Country Strong

It's been a while since I posted, but with the holidays, RL getting busier by the minute and other various minor issues I have recently found very little time to actually sit down and write something decent, and do call me old fashioned but I rather do a post that has had all of my attention and effort on it than nothing at all.

Many of you might be wondering at this point about the topic of the article and reason for the picture and title; January tends to be that month on which everyone gets slightly retrospective, analyze your past deeds and make compromises on the upcoming year, expecting to become a better person, healing wounds and learning from all experiences, if possible; I am of course not the exception. When I started my journey in SL back in 2010 I had no idea what I was getting myself into or the impact that it would have in my life over the years, but with its ups and downs, I can count many blessings, one of the many my sons, being privileged to experience parenting and not only raise but enjoy unconditional love from three young men, has been by far my greatest achievement to date.

I have loved, trusted and lost a few too many people I either considered friends or family along the way in my journey, learned hard lessons and have almost come to the decision at times to just stop trying and not log in SL at all anymore -not knowing for certain what is real and what isn't or worse being faced with the harsh RL reality that most of the time does not adhere to SL-, specially recently that RL has taken a turn for the better and has gotten specially busy, but then I log in and realize that there are things still worth logging in and fighting for. In RL my ethnic background is French and Spanish but in SL not only I have all of that but due to my eldest son, I would also consider Spike to be a bit of a redneck, corn fed, horse breeding, country music loving cowboy, and this is due to having spent most of a year living in a ranch with my son, a time of my SL I recall as being one of my happiest and simplest.

I am far from perfect, I am strong willed, opinionated, hardly ever play by the rules and don't believe happiness in life lies in hanging with the "IN crowd", if I have something in my mind I'll most likely say it to your face and this has gotten me into very difficult situations, not to mention earned me a long list of people that simply would love me to just quit and not ever show up ever again, but as the title and song goes, I am country strong, hard to break. I do not log in to please you, I log in to spend time with the people I love and do the things I love, if my presence offends you, unfriend me and move on, SL is very big; if you at any time experience drama in SL remember that you are here for fun and using your free time on it, so you do not need to tolerate anyone's issues or play psychologist on anyone, SL is not here for that, we do have something in RL and that is called therapy, which I heard works wonders.

As far as Spike goes: "I'm country strong, Hard to break Like the ground I grew up on, You may fool me And I'll fall, But I won’t stay down long, Cause I’m country strong"

Do what makes you happy, and do it for the fun of it, life is too short to worry about anything else.

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls

Perfection

Perfection, we all want it, we struggle with it every day and we sometimes fight and try and cope with the idea that in some areas, maybe and only maybe perfection will never be had, and then the average person discovers second life, a reality that in theory will accomplish just that, our envisioned perfect reality.

But as we evolve, grow and experience thing in second life, although success and happiness and all of those things we crave for our lives might be a lot easier to accomplish, the hard reality remains on the sole fact that perfection is also unattainable, a conflicting idea considering that this 3D world is user created and hence, easy to tweak and change to our whims.

Life is hard, is complex and harsh and by no means I am implying that you should give up on your pursuit of perfection and utter bliss, but don't be disappointed when it doesn't happen as soon as you expected it to.

Then there is the other extreme, users so wrapped up on their own perfection, that reality becomes only but a blurry picture; I had the misfortune of exchanging a few words with a FB / SL user just the other day on a comment -on a humorous tone I must add- about an outfit choice he decided to share, on which he took offense and carried on with this huge offensive diatribe, using big words to make his point.

I am sorry folks, but life is not perfect, people are not perfect and there, right there is where true perfection really lies, in our own flaws we try to cope and learn from.

 https://www.facebook.com/spikecls

Issues and Tissues

Recent events have forced me to do a week-long silence to reflect about a thing or two when it comes to my public and private SL life and how it does indeed have collaterals I never expected, then again all of our actions do have consequences, whether you are a public figure or not, the difference lies in the fact that when you are indeed exposed to the public eye, your actions and its effects are just a whole lot louder.

I'll never make excuses or try to bend the truth about my actions past and present, if I am ever in the wrong I am always the first to admit it and even rush to fix things to the best of my ability, it takes after all -like my father used to say many times- a small man to do wrong and a big man to admit it and I do always try to be the bigger man when it comes to issues and SL drama that I have provoked, but something I will surely never do is add fire to someone's else's bonfire of issues -there's therapy in RL, something some users in SL seem to forget, it is there... make use of mental health care, now that you have the chance and stop logging in to compensate for whatever it is that you are lacking or needing help with-, SL is entertainment, something we "add" to our lives, hence the name, making it your first and topmost priority on whichever area, that's where you are in the wrong.

I know and accept now that due to the amount of exposure I have subjected my SL persona to, I will be the target and aim of many things, illogical  and unfounded hate being one of them.

And as the title of this article estates, there are Issues and there are tissues, grab a pack of those and if I ever wronged you in any way and want to be an adult about it instead of spewing your hate around, do IM me and meet me in-world and we'll have a chat.

Then again the comfort of social platforms for hateful speech and cyber-bullying is always a lot more comfortable bed to lie in.

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls

P.S: to avoid unwanted venom the comments on this article will be for the first time ever, moderated, even if actions do speak louder than words, we really want to keep this site clean don't we.

Boys just wanna have fun

Social platforms are by simple concept a distraction from your real life issues which help you socialize with others you would be unable to under different circumstances, but people being complex, fun is never alone and some drama will be entertained for a number of reasons, Sometimes however, you will be the target of some who simply cannot get away from the shadow your ass produces.

This also applies to real life, it can be that you have nicer hair, a faster car, a nicer family, a killer body, a successful business, any excuse is valid to make you the target or even try to replicate anything that you have going and which they think can do best -and by consequence getting you out of the picture-.

When it comes to SL clubs, much like those businesses in RL, the ones that stand the test of time are those who follow an original formula and which stick to a simple set of rules which make people want to work there and patrons feel at ease -to have fun in the simplest of concepts-.

Sadly, the fun concept doesn't seem to quite sink in, but bear in mind that people already have enough issues on their day to day to add on top of that the ones you gratuitously create on a virtual platform, no matter how much money you have invested in the business. One of my bests hosts and staff manager in our SL club -and a good one if I may add- had the bad idea to join the ranks of a person whose idea of a venue seems to revolve around copying what others do, making the club look like the others he has visited, to later make staff responsible through bullying, of his own inability to keep a fun and attractive club functioning.

With that in mind, and not wanting to name names, I'll simply add a word of advice: more bears are attracted to a single spot with honey than with vinegar, specially if they have to be under the sun...

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls