Finding Balance… well, a least with my attitude.

If you are one of the few (and I do mean very special few) followers of this blog, who may have noticed the near absence of posts over the last week or so. Well, that is certainly not because there has been nothing on my mind, it’s actually quite the opposite. I have come to the realization that blogging is one of those activities for which my proficiency will increase as my commitments to other projects decreases. They expression goes, “when it rains... it pours” and I guess when it’s pouring, things like keeping up on a blogs gets washed away. Unfortunately, I have also arrived at the conclusion that my blog is not the only thing to get washed away. I seem to have lost my patience too.

I originally sat down and started to write this a couple days ago… feeling an extreme frustration each time I logged in world to be immediately inundated my IM’s and group notices, requests for favors (not that kind of favor Brady) and propositions for favors (Ok Braids.. now that kind). I planned to whine about friends who know I’m stressed out and yet feel compelled to corner me in private calls and IM’s with trivial questions and lengthy discussions about nothing of consequence. I considered complaining about the hours spent wasting time doing nothing when there was building to do, or the frustration of trying to work when you have Skype, and MS messengers going in addition to SL IM’s on top of Photoshop and Firefox and who know what else was launched on my PC before the crash – did I forget to mention I hate this new viewer?

Then I realized, the only thing that has changed here is me. Suddenly, because I am busy, all the things I usually love about our highly social community - sans the crashing - became a curse because a shift in my own attitude. Now I’m irritated when a close friend wants to talk about he hot date he had or another at another friend who keeps IM’ing with questions about things that seem trivial to me. I pose the question, “Don’t they know I’m busy?” I guess they wouldn’t unless I tell them and even so, does my work load make them any less imortant?

Now, I’m not saying that there isn’t a certain amount of courtesy that should be shown to each other in Second Life. I’m not saying that you should have some restraint in making demands on people’s time, and certainly when you know they are busy. But I am saying that I realize that I need to find a way to keep a better attitude when these crunch times arise and realize that SL interaction is going to magically change just because I find myself feeling too busy. Considering the alternative to this existence, SL would be a very sad experience if every time I logged on I found my self standing in my little parcel of the metaverse with no one to talk to and nothing to do.

So to all that I have been short with, curt with or just plain blown off (and no Brady not what you are thinking)… I apologize if you have recently found me to be less than welcoming you’re your question, requests and conversations. I do value all that you add to my SL experience and my life in general.