My wonderful SL sister
Trinity did it, and the admirable
Gabby did it. They both claim
Kitty did it but I can't find it. But OK, I do it now too. Here's (my) first meme of 2009:
1. Who was your first prom date?
We don't have proms in my country, and to reveal a secret, I never took dancing lessons either. The only girl in my class asking me to join in dancing lessons was someone who used to gallop around the schoolyard like a horse (no kidding!) and stalked me otherwise. Her asking me to join was the guarantee for me not joining at all.
2. Do you still talk to your first love?
We lost contact a while ago. She even visited uni in the same town I studied, but our paths took different directions. I still think of her, and I still wonder why it did not work out since we clicked very well.
3. What was your first alcoholic drink?
Growing up in a famous wine region, it was white wine. Only much later I started to drink beer. Still can't get used to red wine. I barely drink any alcohol anymore these days and if, it is the occasional glass of good Scottish Single Malt whisky.
4. What was your first job?
The first self-earned money was for selling self made hardware gadgets for the Commodore 64 computer to classmates and friends. The first money from a company was from an IT magazine for articles I wrote. The first money as an employee was during the (mandatory) internship for my university studies at a mechanical engineering company.
5. What was your first car?
It took me well into my twenties before I owned a car, and it was an Opel Corsa.
6. Who was the first person to text you today?
Since I barely use a cellphone I can only count instant messages. The first person that I texted/IMed was
Quaintly Tuqiri, the first person to text/IM me was
Flutter Memel.
7. Who is the first person you thought of this morning?
My RL-wife, because she had to shake me to wake up since we had some errands to do this morning.
8. Who was your first grade teacher?
An incredibly old gentleman who recently got 90 and is still alive. Tough but just, with incredibly large sweat-stains under his arms in summer. He must have had a horrible time during war, because every time we had fire drill, the poor man flung himself under the desk and started to cry. That was quite an unsettling sight for a 6 year old. Much to my shame I have to admit we made fun of him because of that.
9. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane?
My first airplane ride ever got sponsored by Microsoft, and the destination was Seattle, USA. Well, Redmond, to be precise. It was back in 1995 and the release of Windows 95 got postponed yet another time, so Microsoft rallied up the worldwide press for a promo event, showing them how cool it all was. They paid for everything, so this was not only the first flight I ever made, it was also the only First Class flight I ever made.
10. Who was your first best friend and do you still talk?
In SL this probably applies to
Cheyenne Palisades with who I talk way too little in the past year. Sorry, Chey, it's not meant rude. I don't understand it myself.
11. Where was your first sleep over?
I can't recall that anymore. However I DO recall a sleepover as a teenager where I shared the sleeping bag with my girlfriend back then, and our hands had a life of their own. We whispered and giggled, assuming the others were fast asleep. She had to leave a day early, so the next night I slept alone, but another couple shared their sleeping bags, and I realized that you hear EVERYTHING.
12. Who was the first person you talked/will talk to today?
My wife and the kids.
13. Whose wedding were you in the first time?
I only attended two weddings in SL. The first one was the (first?) wedding of
Ryker Beck and I got dragged along there by someone I liked very much back then but who backstabbed me in an unimaginable way several months later. I did not know Ryker very well back then, and I doubt she will remember me having been there, especially since her SL partnership with the guy ended in huge drama.
The wedding I prefer to remember was the one of my SL sister Trinity Dechou and her wonderful and smart partner Aimee Trescothick.
14. What was the first thing you did this morning/first thing you will do when you log in?
Turn the alarm off and take a shower to resemble a halfway human being. First thing I did upon logging in to SL was take a photo of a party invite for Quaintly.
15. What was the first concert you ever went to?
The first "real" concert (where "real" means by a nationwide/international recognized performer and not a local hero) was actually Chris DeBurgh. Living in the middle of nowhere, with no car and not a lot of money ruled concert-going out a bit. But I had the chance to see Marillion,
Jeff Healy (poor chap died a year ago) and Joe Jackson. The best concert I ever visited was Billy Joel + Elton John when they performed their joint tour in Dublin, Ireland. It was also the last concert of an international star I attended.
16. What was your first record/tape?
I recorded a lot of tapes from radio shows, so memory is blurry there. The first vinyl I bought was "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. The first CD I bought - actually the first THREE CD's I bought (since I bought them together) was "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" (Beatles), "90125" (Yes, the album where "Owner of a lonely heart" is on) and "In Visible Silence" (Art of Noise) - the latter I sold again because I did not like it.
17. First hospitalization?
First and only one so far (/me knocks on wood) where
Polyps at the age of 12 or so.
18. First foreign country you’ve been to?
Living in the part of Europe I live in, there's a whole bunch of countries nearby. The closest literally in walking distance. So the first "real" foreign country I went to was Great Britain on a pupil's exchange. Three weeks in Poole Harbour, one of the best times of my life.
19. First movie you remember seeing?
The first movie I WANTED to see was "The spy who loved me" - but I was too young for it. There was some Disney stuff I saw, but the first memorable movie I saw was "
Flash Gordon" (the one with the Queen song).
20. When was your first detention?
Believe it or not, but I don't remember to ever have been detained.
21. Where did you first meet your spouse/partner now?
University.
22. Who was your first roommate?
The only roomates I ever had were during my military service, and to be honest I forgot their names the day I was done with service. I probably would not be allowed to name them anyways, it's prolly top secret or such.
23. What did you do with your first paycheck?
Call me a nerd, but I bought books from it...
While we both agreed that the major reason for the XStreet takeover was the control of the Linden Dollar exchange run on that site (and its eventual blending into the LindeX), we disagreed on sales commissions. Trinity assumed that in order to make XStreet even more attractive, the commissions will fall, while I was (and am) convinced that LL would be foolish to plug what turns out to be an addition to their portfolio of L$ sinks (upload fees, tier, partnering fees).
Another area of speculation was the limitation on group slots. Linden Lab keeps telling us that the 25 group limit is deeply coded into the structure of SL and that changing it is far from easy (which does not keep them from occasionally granting 26 groups). However systems like Subscribe-O-Matic have effectively taken away the pain of the group slot limitation and basically taken away any sense of urgency for the matter. While we both agreed that incorporating a SoM like system into SL would bring a whole bunch of benefits, Trinity could not agree to my speculation that rather than making a system of their own, following the XStreet/OnRez example LL simply buys Subscribe-O-Matic. She rather suggested LL will implement a two-tiered system of their own, with "real groups" as we have them now, and "watered down" groups used for announcements etc and no limitation to the number of them.
