Blogging Begets Blogging!

I can't seem to stop blogging these days. It must have been that blogging immersion night, being in a room with all those other bloggers. You know, peer pressure and all: "Everybody else is doing it"! I'm sure I'll calm down and go back to my laid-back, Toulouse-Lautrec style, once the fervor has worn off and I start remembering that there are, um, other things to do in life besides blog.

Speaking of life - one of the things that I noticed among some of my fellow bloggers was a keen interest, if not outright religious zeal, for an online game (or whatever) called Second Life, shown in the bottom screen of this photo. Apparently the French election was happening in Second Life as well, with people voting, candidates campaigning, etc. See, Second Life is exactly like this life, except it's inside your computer, and not real - but you can do things like sell real estate and make (real) money at it.

Huh???!? This is something I'm still trying to get my head around - but as I told my fellow bloggers, I only learned what a blog was about a year ago. Nevertheless, I can't help wondering why anyone would want to have another version of this life - I thought the whole point of entertainment and hobbies was to escape from reality, not duplicate it!

I don't know - all I know is that people talk about Second Life as if it's the best thing since sliced bread. I kept asking why, and I was told (with shining eyes and rather demonic smiles):

"You can be anyone you want!" (well, I'm already trying to do that in this life..)

"You can express your most secret opinions!" (again, I pretty much don't hold back...)

"You can sell your paintings!" (hmm, now there's a thought..)