The Patchouli Council - Partying with a Partyfennec

Our first interview of Patchouli Council members is with Patchouli Partyfennec, a mentor in the Second Life Official Mentor Corps and a raver fanatic. (All opinions expressed here in are personal and are not necessarily shared by Linden Lab, the Patchouli Council as a whole, or blue colored fennecs around the metaverse)


TheWorldOf Tomorrow: Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to speak with us on everything under the sun.
Patchouli Partyfennec: Pleasure's all mine.
TWOT: Why don't you start by telling us a little about yourself, Pat?
PP: well, there's not really much to think of. I was born about 1873 in Malacca. Father passed away shortly after I was born, due to complications from pregnancy.
TWOT: Ahh... usually, it's the mother who dies from complications from pregnancy.
PP: The poor man was really flustered. He apparently keeled over from a stroke in his panic to get the midwife over.
TWOT: Oh.
PP: Prior to that, he was kinda fretting about finding the money to keep me properly educated on being a fine young fennec.
TWOT: It must have been hard on your mother.

(Photo: Picture of Mama Partyfennec in a calmer mood)

PP: Yes, yes it was. I understand I wasn't very polite or well-behaved as a child. But she really took pains to make sure I had a semblance of a normal childhood like any Peranakan girl deserved. My being an only child possibly helped.
TWOT: So you had a good childhood and grew up into a perfectly upright fennec there, I see. That's it? no dark disturbing secrets?
PP: Well I may have indulged in opium a tad bit before it was banned. There was a den near my home, and the ventilation wasn't exactly airtight.
PP: I may have inhaled a few times as a kid whilst walking by...
TWOT: Opium? How... quaint. I've seen people on harder drugs straight from the local pharmacist.
PP: Like that Seclimine stuff Gideon Teevee drops occasionally?
TWOT: Yeah, that stuff.
PP: A bit distasteful to me. drugs is for people who can't take meta-reality.
TWOT: Agreed.
PP: But those days are pretty much behind me now. Being a mentor means being disciplined in public.
TWOT: all the time?
PP: Welll... not all the time. Like anyone else , I do have my own foibles, but I don't smoke anything at all these days. As for anything else, you may not dig further on this detail, young man.

(Photo: independently sourced picture of Patchouli Partyfennec shaking her moneymaker after duty hours at Dance Island)

TWOT: Ah... right. ^^; So moving on... how did you wind up in Agni?
PP: Charming fellow from some little town named Caledon visited and offered to pay my passage and my school fees. Naturally, I sprung at the chance. How was I to know it wasn't exactly a boat trip down to Koala Lumpur in a week?
TWOT: That was a pretty hefty teleport there, yes. Do you regret making that trip at times?
PP: At times, yes, I am a tad homesick
PP: but you live with the world you know, not the world you want
PP: and there's enough going on here that I rarely have time to indulge myself in any lowish moods.
PP: Besides, the Peranakan Museum here is pretty close to what I would have had if I hadn't been so hasty about my choices in life.
TWOT: Nicely spoken... so what's your biggest pet peeve these days?

PP: Illiteracy.
TWOT: Illiteracy?
PP: While working, one of the biggest problems I face as a mentor is getting people to read. While it's not really solvable when the person in question doesn't understand the language used, it's rather appalling at times how some people don't have the same spark of curiosity that I used to have.
PP: They just walk right past the sign, and they don't even think of examining it, or touching it.
TWOT: Maybe they're too busy to do so?
PP: Excuses of the lazy. if you know you can read something in front of you, you should. it may be important enough to your enjoyment of the world, perhaps even your wellbeing, to do so. There are so many examples I laugh/cry over.
TWOT: Like?
PP: For example, the newbie who didn't read the danger sign shortly before he tipped himself into a grinding machine at a shop for gore fans.
TWOT: Could the possibility be considered that maybe he INTENDED to try out the machine?
PP: ... possibly, but you'd think the pain would be a negative selling point. And then there's the greedy guts I see sometimes.
TWOT: Like?
PP: It's amazing how many people actually attempt to sell freebies. FREEBIES. FREE-bies. What part of that is not understandable to these people?
TWOT: The 'free' part?
PP: The thought had occurred to me, yes. We are talking about the labour of the people involved in creating these items, which is worth something, but being given for nothing, just being ripped off.
PP: It's appalling, and if I had my way they'd be dangling off a nice hanging noose for it.
TWOT: You live with the world you know, not the world you want, remember?
PP: Pssh.
TWOT: You've been around long enough, are there any locations that you would recommend personally to anyone?
PP: I would recommend any newcomer to Second Life hang out at a new resident support organisation such as The Shelter or New Citizens Incorporated .
PP: For eye candy, Light Waves' work at Black Swan (formerly Rezzable Hallucinogen, formerly Error) has to be seen to be believed. just the ones that come to mind right on the spot.
PP: You must excuse me, I have other matters to attend to soon.
TWOT: cya later? and thanks for taking the time to say hello there.
PP: Indeed.