a fight
I'm living for givin' the devil his due
And I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you
-- Donald Roeser, R Meltzer

Do you want to feel the burn?

All our times have come
Here but now they're gone
Seasons don't fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain
We can be like they are...
-- Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.
Dr. Seuss

Leave it on the Playa.

🌟 Join the VWEC Hypergrid Tour at EduNation – Where Language Educators Thrive!

📅 Mark Your Calendar: July 25th at 10:00 AM Grid Time

Are you a language educator looking to elevate your teaching game? Or simply curious to see what others are doing on OpenSim? Look no further! EduNation is the ultimate community for language educators, offering cutting-edge workshops designed to enhance your skills and creativity.

✨ Why EduNation?

🔹 Experience & Expertise: With over 15 years in Second Life (SL) and 4 years in OpenSim (OS), we’ve been the trusted name in virtual education.

🔹 Comprehensive Workshops: Learn to build, find objects, and script like a pro in OS. Our expert-led sessions will equip you with the tools you need to succeed.

Join us at EduNation and become part of a thriving community dedicated to innovation in language education. 🚀 Take a step towards transforming your teaching journey or exploring what you can learn in a 3D environment!

EduNation – Empowering Educators, Inspiring Learners. 🌐

We will meet at the VWEC Kitely Hub at 10:00 AM and then head over to EduNation.

📍 Location: hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Cookie II/122/130/25

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity! See you there! 🌟

Ooo oh ah this be-bop's too much
I know you know Hip hop never stop
I'll pour you tasty funk
We got cool and hot just for you
The pleasures of the soul
Come on, come in and check it out
Ooo see'est si bon soul food to go
-- Djavan & Doug Fieger

Diversity is a given, inclusion is a choice, equity is a goal. Belonging is our ultimate endpoint. When you recognize those three things, you create a culture that is on fire
—Camille Chang Gilmore

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
-- John Lennon, Yoko Ono

Express yourself!
-- Madonna, Stephen Bray

I leave no trace of wings in the air, but I am glad I have had my flight.
— Rabindranath Tagore

Something wonderful is coming.

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We're so glad you could attend,
come inside, come inside
There behind a glass stands a real blade of grass
Be careful as you pass, move along, move along

Come inside, the shows about to start
Guaranteed to blow your head apart
Rest assured you'll get your money's worth
The greatest show in Heaven, Hell or Earth

You've got to see the show, it's a dynamo
You've got to see the show, its rock and roll, oh
-- Greg Lake, Peter Sinfield

Every day I get in the queue
To get on the bus that takes me to you
I'm so nervous, I just sit and smile
You house is only another mile

Thank you, driver, for getting me here
You'll be an inspector, have no fear
I don't want to cause no fuss
But can I buy your Magic Bus?
-- Pete Townshend

SAVE THE DATE!

🌟 Join the VWEC Hypergrid Tour at EduNation – Where Language Educators Thrive!

📅 Mark Your Calendar: July 25th at 10:00 AM Grid Time

Are you a language educator looking to elevate your teaching game? Or simply curious to see what others are doing on OpenSim? Look no further! EduNation is the ultimate community for language educators, offering cutting-edge workshops designed to enhance your skills and creativity.

✨ Why EduNation?

🔹 Experience & Expertise: With over 15 years in Second Life (SL) and 4 years in OpenSim (OS), we’ve been the trusted name in virtual education.

🔹 Comprehensive Workshops: Learn to build, find objects, and script like a pro in OS. Our expert-led sessions will equip you with the tools you need to succeed.

Join us at EduNation and become part of a thriving community dedicated to innovation in language education. 🚀 Take a step towards transforming your teaching journey or exploring what you can learn in a 3D environment!

EduNation – Empowering Educators, Inspiring Learners. 🌐

We will meet at the VWEC Kitely Hub at 10:00 AM and then head over to EduNation.

📍 Location: hop://grid.kitely.com:8002/Cookie II/122/130/25

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity! See you there! 🌟

Well, then can I walk beside you?
I have come to lose the smog
And I feel myself a cog
In somethin' turning
And maybe it's the time of year
Yes, and maybe it's the time of man
And I don't know who I am
But life is for learning
-- Joni Mitchell

The hypergrid never ceases to amaze me. I went shopping over at Nutella tonight on a shopping avie. My main avie has over 120k items in my inventory, so I use other avies to shop. It has become more and more common that when I jump to other grids, all my mesh gets ripped off. I am then a lumpy nekkid system avie with a hairy face. It's not fun for anyone, trust me. To avoid this, I will strip down to a system avie, then use a full body alpha and be invisible. This prevents the embarrassment, potential maturity rating violations, excessive shopping lag, and having to tp home, log, clear cache, log back in, sometimes 2x to get things to act right again. It's efficient and effective.

I haven't filled out the profile of this shopping avie because....well...it's a SHOPPING AVIE. I guess I could put "I'm just here to shop" on the profile. But honestly...she is 1/10k avies running around without anything in their profile.

Apparently, a resident there took exception with me and sent me some rather rude messages. I didn't see them because I was engrossed in shopping and had the chat window closed. I saw them when I returned to my home grid. I then reached out to her and explained 1) why I was invisible, and 2) why there was nothing in my profile. She promptly told me she was reporting me to the grid owner for "not acting right."

I popped back over there and spoke to her in genchat, once again explaining myself. I told her to be well and left. I am interested to see if that avie or even this one gets banned because a resident didn't like that I was invisible and shopping. It's always an adventure.

The next morning, I left my room at the break of dawn, shook as I was by what I had seen in the red dusk the day before. As I was heading back the way I came. I noticed a sign that I somehow missed. Perhaps there are lighter times that way?


"Sign, sign
Everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery
Breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that
Can't you read the sign?"
-- Les Emmerson

I left the confines of my grubby room of questionable privacy. The desert called to me, so I went. The further away I strolled revealed more signs of life...but I question the variety thereof.

The hills have eyes...

"Wild, dark times are rumbling toward us, and the prophet who wishes to write a new apocalypse will have to invent entirely new beasts, and beasts so terrible that the ancient animal symbols of St. John will seem like cooing doves and cupids in comparison."
-- Heinrich Heine

Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you are being watched and recorded.
-- Edward Snowden

Private eyes
They're watching you
They see your every move
-- Sara Allen, Daryl Hall

Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you
-- Gordon Sumner

Signs of life in a desolate place...

"Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes-Benz,
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget..."
-- Don Henley, Glenn Frey

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (any time of year)
You can find it here
-- Don Henley, Glenn Frey

I decided to go back to the abandoned station to look for signs of life.

I found some...but are these people I want to know? There was something....not quite right...

“On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world.”

-- Cormac McCarthy

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

-- Arlo Guthrie

In my desert journey, I came upon an abandoned petrol station in a ghost town. I didn't dare seek shelter there, but slept across the road on the warm ground. I gave it the light of day, but does it look better? I still feel unease...

"What powerful but unrecorded race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place"
-- Horace Smith

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim, I had to stop for the night...

-- Don Henley, Glenn Frey