Quite Oh: is teleported to Brace Coral’s home…
… and lands deep into the ocean
Quite Oh: Sploosh!
Brace Coral: welcome to Teh Shack!
Quite Oh: Thank you. Is this TEH shack!? :)
Brace Coral: Have a seat where ya like
Brace Coral: Uh… the Brace Luv Shack!
Brace Coral: lol
Quite Oh: :)
Image of Brace Coral and Quite Oh at Teh Luv Shack
Quite Oh: Well thanks for taking the time, Brace. I’m doing a series of interviews on the whole of the NCI crew on my blog, and as founding member, many of us thought it appropriate that you be the guiney-pi… er, first member interviewed.
Brace Coral: My life is an open book!
Quite Oh: I’m not a professional interviewer, but I’d like to record NCI’s living history
Brace Coral: …a dog eared, well worn, dirty novel…
Brace Coral: With stains!
Brace Coral: hehehe
Quite Oh: That goes in the interview, you know :)
Brace Coral: You know the history of this shack?
Quite Oh: I do not
Brace Coral: Well, see about a year ago or so
Brace Coral: I gave Linden Lab a countdown to fix stuff in SL,
Brace Coral: well after three months of countin’ down on my blog
Brace Coral: stuff was WORSE
Quite Oh: A count down?
Quite Oh: A deadline! Nice :)
Brace Coral: so I tiered down to basic – sold all my land and became homeless
Quite Oh: OK, go on.
Brace Coral: yeps a deadline :)
Brace Coral: Carl found out I was homeless so he hooked me up here at the then new NCI Beach
Quite Oh: Nice :)
Brace Coral: 1. ‘cuz he’s the awesomest dude EVAR
Quite Oh: That goes in too :)
Brace Coral: 2. ‘cuz its MATURE and I can cuss and stuff without worryin’ about it
Brace Coral: hehehe
Brace Coral: Thats the story of teh luv shack!
Quite Oh: That’s a lovely story! :)
Quite Oh: OK, so, most obvious question: Tell us a bit about who Brace Coral is?
Brace Coral: Well, I’m one of those people who lives a fair chunk of my life on the computer
Brace Coral: always have since the first Trash-80s and bulletin boards came out
Quite Oh: Right, none of us can relate to that :)
Brace Coral: lol
Brace Coral: I’m pretty much the “me” I don’t always get to be
Brace Coral: or in terms of my avatar – ever will be lol
Quite Oh: :)
Brace Coral: Brace Coral is Amazon size, in RL I’m scraping 5ft
Brace Coral: I’m loud, opinionated, and have various passions – Brace she gets to do all that
Brace Coral: all the time
Brace Coral: lol
Brace Coral: which is why I get so pissed off at LL ‘cuz Second Life has so much dang potential and they squandering it IMHO
Quite Oh: What would you have them do differently?
Brace Coral: well take for example the NCI
Quite Oh: Yes, lets :)
Brace Coral: Linden Lab is STILL having meetings and discussions on how to retain users
Brace Coral: I figured all that out from the get go, and that was one of the reasons I formed the NCI
Quite Oh: Yet NCI manages to do so quite well.
Brace Coral: Having HELP. Having a community of people doing fun and interesting things. LEARNING!
Brace Coral: THAT makes people stick
Brace Coral: like “no duh!”
Quite Oh: I agree. I’ve often been told by oldbies that they wish they had the orientations we give
Brace Coral: Me and my Spice formed a group – ‘cuz you needed THREE peeps back then to make a group stay
Quite Oh: Same now, I believe
Brace Coral: and I stuck Helper into the title and sat at the WA and uhm… helped people
Quite Oh: Right
Quite Oh: WA?
Brace Coral: Seems a no brainer but LL is still clueless lol
Brace Coral: Welcome Area
Quite Oh: Right
Brace Coral: It’s no more. They built a new fancier one now.
Brace Coral: Basically people would live at the WA
Brace Coral: I know me and my fam and friends did
Brace Coral: before we bought land and all that
Brace Coral: that was our home spot. To hang, meet people, help out, show off our latest whatsits
Quite Oh: So this group that you created, was New Citizens Incorporated?
Brace Coral: New Citizens Inc
Quite Oh: Cool.
Brace Coral: I wanted to use the letters C and I
Brace Coral: and of course it was all about New people so I came up with that name
Quite Oh: Makes perfect sense.
Brace Coral: it does?
Brace Coral: lol
Brace Coral: thats good to know :)
Quite Oh: In a Brace Coral kind of way? Fer sure!
Brace Coral: lol
Brace Coral: damn yoo were supposed to ask WHY the letters I and C??
Quite Oh: Oh! “Geez, Brace, why the letters I and C?”
Brace Coral: Well see cuz there was this unofficial ENITY called the FIC (Feted Inner Core)
Brace Coral: meaning oldbies who kiss butted with LL employees and got special favoritism and so on
Quite Oh: OK.
Brace Coral: hehehe
Brace Coral: so I wanted to be the antithesis of that
Brace Coral: NCI > FIC
Quite Oh: And so NCI started as an act of constructive rebellion?
Brace Coral: New people takin’ over the grid
Brace Coral: yes and MOSTLY….
Brace Coral: as an answer to LL’s inept so called Helper groups at the time
Brace Coral: Wanna here a short story?
Brace Coral: its true!
Quite Oh: Yeah, sure!
Brace Coral: OK! One day (and multiply this by EVERY dang day I was at the WA) I was helping at the WA
Brace Coral: and this person comes up to me and says…
Brace Coral: “omg HOW do I help out?? I been waiting over SIX MONTHS to hear back from the LL Mentors Group”
Quite Oh: Right
Brace Coral: I asked them a few pertinent questions, checked the profile etc and deemed them ok
Brace Coral: handed them a welcome pack, invited them into the group as a helper and said
Brace Coral: “OK. Now go help!”
Brace Coral: they said “That’s it??”
Brace Coral: I said “yep. That’s it!”
Brace Coral: End of story
Quite Oh: Do you ‘member who this person was?
Brace Coral: Perfectly good, eager wonderful people being snubbed by LL
Brace Coral: and all they wanted to do was help
Brace Coral: so took ‘em all in :D
Brace Coral: Nah it was like three or four people every day
Quite Oh: So when did new land actually come in?
Brace Coral: so the NCI started out as just a group. People helping and new people askin’ questions on the IM
Brace Coral: well I had been renting this li’l patch in Kuula sim – for my store
Quite Oh: What was Kuula like at the time?
Brace Coral: and a patch nearby came open for rent so I said aha! I bet I could make a lil spot where I could physically BRING people to help ‘em
Brace Coral: it was just grassy areas, some buildings, little patches of nothing really
Brace Coral: so I did :) I make a wall of free stuff, and a dinky li’l sandbox to help folks build
Quite Oh: And the Brace Coral collection is still the largest on the Freebie Boards
Brace Coral: Yeps. I finally retired from being a clothier and put most of my items up for free
Brace Coral: those are the best of the bunch – the Starter Avatars, a few outfits and costumes
Brace Coral: and then Jamie Otis who had been the guy renting the land, he ended up selling it to me and that was the beginning
Brace Coral: He was a HUGE help!
Brace Coral: He gave us a break in rents and stuff and kept me appraised if any other land nearby was coming available
Quite Oh: Very nice.
Brace Coral: Gotta give him mad props.
Quite Oh: Crazy fake furniture?
Brace Coral: He ran (or mebbe still does) the TLC – The Learning Center
Brace Coral: they did a lot of teaching, helping and stuff too
Brace Coral: it was after taking his vehicle class that I got into making and selling cars
Brace Coral: BC Motors :)
Brace Coral: that was fun lol
Quite Oh: Right, it still lives.
Brace Coral: Oh good!
Quite Oh: I wasn’t aware you made cars.
Brace Coral: I took a lot of classes there
Brace Coral: OMG!! BC Motors was rockin!!
Quite Oh: But I s’pose you make everything now.
Brace Coral: I retired from that too when LL ganked the telehubs off the grid
Brace Coral: I had the sweetest hub location for my main dealership
Quite Oh: They yanked telehubs?
Brace Coral: Yes before P2P teleporting you would land at a hub
Quite Oh: ‘member, you’re 1582 days old of this writing; some of us are not familiar with the history of SL
Brace Coral: Oh yeah
Brace Coral: Fang young’uns!!
Brace Coral waves her Old Lady Cane at ya!
Quite Oh: C’mon Gramma, put yer dentures back in and wag that tongue!
Brace Coral: lmaoooo
Brace Coral: So like, if wanted to go a certain place. it would land ya at the nearest telehub
Brace Coral: and you had the fly the rest of the way there
Brace Coral: or walk or hitchhike or whatever lol
Quite Oh: It’s easy to take certain things for granted now.
Brace Coral: None of this flitting from exact point to point
Brace Coral: Yeah
Brace Coral: So having a business at a hub was pretty sweet
Brace Coral: “BC Motors: Cars for Chicks!”
Brace Coral: That was my slogan
Brace Coral: lol
Quite Oh: :)
Quite Oh: So then, how long were you involved NCI?
Brace Coral: hmmm lessee
Brace Coral: About couple years I guess. Might hafta check with Garnie [QO: Garn Conover, member of the NCI Board of Directors; For a pictorial time line, see http://nci-sl.org/About_NCI/Timeline2/Timeline05].
Brace Coral: He Knows All.
Brace Coral: … The timeline and junk.
Brace Coral: My memory sucks.
Quite Oh: He’s on my list :)
Brace Coral: Good!
Brace Coral: The biggest thing we did now that we had land was events – aside from classes – but events were the main thing back then.
Brace Coral: So Show and Tell was the most popular
Quite Oh: Still is :)
Brace Coral: Thats how I met Carl Metropolitan :)
Brace Coral: and Noobie Salsa
Brace Coral: Q and A
Brace Coral: Some of those events are still staples of the NCI lineup
Quite Oh: What did they show and tell, do you ‘member?
Brace Coral: Makes me proud!
Brace Coral sniffles
Quite Oh: Yes they are!
Brace Coral: Yes I have a documentation of a lot of those on my Snapzilla feed – my album list
Brace Coral: Should be under the Noobies one
Quite Oh: URL?
Brace Coral: www.slpics.com
Brace Coral: That will getcha started.
Brace Coral: Search for my name under albums.
Brace Coral: I think I still have the most lol
Brace Coral: I used to be Queen of Snapzilla, i.e. the most photos evar.
Quite Oh: http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/Search.aspx?name=brace%20coral
Brace Coral: that’ll werk!
Brace Coral: I’m too scairt to click on urls – I might get booted
Brace Coral: even have a pic of Carl’s first funitures
Brace Coral: Now he has an amazing furniture biz
Brace Coral: But his first bed was too cute :)
Quite Oh: So then we went from a group, to a place, to events, and now you’ve met Carl…
Brace Coral: yeps
Brace Coral: By then LL werked my last nerve once to many times and I realized in order to keep my (mental) health I had to step down from running the NCI
Quite Oh: Right
Quite Oh: So, how did Carl become involved in NCI?
Brace Coral: Oh he just dropped from the sky like a dang ANGEL!
Brace Coral: Fell in love with what I was doing I guess, and when I stepped down he and buncha others took over
Brace Coral: most of the Helper Crew came to the NCI as noobies needing help
Brace Coral: again people STICK when you give em what they need and want
Brace Coral: and have great people doing it
Quite Oh: That’s why I’m so attached to NCI
Quite Oh: Do you feel that he’s continued your legacy in a way that you had originally envisioned?
Brace Coral: OMG Quite!
Brace Coral: Carl and Crew have gone BEYOND any of my WILDEST Dreams for the NCI!
Quite Oh: What are you most proud of what they have done?
Brace Coral: Pretty much the fact that Linden Lab employees give the NCI the respect it deserves
Quite Oh nods
Brace Coral: We get contacted for all sorts of things, and Carl and fill you on most of that
Brace Coral: since I just pass those things along if they come my way.
Brace Coral: The fact that there’s ALL these campuses, and all these helpers and instructors
Brace Coral: but most of all…
Brace Coral: how Carl has managed to still PAY EVERY PERSON FOR EVERY CLASS even when Linden Lab stopped doing that
Brace Coral: If I was still running things when all THAT came down, I tell ya the NCI instructors would have been assed out
Quite Oh: That is one of those things that I think people take for granted.
Quite Oh: “assed out”?
Brace Coral: yah
Brace Coral: as in “oop sorry y’all ain’t gonna get paid now either”!
Quite Oh: And this is where I put in the unabashed plug to keep supporting NCI for all the good work it does :)
Brace Coral: YES!!
Quite Oh: Maybe I should put a little banner in the middle of the article.
Brace Coral: Stuff does NOT run on its own. Money don’t fall out the sky
Brace Coral: Yeah you should! :D
Quite Oh: And yes, Gentle Reader, I’m looking at YOU :)
Brace Coral: DONATE TILL IT HURTS!
Brace Coral: hehehe
Brace Coral: I couldn’t have kept things going like that. He’s done wonders
[Quite and Brace fall into a snipped long unrelated conversation (as is common ‘round Brace :) ). Apologies for the discontinuity.]
Brace Coral: [We met] in Active Worlds. till I had to git the heck outta there
Brace Coral: was fun there tho – till it got not fun :)
Quite Oh: Never heard of it.
Brace Coral: I built soooooooo much
Brace Coral: I think Ariel still has a world there
Brace Coral: its pretty much like SL but started in the late 90s
Quite Oh: Good?
Brace Coral: the avs suck, the building is 300% easier
Brace Coral: Its; all ages which lead to me having to go
Brace Coral: found SL doing a google search
Brace Coral: and thas all she wrote lol
Brace Coral: Ask around – the best builders – oldbies and midbies like me – 9 times outta 10, they came from Active Worlds.
Quite Oh: Really?
Brace Coral: Yeps
Quite Oh: If I went there, would my building skills improve?
Brace Coral: my dream 3D space is building like AW and avs like SL
Brace Coral: Dunno – it might now work that way around – but yer welcome to try :)
Quite Oh: Just loaded the url (http://www.activeworlds.com/)
Quite Oh: So, back to interview mode
Brace Coral: oh yeah
Quite Oh: So, as Director Emeritus, what do you do now?
Brace Coral: I take naps. I go fishing. I dance.
Brace Coral: Ain’t gonna lie
Brace Coral: I help at Kuula every now and then
Brace Coral: until my compy goes GAH!!
Quite Oh: If there was something you could tell the new members about NCI that they might not know, what would you tell them?
Brace Coral: Hmmmm
Brace Coral: Most think that I love SL
Brace Coral: I actually can’t STAND it
Brace Coral: but this is where I meet with my loves ones, and my baby the NCI is here
Brace Coral: so I guess I’m stuck
Brace Coral: lol
Brace Coral: I play A Tale In The Desert mostly now…
Brace Coral: Pop in here once or twice a week
Quite Oh: OK, if there were one wish that LL could grant to NCI, what would that be?
Brace Coral: a sim
Quite Oh: One full free sim, free of tier?
Brace Coral: din’t have to think on that one did I lol
Brace Coral: Yeps
Quite Oh nods
Brace Coral: or heavily discounted tier
Brace Coral: 100L/month or summat
Brace Coral: since WE keep half the people they claim to have on their resident count – sticking, staying and paying in SL
Quite Oh: Any final words, anecdotes to questions ‘fore we close up?
Brace Coral: yeps
Quite Oh: We’re all ears
Brace Coral: Take things SLOW. Take your time with EVERYTHING. You don’t hafta be the design or building diva all in the first three months
Brace Coral: and take things VERY VERY SLOW when it comes to online relationships
Quite Oh nods emphatically….
Brace Coral: and don’t give out ya personal info. I been together with my fam for over 5 years and we still don’t know the RL particulars about each other
Quite Oh nods again.
Brace Coral: “OMG I’m in LOVE!! Here’s all my passwords!” umm NOT!
Brace Coral: Thas my advice :D
Quite Oh hears *chiching* You have paid WasOnce MyLover all your linden
Brace Coral: Oh and one last thing…
Brace Coral: do NOT tell Bracey all about ya RL stuff. I so do NOT wanna know!
Brace Coral: drives me nuts
Brace Coral: I barely know the crap goin’ on with my RL friends
Brace Coral: I swear. all that outpouring of peeps biz – always makes me wanna pass out
Brace Coral: hehehe
Brace Coral: and I dint cuss that much either
Brace Coral: I been workin’ on that
Quite Oh: Brace Coral, founder of New Citizens Inc, and bonne vivante, thank you for your time and energy! :)
Brace Coral: Thank you for yours!
Brace Coral: can I show you the cars I built now?
Brace Coral: lol
Quite Oh closes the interview and resumes being a real person now :)
Brace Coral shows off her favourite early build of a BC Motors car: The Rambler
