iRez’ head cheerleader Yordie Sands has been “running silent, running deep” for a couple of weeks now as she moves house and home to a new city and, no doubt, to a new life as well. Just today we got a radar ping from her, apparently she came up to periscope depth, and there’ve been sightings of her periscope panning around the virtual surface waters.
All of which makes today a pretty good day to begin a new series, Meet the Authors. The name pretty much says it, it’s a little chance to meet some of the authors here at iRez. Someone like Yordie has her footprints all over the iRez “sands,” and perhaps writing an intro is superfulus. Then again, our stats say that only 1/4 of our visitors are returning, the rest are new visitors coming from mostly search & referrals. So, if Y-O-U are new to iRez, Welcome! And if you don’t know Yordie, prepare to meet one of the best peeps in virtual space.
It’s impossible to say too much about the impact Yordie has on this salon of ours. Her posts are original and compelling, but she also makes the time to write more comments on other posts than anyone. She’s truly curious about other authors ideas and always supportive of their work. Obviously life in 2012 is pretty crazy-busy for us all, and both here at iRez and across the grid there are many “drive by” authors, peeps who manage to carve out a little time to post about something interesting, or curious, or exciting, or annoying, but then don’t quite find the time to push their carefully crafted ideas out from the virtual printing press into the marketplace of ideas, out into the new town squares of Facebook, Twitter, G+ etc. Yordie not only always makes the extra minutes to do this for herself, but she also pushes all her co-authors work out into the light of town square too. I haven’t met a more generous person in cyberspace.
Yordie’s virtual world of choice is Second Life, and as part of our “Gimme Six” challenge, she’s offered us a fantastic tour of a half dozen of her favorite places that we too can visit, without getting killed! kk, you might be risking a broken heart at one or two, but no actual avatar death! 😀
Yordie Sands’ “Gimme Six”
• Role Play in Time – Hosoi Ichiba
• A World of Nature & Beauty – Calas Galadhon
• A New Englander at Heart
• A Bluesy Kinda Luv
• Shopping, Shopping, Shopping!
• Somewhere Beyond the Sea
and an update:
• Hosoi Ichiba’s New Beginning
Yordie Sands also dares to talk about something so many peeps are curious about, but sometimes too shy to ask or write about: Virtual Romance!
Yordie Sands on Virtual Romance
• Geisha Yordie
• My Second Life Romance – Part I
• My Second Life Romance – Part II
• My Second Life Romance – Part III
• Romance Upon the Seas
Ever fearless, Yordie’s also dived into the topic of Identity:
Yordie Sands on Identity
• Becoming Someone Else – Part 1
• Becoming Someone Else – Part 2
Or, hahaha – now she tells us – instead of a million links, maybe I should just give you the link to the full Yordie Sands archive here on iRez:
• Author / Yordie Sands
It should come as no surprise that you’ll also find her at points beyond iRez, most notably at the long running (4 years!) blog Being Yordie Sands, as well as the usual social net suspects.
Yordie Sands Online
• Being Yordie Sands
• Twitter / Yordie Sands
• Facebook / Yordie Sands
• Google+ / Yordie Sands
• Disqus / Yordie Sands
• Flickr / Yordie Sands
• Second Life / Yordie Sands
• Tumblr / Empire Avenue / Yordie Sands
• SL Profiles.com / Yordie Sands
• StumbleUpon / Yordie Sands
Thanks for being such an amazing part of our adventure here at The Virtual Identity Salon Yordie. It wouldn’t be half the place it is without you! 😀
Agnes Sharple
Botgirl Questi
Bumblebee (Wendz Tempest)
Canary Beck
Carissa Arthurine Somerset
Eva Marie
Fuschia Nightfire
George Coghill
Ironyca Lee
Jeremy Owen Turner
Joseph DeLappe
Kathleen Cool
Katie Vizenor
Krista Hoefle
Kristine Schomaker
Lizzie Gudkov
Aero Bigboots
RMarie Beedit
Marmaduke Arado
Isabella Medici
Nadya Tolokonnikova
Nathan Shafer
Pixel Reanimator
Ravanel Griffon
Scarlett Luv
Strawberry Singh
Tabitha Raincloud
Toni Tyldesley
Trilby Minotaur
Vanessa Blaylock
Xue Faith
Yordie Sands
OMG I must say and thank you for the great feature! I have a new post sitting in the que but I have to let it simmer a bit before pushing the publish button. You aready know what it’s about. It’s great to be mostly back. Hugs, Yordie
Aww, yay! Hope the new home works out well. Wow, the photo here is of your new virtual home circa July — 2 new homes in 3 months! — that’s a lot of change, even for a virtual heroine!
You just reminded me, I need to get my blog heading updated for Fall. Oh, and I need to write something to live up to all the kudos you’ve heaped on me. Hugs
Aww, yay! Hope the new home works out well. Wow, the photo here is of your new virtual home circa July — 2 new homes in 3 months! — that’s a lot of change, even for a virtual heroine!
Wait! WHUT? “no actual avatar death”? I just got jumped and killed by 6 level 90 Horde dudes and also got marked for PvP (Player versus player) 😛 Now that gets the juices flowing lol. But seriously, Yordie I want to take the vitamins you take 😀 I hope your relocation is going smoothly and can’t wait to read more of your and the other iRez authors’ posts.
Is Horde part of SL? I know there are a lot of peeps doing combat in SL but I’ve only gotten tossed into battle on a handful of occassions. I had no idea about all the levels.
As for the relocation, I’m totally disoriented atm. And the first day in Florida it was hot and humid like those horrible days when I grew up here and swore I’d never return. hehe
I hope to be around more often in the comoing weeks though, and I’ll checking out your stuff too.
Is Horde part of SL? I know there are a lot of peeps doing combat in SL but I’ve only gotten tossed into battle on a handful of occassions. I had no idea about all the levels.
As for the relocation, I’m totally disoriented atm. And the first day in Florida it was hot and humid like those horrible days when I grew up here and swore I’d never return. hehe
I hope to be around more often in the comoing weeks though, and I’ll checking out your stuff too.
Tell me about it! “Games” where you can’t win or kill other avatars!? What’s up with that? Where’s the fun?
IDK. Apparently some peeps are into “socializing” or some prissy thing like that. I actually only know 1 person who’s an avid player of Both SL & WoW (well, actually, apparently my gamification instructor Kevin Werbach has spent a fair bit of time in both (was Level 80 back in ’09) anyway, I’ve been bugging that person to do a post on her different SL vis-a-vis WoW adventures for ages, but I think she’s too action oriented for (yet more prissy stuff like blogging) writing stuff down… if she’s not killin’ beasts in WoW she’s killin hearts in SL workin’ haute couture and burnin up the dance floor.
Someday I’ll learn to love killing avatars! some day.
But, but, writing is haaard *pout*
Yeah, writing is very hard, especially when you are trying to say something. heh
Yeah, writing is very hard, especially when you are trying to say something. heh
Tell me about it! “Games” where you can’t win or kill other avatars!? What’s up with that? Where’s the fun?
IDK. Apparently some peeps are into “socializing” or some prissy thing like that. I actually only know 1 person who’s an avid player of Both SL & WoW (well, actually, apparently my gamification instructor Kevin Werbach has spent a fair bit of time in both (was Level 80 back in ’09) anyway, I’ve been bugging that person to do a post on her different SL vis-a-vis WoW adventures for ages, but I think she’s too action oriented for (yet more prissy stuff like blogging) writing stuff down… if she’s not killin’ beasts in WoW she’s killin hearts in SL workin’ haute couture and burnin up the dance floor.
Yordie is totally awesome, encouraging and supportive. Great post about her! <3
Thank you Berry! I enjoy helping good people grow. I think, in the end, it’s a thousand little things that help each other rather than any one giant breakthrough. Well, that is unless some Hollywood (or Bollywood even) studio signs you to a movie deal. hehehehe. Hugs & Love… Yordie
Great article about you, Yordie, and so true. I always wonder how you mange to find the time to post so much cool stuff. Keep it on. 😀
I wonder where she gets all this time, energy, inspiration and everything else to write so many cool things. I think Vaneeeesa Blaylock is some kind of writing machine. hehe
Shhhh… OMG Yordie!
they are not supposed to know that I’m actually the Writing Machine Robot from HUGO!
Can’t you keep a secret!?!?
MUM is the word about you being a Writing Machine Robot! And I’ll say, no, Vaneeesa says she isn’t HUGO. (I’ve heard of HUGO before.)
I wish that @twitter-45409387:disqus was a writing machine! Maybe there’s a chip for that… we can give her a mesh brain upgrade!
Never fear, I’m getting my writing machine cranked up. I’m tired right now though, so I think i’ll just go to the beach and thing big ideas. /me smiles a silly smile
You can’t beat thinking big ideas by the seashore!
Hope you’re doing ok after your big move! I know it’s a lot of adjusting and arranging and details to deal with! Try not to bury yourself in everything at once if you can avoid it. Small bits. Do one small thing, eat chocolate, do another small thing, go to the beach…
And when will Yordie’s Speeeeedboat make its next appearance!?
The big move has kinda worn me out, truly. I get tired just thinking about how worn out i am. I’m building up to everything including the speedboat, but not today. It’s ALL about Halloween for the next two weeks. The salvation of Halloween.
yes, totally, Embrace the dark side, Yordie!
If it weren’t for Yordie Sands, I wouldn’t have started blogging about my personal experiences in virtual worlds last December. For that alone, I owe her loads. 70+ posts later on my blog and here, through her blog “Being Yordie Sands” and her posts and comments here on iRez, she is still my go-to-girl for inspiration.
I agree, she is not only prolific about a wide variety of subjects, she is also a great supporter of other people’s work, by actively liking, commenting, and sharing our work on social networks. I can always count on Yordie to read my stuff, and take the time to encourage me, relate, engage in the conversation we might have started, ask compelling questions and add new insights and angles to my ideas.
I also know Yordie inworld, in which she is equally generous, and love the times I’ve spent with her 🙂 Thanks Yordie, for being so kind and generous with your time and your heart.
Wow Becky! Your comment about writing about me being a reason you write about personal experiences is a well appreciated compliment. The thing is, I’d seen how you write from the heart and it encourage me to write more and more from the heart. Maybe we are feeding on each other’s desire to express ourselves?
I think it’s important, especially in a collective like iRez, that we support each other. Thank you for the kind words. I’m a bit Like-crazed becuase it’s a quick way to say, hey, cool. Yanno?
I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to these replies but I’m not exactly organized yet. My move has opened so many doors and got me going in so many directions, I’m struggling to get back to the pace I once operated at.
Hugs Becky