I received 1719 cheers. The audience (25 people) gave me 140 seconds of extra time.

I received 792 cheers. The audience (6 people) gave me 40 seconds of extra time.

A few weeks ago, I decided I would check out some live music, in Second Life. I don’t get to do that often enough and thought I’d go listen to a performer that I hadn’t heard in quite some time. As I entered the place (name of venue, performer and others have been removed for obvious reasons)…a particular avatar said ‘Hi JueL’..as did quite a few others, as I’m far from a noob, in Second Life…

I listend to the performer on stage, someone I’ve known for quite some time, and who has come such a long way in their performance, especially when it comes to acoustic guitar.

I was completely into the groove, as usual. Then the ‘particular avatar’ that said Hi, said ‘JUEL YOU AIN”T NO ANGEL” and I almost laughed out loud. I decided not to acknowledge the comment, because I simply had no idea where it came from. There was no ‘build up’ to the comment, they just continued to say it and I continued to ignore it. Obviously they needed some attention, but it wasn’t going to be from me. Eventually I left, after the performer on stage said (again completely out of the blue) ‘SOME PEOPLE, don’t know my friend ____… he writes my music for me on my backing tracks.

BINGO.

Why would anyone take time, at their friends performance, to harass another performer, because of their originality, or because they openly raise awareness for benefits, fundraisers and such.

So to you unamed souls out there….I pity you. I have always loved a certain handful of musician and performers, artists etc…but when you harass your audience for no reason, other than you are upset because they do something you don’t…it just shows the shallowness. Changing your avatar because you…well, don’t make friends so easy..due to the fact you find it  more fun to harass…is sad…and people that support those that do these things…it’s ok, I feel really good without that in my life.

There are a small handful of people that find it more fun to draw the negative attention, public attention to themselves, rather than enjoy their experience in SL.

It’s best not to let people like that, ruin your SL experience.

I’m not into drama, which is why I don’t respond to negative comments. I don’t have the energy to get into a WHY DID YOU SAY THAT TO ME conversation…I outgrew that a long time ago. I came to hear music and that’s what I did. Most times I don’t even see the chat. I had left the computer to grab a bite to eat…and happened to see this particular boy, flapping his words around instead of listening to his ‘friend’.

I heard someone once say  ”We tend to let that one negative experience, get to us…and forget all those who love us’

TRUE!!! It’s a bit of our human nature. So instead I thought of all the things I love, all the friends who make me smile, all the moments that are unforgettable in life and before you know it, I have a big grin on my face.

I remind myself, that ONE persons perspective of me, is certainly just that. One. I remind myself that for everyone one person that is feeling challenged, simply because of their own insecurities…is certainly no way for me to judge my path, and there are 10 others who support what I do, because it resonates for them.

One lesson I’ve learned…never try to be like someone else. I learned that when I was very very young. I’ve let it guide my whole life. I’m not jelous of any musician, song writer, artist…I am in awe of them, they move my spirit, they inspire, but they do not dictate who I am, they do not define what I do. They are not ‘competitors’ to me, I do not find myself challenged to be better than someone. I find myself challenged to exceed what I expect of myself, and that is peace to me. I find it my mission to find the best words to describe the pictures in my head….and well, if one little avatar (or the coward behind it) doesn’t like it, and finds it their life mission to copy and paste conversations, or to draw negative attention to themselves….I guess I look at them as the Monkey in the cage….slinging poo because they just simply have nothing else to focus on, but the actions of others.

And now that I’ve put it on paper, and into words…it’s been eliminated from me….like any toxin…it simply turns to waste, and if you’re wise, you know exactly what to do with waste. When life gives you lemonade, you make lemons. When life gives you ‘chit’, you plant a garden.

It’s been a HELL of a weekend! Visitors in and out our doors as my family came from GA!  They left Georgia on Friday Afternoon and 25 hours later, arrived home.  Josh is my 2nd oldest, with a beautiful wife and daughter (yeah I’m a gramma)! First thing she wanted to do, was paint….so I put the Big Papers in front of her and put on her favorite painting shirt, from the last time she was here….with the  big hand prints we covered it with, all purple, pink and red..her favorite colors..it seems! It’s wonderful to have them here and thankfully they’ll be here for 3 weeks, with their two Crazy dogs and all the love and sillyness that comes when family visits!  Today is the football game, so I’m sure they’ll be cheering on whoever is playing, Probably the Vikings, being we’re from MN…..but football is just a sport they have always shared with their dad, and getting ready for the game, is almost like a spiritual experience for them!

Meanwhile I’ll be upstairs in my studio, messing with some music, as later this afternoon I have a show to do, for the CD Release “Randal Prater (Linus Radford in SL) released his new album called “Second Tuesday Of Never” at www.randalprater.com and it features many of SL’s finest talent such as Cylindrian Rutabaga and JueL Resistance. Join us for the album release party at Doldrum!
12pm: Cylindrian Rutabaga
1pm: JueL Resistance
2pm: Linus Radford
3pm: DJ Hailey Sands (playing Randal’s full album)
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