it's not about the linden

linden, virtual money on second life. it's what makes the pixel world go 'round. people with successful businesses transfer those virtual dollars into real ones, and many make an actual living on second life by selling pretty "imaginary" things to us, our avatars. dresses, coats, shoes, accessories. bodies, heads, limbs, decorations, props, horror movie items, sexual items. if you can think of it, it's very likely on the market place. just pay the posted price, your lindens go into their coffers, and the item is yours. i very happily spend money buying pretty things to wear, or upgrade my appearance with.

trying to do the math at this point is impossible, but in my nearly third year on second life, it's safe to say i've spent probably around 20k on things. the biggest spender on second life that i've seen are these things called gachas. a gacha is a machine that's basically your average slot machine that can be found in a real life casino. you pay 50-75L, you get a prize. play multiple times to try and win one of the rare prizes, or even acquire an entire outfit.

i think they're addicting, because you get hooked on the high of "yes! i won!" and next thing you know, you have zero lindens because you spent it all on one machine, or more, winning and winning. i've personally sunk over a grand into one gacha, trying to get all sixteen color variants of one dress.

i digress, as this is not what this entry is about.

my current profession on second life is as a DJ. i got into the gig as i wanted to share music with people, and i told myself it wasn't about the money. after nearly two years of doing this, i still hold that conviction: it's not about the money. i've played small gigs with twenty people (a big gig for me), and i've played empty sims. i've made no money at all, and i've made 3,000L. to date, the most i ever made during a shift was 3,750L and i'm still gobsmacked over it. but i remember the ones where it was just me and the radio, streaming to nobody for two hours while i danced, hopeful someone would join me. because it still happens.

my real life partner noticed my dismay, and he started logging in to second life on his phone, dancing with me so i wouldn't be by myself. i still made no money, but i am comforted with the fact that he cares so much he stays, even though in real life i'm on my couch, and he's next to me in his chair.

the second club i ever worked at, is one i still do, every saturday. that's been my spot since the day i was hired, though when io had wednesdays i would sometimes fill in for her. initially the club, old guard, had a policy in place that every DJ had a weekly salary of 500L, which is basically $500. so imagine working in a club where your base pay is $500, plus whatever tips you made on top of that.

it was pretty sweet working there, because even if i got no tips, i still walked away with a nice check. that all stopped when one of the owners, niteshiver, up and vanished one day and cooper had to stop our salaries in order to pay the land tier rent to ensure we still had a place to work in. we were told it would be temporary, but if we wanted to go on hiatus until nite came back, there would be no hard feelings from management. io was the only one who opted for one, the rest of us all independently decided to take the pay hit and keep spinning. after a week she changed her mind, and resumed her job.

six months later niteshiver came back to the old guard, but our salaries haven't made a comeback. i actually asked my boss bryan if we were going to get them again, and he mentioned it was highly possible nite wasn't paying the lindens he owes to cooper for land tier up to this day, so we are now permanently living off of tips. all of us have DJ jobs elsewhere, so i know none of us are suffering. well, apparently two people were. two people who decided 100-200 in tips wasn't enough anymore because at other clubs they're making 2-3k per shift a week.

so they decided to drop an ultimatum on bryan's head, saying because they're not getting the money they're owed in back pay, they're going on hiatus but will still show up for their gig for the whip radio. bryan doesn't like being blindsided, and he definitely doesn't like being kept out of the loop on decisions that affect him. since bryan is the DJ wrangler for both the old guard and cfnm mansion, this means he's used to shuffling us around, confirming work dates and having backups as necessary.

the sudden "we basically quit until you pay us with linden you don't have" message ended up getting a curt, yet polite professional message explaining that their missive was unprofessional and rude, since this was done at the last minute and bryan now had to scramble to cover two different shifts. he also said "your services are no longer required" and both of these people took that to mean they have been fired from the old guard. this is a view that has not been corrected, as it was a "if you think you're fired, then you are" business move. pretty common in the workplace.

now, there are two empty shifts at the old guard, and the friday one people just listen to the radio as i am unable to fill in. the saturday shift has been trimmed back to just me, like when i started there. this means i can go over again if i want to, and nobody will think twice about it. i won't get cut off, i won't have to trim my songs to ensure i end on time.

now though, i will often get imed with "you should play at <club> instead, you make so much more money there" and i usually don't respond. when those two were quitting, they asked me if i wanted to join them and i said no. i like my job at the old guard, even though i don't make very much. yeah, they make thousands of dollars at other places now to allegedly pay for bills. that's cool, more power to them. but i am very standoffish at being poached, and i'm loyal to the places i work for. attempting to seduce me away with the promises of fat checks doesn't impress me in the slightest, and i am 100% willing to turn down well-paying gigs because of it.

i'm not loyal to cooper. i'm loyal to my boss, and my friend, bryan. as long as bryan is there every week at the old guard, so will i be. i will do the fun themes and share the tunes. i will pocket my apparently meager paycheck and go home happy. i don't worry about lindens because it's not why i took the job. i still get 300L a week just for being a premium member, and i'm okay with this.

i volunteer with a professional radio to play charity concerts, and i don't make a dime. it makes me happy to play and see how people dance to us, if i had been offered money i would have been offended. yes, my time is worth money. but i don't base my professional existence off it. can i get a job anytime i want, anywhere i want? hell yes! but with college taking up most of my time, i haven't bothered because that would just add on to the stress i already have.

in fact because i purposefully cut my schedule down to the bare minimum, i was able to work with my beautiful, wonderful sister tanarra in creating a dance party once a month for divine sadism. they say i shine there, and our creator, rosa, says i do something magical because until i came along, she hated dances and wanted nothing to do with them. i am also their accidental poster child, since every poster prominently features my face and name on them. i am fiercely proud of the fact that my suggestion has become a successful idea, and people are being encouraged to attend my shows there.

have i thought about quitting the old guard and going elsewhere? yeah, i have. a lot, with serious consideration. but once i found out cooper hates my presence and is looking for an excuse to fire me (he can't because the two times i fucked up i wasn't on shift, so it was personal rather than professional), my petty mission in life is to be there, smiling at him while he cries salty tears. and until/unless bryan leaves, i'm sticking around to be a pain in the ass and a thorn in the side.