3 weeks later . . .

How embarrassing! There is a link to this blog at www.erie-isle.com and I haven't posted for three whole weeks! Bad dog!

I can explain, though - I have been so busy participating in island life that I haven't had time to keep up the blog. I am having a wonderful time and have made lots of new friends. Everyone is so nice and so much fun (well, except for the people who tried to run over me with the ambulance when I first started). I am finding I love Role Playing. It's kinda like improvisational theatre, except that you can take your time thinking about what you're going to say because everything moves rather slowly. And that's okay, because at the same time you will be juggling instant messages with several other people and waiting for lag to catch up with your typing if there are lots of people in the sim.

I wasn't sure at first just how to play a dog on Erie Isle - it's not like being myself in regular Second Life, where people take it for granted that I can talk. I've taken a couple of "emoting" classes (one offered in Erie - they are great on educating residents and have several classes each week on all kinds of topics) so I knew that I could type /me happily accepts the jerky offered to her and see it appear on the screen as

Marzipan Zanzibar happily accepts the jerky offered to her

I almost always use that format since most Erie residents can't hear me speak to them ICly. (Don't you love that abbreviation? IC for "in character" and OC for "out of character" - thus ICly and OOCly). I do attempt to talk directly to people on occasion, especially if I have important information for them. For instance, I may type <<< CAN YOU HEAR ME? >>> to get their attention at first.

I decided on this format because the symbols look a little like radio waves, and I'm hoping to convey the idea of telepathy. Often someone I'm talking to will IM me and ask if they are supposed to be able to understand me. I reply that it's up to the individual whether or not they can "hear" me. Then depending on their own character's abilities, they may say something like /me wishes she could understand the little dog, who almost seems to be trying to talk or /me's cat-like senses immediately detect what the puppy is saying.

When someone can't understand my telepathic words I have to resort to the Lassie method of communication - I bark a lot and try to get people to follow me. It's exhausting, let me tell you. How Lassie ever managed to get Timmy out of the well so many times is beyond me!

Just one picture this time - I must remember to take more, but I get so caught up in the moment it's not easy!

I'm not the only puppy on Erie Isle?