The SLCC 2008

Well if your looking for the technical or educational side of the SLCC, you might want to turn around about now.  All your going to get here is me gushing about my personal experiences.  I spent very little time in the convention tracks.  The only one I made an effort to see was the presentation by JR Unknown about dealing land in SL.  I can honestly say that was a well thought out presentation that was fun to watch.  Thats about all I can tell you about the official side of things because thats pretty much all I was part of. 

Now onto my version of this years SLCC...

Thursday

I woke up with my husband Steve Thursday morning after 3 hours of sleep to get a shower and head to the airport.  My initial plan was to sleep on the plane, but I was so excited about everything that it didn't happen.  We arrived in tampa at around 10 in the morning and took a cab to the hotel.  Checked in and all that fun stuff.  After we unpacked I realized that I didn't really have anything to do because no events were scheduled for that time.  We decided to go walk around tampa and find lunch.  Walking through the lobby to the door, Flipper spots me and waves us over to the sports bar at the hotel.  He bought us several drinks (something he did for everyone all weekend long).  Got to meet a few cool people at first, but a few drinks later the bar started to slowly fill with more and more SL'ers. A few drinks turned into lunch with tons of SL'ers. It was great start to the weekend. 

Shortly after that I catch some friends from SLUniverse popping in who I was dying to meet.  Turns out they were as awesome in RL as they are on the forums (I suspected they would be).  After some time hanging out with them Brig invites me and Steve (Mr Nerd) over that evening for dinner at her place.  We got to be part of some of the most fun conversations I've had in ages over spaghetti, and cuban bread.  It was basically a night filled with great friends and laughter.  

Friday

When I finally got myself out of bed and went down to the lobby to check in on SL I ran into my buddy Rocky who we hung out with a lot at last years SLCC.  Rocky took me up to his room so I could finally meet the amazing Alicia Stella.  She is as classy and gorgeous in RL as she is in SL.  

After meeting them we decide to break away from the SLCC a bit and go grab a bite to eat.  We end up in Ybor city via a trolley where we find a place that has crab cakes the size and shape of a baked potato.  Had to be the best crab cake I've ever had in my life.  

Next we go the Aquarium.  I love aquariums so this was a must see for me.  I was really impressed with the entire place.  They had a lot of amazing sea animals and birds, and the set up allowed you to see everything very close.  Something that I love.  I was even able to touch a stingray.  If your into aquariums and happen to find yourself in Tampa, it's well worth the visit.  We shopped around a bit and I picked up some finger puppet zombies and other trinkets for my kids who were back home with Grandma.

Back at the hotel we find ourselves back at the sports bar where Vertigo introduced me to rum runners.  More drinking, meeting awesome people, and laughter happens until we decide to walk down to the Irish bar were Ham Rambler was holding an event.  After a group of us getting a bit lost we make it there and guess what we do?? More drinks!!!  So feeling a little giddy and warmer in the face I head back to go to the volunteer party.  I take advantage of the open bar.  I figure, hey I've paid LL a lot of tier, I may as well have a drink.  And another drink, and so on and so on while meeting and talking to lots more people.  

A group of us decide to walk back to the Irish bar where we hear the party is still hopping.  Walking in I hear my name being yelled by a guy at the bar.  I go over and say hey.  He's like "Guess who I am?"  I tell him I don't know.  He points out the Kangaroo on his hat.  It's Thai Racer!!!!!!!!!  He was one of the people I was most looking forward to meeting.  JR Unknown was there as well.  I've known JR since my early land days, but he had to take off to prepare for his talk in the morning.  Thai buys me more drinks and we have a great talk about SL, land, ect ect. I won't go into any major details about the rest of the night, but we were out until 3 in the morning, and I think I owe Thai a lap dance or two.  

Saturday

Saturday is my last day at the SLCC because I have to head back home on Sunday morning.  Started the day off to an Australian showing up at my door bearing gifts saying "Wakey wakey, hands of the snakey".  Great day to start any day if you ask me.  So I got to have breakfast with Thai, and then meet JR again as well as his smart and gorgeous wife.  Shorty after we went to watch JR's presentation.  Like I said way up top there it was well done, informative, and fun to watch.  JR is a true professional and knows his stuff. (He's also wicked fun to be around and party with)  Anyone who missed it, really missed out.    After that we headed back to the bar and hung out with Thai, JR, and his wife.  I really had a great time with them all.  

I took a little nap and then woke up to get ready for Strokers ball. The ball was a blast as expected.  I'll spare details but I'll post a link to my Flickr stream where you can have a look and get a feel for it.  The ball lead to hanging out at the hotel with Thai, JR, and Holy, which lead to a party in someones elses room, which lead to us passing out for 3 hours before we got up to catch our plane.

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So there you have it, the Cliff notes of my SLCC 2008.  Honestly  one of the most fun weekends of my life.  I think I have enough cool memories to last me awhile.  I had so many friends there this year, and had such a blast with everyone that I'm already excited about nexts years SLCC.   I hope to see lots of you there!

My Flickr

My Myspace that includes lots of pictures I "borrowed" from friends.  I'll be posting more here as more people share pics with me.