Turning 61 – Ryan Schultz

This morning, at 6:00 a.m., I completed exactly 61 trips around the Sun (this is a correction to my earlier assertion that it was 62 trips; forgive me, I hadn’t had my coffee yet!). I am now 61 years old, and boy, lately I feel it! I am constantly feeling exhausted, and my hips and knees are giving me trouble; I usually take the elevator over the stairs these days.

My birthday always falls in the middle of the absolutely coldest winter weather here in my home city of Winnipeg. And these are the days when I look at the Environment Canada forecast and ask myself: WHY THE HELL DO I LIVE HERE?

It doesn’t help that my relatively new car (less than two years old!) developed two problems related to this bitterly cold weather, requiring a tow truck to drag it to the service centre at my dealership for repairs (and a brand-new car battery). I have missed a doctor’s appointment and a couple of days of work as a result, and I am feeling rather grumpy as a result. Let’s face it; I am now a grumpy old man.

I am still working half-time sick time due to job burnout, juggling requests from instructors for me to come into their classes and teach their students how to use my university library system effectively and efficiently. I still love my job, but I am always feeling tired and worn out lately. I plan to stick it out until I reach 65, though.

I am also still making very good use of my Apple Vision Pro, both at work (where I love the new ultrawide Virtual Display feature when using it with my MacBook Pro; it’s a great productivity boost!), and at home (where I usually use it to watch TV and movies). Zero regrets about buying it. I actively monitor the AVP subreddits to find out about new apps and experiences to download and try out.

And I am still coping with nasty, messy, painful, chaotic real life by escaping into my beloved Second Life on a daily basis, where I can express my creative outlet, amd get into a flow state for an hour or two, designing an avatar look from head to toe.

For example: today, Vanity Fair is in full-blown fairy godmother mode! You each get three wishes… 😉 (please click on each picture in this gallery to see it in full size).

STYLING CREDITS:

Head: LAQ Era2 Elle head (SupremeUHD version)

Body: Maitreya Lara 5.3

Skin: LAQ Susanna SupremeUHD skin with Next Level Maitreya body skin (skin tone 1.5)

Hair: Meadow by MAGIKA Hair (this is an old purchase, I’m not sure they still sell this)

Roses Tiara: part of an old 14,000 members gift outfit from PurpleMoon (the Ninde gown)

Gown: The Fairy Godmother Gown by Silvan Moon Design

Gown AO: Gown AO by Kamilah Hauptmann/Posture Is Everything (I bought this at their in-world store many, many years ago, but it is now on the SL Marketplace here: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Gown-AO-boxed/105284 ; this is an AO which you can adjust to accommodate different styles of ballgowns: small, medium and large skirts, bustles, mantua gowns, etc.)

Wand: I picked this up as a free hunt prize many years ago!

Wings: These lovely iridescent dragonfly wings are my favourite, and they are free from the extensive wings section in the Faery Crossing castle.

I’m still going to wait before I make any decisions about whether to pull the plug on this blog. But I might still pop in from time to time if I have something I need to say.