A Visit from Mr. Manamiko

Last night began a bit inauspiciously.  When I arrived in-world, I was in my bedroom wearing a ballgown, with bare feet.  I had been trying on clothes last time I was there in an attempt to decide what to wear for a portrait.  I noticed a green dot on my minimap very close to where I was, a name I didn't recognize.  I cammed around outside of the house and didn't see anyone, and then I realized:  the green dot was inside of the house.

I walked out into my study and was shocked to see a man I didn't know standing there. He wasn't a Babbager. I could tell by his attire, all the way down to his flip-flops and blinging sunglasses.  Fortunately, he was asleep, so I decided to have a little bit of fun:

Eventually he must have timed out, because he disappeared after about 10 minutes.  I have to admit, it did feel like an invasion of privacy.  This seems really strange to me since SL and privacy seem mutually exclusive. Having any expectation of privacy is probably misguided in-world, and yet this was my emotional response to finding a stranger in my house.

I put it out of my mind for the time being, changed into some work clothes and decided to go take a look at Bay City. I wanted to get out of New Babbage for just a little while and see something new.  My friend Mr. Matthieu Manamiko first told me about the Bay City sims a about month ago, so I did some reading and decided to check it out.  There are a lot of Bay City sims, and I had no idea where to start. I picked one more or less at random and ended up in Bay City Oldtown.  My first impression was this:  a decently built city environment with lovely houses surrounded by ban lines.  Disappointing.  I went into a couple of shops, but they didn't carry anything I found particularly interesting.

Coincidentally, while I was wandering, Matthieu sent me an IM to find out what I was up to. He had no idea I was in Bay City, and I hadn't spoken to him for about a week, so it was interesting timing.  We chatted a bit and agreed to meet for tea at my house in Academy.

I gave him a tour of the house, we drank some wine instead of tea, and he advised me to put locks on my doors. Even though it can't stop someone who really wants to get in, it at least deters casual wanderers.  The thing is that I don't mind people checking out the house while I'm not there, but since it's disconcerting to find someone unfamiliar there with me, I've decided to look into lock scripts.

Eventually we got tired of sitting around and decided to go to Clockhaven to see the aquarium.  A couple nights ago I had spent a good deal of time there watching the parrot, so I was excited to show him. 

(The parrot and me a few nights ago.  I think we have a connection.)

We walked there from Academy, got sidetracked by a secret passageway under Clockhaven, and then admired the aquarium build by Mr. Amadaeus Hammerer.  It really is a fantastic place to visit! My favorite swimming things are the jellies, his are the seahorses, so we decided to take a snapshot there.  I hope his snapshot turned out better than mine...I happened to take it just as I realized how much taller he is than me!

Since the beach isn't far from the aquarium and he hadn't seen the steam turtles, we wandered over. 

The sun went down on a lovely evening.  I was glad to spend it with a friend.