The State of the Mainland and New Old Skills

I've been pretty busy the past few days. I got all of my land holdings auctioned off, so I'm officially done with that little business experiment. I could have made it work, but I don't want to spend all of my time on the grid trying to make a buck. Or a Linden buck. A Luck? Anyway, moving on.

I bought a horse. I had an old AKK model, but I decided it was time for an upgrade. This makes a total of seven, I think, two of which were gifties from SLB16. 

There is no room for horses on my tiny island.

I took my new friend out on an adventure, since I can't seem to make any of the human kind. I picked a roadway on the Mainland and set out to explore. 

Back in the day, before there was mesh and you couldn't spit without hitting a newb, I spent most of my time sitting on a brick wall with my friends, a cockney English bulldog, a Scottish biker, nekos and an alien or two. We'd have deep discussions covering the future of mankind and Second Life. Speculation was that one day, Mainland would be abandoned, with most of the remaining residents having moved to private islands and estates. There'd be squatters and griefers, every av for himself. The thought of it was both sad and exciting. A vast, unregulated free for all. 

Since returning to the grid (was I really gone for SIX years?) and seeing all the abandoned land parcels, I wondered if it was beginning to come true. As I set out exploring, I expected to find more of the same along with tacky, primmy builds, giant privacy screens and a prostitute on every corner. 

I'm happy to say, I was mistaken. My adventure was full of pleasant surprises. 

Don't get me wrong, I saw some weird shit:

In the coming days I'll tell ya'll all about my adventure. In the meantime, I'm learning to build with mesh. I hadn't forgotten as much as I'd feared. I guess my memory just needed a nudge. I'm getting there. When I successfully complete a house that isn't lopsided or with a door that spins lengthwise on it's axis, I'll let you know.