I decided to just wipe the whole thing and, rather than go down the Windows road again, I installed Ubuntu Linux. I didn’t know what I’d get, but I knew that I probably wouldn’t have viruses anymore and that I’d have to start typing sudo stuff into the terminal to make things happen that occur by default within popular operating systems, like making the computer play YouTube.

So I waited for the CD to install and fretted. I make a living with the computer, so this was kind of a big deal for me. What appeared, though, when everything had finished, was this really beautiful screen with washy maroon tones and sharp icons in a sidebar and brown readable menus with orange highlights and everything just looking really good and pro and well designed. I opened Firefox, which came with the system, and, because I had installed something called “restricted extras” (I like restricted things, so I said why not?) YouTube played without a hitch. I tried Second Life, and it worked great. There was an officey productivity suite. Nothing was a problem.

I was so happy, and my machine, though it is three years old, felt like new, just really fast and confident. The only thing I had to do was type some sudo stuff into the terminal to make double-sided DVDs play. I typed it in, and it worked fine. Who knew?

so the space is slow, and i’m hiding.
i thought about pop-up window
news articles with start and end dates set
a few days apart and how

we have to hope that grandma
checked her email in time enough to click
through to the article before it was
gone to a private archive on the admin side

or maybe her daughter-in-law printed it
and mailed it to her so
she could see little jeannie
accepting the science award

there was a photo, even
with jeannie that grandma would like,
but the pop up window isn’t easy
to print, so here’s how:

click on the window and press
ALT+Printscreen keys, then
open MS Paint and paste
then save the image to your desktop

import the image into Word
then print from there.
that is what i thought about
and frogs.

The first thing I did was to set up a little squat in the snowlands. It’s a lot more humble than my previous place, but I like it. I have a cabin, a chair, a futon, and a rug. There are some struggling pine trees in the front lawn. I’m going to try to get the fireplace working soon, because it’s getting pretty cold as we move into winter, and I have a few extra prims for a few more rugs. It’s not too far from where I lived before and it isn’t far from the train, so the location is perfect. I’ll see how long it lasts.

After I got set up, I walked down the hill and caught the train. When I reached the end of the line, I just kept walking, all the way up through Sansera, through the channel on the ferry, and all the way around the Atoll. For days I walked. The first thing I did here when I arrived here in 2007 was to walk the railroad tracks. I wanted to do that again. Walking here is so meditative and orienting. I wanted to get back to that original moment and think about it. As I walked, I asked myself for something to do here. Those who have died and come back often need something to do.

I took some pictures along the way. The mainland is different now, more emptied out, more spacious, more peaceful but a little sad in an autumn kind of way. Places I once knew to be thriving were almost totally empty. Still, some sims remain green and alive. It feels like walking at the end of the world. It’s exciting. I’m glad the Lindens kept me on ice while I was gone.

i’m watching the rifle in the cabinet.
i’m standing there in pajamas.
i know that it is coming for me,
but i can also duck.
there is a rifle on the mantle.
i know that it is me.

I’m trying to learn how to do runway landings, so I practiced at Snoodpoort.

Did some writing about sky boxes, and thought about the Selene. Just tonight, I realized that the wires hanging down from the fuselage are what gather static electricity from the clouds.

Walked around Bay City. I hadn’t been there in a while.

That’s it.