Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts

Monday, April 17, 2023

What it Takes to Be a Real Leader

Brenda won 3rd
[2023/04/17 14:53]  Mina Murray's soul (Mariantonietta Silverfall): ok on 3rd place again on podium!!
[2023/04/17 14:53]  Mina Murray's soul (Mariantonietta Silverfall): our sweet Brenda!!!
[2023/04/17 14:53]  Mina Murray's soul (Mariantonietta Silverfall): congratulations!!
[2023/04/17 14:54]  BrendaLee Fredriksson: *bows graciously*


I won 2nd
(I haven't taken pictures of winning in SO long now, I kinda felt like I might as well throw them a bone, LOL!)
[2023/04/17 14:54]  Mina Murray's soul (Mariantonietta Silverfall): on second place with her wings flapping!!! Our California girls!!! Maji!!!
[2023/04/17 14:55]  ℳαʝɨҟᐺɨӽڠɳ (MajikVixen Lorefield): xD


Kari won 1st
[2023/04/17 14:55]  Mina Murray's soul (Mariantonietta Silverfall): And a new entry on the podium!!!
[2023/04/17 14:55]  Mina Murray's soul (Mariantonietta Silverfall): the winner of this week!!
[2023/04/17 14:56]  Mina Murray's soul (Mariantonietta Silverfall): Karissa!!!
[2023/04/17 14:56]  Mina Murray's soul (Mariantonietta Silverfall): congratulation!!
[2023/04/17 14:56]  Mina Murray's soul (Mariantonietta Silverfall): great job!!
[2023/04/17 14:56]  kari (karissa Sleydon): Thank you!


[2023/04/17 14:56]  Wili Clip: As the winners of the Weekly Royal Fish Hunt Contest stood on the podium, their faces beamed with pride and excitement. Karissa Sleydon, MajikVixen Lorefield, and BrendaLee Fredriksson had all battled fiercely to catch the biggest and most elusive fish in the kingdom's waters.
 
But as they looked out at the cheering crowds, they couldn't help but feel a little foolish. After all, they had spent hours standing knee-deep in the water, holding fishing rods and hoping for a bite. It was hardly the stuff of heroic legends.
 
Still, they couldn't deny the thrill of victory as they clutched their prize money and posed for photos. As they walked offstage, Karissa turned to MajikVixen and whispered, "Next week, let's just order fish and chips instead."


[2023/04/17 15:01]  Wili Clip: As the winners of the Weekly Royal Fish Hunt Contest basked in their glory, the townsfolk couldn't help but notice something fishy about their victories.  Karissa Sleydon, MajikVixen Lorefield, and BrendaLee Fredriksson had all caught massive fish, but something seemed off.
 
Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the three women had colluded to cheat the contest.  They had used a secret technique of luring the fish with a special bait made from cheeseburgers and beer, a concoction that no fish could resist.
 
The townsfolk were outraged and demanded justice.  But the three women just laughed and said, "Hey, we're not the first to cheat in a fish contest.  At least we didn't use dynamite!"
 
Despite the scandal, the three women were still awarded their prize money and hailed as champions. As they walked offstage, they high-fived each other and vowed to come up with an even crazier bait for next year's contest.


[2023/04/17 15:03]  Wili Clip: Congratulations to Karissa Sleydon, MajikVixen Lorefield, and BrendaLee Fredriksson on their impressive victories in the Weekly Royal Fish Hunt Contest!  Your skills, determination, and dedication have earned you well-deserved rewards and the admiration of your fellow fishermen.
 
It's not easy to catch the biggest and most elusive fish in the kingdom's waters, but you've shown that with perseverance and a little bit of luck, anything is possible.  Your achievements are a testament to your love for the sport and your commitment to excellence.
 
So enjoy your prize money and celebrate your victories, but also remember the camaraderie and sportsmanship that make fishing such a beloved pastime.  We look forward to seeing you and other talented anglers back on the water next week for another exciting contest. Well done!


[2023/04/17 15:04]  Wili Clip: new FISH HUNT celebrities!  Karissa Sleydon, MajikVixen Lorefield, and BrendaLee Fredriksson!



.·´¯`·. . • . .·´¯`·.·´¯`·. . • . .·´¯`·🐠.·´¯`·. . • . .·´¯`·.·´¯`·. . • . .·´¯`·


Oi.

So the story goes like this...

Hadn't been fishing in a while.  Too much RL and no point in blogging for NW with clone since all the good clothing options are on my main account (which is also my slave fishing account, sadly).  

Picked it back up on Thursday and stayed awake 3 days in a row, rushing as fast as I could! 

...My main motivation for fishing so much was to gain the XP back that I had lost.  I mean, I've been fishing for years and some newer player can not only get up to the Overall rank I have, but pass me in much less time than I had invested...!  It's a bit demotivating until you realize it's about them not having as much important shit to do as you (and then you end up feeling a bit sorry for them ... and yourself as well)... But, still.  I mean, if you're gonna pass me in less time than it took for me to ever get that Overall rank, please do it so quickly that I don't have to see you in my every cast stats (like, pass the next person too), FFS! 

At some point, I broke my personal rule of not chatting in the somewhat unsurprisingly toxic LGH group (inspired by Wili's random conversation that usually ends in causing drama since he chooses to stir the pot with taboos like, religion, politics, and sex, LOL).  He ironically likes to promote his "no killing" rule, when he sets it all up!  But the good news is that more and more are starting to see the light, I suppose.  xD  

When I joined chat, the conversation went from artificial intelligence to movies to magic and ended on a high note of animals.  I did, however, like that the concept of magic was well received and agreed upon: it's a balance of energy (as it can neither be created nor destroyed) and you, therefore, get back whatever you put out.

Oh yeah, and later on, for more of his own entertainment (and punishment for my participation in unnecessarily "saving the day" earlier, LOL), Wili announced in LGH group that he would be making Sophina a society job manager ... She took over being his LGH Newspapers/blogs editor, after I quit because "the Senate & my conveniently unnecessary rival / Queen" vetoed his idea to pay writers in Gold...
"Being a god is so boring!  Hmm, I wonder what will happen to my loyal stockholm society experiment if I do this..."
...It wasn't "the Senate & my conveniently unnecessary rival's / Queen's" idea to veto, it was Wili's...  Believe me, he and I had a 3-hour-long Discord conversation where I reminded him that a good reporter always checks their facts (when he thought he could rely on me not being "important enough" to know any other Senate members who witnessed his veto idea)  ...And where he also gas-lit me by calling me a "failure" as an editor (who vehemently pointed out the flaw in a writer's talent/job not worth being paid), and had completely dropped RL to make a record-breaking retraction (that only took about 3 hours) to not "kill" "those" who "killed" first, and for him ignoring said retraction by failing to teach me what he actually wanted, and by instead graffitiing all over it with his words -without any communication to me whatsoever, until way after the fact -and prompted by me when I discovered it all on my own, days later.
Old, stupid veto
So, okay... Then he also announced opening up an advertising job in the LGH group.  Even picked on a random newer person to "follow in his footsteps."  To which, I had to worriedly make reference to "if the Senate doesn't veto" ...and I was corrected, in that the Senate cannot veto jobs that are now going to be paid in L$.

...Can you imagine any of that or anything getting done without writing?  

Ah, whatever.  Doesn't matter.  I DGAF[ish].  And as I've told Wili before, I wanted to give back to LGH in the best way I knew how (with my writing skills and helping others hone theirs), because I believed in him and his dream ...But instead, "they" all threw it back in my face and would rather have me slaughter everyone repeatedly, in the weekly Royal (since I "fail" at my purpose in doing anything else).  :p

Well, okay.  So I got in the weekly Royal top 10 extremely fast.  But getting back to first place, vaguely reminded me of something that happened way back in the day, when I started learning how to fish...

See, Karissa would always be in the lead by about 2k RPs.  I could catch up pretty quickly, but as soon as she was only about 100 RPs ahead (or a tiny bit more), I noticed that she would jump ahead again to ~2k+ RPs.  It was like, "Come get it, come get it ... Not so fast!  Haha!  Still mine, not yours!"

I am actually more familiar with the concept of stacking potions, especially from a class GM Brook gave:

[2021/09/29 14:33]  Brook Demonia: 1 Royal Potion gives you 5 charges.
Each charge boosts your Royal points when you catch a fish or collect a coin for 10 additional Royal Points.

[2021/09/29 14:33]  Brook Demonia: POTIONS ARE STACKABLE
[2021/09/29 14:34]  Brook Demonia: You can drink potion after potion to stack them up.
When you get over 100 stacked charges (20 potions) you get 100 Additional Royal Points per cast or collected coin and it takes 10 potions from your inventory.

[2021/09/29 14:35]  Brook Demonia: so you get that 100 added to what ever you would get without the potion

[2021/09/29 14:35]  Brook Demonia: Next milestone is at 500 stacked charges (100 drank potions) and 1000 stacked charges (200 potions).

[2021/09/29 14:36]  Brook Demonia: so in just 1 cast you could get like 140 rp points

Meanwhile, Brenda had IMed me because she was like, "Where did you come from?!" since it only took a very little amount of time to get to 2nd place (in fact, I think she was logged off the entire time I had been furiously fishing, if I'm not mistaken).  xD  ...Somewhere in there, I had explained that I kept trying to sell Magic worms, but some asshat kept lowering the price, so I figured, "Fuck it, I'll use them, myself!"

In the previous weeks of my absence, Brenda had hit me up for advice, and we talk on occasion because another friend of mine DJs for her ...Plus she seems like just an all-around nice person!  So yeah, it's neat to be able to compare notes with another awesome kingdom leader every so often.

One of the things I had pointed out to Brenda a while ago, was the time Mermaid Celene let me win Royal...  She had stacked enough potions to pwn ALL of LGH for motherfucking months (and likely spent a pretty penny on it too) ...Like, one cast put her ahead by double thousand digits (OMFG)!  But still, I fished fast and furious then, too.  I was determined to not go down without a fight... ALL the way to the end of the weekly competition!

But I was watching the scoreboard, and I could see that Magic worms + Alacrity were absolutely no match for Mermaid's one cast of obscenely stacked potions.  ...Now, I did win that Royal, but afterward, I had to ask her why she let me win... And she very simply said that it was because I wanted it.  Thus, I learned that that was one of the qualities that a real leader possesses.  And, yup, I passed that on to Brenda.

Now Brenda and I did notice that we hadn't seen Karissa around or win, and that she was doing very well.  So this indeed seemed like one of those opportunity things for us to help with.  "I'm just going to get one cast away from her score and leave it at that," I told Brenda.

Well, as time went on and Karissa kept driving me nuts by utilizing her confusing strategy of not stacking potions (never actually allowing me to get just one cast away from her score), I decided to ask Samael WTF this could possibly be all about, as he plays "real" games outside of the SL virtual reality platform  ...All I could remember was several years ago, when this type of fishing happened to me and I was still very new... my leader said something like, "Oh, you're too new for them to be playing like that!"  Which didn't help much, although I think they tried to give me some potions so I could learn... But as I never got enough potions to defeat 1st (which would've been a ridiculously unworthwhile amount), I didn't quite get it (and didn't run into the same situation again until now).  And since LGH/SL has found so many ways to drive an otherwise stable person into total insecurity, I was just dying to understand WTF kind of strategy this was!

"The Royal potions cost money and time, right?" he asked me, a bit rhetorically.

"Yes," I replied.

"Well, she's trying to win by saving as much as possible and is likely thinking, 'Goddamn, why the fuck won't this bitch give up already?'  ...Up to you if you wanna be 'liked by all' (who probably won't even care or notice anyway), and be that kind of a leader... But if you're really bored and want to keep on fishing, why not just pretend you're Wili (and all other gamers), who see everyone on the internet as fake/pawns for their own amusement, and go for the jugular ...Like, who cares?  It is a competition, after all," he finished.

And I finally understood.

...Well, I was not tired, and I still wanted to fish!  And Karissa kept teasing me by rolling on another potion, every time I would get close to being one cast behind her.  So I finally started to do other things while I fished, and eventually lost track of her going to bed!!!  Which is why I left Royal like this before I told Brenda I fucked up and was going to go play another game until the weekly competition ended!  xD
How I left Royal <12 hours away from the end

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that Brook had passed away on Friday, due to a very unfair ordeal with cancer.  

...So, you know I have to take a bit of your time to tell you about this very wonderful soul...

Brook was extremely innocent and kind.  She never ever said a bad thing about anyone or anything.  At all.  She was just as sweet as you'd never expect another human being to be.  I knew her from when I was a Pothead and from her venues with Cara.

Brook loved Cara so much, that she urged me to give up winning Monthly for the first time, for her.  I explained that it wasn't intentional ...and we somehow got into the subject of the Enchanted worm farms I had bought to be about the same price as buying Wili a fucking car...  And she was like, "lol by the way I bought his other car"  xD

There was also a buoy at Blue/Purple Darwin, which you had to be naked to fish at (or be banned from both the land and the LGH game)... I convinced Brook to go with me.  I explained that we could skirt around the naked law by being naked n00b avatars (we didn't necessarily have to be our current/regular naked selves).  Plus it was the "weirdo" hours in the morning, and nobody would see us.  And, yeah, safety in numbers and all that, we could protect each other from the creeps, LOL!  ...And she did.  She went with me, unknowingly as a good luck charm... Because that was the time I won a HUGE fucking fishpot too (like over L$100)!  That's what Potheads was really all about.  The clan going out together to clean out fishpots.  Not just fucking pot smoking, having fun, and enjoying life together (or, really, being afraid Queen would make you feel guilty by bitching, growling, or hissing in PH group chat about how her last pot got stolen by a glitch and that she hadn't won a pot in years ...holy fuck).
Brook's original n00b avatar @ Darwin (cropped)
Brook shared with me a pic of her very first avatar, and we got into a conversation about how pretty we always think we are, but then technology changes so fast, and well, there you are!  xD  ...She also made me promise not to tell, but yeah, she shared a pic she managed to get of Wili there too (he was too proud to invoke a n00b avatar, but he did sport a box over his head)!  xD  \m/
Wili's avatar @ Darwin (cropped)

And then, finally... I had just gotten thru my ordeal of believing my avatar looked like shit from feeling rejected by not just The Peach... I mean, it was such a fucking head trip for me that I took DD's advice and finished my purple Day of the Dead Stitched Bat Dinkie, and wanted to walk around in nothing but that for the rest of my SL -if I even logged on at all ...and Brook reached out to check on me.  I wasn't even a Pothead anymore by then.  But apparently, I hadn't cashed out my weekly Royal winnings and such, and she was concerned.  ...Can you imagine?  Someone dealing with the horror of cancer, and having the kindness to inquire and care about my stupid and selfish first-world problems?

I vaguely told her everything in as few words and omitted as many details as I could.  And wouldn't you know, that on top of that, she very compassionately took the time to validate the person behind the avatar?  ...Brook was real.  And she could see that I was too...  The fact that depth still existed in SL, and wasn't going anywhere, meant SO much to me in that moment.  It did.  It was a metaphoric grain of sanity to cling to and admire for a bit, before planting and thriving once again.

That was Brook.  Very selfless.  And you know what?  ...It extremely sucks that humanity had to lose a luminary like that... But I have to take comfort in the fact that she had to answer a higher calling and transcend into something even more beautiful, if you can imagine, so she could very deservingly, never have to endure any more pain again, whatsoever.  ♥

Well... Anyway...

I woke up to this before getting ready for RL work:

Weekly Royal Winners Notice 16APR23

The first time someone voted for me

...Well... 

...So...

I guess that maybe winning 2nd place did make a difference to someone.  Because we specifically don't have our vote boards up at Business Park with everyone else, plus I have gone out of my way to not wear that RPG Heart of Society that everyone can easily vote for other players with ...and the only other way to vote for us is by visiting our region or via being logged into the LGH website... Not only because we DGAF, but because honestly, if you want to do a good job or be a good person, you should do it because it comes naturally from within you... Not because you're fake and motivated by a kind of monetary reward.  ...Honestly.

Now, I certainly don't proclaim to know everything about life, because even those who have been around a long while still learn something new all the time.  But I do know that a real leader leads by example.  And that real leaders don't influence or motivate others, but it's actually quite the opposite, in that others influence and motivate the leader.  

...But thanks for letting me share my thoughts with you, and I hope you make it all worthwhile by always giving and therefore getting the best out of your SL (and RL) ...like I believe that ppl such as Brook did.  ♥