I was about to go out for a roll, but both my dad and a glance up at the sky have warned against it (already as I type the rain has started again). It hasn’t been a very good summer for flaneurie, unfortunately. I like just rolling around town, botanizing on the asphalt, seeing what is going on. This passion is connected with my passion for travel and exploration, of course, and I guess I use it for a stop-gap for bigger adventures. I guess I just like observing. Examining society and culture from the street level. This is of course why I cherish trips like the one me and Charlie made to Paris, as I get to really explore new places, taste new foods, meet new people, but unfortunately such trips can only happen every so often. You know, that holiday was probably the highlight of my year so far. Then again, all being well a family trip to brazil is on the cards for December.

Holidays, of course, take time and money to organise and undertake, making them rarer than I’d like. There are other constraints, too, like those of work and school and university. Even trips into town are dependant on the weather. With this in mind, I finally decided to download and install second life last night. I spent so much time talking about it to Simon and thinking about it, I thought I better try it. I spent an hour or so in it last night, and my impressions were mixed. I am still figuring out how to control my avatar, which is still apparently a white cloud, but its kind of like exploring a new world.

Only here, everything is different. In real life, I am both used to and fascinated by the way in which people react to me. I’ve written here before about how I often like making heads turn. But in second life, things are different. If I ever figure out how to stop being a cloud, I can be anything I want, so the subjectivity of being a disabled person and the philosophical baggage which goes with that status (normal vs. special etc) is not necessarily there. I can escape being ‘other’ if I wanted, but if I did would it imply that I dislike being ‘other’ in real life? I am quite happy with who I am, of course, so should I try to be ‘me’ in second life? And if I try to be me, how does one represent a young man with athetoid cerebral palsy and a liking for girl’s clothes, real ale and star trek on the computer? The question is, can disability with all its philosophical implications be truly recreated in an online world? To me, this is one interesting question among others, and I guess the only way to find the answers is simply to participate.