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Tuesday is the new day off. Yay! I was feeling like I really needed it. For one thing, my foot is is killing me. Plantar fasciitis. From back in the days when I ran. Which was a long freaking time ago, so I’m not happy that it still recurs. All the other aches are pretty much as per usual — oh, except my shins. Shins?!! What’s up with that? All I can think is laghu vajrasana and kapotasana, maybe. Oh well.

So since there was no practice today, last night I did what all teeny Ashtanginis do: ate a lot. Spaghetti AND ice cream. And even a drink. I’ve been totally off the booze for weeks — after noticinig how even one drink in the evening makes me feel vaguely depressed in the next morning’s dawn hours. Kind of hard to give it up: The Cop and I generally had a drink together out at dinner on “date nights” (Tuesday and Sunday evenings), and it was a nice ritual. He’s been gracious about my abstinence.

Spent some time last night (since I got to stay up late! like 10PM!) goofing around with Second Life. As My Gift said, when I asked her if she was familiar with it and told her I am looking at it as a potential environment for virtual class events: “Your plans sound like ‘The Sims: Business Edition.’ Kind of lame, but probably more fun than people who work in offices usually get to have.”

I got myself all set up with the software and launched into the program. Had to pick an avatar. Well, a harajuku girl, of course! Then I found myself “born” (you see yourself fade into view, fully grown) on “Orientation Island.” Humorously, and kind of freakily, and also kind of touchingly, you can see all the other new players coming alive around you continuously. Offers a rather visceral notion of population growth.

I looked around, and all the people looked like… like regular people (jeans, ponytails, sneakers). Huh?!?! When you can look like a goth anime or a harajuku?! Then I saw a guy with an animal avatar, like a fuzzy animal fetishist. “Weirdo!” I thought. And then, “Oh wait, people are probably thinking that about me, too!”

Some people started trying to talk to me right away. But I wasn’t socializing. I tried flying (yes, flying!), and then I made my legs more muscular. Hey, this is kind of like real life! With no easily discernable instructions, I set off. Eventually found a car, into which I climbed, and took off. Drove with no sense of direction and rather clumsily in what turned out to be useless circles. Yes, this is JUST like real life!

People tried to engage me in interactions, but I just wanted to look around. As soon as I found a sign, I headed toward the tutorials on how to communicate, feeling rather alien and disoriented. Yup, like real life. All of this took at least an hour.

And so today, in the spirit of being myself in both real and second lives, I’m going to search for information about this system and figure out how to optimize my performance.

I wonder if they have yoga?