Griefers...why do they do it and are they truly happy griefing?

The very nature of griefing is grim, isn't it? You spread your grief to others by pushing, bumping, destroying or sending out pollutants or projectiles. The attitude is not a happy one. It's like how an ogre grumbles to vent out his frustration.

Anyway, I was a victim of a griefer this afternoon at 12:15 SLT. It was a CarlJhonson (not sure if the name is right, but it was CarlJ in the first part) Beorn...made me think of that Bjorn guy who visited and wreaked havoc at Benares last month or so over at Flor's and Felicia's parcel. He used a push script on my avatar, so she went flying up to about 1 or 2 meters, it looked like I had leaped over a fence. It was so fast that I didn't get a chance to screenshot and I was totally stunned. I did AR him though, as did my friend Sim. Sim got bumped into by the guy and in local the guy said, "you are so nice". Ummm...okay, creepy much? We were just hanging out at a sandbox, Kelly Work Zone. Sim tells me griefers like to hang there, but I've never felt like it happens much. I go there at least once a week, so what do I know?

In Phoenix Viewer Support group chat, I talked to an oldbie, Syn. In chat, they were talking about cutting cards and not being able to hide your offline status. I didn't know that in the SL viewer, that's where your status is truly hidden. She IMs me to talk because of chat lag...yuck. So, she's been on SL since 2004 and she owns several sims. She said that LL likes pervs. If you set draw distance to 1024 or 1028m, you can perv two sims apparently. Lol, isn't that nice? She mentioned that when she's dressing in her house, some guys around 900 days old say to her, "nice tits". That's so immature and annoying. But what can you do? It's not a crime to perv unless it goes too far. But how much is too much? I invited her to come to Benares where it's more private, but then that's when she tells me that she owns several sims. She thanks me and tells me that she appreciates my caring. I love how group chat for help or support groups have such great members helping out there. And some of the nice ones aren't even officers of the group and that makes it even nicer. I'm sure I'll see Syn in chat again soon.

Anyway, enough about griefing.

I attended the SL Blogger's party at Benares. I was there for about the first 20 minutes. I managed to get 3 shots, when I wasn't busy IMing and watching my avatar dance with Sim. Turns out, I won 250L for one of the best costumes. I went as an angel and I had these black tattoos on my chest, stomach, and legs. It was original and free. Sometimes, you can find some great free stuff. Actually, most of what I own is freebies. I have a few dresses and shoes and maybe 1 hair that I bought. It's just fun to explore and see what SL creators can create.

Remember I was upset about a guy I de-friended? Well, I'm mostly over that thanks to Sim. I met Sim a few days after at Kelly Work Zone...like October 2nd...not really sure. I just know that it's been over 3 weeks since we've known each other. I think we're a couple, but what matters is that we enjoy exploring and talking to each other. One thing that stumps me is why he lags at my house. Maybe he doesn't have enough RAM? Or maybe I have too many scripts in my house too? I'm thinking of getting a lower prim house. We'll see. What I really want is to build my own house, but one step at a time. I have no idea what it will look like, but probably it will be basic. I really don't need a fancy house. I want something spacious, nice windows, flat roof, and a few balconies. Also, I'd prefer sliding doors.

It's so nice to dream. Smile and believe in goodness!

Vic

We all must stay strong

By now, we all have heard about the slews of bullying. The Tyler Clementi case is probably the one that brought bullying to the forefront again. I just heard about an incident in Mentor, Ohio where a pretty Croatian girl was bullied so badly that she started taking online classes. Sadly, a week later she committed suicide. She had so much to live for...a love of music, a love of dance...a loving home. Who wouldn't like this girl? Yet girls at school were so mean to her, probably they were jealous of her. She tried so hard to stand up to them, yet it wasn't enough. Those girls are deeply mentally ill. They even laughed at her funeral. It makes me want to cry an ocean when I hear of something like this. I know what it's like to be bullied. It never got that bad, but it got bad enough that I reported it to the school administrators...well my mom did. Years later, some of those bullies apologized to me or at least felt ashamed of it. Live! Don't resort to suicide! Wait and see if the bullies ever feel remorse later! If they have a conscience, they will!

Bullying is such a crisis in the world, not just in the United States. I don't know about international cases, but I'm sure they're out there. Why does it happen? What can we do to stop it? Why don't people do more to stop it? If we knew all the answers, the world would be a better place to live in.

It's tragic occurrences like this that should make us feel less unhappy about how problematic our lives are. We all have problems, but not all of them are as difficult to handle as being bullied. If we can complain and we don't feel inferior to anybody, then we are lucky. I know how easy it is to complain, I still do it a lot. I feel grateful that I had my mother behind me when I felt angry and frustrated with how people treated me in grade school. It would be unwise of me to just say that we just have to believe in ourselves to get through hard times. What we all really need most is for people to support us and really make an effort to stop the bullying. In my case, if those people had not been confronted by the principal and had not been embarassed, they would not have stopped and I would have had a breakdown. One boy even cried, I really couldn't believe it. I even felt bad for him, which most people would find strange. As I saw with the Croatian girl's case, even standing up for oneself isn't enough. The administration should have done more to get the girls off her back. Unfortunately, they didn't. Again and again we see that people see the wrongs going on, but they don't pick up a finger to improve matters...they let it happen. Why? Is it laziness, lack of caring...what?! It really infuriates me. It seems savage to me. We can help, so why do we just watch?!

Here's a video by Black-eyed Peas. It's an old song, but a relevant song. Where is the love? Don't we care? Isn't it a crime to just watch while innocent, good people die before our eyes? Think about it.