What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing In a Place Like This?

It all began with a book.

Specifically, it started with professor Lawrence Lessig's book Code 2.0, which explores the relationship between cyberspace, society, and the law.  It's a thoughtful and provocative book, designed to set people thinking about how the rules we live by are--and will continue to be--increasingly determined by code.

Professor Lessig referred to Second Life on several occasions.  It piqued my curiosity.  So after upgrading the household computer I created an account one night.  (The pic was my very first profile picture, created before I left Help Island.)

It was clear in the first couple of visits that your options were greatly increased by owning your own land.  So within a week I had a mainland 512 and a treehouse, and figured I'd be content to wander around every so often for $9.95 a month and no land fees.

As a Latter-day Saint, I went searching for other Mormons in this brave new world.  I didn't get to Adam ondi Ahman right away.  It came up in searches but the words island and islanders initially warned me away.  Those people have a lot more money than I do for this, I thought.

Eventually I visited Adam ondi Ahman, which I learned much later was only one week older than I was.  (AoA rezzed on 9 March 2007; my rez-day is 16 March.)  It was half full then, and an avatar in a boy's form was building something that looked like the famous Mormon Tabernacle.

It was indeed a replica of the Tabernacle, the "boy" was island owner Skyler Goode, and by the time we chatted for close to an hour I knew I needed to be in AoA.  On the 30th, two weeks after coming to Second Life, I took possession of 2016 m2 on the south coast of Adam ondi Ahman.  I had discovered things like miniature golf and bowling in-world, and figured that some family-style activities near the educational sites already built would be true to our values and make this new place a better place to live.

Val's Minigolf Club was about to appear, and my worlds would not be the same.