I should search for some of those places you mention. Thanks for the input.

I also spent six hours investigating all corners of this world yesterday, and had some similar impressions.

I’ve spent the past two hours reading blogs via technorati (how I found yours) and googling.

Other impressions:

It’s as good as your destination, and the time spent time asking people for the best spots paid off.

It’s exhilarating to fly.

I of course checked out sex clubs and a nudist beach, which along with gambling and porn accounts for much of it, and there’s a deserted strip mall feeling to much of the rest. But all of this, I can see, is avoidable. Years ago I taught Engrish in Tokyo and as a broke and disoriented gaijin newcomer I saw Japanese trash culture everywhere I looked, unless I stumbled across a special, half-hidden place. By the end of my stay, the beautiful and interesting places were where I spent most of my time outside of work.

Conversations were hit and miss. Most were like half-scary bus station banter, but others, in a tower in the Myst-like settings of “Svarga” and “Apollo” and the virtual bookstore “Shakespeare and Co.” were as good as they get while tapping keys.

All in all, I’m impressed. The coding and chat technology will get better. I think it can add rather than subtract from a life.

I quipped to Steve that being a newbie with a free basic Second Life is a bit like being virtually homeless — you have no money and no place to stay, you don’t know anyone and all you can do…

I quipped to Steve that being a newbie with a free basic Second Life is a bit like being virtually homeless — you have no money and no place to stay, you don’t know anyone and all you can do…

It kinda sounds like it resembles that Futurama episode where the crew enters the Internet.