FABGlitter has a new owner

Last week Eclectic (Wingtips) announced here on SLU that she and FABGlitter's co-owner Rondo (Catteneo) we're selling, and when I learned of it I think I had a heart palpitation. But before I get into all that, let me step back a bit and talk about beginnings. Free Xue's, to be exact.

I started my Second Life, um, life, back in May of 2008. A friend and I were talking about online activities we liked, and she brought up this Second Life "game". What I heard her describe - despite her explanations for why she no longer played - convinced me I had to download the viewer and try it myself. With my friend's help I created an account. 'Free' is a real nickname, so was easy. 'Xue' appeared on the list and felt different, was short so made typing it often no big deal, and called out to the tiny bit of Chinese blood in me. I designed a shape I liked (and honestly, I've not changed it much since). Got used to moving around and doing things in Second Life. Checked out a few places my friend remembered. Chatted with several other "avatars".

The next night when I logged in, I did so with plans to do some personal exploring. One place my friend guided me to was Mysteria, a lesbian-only "sim". The buildings were beautiful, and the Mediterranean island paradise Mysteria was meant to represent was nice, but ultimately I found my experience there on the boring side. So I went looking for more happening places. I ended up at A Woman's Touch 2, or AWT2. I never asked what happened to AWT1. It was one of the few clubs I visited that had an event going, and the first with a good sized group.

That night I made friends with Rondo, who was DJing. And Eclectic, who was hostessing - or maybe she was just hanging with Rondo. I do remember she spent the show in a big, 4 legged cat avatar. And in the crowd I met Zazzy Xue, my Second Life sister. PINKXUE!!!

Somehow Ec and Rondo convinced me to give Mysteria another try. It probably had to do with them working there. So for the next month while I explored, found a sandbox and made my first stumbling steps towards building and scripting, hung out with Zazzy, became addicted to shopping and lucky chairs, and experimented with a few of the adult-oriented aspects of Second Life , I made Mysteria - well, not home, but the place I spent the most time at. Then as you might expect, drama struck. A new sim rule caused Ec and Rondo to decide Mysteria didn't represent what they felt a women's club should be. So they walked out of Mysteria and set right off creating a place that did.

And that place is FABGlitter.

When I tell people I've worked at FAB just about as long as I've been in Second Life, that's the truth. Hell, it's very nearly the longest I've ever worked at a single place, ever. Some of my most important friendships in SL started there, right at the beginning. I relearned about my love for music DJing there. Ok, yes - I'm talking about a virtual place in a virtual world. Even so, when I explain how important FABGlitter is to me, the words I use never seem to come close enough to expressing it.

So, back to that heart flutter. I knew it was likely whoever bought the club would have spent a lot of time there, so they would be a part of the family already. If that was in doubt, I knew Eclectic would do what she could to find a buyer who wouldn't choose to rip the club apart, altering it into something I wouldn't recognize or feel right about. Still, the sale would bring change. It's just the way it is. The concern it instilled in me was what this would mean for the one place in Second Life which, throughout the years, from changes in builds to parcel size to sim, management and staff and membership, had remained a constant in my life, had become so important to me.

Anyway, Eclectic went through with the sale last night. FABGlitter has a new owner. And that owner, is me.