Let me paraphrase something my son told me on Mother's Day. He said "Mom, I'll be a millionaire by the time I'm 40".

My reply: "you've never worked a day in your life (he's 26), so how do you make a statement like that?"

His reply?? "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY CAN BE MADE IN SECOND LIFE??? YOU MAKE LINDEN DOLLARS, THEN YOU TURN AROUND AND SELL THE LINDEN DOLLARS FOR REAL DOLLARS". He's right, I checked.

I also went into Second Life to see what the heck all the commotion was about. All it is that there is a representation of you in this virtual world. It's called an Avatar. You design it, you make it look however you wish it to look. It can be a human, a robot, an animal, a demon with wings. Whatever it is and you want to pay for it (these are called skins), you can create whatever you wish to have your avatar look like in this world.

I saw the most BEAUTIFUL women in one of the virtual islands. She had an outfit on that you would see a movie star wearing to a premier. I never saw such a gown, draped on her body, like shimmery satin. And she looked human. Nothing like an artificial being. I text messaged her asking how she looked like that. It seems, you can pay to look exactly however you wish. And this woman was a designer INSIDE SECOND LIFE. She designed the skins, the outfits, etc. etc. I mean, she looked like a dream. She was standing on a beach with the most realistic looking ocean I have ever seen. I mean, it looks like you can just jump in the water.

But Second Life is all virtual. So if a person has nothing in the real world, I would assume they go into this fantasy world and it helps them cope with whatever stresses in life they have to cope with. I mean, just imagine, you can look however you wish to look, and do whatever you wish to do.

But you pay for this privilege. I mean, there is a free account but the people who pay for stuff, well, they look human and they have virtual apartment. And they gamble. And any money they get (in Linden Dollars), well it stays in their account.

To me personally, it's all nonsense. But my son lives in this world sometimes for up to 10 hours a day. He's addicted. Plain and simple.

Just like his compulsive gambling.

It's a real shame, believe me. And John Lester, well, he just encourages all this virtual stuff and people DO NOT LEARN TO COPE WITH THE REAL STUFF THAT GOES ON IN LIFE.

Just my opinion.
Melody